With These Words

I hugged my sweatshirt closer to by body as I waited outside the bakery for Kyle. He was late and I was starting to get nervous. He was never late. If anything, he was always early.

I looked up and down the street at I switched the big pink box to the others hand. It was filled with tasty frosted cup cakes that were left over from a wedding delivery. I decided to take them with me to game night.

After another two minutes I awkwardly wiggled my phone out of my pocket. I must have looked ridiculous to all the cars zipping by.

I scrolled down to Kyle’s name and pressed the phone to my ear.

“I’m so sorry,” were Kyle’s first words.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. He sounded like he was out of breath.

“Going for a jog?” I asked as I shifted my weight to the other foot.

“Yeah,” he huffed. “To my jeep. It’s parked around the corner. I’ll totally be there in like five minutes. Forget the speed limits.”

I raised my eyebrows. He really did forget to come and get me.

“Kyle, stop,” I told him. “I’ll just grab a bus, ok? No need for you to come all the way down town.”

“What? No,” I heard his car down slam and his engine start. “I’m coming to get you. Just hang tight, ok?”

“Kyle,” I sighed.

“I’m coming to get you,” he repeated.

“Alright,” I agreed. “But hurry because these cupcakes are getting heavy.”

He laughed. “I’ll be right there.”

I ended the call and shoved the phone back into my pocket.

Exactly eleven minutes later Kyle’s jeep rolled to a stop at the curb. I walked to the back seat and pulled it open, gently setting my cupcakes on the seat. I then quickly hopped in the passenger seat.
“Hey,” Kyle smiled as I buckled my seatbelt.

“Hi,” I sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he frowned. “Bethany and Haley wanted to hear the new songs we were working on and I…well I guess time just got away from me.”

“It’s cool,” I shrugged casually, but it was still disappointing. “So how’s monopoly?”

“Long,” he pulled into traffic. “We started at seven.”

“That is a long time,” I mused.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Are you winning?”

“No,” he shook his head and grinned. “I think Jonathan’s kind of happy that I’m not there.”

“Yeah?” I looked at him and smiled.

“I just wanted to see how many times we could get in prison,” he shrugged. “I’m sure there’s a record to break out there somewhere.”

I laughed. “Well no wonder he doesn’t want to be on your team!”

He smoothly shifted lanes. “You know…” He slipped his hand into mine. “We don’t have to go back there…”

“Kyle,” I laughed again. “It’s not my fault you made Jonathan angry. You could have just been a good team mate and, I don’t know, tried?”

“No,” he squeezed my hand. “I mean, we could go do something else. Maybe something a little less boring perhaps?”

“And miss out on game night?”

“Yeah,” he smiled.

“And where would we go?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“We can figure that out later,” he grinned wildly. “Are you up for it?”

“Well what about Caleb? I mean, he said he would wait for me and I’d hate to just leave him hanging…”

“I’m sure he’ll be ok,” he assured me. “in fact, I think he even got to be the top hat.”

I smiled. “How lucky for him.”

“Come on,” he squeezed my hand. “We can go get some food and catch a movie or something.”

“What about all the cupcakes?” I checked to make sure they weren’t rolling around in the back seat. The gray interior would not look good with bright pink frosting smears.

“We could sneak them into the theater,” he shrugged.

I still wasn’t sure. I wanted to hang out with Kyle, but I would feel bad just not showing up for Caleb.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Sure.” The butterflies in my stomach always got the best of me. I made a mental note to send Caleb an apology text later.

“Great,” Kyle smiled. “Do you like Italian?”

“It’s close to ten,” I checked the numbers on the dash for reassurance. “Is there any place that’s even open this late?”

He shrugged. “I’m sure we can find something.” He sped past the exit to his house.

As we continued down the road I casually looked over at him. Kyle Burns. He was at least a foot taller than me. His hair was messy in a way that I never would have pictured myself finding attractive, he had a nose ring that would probably give my mother a stroke, and he was a big time musician. The last part still got me. Since I’d met Kyle and the rest of the guys I’d started listening to their music. The CD Kyle had given was permanently playing in my stereo. Somehow though, when I was with Kyle, or any of the guys for that matter, the two didn’t connect. The boy who produced the rhythm for the music I was falling in love with was not the boy sitting to my left.

