With These Words

“Hey,” Kyle walked in the bakery and straight behind the counter before engulfing me in a quick hug.

“Hey,” I mumbled into his chest. I couldn’t really hug him back, due to the fact that I was holding two crumpled dollar bills and seventy eight cents in my hands.

Blushing, I pulled away and gave the customer waiting a somewhat sympathetic look. I slipped her money in the register and handed her the receipt. “Thanks,” I smiled. “Come again.”

She snatched up her doughnut and headed out the door.

I sighed and turned to face Kyle.

“Hey,” He smiled again.

“You’re here early,” I looked at the clock. It was only ten minutes after eight.

“Yeah,” He shrugged and leaned back against the counter. “I guess.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Ok?” He was being weird. I mean, he was always kind of weird…but this was a different weird. It was like he was uncomfortable.

“It’s just,” He shook out his wild hair. “I was kinda bummed last night…”

“Bummed?”

“You know,” he shrugged again. “Like, it wasn’t…complete.”

“Complete?” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

He laughed lightly. “You’re really killing me here, Georgia.”

“What?” I held my hands up in defense and laughed. “How am I supposed to know what you’re saying? Just spit it out.”

“You really want me to just come out and say it?” He smirked.

I put my hands on my hips. “Well yeah, Kyle,” I sighed. “That’d be great. Then we could maybe…oh, I don’t know, have a conversation! Because this,” I waved my finger between us. “Is totally getting us nowhere and I ju---”

He took my face in his hands, stopping the words from tumbling out of my mouth.

I looked into his eyes. The blue was overwhelming.

He smiled and easily pressed his lips to mine, his fingers getting caught in the hair behind my ears.

My eyes widened. Here I was, kissing Kyle, in the middle of the bakery. My hair was a knotted mess due to my lack of sleep, and my t-shirt already had numerous flour stains.

But, at the moment, it was like I didn’t care.

I didn’t care that I looked gross. I didn’t care that a customer could walk in and see us. I didn’t even care that my boss’s door could fly open at any second.

The only thing that mattered was Kyle, and the way that he made me feel. It was like it didn’t matter to him that I had no real sense of style, a boring sense of humor, and no athletic ability in the slightest.

Before I really knew what I was doing, I slipped my arms up around his shoulders.

He eagerly took the invitation and pulled me closer, dropping one hand down to my waist.

I liked him. Who was I kidding? It made me nervous that there were still big pieces of him I didn’t know, but the pieces that I did know, I liked. A lot.

I liked his predictable clothes. I liked the tiny crinkles that formed around his eyes when he smiled. I liked how he’d call me just to recite the lame jokes he’d find on candy wrappers. I liked how he’d remember all my likes and dislikes. I liked him.

But wow. These spontaneous kisses were getting the best of me.

“Kyle,” I mumbled. I slowly eased him away from me.

He squeezed my waist with one hand, and pushed a stray hair off my face with the other.

“We um…” I glanced towards my boss’s door. “We can’t do this here…”

He smiled. “Let me take you out to dinner.”

I looked at him.

“To a movie, or something!” He took me by the shoulders. “Go on a freaking date with me, Georgia!”

I blushed and looked down at my feet. “Yes?” I answered awkwardly. Accepting dates wasn’t one of my specialties.

“Really?” He laughed.

“You big nerd,” I laughed and pushed his arms off my shoulders.

“What?” He grinned widely. “I’m not allowed to be excited when the girl of my dreams finally doesn’t reject me?”

“Girl of your dreams?” I smirked.

“You know it, babe,” he gave me a one more quick peck on the lips. “I’m picking you up at four, ok?”

“Kyle, if we re going on a date, I’m going to need to change,” I looked down at my frumpy clothes.

He smiled. “First, I don’t care what you wear. Second, clearly I’m not going to be prepared to take you out on a date with only a few hours of planning!”

“Then what are we doing at four?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You want to hang with the guys? Kent’s birthday is coming up and we’re kind of going to throw him a little party. Or something like that.”

“Uh…sure…” I nodded.

“How about tomorrow night?” He asked arching his eyebrow. “For our date?”

I laughed at the sound of it. It was like this was all in my head.

