𝔏𝔢𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔗𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔩 ✓

Chapter 12: Insecurities

"Wait up Kylian!" Lyra called.

"Why are you following me?" he asked, annoyed. "I thought that you couldn't even stand me."

"You're not that bad," she replied sarcastically. "Besides, I have to make sure you don't run off."

"Shouldn't that be the opposite way around?" he askes humorously, sitting on the ground. Lyra looked at his sullen face and plopped next to him, shrugging.

"Not when you were the one who ran from the clearing. Why did you anyway?"

Kylian sighed. "I don't know Lyra. Just watching them all have something so special in common and being able to bond over it like that, I feel left out."

"So? I've always felt that way," Lyra said back. "And it doesn't sound like you just feel left out. It sounds like you're jealous."

He didn't say a word, but felt the need to argue. "You don't understand."

"I think I'm the only person who can understand Kylian. My whole life I've been less fortunate than others, especially you guys. I always dreamed of having a life that you live out while I can only imagine it. However, never once have I been envious that people like you have things in common with others."

"Trust me," she continued. "I saw Adri and Elliot way before they noticed me. I always wondered what would happen if I actually had the guts to talk to them. They have so much in common, which I don't. However, that didn't make me feel jealous of their relationship. Of course I would want one like theirs, but I could only stand and admire how close they were. I was happy for them."

"I understand what you're saying though. Be happy that they can all have this in common and celebrate with them." Kylian stopped and then smiled like he won the lottery. "I just figured you out."

"Did you now?" she asked, amused. "Well let's hear it."

"Well you are very observant for one. You look at the good side of people and you're not the sarcastic and uncaring person you like to pretend you are. Lyra, you care more about other people's feelings than your own which is why you are only happy when your friends are happy."

"And most importantly," he whispered, coming close to her ear. "You're a little tsundere."

Lyra slapped his head and rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face gave her away. They hadn't even noticed the others watching them.

"She's something else," Adri spoke admiringly.

"Kylian has said that she was different from the start," Lilith sighed.

"Who knew a feisty introverted girl would grab the attention of a teasing outgoing guy like him," Holden added.

"Look who's talking," Elliot said quietly so only Adri could hear him. She giggled when they saw Holden making eyes at Lilith, who was too busy staring at the Lyra and Kylian.

Lilith decided to have a little fun and sent pouring rain on the two, making them gasp and look up.

"Really Lilith?!" Kylian managed to call. He spotted her laughing and ran to pick her up. Getting her back by pulling her in the rain as well. Lyra ran to the side and squeezed her wet black hair to wring it out.

"Come on Adri!" Elliot called, pulling the laughing girl into the rain.

"Are you coming back under?" Holden asked Lyra.

"No thank you," she said politely. "Go have fun with your friends."

"Well...thanks," he replied before running to where Lilith and Holden were splashing each other's feet in the puddles.

That was a little awkward, Holden thought. He had never actually had a one on one conversation with Lyra. None of them had except for Kylian. She was still new to the group. Even though they had only met Adri and Elliot a few days before Lyra, the healer and mystic had just autimatically merged into their friend group.

Even though they all saw how Kylian and Lyra got along, they had only come at the moment that Kylian had said, "I just figured you out."

Meanwhile, Lyra watched them play and felt a huge smile on her face that she couldn't get rid of, but there was a familiar pain in her stomach that wasn't jealousy.

She always knew that she didn't really handle social situations well and Holden was a prime example. Kylian was different, but even he was someone who she had to warm up too as well.

The pain was the actual feeling of being left out without jealousy. Lyra didn't really fit into the group as a whole. Maybe she could talk to one individual person, but that wasn't enough. Not only did she feel like she didn't really fit in, but Kylian made her feel...different.

She should've known something was up when she didn't push him away more. Kylian was always intrigued by her, which in turn was what made her intrigued by him. Now when she was just talking to him, Lyra felt a different kind of happiness when she knew that his insecurities had been cleared up.

She was starting to feel overwhelmed with all these new emotions coming to her. They were much stronger than anything she's ever felt before. Lyra longed to be apart of something like this for a long time, where she was in a group that cared for her just as much. But adding to the fact that she just didn't fit nor understood what was happening with Kylian, Lyra was too overwhelmed and had to get away to sort out her thoughts.