With These Words

“Are you waiting for something?” Andy asked. He drummed his fingers on the register and gave me his usual ‘I’m bored out of my mind’ look.

“What?” I dragged my eyes away from the tiny digital clock that sat in the corner. “No,” I shrugged nonchalantly.

He rolled his eyes and slipped his head phones back in his ears. They were against policy, but clearly he did not care.

I snuck another look at the clock and immediately felt foolish for it. Who was I these days? Kyle said he would be here, so eventually he would be here. And besides, what did it matter to me? He was just the stick-thin peroxide blonde that squeezed his way into my life.

But, none the less, I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. Usually Kyle showed up around ten, and it was nearing noon.

I shook my head in an attempt to try to dislodge these feelings. I didn’t want to feel disappointed that Kyle wasn’t here. That was lame.

::;::

“What are you still doing here?” My boss emerged from her office.

“What?” I picked my head off the table. It was almost five.

“Your shift ended an hour ago,” she checked her watch to confirm it.

“Yeah,” I stood up form the chair. “I was just going to stay to make sure everything was cleaned right…”

She made a face. Never once in my life had I cared if everything was cleaned right. “Well I think we’re all good.”

“Great,” I sighed and pulled my apron over my head. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah,” She was still looking at my strangely. “Get some sleep, Georgia.” She grabbed a stack of papers from the register and headed back towards her office.

I sighed and hung my apron on it’s designated peg. Kyle never showed up. A strange feeling washed over me.

Disappointment, perhaps? I couldn’t really be angry with him. It’s not like he owed it to me to come. It was just something he did, and it wasn’t until now that I realized I had enjoyed it. Well, ‘enjoyed it’ might be the wrong phrase. But I did kind of like it. I had liked having someone to talk to when the bakery was deserted.

I pushed open the door and headed outside. I clutched my purse closer to me as I headed towards the bus stop. I still was feeling strange, and I didn’t like it.

“Georgia!”

I spun around. Kyle had pulled his jeep along side the curb. “Hey!” he called rolling the window down.

I was confused.

“Need a ride?” he asked resting his arm outside the window. His wild hair was blowing in the hot Texas air.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Sure.” I walked around to the other side of his jeep and pulled open the door. I was met with a refreshing blast of air conditioning.

“What are doing here?” I couldn’t resist asking once I was inside. I buckled my seat belt and watched as he smoothly pulled back into traffic.

He laughed. “What do you mean? I was driving down the road.” he glanced at me. “Actually, I didn’t think you’d be here since you get off at four…but, what do you know? Here you are,” He smiled.

I was still waiting for him to bring up why he hadn’t stopped by.

“So…” he adjusted the volume of his music and rolled up his window. “How was work?”

“Fine,” I shrugged casually. “The same really.”

He nodded and checked over his shoulder before switching lanes. “I had a meeting with the record label.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” he laughed to himself. “And it went a little longer than I anticipated.”

“Oh,” I repeated. “Is that good?”

He shrugged. “They want us to start laying down some new tracks in the studio soon.”

“That’s cool,” I looked out the window. I did feel better. At least now I knew that he had a legit reason for not showing up.

He took a sharp right and we ended up in his driveway.

“This isn’t my house,” I stated looking at him.

“It’s not?” he joked. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned off the ignition. He looked at me again. “I thought you could use some cheering up.”

I thought of the last time Kyle and I had been alone in his house. It was a lot of silence, and not a lot of ‘cheer’.

“I’m just going to grab some things,” He hopped out of the car. “Come on,” he motioned for me to follow. “It’ll just take a second.”

I hesitantly undid my seat belt and followed Kyle inside. Marc was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. Kyle ignored him and headed upstairs.

“Hey,” I mumbled to Marc.

He looked up from his food and smiled. “Hey, Georgia. How’s it going?”

“Good,” I pulled out a chair and joined him at the table. “How’s Bethany?”

He took another bite and smiled. “She’s great.”

“We didn’t scare her off at movie night?”

He rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t you I was concerned about. Some people,” he pointed upstairs. “Can be a little obnoxious.”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “I can believe it.”

