With These Words

“Hey,” Kyle walked into the bakery and straight up to my register.

“Hey,” I gave him a smile and pretended that I hadn’t thought about him all night. I blushed at the mere thought of him finding out. I wasn’t sure what was coming over me.

“Unfortunately,” he frowned. “I can’t stay.”

“Oh,” I nodded and pushed a stray hair behind my ear. “That’s cool,” I shrugged.

“But,” he smiled. “It’s game night tonight.”

“Game night?” I made a face. “It’s like every night you guys have a different theme.”

He shrugged. “Austin likes his themes.”

“Right,” I nodded again.

“Anyway,” he pressed his palms to the glass casing. “I wanted to know if you wanted to come.”

“To game night?” I clarified.

“Yes,” he smiled again. “You think you’re up for it?”

“Uh…” I looked at the clock as if it would tell me if I had any other plans tonight.

“Come on!” he stepped around the counter and dropped his hands on top of my shoulders. “I need a new team mate!”

“Team mate?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Kent’s sick again,” He rolled his eyes. “Which leaves Marc an Bethany, Austin and Haley, Jonathan and Caleb, and me,” he frowned.

“Why don’t you just team up with Caleb and Jonathan?” I suggested. I wasn’t sure why I was trying to make excuses for why I didn’t need to attend. I clearly wanted to go.

“Because,” he casually shrugged. “It’s kind of like a couples thing.”

“Couples?” The word felt strange.

“I mean, well not like couples…” He seemed embarrassed. “Just like, groups of two. Like, obviously Caleb and Jonathan aren’t a couple…like together…”

“Yeah,” I smirked. “I figured.”

“But anyway,” He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “I need a partner now that Kent is out.”

“Ok,” I nodded. “I’ll go.”

“Great,” He smiled. “I’ll pick you up after work.”

“Ok,” I nodded again.

“Alright,” he drew me closer to him by my shoulders and engulfed me in a quick hug. “I’ll see you then,” he released me before I even had time to wrap my arms around his skinny middle.

“Ok,” I said for a third time.

He laughed and headed towards the door. “Later,” he waved over his shoulder.

“Later,” I mumbled as he headed outside to his jeep.

::;::

“Everyone is already here,” Kyle informed me as we walked up his driveway. “And as a fair warning,” he gave me a grin. “Caleb is fully convinced him and Jonathan are going to ‘dominate’,” he used over exaggerated air quotes.

“Noted,” I followed him into the house. I was immediately hit with a wave of sound coming from the basement.

“I guess they’re downstairs…” Kyle pointed to the steps and gestured for me to go first.

As I headed down the stairs the sound level increased. I hit the bottom step and came face to face with a shirtless Caleb.

“Oh, hey, Georgia,” he gave me a charming grin. He tossed the drum sticks he was carrying on the couch. “We were just playing a little Rock Band.”

“I can see that…” I looked to the left where the rest of the guys were huddled around the TV. Bethany and Haley were seated on the couch looking over a magazine.

“I didn’t know you were coming?” He asked as Kyle jumped down the last two steps.

“She’s the other half of my team,” Kyle snaked his bony arm around my shoulder.

Caleb’s eyes drifted from me, to Kyle, and back to me. “That hardly seems fair.” He looked to Kyle again. “You always get the new people.”

“What? I got Kent.”

“Yeah,” Caleb nodded. “and I think that it’s high time we mixed up these teams.”

“Why? We always keep the same teams.” Kyle sounded confused.

“Ladies and gentleman!” Caleb ignored him and turned to face everyone. “We’re mixing up teams!” He smiled widely as he waited for the applause that didn’t come.

“What for?” Jonathan asked. He didn’t even bother to turn his attention away from the TV screen. “I thought we had a strategy and everything?”

“I want to be with Haley!” Austin threw his hand up in the air.

“And I call Bethany!” Marc added. He set the microphone he was holding on top of the TV and plopped down next to her on the couch.

“Well,” Caleb clapped his hands together. “That leaves us,” he looked to Kyle and I. “And I call Georgia,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him.

“Oh? Um…ok…” I looked up at Kyle. He was still standing at the base of the stairs looking fairly confused.

“Kyle,” Caleb gave me a wink. “I guess that means you’re with Jonathan.”

