by Cara E Holt
When I go downstairs, my mum does a double-take. "Off out?"
I nod, grabbing my keys for the bike. “Just meeting up with a friend.”
“Be careful and don’t be late home. You have college tomorrow,” She tells me with a yawn. The bruising around her eyes is coming out. She is going to have a right shiner.
Chapter Thirteen
I make it to the pub at just before eight. I enter through the main entrance and I look around the main room of the pub for Kyle. A tall guy with copper curly hair walks past me and then doubles back.
“Are you Ella by any chance?” He asks me with an inquisitive smile.
“I am,” I reply, studying his face and not recognising him.
He smiles. "Sorry, you don't have a clue who I am. I'm Jay. Kyle's friend. He said a hot blonde girl is joining us and I put two and two together."
“Ah, I see. Yes, that would be me. Well, not the hot part but the rest, yeah.” I realise I’m waffling and shut my mouth before any more verbal diarrhoea escapes.
“We’ll have to beg to differ there.” He gestures with his head. “Come on, we’re just through here.”
“Look who I found,” Jay states as we enter the small side room. Kyle stops his conversation with one of his friends when he sees me and smiling, he comes over and greets me.
"Ella, you look gorgeous as always." He leans in and kisses my cheek and with his hand at my elbow, he guides me to their table. "Guys, this is Ella. Ella, you've met Jay, and this is Nick and Sam."
“Hi,” I reply as I take the empty seat beside Kyle.
Nick, the guy with the shaved head studies me like a puzzle. “Why do you look familiar?”
Kyle clears his throat. “You remember Ella? She’s Liam’s sister.”
Recognition dawns on Nick’s face. “Wow, you’ve changed a lot since I last saw you.”
I smile and chuckle, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Yeah, well, I was probably a spotty thirteen-year-old the last time you saw me.”
Nick returns my smile. “You have your brother’s eyes.”
I smile as Kyle clears his throat again. “Okay, drinks. Ella, what are you having?”
“Ah, I came on the bike, so just a coke, please.”
Jay whistles. “She’s hot and she rides a motorbike.”
“Shut it, idiot,” Kyle says, offering me an apologetic smile. “Be nice to Ella while I get the drinks in.”
“So, Ella, how old are you?” Sam asks me, leaning back in his chair. Sam is built. He is all muscle and must spend hours at the gym. A body like that takes real dedication.
“Seventeen. I’m doing my a-levels at college. I just recently moved back here.”
Sam nods, smiling. “Sweet. My cousin goes to Lilford sixth form. Danny West. You know him?”
I think back to Danny, the boy I spoke to on my first day and at the party. “Yeah, I’ve spoken to him a couple of times. Seems a good guy.”
Sam laughs. “He’s a tool but don’t tell him I said that,” he tells me with a wink.
Kyle comes back over and offers me my drink, and we fall into easy conversation. I enjoy myself. The guys are all funny and we play doubles at pool. Kyle and I play against Sam and Jay. I’m waiting for my shot when Kyle comes up behind me and casually places a hand on my hip. “Want to come and get some air.” He and Nick share a look and he asks him to take my next couple of shots for me.
I follow Kyle outside. It’s a mild night and the beer garden is looking gorgeous with fairy lights and candles. Kyle stands in front of me, hands in his pockets. He is good looking in that unassuming way. He has a cute smile too. “I’m glad you called me tonight.”
“Me too,” I reply, cupping my drink between my hands.
Kyle shakes his head and grins. “I just can’t get over how fucking gorgeous you are, Ella. I mean you were cute as a kid but wow you have blossomed.”
I feel my cheeks warm at his compliment. "Thanks." What else can you really say to that?
Kyle takes a step forward and places a hand on my waist. “I like you, Ella. And if it’s okay, I’d like to get to know you better?”
I bite the inside of my lip. This is the perfect distraction from Dylan. It will also help create some distance between us if I’ve got a boyfriend. Kyle isn’t the kind of guy to fall in love with, so my heart is safe. “I’d like that.”