He smiled too and twirled his spoon around. “But she’s awesome. I really like her.”

“That’s great,” I nodded. “She seems like a really nice girl.”

“We should all do something together,” He took another bite of his cereal. “Me and Bethany and you and Kyle.”

“What?” I made a face. That was sounding an awful lot like a double date.

He seemed confused, but shrugged it off. “We could all go mini golfing or something,” he laughed. “But I warn you fairly, Kyle get’s pretty competitive.”

I nodded, still unsure of some things, but I decided to let it go. “Sounds fun.”

“What sounds fun?” Kyle came back downstairs. He rested his hands on the back of my chair. “You ready?” He looked down at me.

“For what?” I asked gingerly standing up.

Marc dropped his spoon in his bowl and stood up too. “You kids have fun,” He offered me a smile.

I looked at Kyle, who smiled as well.

“Come on,” He grabbed my wrist and led me towards the front door. I tried to ignore the waves of heat that rushed through my body.

“And where exactly are we going?” I asked climbing back into his jeep.

“I’d tell you,” he started the car. “But then I’d have to kill you.”

“Oh, clever,” I found myself smiling in spite of his lame movie quotes.

He tossed the backpack he had brought with him into the back seat and buckled his seat belt. “First,” He looked at me before he pulled out of the driveway. “You are a fan of fun, correct?”

I thought of my previous conversation with Caleb, where he had asked me the same thing. “Who doesn’t like fun?” I asked using the same reply.

He laughed and eased his foot off the brake. “That’s what I like to hear.”

“So you’re not going to tell me where we’re going?” I clarified as we proceeded down the road. It was slightly congested due to everyone coming home from work.

“Well,” he rolled to stop behind a minivan and looked at me. “I can tell you that the actual place is slightly boring.”

I stared at him. I was getting the feeling that I was going to regret getting in the car.

“Don’t worry though,” He returned his gaze to the road. “It’ll be fun.”

“Super fun,” I mocked him.

He laughed. “Do you doubt my abilities to have fun?”

“Oh of course not,” I slouched lower in my seat. It was looking like we would be stuck here for a long time.

He sighed and tapped his fingers along the dash board. “Well if we ever get there that is…”

“Uh-huh,” I sighed too.

In twenty minutes we’d moved all of two feet. I had reread the bumper sticker on the van in front of us countless times. “Let’s Give Peace a Chance!” it shouted at me in bold blue letters.

“So why’d you stay late?” Kyle asked. He dropped his arm on the arm rest and looked at me.

I tore my eyes away from the peeling sticker. “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I was cleaning.”

“I saw you in the window,” he smirked. “You looked to be sleeping.”

“You stalk me now?”

“Well according to you, I’ve always been stalking you!” he threw his arms up and laughed. “I just can’t win, can I?”

I smiled. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“Now you tell me,” He let his car roll forward a few more feet. “I can see I’ve been wasting eons of time trying to win you over,” he glanced over at me and grinned.

“Yep,” I shrugged and crossed my legs at the ankles. “I guess you have.”

He laughed again and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze before gripping the wheel and gazing at the never ending line of vehicles.

The mini van in front of us released it’s brake and started inching it’s way forward.

“Finally,” Kyle breathed out and started letting his car roll forward again. “It’s getting darker…” He mused peeking out the window.

“Kyle!” I shouted as the van stopped short.

“Hey!” he pressed his palm to his horn and stomped on his brake. We were inches from rear ending them. “Seriously?” He checked his rearview window to make sure the car behind us had ample stopping time. He looked at me. “I hate stupid drivers.”

“Hey,” I laughed and pointed to the van’s bumper sticker. “Let’s give peace a chance, ok? Loser,” I shaped my hand into an ‘L’ and pressed it to his forehead.

He smiled and caught my hand in his. “Really? You just played the ‘loser’ card?” He uncurled my fingers. “How classy, Georgia.”

“What can I say?” I looked down at my hand, which was still cupped in his. “I only speak what is true.”

