Chapter 19: FRIENDS OR FOES?
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I was completely disoriented when I woke up and couldn’t tell my head from my toe. Before any form of light could get to my optic nerves, some annoying whispers attacked my auditory senses.
“I don’t think it’s the right time.”
“Too hungover to care? Think about it, in fact it’s the perfect time.”
I could sense two familiar figures hovering over me as I attempted and failed to open my eyes. Sharp pain shot through my skull paralysing me of any form of movement.
I knew Sam and Kyle were dumb, but I never knew they lacked the common etiquettes of upping their shut around hungover humans.
“No. She’ll kill me. She will actually kill me and you would probably help-”
“Then how could you let this happen? You know how she is about stuff like this.”
“This happened overnight Sam. I didn’t know things would spiral so out of hand.”
“Ky, think about it.”
“Jesus Christ, not now Sam, let’s just get out of-“
“Do you really want her to find out from someone else? I mean it’s everywhere, wouldn’t she feel betrayed?”
“Do you really think I’m scared of the betrayal part of it?”
“What are you morons blabbering about?” I croaked, intending to yell but couldn’t muster the energy. I realised I was in my bedroom in my parents house and had no recollection as to how I got there.
“Woah, woah, woah…” Kyle jumped away like I was made of blue flames, and then he dumbly asked, “Did you hear anything?” his forlorn expressions were evident.
Oh yeah… Kyle, last night, the party…. Images came back to me slowly in the form of random flashes, It made a little sense to my forgetful brain.
I gave him a blank stare. It’s either too early in the morning or it’s just Kyle’s demented episodes catching up with him. I think he should get that checked out, even though it’s already too late.
“Of course she heard, she’s not deaf.” Sam answered as he offered me a glass of water and I’m assuming two advils. I just took them without questioning.
I heard them alright, but it didn’t make any sense, and I was in no mood to entertain them, so I simply said. “Just get out guys.”
“Heard that Sam? Let’s get out.” Kyle seemed a little too happy to comply, as if I just offered him free tickets to an arctic monkeys concert.
“Alex I know you’re tired and all, but trust me you wanna see this.” Sam flipped his laptop open and swiftly placed it before my eyes to read an article the screen displayed.
“NOOO!” Kyle dived for the macbook and I cringed in pain at his screaming, hit him with the pillows and kicked him in the shin.
Kyle jumped around in pain, clutching the mac like it was dear to his heart while wrestled with Sam for it, all at the same time. “I told you not now. She’s angry!”
“Yeah? Whose fault is that?” Sam tugged harder at the laptop.
“No Sam, let this go!” Kyle whined.
“You’ll thank me later.” Sam retrieved the detachable screen somehow and handed it to me, and then to me he said “Now, you know it’s expensive and important so you shall not chuck it at Kyle’s face.”
I didn’t need to read the whole article. The headline was enough.
“KYLE!” I screamed, hurting my hungover self in the process but I didn’t care, not when I had other things to worry about. My brother ran for his life, understanding my murderous tone in a heartbeat. We had moved the fight into the living room.
“You are a dead man!” I told him as I ran after him and he blocked himself behind furniture, trying to put as many obstacles and distance as possible between us.
“What did I do?” He asks in a meek voice.
“You have the audacity to ask me that after everything that you’ve done?!” I yelled. “Mom, Dad, Sam… arrange a funeral, you execute him or I kill him…either way he dies.” I stopped to talk to my parents and then continued to chase him. Yes, I was at my parents house. Kyle apparently didn’t remember my address, so he brought me here. Doofus!
“You can’t just blame me, you were there too!” He cried.
“So what are you implying, this is all my fault?!” I roared in anger.
“Well, it’s not my fault!” he insisted.
Mess. Everything was a mess.
All because of one lame misunderstanding and my brother’s utter foolishness. Last night when he came to pick me up, we were both spotted together driving away in his car and now the morning news says-
‘Kyle Brook the most eligible bachelor in town was spotted last night near the Samberg towers with a young lady. They seemed quite close and everyone is wondering if it is that secret love affair media recently got the air of? It’s hard to predict anything on this basis alone, but It seems like Mr. Hollywood had finally got his heart stolen.’