Smiling, Kyle steps closer and he leans in and presses his lips to mine. I open my mouth and I kiss him back and he pulls me in closer, deepening the kiss. Okay, so as kisses go, it doesn’t blow me away. I think Dylan James has spoiled me for all other guys. Kyle is a good kisser and whilst it doesn’t curl my toes, I don’t hate it either. He pulls back, smiling. “Damn.”
His hand brushes against mine, and I open my hand and allow him to place his in mine. This is what I need, a distraction, a bit of fun, nothing serious. I need to keep Dylan at arm’s length and what better way than this.
We head back inside, and I see Nick give Kyle a knowing wink when we enter. He so knows that Kyle was making a move on me out there.
It's ten-thirty by the time we leave. I offer Kyle a lift on the bike, but he points out that he literally lives on the next street. Jay, Nick and Sam, all tell me I must come and play pool again soon and they conveniently leave me alone with Kyle. I lean against my bike and watch as they walk off down the street.
“So, I’m thinking I should take you out on a date this weekend,” Kyle suggests with a shy smile.
“I think you probably should too.”
Kyle steps closer and wraps his hand around my waist. “God, you’re beautiful, Ella. I don’t think I can wait until the weekend to see you again. How about tomorrow night? You can come to my flat. I’ll kick Jay out and I’ll cook us something nice.”
I arch a brow. “You can cook?”
He chuckles and winks at me. “I can do many things.” He leans in and kisses me, and I throw myself into the kiss, telling myself it will help me forget how Dylan’s lips felt against mine earlier today. “I’ll text you my address. Shall we say six-thirty?”
“Perfect.”
When I get home my mum is in bed, but she’s left me a note on the kitchen worktops, telling me that Dylan has called round for me, twice. I head straight up to bed and strip out of my clothes and into my beddies. I’m just about to get into bed when there’s a knock at my bedroom window that makes me jump in fright. I roll up the blind and my heart stutters in my chest when I see Dylan standing there.
“You going to let me in?” He asks, frowning. Realising he has me backed into a corner, I open the window and I stand back whilst he climbs inside. He’s wearing that white t-shirt that clings to his pecs and does fluttery things to my heart. “So, were you just going to ignore me forever?”
With a sigh, I sit down on my bed. “Maybe.”
He comes and sits down beside me. “We need to talk about what happened today.”
“Nothing happened. Let’s just forget about it,” I say hurriedly.
He scoffs. “Nothing happened, huh? So, we didn’t kiss? I didn’t have your tits in my mouth?”
I flush red at the mention of his mouth on my breasts and my core clenches in anticipation at the memory of how good it felt.
“I just think some things are better left unsaid. We both got caught up in the moment.”
Dylan swears under his breath and he stands to his feet. When he turns back to face me, he looks angry. “That’s what you think, is it? That we should just forget that we probably would have got naked and had sex today if it wasn’t for your phone ringing?”
I look away, unable to look him in the eye. “Well, we didn’t, so no damage done. I have a date tomorrow night.”
He flinches and stops still. “You’ve got a date? Since when?”
“Since I met up with Kyle tonight and he asked me out,” I tell him with a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders.
Dylan's jaw ticks. "Wow, you don't waste time." He leans over me, placing his arms o
n either side of me on the bed and it forces me to lie back. He hovers over me, searching my eyes. "So, this is what you want? You want to pretend that we never kissed?"
No. it’s not what I want, but I know it’s for the best. I can’t afford to let Dylan in. If I let him in and he lets me down, it will break me. “I think it’s for the best.”
He searches my eyes and comes up wanting. "Okay, fine, just remember this is what you wanted El." Without a backward glance, he strides to my window and he climbs out. I sit there for a good ten minutes, just staring out of the window and it takes everything in my power not to chase after him and tell him those three little words and bare my soul to him.
The next day I pull up at college and I feel sick with apprehension at the thought of seeing Dylan. Kyle had texted this morning and said he is looking forward to tonight. I’ve played over and over in my head the conversation with Dylan from last night. He didn’t make any kind of declaration about how he felt, but then I’d not really given him a chance.
I hear someone shout my name as I’m walking towards the main entrance and I turn to find Connor jogging to catch up with me.