“What?” Jonathan finally paused the game, even though he was only one still playing. He tossed his guitar down and look to Caleb. “Why do I have to be stuck with him? He can’t draw to save his life!”

“We’re playing Pictionary,” Caleb explained, his had still resting on my arm.

“And I refuse to be on Kyle’s team,” Jonathan continued. “That’s like an automatic fail.”

“Aw leave poor Kyle alone,” Haley laughed and stood up from the couch. “He’s not all that bad.” She looked to Caleb. “You wanna cover up your upper male nudity, Caleb?”

“What?” He looked down at his bare chest. “No, I’m good,” he smiled to her. “But thanks for asking.”

She rolled her eyes and sat back down. This time, on Austin’s lap.

“Well I’m going to go get something to drink before the game,” Caleb announced leaving my side. “You want anything?” He asked before he headed back up the steps.

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m good.”

He nodded and disappeared up the stairs.

“Well,” Kyle took his place on my left. “I guess we’re not team mates anymore,” He frowned.

“Yeah,” I laughed at Caleb’s surprise mix-up. “I guess not.”

He sighed and rested his arm around my shoulders again. It seemed like this was something he was getting accustomed to doing. “Too bad Jonathan and I will have to crush you and Caleb.”

“What?” I laughed and looked up at him. “Who said anything about that?”

He threw his free arm up in the air. “If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em, right?”

I laughed again and patted his chest. “I think it’s the other way around, but sure.”

He laughed with me and wrapped his arm tighter around me in a side-hug.

“Georgia?” Haley looked over to us. “Can we talk for a second?”

I took my eyes off of Kyle and looked to her. We hadn’t spoke much since the bonfire in Kyle’s backyard.

She stood up from Austin’s lap and ambled up to us. “Sorry, Kyle,” She eyed his arm. “I’m going to need to steal her away from you real quick.” She took my hand and withdrew me from Kyle’s grasp.

“Hey,” She said pulling up stairs. We were greeted with Caleb singing to himself as he dug around in the fridge.

“I can see you’re still parading around with no clothes,” Haley nodded to him.

He poked his head out of the fridge and grinned. “Hey,” he gave us a wink. “I knew you couldn’t resist the charm.”

“Charm?” Haley laughed. “Where’s this charm?”

Caleb grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and stood up. “Right here, baby. Right here.” He held up his arms and grinned.

Haley snorted and sat down at the kitchen table. She motioned for me to do the same.

“Don’t let this hear to heart take too long,” Caleb took a quick sip of his water. “We’ve got some Pictionary to win!”

Haley rolled her eyes. “Would you just leave already, Turman?”

He laughed and headed back towards the stairs. As he walked past my chair he gave a light tug to the end of my ponytail.

“What?” I grabbed my hair and turned to face him.

He just smiled and took another sip of his water.

“Well that was weird,” Haley mumbled scooting closer to the table.

“What?” I repeated watching Caleb head back down to the basement.

“Nothing,” she sighed and I turned and gave her my full attention. “Look,” She rested her hands on top of the table. “We haven’t really talked much, and I know that it’s my fault.” She looked sincere. “And I want to say I’m sorry.”

I nodded. I had a feeling this is what she wanted to talk about. “It’s…alright,” I nodded.

“It’s just,” She slumped in her seat. “I don’t know, after you asked me about Austin?” She looked to me to make sure that I remembered. “Well…it just kind of struck a chord, you know?”

I didn’t know. “Sure,” I nodded.

“Like I know you didn’t mean anything by it…” She looked at her hands. “But things with me and him are kind of complicated…”

I really didn’t want to be in the middle of her relationship problems. “I understand…”

“Like,” She thought for a minute. “Clearly he likes me…” She smiled slightly.

“Yeah,” I thought of them always sitting together on the couch. “Clearly.”

“And I mean, yeah…I do like him…” She nodded thoughtfully.

“But?”

“But,” She took a breath. “I don’t want to fall in love with him.”

I stared at her. She quickly spun and re-spun a blonde curl in and out of her fingers. “Haley, I don’t get it,” I sighed and tried not to sound too impatient. “He seems like a nice guy,” I tried to think of all the times I actually had talked to him. They were few in number, but from what I could remember, he was kind and funny.

