Until Harry(28)

“No, not really,” I replied.

He ignored me and said, “I see a beautiful girl whose smile brightens up a room. I see a beautiful girl whose eyes are so warm and welcoming, they make people feel at ease with one glance. I see a beautiful girl who cares for others and loves so hard it’s impossible not to love her back just as hard. I see a beautiful girl who is so stunningly gorgeous, she will break her father’s and brothers’ hearts when she realises just how incredible she is and decides to give her heart to another. I see a beautiful girl who just doesn’t see how beautiful she really is.”

That was it; I was once again a blubbering mess.

“Damn you, Kale Hunt,” I cried, and turned to him once more, wrapping myself around him.

He held me to him and kissed the crown of my head. “There isn’t a hair on your head that isn’t beautiful, Laney Baby. Everything about you is beautiful; I’ve known that since the first day I saw you.”

I surprisingly laughed through my blubbering. “You first met me when I was two hours old. I probably looked like a shrivelled-up prune.”

“You did,” Kale agreed, “but a beautiful shrivelled-up prune.”

I shoved him, and he laughed, so I laughed with him. I pulled back from him and walked over to my bed.

“How can you remember back so far? You were only three when I was born.” I climbed onto my bed and turned to face Kale, who took a seat on the chair in front of my desk.

“I remember everything about the day I first saw you, Lane. It was the first time I ever saw an angel in the flesh.”

I covered my face as it burned up.

“Shut up. You’re so full of it!” I screeched.

He laughed. “Give over – you know you’re my angel.”

On the inside I purred with delight; on the outside I played it off with a roll of my eyes.

“Yeah, well, this angel is getting a makeover,” I said and pushed my long, dull brown hair over my shoulder.

Kale raised his eyebrows. “A makeover? What does that mean exactly?”

I shrugged. “I’m going to get a haircut and buy make-up and clothes that don’t come from the kids’ sections in shops.”

He blinked. “Lane, you don’t need to change your appearance to seek approval from people who don’t matter.”

I shook my head. “I’m not doing this for Anna and Ally; I’m doing it for me. I want to be the one that boys notice. I’m so done with being everyone’s ‘friend’.”

The latter was directed at Kale, but he didn’t need to know that.

He stared at me for a long moment, and then he licked his lips and dug his phone out of his pocket when it rang. He answered it and had a brief conversation, then shook his head and looked up to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Just Drew being Drew. Nothing to worry about.”

Drew Summers was his current girlfriend.

I didn’t like her. I never had.

I didn’t like any of Kale’s girlfriends, but Drew was different because she kept reappearing. She and Kale would be together, then break up for a while and then get back together. They were on and off like a light switch. It bugged the hell out of me that she wouldn’t just go away and stay away.

“Are you sure?” I asked, hoping to be a shoulder to cry on if he needed one.

He nodded. “Yep, she’ll get over whatever is up her arse eventually.”

I chuckled. “Always the charmer.”

Kale gestured to himself. “But of course.”

I smiled and looked down to my fingers, picking out the dirt from under my nails.

“Can I stay tonight?” he asked.

I looked up and raised an eyebrow. “It’s a Thursday, though. When you stay over, it’s usually on the weekends.”

“I know, but your mum said it was okay for me to crash since you weren’t feeling so hot – uh, I mean good. Shit. I didn’t mean that as in appearances—”

I cut Kale’s brain fart off with my laughter. “I get what you mean, loser.”

He relaxed. “Good.”

I glanced at my bedroom door and then back to him. “Are the lads okay with you staying?”

He snorted. “Please. Your brothers love me.”

Everyone in my house loved Kale; he was part of our family.

Kale never looked at me like anything other than a sister, and while I hated it, I respected his respect for me. He was completely fine with sleeping in my brothers’ room, and so were my brothers. I seemed to be the only person who wanted him to sleep in my room with me; I kept that to myself, though. I kept everything about how I really felt about Kale to myself – unless my Uncle Harry was around for me to vent to.

“So it’s cool to stay?” he asked.

I crossed my eyes at him, making him burst into laughter.

My lip twitched. “Like you even have to ask.”

He thought about this for a second, then said, “True.”

He ignored his phone when it rang again, and switched it off instead. “I’ll have your mum call my mum and let her know I won’t be home. Then I’ll be back, and we can totally talk lads and do each other’s nails.”

I fell sideways on my bed, laughing.

“You’re such a freak.”