“Hey,” I say with a smile.
“Hey Ella,” Connor wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Movie night at mine tonight?”
“Oh, sorry, I can’t. I have plans.”
“What plans can be more important than hanging with your friends?” He asks me grinning.
I clear my throat. “I kind of have a date tonight.”
Connor blinks. “You do, huh?” I nod my head and scrunch my brow when Connor stops in his steps and stares ahead. I follow his eyes and see Dylan standing at his locker with his lips locked against Freya’s. It hurts, I’ll be lying If I say it doesn’t.
“Stupid fucker.” Connor offers me a tight smile. “I’ll catch you later, Ella.” He jogs off to where Dylan is eating Freya’s face and grabbing him by the arm, he pulls him off into the boys’ toilets. Poor Freya is left standing there with her mouth open. She regains her composure though when I pass her.
“Oh, hey Ella. Nice jacket.”
I smile in response. I know she doesn’t really like my jacket and she’s just being a shallow bitch, but I smile and say thanks, telling myself she’s not worth it. My heart hurts in my chest, wounded from seeing the guy I love kissing another girl. This is what I wanted, right? This is what’s best for me?
At lunchtime, I hesitate at the doors to the cafeteria. Dylan will be in there and Freya will probably be all over him now that she’s got her claws in him. I’m not sure if I can face it. I’m about to turn on my heels and hide away in the library when Aria appears.
“Oh no, you don’t. You are not running away and hiding. Don’t give Freya the satisfaction.”
“I don’t know what you- “
Aria arches a manicured brow. “Don’t bullshit me, Ella. I know the score okay. I see what you hope no one else sees. What I don’t understand is why Dylan’s sudden interest in Freya? Did something happen with you two?”
I groan and rub a weary hand across my face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Aria smiles in sympathy. “Okay, I’ll not push, but I’m here if you need someone to talk to in confidence.”
“Thanks.”
She links her arm through mine. “Now head up high girl.”
With Aria for support, I manage to get my food and I take a seat next to Connor. Freya is sitting on Dylan’s lap with her arms wound around his neck, looking like the cat that got the cream. Caleb plonks himself down beside me and looks up and looks shocked when he looks over and sees Freya on Dylan’s knee.
“When the fuck did that happen?”
Dylan just shrugs, his eyes briefly meeting mine before he looks away and he carries on talking with Kim.
Caleb leans into me as he bites on a chip. “He once said he’d rather drink his own piss than go near Freya again. I don’t get it.”
I plaster on an unconcerned smile. “You know Dylan, always chasing pussy.”
Caleb snorts and nods his head. “True that.”
As if it’s not bad enough that I have to endure Freya all over him at lunch. At the end of the day, I’m making my way to my locker and I falter in my steps when I see Dylan and Freya at her locker. She’s leaning into him as he leans against the wall of lockers, pressing her body into his and looking up at him with that ‘come and lick me’ face she pulls. An image of me smacking her face into the lockers assaults my mind, and I shake my head to clear it. As I pass them, Dylan looks up.
“Hey Ella, we’re having a movie night at Connor’s tonight, you coming?” He asks as he swings his arm over Freya’s shoulder.
“Can’t, I’ve got plans,” I tell him with a tight smile plastered on my face.
He nods. “Oh yeah. The hot date. Where’s he taking you?”
I sigh. I do not want to have this conversation with him, and I really do not want to hang around and see Freya touching him any more than I have to. "He's cooking me dinner at his house."
Dylan nods, his eyes are cold and unfeeling. "Nice."
Nodding my head, I turn away and I speed walk to my locker. Fucking arsehole. I don’t know whether I want to kick him hard in the balls or punch him in the face. I throw my books in my locker and I hightail out of there as fast as I can. The more distance I put between myself and Dylan, the more my erratic heart slows down.
I'm not feeling it at all by the time I knock on Kyle's door at six-thirty. He opens the door and holds it open for me to come in. He's dressed casually in jeans and a navy t-shirt. His brown hair is styled to the side, he looks smart.