We both bickered back and forth. “You better stop running or I’m gonna rip your f*cking head off.” He didn’t stop and continued to wreck the whole house, trying to hide behind stupid things.
“Alex, mind your language!” Mom shouted but I ignored her, I had more important things to do than minding my language at the moment. Her anger was nothing as compared to mine.
“Kyle, I swear to god I won’t leave you alive, so it’d be better for you to walk up to me and accept a punch in the face” I threatened. I looked at a smiling Sam and said “Get me your boxing gloves.”
“On it!” He saluted and jogged away.
Meanwhile, mom got tired of our conflict and stood up, “Stop it both of you, Rick aren’t you going to say something?” she included dad who was lounging on the couch, leisurely reading the newspaper like there wasn’t a commotion happening around him.
“Yes, of course I’ll say something… kids! You shouldn’t have dated each other in the first place!” He said with mock seriousness. I rolled my eyes at his remark.
“Why is everything a joke to you?” Mom snapped.
“It’s not…I’m dead serious!” Dad tried to maintain a tough posture but burst out laughing.
I’m really hating this day.
Kyle ran and hid behind mom, using her as a protective human shield. Mom couldn’t take it anymore so she took hold of Kyle and pushed him in front of me.
“Thanks ma” I appreciated her kindness as I picked up a flower vase placed on the table to smack my brother.
“Don’t hurt me, my shoulder is still healing and all my endorsement dealers will sue me!” He informed me. As if I didn’t know…
“Yes! Exactly, that is the problem! Why do you have to be an actor, couldn’t you be something low key… like a doctor, fashion designer, engineer or even gay would have worked, atleast they wouldn’t have jumped to such an absurd conclusion!” I was shaking him by holding his collar the whole time I yelled and he cringed at every word I was spewing at him.
“Why can’t you see the brighter side in all this, you are famous now!” Kyle suggested and flashed a wide grin.
“That’s the dullest bright side I’ve ever seen!” I said. Everyone knew I hated the spotlight, I had mastered the art of invisibility, and avoided Kyle in the public’s eye since his debut. At all costs I stayed away only to now have it thrown in my face because of a stupid drunken decision.
“But-” he started to speak and I cut him off.
“Shut up, my head hurts!” I was so angry that I almost forgot about my hangover. My body was begging me to give it a break but the circumstances weren’t helping.
Sam showed up without the gloves and said. “I’ll knock some sense into him Lexi, don’t you worry,” He then turned to his best friend and grabbed his shirt, “You come here.” They both went upstairs, Kyle being dragged by the front of his shirt by Sam.
Grumbling in annoyance about stupid brother and his omnipresent friend I walked up to my room to take some more meds to relieve my aching head and then got ready for my work day while whacking my brain…trying to remember last night’s events to no avail.
All the clothes I had in here were the ones I didn’t prefer. I grumpily chose the most sophisticated ones which were still not very good and pulled my hair in an up-do.
A knock distracted me from my reflection in the mirror, “if you’re Kyle you better stay out of my room.” I replied.
“Good thing I’m not him” Sam said as he stepped inside. I looked at his reflection, as he met my gaze in the mirror.
I had to roll my eyes at his sheepish look. “If you’re here to play his advocate, save it.” I said sternly.
“Got it, and I’m not very good at law so don’t worry I’ll never be able to defend him, he’ll probably face exile you know…. would be banished from the kingdom.” Sam did a tough impersonation of god knows who, on that last sentence of his.
I had to laugh “I think that punishment is a little outdated.”
“Is it….. see I wouldn’t know, I told you I’m bad at it.” He smirked, making a slight dimple appear on his cheek that makes it impossible to stay mad at him.
I turned to face him, “how do I look?” I asked, referring to my outfit, that consisted of black fitted skirt, white tucked shirt and my white sneakers.
“Beautiful as always.” He said smilingly, as he stepped closer and touched a lock of my hair “I like your hair this way, it’s different. “
I slapped his hand away, “Quit trying to flirt Sammy…..” I whined looking up at his blue eyes. “Give me an honest opinion I’m getting late…. is this too casual?” I stretched my arms out.
“I am being honest….” He frowned, “wait I know how to formalize it a little bit….let me see.” He walked around me and started going through the drawers on the side of the mirror.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, puzzled as I looked at him, fussing around.
