tis' the damn season ── KIT CONNOR

chapter three.

chapter three
𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞

∙∙∙∙∙

𝐤𝐢𝐭

Kit loved parties. The atmosphere, the people, the lights. Kit also loved the fact that every party he had ever attended in his hometown he went to with Lou. Not this time though. 

Kit assumed that being home would be fun and fast paced, that he would be creating so many new memories with his friends, with Lou, that his time home would be up as quickly as it came. He had never been more wrong. The days were slow, no one really spoke to him but his mum. His mates just wanted to see him at the party, none of them caring enough to come over or ask him to hang out. The one person who would ask he ruined it with. 

The four walls of his room seemed to have gotten smaller and smaller, the third day of December making Kit stir crazy. He was glad to be going out. Kit came back in his room, his welcome home sign had been taken down from Lou's window. He didn't mind, because there she was. 

Her lips were glossed and her hair was out, the way he liked it. The infectious smile that her lips made, he felt his heart swell with pride. If there was only one word Kit Connor would use to describe Lou Sallinger, it was effortless. She didn't have to try. She just did. 

Lou waved softly at Kit, a small smile she sported. Anyone would think Kit lost control of his body, it took him five seconds to even wave back to her. Lou laughed, he could only imagine the sound of it, his favourite sound. 

Ella Peterson then appeared, checking to see who Lou was looking at, her hand still waving just as Kit's was. Ella waved too before smiling too hard at Kit, pulling the curtains shut to Lou's bedroom. She was gone. 

The party bored Kit. These kind of gatherings were nothing like he remembered, then again, Lou was on the opposite side of the living room instead of her usual spot on Kit's arm. Maybe that's why he was bored. The one person he wanted was mingling with other people who weren't him. 

Kit knew he was staring at Lou, everyone knew he was, but he couldn't help it. Old habits die hard, I guess.

"Mate, you ever gonna stop staring at Sallinger?" One of his friends passed him a drink in a red plastic cup, a party staple. Fuck, he hated this place.

"I'm not staring," He brushed it off, taking a sip of a liquid he didn't like but felt obliged to consume. Maybe it would distract him from Lou. Maybe he would make a fool of himself in front of her. That thought in his head, Kit put the cup down on the table next to him.

"I might go over and chat to her," Kit said to his friend, the courage finding him.

"Wouldn't bother," A scoff escaped his friend's lips, "Lover Boy's here now,"

Everything was in slow motion. The music stopped for a second in Kit's head, and then got really really loud. Suddenly everything was moving too quick. It felt like everyone was touching him, yelling at him, it was overwhelming and it was his fault. 

He was standing next to her, leaning over Lou, making her smile and laugh. Jealousy clouded his mind as tears clouded his eyes. 

"Who the fuck is that?" Kit almost whispered. 

"Alfie, moved here like a month after you left? He seems real interested in Lou," Kit's eyes were stuck on them, like a car crash you can't look away from. This was his car crash. 

Before the tears fell, Kit picked up the plastic cup he had left for dead and skulled the rest of it. With a burning sensation in his throat he walked out the front door. He walked and didn't stop. Kit knew exactly where he was going. 

When his feet pressed against the familiar loose stone path, that is when the first tear fell. He sat on the ground, back up against the low-cut fence, in front of his old school. He knew if there were one place Kit could feel sorry for himself, it was here. He and Lou practically spent every night here together when they were younger. 

He took her to semi-formal here, a corsage Kit bought for Lou on her wrist. She looked gorgeous, Kit couldn't help but keep his eyes on her all night. Guilt filled his throat. Kit leant his elbows on his knees, he sniffed as he ran his hand through his hair. 

He knew he did this to himself, to them, to Lou.