“I hope you like Spag Bol because my cooking skills are limited to that and pasta bake,” he admits as I follow him up the stairs into the flat. The flat is small but nicely decorated. It’s a typical guy’s pad, very sparse with just the essentials. White walls and black furniture and of course a massive television on the chimney breast. I notice he’s set the small table for two and lit a candle. Cute.
“Sit down. Can I get you a drink?”
“Coke, please,” I tell him as I take a seat on the sofa, clasping my hands together in my lap.
To be fair, the spag bol is good. Kyle is easy to talk to. We chat about my plans for university, and he tells me about his plans for the future. We end up talking about Liam and Kyle shares some funny stories about some of the things they got up to as teenagers. It’s nice to hear about a side of my brother that I didn’t really get to see.
“You ever see Lauren?” I ask him. Lauren was the girl my brother had been dating for two years when he died. They were high school sweethearts, and I remember them being really cute together. His death had devastated Lauren. The bubbly, vivacious girl became reclusive and a shell of a former self.
Kyle’s shakes his head and looks away. “No, I haven’t seen her in a long time. I don’t even know if she still lives around here.”
Kyles’s hand reaches across the table and he brushes his thumb over my hand. “Can I just say that you look gorgeous tonight and that I have been dying to kiss you since you walked through my door.”
“Oh,” I say, feeling my cheeks flush.
Kyle stands to his feet and comes around to my side of the table. He takes my hand and I stand up. Smiling, he cups the back of my neck and leans in and kisses me. I will my body to feel the fireworks that I feel when Dylan kisses me. But whilst there's mild excitement, his kisses don't set me on fire. I turn up the heat of the kiss, determined to think and feel anything other than Dylan. Kyle groans against my mouth and he walks us backwards until my back hits the wall. His hands grasp at my hips and he leans his body into mine. "You wanna take this to my room?" He asks against my lips.
This is good. Kyle is a good distraction from all things Dylan. There is no danger with Kyle that I’ll feel things that can make me vulnerable. I never want to be that girl again, the one who is weak, defeated and needs a guy to save her. Nodding my head, I allow Kyle to lead me into his room. He kisses me,
walking me backwards until my legs hit the base of his bed and we both fall together on to the bed.
“Fuck, you smell good,” Kyle exclaims, his hands moving along my thighs and lifting my leg around his waist.
Casual sex, with no strings, no emotional ties is the way to go. No risk of being hurt or let down. Just take what I need and enjoy myself. I feel Kyle’s hand move under my top and his hand squeezes my breast. I’m suddenly assaulted by the image of Dylan with his mouth over my nipples. The hooded look of lust in his eyes as he did. I freeze under Kyle and he pauses.
“You okay?”
I nod my head. “I think we should slow things down. Sorry, I know I said I wanted to come in here.”
Kyle shakes his head. "Hey, it's fine honestly. I mean, of course, I want to have sex with you, Ella, but I'm good with slowing things down. No rush."
“Thanks, and again I’m sorry.” I feel a complete idiot. He must think I’m a right tease.
He laughs. “I’m not sorry. This was more than enough to make my night.”
We head back into the lounge and we end up playing a few games of cards. Kyle teaches me how to play Queenie, and I actually have fun and enjoy his company. He walks me outside to my bike at the end of the night.
“So, this was nice,” he says, smiling.
I nod my head. “It was, I enjoyed tonight.” I chuckle. “I wonder what Liam would have to say about this?”
Kyle's eyes darken and he looks away from me. "I don't think he'd be happy about it."
“Oh, I don’t know,” I say bobbing my head from side-to-side.
“Trust me, he wouldn’t,” Kyle says with a sigh. I see a flash of pain flit across his face, but he offers me a tight smile. “I’ll text you tomorrow.”
I nod and when he leans in to kiss me, I respond, willing those damn butterflies to start up in my stomach, but all I get is a brief flutter. Kyle’s kisses are nice, but they don’t set me on fire. Not like Dylan’s. Fuck, no matter how much I try, I can’t get him out of my head. I frown when I realise how pathetic it is that a hot older guy is kissing me and I’m pining for my best friend who probably right now has his tongue shoved down Freya’s throat.
