You're Attractive but Bitter

I probably looked like an idiot just by standing there frozen in my steps. Once I got a hold of myself, I blinked twice and noticed that Kyle was looking at me. No actually he was starting towards me.

“You okay?” he asked. Concern filling his tone

“Yea sorry,” I said and smiled hiding the deep embarrassment.

“Wanna come in? We’re gonna have a band practice,” he said gesturing to his house.

“No, actually I was just going for a walk.” I said and he nodded. He walked back to his house and I started my walk. I decided to go to the lake and just reminisce and spend time to myself. For some reason, I just needed time to think and be alone. I’m not emo or anything but I guess it’s just one of my old habits.

When I reached the lake, I sat beside a tree and just watched the still water in the lake. I checked my phone for the time. It was already 4:40 pm and my mother told me to be back by six? That’s impossible.

As I watched the water, I started to remember all the things that happened here and I remembered that Kyle and I carved something on a tree. I got up to look at which tree we drew on. I found the tree near the worn out bench that was on the opposite side of the lake and I looked around the tree trunk to see what we carved on it. When I saw the carvings, a smile instantly made its way to my face. There were initials on the trunk. KB and KN. A long time ago, it surprised us that we both had more or less the same initials but in different places. Yes, we were ignorant but hey we were also kids. Under the initials, there were five more letters and they were: WWRTW. I tried to think about what exactly it meant. After a time of thinking, I remembered that it meant: We Will Rule the World. I smiled to myself as I touched the carvings. It was funny how simple carvings and old memories made my day.

I walked around some more and rounded the lake a couple times. When I got tired, I lay down on the worn out bench near the tree and watched the glaring sun. My eyes started to hurt so I just shut them and felt the warm breeze that surrounded me. And after a while, I drifted away from reality to a world of dreams.

The vibration in my pocket was more or less the alarm clock that woke me up and when I opened my eyes, I noticed that it was really dark. So much for staring at the sun. I quickly got my phone out of my pocket and answered it.

“Where are you?” My mother asked. Weirdly she wasn’t angry.

“Umm, I’m at the lake.” I said checking the time. 5:59 pm. I sighed in relief and placed my phone back in my ear.

“Oh, well, dinner is ready so you might as well start heading back here,” she said.

“Okay, I’m on my way,” I said and I out down the phone.

I didn’t know that it would be cold at night so I didn’t bring along a jacket or a sweater. Well actually I wasn’t planning to stay here that long so I didn’t really think I’d need anything but the clothes that were on me.

I rushed home and walked briskly. Luckily, no one was out of their house to watch me shiver all the way home. Once I went in the front door, I saw my dad reading the newspaper and lounging in the living room.

“Hey Dad,” I greeted him as I sat beside him.

“Hey, you had fun at the lake?” he asked me putting away the newspaper. That was I guess one of the things I loved about my dad. He listens to you when you talk.

“Well, I was kinda alone but yea, reminiscing was fun,” I said.

“Dinner’s ready,” my mother called from the kitchen and we both got up.

“Well, I’m glad you had some fun,” he said and I smiled. We went to the kitchen and had a pleasant dinner with my mother.

After we ate, I helped my mother wash the dishes as my father cleared the table. We were what you could call a typical happy family and I was happy with that. I washed my hands when I finished and wiped them with a towel. After a while, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get that,” I said and walked towards the door.

I opened the door and surprised to see Kyle on the other side.

“Hey cuz,” he said with a smile.

“Hey,” I said letting him in.

“Kate, who was it?” my mother asked from the kitchen.

“It’s Kyle,” he said and my mother came out from the kitchen.

“Why hello Kyle,” my mother said with my dad following her.

“Hey, umm, I was just wondering if I could borrow Kate over here for a while,” Kyle said with a big grin.

“Sure,” my mother said.

“As long as she’s back by 11 pm.” My father added.

“Yes sir,” Kyle said and he dragged me out before I could say anything back to my parents.

“What’s up?” I asked him as soon as we were outside.

“Oh nothing, I just wanted to spend some quality time with my cousin. Oh and I wanted you to meet my friends,” he said and my stomach started to churn. Meeting Caleb Turman wasn’t in my to-do list.

“I see,” I said and I let him drag me in.

We went to the basement without greeting Kyle’s parents but he told me that they were out of town for a while so he was practically alone. I just wondered why he wanted me to meet his friends badly. Once we went in the door, I saw five other people lounging inside. Three of them were playing Guitar Hero: World Tour while the other one watched and the other one, Caleb, was strumming at the back with an acoustic guitar.

“Hey guys, meet my cousin, Kate,” Kyle said and everyone stared.

“Uh, hi,” I said shyly.

“Okay, Kate, the one singing is Jonathan; the one on the guitar is my step brother, Marc, the one on drums is Austin, the one watching them play is Kent and the one over there is Caleb.” He introduced and they all said their hellos.

“Uh…stepbrother?” I whispered to Kyle.

“Yea, my parents got divorced and then my mom remarried,” he whispered back and then sat beside Kent waiting for his turn.

“Hey,” Caleb said from his seat at the back. I smiled and walked towards him without thinking.

“Hi,” I said sitting across him.

“You seem familiar,” he said putting down his guitar. He stared at me for what seemed like a while and then I felt my face turn hot.

“I d-do?” I stuttered.

“Yea, wait aren’t you-“he said trying to remember “We were classmates in kindergarten,” he said.

Yea and you kicked sand in my face. Do you remember that? I thought to myself

“Oh right,” I said faking the innocence. Of course I knew we were classmates. I just had a dream for crying out loud.

“So how are you?” he asked and we started talking about what happened while we were apart. But somehow, I couldn’t decipher everything that he said. My eyes just kept observing his physical appearance and I think that maybe, just maybe, we would be great friends…or maybe even something more…