Obsessed

Chapter 40

"Kyle stop!" I shout. Toby stumbles backward. I momentarily fear he will topple down the stairs. But after regaining his balance, he readjusts his footing and grimaces.

"What the hell?" He growls.

"Kyle!" I say and stand between them. I push Kyle back but he stares right past me.

"What is wrong with you!" Kyle says angrily.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Toby says, confused.

"Kyle, please." I say and cup his chin, returning his gaze to me. "Let's just go."

"I'm so sick of your temper tantrums." Toby groans and pushes past us to his room opposite Kyle's.

"Don't be surprised if I don't come back here." Kyle says. Toby hesitates, sighs and then continues into his room.

"Don't be surprised if I kick you out."

I pull Kyle away and walk him out of the house.

***

Neither of us have any desire to go back to the after party. So we hop on Kyle's motorcycle and ride around aimlessly. My phone starts buzzing in my purse so I tell Kyle to pull over. "Hey." I answer,

"Where. Are. You." Sierra slurs.

"I'm with Kyle." I hear rustling and then Joshes voice.

"Kristen, are you alright?" Josh says.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"How is Kyle?"

"I'm guessing Harmony enlightened everyone?"

"Yeah..."

"Well Toby just kicked us out. We're just riding around."

"Kicked out? Does Kyle need a place to stay?"

"Kyle." I nudge him softly and pass the phone to him.

"Hey man." They talk for a while and Josh says that Kyle can crash at his place for a while.

Kyle hangs up and hands the phone back to me. I place it in my purse quickly. Kyle goes to put his helmet on again but I stop him and hold my hand over his. "Are you ok?" I ask quietly.

"Yeah."

"Seriously."

"Yeah."

"I know you're not. You're mad at Toby."

"Obviously."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Then why are you only answering with one word?! Do you need me to convince you anymore, because you seemed persuaded before." I pull away and step off the bike.

"I'm not mad at you." He says and follows me. A car passes by and the light blinds my eyes briefly. "Toby... Toby shouldn't have tried anything on you."

"He didn't succeed."

"Don't defend him."

"I'm not defending him! Kyle, you say you trust me but you assume that..."

"Kristen. Please. I need you right now." I take a deep breath and rub my forehead. "I don't want to fight you."

"I don't want us to fight either. But if you're upset, I want you to just tell me. I'm sick of all these secrets." All those days of me letting him trail off, instead of pushing him to tell me the truth and tell me what's really going on, is stretching my patience.

"I don't want there to be secrets either." I shut my eyes and keep breathing in and out. I can feel the tension and the anxiety rising. I keep taking deep breaths in the hopes of calming myself. "Kristen?"

I crouch on the grass beside the road and Kyle rushes up to me and crouches next to me. "Kristen, are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"Don't worry about this. About us." I look up at him and the street light illuminates his beautiful eyes. The eyes I fell in love with. The boy I fell in love with. I'm not willing to lose him. Not now.

Somehow messages are communicated just by looking at each other. He wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

***

I wake up early. Like, four o'clock early. And get dressed hurriedly. I layer on my lip gloss unevenly and put my hair in a messy bun. And not a Tumblr, cutesy messy one. Just a messy one. I rush out of the house with my spaghetti straps slipping off my shoulders and my left shoe buckled incorrectly. Harmony beeps the horn of her car impatiently. I rush out of the house and scribble a quick letter to Mum and Gran and leave it on the kitchen counter.

"Finally!" Harmony groans when I open the door. I sit in the passenger seat and buckle my seat belt as she drives off in a rush.

I hear munching of... chips? I turn around and see Dylan at the back. "Hey." He says and stuffs another chip in his mouth. "Want some?"

***

We're the last ones there by the time we get to the airport. Josh, Sierra and Kyle are crowded around Bridgette on a table at Starbucks. I see her dad in the line at MacDonald's. Harmony, Dylan and I join them and sit on the table. Kyle reserved a seat for me. We don't mention last night.

Sometimes I feel like it's not right for us to be fighting or disagreeing. But there are always fights in relationships. There are always fights in friendships. There are always fights in reality. Sometimes they just aren't worth losing that person. Other times they are.

But with Kyle and me, I know that it isn't. I'm sure he feels the same way.

I try focusing on Kyle instead of the real reason why we're here. But I can't. Bridgette and I sit opposite on the table and I feel too far away from her. I don't remember a time when we weren't friends. When we weren't inseparable. And now, thousands of miles will separate us.

She catches my gaze and I duck my head down. But I know I can't avoid it forever. Our group chats happily, even though we're farewelling a member. Dylan holds her hand under the table and uses the other one to hold his salted caramel frappe. His third salted caramel frappe.

Tears well up in my eyes and I can't hold them back, but I try to. I hold my breath and try distracting myself by joining in on what Harmony and Sierra are gossiping about. Chase. Obviously.

A half hour passes and the moment I've been dreading finally comes. Bridgette hugs Harmony goodbye. Then Sierra. Kyle. Josh. Dylan. He kisses her forehead then bites his lip. Then she comes over to me. Her dad calls out, saying that it's time to head to the next section of the airport – where only passengers can go.

She hugs me tightly and buries her face in my neck. "I l-love you E."

"I love you too." I try so hard not to cry. She's crying. I feel the wetness on my bare shoulder. "Call me as soon as you land in Paris."

"I will."

"And tell me all about your family. And your house. And how the uni is."

"I w-will."

I squeeze her tighter, hoping to make her feel more secure and stable. She returns the squeeze.

She pulls away and says, "You'll always be my best friend." Then she grabs her suitcase from beside her and follows her dad down the escalator.

"Good bye."

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Bit of a boring chapter. Oh well.

Thanks for reading this far. I love you guys so much!

xxx

Aurora