His eyes dropped down to our hands as well. “Well,” his hands still didn’t move. “Maybe, if we ever get out of this line, I can show how I’m most definitely not a loser.”

“Yeah,” I swallowed. “Maybe.”

“Ah, Georgia,” he clicked his tongue and released my hand. I slowly pulled it back into my lap. “If it keeps getting darker I don’t know if we can do what I want to do.”

“What is it you want to do?” I asked. I watched him lean forward in his seat to peer out the window at the darkening sky.

He sighed and jerked his thumb in the direction of his backpack. “I’ve got some fireworks I’ve been saving up.”

“Fireworks?” I made a face.

“Yeah. There’s this open field a dew miles from he--”

“Fireworks?” I cut him off.

“Yes…” He spoke slowly. “There’s this open field a few miles from here and I was thinking…” He let his voice trail off when he saw me laughing. “What?” he asked hesitantly.

“Kyle,” I calmed my laughter. “Setting off fireworks in a field is not a good idea.”

“Why not?” He looked disappointed.

I turned in my seat so I could face him. “Let’s just do something else, ok?”

He started to pout. “I thought you wanted to have fun?” He inched forwards along with the rest of traffic. “I wanted to have fun with you.”

I tried not to read too much into his words. “Can’t our fun not involve fire and flammable materials?”

He thought for a minute. “There’s a waffle house a few blocks away,” he looked at me and raise an eyebrow. “Sound fun and fire-free enough for you?”

“Yes,” I smiled and ran a hand through my dark hair. “That will suffice.”

We snaked through the traffic for about another half an hour before pulling into a crowded parking lot.

“Darcy’s Diner?” I read the flashing neon sign aloud. “I thought you said this was a waffle house?” I undid my seat belt and hopped out of the car.

He shrugged. “They serve waffles.”

I shook my head and closed the door. “Kyle?” I said through the window.

“Yeah?” He stopped trying to reach his backpack in the backseat.

“How about we leave those in the car, mkay?”

He sighed and got out. “Fun and fire-free, right?”

I laughed and followed him into the diner.

::;::

Kyle placed the bill on the edge of the table and leaned back against the ugly red vinyl of the booth.

“Thanks,” I told him resting my hands over my stomach. “That was nice.”

“Sorry about the interruptions,” he referred to the various people that had approached us asking for pictures. “Part of the job, I guess.”

I smiled. “Well you’re quite good at it.”

“Yeah,” He sighed. “My mom always told me I was pretty photogenic.”

“Not the picture taking,” I laughed at him. “The…the being a good…person part?” I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to think of a better description. “You’re very…nice to your fans.”

He shrugged. “You should see Caleb. He can sit there and just talk with them for hours. I,” he pointed to himself. “I can’t do that,” he leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Sometimes I just gotta get away. I can’t sit there and deal with all the…the screaming and the touching,” He sighed and flopped back against the booth. “But Caleb? I don’t know. He just goes and goes and--”

“Goes?” I finished for him.

He grinned. “Something like that.”

I thought about Caleb with his boyish face and ginger hair. “He stopped by the bakery yesterday,” I casually mentioned.

“Hmmmm?” he swirled his straw around in his drink.

“Caleb. He came by and we had cookies and talked.”

Kyle nodded and tilted his cup to his lips, sucking up an ice cube.

“It was nice.”

“Cold,” he mumbled before spitting the ice cube back in his cup. “You like him or something?” he looked at me.

“I hardly know him.”

“Let me guess,” He smirked. “You hardly know me too, right?”

I shrugged. “You’re an acquaintance.”

“Oh,” he nodded and played along. “An acquaintance that buys you dinner?” he pointed to the paid bill. “’cause that makes sense.”

“Hey,” I smiled and held my hands up in defense. “I guess that makes you a charming acquaintance.”

He shook his head and laughed. “Let’s get out of here,” he stood up and dropped a few bills on the table for a tip. “Ready?” He looked down at me.

“Yep,” I stood up and took one last sip of my lemonade. “Let’s go.” I set the glass back on the table.