“Yes?” he was confused.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Sure.”

“Great,” he smiled again. “And four? For Kent’s semi non-party?”

“Sure,” I laughed again. “I always love a good…semi non-party.”

“Georgia?” My boss poked her head out of her office. “Do you think that you could…” he voice trailed off when she spotted Kyle. “I’m sorry,” she stepped completely out of her office now. “Employees only behind the counter. Company policy.”

“Oh, right,” Kyle nodded to her and jogged around to the other side of the counter. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

She eyed him. “Did you place an order?”

“No, I was just leaving,” He smiled. “Your doughnuts are fantastic though.” He looked to me and waved. “I’ll catch you later, Georgia.”

“Um, bye?” I tugged on my apron.

He grinned and hurried out of the bakery.

“Georgia?” My boss placed her hand on her hip. “Can you please refresh your boyfriend on the no loitering policies when he shows up tomorrow?”

“Oh, trust me,” I laughed to myself. “I think he’s aware of the policies.”

She frowned. “Just keep it on the costumer side of the counter please?” She nodded before heading back towards her office. “And there’s a whole mess of pans that need washing,” she glanced over her shoulder at me before closing the door to her office.

I sighed and leaned back on the glass casing. All the dirty pans in the world couldn’t bring me down. Not today at least.

::;::

Kyle picked me up after work just like he said he would.

“You got pastries?” he asked I pulled open the passenger door.

“Yep,” I set the large pink box on the floor and quickly climbed inside, thankful for the air conditioning.

“Nice,” He checked his mirrors before pulling out onto the street.

“Are we going to your house?” I asked buckling my seat belt and pushing my bangs out of my eyes.

“Uh…” He carefully passed the slow moving car in front of us. “No,” he glanced at me. “I think it’s at…well, I don’t know,” he grabbed his iphone out of the cup holder and held it out to me. “Can you text Austin for me?”

“Huh?” I took it from him and ran my thumb over the screen.

“Just ask where everyone is,” he shrugged.

“Ok…” I looked over all the apps. “How do I get to a new message thing?” I asked, my finger poised over all the tiny buttons.

He laughed. “Just go to my contacts and call him, ok?”

“Alright…” I shrugged and managed to tap the little icon. I scrolled through all the ‘A’s”. “Abbey, Adrianna, Adrienne, Adela, Anna, Annie…” I read aloud. Wow there was a lot of girls. I ignored it though and sought out Austin. I quickly tapped his name. He picked up after the first ring.

“Dude, what’s taking you so long!” It wasn’t Austin. It was Caleb, and he sounded annoyed.

“Hello?” I glanced at Kyle.

“Georgia?” Caleb perked up. “Is that you?”

“Well, yeah,” I nodded.

“And to what do I owe this honor?” I could picture his usual grin.

“I’m calling to ask where you guys are.”

“You’re coming to Kent’s birthday bonanza?” He sounded pleased.

“I guess?” I moved the phone to my other ear.

“Sweeeeeettttt! This is going to be epic.”

“I’m bringing doughnuts,” I looked at the bright box sitting snuggly between my feet.

“Danish twist--”

“With raspberry filling.” I finished for him. “Of course.”

Kyle looked at my questioningly.

“Perfect,” Caleb’s voice filled my ear. “Well we’re at Kyle’s house right now actually.”

“Oh?”

“Si, Senorita.”

“I didn’t know you were bilingual,” I mused with a smile.

“Few people do,” He laughed lightly. “So are you kids on your way?”

“Yep,” I looked out the window. I felt like I had been on this drive many times before. “Maybe three minutes?” I estimated. I looked to Kyle and pulled the phone away from my ear. “They’re at your house.”

He nodded and changed lanes.

“I guess I’ll see you then,” I told Caleb bringing the phone back up to my ear.

“Great. I’d hurry though if I were you,” he warned easily. “Kent’s going to be here soon and Austin’s already eaten half of the key lime pie.”

I laughed. “In that case, I’ll tell Kyle to throw the speed limits out the window.”

“Oh, the prude wouldn’t go more then two miles over.”

