Something should have told Kyle that this was wrong. Hell, he should’ve known that as soon as he had kept sneaking glances at Ali. Why was it the person he found himself most attracted to seemed to be the most dangerous for him?
Truth be told, even if she wasn’t the younger sister of one of his closest friends, seeing her getting way too personal with a speeding volleyball wouldn’t have changed anything. At his core, Kyle is a good person and he would have rushed to anyone’s side. It didn’t matter on their gender or what their relation to his friends were. At the end of it, he would make sure if he could do anything to help.
"I think I am now, thanks--”
With a sigh of relief, Kyle was going to make the transition to find his boys, but just as he was about to turn, he felt a particular tug on his arm. It wasn’t much, but just the fact that her hand was touching his, Kyle froze almost instantaneously and he begrudgingly turned his head back around to see Ali’s brown eyes pleading-face emoji his heart to shreds.
“But uh... hey, can we go somewhere and talk?”
He stuttered for a few seconds and then said… “I should really go. I think Soy and the otters are waiting--”
And there were those brown eyes that made it nearly impossible for him to say no. Even after she had made it clear as she was cute -- stop that! -- Kyle went along with it.
He stared back longingly at the fun that everyone was having and part of him was jealous, but God, Kyle was weak. Cute girls were his kryptonite and right now, Ali Bishop might as well be the Lex Luthor in this equation. Only she wasn’t a bald middle-aged man and had his full, undivided attention. And she was way cuter than Lex ever was. Like unreasonably cuter.
Before they ventured away to a somewhat isolated part of the lacrosse field, Kyle looked at her. “Hey, uh...lemme hold your bag for you. I mean..you know, after what just happened, the extra weight can’t be good for you right now, right?” He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
To say that Ali was a mixed bag of emotions was a severe understatement. She was alone with a boy and not just any boy. The boy she had been crushing on for as long as she laid eyes on him and despite how nervous and happy that made her she was sad too. Because part of her felt like he really didn’t feel the same way about her that she felt about him. She practically had to force him with her infamous puppy dog pout.
But when Kyle asked to carry her bag a glimmer of hope surfaced inside her heart. She didn’t think she had a concussion or anything like that, but it was nice of him to consider the possibility. “Uh, right.” She responded nervously before removing the strap of her bag from her arm and handing it to him. Once it was safely in his hands she paced in her mind wondering what exactly was she going to say to him before her mouth opened before her mind could complete the thought process and she blurted out the most forward thing she didn’t think of. “Why don’t you like me?”
She covered her mouth just as quickly as she said it. She couldn’t believe she just said that. She wanted to bury herself right there on school grounds, die, become a lonely ghost and haunt the school wandering the halls searching for her heart and the common sense that should’ve stopped her.
Immediately, Kyle’s entire body froze mid-step, a rather sharp “what!?” leaving his lips as looked at Ali, who had her hands over her mouth. And by mid-step, he was literally frozen: his legs were in front of each other with the left in front and the right in back, it was stepping off of his back one so the toes were on the ground. “What do you mean?” He found himself asking her. Paralysis persisted and Kyle searched Ali’s face for an answer. He had something of an idea of what she meant and speaking truthfully would be a terrible thing for his own health, so play the safe card.
Well, as safe as he could be in a situation where he was alone with Cass’ younger sister.
“Of course, I like you,” he said as he turned around. He smiled at her in the way he always did when it came to her...when he was around Cass. A few seconds later, he realized he needed to clarify. “--I mean, you’re one of my best friend’s sister. How could I not like you? I mean, you’re a rad chick, Ali.” Yeah, that’s much better. Totally.
Ali truly couldn't believe her ears and didn't want to. Kyle's words hit her like multiple arrows to the heart. She was a "rad chick" and only saw her as an extension of her brother. She thought this year would be different and that she'd start making her own mark but the one guy she liked only saw her as Cassian's sister.
Ali slowly dropped her hands from her mouth and had a rather stern look on her face to hide her inner wounds. "That's not what I meant. Every time I look at you or try to get your attention it feels like you're purposely avoiding me and I don't know what I did wrong. To make matters worse I like you. Like really like you. So it's confusing and it hurts."
She couldn't believe she just said all of that out loud, but at this point she really didn't care. Today was already so terrible that admitting to Kyle that she liked him couldn't make it any worse. She wasn't going to let the rest of the year go by without expressing how she felt.
Hearing what she said was difficult for Kyle to process. Not because it was shocking...okay, yeah it was a bit of that, but mostly Kyle was having trouble giving her an apt response because, on some level, he was afraid of saying anything. Truth of the matter was that she nailed it right on the head. He was avoiding her and he felt guilty because she didn’t do anything wrong. Lord knew that, if anything, he was in the wrong for having whatever feelings he was experiencing for her. He knew Cass would beat him up or make him eat spicier food than usual. Honestly, he didn’t know which was worse.