“These.” He turned back to me with a pair of my tiny silver snowflake earrings in one hand and my blazer cut jacket in other “put them on.”
“Okay… ” I decided to listen to him, since his sense of style wasn’t as bad as my brother.
I checked in the mirror, “Perfect.”
“Told you.” He boasted “Now let’s go.” Sam said joyfully.
“Go where?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m giving you a ride, your car is probably with Kate, she said she’ll bring it to you today at work.” He clarified.
“Of course it is.” I didn’t ask for the technical details since I knew even Kate was drunk yesterday, maybe she didn’t drink much.
“Kyle could give you a ride, but I figured it would most definitely end in a homicide.” He guessed.
“Good thinking.” I validated, and laughed a little.
“Shall we go mademoiselle?” Sam asked again, exaggerating his bow.
I rolled my eyes. “Might as well.”
Can this day end already?
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I was standing in front of the entrance doors of the humongous ‘Signature Heights’ building with probably an annoyed look on my face. How I made it here was beyond me. As the automatic glass doors slid open, I walked in while frowning at each and every little sound.
Hopefully no one would recognise me from those photos. I knew that the whole thing with Kyle will die down soon enough but until then I’ll have to just deal with it. I know this because there was this one time when my brother had to read about his own tragic death in the papers and believe it or not, he laughed for two days straight!
I gritted my teeth, what rotten luck I have for suddenly ending up in tabloids? Stupid celebrity brothers and their stupid mass of fans!
Urgh!!!
Ignoring everything and everyone, I waltzed straight up to the elevator but my steps faltered when I saw who else was there waiting for the very same elevator. Mr. Jensen Black.
I sighed and then muttered under my breath, “Great.”
Standing next to him I stared up at the red flashing numbers which showed the descent of the elevator shaft without a word as I had no intention of starting a conversation with him or anyone else for that matter. It dinged loudly as it finally arrived, effectively piercing my delicate eardrums.
Hangovers. You gotta love them.
I didn’t know if I was up for enduring an awkward elevator ride with him, maybe I should just take the stairs, god knows I need the workout, but I’m lazy, maybe I should just wait and catch the next one, but won’t that be weird? He’ll probably think I’m a psycho.
I was still undecided when the elevator arrived, Jensen stepped inside the sliding glass doors and I just eyed it and him unsurely and the moment stretched uncomfortably, to my utter surprise he stopped the doors from closing and asked me jokingly “What are you waiting for, Christmas?”
Firstly, it was a gigantic shock to see him joking suddenly like this and to top it off he was being kind? Granted he was just offering me an elevator ride and not his left kidney, but it still surprised me. What’s with him today?
Quickly hiding my perplexed expressions, I hopped inside and then the elevator closed with an ear-splitting ding yet again and I winced. “tsss” I hissed as if it physically stung.
Jensen started the most awaited conversation in that awkwardness “Hungover, are we?” He just had to go and remind me of my big blast of failure, didn’t he? He and I were standing close enough that I could catch a hint of his cologne in the air, it was fresh and herbaceous with a hint of citrus, I took a step away, as inconspicuous as I could manage.
I mentally sighed, “All thanks to you” faking a smile was never more exhausting.
“Your generosity overwhelms me” was his cocky sarcastic reply to my mockery and…he said it quite loudly, might I add.
I frowned “keep it down, will you!” It was meant to be a request but it came out as a command.
His smile grew, which for some reason made my heart beat faster but I ignored it. “What? Am I by any chance, bothering you?” He faked concern, again speaking loudly. At least he knows exactly what he’s doing.
I turned to face him with a wide fake grin on my face as I asked “is there a possibility, that I could murder you in this elevator shaft and get away with it?” with pure innocence I even batted my eyelashes for good measure.
Jensen seemed extremely entertained by my question, after pretending to contemplate my words for a moment, he answered in grave sadness. “Sorry to disappoint, but no…zero possibilities.”
“What a shame…” My hand flew to my temples without a thought as I tried to massage away the discomfort, when I heard his voice again.
“If you’re really not feeling well, you should have just taken the day off” he suggested, with a hint of genuine concern.
My eyes widened in surprise, “I can do that?” I asked like a kid who was lost in her own porch, and suddenly found her house.