“Goodbye,” I told him with a chuckle. “I’ll see you in a few.” I ended the call and held Kyle’s phone in my lap.

“Did Austin say what time Kent was coming?” Kyle glanced over at me.

“Uh,” I contemplated telling him that I had talked to Caleb, but what was the point? It didn’t make a difference anyhow. “He said he was going to be there soon?”

He nodded and turned onto his street. “We’ll have to hurry then.”

For the heck of it, I looked over at the speedometer. The sign we passed said the speed limit was thirty. Kyle was driving at approximately twenty eight miles an hour.

I smiled to myself and set his phone back in the cup holder.

“Hey, kids,” Austin pulled the door open and ushered us in. “Kent is 0.4 miles away.”

“And I’m the stalker?” Kyle mumbled in my ear.

I laughed and followed Austin down the hall to Kyle’s kitchen. Marc and Jonathan were sitting at the table eating pie, and Caleb was laying on the couch watching a baseball game.

“Georgia!” Jonathan wiped the whipped cream from his chin. “Want some pie?”

“Guys!” Austin pulled the pie away from them. “It was supposed to be Kent’s birthday pie!”

“You only bought the one pie?” Kyle pulled out the last available chair at the table and sat down. “Does Kent even like lime?”

The guys all looked at each other with blank faces.

“Well,” Austin finally shrugged. “I like limes.”

Marc grinned. “Me too.”

“Me three,” Jonathan stabbed his piece of pie with his fork and took another bite.

“Guys?” Kent opened the door slowly. He took a step inside the house and closed the door behind him. He took a few steps down the hall. “Guys?” He repeated.

“Kent!” Austin slapped him on the back. “How’s it going?”

“Great?” He sounded confused. “What’s up?” He looked around. “Why did I have to rush over here?”

“Well…” Austin grinned and stepped aside, showcasing Jonathan with more whipped cream on his face, and Marc with his mouth full of pie. He waved his arms around. “This is for you!”

Kent looked to Kyle. “What is for me…?”

“The pie!” Austin sighed loudly. He picked up the remains and held it out to Kent. “Happy early birthday!”

Kent still looked confused. “A half eaten…” he stuck his finger in the pie and tasted it. “key lime pie?” He made a face.

“You don’t like it?” Marc took another bite. “It’s delicious.”

“Yeah,” Jonathan nodded his agreement. “Do you have taste buds?”

Marc laughed and they high-fived.

“I think there’s some ice cream in the freezer,” Kyle offered.

“Yeah!” Austin was still excited. “Ice cream!”

Kent laughed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Well thanks guys…this is…nice.”

“No problem, bro,” Jonathan licked his fork.

“The game’s on too,” Austin told Kent pointing to the TV Caleb was still watching.

“Nice,” Kent pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “Ice cream first,” he headed towards the freezer.

“Georgia!” Caleb called to me.

I looked to the couch. He sat up and patted the empty space next to him. “You like baseball?”

I scrunched up my nose. “Not so much…”

He smiled and motioned me over. “Come on.”

I ambled over to him, my flip flops slapping against the tile floor.

“You don’t like key lime pie either?” He asked as I sat down next to him. He pointed to his empty plate. “I think I had like three pieces.”

I laughed. “Fatty.”

“Hey,” he grinned and pinched my side. “It’s all those calories I burn off during the shows. I need to stock up now.”

“Sure, sure,” I leaned back against the couch and stared at the screen. An acne infomercial was on.

“So how’s the bakery?” He asked twirling his thumbs around.

I shrugged. “It doesn’t vary much…oh, and I left the doughnuts in the car.”

He smiled. “I think I’m too full on pie anyway,” he patted his stomach and shifted in his seat.

I looked back to the screen. The acne infomercial was still on.

Caleb sighed and turned down the volume. I could barley hear the gorgeous girl on the TV telling me I could have perfect skin in close to twenty four hours.

I glanced over at him and he smiled. “Are you ok?” He looked slightly pale.

“Huh?” He pushed the red hair off his forehead. “Well now that you mention it…” he shifted again.

“You’re sick?”

He adjusted his t-shirt. “I think it’s the pie.”

“Well you did eat quite a bit…” I nodded to his plate.