Kyle placed his hand on my back and guided my towards the exit. It took all my effort to try and ignore the ridiculous feeling in my stomach.

“So when are you just going to come out and admit that we’re friends?” He asked opening my door for me.

“Never,” I sat down in the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt. “I think I kind of like you just being the odd stranger that follows me around my work place.” I looked at him. “It gives your character a bit of a twist, don’t you think?”

He leaned against my open door and stared at me. “Your kind of weird,” a smile played with the edges of his lips. “But,” he sighed and prepared to push my door shut. “I don’t really know what I expected. The first time I saw you, you were laying on the floor with a giant bump on your head.”

“That was your fault,” I reminded him as he closed my door.

He laughed and walked around to the driver’s side.

“What? That’s not usually how you meet girls?” I asked as he climbed inside.

“No,” he started the car. “Believe it, or not, I have a little more game than that.”

“Good for you,” I laughed. “I was hoping that that wasn’t your best move.”

He pulled out of the parking space and onto the street. Thankfully the traffic had cleared out. “You don’t think I’m suave?” He asked glancing over at me.

“I think your fancy little nose ring kind kills that illusion.”

“You don’t like it?” He asked crossing his eyes trying to get a good view of his piercing.

“No, it just makes you seem less of gentleman on first impression. Especially,” I looked at him. “When you just hit a girl in the face with a door.”

“So you do like it,” he smiled. It wasn’t a question. It was a fact.

I was thankful the darkness was hiding my pink cheeks.

“Hmmmm? What’s that?” He laughed. “Kyle,” he put on a falsetto voice and tried to imitate me. “I just think you’re hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he overdramatically batted his eyelashes.

I punched his shoulder. “You wish,” I laughed right along with him.

He snorted and sped up through a yellow light.

“What are we doing?” I asked as he pulled into his driveway.

“Come on,” he undid his seat belt and pushed open his door. “I think some of the guys are coming over.”

“Kyle, it’s almost nine,” I looked at the illuminated clock on his dash.

“You want to go home?” I tried shake the feelings of pleasure I got that he was disappointed.

“I have to work tomorrow,” I frowned. I knew that if I stayed I wouldn’t get home for at least three or four more hours.

“Right,” he thought for a minute. “Well I’ll drive you,” His feet hit the pavement. “Just let me go tell Marc I’ll be right back.”

I nodded and he jogged towards his front door. He quickly came back and started his car up.

“You’ll have to tell me where you live,” he said heading back towards town.

I nodded again and looked out the window. It was dark and the only light was coming from his headlights.

“What?” He laughed. “You’re not concerned about me knowing where you live?”

I looked at him.

“I thought I was some big stalker?”

Laughing, I shook my head. “I think I’ll be ok.”

“This is it,” I announced as Kyle pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. I grabbed my bag from in between my feet and un buckled my seat belt.

“No apartment number?” He asked putting his jeep in park.

“Isn’t that a little risky?” I smirked. “I don’t need you knowing exactly where I live.”

He smiled. “One of these days, Georgia, you’re totally going to wake up and be like ‘man, Kyle Burns is so great. Why did I spend all that time thinking he was a big creep?’.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he grinned. “It is. And I hope that day comes soon.”

I laughed. “Well good luck with that one.”

“I had a good time tonight,” He told me. “Even though we didn’t get to use my fireworks,” he looked longingly at his backpack in the back seat.

“Maybe some other time,” I offered.

“Yeah,” His eyes met mine again. “Sure thing.”

“Well,” I rested my hand on the door handle. This was one of those awkward moments I hated. “I guess I’ll see you later…”

“Yep,” he nodded. “Most likely.”

“You’re coming to the bakery tomorrow?” I asked.

“You want me to?” He grinned.

I shrugged and looked away. “If you want…I mean, you don‘t have to…”

He chuckled and leaned out of his seat. “Goodnight, Georgia,” he gently pressed his lips to my temple. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh,” I squawked before sliding out of his car. I quickly closed the door behind me and hurried into the building, fumbling with my keys. I got those same ridiculous feelings in my stomach, and they were getting harder to ignore.