Heartaches Grow a Little Bit Stronger

Hearing the doorbell ring, I sniffed softly and forced myself to my feet. Taking a deep breath, I let it out in a loud sigh and then cleared my throat before I made my way into the hallway and toward the front door. I checked my reflection in the mirror hanging in the hallway to make sure that I was presentable before I unlocked the door and opened it slightly.

The bright evening light shone in through the crack and made me squint my eyes. After my momentary blindness had subsided, I recognized Kyle's tall, slim figure standing in my doorway.

"Hey, sweetheart." He whispered softly. "How are you doing today?"

"Still feeling crap lousy." I mumbled.

Kyle gave me a sad look and then raised his hand, gently pushing the door open a little more so he could come in. I stepped aside, letting him pass, before I closed the door behind him. As soon as I turned around, I found myself face to face with Kyle once again. He tilted his head to the side a bit and then studied me with his blue eyes for a few seconds before his frown deepened.

"Come here." He cooed, holding his arms out to me.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat as a couple of tears fell from my eyes and then stepped toward, letting Kyle take me into his arms. I cried softly into his chest while he whispered sweet words of comfort into my ear.

I usually wasn't the type of girl who let her emotions get the best of her. Ask anyone I know and they'll tell you that it's very rare for me to cry. However, during these past couple of days it feels as if my world has been tossed upside down. The boy I had been with for the past five years had decided it was time for a change, and moved to St. Louis without even one word to me, except to say that he wasn't coming back.

It's hard to be thrust into this type of situation, especially when the person who had put me into the situation was someone I had been in love with.

"Allie J," He whispered, using his nickname for me, "you've been cooped up in your apartment for three days now. You should hop into the shower and get yourself freshened up. We'll go out and grab some dinner somewhere, okay?"

I nodded my head the best I could, seeing as how it was still resting against his chest. Pulling away from him, I wiped the messy tears from my face, and did my best to avoid Kyle's eyes. Though I had been crying my eyes out for the past couple of days, I still didn't want anybody to see me like this, least of all Kyle. He had always told me that I was the strongest person he knew, but seeing me like this would completely contradict his words.

Kyle, however, didn't seem to care about the endless tears running down my face. He reached over and cupped my chin in his hand, causing me to look up at him.

"Sweetheart, please don't cry." He whispered. "I know it hurts; I know that it hurts like hell. But please don't cry. I hate seeing you like this, mainly because I don't know what to do to make you feel better. You're one of my best friends, and when I see one of my best friends so down and hurt, it kills me." He mumbled. "Please, just tell me what I can do to help; I don't want to see you cry anymore." He said softly.

Biting my lip slightly, I shrugged my shoulders. "I honestly don't know, Kyle. I don't know what to do now."

Kyle sighed softly and reached up with his freehand, lending his help in wiping away my tears. Once he was satisfied, he leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead gently.

"Well, how about we start with dinner, and go from there." He suggested. "Sound good?"

Slowly, I nodded my head in agreement.

"Alright then, sweetie," he said, "go take a shower so we can go somewhere."

Giving me a quick hug before he released me, he mentioned something about going to check his e-mail while I was doing my business. Slowly, I headed down the hallway and to the bathroom.

I took a cold shower, hoping that it would help strip myself of the depression and gloom that had collected around me. It succeeded in removing most of the stress from my body, but I still felt that sense of emptiness in the pit of my stomach. Turning off the shower, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my body and crossed the hallway to my room.

I saw Kyle standing at the closet, pulling out some clothes for me to wear.

"They said it's gonna be hot tonight." He said, tossing me a pair of shorts.

I caught them and laid them out on the bed while Kyle searched for a top.

"Tomas sent me a text while you were in the shower." Kyle said. "Apparently he's been texting you, and trying to get a hold of you but you haven't been answering. He said he's gonna come over and spend the night with you."

"I hope he didn't make a big deal out of all this and tell my parents what happened." I mumbled. "Knowing them, they'll be fussing over everything if they found out."