He smiled. “I told you. I need to stock up.”

“Caleb,” I laughed. “I don’t think it works like that.”

He sighed. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Are you going to be ok?”

“Oh, sure,” he waved me off. “I’m great.”

I still watched him. He was looking slightly flushed.

He smiled. “So you sure you don’t like baseball?”

I shrugged and looked back to the TV. The game was back on. “Well I’ve never actually watched it,” I admit. “I think sporting events tend to bore me.”

“How peculiar,” his eyes flickered back to the screen.

“Georgia, you want pie?” Kyle asked holding up a paper plate. “There’s only two pieces left!”

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m good.”

“You don’t like limes,” he nodded knowingly and held up his finger. “Got it.”

I smiled and he grinned goofily.

“Aw, you see that!” Caleb interrupted my thoughts. He reached over me and pointed to the screen. “That was great. Did you see how he stole the base?”

“Um, no…” I shook my head and tore my eyes away from Kyle.

“Georgia,” He pouted. “How am I supposed to show you the enjoyment of televised sports if your not even watching?”

“Sorry?”

He laughed and patted my knee. “Whatever, Georgia.”

“Careful there,” I brushed he hand away. “You might flour up your hand.”

“What?” He looked at the white marks all over my jeans and grinned. “I think I’ll be ok,” he looked up at me. “But thanks,” he squeezed my hand.

I blushed and tried to watch one of the many players run around the bases. Baseball had never interested me.

Caleb shifted lower and groaned.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” I returned my hand to my lap and studied his freckled face.

“Hmmmmmm?” He stretched his legs out. “Well maybe some air would be nice…”

“You sure?” I raised my eyebrows. “’cause I swear, if you throw up, I’m going to throw up.”

“Well I think it would be best if we stop talking about throwing up then,” he smiled and stood up. He pulled me up with him. “Let’s hit the patio.”

“Where you kids going?” Austin asked pouring himself some lemonade.

“Patio,” Caleb mumbled and rubbed his stomach. “I need some air.”

“You sick?” Jonathan was still stuffing himself with pie.

“Something like that,” Caleb shrugged.

“Don’t get her sick,” Kyle warned. “We’ve got plans,” he gave me a wink.

I blushed and awkwardly cleared my throat. Caleb might be sick because of the pie, but I was feeling sick because of the butterflies Kyle was constantly causing me to have.

“Yeah, yeah,” Caleb rolled his eyes and guided me toward the sliding glass door.

Once we stepped outside, I sucked in the hot Dallas air.

“I’m ready for fall,” Caleb announced pushing the door closed behind him.

I followed him over to the metal table and we sat down.

“Me too,” I slipped my feet out my flip flops and pressed them to the hot cement. “It’s too hot.”

“True that,” he closed his eyes and tilted his face towards the sun.

“Is your stomach hurting?”

He smiled, revealing his straight white teeth. “Yeah, but not too bad I guess. It’s a come and go type of thing.”

I nodded and leaned back against the chair. I was really wishing Kyle had given me the opportunity to go home and change into some shorts.

“You want to go catch a movie later?” He asked opening one eye.

“What?” I was still thinking of Kyle.

“A movie,” he repeated. He closed his eye again.

“I don’t know,” I scrunched up my toes. The purple polish was chipping. “You’re sick.”

He shrugged. “It’s probably just bad pie, you know. I’m sure I’ll be over it in like an hour.”

“Caleb,” I laughed and slipped my shoes back on, relieving them of the heat. “I’m not going anywhere with you if you’re going to throw up.”

“You came outside,” he countered with a sly grin.

I smiled and shook my head. “Maybe next time.”

He laughed. “I’m pretty determined, Georgia.”

I looked up at him. His hands were folded across his stomach and he was tapping his foot to whatever song was playing in his head. “Determined to do what?” I was confused. But that was Caleb. One second we were just joking around, the next he’d take it to a weird, slightly-flirty mood, then he’d be back to whatever. I figured he was just moody.

He shrugged and smiled again. “I guess we’ll find out.”

I bit my lip. What was he talking about? I think the pie was getting the to him, because he was talking crazy.