The next morning, Amy decided to finally talk to Kyle, whom she has been avoiding for a while now. She gave him a call, and asked him to meet her at a café. Although, Kyle was surprised to receive a call from Amy after more than two weeks of hearing nothing from her, he agreed to meet with her because he was anxious to talk to her. Thirty minutes after the call, Amy and Kyle were seated in the café not quite far from their homes. They both ordered for coffee and chocolate covered donuts.
“You look a lot better now” Amy began.
“Yeah. But, I still have to stay at home for two more weeks. Doctor’s orders” Kyle replied.
Amy suddenly felt guilty for not making an effort to see him after the kiss.
“Kyle, I’m sorry. I promised I was gonna be with you while you recovered, but I broke my promise”
“I understand. You have your own life to live”
“It’s not that. I-I-We… About the kiss…” Amy stuttered, nervously running her fingers through her hair.
She felt this was the right moment to bring up the conversation, but she didn’t know it would be this difficult and awkward to talk about it.
“Amy. I, um. I’m sorry I took you by surprise… But, I’m not sorry it happened”
Kyle decided to be completely honest about his feelings.
“I can’t apologize for kissing you, because I’m in love with you”
Amy was completely taken aback by what she just heard. She blinked a couple of times to try to take in what Kyle said. This wasn’t how she imagined this conversation would turn out.
“Kyle. I-I” She tried to come up with a sentence, but it was impossible.
“I’m not asking you to say anything, Amy. I’m just letting you know how I feel” Kyle said when he noticed that Amy was at a loss for words.
“I’ve been in love with you for some years now” He continued.
“Years?!” Amy exclaimed in surprise, finding this hard to believe.
“Yes, Amy. Years… I couldn’t express my feelings then because you were younger. I was scared your dad would disapprove, so I decided to wait a couple more years”
All this time, her crush was actually in love with her. Why didn’t he say anything then? Why did he make her feel like she was the only one who felt those sparks? This is so messed up.
“I chose not to tell you anything because I didn’t want to get your hopes up, and then dash it” Kyle further explained.
It was like he was reading Amy’s thoughts.
Amy blinked back her tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. How did her life get so complicated? If Kyle had said this some years back, she would’ve said yes in a heartbeat, but things changed. She fell in love with Bryan, and what she feels for Bryan isn’t just some crush, it is far more stronger.
“I love you, Amy. I’ve waited for so long to say this” He concluded, taking Amy’s hands from across the table.
“Kyle. I, um. I know I may have led you on by kissing you back, but, I’m sorry. I can’t give you what you want”
Amy chose her words carefully, as she didn’t want to hurt Kyle’s feelings. He was too nice to be treated that way.
“Why? I thought you felt something too?”
His confusion was written all over his face.
“I mean… It’s not a rush. Just take your time. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready”
“It’s not that, Kyle… I’m in love with someone else”
Her voice was unsteady as she said those words.
Kyle was beyond shocked to hear that Amy is in love with someone else. He didn’t see that coming, as he always thought that she felt even a little bit of likeness towards him. He reluctantly let go of her hand, causing a tear to finally roll down Amy’s cheek. She doesn’t want their friendship to be strained because of this. Why did things have to happen this way? Now she finally gets the chance to have a serious conversation with Kyle, it has to be this heartbreaking.
“I-I…”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything… All of this is my fault. I should’ve said something sooner… I’m sorry for misunderstanding you. I guess I wasn’t paying as much attention, as I thought I was” Kyle apologized instead. His voice cracked with emotion and Amy couldn’t help but feel a sudden pain in her chest.
The hurt in his eyes was killing her. She never meant to cause this much pain on Kyle. Hell, she didn’t even want to cause him any pain.
Kyle let out a deep breath and stood up from his chair. Amy copied his action, reaching for his hand. He can’t leave without them sorting this out.
“I need some time to myself” was all he said without even looking at her.
He gently removed her hand from his and walked out of the café. He drove off in his black Cardillac.
‘What have you done?’ she thought to herself, breaking down in tears.
For several days, Amy wasn’t herself. She became awfully quiet and barely ate any food. This drew Henry and Bryan’s attention, as they were both worried about her sudden change in behavior. When they asked her why she was like that, she told them that she had a quarrel with her best friend, Mandy. Her dad offered to talk to Mandy on her behalf, but she declined, assuring him that they were going to reconcile soon.
Henry didn’t like his daughter’s current state, but he decided to respect her wish and not interfere.
After much contemplation on Amy’s part, she called Bryan and told him the real reason why she is downcast, since she had already promised not to keep anything away from him again. Bryan then advised her to take some time to recover.
How was she going to recover, when it was impossible to reach Kyle? His phone has been switched off since they had that conversation and according to her best friend, whom she had asked to help her give Kyle a call, and apologize, even if she had to call the house phone, since she was away in college. Kyle hasn’t come out of his bedroom even once. His parents are worried, and so is Amy, but she couldn’t bring herself to go see him, because nothing she would say will make things better. She decided to take Bryan’s advice by trying to pull herself together, but she couldn’t, as staying in her bedroom only reminded her of her first kiss on her seventeenth birthday, which happened in her bedroom. Amy couldn’t take the emotional stress anymore, so she took to jogging every morning, to help distract herself.