Under the Cypress Moon Read Free

Darius about going fishing with Mark.  When T.L. brought it up, Darius quickly stated that he didn't feel like going anywhere, that the two of them should go without him.  T.L. and Mark agreed and took off immediately, causing Mark to let out a very big sigh of relief.  He did not have to spend any time around Shylah yet.
    As Mark and T.L. headed off to the pond only a few hundred yards away, the subject weighing on both of their minds was sure to surface.  "Mark, what ya got planned with my sister?  How you gonna tell her how you feel?"
    "Hell if I know, man.  I don't have the faintest damn clue!  I wish I did.  Man, I can't stand this anymore!  I have to either convince her or get the hell out of this town for good.  I can't stand another minute not having her!"
    "I'm tellin' you, do somethin' about this!  Do it today!  Pull Shylah aside and tell her everything you told me last night.  If she turns you down, she's crazy."  T.L. gulped a little, thinking of what he had just said, telling a man to put a move on his sister, though he fully trusted Mark.  He trusted Mark with his life.
    For much of the time that the two fished, they sat in silence.  It gave Mark a lot of time to reflect further on what to do and why he needed to do it.  He knew of no other way than to just do it like T.L. said... take Shylah aside and confess his absolute, undying love for her.  If she rejected him, she would surely have a good reason for it, perhaps, not wanting to take the chance of ruining Mark's and T.L.'s friendship.
    It was nearly an hour before anything more was said than something having to do with bait or the lack of fish.  T.L. thought of once more broaching the subject of Shylah, but he didn't want to upset Mark or worry him more than he already was. Assuming that Shylah would go for it and that she and Mark would last as a couple, it would be a great match.  Who better could there be for T.L.'s little sister than his best friend, the guy he trusted more than anyone else since childhood, a guy who could take better care of Shylah than anyone else?
    Finally, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Mark and T.L. decided that they would not catch more fish than the one each they had already caught.  Nearly three hours had netted very little.  They debated whether or not to even keep the fish, as they were so small that they would not make much of a meal.
    Walking back, fish and gear in tow, T.L. bit his lip to keep from bringing up Shylah.  He wanted to bring the matter up as badly as Mark wanted to bring it up to Shylah.  T.L. did not know what to do, but he knew that his best friend had a much more delicate situation than he could even imagine.
    Mark nearly burst through the door of the King house, so nervous that he was almost unaware of his actions.  No sooner than he got inside, he spotted Shylah, sitting at the kitchen table, reading a magazine.  Somehow, she looked even more beautiful than usual, with no make-up on, her hair not fixed.  In all her plain glory, she was the most amazing sight that Mark's eyes had ever beheld.  His heart pounding, his palms sweating, his eyes twitching, Mark felt as though he might pass out and collapse to the floor.
    Smiling at Shylah awkwardly and unsure of how it looked, Mark rushed off to the bathroom where he would stay for a considerable time, contemplating what to do, afraid of the results.  He stood helplessly in front of the mirror for a long period, disheveled, scared, terrified really.  "Mark, you idiot, just do it!  Do it!  Do it!"  Mark kept repeating himself, as if doing so would get the point across.  He hoped that no one would hear him, wanting to shout at himself yet knowing that he couldn't.  It was more of a loud, yet somewhat muffled whisper.
    "She's out there!  She's sitting there waiting, even if she doesn't know it!  She knows somethin's up!  Do it!  Do it!  Do it!"
    Mark finally mustered all of his courage and slowly walked out of the