“Oh he is,” she quickly looked up. “He’s super nice.”

“Is there another guy or something?” I asked trying to figure out what the issue was.

“What? No,” She shook her head and her eyes dropped back down to her hands. “He just…” She sighed heavily. “He had been dating this girl,” she looked at me. “Cara,” She spoke her name slowly. “They’d been dating for like three years.”

I nodded. “He’s still in love with her?”

“No, no,” She waved her hand. “They’re very much done.”

“Ok,” I still didn’t get it, and quite frankly, I was starting to get annoyed. Haley was my friend, but sitting up in Kyle’s kitchen talking about boys was not on top of my to-do list. “And?”

“And he…well,” she looked at me and frowned. “He dropped her like a hot potato.”

“Huh?”

“Cara,” She repeated. “They’d been dating forever and he dumped her! Just like that!” She snapped her fingers.

“Why?”

“Why not?” She slumped even further in her seat. “Maybe he just got bored with her. Crap, Georgia!” She frowned even deeper. “What if that happens to us? What if we start dating and we fall in love and then…he just…gets bored or something?”

I pondered everything that she had just said. Austin was in love with Cara, then they broke up. It seemed kind of standard to me.

“Well,” I swallowed. “What’s meant to be is meant to be, right?”

She sighed. “What sucks is that I do like him, Georgia. I really do…” That same smile was starting to reappear. “I mean, he’s so sweet. And,” she looked at me. “Super romantic.”

I nodded. More facts I didn’t need to know.

“Maybe you should talk to him?” I suggested.

“You think?”

“Well I mean, I don’t really have a ton of experience…” I thought of my past boyfriends. The list consisted of one. I had had one boyfriend.

“Yeah,” She nodded and cupped her chin in her hand.

“But I don’t know,” I shrugged. “If it were me, I would just ask him what’s up. Or maybe what happened with Cara.”

“Yeah,” She mumbled for a second time.

“But for now,” I offered her my most encouraging smile. “Let’s just go downstairs and win some Pictionary.”

She laughed and scooted her chair back. “Thanks, Georgia,” She stood up. “And I’m sorry for being kind of distant.”

“It’s cool,” I shrugged and pushed my own chair back.

“I’m sure you missed coming out to all the clubs,” She grinned slyly.

“Oh, yes,” I laughed. “Terribly.”

She shook her head and giggled. “Let’s go. I’m sure the shirtless Caleb is waiting to whisk away to his half of the couch.”

“What?” My cheeks heated up.

“Oh he clearly likes you,” She laughed and tugged on my hair the way he had.

“That means nothing,” I shrugged it off and took the steps to the basement before she could say anything more.

Caleb did not like me. That was dumb. He was just a flirt. Kind of like Kyle.

“Finally,” Jonathan stood up from the couch when I hit the bottom stair. He quickly uncapped his thick black marker. “You ready Kyle?” He gave Kyle a bored look.

“Yeah!” Kyle clapped his hands together and sat on the edge of his seat. “Let’s do it!”

Jonathan rolled his eyes and motioned for Marc to start the timer. He then jogged up to the big poster board taped to the wall and started drawing.

“Um, banana?” Kyle shouted.

“What?” Jonathan spat the cap out of his mouth and gave Kyle a look.

“No Talking!” Marc warned.

I stepped over everyone’s legs and took my place next to Caleb.

“Hey,” he grinned.

“Hey,” I echoed. I didn’t look at him. I only stared at Jonathan’s fast moving hand.

“Dog?” Kyle guessed again.

“KYLE!” Jonathan was getting frustrated.

“No talking!” Marc shouted again.

Jonathan sighed and continued to draw while Kyle continued to guess what it was.

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. Caleb did the same. I tried not to think about how his whole left side was pressed up against me.

“Boat!” Kyle jumped up just as the timer ran out.

“Boat?!” Jonathan tore the used paper off the wall and shoved it in Kyle’s face. “You wanna tell me how this looks like a boat!?”

Marc taped a new paper to the wall and pushed Jonathan out of the way. “You ready, Bethany?” he gave her a tender smile.

“Yep,” She smiled happily. “I’m ready.”

