Drake helps Kyler stand. He is too wobbly for me to carry, so he escorts him into the taxi. I hear Drake telling the cab driver the address before he hands him a twenty dollar bill.
“Thank you, Miss Martin. I’m sure Kyler is thankful he has such helpful friends,” he says while leaning in the back door window.
“No problem, though I don’t think he’ll be so grateful in the morning when he finds out I broke his nose. Why don’t I just drop him off and tell him he got into a bar fight? It might be better for his ego.” Drake doesn’t laugh. His wrinkled face appears torn and serious all of a sudden.
“Listen. Just get him inside and lay him in his bed. If you can’t help him get up and out of the taxi, ask Kevin or one of the other guys who lives there. They’ll know what to do.”
“Okay. I’ll manage. Thanks for paying for the cab.” I start to roll the window up. Drake holds his hand up, stopping me.
“When you leave, turn on the lamp on his nightstand. Please do not forget to turn it on,” he says hitting the side of the taxi alerting the driver we‘re ready to go. What? Is he afraid of the dark? That’s ludicrous; he is a grown-ass man.
We make it the few miles away to his house, and he is sound asleep next to me. At least his face doesn’t look like he has been mauled by a tiger. I shake him, and he doesn’t budge. I call Lucy on her cell, but it goes straight to voicemail. Great, what am I going to do? I grab his cell phone from his front pocket, scroll through the list of contacts until I see someone’s name I recognize. Kevin.
“Yo, my man, where ya been?” Kevin says as he picks up the line.
“Hey Kevin, its Haley. I’m in your driveway with a very drunk Kyler. I can’t get him up. Can you please come out and help me?” I beg.
“Shit, again? Hold on, I’ll be out in a minute,” he murmurs. Again? What did he mean again? I guess Mr. Uptight is a closet boozy.
Kevin and another guy came out of the side door of their house. Luckily the taxi driver was satisfied with Drake’s payment and turned off the meter. “Hey guys,” I say as they approach the car.
“Damn, who beat his ass?” Kevin asks when he notices Kyler’s face is black and blue.
“Me,” I reply. He gives me a questioning look but didn’t ask what happened.
“We’ll get him in. Do you owe anything?” He asks me motioning to the driver.
“No. Drake paid for the cab.” I get out and tell the cab driver thank you before he rolls up his window and drives off. I start to turn around to make the walk home when I see Kyler open his eyes. Kevin and the other guy are holding up his limp body by his shoulders.
“Don’t let her walk home alone,” he says in a drunken slur before his eyes seal shut again.
“I’m fine. I just live in the dorms right around the corner,” I say before they even ask.
“Hold on, let me grab some sneakers. I’ll walk you,” Kevin says abiding by Kyler’s request.
He and the other guy help Kyler inside as I wait on the front porch, moving back and forth on a wooden swing hanging from a banister above my head. A few minutes pass before Kevin emerges from the front door.
“Sorry that took a while. He got sick and did his normal rant,” he says while holding up two fingers on each hand up making air quotations.
I don’t ask because it isn’t any of my business, although I am very curious to know what he is talking about. “Okay,” I bite my tongue before I pry further for information.
We make it to the dorms after a long walk in silence, which was very weird. He is on-again, off-again dating my best friend, and his best friend isn’t my biggest fan, but I am grateful that he offered to walk me home. I could break noses, but I don’t know how well I would do in a dark college alley alone, and since I’ve seen CSI enough, I acknowledge it isn’t a good idea for a young girl to go anywhere alone.
“Thanks for walking me back. I appreciate it.” I say as we approach my dorm.
“No problem.” His hands find his two front pockets. We both stand there, looking a little out of place. Awkward.
He finally breaks the ice. “So why did you bust his face open?” he asks while kicking a rock on the pavement.
“He grabbed my ass,” I blurt out, wondering why he grabbed me in the first place.
“Nice,” he approves as he starts to walk back down the steps towards the road.