Jensen was amused “Obviously!” he said in a duh tone. The elevator came to stop on our floor, we both stepped out and slowly started walking towards the general direction of our offices, walking together without even realising.
Geez….why didn’t I think of that?
“Why don’t you call your backup and go home?” He said, highly entertained for some reason. What backup…? What was he talking about? And where have I heard it before? All of a sudden a memory hit me…it was from last night, of course, when I was totally out of my mind.
I gestured to Jensen to come closer, so that I could whisper in his ear, like I was telling him a secret and he complied seeing no other option, “I have a back up plan.” I moved away and continued speaking, almost proudly “I have backup plans for backup plans for backup plans!”
Cringing at the memory, I turned to him and spoke sheepishly “yeah, about that…my backup plans, they are not as fool proof as I might have led you to believe.”
“Oh really? I thought you might have a backup plan for that too” he said and I debated whether his teasing was harmless or plain mean.
“H-how can you be so…?”I was looking for a word to perfectly describe his arrogance when he spoke up and cut my speech short.
“Charming?” He suggested, a playful smile on his lips and an eyebrow raised slightly, so little I would miss it if I wasn’t paying attention to detail. I was taken aback by his bizarre word selection and was about to laugh at it when another memory came to me…
“You’re charming when you smile, less evil” I blurted out while looking at him as I was rendered incapable of thinking straight. “Most times you just wear your diabolical scowl, you should stop doing that.”
This was then followed by some absolutely absurd memories, scarring images, hideous reminders and some awful conversations all from the previous night which are gonna haunt me for the rest of my existence. I wanted to yell at my colloquial mindless self and at the same time hide in a hole for the rest of my life. Two minutes of silence for my miserable soul.
“Any chance you can forget I said that?” I was almost afraid to look Jensen in the eye, but when I did, he had that smirk on his face which said ‘your secret is safe with me‘.
I didn’t trust that for a second.
“Not a chance.” Our path finally diverged. “I think I like drunk Alex.” He casually added.
“I want to die.” I mumbled under my breath. He chuckled.
Jensen walked past me to his own office but not before I heard him saying “feel better Alex.”
Wait! Did I get that right? Did he just call me Alex and not Ms. Brook in the ‘office’ environment?
Talk about progress.
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I dropped myself on the comfy couch in my office while thinking ‘who the hell was I talking to just now?‘ he sure looked like Jensen, walked and sounded like him too, but there was something different, something so unlike him, the vibes he yielded were almost friendly, inviting even, was I reading this all wrong?
I sighed and closed my eyes, hoping to be done with the day.
The door opened and I heard Kate clear her throat, she took a seat on one of the chairs and faced me. “So…. dating your brother huh? Talk about gross.” she started in a teasing manner, as she is one of those few people who knew the truth.
“Tell me about it” I kept my eyes closed and groaned. My head was still spinning a little.
“What a turn of events….Alex, how do you manage to get yourself stuck in the deepest mud-holes all the time? No seriously, what’s your secret?” She asked laughing at the insanely disgusting misconception.
I turned to look at her as I finally had someone to talk to “Kate, I was just kidding around, I didn’t think this would happen when I called him yesterday, You know what I’m saying… you were there-” I stopped when Nick suddenly entered the room.
“Kyle Brook huh? Nice catch!” Nick grinned as he got me my morning coffee. When I didn’t speak a word, which was unlike me, Nick asked “How did you guys meet anyway?” Kate laughed at that and almost fell out of her chair.
Anger surged through my veins and I groaned at his assumption “Eww! He’s not my boyfriend. He is my worthless goddamn brother.”
“What?” Nick was clearly shocked and confused to hear this, so with wide eyes, “You’re related to a celebrity? You…You’re Kyle freaking Brook‘s sister?” he quickly took a seat next to Kate and I continued explaining about yesterday.
“Kyle showed up dressed in black jacket and shoes and wore a baseball cap to cover his face. That was apparently his ‘camouflage’ god knows how well it worked. He doesn’t know a thing about hiding from the paparazzi, Kate…how he got so famous is beyond me! I mean I can scientifically prove his brain is literally smaller than a pea!” I was frustrated to an extent that I started pacing in front of them, trying to explain the gravity of the situation.
“Ooh…so you’re just hugging him cause he’s your brother and not your boyfriend” Nick thought out loud about how the media can exaggerate in a shockingly believable manner.
