Chapter SIX

Georgia's low key birthday party was literally Netflix and Chill. Her mom had blown up some balloons and taped them around the house. We ate pizza for lunch, sung Happy Birthday and she blew out one candle on a cupcake. We then binge watched her favourite show on Netflix for the rest of the afternoon. And she loved every minute of it. Georgia was the polar opposite of Kaylee, and I fell somewhere in the middle. It was why we were so good together.

   By the time it was five o'clock, Kaylee and I were the only ones left.

   "I guess I should get home for Sunday dinner," I told them, stretching out my arms as I stood up.

   "You still have family dinner every week with Kane's parents, even though he gets to bail?"  Kaylee asked, looking surprised.

   I nodded. "I'd have to be on fire to miss it... and even then..." I replied. "But Kane rarely comes."

   "Lame," Kaylee laughed. "You want a ride home?"

   "Please," I told her, then hugged Georgia again. "Happy birthday babe."

   "Thank you guys for coming. See you tomorrow," she said, then waved at us out the window until we were inside Kaylee's car.

   "Uh, is that Kane's car?" she asked me ten minutes later, pulling onto my street.

   We had blasted some music and sang along for the drive, but now my stomach sank.

   I swallowed hard, not wanting to look. She knew Kane's car, and I knew there was always a chance he would be there, at my house, on Sundays. But this was probably my mom's doing; she'd likely personally invited him just to make it more awkward for me.

   "Can you stay?" I begged Kaylee, as she pulled into the driveway behind my mom's SUV.

   "Sorry. My mom already texted that dinner is started, and I have homework."

   "Damn it Kaylee," I laughed. "Wish me luck."

   "You got it."

   The house was quiet, but I heard the back door slam shut as I crossed through the kitchen. When I reached the back yard, I saw my parents, Bruce and Carla sitting at the patio table. I heard Andy laughing, but didn't see him right away. And then there was Kane, in his bathing suit, in the pool with my brother.

   "Hey, honey," my mom said happily when she saw me. "How was Georgia's party?"

   "Good," I smiled back.

   "Want to get in the pool? Last time for the year. I'll be closing it this week," my dad said to me, wiping his hands on his apron.

   "No, thanks," I replied, pulling out a chair beside Carla.

   Kane had noticed me now, but pretended to be too busy playing with Andy. I didn't even want to look at him, but it was hard not to. Andy was giggling and splashing around with his water wings on, and Kane was laughing like I hadn't seen him laugh in years.

   "How's school, Marley?" Bruce asked me, snapping me out of it.

   "Oh, good. I can't believe it's the end of September," I answered, now keeping my eyes on him.

   "Tell me about it. Kane has to start thinking about college applications soon," he went on, shaking his head.

   "College. Oh my," my Mom added. "I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday."

   But I wasn't listening anymore, because that was the first time I'd even considered that Kane would likely be gone away to college, in less than a year. And while he was not exactly my biggest fan these days, he was still Kane, and I knew there would be a part of us all missing when he was gone.

   "Dinner in fifteen minutes!" My dad called out, mostly to Kane and Andy. They both nodded but continued to swim and splash.

   I saw Kane glance at me, our eyes only meeting for a split second before I looked away quickly. I just wondered why he was even there. He hadn't shown up for a Sunday dinner since school had started again.

   I went inside to get a bottle of water, and to take a deep breath. Maybe I was over reacting, but even seeing him now made me angry. Who did he think he was? It wasn't like I could start an argument with him here, at Sunday dinner. He knew I'd have to bite my tongue and pretend all was fine.

   Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice someone come into the kitchen from the back door. When I spun around, I practically bumped right into him. He had a towel around his waist, his hair was slicked back, still wet. Our eyes met again, but I wanted to scream.

   "What are you doing here?" I whispered instead.

   "Changing. I left my clothes -"

   "No, why are you here at all?" I asked.

   "Sunday dinner?"

   "You just show up whenever you feel like?"

   "I do work some weekends. And I have a life," he said, but looked like he regretted it right away.

   I bit my tongue. "Right."

   "Marley, c'mon," he said, cocking his head to the side.

   "What?"

   But he stepped back. "Nothing."

   I walked away, back outside. I had to ignore him, I couldn't engage, or get mad, or tell him to leave me alone. So I ate my burger that my dad had barbequed, then asked to be excused and went to my room.

   First, I texted Kyler. Hey.

   Kyler: Heyy, What's up?

   Me: I was just thinking about you.

   Kyler: Yeah, what about?

   Me: Kissing you at the beach house.

   Kyler: Oh, yeah?. Can you go out?

   I sighed, laying down on my bed. Not on Sundays. And Kane is here.

   Kyler: Oh, shit. Tomorrow, after school?

   Me: Yes.

   Then I texted Kaylee. So awkward. I wish Kane was not here.

   You're the only girl at our school who wishes Kane Bryant was NOT at her house, she texted back right away.

   Me: Haha. Not funny.

   Kaylee: Oh! Ryan invited me to a party at his cousin's house next Saturday. You wanna go?

   Me: Can I bring Kyler?

