The Stone Sisters: Lyssa (The Stones Sisters Book 1) (22 page)

Chapter 18

Kyle
knew he wanted to get Lyssa something.
 
Trouble was he had no idea what to get her.
 
He had a feeling that if he bought her a movie or a novel, she’d either already have it, or not be interested in it.
 
There was only one person he could rely on to help him find something to Lyssa.

“Hey, Lexa, can I talk to you a moment?”

Kyle caught up with her in the hall at school in one of the rare instances neither of them was with Lyssa.
  
She looked up at him surprised and smiled, “Sure,” she looked back at her friends, “I’ll catch up…What’s up?”

Once they were gone, he smiled at her, “You know.
 
Um, your sister…”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“She’s hard to buy for.
 
I was wondering, would you come out with me Friday night and help me find something for her?”

Lexa’s grin made him want to run the other way.
 
He’d never been the type to get embarrassed, but that knowing look in her eyes told him that Lyssa must have told her all about what had gone on between them on Saturday.
 
He wasn’t sure if he should be happy Lyssa was talking about it or not.
 

“Sure.
 
But it’ll cost you.”

“Extortion?”

“You treat me to dinner too.”

He smiled, “That I can do.
 
What time should I pick you up?”

They made arrangements quickly and he left.
 
He hoped Lexa at least knew what her sister liked.
 
The rest of the day passed by normally, but he was still a little anxious.

When he got home from school, he was surprised to find his father already home.

“Hey dad, everything ok?”

His father smiled up at him, “Power outage.
 
We were told they wouldn’t be able to get to it until six or so.
 
The boss told us we could go.
 
How’s school?”

Kyle fell into couch and smiled, “Same.”

“How’s Lyssa?”

Kyle shifted uncomfortably, “Good.”

His dad laughed, “Just make sure you’re being careful.”

With that, Kyle jumped up, “Yeah, I got homework to do.
 
I’m going out with Lexa later to buy Lyssa a present.”

“Alright, have fun.”

When he got up to his room, he meant to do his homework, but instead he found himself remembering the make out session he had with Lyssa after they had gotten back from boarding.
 
If only Lexa hadn’t walked in.
 
Where would that have gotten to?
 
His mind had a lot of ideas.

Around five on Friday, he texted Lexa and then left, driving to the Stone sisters’ house.
  
Still no adult vehicle.
 
It was really starting to bother him that he hadn’t met Lyssa’s family yet.
 
It also was bothering him how a set of parents could leave their daughters as much as these two did.

When he pulled up to the door, Lexa ran out and jumped into the car, “Let’s go before she sees us!”

Quickly, he drove off.
 
Once they were on the road, he asked, “Where does she think you’re going?”

“With Missy and Anna to the mall.
 
So what type of gift do you want to get her?”

He glanced over to find Lexa looking at him, curious, he replied, “I wanted to buy her jewelry, but Lyssa isn’t really a jewelry type.
 
I wanted to buy her a book, but I’m afraid I won’t get the right one.”

“Actually a book is a great idea.
 
But an old one.
 
I saw an old books shop in town.
 
Want to go check it out?”

“A used book?” he asked skeptically.

She grinned, “Yep, but only if we can find the right one.
 
It has to be some old sci-fi.
 
I’m sure they have at least one.”

They parked and made their way to the store.
 
Kyle looked at Lexa.
 
It was obvious to him that they were sisters, but when it came to the two of them looking alike, he didn’t see it.
 
Lexa was such a small girl, short, thin and dainty.
 
No one would say Lyssa was dainty.
 
She was athletic, with some curves and sexy.
 
Plus, she was very slightly taller than average.
 
But it was more than that.
 
Lexa was chipper.
 
Lyssa always seemed to be worried something terrible was going to happen.
 
How they had such vastly different personalities, he couldn’t understand.

They walked into the shop and the dry air tinged with the scent of old paper struck Kyle.
 
He looked around at all the shelves and books.
 
Personally, when he read it was eBooks. He’d asked Lyssa once why she preferred paper, she had said the “tactile feeling of the words on paper.”
 
She was so cute.

Heading over to the sci-fi collection, he said, “Her favorite book is Dune, so should we find a cool version of that?”

Lexa laughed, “Are you kidding, she’s got three copies of that already.”

“So do you like any of these?”