“What?” Kyle smiled and glanced over at me.

“Is it weird?” I asked. “Being like some big time musician?”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t say ‘big time musician’…”

“Really?” I smirked. “Because if I recall correctly, the first day I met you, you walked around like you were quite the big-shot.”

He laughed again, the sound filling the jeep. “To be honest, I don’t think any of us see it like that. We’re just playing music like we always have. Since high school even,” he looked at me. “Nothing’s changed.”

“But what about all the fans?” I asked. “I mean, at least every time we’re together five girls want your picture.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I don’t know.”

I shook my head. “And what about going on tours? Like playing for tons of people at once. Isn’t that crazy?”

“The traveling every part yeah. Spending countless hours on a small bus with those guys isn’t always the most fun…but the music part, it’s what we do. We love it.”

I tried to picture him up on stage with the rest of the guys. It wasn’t working though. The two separate images just wouldn’t connect. The Kyle I knew was the spontaneous guy who hung out at the bakery.

I sighed and slid lower down in my seat. My hand was still encased in his, and it felt nice.

“You alright?” he asked glancing over at me.

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly. “Sometimes it’s weird to think that you are kind of a big deal…”

He laughed again and stroked my hand with his thumb. “It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.”

“You sound like my dad,” I laughed and looked out the window. The lights of Texas were whizzing by. “Where are we going again?”

“It’s called mystery, Georgia,” he grinned. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

::;::

Ten minutes later we pulled up behind of a run down movie theater.

“Seriously?” I peered out the window. “Kyle, this place is creeping me out.”

“Why?” He laughed.

“Well look at it” I stared at what the headlights illuminated. All I could see were ugly cracked bricks and a dirty window.

“I know it doesn’t look like anything,” He patted my hand. “But this isn’t the cool part.”

“Yeah?” I looked at him.

“Well since it’s so late, this was the first thing that came to mind,” he unbuckled his seat belt and motioned for me to do the same.

“Oh boy,” I pushed open my door and looked around. There were a few other cars in the parking lot, so that was a good sign at least.

As we walked around the front there were some more bright lights.

“What is this place?” I asked.

He smiled and held open the front door for me. Inside were rows of couches. They ranged from corduroy to leather, floral to plaid. In front there was a small projector and a screen. A crackly black and white film was already playing.

Kyle walked up to the sleepy looking man to our left and gave him some money.

“Come on,” he whispered. He grabbed my hand and led me to the sagging red couch in the back. “The movie just started.”

“What movie?” I asked as he sat down and pulled me down next to him. There were a few other people scattered here and there.

“I’m not sure,” he shrugged. “But this place is open 24/7, and for a small fee you can watch as long as you like.”

“Wow,” I nodded and took in the rest of my surroundings. It smelled a little mildew-y and I didn’t even want to think about the last time this couch had been cleaned.

“Relax,” he laughed and looped his arm around me. He pulled me closer to him so I was nestled in the crook of his arm.

I breathed in and let my eye readjust to the darkness. I tried to watch the screen. There was some old lady in quite an unflattering dress yelling at a man I was guessing was her husband.

Kyle’s hand found the edges of my curly ponytail and he began twisting them gently around his fingers as his eyes contently followed the tiny screen in front of us.

I shifted slightly so I was more comfortable and leaned into his side. I studied the two people on the screen, trying to get into the movie. It was difficult though. Someone up front was snoring, clearly getting the most out of his money, and there were two high-school aged boys snapping on their gum. And then there was Kyle. Twisting and untwisting. Twisting and untwisting. I looked up at him. He was obviously having an easier time getting into the movie than I was. Either that or he thought the lady with the frumpy dress was too gorgeous to look away from.

I sighed to myself and leaned further back into the couch.

Kyle looked down at me. “What’s up?” He whispered, his lips grazing my ear. He pulled away so he could see my face.

I tried to think of something witty to say, but nothing came to mind. I only shrugged and offered him a smile.

He gave me a squeeze and the screen regained his attention.

Twisting and untwisting. Twisting and untwisting. Twisting and--

I tilted my chin up and pressed my lips to the corner of his jaw.