“Oh, wait. Kevin?” I call out. He turns around to face me again. “Drake wanted me to make sure to turn his lamp on…” I’m unsure if I need to explain, although I don’t have much information to do so. He doesn’t look surprised by my statement or like it was something dumb to insinuate a twenty-two-year-old man was afraid of the dark.
“The lamp won’t cut it tonight, Hale.”
Before I can respond he walks away. What did that mean, and what is up with the nicknames? What a night. If I only would have followed Lucy home, I could have avoided this entire drama-filled situation. I go inside and fall asleep dreaming about a blue-eyed God.
I wake up to the aroma of coffee and cinnamon in the air. “I must be in Heaven, Lucy.” I lie under my blanket stretching my legs.
“Hale, you’re not in Heaven, but I think I am,” says a male voice.
Ohmigod.
“Kyler?” I ask, although I already know the answer. I throw my covers over my head in attempt to hide my bed head. What’s he doing in my dorm and what time is it, I think to myself. “Umm, who let you in here?”
“Do you always ask this many questions? Come on, get up. I brought some coffee and those little pastry things.” He nudges my leg.
“What’s the occasion?” I ask, then quickly realize it’s another question.
“A truce,” he shrugs his defined shoulders.
Sitting up, I pull the sheet over my tank top since I wasn’t prepared to have company. I know my hair is a mess, and I still have my makeup on from last night since I was too tired from taking care of his drunken ass to even wash my face when I got home. I look around the room to see we are the only people in it. “Where’s Lucy?”
“Again with the questions, Miss Martin. Get up and eat some breakfast before it gets cold. I hear these are better fresh from the oven.” A grin spreads across his face. I don’t move.
“Kevin was coming by to pick up Luce for our fraternity’s Annual Fall Picnic. I figured you would need some coffee after dealing with me last night, so I hitched a ride over, and here I am,” he stands up and does a twirl.
“Crap, what time is it?” I jump out of bed to grab my cell phone that is still in my clutch from last night. “One o’clock, shit. I missed my mid-term. Why didn’t Lucy wake me?”
“Calm down Rocky, Lucy said there was a message on the class webpage that your professor had the flu and would be out until next week.”
Thank goodness! I felt a little breeze as I noticed I was standing in the middle of the room in nothing but black lace boy shorts and a white tank top holding my cell phone. I jump back in the bed quickly trying to cover myself up. I knew it was too late. He had already seen the goods.
“Nice,” he whispers under his breath. I toss a pillow at his head. He ducks as it falls on the floor.
“Lucky for you it’s not broken, but if that pillow hit my sore-ass face, I would declare this a war,” he jokes as he takes a bite of his pastry.
“Lucky for you I’m starving, or I’d kick your sorry ass out of here,” I scoot down to the foot of the bed and reach for the bag. Before I can grab it, Kyler pushes it out of reach.
“Under one condition, Rocky,” he says. What is up with the nicknames on this campus?
“I don’t do conditions.” I bend and pick up some sweatpants that are lying on the floor. They must be Lucy’s because they have little pink hearts all over them. I slide them on and make my way to the door. I turn around and look at Kyler sitting on the corner of my bed before I reach for the handle and open it. “And I don’t do nicknames,” I gesture him to leave. Kyler doesn’t move or blink; he only stares. “Out
,” I put my hands on my hips.
“I’m actually enjoying the view. I think I’ll stay a little while longer,” he replies with the same cocky attitude I saw at the bar.
What a stubborn prick! I slam the door and sit back down at the end of the bed. “I’m starving, so you can stay, but after you’re done you leave!” I bark. He hands me the brown paper bag, and I take a muffin out. I didn’t notice the Wal-Mart bag that was sitting beside him. He bends down and grabs a stack of paper plates, plastic forks, and napkins.
“I didn’t know what you ladies had here, so I thought I should cover my bases with the basics.”
“Well, I didn’t pin you for such a gentleman, Mr. King, but I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Next time you decide to ambush me in the morning, let me give you my grocery list.” I smile politely back at him.
“You’re blunt, but I like that. It’s nice not to have some blonde bimbo throwing herself at me,” he continues chewing.
