Just Kidding | ✔️

Bonus Chapter

So this is a little bonus chapter to give you an insight into life after Kyla. above is a song that I absolutely adore and I hope you do too.

♡

COOPER
The rain is a loud thumping against the bedroom window of our apartment on this surprisingly murky morning. I fold my arms behind my head and stare at the ceiling as if I find interest in the peeling of the paint.

Just then my thoughts begin to stray from reality and inch closer towards my past. Kyla. I suppose I did listen to her and I moved on as much as any grieving man can.

I never did find a love quite like ours and I can honestly say that I wouldn't want it any other way because no girl is as magnificent as she was. No girl gives me that same passion and heartfelt emotion as Kyla did just by the way she smiled.

God that smile. . .it could outstretch oceans, it was wider than the Milky Way; brighter than all the stars.

When my thoughts are filled with Kyla Daniels and everything she was to me I always find myself imagining what life would be like if she were here, by my side. The thought nearly breaks me in two every time.

I imagine us growing old together, spending nights reading to our children, visiting the beach, reminiscing our youth. But unlike every other cliché book or cheesy movie, our ending isn't based on happily-ever afters or beautiful outcomes. It's based on the painful truth. That life isn't fair.

Instead, here I am. Stuck in a life without her touch; without her smile or her love.

So take a good look because this is what life is like without Kyla Daniels:

The sound of the shower shutting off in the shared bathroom pulls me from my deepest of thoughts and before she can emerge I wipe my tears away and scoot further towards the foot of the bed.

"It's been four years as of today, since we lost her." Riley combs her slender fingers through the dark tendrils of hair that stick to her bare skin hidden beneath the towel.

After the death of Kyla it hit Riley and I hard. Me more so, and she was there for me. Every step of the way Riley tended to my broken heart and somewhere along the path to recovery I found comfort in the familiar face in this lonely, lonely world full of rotting leaves and colorless faces.

She may not be Kyla but I see parts of the woman I love in Riley every day. From the way she walks to her stubborn attitude and ability to listen to what's unsaid. I see Kyla in her courage and her strength.

It might not be the future I planned for myself, living with a woman I'm not in love with and is not in love with me, a woman whom I've shared the sheets and my body and soul with but am not dating. Yet, until my heart can open and learn to love once again, this is how I must live. Loveless.

"Time to head back home then, huh?" I scratch the back of my neck, willing myself to look away when Riley unveils what is beneath her bath towel. I rummage through drawers and pack them in one shared suitcase for the week.

Home is terribly far by now.

Settling down in Richmond, Virginia after college was not only a wise choice for Riley and I but a difficult one as well. It's as if California is an entire dimension apart from us.

Although I'll never complain about the lengthy drive when I know the reason for returning. I desperately want to see Kyla or the stone that has replaced her for that matter.

Once Riley and my bags are all packed I throw them into the Mustang and I start the ignition.

Driving down the freeway heading right for the sunset, it seems as if the rain has finally cleared and beams of sunlight shine upon the world. Without a second guess I pop the hood of the car and welcome the wild wind rushing by. The feeling of the sun on my skin is addicting, something I miss often.

Only if Kyla were here to enjoy the sun along with us. At times I can almost feel her presence lingering beside me. I just want to reach out and touch her but when I wake up I realize she isn't the body sleeping next to me.

Yet, right now as Riley and I drive down the endless roads leading everywhere and nowhere; breathing in the fresh spring air, I swear I can see Kyla smiling. I can hear her whispering that it's fine. That she's fine and soon I will be as well.

If I let go long enough I can almost hear her say: "I love you. . ." It's a melody that I had forgotten the tune to after so long without her here.

I feel those daily tears as they begin to form and soon my cheeks are wet. I quickly wipe them away and tilt my head to the sky above where the different shades of the sunset settle my bones.

Turning up the music on the radio, I, just for now pretend to be normal and I blend in with the rest of the world surrounding me by doing one thing:

I smile.

END:
So that is it my friends! I really hope you liked or enjoyed this story because I enjoyed writing it. It is so hard to think back to the first chapter or even the first ten, can you guys even remember Kyla and Cooper despising each other?!! Like boom!

Anyway! Thank you all for reading! Go check out my other book if you would like. Until next time.

Xoxo