A Timeless Place

Chapter 61

The Card to Waltz

"Excuse me," I hated how weak my voice rang out and I immediately regretted drawing attention to myself. I strode out of the room as quickly as possible and everyone knew better than to stop me.

I flew blindly past the hallway, through the kitchen and ran into the closest room with a lock.

It was dad's office. Of course I'd end up here. The very place I had called out dad and Laurina. The very place he locked himself in whenever he was even home for more than two seconds. The very place I detested because these four walls imprisoned my father and kept him from me.

I hadn't been inside these walls since I was much younger. I shook my head as my vision grew blurry from the tears. I didn't even know why I was acting this way. I had been given clear instructions to act as though I was enjoying myself. But I just couldn't. I was hurting. And Wes was the source of it. Once upon another time, I had caged my feelings for him. The fear of what he could do to me was too much to bear and I pushed him away at every turn. I tried so hard to fight it. And I now knew I should have fought harder against him. It was all too much now.

I walked past the length of the room and reached the door on the other side of the room that lead to the backyard. At least now I had a few closed doors between Wes and I. Making my way through the gardens, I slumped into the closest bench I could find and willed myself not to cry. I knew this would happen- I took the leap, I climbed up that balcony. This was all my doing and here I was to pay the price.

"Kitty," a quiet voice came from around the corner to my right.

I jumped in startle, cursing how my heart fluttered in the hopes that it was Wes.

The footsteps rounded the corner and came to a stop in front of me. I looked up to the owner to find Kevin staring down at me with concerned eyes. Of course, I had already known that the voice belonged to Kevin, but my accursed heart wouldn't stop looking for someone that wasn't there. For someone that wouldn't come.

"I'm sorry, Kitty," Kevin bowed his head apologetically.

"For what?" my voice was pathetically small. "About Wes and I? I'm sorry too."

"No, it was the way I acted back there," Kevin explained, abashed.

"You were only stating the truth," I reassured him.

"No, it wasn't just that," Kevin sighed, sitting down next to me tentatively. He breathed in deeply before continuing. "I was just upset."

I looked up at him in surprise. What could he possibly have to be upset about? His eyes looked up into mine with conflicted emotions.

"You see," Kevin bit his lip in consideration. His forehead was slightly creased where his eyebrows knitted together in uncertainty. I could tell the uncertainty was not regarding what he had to say. No, he seemed very certain about that. However, the uncertainty lay in whether or not he should say it.

"I would have hated to think that you didn't choose me because of some temporary fling," Kevin's jaw hardened as his eyes directly pierced mine in newfound determination. "Because you broke my heart, Kitty. And the only way that would have been okay with me is for me to believe that you had found a great love- a paramount, unbreakable love. I know it's foolish and naïve of me to think that. But I wanted to believe that you didn't just throw away us for someone you didn't truly love."

"Oh, Kevin," I reached for his hands but before I could, he withdrew away from me.

"It's okay, Kitty," he breathed in deeply and managed a small smile. "You don't have to say anything."

"No, I do," I reached for his hands, in determination this time. His eyes lit up in surprise and he looked up at me inquiringly.

"Kevin, you've been amazing to me, you truly have been. And I honestly don't know where I'd be without you," I smiled a reminiscent smile at the mischievous flirty boy I met during detention. Who knew he'd be able to squeeze past the small tight circle of friends in this insecure girl's life. And I had to let him know how much he was worth to me, "I know you said maybe in another life time we'd be together if things were different there, and I don't know if that would be true. But no matter how many different versions of reality there are, I know I'd want to know you in every single one of them. I didn't reject you because I chose Wes over you. You are amazing within your own right, Kev. And as your friend, I'm never going to stop trying to make you see that."

Kevin looked deeply into my eyes, his ice blue irises a sea of emotion. At last, the corners of his lips slipped upwards into a familiar warm smile.

"I'd be your friend in every version of reality too, Kitty," he replied, squeezing my hands in response. "But you could, you know, feed my pride a bit by letting me know if giving you up was all for something."

I chuckled at his persistence and let go of his hands in fake annoyance, "Geez, you're worse than gossiping high school girls!"

He grinned at me, expectantly awaiting an answer.

I laughed, trying not to fully indulge him, "I'm trying to do as you advised me- to trust a little and have faith."

"Even after all that's happened?" Kevin wondered, looking up in the distance as he considered my answer. His question wasn't intended to judge but to probe the certainty of my feelings.

"I'm laying down all my cards on the table," I explained. "No more running away."

"You still haven't answered my question, though," he looked back at me and smirked in expectation.

I rolled my eyes and gave in, "I do love him. I really do love Wes."

I heard a cough behind me and I swung around so fast I almost fell off the bench. There, leaning against the lamp post stood Wes. He had his hands in his pockets as he surveyed us passively from afar. It was now that we were away from the distractions of a boom box and male strippers that I finally noticed what he was wearing. He was all formal, with black dress pants and a tight-fitting dark crimson shirt. Did he have the same battle plan coming into tonight as I did with my fiery dress? I would have managed a smile at the ordinance of fate had I not been too distracted by how well that shirt stretched over his torso and broadened his shoulders in all the right places. I suddenly became jealous of the lamp post that was allowed to support the weight of his muscular body.

I shook my mind out of its reverie to remind myself that Wes was no longer mine. The closest I was to Wes right now was the property that he stood on. And I was no longer entitled to where my thoughts were straying towards.

Once I got over the shock of Wes' presence, the memories of my current conversation with Kevin flooded back and my cheeks quickly coloured at the realisation of what Wes had heard. I could have died of embarrassment. Even when we had been dating, I had never admitted to Wes that I had loved him. Did love him. My eyes shifted to Kevin beside me in shock. But all I could see from Kevin's face was a small innocent smile. I narrowed my eyes at him and gasped when I realised, "You knew Wes was there, didn't you?"

Kevin stood up in front of me and gave me a pointed look, "Just laying the last card you had left in your back pocket."

"I'm wearing a dress," I glared at him with raised eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes at me, before winking and departing.

Hey everybody! Hope you're enjoying 'A Timeless Place' so far :)
Just letting you know that I'll be taking  a 2 week break for my exams 

See you all then :)

~ TheNightMarauder