Austin tipped the timer over and Marc started drawing.

Kyle flopped back on the couch and made a goofy face at me.

I smiled and looked down at my hands.

“You could have been on his team,” Caleb bumped my shoulder and gave me a grin. “Boat?”

I looked at him. Our faces were inches apart. I yelled at my brain to make myself stop staring at his adorable freckles, but it wouldn’t listen.

“Wow,” he leaned even closer, as if that was possible, and blinked a few times. “You wanna stare a little more?” He smirked.

Crap. I quickly looked away and dropped my eyes to my hands.

“I was kidding,” he laughed lightly. I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. “Why do you get all flustered like that?”

“What?” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. Must he sit so close to me?

He smiled. “You get flustered around me.” It was not longer a question.

“No,” I felt myself blushing, and I mentally cursed myself. “That’s hardly the case.”

He smirked. “Whatever you say, Georgia.”

The timer ran out and Bethany offered up her last guess.

“Nope,” Marc shook his head and taped a clean paper to the wall. “It was a desert island.”

“Ah,” She laughed and pulled on one of her curls. “Sorry.”

He smiled and rejoined her on the couch. “Not a problem,” he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Why can’t you be all chill like that?” Kyle slapped Jonathan’s shoulder. “Bethany didn’t get it, and look,” He gestured grandly to Bethany and Marc. “They don’t even care.”

Jonathan gave him a look. “You wanna kiss?”

Kyle rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest.

“Alright,” Haley climbed out from under Austin’s arm. “Are you losers ready to watch Austin and me crush you all?” She uncapped the marker as everyone mumbled their responses.

“You never texted me,” Caleb bumped my shoulder again.

“Oh?” I tried to mentally guess what Haley was drawing. Anything to not look at Caleb.

“Yeah,” He smiled. “I thought we were going to hang out?”

I nodded, remembering when he dropped by the bakery and neatly printed his number on my palm.

He laughed and looked down at his own hands. I was thankful for the break from his light brown eyes. “I had a whole day planned.”

“You did?” I couldn’t help myself. I looked over at his ginger hair.

“Yeah,” he looked up and grinned. “We were going to do some putt putt-ing in the park, maybe get a little ice cream later…check out some old black and white films. You know?” He shrugged. “Have some fun?”

“I um, I’m sorry for not texting you…”

“Ah, see?” He laughed an threw his arms up in the air. “Now you’re just mad you didn’t get to do all that!”

“I…” I looked at his lips. They were perfect.

“It’s cool,” he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “We’ll do it later.”

I nodded and tore my eyes away from him and his perfect lips, begging my mind to shut up.

He laughed again and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze, before refolding his hands in his lap.

As Austin screamed his last few guesses, my eyes wandered to Kyle. He wasn’t even paying attention. He was leaned into the couch typing a message on his iphone.

::;::

“That was fun,” Haley stood next to Austin at the front door.

“True that,” Austin adjusted his headband. “I told you guys Haley and I would kill everyone!”

“Alright,” Haley laughed and patted his chest. “No one likes a bragger.” She pulled open the door and waved goodbye. “Come on,” She tugged on Austin’s sleeve.

“Later guys,” he waved as well and followed Haley outside.

“I still can’t believe they won,” Caleb smirked. He was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked to me. “How unexpected was that?”

“Super,” I leaned against the wall. I was waiting for Kyle to get a move on and take me home, but he looked pretty content digging around in the popcorn bowl that was sitting on the counter.

Caleb shook his head and laughed to himself.

I wished Bethany was still here. Or Marc. This was the same silence I was worried about before.

“Well,” Caleb slapped the wood of the table. “I should probably get going…” he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. I was glad he finally decided to put on his faded red t-shirt after the game was over.

He ambled up to me. “Text me sometime, ok?” He grinned.

I nodded and offered him the best smile I could muster. It was getting late.

He laughed and surrounded me in his arms, pulling me into a hug. “Phone numbers are given for a reason,” he told me gently pressing me into him.

“Yep,” I pushed some hair behind my ear when he pulled away.

He reached out and quickly squeezed my hand. “Later,” he nodded to Kyle.

“Huh?” Kyle looked up from his bowl, but Caleb was already half way out the door.