He looked down at me again and I couldn’t quite read him. It reminded me of the first time he kissed me; sitting on his kitchen floor wiping up a big puddle of spilt water.

“I feel like you’re not as into this movie as I am,” he smiled.

“You’re into it?” I asked surprised.

He shrugged and leaned down, softly pressing his lips to mine.

He pulled away and pressed his forehead to mine. “If you’re bored, we can leave.”

“No,” I whispered quietly. “This is fine.”

He smiled, revealing his straight white teeth. “You sure?”

Part of me wanted to tell him that I would have fun with him no matter what we were doing, even if it meant sitting on an antique couch watching a movie that was just as old. But I didn’t. Instead I nodded and offered him a smile.

He kissed me lightly one more time before returning to his normal position.

We ended up staying for two movies. I never was able to focus on the first one, but the second one was much better. It was slightly more modern with a cliché, but cute ending.

“That was nice,” I told Kyle as we walked back around the building to his jeep. I was trying to ignore the fact it was nearly three in the morning and I had to get up at six to go to work.

“I’m sorry it’s so late,” he yawned. “I know you have to work.”

“Yeah,” I frowned. “It’s ok though. I had fun,” I looked up at him and smiled.

He unlocked the jeep and pulled open my door for me. “Maybe next time we could do something at a more appropriate hour.”

“That would be awesome,” I told him as I climbed into the passenger seat. “And maybe something with a cleaner seating area?”

“Definitely,” he laughed. He closed my door and walked around to the driver’s side.

“I wonder if Caleb won monopoly,” I thought aloud.

“Probably,” he shrugged. “He was doing pretty well when I left.”

“That’s good,” I smiled. I was still feeling slightly lame for ditching him.

“Or I guess Jonathan could have. He wasn’t doing to---” the ring tone of his cell phone cut him off. “He um…” he struggled to finish his sentence as he dug his phone out of his pocket. “He wasn’t doing too bad either,” he mumbled looking at the caller ID.

I watched him glance up at the road then go back to his iphone.

“Hey,” he held it up to his ear. “What’s up?” He slowed down behind a rusty pick-up truck. “Yeah, well I mean it’s kind of late now…maybe tomorrow?” He looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah sure. See you then.” He ended the call and set his phone in one of the empty cup holders.

“Who was that?” I asked knowing it was probably Jonathan or Caleb wanting to work on some “band stuff”.

“Just this girl,” he shrugged. “Kelsey.”

“Kelsey?” I raised and eyebrow. “What did she want at 3:30 in the morning?”

He shrugged again. “I think she needs help moving the furniture around in her apartment. It’s kind of my forte,” He smiled and intertwined his fingers with mine. “I like to think of myself as a part-time interior decorator.”

“Oh,” I nodded. The words felt odd to me. I knew Kyle wasn’t my boyfriend and in no way did he belong to me, but I wasn’t aware he got phone calls from girls at random hours asking him to come help ‘move their furniture’. Oh gosh, what if that was some creepy code for something? I told my mind to shut up.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as he pulled into the parking lot of my building. I slid my hand out from under his and reached for the door.

“Wait,” he laughed and grabbed my arm, easing me back into the seat.

“What?” I bit my lip and looked at him, my hand still resting on the door.

“Come here,” he smiled and cupped my face in his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told me before covering my mouth with his. It was a simple kiss, his lips only slightly brushing against mine.

I let go of the door handle and kissed him back. I now didn’t have the slightest idea about what was going on between us, but I was at least going to enjoy this moment.

He pulled away, but left his hands in place. “You look beautiful tonight.”

I felt my face flushing.

“Or it could just be the fact that I’m so tired every time I blink my vision gets more and more blurred,” he smiled.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be driving,” I smirked.

“Is that an invitation to spend the night here?” He grinned mischievously.

“Nope,” I patted his knee and pulled out of his grip. “Bye, Kyle,” I pushed open the door and hopped out of the car.

He stuck his head out of this open window. “Do you need a ride home tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” I stopped halfway up the walk and turned to face him. “That would be good.”

He smiled again before sticking his head back in the car and pulling out of the parking lot.