   Kaylee: If he wants to go to a party with bunch of sophomores and juniors.

   Me: Okay, we will come.

   Kaylee: Cool, see you tomorrow.

  That week at school, pretending not to care about seeing Kyler at all, was hard. I had told Mandee and Mel that it was nothing, we weren't dating or anything, just to make them back off. Mandee was now in super flirty mode with Gibson anyway, and they were both pretty busy with cheer leading practices - so they mostly left me be. I went back to where I wanted to be anyway, with my girls. The having-lunch-with-the-popular-girls was short lived, but I was more than okay with that.

   I saw Kyler with Kane, Gibson and Mandee at lunch mid-week, but I kept walking, without letting any of them make eye contact. It was easier this way. Kyler texted me as soon as he was able to.

   This is so weird.

   Yes, it is, I sent back.

   Can we go out after school again?

   On Monday, right after school, he took me for an ice cream cone at a tiny place by his house. We talked, laughed and he kissed me in his car before he dropped me off at home. He was sweet, and actually liked to be with me - so having to ignore each other at school was not fun. Still, it was worth it.

   I told him about the party, that evening. We sat in a booth at a pizza place downtown, sipping cola and holding hands. I had never even been to this place before, and it was a bit of a dive. But that is what made it okay. All of this was new, going on dates, holding hands - so the pizza place might as well have been new, too.

   "A party? You think Kane won't be there?" Kyler was surprised that I'd suggested this.

   "It's at Ryan Miller's cousin's house. Does Kane even know Ryan?" I asked, sipping my drink again.

   "Kane kind of knows everyone," Kyler said, but shrugged.

   I sighed. "So you don't want to go?"

   "I do. But I don't want to fuck this up," he smiled, and I felt a bit better.

   "Let's just go," I said, then bit my pizza again.

   "Okay, we will go."

   The party was in Lower Hills, which I didn't know until we got there. It was forty minutes out of town, where Kane and Bruce lived until they bought the house in Greenborough.

   "This is a bad idea," I told Kyler, closing my eyes for a second, before we got out of the car.

   "Why?" he asked, parking his car on the road, across from the party house.

   "Kane grew up in Lower Hills. He went to high school here for ninth grade," I explained, because it was obvious Kyler didn't know this.

   "Oh, shit. Do you see his car?" He looked worried.

   I looked around, down the street at the other cars. I saw Kaylee's small green car, but not Kane's. I shook my head.

   "This is crazy. Let's just go in," Kyler laughed, undoing his seatbelt.

   Two hours later and no sign of Kane - we were having a great time. Kaylee was dancing with Ryan, drinking and laughing. She looked so happy, and it felt good to be out at a party, with Kyler, not hiding whatever we were doing. We played beer pong, and after a few drinks, I just wanted to sit. The was an empty sofa in the middle of the living room, so Kyler lead me over to it and we sat, close. It had been a few days since we'd kissed or touched each other, really.

   "You having fun?" he asked me, his mouth touching my ear.

   The music was loud, as was the buzz of the people, singing, laughing. I didn't know many other people, but as I looked around and made my way back to Kyler, I just didn't care.

   I nodded at him. "Yeah."

   "Good," he said, then leaned in to kiss me. He didn't care that we were in the middle of a room full of teenagers, some of whom were likely going to be watching us.

   But I got so lost in kissing him that suddenly I was in his lap, and someone yelled out, "Get a room!"

   I opened my eyes, looking right at Kyler. He grinned at me, but now I was so aware that all eyes were on us. When he tried to kiss me again, I was embarrassed and climbed off of him.

   "Hey, you okay?" he asked, right into my ear again.

   "Yeah," I said quickly, fixing my shirt.

   "You want a drink?" He didn't miss a beat.

   "Okay."

   "I'll be right back," he said, squeezed my hand and then disappeared into the next room.

   Everyone had gone back to their conversations, drinking, dancing, whatever they'd been doing. But I still felt weird, and suddenly I just wanted to get out of there. Without thinking, I stood up and walked right towards the front door. I didn't know if I wanted to have sex with Kyler, but I did know that I didn't want to have sex at a house party.

   "Fight!" I heard someone scream, just as I touched the doorknob to go outside. I just wanted to get some air.

   Immediately, I had a bad feeling in my stomach. Lots of people were rushing towards the kitchen, so I followed, but regretted it right away. Kane was there, hovering over Kyler, who was on the floor, his lip bleeding. He was throwing punching into the air, trying to get up.

   "Kane, stop!" I yelled, without thinking.

   He turned his head and saw me, and Kyler jumped up, shoving Kane back. But Kane swung again, catching Kyler's cheek and he went down again.

   "Kane!" I yelled again. "Oh my god, stop!"

   The room seemed so quiet, yet the music was still loud. No one said anything for what felt like forever, until Kane finally spoke.

   "I told you to back off."

   Kyler was holding his face, and didn't say anything back. And then, just like that, Kane was gone. A few people rushed to Kyler, to see if he was okay. I should have done the same. But I was too angry, so I spun around and ran out the door after Kane.