Lexa snorted, “Ah, no.
 
Old weird science fiction is Lyssa’s thing.”

 
“What do you like?” he asked as he studied the strange cover of some book from the fifties.

She was quiet and he looked over, “What?”

“Well…Mostly, I don’t really read unless it’s necessary for school,” she said.
 
She was blushing and refused to meet his eyes.
 
He wondered if she was too embarrassed to tell him what she did read.

He gave a little laugh, “I used to be like that too.
 
I only got into reading last year.”

She smiled at him, “Lyssa is constantly buying me books in different genres in hopes of sparking my interest.
 
Reading the stuff she likes just feels like work… Oh, Edgar Allan Poe!”

A brow shot up, “Lyssa likes Poe?”

Lexa grinned as she looked over the large, and in surprisingly well-condition volume, “A teacher made her read some of his stuff.
 
She really liked him.
 
I don’t think she has a collection like this though.”

“Not exactly in the right section,” he said.

“Maybe someone left it here.”
 

She handed him the book and he looked it over, deciding to get it.
 
Then he found an old copy of Lord of the Rings, probably from the seventies.
 
It was in great condition, beautifully illustrated and contained all three volumes in one.
 
Well, she had said she’d give fantasy a try.

“I’m getting these two for her.”

Lexa looked at his choices and a brow shot up, “Um, I don’t think Lyssa’s ever read a fantasy novel before.”

He grinned, “I know, but she promised.
 
This is great, an author I know she likes and an author I hope she’ll love.”

After Kyle paid for the books, they headed out and she sighed, “Lyssa won’t expect me home for another hour or two.”

“Wanna get some pizza?”

She lit up, “Your treat?
 
I kinda already spent too much this month.”

He laughed, “Yes, I already told you that I’d take you to eat as a thank you for coming out to help me get something for Lyssa.”

When they got to the place, because of construction they had to park far away.
 
There really was hardly anyone around.
 
Lexa got a coke and started pondering a pizza, he asked, “Wanna split one?”

“I can eat a lot, just like Lyssa,” she grinned.

“And here I thought I’d get out of this cheap.
 
Let me rephrase, wanna split a large pizza?”

“Meat lovers?” she asked hopefully.
 

He laughed, but wasn’t surprised.
 
Lyssa had told him once how while they both liked meat on pizza, her sister’s choice of meat lovers wasn’t hers.
 
Lyssa didn’t believe bacon and ham belonged on a pizza.
 
Lexa did, however, and so he ordered them a meat lovers and they went to find some seats.
 
It was interesting sitting with Lexa.
 
They’d never spent any time together.
 

“You must make friends easy,” he said.

She smiled, “You mean as opposed to my sister?
 
We move around so much that Lyssa is afraid to get close to people.
 
I don’t know how you broke her shell.”

He grinned, “Persistence.”

As they ate together, talking about nothing in particular, he was struck by her ravenous appetite.

“You eat like Lyssa, where do you put it?”

She blushed brightly and looked aside, “Lyssa makes me train with her.
 
I’m just not as buff.”

“What do you do with her?”

“Well, I used to do a little of everything, but I don’t have talent for fighting.
 
Now she just has me doing some boxing three mornings a week and cardio.
 
Her new pet project is to try to get me to throw a ‘solid punch.’
 
Good luck to her on that.”

He laughed.
 
Lexa was charming in her own way and he found that he really liked her.
 
Not as much as Lyssa, but she was still fun.
 

“You know, if you get a boyfriend, we should double date.
 
Steven’s a really good guy, if you’re interested I could hook you up.”

Lexa blushed, “I’m on a guy break.
 
But if I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

They headed out to the parking lot.
 
In the dim light, he looked over to see if she was cold.
 
Just like Lyssa, cold didn’t seem to bother her.
 
They were nearly to the car when a voice came out of nowhere.

“You are really hard to find, Elexarn.”

She grabbed his arm and he was yanked behind her.
 
Amazement at her strength was short-lived as out of the darkness walked two men.
 
One was short, thin and he had brown hair with skin that had a golden tan.
 
The other was tall and bulky, almost like a body builder with golden hair. He was pale as a ghost. Both wore sunglasses.
 
Both gave off this vibe that gave Kyle the creeps.
 
He tried to put Lexa behind him, but she stopped him.