“She likes to hug people when she’s drunk.” Kate told him as a matter of fact.
“Really?” Nick finally understood the truth as he shoved the magazine in my face with mine and Kyle’s picture on it.
“Yes Nick, but I don’t appreciate your idea of rubbing my problems in my face, so put that thing away from me!” I yelled at him and returned to my couch and flopped down. Both of them burst out laughing, since they found this situation hilarious. I did not.
I glared at both of them which did not affect their fits of laughter even the slightest bit. “Wha-what were you even thinking?” Nick came up with a lame question between his laughter while pointing at the photograph of me ‘kissing Kyle on the cheek’ out of several ones of us ‘hugging’ and attempting to stand straight which practically looked like him lifting me (so I won’t double over) in the magazine.
“I WAS DRUNK!” I yelled again.
It just added to their amusement and I was getting more and more irritated with their behavior. “Get out! Both of you!” I spoke up above their collective voices and Nick immediately stood up.
“Can I get his autograph? Mark loves him!” Nick begged, I glared at him.
“Kate, don’t make me throw you out, and isn’t your bipolar boss hopelessly looking for you?” I eyed her seriously, waiting for her to leave.
She pushed the chair back and stood up and said “Don’t know about me but he sure might be looking for you.”
“Me?” I was confused as heck, “why?”
“Remember last night’s wager? You’re planning a charity event.” she told me happily.
I groaned exasperatedly. Once again they were both laughing till they had tears streaming down their eyes. I picked up the cushions to hit them both and closed the door when they were finally out.
I started with my pile of work in automatic mode and sat behind the computer for the whole morning and a little bit of the lunch hours. This was important, if I didn’t come up with the sales figures within the next two days, the advertisement will be delayed and that would only affect the growth of that estate and of course the overall sales.
Staring at a screen all day was straining my eyes and my head was killing me, I looked for meds but decided not to depend on them too much and just thought of taking a break. Work can wait a bit…..right? I closed my eyes and got comfortable on my couch, I was almost sleeping, only slightly aware of my surroundings when I heard a knock on my door, but I was barely conscious. Thinking it was either Kate or Nick as usual, I didn’t bother with a response.
I heard footsteps as a figure walked up to my couch “Wow, you really do respect your workplace.” A very familiar deep voice spoke with humor.
I was caught off guard due to Jensen’s sudden presence of all people and I quickly jumped up in surprise from my leaning position but ended up bumping my head against the armrest and a loud “thud” resonated all over the room.
“Ow…ow…ouch” I was wincing as if I was stabbed, but the pain was in my head which I had managed to bang.
It sounded far worse than it actually was but Jensen quickly dove to help me, he crouched down to my level and tried helping me up. I avoided his gaze which was clearly on me trying to look for any signs of distress, or maybe blood oozing from my head, no such thing happened.
I curled up a little and pushed myself in the concave curve of the couch, hoping to become one with it and all the while holding my head from falling apart, as I tried to forget the extremely cringe worthy stunt that I just pulled in front of my boss. Jensen was surely containing his amusement for my sake, at least he had the decency to look abashed but I just wanted to hope this was a nightmare.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said softly as he carefully pulled me into a sitting position. I felt warmth buzzing though me and spreading across my cheeks. God this is so darn embarrassing! His touch on my forearm was creating an unexplainable feeling inside of me and I’m sure I’ve broken my brain now. Great! Just great!
He sat next to me and for some reason my thoughts were hovering around the fact that there was very less space between us. I think I’m going crazy…and I think this time the damage is irreversibly permanent.
My eyes were slightly glassy and my vision was blurred but I could still see his expressions which showed nothing but concern. “Let me…” he said softly as his worried eyes examined my forehead. He brushed a few strands of my hair away from my face and for a moment I completely forgot about my throbbing head as I stared up in his grey eyes.
Who was this man and what did he do to Jensen Black the Devil reincarnate?
His fingers hovered over my skin and then gingerly glided across my temple as he inspected the damage and I tried not to lean into his touch. The soothing motion of his fingertips sure felt nice and I just wanted to fall asleep. His cologne was minty fresh and I refrained from moving closer.