“So…” I mumbled once Caleb pulled the door shut behind him.

Kyle didn’t answer. He only picked up the bowl and dumped the kernels into the trash can.

“I didn’t know game night could get so intense,” I laughed lightly.

“Yep,” he set the bowl by the sink.

I ambled over to the counter and rested my hands on the cold granite surface. “It was fun though,”

He nodded and pulled a water bottle out of the fridge. He closed the door, not even bothering to offer me one.

“Is something wrong?” I finally asked.

“Hmmmm?” He pulled his iphone out of his pocket and started scrolling his finger over it.

“Is something wrong?” I repeated, this time a little louder.

He dropped his iphone back in his pocket and set the water bottle on the counter. “Look, Georgia,” his eyes met with mine. “I invited you over here to play some Pictionary, not so you could flirt your face off with Caleb.”

My lips parted. “What?”

He shook his head and twisted the cap off his water. He took a long sip and set it back down.

“I didn’t ‘flirt my face off’,” I told him, making sure I put his ridiculous phrase in massive air quotes.

“Right,” he rolled his eyes. “Let me just whip my shirt off and practically sit in your lap so we can have private little conversations while everyone else is trying to play a serious game.”

“We were on a team, we had to sit together.”

“Whatever,” he haphazardly twisted the cap back on the bottle and tossed it back in the fridge. “I just thought tha--” He stopped and shrugged it off. “Whatever,” he repeated.

I stared at him. I didn’t care if I looked stupid, he was talking stupid.

He sighed and leaned against the counter so his back was to me. “It’s whatever, Georgia,” he repeated again.

“Your fridge is leaking,” I stated flatly.

“What?” He looked at me over his shoulder.

“Your fridge,” I pointed to the puddle forming on the floor. “It’s leaking.”

He jumped up and ripped the door open. The water bottle he tossed inside had opened, and was now dumping it’s contents on the tile floor.

“I’ll go get towels,” He mumbled as he headed towards the bathroom.

“I’ll help,” I grabbed the dish towel from the shelf above the sink and got down on my knees in front of the fridge. I was so confused.

“You don’t have to do this,” He fell to his knees next to me and quickly unfolded and soft yellow towel. “I got it.”

“It’s whatever,” I used his line from before. I lifted up the small dish towel. It was already soaking.

He didn’t speak. He just started pressing his towel to the puddle.

Once the puddle was fully absorbed, Kyle set the wet towel on the floor. He pushed the fridge door shut.

“I wasn’t flirting with him,” I mumbled softly.

He looked to me. “It sure looked like it.”

“Looks are deceiving,” I countered.

“Not always.”

“But sometimes.”

“But not always,” He looked serious. “What am I supposed to think when you guys are getting all handsy in my basement?”

“What?” I made a face. “Wow. We weren’t even touching.”

“Right,” He scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Why does it even matter to you?” I thought aloud. “I can get handsy with whomever I want!” I stared at him. His face was blank and I couldn’t read what he was thinking.

He just shook his head.

“What do you want me to say?” I rubbed my temple in frustration. “We were a team! We had to sit next to each other! And besides,” I pulled my hand through my hair. “If it mattered to you so much, then why didn’t you just tell Caleb that me and you were a team?”

His lips crashed into mine with a force that almost pushed me backwards. But with all the force, there was still a sense of gentleness.

I blinked a few times out of shock before I let my eyelids fall. I let myself be surrounded by all that was Kyle.

He ignored the damp towel between us as he reached forward and slid his hand behind my neck, pushing my into him.

His thumb moving in circles, gently tugging at my hair. His tongue grazing my bottom lip, begging for entrance…it was all too much

I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away.

“Kyle,” I breathed out once he lips removed themselves from mine.

His thumb moved in one final small circle before his hand fell at his side. “Yeah?” his breath was shaky, like he’d been out jogging.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. They seemed to be caught somewhere in my throat.

He took this as an opportunity to pick up where we left off. He cupped my cheek in his hand and brought himself closer to me.

“Kyle,” I stopped him just before his lips touched mine. My hands were still on his chest, and I gave him a light push.

He blinked and searched my eyes for some explanation.

“I…I can’t.” I whispered. I picked myself up off the floor and headed towards the front door.