Chapters (30)
“I don’t know about that,” Kyler replied diplomatically. “I’m going to be real busy, but it was good seeing you, okay?”
Corie blinked, and her lips formed a perfect O. I was doing the same thing. I couldn’t even think of a time that Kyler had shot down a pretty girl. Granted, it could be because I was sitting right there, and given our newly acquired history, he was being a little more discreet than normal.
My gaze caught Andrea’s and she had this biggest cat-ate-every-canary-in-the-cage grin, and I couldn’t help the smirk that graced my lips.
“Well, call me. I’ll make time for you, if you make time for me.” Corie smiled, but it lacked the confidence of earlier. “See you around.”
Kyler nodded.
After Corie bounced off somewhere, silence descended on the table and the smirk slipped away from my lips. Unease turned the food in my stomach and I wished I hadn’t eaten what I had. Tanner was still studying his food like he was going to be tested on it. Andrea was remarkably quiet, which meant the apocalypse had started, and Kyler was staring off in the distance, a muscle working in his jaw. I don’t know exactly what made it all sink in then, but I suddenly realized, like really understood, that what had happened between us affected every aspect of our lives.
Even our friends.
Because right now, Tanner and Andrea were most likely experiencing a mad case of secondhand embarrassment, or they just didn’t know how to handle the situation. Maybe they felt bad for me, or they felt awkward on behalf of Kyler. They were probably waiting to see how I’d react, if I’d get mad or jealous or run off in tears.
Even if Kyler and I got past this and moved on as friends, our friends would always be uncomfortable. The weight of that knowledge settled on my shoulders and I slumped down, wanting nothing more than to go home and crawl into bed.
The truth, no matter what Andrea said or I wanted to believe, was that Kyler wasn’t the kind of guy who was into commitments. And if he wanted to be with me, he would’ve called or done something after I left. Anything other than drinking himself into a stupor, and of course he probably wanted to salvage our friendship. He was…he was a good guy like that.
Andrea smiled at me, and she seemed to sense how far my mood had plummeted. “You ready to get out of here?”
Ignoring Kyler’s sharp look, I nodded. I don’t think at that moment there was anything I wanted more than to get the hell out of there.