You Promised Me the World

Dinner date, that was all it took for Kennedy’s blood to boil. Two words that spilled effortlessly from Garrett’s lips like it was no big deal, like that information wasn’t enough to virtually go to war.

Justin Richards and Emma Thomas had gone on a dinner date, his good friend and ex-fiancé had gone on a dinner date. He had to repeat it over and over to even understand it. It was too much for him to take in, far too much for Kennedy to digest as he sat in Garrett’s kitchen and watched him pace back and forth between the counter and the fridge.

“Who saw them?”

“I was their waitress,” the girl sitting to his left said in the most nonchalant tone he had ever heard.

Heather, Garrett’s long time girlfriend, had never been the most subtle girl. She had been nicknamed “mouth” freshman year, not because of the perverted reason most people quickly assumed, but because she could never keep anything a secret.

“I still can’t believe this,” Kennedy sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers.

Heather scoffed. “Did you really expect her to not have moved on by now?”

Raising his eyes to glance over at her he smiled weakly. “Does it make me an idiot to say yes?”

“Yes.”

It had been two weeks or so since Kennedy had dropped by Emma’s apartment; it was the best two weeks of his life it seemed. He had never felt so normal, he was so upbeat at practice, hung out with the guys, and it was as if everything that had happened was in the past. Kennedy was ready to move forward, he didn’t feel like he was constantly stuck in one place, always feeling the pain of guilt in his chest. That was until Garrett and Heather had opened their big mouths.

“I’m surprised it took her this long actually,” the red head smirked, finishing the last bit of her juice. “I know if Garrett di-“

“Heather,” Garrett snapped softly, cutting her off before she could finish what the two boys knew she was going to say.

Waving his hand in the air absently, Kennedy stood from his place at the island. “It’s cool dude, I’ll call you later.”

Everybody had an opinion, it was almost impossible for Kennedy to escape them. He had been branded, called names that he couldn’t even remember now, things that he had swept under the rug as if he hadn’t even heard them.

He couldn’t deny that he still loved the bright cheerleader he had always loved. He couldn’t pretend that he hadn’t royally screwed up. He also couldn’t deny that he wished things could have been different, that they didn’t have to act like they hated each other’s guts. She needed to hate him, she had every right to hate him actually, and he needed to let her.

He had to accept the fact that what had happened, what he had let happen, destroyed everything; he had to live with that for the rest of his life, even though he didn’t want to.

As he walked quickly towards his car the harsh memories flooded back to his mind, mixing with the subtle hints of the past couple of weeks.

Kennedy wasn’t stupid, he had seen the shared look between them that night at Max’s, heard the faint sound of lips on skin. His mind naturally jumped to conclusions, they had kissed, lips quickly pressing together in a good-bye. He hadn’t seen it, but he knew.

He couldn’t really blame her either; it was only a matter of time really. Justin had something that Kennedy didn’t. He had mystery, a sense of maturity, a quiet confidence that was never masked by weird jokes, and he could write a love song like it was nobody’s business.

Justin was a good friend, one of his best. But now Kennedy could feel himself thinking of what weapons he could arm himself with, calculating a strategy that he would need to go into battle.

He was torn right down the middle, one half of him still unconditionally in love with Emma and ready to fight for it, the other half accepting that he had messed up and needed to let it go.

Kennedy could remember the moment he had fallen in love with her like it was yesterday, and he could remember the moment he had actually said the words “I love you” to her.

Both stories were simple, a lot less thrilling than what movies and television painted those moments to be like.

She was hunched over the island, studying the open flyer in front of her extremely carefully. She would occasionally bring her index finger up to her lips, bite at the acrylic nail gently as she contemplated the amount of wings and pizza she would need to feed everyone. The lush curls of her auburn hair were pulled loosely into a bun that sat at the nape of her neck, a few stray pieces falling to frame her face. She had no make-up on; the large t-shirt did nothing for the lean figure Kennedy knew it was hiding, just as the baggy grey sweat pants hid her legs, which always gave off the illusion that they were longer than they really were.

There was no reason why this particular moment was different from every other moment they spent together as an official couple, but something inside of him screamed that this was different. There was no explaining it, he just knew.

While she contemplated over the many options laid out in front of her, Kennedy stood back and watched in silence. His heart seemed to be beating at a rapid pace, and not because he was nervous. He could feel the sweat dampen his forehead ever so slightly, knowing it wasn’t because of the Arizona heat since they were standing in her air-conditioned kitchen. No, this full body reaction only had one explanation: Kennedy Brock was in love with Emma Thomas.

The thought scared him; it hadn’t exactly been a record setting relationship yet. They hadn’t reached many of the milestones a lot of their friend’s had, but this wasn’t something he could ignore. It couldn’t have been made any clearer unless cupid floated into the room and shot the arrow right between his eyes.

That day was just another day to her, but to Kennedy it was another day that changed everything for him. He wouldn’t feel that kind of change again for months.

It was mostly quiet, late; he could hear the faint sound of crickets, his friends still laughing, and the shallowness of her breathing. He knew that she was asleep, had been for the better part of an hour. He stared beyond the thick material of their tent, the fire that still burned kept his eyes focused, but his mind was elsewhere.

It was on the moment they had shared earlier, before she had asked him to come in the tent just until she fell asleep. She hated trying to sleep alone out in the open; her mind worked too hard and tried to figure out every little sound. She always came to the conclusion that she could hear footsteps; it had been that way ever since she had seen The Blair Witch Project.

They had been sitting around the campfire, his arm slung around her shoulders to hold her close. She was wearing his sweater, a sweater she was still bundled up in now as she slept. They were all laughing as John strummed away at a guitar and begun to sing an awful song they all knew.

As everyone slowly began to join in one by one, their voices growing louder with each lyric creating an official sing-a-long, Kennedy pulled Emma a little closer to his side. He pressed his lips to her ear, sang a few notes softly before he whispered that he loved her.

He was expecting the worst, for her to freeze and rip away from him in horror like it was far too soon to say such a thing. As if he was rushing a moment that should be waited on, saying words that meant far too much at that point because they couldn’t possibly feel those things yet.

Everything around him seemed to be put on mute; he could no long hear the loud voices of his friends or the chords John was strumming on the guitar. He was waiting, waiting for her to say it back, or waiting for her to shut him down. But like always, she did the unexpected.

She pulled back, not in horror, but in a slow and careful manner. Her eyes were calm, the corner of her lips upturned ever so slightly like she was trying to hold back the large smile that wanted to spread across her face.

“I love you too,” floated up through the air and into Kennedy’s ears before she leaned forward to place a soft kiss on his lips.

Those two simple moments had meant so much to him then, and even more now especially with the revelation that she was moving on.

The battle within him seemed to rage when he thought about those memories, it reaffirmed for him that he was not over her, but also made the realization that he had let one of the best things in his life slip away even stronger.

So now he had to decide what to do. Did he forget what Heather and Garrett had told him, continue to move forward with his life or did he start the war?