"Well, I don't know about your parents, but I know that Tomas told Lucas what Mason did." Kyle sighed as he pulled out a t-shirt and handed it to me. "Apparently Lucas was going to make the drive from Chicago to St. Louis just to kick Mason's ass; the only thing that stopped him was the fact that he didn't know where the hell to find Mason."

I rolled my eyes slightly as I went to pull out a bra and a pair of panties. "Lucas has always been looking for a reason to fight Mason."

"I made reservations at Tokyo Froze for 6:30." Kyle said. "We gotta be out of here in fifteen minutes if we want to get there on time."

"Some privacy then, please." I replied, shooing him with my hand toward the door.

Kyle's steady gaze turned teasing in a heartbeat as his joyous smirk pulled across his face. "What? You don't want me to stick around and enjoy the view?" He laughed.

"You already got to enjoy the view the summer after our sophomore year." I said, a small smile pulling across my own lips. "But now you're an engaged man, Mr. Burns, so see your ass out to the living room."

Kyle laughed softly as he turned around and walked out of my room, closing the door behind him. I quickly dried my body and then wrapped my towel around my hair while I got dressed. A few minutes later, after I had dried my hair and done my makeup, I joined Kyle in the living room.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

I nodded my head as I grabbed my purse from the coffee table. "Yeah, let's go."

With that, we made our way outside and through my apartment complex to the parking lot. The ride to the restaurant was quiet, except for the sounds of evening traffic. We got to the restaurant just on time and were immediately seated at our table. Tokyo Froze was a sushi restaurant that Kyle and I came to on a regular basis, so we were friends with the people who worked there.

We were approached by our friend, Nick, who carried a couple of waters with him.

"Hey guys," he smiled as he set the waters down in front of us, "haven't seen you two in here in a while. How have you guys been?"

I sighed softly and shrugged my shoulders. "I've been better." I said truthfully.

"Aww, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Nick asked with a frown. "Mason giving you trouble?"

"Mason is now in St. Louis." Kyle mumbled.

Nick gave me a sad look and then shook his head. "Mason was a douche bag anyway." He said simply. "So, are you guys going to start with the usual tonight?"

Thinking to myself for a few seconds, I nodded my head.

"The first roll is on me, okay?" Nick said.

"Thank you, Nick." I called after him as turned around and went to turn in our order.

Watching him walk away, I reached for my water and took a sip. I gazed around the restaurant and studied the other people who were sitting around, eating or waiting for their food. Across from me, Kyle cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him. I looked across the table and saw him to be swirling around the ice cubes in his glass using his straw.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked, glancing up at me momentarily before he looked back to his water.

"I don't know." I sighed. "I'll probably end up getting dragged around town by Tomas. Why? Is there something going on tomorrow?"

"I was going to go into Guitar Center and put in the order for my new set." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "I was wondering if you wanted to go and help me pick it out."

"Hmm, that sounds good to me." I said, nodding my head. "And after we pick out your new set, we'll go shopping."

Kyle made a face as he looked at me. "Shopping?" He questioned.

"Yes." I said. "I need some more summer clothes, and some shoezies ... I was thinking about getting a new board too; the deck on mine is all fucked ... I thought it'd be better just to get a brand new one."

Kyle's expression brightened when I mentioned a new skateboard. "Yeah?" He asked. "And when we get you a new board, we'll have to go break it in, right?" He grinned.

"If it's still daylight by then, yeah." I replied.

"Alright," Kyle grinned, "it's a date."

I rolled my eyes slightly, and couldn't help but smile to myself. Kyle may claim that he don't know what to do to cheer me up whenever I was sad, but the truth was that he knew exactly what to do. As to whether or not he realized it, I'm not sure.

Kyle's personality was so carefree and cheerful that it was hard not to smile whenever you were around him. He was one of the sweetest people I knew, but I didn't dare tell him that to his face; he was a guy, and guys are always caught up with the whole macho thing.

I watched Kyle as he began to tap out a random beat on the edge of the table using his chopsticks, and was suddenly jealous of his fiancée, Madison. I hoped that she realized what kind of boy she had. I hoped she wouldn't take him for granted.