What the hell is wrong with me? I forced myself to stop thinking these stupid thoughts and tried my best to calm my nerves. “I think we need to ice this. Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” He quickly got to his feet and rushed out of my office and disappeared down the hall.
Gaahhh! Seriously? This had to happen?!
He reappeared moments later with a makeshift Ice-bag which he probably prepared in a hurry, he held it to my forehead and said “This should help with the swelling.” What, it had started to swell? Great! I’m gonna look like a pumpkin head.
I held the ice pack to my face with both hands, mostly to hide my face and to save whatever was left of my dignity. A few minutes passed in silence.
“Better or should I call the doctor?” He asked while a teasing smirk played on his lips.
“You should probably call a neurologist, something’s definitely wrong with my brain.” He thought I was joking and laughed.
But then he turned serious when I didn’t laugh and asked, “Should I really?”
I rolled my eyes “I’m fine.” It’s nothing, just a hit to my head and my pride.
His eyes again brushed down my face before he nodded and smiled “I’ll take your word for it.”
He then turned to pick up a file from the coffee table placed near the couch and handed it to me. “Read it thoroughly and make sure you go through the guest list at least once-” he suddenly took a pause and then said “if your brain isn’t dysfunctional that is.”
“Ha ha ha funny…so very funny!” I laughed without a hint of humor and shot him a deadpanned look. He was obviously not at all bothered by my theatrics as his lips lifted up at the corners to form his charming smirk.
Charming? Where the hell did that come from?!
Disregarding my weird thoughts, I asked something else which just came to my mind “What’s it about?” I asked, lifting the thin file that he placed in my hands.
“We are hosting a charity event next weekend, it’s basically a dinner party and all the important businessmen across the globe are gonna attend to make donations.” He told me.
My curiosity increased instead of diminishing and I fired questions at him left and right “What? Why?”
He sighed. “You’ll know when you read the file and if you still have any questions after going through its contents you may ask me, I’ll just be in my office.” He stood up to leave but turned back around to say something and I looked up at him expectantly “Alex-“
“Zzzz…zzzz…zzzz” Suddenly the vibration of my phone interrupted him.
I quickly answered the call without even looking at the caller ID just to cut short the weird silence. Shooting a sheepish ‘sorry’ smile at Jensen I turned away and attended my phone call “Hello?”
“Alex! I just called to give you a heads up that you might need to deal with a little paparazzi today, oh and also…. I’m sorry” Kyle’s voice spoke up from the other side and it fired up the storm of anger inside me which had just begun to subside.
“What do you mean ‘I might need to’ why isn’t this problem fixed yet goddamn it?” I fiercely whisper-yelled at him, forgetting everything but my anger towards this obnoxious and detestable specimen of a brother.
“It is being settled as we speak and soon you’ll have nothing to worry about…..so just calm down, okay?” Kyle said and in the process infuriated me even more.
“Soon? How soon?” I frowned, not liking the sound of it.
“A week.”
He is so dead. “What! No way! I’m not dealing with this disast-“
“Calm down will you!”
“Don’t you tell me what to do, you won’t be saying that when I rearrange your face with a red hot Iron and hang you by your eyelids!” I threatened.
I was getting to him, judging by his sudden silence on the other side and then slowly he spoke up “Now, now Alexandra , that’s no way to treat your big brother.”
I scoffed “keep talking nonsense and ‘ll beat you to death with your stupid toy snake, make you cut onions till you cry a river and then I’ll make you eat mayonnaise with it.” He hates mayonnaise.
Kyle was gasping with all the detailed imagery. “Thanks for the emotionally scarring image…that’s gonna last me a lifetime” Kyle shuddered and I couldn’t help the evil smirk that was dying to break out. Gosh, was that the best I could think of?
“Next time you call me you better not be the bearer of bad news” I warned him and then hung up, not at all bothered to hear anything else from him.
When I turned back around, I found Jensen standing exactly where I left him, almost frozen to the floor and looking at me blankly. Shit! totally forgot he was there!
“You were saying something…?” I asked, pulling him out of whatever trance he was in.
“Huh?” He looked at me, quickly his eyes focusing and then he shook his head “No nothing it’s nothing… I-I’ll just be going” and with that he walked out while I was left wondering what it was that he wanted to say?
Stupid Kyle and his stupid timing!
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