“Ali…” He opened his mouth and then closed it. How could he quell her mind, or in this case heart, without crossing any lines. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you pain. And..” Don’t say it man. Don’t.. “Cass would kill me. I..can’t..”
"Cassie literally can't kill you. It's illegal." Ali retorted. She sighed trying to figure out what to say next. Her emotions had carried her this far but she still couldn't overcome the obstacle that seemed to be her brother. "I know you and my brother are really close but so am I and your sister. But that still doesn't change how I feel. If you tell me you don't feel the same way I'll leave it alone and we'll just be friends because I know you wouldn't lie to me."
It was a bold move but Ali had bet her all on this. She hoped he felt the same way about her and she hoped he wouldn't lie to her, at least not to her face. That wasn't the guy she fell for. She knew it wasn't. So he either liked her or he didn't. She'd find out now.
Damn it.
Sometimes Kyle hated being that good person that his parents raised him to be. It wasn’t always like this because, usually, he never found himself in a situation where that made him feel so guilty. Ali was right that he wouldn't lie to her. He was always honest with her.
At least until now. And it was killing him. He didn't lie often and the guilt of knowing he had a chance to tell Ali the truth and wouldn't might as well be a worse hypothetical than the not-so-hypothetical scenario where Cass would do his worst to him
After several moments of remaining silent, Kyle looked at Ali with a tense gaze. "Fine…" Kyle said, biting his lip in a rare fashion. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ali. The person who is in the wrong is me. I am betraying Cass because his sister is one of the raddest chicks I've ever met. She's smart -- way smarter than I could dream of being. She's sweet and totally bitchin in the way that's endearing. And today, during homeroom, it took everything in me to not stare at how hot she looks in her outfit today." Kyle felt his internal body temperature go way up and his heart was trying to experience the outside life for the first time.
If Ali had still been holding her bag she would've dropped it. Her cheeks flushed bright red in response to his words. She couldn't believe that THE Skylar "Kyle" Vass found her hot! She pinched herself to make sure this wasn't all just some dream she had while she was still laying unconscious from her volleyball accident. Ouch. Okay, not dreaming.
"You… you really mean all of that?" She stuttered. It was admittedly a dumb question. Of course he meant it. He just said it. Don't give him a reason to take it all back.
There was a long moment of silence, all of which was spent by Kyle looking at Ali. He smiled at her and he wanted to do something that wouldn’t be crossing any lines, but maybe they were past that as it was. “Fuck it..” He muttered to himself and he took her hand. God, he knew this was a mistake, but as he looked down at her (due to their obvious height difference), Kyle brushed his hair out of his face with his free hand (the same one that had her bag over his shoulder). As he stroked her hand, he felt every part of his body react in a way that built internal tension.
“I meant every word.” His voice was a little shaky but he stood firm. He didn’t know what else to say, though. He had a long list of things he could, but none of them made it out. All he could do was gaze into her eyes and resist the urge to kiss her right here and now.
The long silence after her question was a bit unnerving, but she and her nerves were placated by Kyle's smile and the touch of his hand. Ali’s heart started beating rapidly in her chest causing her body to heat up around it. She could get lost in his eyes forever if she could but at this moment she didn't need to. She could tell what they both wanted was something else and Kyle may have been too much of a gentleman to steal what he wanted so it was her job to do it instead.
With her free hand Ali reached for and tugged on the collar of his shirt. She then stood up on her tippy toes and brought her lips up to connect with his. In that moment she had forgotten all that had happened today, including the volleyball that her forehead surely remembered. All that mattered was this one kiss. Their first kiss.
And it was...totally rad! Everything in Kyle's body came alive. No amount of a surfing-induced adrenaline rush nor a hot wing eating contest with the boys sent Kyle to the moon and back as it did when he felt her lips on his. It was dangerous and one wrong move could wipe him out, but something about this felt absolutely right. Like French fries dipped in a vanilla milkshake. Like pineapple on pizza.
As Kyle wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up with relative ease, the kiss broke but the euphoric and electric energy it created didn't. He smiled wide at her, his heart beating and wanting to see their faces for itself. "Ali, that was...incredible!" He had no other word but that and he half spun her around and lightly pressed her back against a wall of a building nearby, slowly letting her back on her feet.
Ali found herself giggling with glee when Kyle lifted her up and broke their kiss. She felt almost weightless in his arms and truly couldn't find herself being happier than she was in this very moment. When he put her back down against the wall she gave a confirming nod before moving strands of her hair from out in front of her face. "It was the raddest. Now come here." She said before pulling him closer once again for another passionate embrace of their lips.
Crimson Flame
Apoalo
Bacon
Sadu
Dragonfly 9
AtomicNut
Little Bird
Sky Blue
Danyel
