Denise isn't here today. Instead, Don is. "Hey Kristen," he says with a bright smile.
"Hey Don." I greet him.
"Don," Kyle acknowledges and then shakes his hand.
"Here to visit your brother?" Don says to me.
"Yeah." I answer.
"Alright."
"In his room or-"
"His room I think."
Don leads us through, the same way Denise did. He has a similar assortment of keys and addresses each door with a different one. "Why is there so much security?"
"I know what you're thinking. It's pretty hard-core. But you'd be surprised what some of the kids are in here for."
"What about Tanika? What's she in for?"
"I can't really tell you that, doll."
"Oh."
"Don't worry. She didn't commit a crime or anything." I get a sudden depressing feeling. I wonder what she's in here for. I don't need to worry about that though, because I can tell that Lewis and her are pushing through their troubles together. I know Emily hurt Lewis, but with Tanika he's going to get over that quicker than he thought.
Kyle grabs my arm just as Don was about to let us in to the door Lewis is behind. "Kristen... are you sure?"
"He said he wanted to see you."
"You trust him?"
"I do."
Kyle nods and then follows me into the room. Don locks the door behind us. I remember the fifteen minute rule and the three knocks.
"Hey Lewis," I say.
Lewis peaks over his newspaper to recognise me standing there. He does a double take when he sees Kyle.
"This is Kyle. It's about time you two properly introduced yourselves."
Hesitantly, Lewis stands up from the chair and takes a step closer to the two of us. I pull Kyle's arm so that he's in front of me.
Lewis puts his hand out and Kyle takes it. Lewis doesn't smile. Kyle doesn't either. "I'm sorry about before... I wasn't well."
"Forget about it man."
"I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry. I understand."
It was an awkward conversation. But eventually, Lewis returned to his former self. Cracking inappropriate jokes, quoting superheroes and wiggling his eyebrows whenever he deemed the situation fitting.
When the fifteen minutes are up, I am upset to leave. I hug him tightly and thank him softly. Kyle pats him on the back and then the two of us walk out with Don.
"That wasn't too bad," Kyle admits.
"I told you."
"You're always right."
"I know."
***
I convince Kyle to walk with me to the ice-cream shop down the road. He orders a massive cup of chocolate ice-cream and I laugh. Then he claims it's for us to share. "Only if you add hot chocolate fudge sauce," I suggest.
He nods in agreement.
"Heaven."
For an hour we sit and chat about different things. Randy and his family, my family, I admit to my obsession with his eyes. It only boosts his ego more.
"Hey look, help wanted," I say with another mouth of chocolate bliss.
"Neither of us could work at an ice-cream parlour."
"Why not?"
"Isn't it obvious? We'd eat all the stock."
"Too true." We both laugh, but I feel like his is half-hearted. The only explanation I can come up of about his mood is Toby. He must still be being affected by that. It makes me feel miserable and helpless seeing him like this. If only I could... do... something. This is so frustrating!
"We should apply. It would be a good test of resistance."
"Maybe we should."
***
Harmony is elated. She isn't this euphoric unless something extremely good happens. She jumps onto me with boundless energy and squeezes me so tightly that I could burst. "The date went perfectly!"
"Date?" I say unsurely.
"Didn't I tell you? Oh my gosh! I didn't tell you. You've been so busy... I'll tell you now."
"Tell me what?"
"Don asked me on a date! Like, a real one. This was the night of the formal. And yesterday we went on one officially."
"Wow. That's... awesome! I'm so glad that Chase isn't a problem anymore."
"Oh. He's still a problem. Sierra and I are actually plotting something for tonight... Anyways, Sierra is planning another trip to Spring City this weekend as a goodbye school sorta thing."
"Sounds cool."
"You and Kyle are invited. Me, Dylan, Josh, obviously. Just the six of us."
"Great. Text me the details."
"Sure thing." I turn away, about to leave. "Oh, and congratulations on landing a new boyfriend."
"Are you jealous?" She jokes.
"Of the boyfriend part."
***
After school, Kyle gets a call from Toby to meet at their house. Kyle looks at me sombrely.
"You should go."
"I don't know..." he looks away from me.
"Go. You yourself said I'm always right. You need to talk things through with Toby."
"I don't even know."
"Did you ever consider that maybe he has an explanation? Or maybe an apology?"
He doesn't answer and just stares at his feet.
"See what he has to say. I know you miss him," I say.
He winces.
"What makes you think-" He cuts himself off, as if he made his own realisation. "Fine. You win."
***
Early the next morning I get a phone call from a belated Kyle. "You were right again kid."
"Not surprised." I grin to myself and sit on my bed cross legged. I tuck a loose hair behind my ear. Even now, I still get butterflies when I think about him. Will this attraction ever fade? I hope it doesn't.
"I'm back in the house. It feels good to be in my own bed again. Gonna miss Josh though. He's a good guy."
"That's cute how I'm not your only friend."
"Oh shut up. I have friends."
"Ok ok!" I say in defence, "Imaginary don't count."
We meet at school and he slings his arm across my shoulder. We walk through the school confidently with Harmony and Dylan as well as Josh and Sierra. I know, we have a pretty sick group.
Heads turn in our direction. At first I think it's because we are cool and awesome. Not kidding. But a mocking sort of expression is on every face.
"What's going on?" Harmony demands to some junior.
"Haven't you heard?"
"Heard what?" Dylan asks curiously. Some girls giggle in our direction.
"You wouldn't need to hear. You were there," another one says.
I see Jade amongst the kids around us. She rushes over to Sierra and whispers something in her ear. Sierra's expression changes from shock to anger.
"That little bitch."
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xxx
Aurora