Not That Bad

TWENTY-SIX

The week passed by and both Julian and Kaya helped Alison get somewhat back on her feet. At first, Julian was resistant to Kaya helping, but once he realized that Kaya was ignoring his warnings, he grudgingly helped. Alison was surprised to see her ex, but she took it in stride, letting him direct her on what basic furniture she should get (functional and durable), the best places to ask for help in Gainey (when it came to general repairs), and other things that Kaya couldn't help her with.

Once Alison got settled, Kaya once again went against everyone's wishes and helped Alison find a job and update her resume. There was a bookstore a few minutes from Alison's apartment called Book-ish, and it was looking for help there. Though Alison was overqualified, she applied and got the job. 

Kaya was a bit worried because Julian was actually dating the owner's sister, but Julian said that he'd explained everything to his girlfriend Monica and she wasn't worried. If anything, she was excited for the possible drama. When Kaya had heard this, she shook her head and thought that Monica and Lauren would be great friends.

"They probably would," Julian said as they'd driven home one day. He hadn't yet moved into his apartment. "When I told Moni everything that had happened, she of course felt bad but couldn't stop from asking questions and speculating like she was some kind of detective. It was kind of cute even though she was speculating about my life."

Kaya had smiled. "But it shows that you're not afraid of talking to her about that kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy for you."

Julian smiled. "Thanks. It's a nice change and I didn't realize how nice it felt to not be stressed out by a relationship. I mean, her parents still don't really like me, but I know I'm wearing them down." Kaya had been happy to see that Julian's easy confidence was starting to come back. Monica, whom Kaya had met and immediately became friends with, was good for him.

Monica wasn't afraid to call Julian out on his crap, and was a bright, bubbly young woman who knew what she wanted and knew how to take it. She was fashionable, loved architecture—and was actually an architect—and wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, something that definitely differed from Alison. Kaya liked to joke that Julian loved women that loved dressing up.

  Julian had met Monica when he'd gone to a hardware store in Gainey for some parts and she was there talking about blueprints for a new building with the owner. He said that when he'd seen her, in a yellow wrap dress that complimented that dark, warm brown of her skin, he'd fallen in love instantly.

Of course, he'd said to Kaya, he was terrified to ask her out, especially a couple of months before he'd broken up with Alison, but he was able to muster up some courage to giver her his number. And since then, he'd been the happiest that Kaya had ever seen him.

Now that everything had been finalized, Kaya left Alison on her own, with the latter thanking her for the former's help. By the end of the entire ordeal, it felt as if a little of the animosity between them had disappeared. She wasn't sure how long it would last, though. She was just happy that the ordeal was over and wouldn't hear from Alison any time soon.

After that, Kaya got to down to business, essentially keeping her head below water and occasionally coming up for air. When she went out in public, she could still see that people were gossiping about her, but she didn't care and had even talked to some of the people in Layton who she found nice. It was a welcome change from when she'd first moved there as a child, and it made her wonder how her life would've turned out if she'd had a good support system when she arrived.

Before Kaya had realized it, it was almost time for Ximena to move into her apartment that she'd rented near the college. Though she'd gotten into other colleges, App State was her primary choice and she'd gotten a studio apartment there with no roommates. So there went the entire ordeal of trying to move and buy whatever Ximena needed. The logistics were a nightmare and Ximena oddly thrived on it.

Over that same amount of time, Kaya was busy working alongside Ty as they photographed and filmed spring weddings, imagining her own with Ty—which she quickly pushed out of existence when she realized what she was thinking about—filming and editing various commercials, celebrating Olivia's birthday, and helping the two teenagers living with adapt to the inevitable change that would take place in the next few months. 

Santiago, though he'd always been quiet, was drawing more into himself with every passing week. They still hadn't heard from their parents and with Ximena leaving, he was taking everything hard. Though he'd taken up hobbies like boxing and dancing when soccer season was over, sometimes those didn't distract him enough from feeling abandoned by his family. He'd ended up having to start going to therapy.

Everything exhausted Kaya.

By the end of it all she was feeling burnt out and her attitude suffered for it. She would snap whenever she got irritated (which was often), sleep as much as she could, or start arguments for the sake of it. Ty got the brunt of most of it, but he took it well, going as far as kidnapping Kaya's work and forcing her to take a week-long vacation at his apartment. During that vacation he would cook for her, let her vent out her frustrations, and find other distractions that took her mind off of work. He'd even called her mother for her. Of course, her mother wasn't helpful at all and stressed Kaya out, but the sentiment was there.

Ty was the perfect boyfriend, patient and kind and stern when Kaya needed it, so she was glad that he'd forced her to take a vacation. Having him cook every meal for her was a plus as well. She was happy that she'd taken the plunge and started dating him, and told her so himself.

"Feeling better now?" Ty asked as he helped Kaya bring some camera equipment into her office.

It was her first day—actually night, as she was arriving back at her office at eleven p.m.—back from the vacation and the first thing she had to do was travel a couple of hours out of town to shoot a commercial for a new boutique. It had felt good to get back into the groove of things.

"Yes," Kaya said, a lightness to her voice. She felt more energized, less irritated and prone to fits of anger. She didn't even feel bad about waking up at five that morning in order to get her equipment ready and head to her destination by 8:30 a.m. "Thanks for the help, by the way. For everything."

"No problem," Ty said, heading back out to get the rest of the camera equipment. Kaya started putting her gear in the proper places while she waited. She knew that she wouldn't want to unpack her things when she got in the next day. When he came back with the last of her things, he yawned. "Are you going back to your place tonight?"

She paused. "Can I stay over for one more night? I'm exhausted and your place is closer."

Ty gave her a tired smile as he handed her the last bag. "Babe, you don't need to ask."

Kaya gave a small smile back, her heart fluttering a bit at the endearment that Ty had been calling her for months. "Okay, go ahead then. I'll see you in a bit." She smiled as he kissed her forehead and walked out of the studio to his car.

When she was finished packing and drove home—she wandered when she'd started thinking of his apartment as home—and smiled when she'd seen that he'd fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her. Rather than waking him up and telling him to go to bed, she took a shower, grabbed a spare comforter from his coat closet, and joined him. As soon as she curled into him he pulled her closer.

Kaya had never felt more in love in her life and she fell asleep to his arms around her.