Re: Rylee and Lem
Maybe Carson would find a purpose too. Maybe all of this stuff, as shitty as it was, would help him in the end. She didn't know. Rylee couldn't predict the future, but she just couldn't bear the thought of anything else happening to him. She wanted him to be happy. "I'm glad to hear it," Rylee said, and she was. She couldn't imagine sleeping in a van, of all things. "You've got some great neighbors too, although I guess that could be what you meant by having people. Zania and Nic are some of my favorite people here." And hopefully Lem wouldn't break Nic's heart, if it came down to that. Nic deserved to be happy too, and she knew how he could be.
Lem smiled, and as always when Nic came up, it was brighter than usual. She’d always thought being in love was so stupid, it made people act like idiots, and who wanted to change their whole lives for someone else? It made a bit more sense to her now. She didn’t know if she was in love with Nic, but there was something there. He just made her feel good, and not many people -- even fewer men -- had been able to do that. So Lem was going to ride it out and see where it goes. “I liked them both like, instantly,” she said. “So yeah, I think this was all ... meant to be.” She waved a vague hand toward the ceiling, waited a beat, then tapped her knuckles on the table. “Feeling any better? I wanna go check on Nic.”
Rylee nodded. "I'm fine. Go ahead." She would end up back downstairs anyway, watching Carson, even if he was knocked out cold until sunrise. And she certainly didn't expect Lem to entertain her for that long. "Thanks for the drink," she told her, pushing her chair back from the table to stand. "I appreciate it. All of this, actually." She wished she had something to repay everyone with, but things were tight enough as it was. Still, if they ever needed a favor, Rylee knew she and Carson would do whatever they could to help.
Lem stood up too, and gave Rylee another half-smile. “Don’t sweat it,” she said. She made a gesture toward the kitchen entryway. “If you gotta piss or anything, bathroom’s down that way in the hall with the stairs, second door on the right. You’ll find it. And help yourself to anything in the fridge if you get hungry or whatever.” She wasn’t very good at playing hostess, and everyone had been too antsy for a tour before the sun went down, but it seemed pertinent to do now. She turned to head back toward the basement stairs, intent on making sure Nic’s brain hadn’t melted with a werewolf in it or anything.