“Well, since I’m not blonde or a bimbo, I would consider this your lucky day,” I say, trying to sound as cocky as he does.
He holds his breakfast up to mine as we both declare our truce. In between chewing I find myself biting the side of my cheek. I don’t know why, but Kyler makes me not trust myself, and it made me nervous.
My phone rings, and I know who it is once the song hits its chorus. I bend down to pick it up, but my foot must have fallen sleep from sitting on it, because as soon as I put weight on it, I fall off the side of the bed. I look up at Kyler, who I can tell is trying hard not to laugh at me. It was funny though, and I can’t hold in my laughter anymore, so I let it out, and he joins in. It seems like the weirdest thing to have him in my room laughing with me instead of dodging one another like we have been, and I can’t help but think about the kiss. I’ve been kissed out of passion before, but nothing like I felt when he kissed me. I don’t know if he regretted it or what his deal was, but we’ve kept our distance until this moment.
Finally, when I catch my breath from laughing so hard, I start to get up off of the floor. Kyler reaches down grabbing my hand to help me up. I move a little to sit next to him on my bed, but instead I’m pulled onto his lap. “Kyler–” is all I get out before his lips crash into mine.
The only thing that crosses my mind is laying him down and crawling on top of him. Hell, I am already in my pajamas, now if I could just get them off, we would be good to go. When I finally pull away and snap out of my awesome daydream, we sit staring at each other, still not speaking. There aren’t words for what was happening between us. The beating of my pounding heart wants to lead me down the dangerous road I know we’re embarking on, but my brain is nagging at me in the background, yelling at my emotions to put on the brakes.
I hear footsteps outside in the hallway before the bedroom door swings opens. I jump off of Kyler’s lap and back to my side of the bed. Lucy walks in with a gigantic grin on her face. Once she assesses the room and who is in it, she doesn’t seem so cheerful.
“Hi guys. Whatcha doing?” she asks dispassionately.
“Nothing.” Kyler and I both say in unison. Great, as if that didn’t make things more obvious.
“Okay, well then. I tried calling you before to tell you that Professor Cannon canceled our mid-term until next week. I didn’t want to wake you since it sounded like you were out late last night,” her bitchy tone reveals that she knows exactly who I was with. “Kev picked me up for breakfast. Now we’re going to his annual picnic thingy.” She turns towards Kyler. “I take it you’re not going?” she asks him as her eyes dart to our picnic on the bedroom floor. She doesn’t wait for his answer; instead she grabs her shower caddy and goes into the bathroom. Kyler starts picking up the trash from the floor shoving it into the empty Wal-Mart bag.
“Thank you for breakfast. Sorry about your nose and…this can’t happen again.” I ramble as I turn around and grab a sweatshirt from my dresser, and walk in front of the window. I hear him get up and walk over to me. I feel his arms wrap around my waist.
“I know it shouldn’t, but I want it to,” he whispers in my ear as he bends down and plants a small kiss on my neck.
I turn around to face him and say through gritted teeth, “I don’t do relationships.”
“Good, me either,” he says as he brushes the loose strands of hair from my neck and kisses me from my collarbone to my earlobe. He’s still kissing my neck when the bathroom door swings open. Lucy looks out, and we make eye contact. I can hear her giggling and almost immediately she shuts the door again.
“Meet me at the park on Pinehurst in thirty minutes,” he bends, kissing me on my forehead. The kindness of his gesture pulls at my heart. Strings I thought were severed long ago seem to have pieced themselves back together. I nod, accepting his invitation. I can feel his body step away from mine. My side feels lonely without his presence. I turn to look over my shoulder and get one last glimpse of him, as he leaves the dorm.
“Shit!” I say out loud. I turn around and see Lucy leaning against the bathroom door.
“I’m not going to preach to ya like your momma. I know you already have one and don’t need another, but please Hale, be careful. He just cheated on Samantha. You witnessed her crazy outburst. Once a cheater, always a cheater.” She finger combs her hair while pushing her lips together like a duck. What is it with the duck face? I don’t respond and brush by her to get a shower, knowing I only have twenty minutes to get ready for my date in the park. My head is telling me this is a bad idea, but my heart is telling me to meet him. It’s not that I can’t have a relationship. It’s that I choose not to let anyone get that close ever again. They either die or I push them away. Both are things I have learned to cope with, but I can’t risk losing someone ever again. I’ll have to remember to keep my distance.
