Him and Me.

Him and Me- Ten.

We stood in silence, and I knew then that Ty was giving me time to compose myself and let my annoyance turn down a notch. I gave him a small, tight-lipped smile which he returned. After a while, Tyler gave my shoulder a soft squeeze and said that we should head back. I nodded and we walked to the lane where our group was sitting. Nobody was playing anymore, and it was noticeable that Cynthia was nowhere in sight. Kyle stood up and gave me a crooked smile as Ty and I approached. I smiled back as convincingly as I could and asked where Cynthia was. Kyle scratched the back of his head at that, and before he could reply, Eliza butted in.

“She took off. What a drama queen.”

I saw Carl shot Eliza a warning look, but the artist just rolled her hazel eyes and looked at Kyle. “She’s a drama queen. Wouldn’t you agree, Kyle?”

Before Kyle could answer though, Eliza had proceeded to talk about Cynthia’s behavior. Again how Cynthia pressed Kyle and Tyler for details, how she sulked, and how she just walked out without so much of a word to them the same time Tyler and I talked. I was kind of surprised that Eliza didn’t confront Cynthia. Maybe Carl restrained her or something, but from how Eliza spat fire from her mouth, it seemed like even Carl’s height and size advantage on her would be of no bearing at all. When she finally finished, she ran her hands through her short, red locks and took a deep breath. Carl immediately stood up and took two long strides to stand behind Eliza, and he rubbed her shoulders soothingly. That action seemed to calm Eliza faster, and she shot Carl a grateful look behind her shoulder. It was obvious Carl had witnessed more of these scenes with his girlfriend, since he knew what would calm her down and make her feel better. If I weren’t so annoyed I would’ve made the “awww” noise loudly just to see how they would react—these two were too cute and too perfect for each other.

After Eliza’s speech, we all decided to go home. Eliza went over to me and whispered in my ear, just as we were leaving the Bowl-o-Rama, “Sorry for my outburst. I am just really annoyed with how Cynthia’s behaving. She had no right whatsoever and she really acted like a female dog.”

I gave her a small smile and a nod, “To be honest, I was annoyed at her too.” With that, Eliza gave me a quick squeeze which I returned. We then parted ways. Tyler gave me a sideways hug, as Maya smiled shyly. I shooed Ty away and gave Maya a little wave, and the two went over to Ty’s car. I heard Kyle clear his throat from behind me, and I turned on my heel to face him. He then motioned for us to head to his car. Silence surrounded us until we got in the shiny pick-up. Kyle spoke up as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“You sure everything’s okay?”

I sneaked a glance at Kyle and saw that while his eyes were focused on the road, his eyebrows are scrunched slightly in what could only be concern. Feeling some of the annoyance depart my body, I answered a yes, and reached my hand out to turn the CD player on. Coldplay had once again fluttered out of the speakers.

Now we sat in his car, in front of my house, bathed in silence once again since Kyle turned the player off. My mom was probably peeking out through the curtain out the front window, and for some reason I suddenly felt really, really tired. And it was not from the bowling. I turned to Kyle and said that I felt tired and just wanted to sleep now. He nodded his head and understanding was clear in his brown eyes as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Just about he was to exit his car to walk me to my door, I set a hand down gently on his arm and said there’s no need to do that. Besides, I didn’t want another scene with my mom. Again, he nodded his head with one corner of his lip lifted slightly.

The air greeted me as I hopped down from Kyle’s pick-up. “Thanks for the ride,” I said, and I managed to give Kyle a small smile. I then proceeded to walk down the gravel path to my house, but before I even took five steps, I heard Kyle’s voice.