“I’m in control of the situation.” I repeat to myself as I get a quick shower. I choose to let my hair air dry. It has a natural wave, and it will look less like I’m trying to impress him. Forgoing any make up as well, I am ready and head out the door. I make my way out of the dorm and start walking to the park when I get a text from Luce.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do ; ).
I know she isn’t accepting of whatever is going on between Kyler and me, but knowing she cares enough to send me a playful text eases my nerves. I don’t text back because I see Kyler sitting on a bench and texting would be too much of a distraction from staring at him. He looks so sexy sitting in a white baseball hat and a pair of basketball shorts. He doesn’t see me, so I walk up behind him and put my hands over his eyes. I don’t know what has gotten into me. I haven’t been playful Hale in a long time. He grabs my arm, guiding me around the arm of the bench and pulls me onto his lap. I lie in his arms as we both laugh, staring into each other’s eyes.
I wonder what he is thinking as he casually asks, “How was your morning?”
“Great. This guy I know brought me coffee and breakfast in bed, so I’d say I woke up in a fantastic mood.”
“A guy, huh? What does he look like?”
“Hmm…well, he is tall, tan, has blondish hair, blue eyes. I think his name is Tyler.”
“Guess I was dreaming this morning,” he frowns, not trying to hide his disappointment.
“Just kidding!” I say nudging him in the side. He leans in and kisses me softly. We sit there for a few minutes wrapped up in each other’s arms making out like a bunch of high school kids, which is totally not my style. “Okay. Okay enough!” I giggle. I don’t know what to think of our playful banter, so I decide to stop thinking for once and just roll with it. “So, what did you bring me all the way to the park to do Mr. King?”
“Play,” he grabs my hand and helps me off of the bench. Good thing I wore my trusty sneakers.
“Are you kidding?”
“Nope, get up,” he demands while holding his hand out to mine. We get up and walk hand in hand over to the swings. He holds the metal links on each side of me as I climb onto the thick black leather seat. He p
ushes me and eventually we run around and chase each other like kids for hours until the sun sets, highlighting the horizon in the distance. When we were both sweaty and hungry, we dust ourselves off and walk toward the parking lot.
“Pizza?” he asks.
“Sure, why not?”
“I rode the bike. You okay with that?”
“I’m into the dark and dangerous type.” I try not to laugh at my stupid remark. I climb onto the back of his bike, and we take off. I guess he remembered I don’t like wearing a helmet because he didn’t even offer me one this time. We make our way to Mike’s Pizza House and get seated. He orders two beers then we discuss what toppings we like and dislike and place our order. He tells me that he is a physical therapy major and loves the outdoors. Hunting and fishing are his favorite hobbies. I make meaningless conversation and tell him I was a high school cheerleader and even placed second at Nationals a few years ago. He is so easy to hold a conversation with, and I bring up things I haven’t talked about in a long time. Like the fact that I am petrified of cats. He laughs as I tell him I used to think kittens grew up to be cougars. Since then I have had a major phobia. Even in elementary school when we learned about animals and took a trip to the zoo, I cried like a baby the whole time we were by the “cat” species. He takes a bite of his pizza, nodding to everything I say.
After finishing our beers he drives me back to my dorm and walks me to the door like a true southern gentleman. “Thanks for today,” I say with a smile. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a carefree day!”
He takes my hand in his and says, “Anytime Rocky.” His hand cups my cheek, and he pulls me in for a long, tender kiss.
“Listen…” I say while taking a step back from him. “I don’t mean to be rude and I had an amazing time, but I’m not into the boyfriend thing.”
“Yeah, I’m not into dating guys either,” he straightforwardly says.
His silly banter makes me chuckle. “Well, I’d certainly hope not, but I know what you meant.”
The Upside of Letting Go Page 5
