Walk Up to Them

Liam bumped my arm, urging me forward. Frowning, I shot him a look before heading over to them. Kaylee was smiling, but I could tell there wasn’t any feeling behind it. As I approached, the two looked over at me.

“Hey, Scott!” Sean said with a big smile. He looked over at Liam. “Afraid I don’t know you.”

“Liam,” my friend said, introducing himself. I didn’t pay the two much attention. My attention was on Kaylee.

“You okay?” I asked.

She gave me a small smile and a nod. “I will be.” She tightened her arms across her chest as her eyes fell away. “Scott, about Zoe and I—”

Once more, Sean proved his impeccable timing by interrupting. The man truly had no idea how to read a room. “You came just in time man,” he said, looking at me. “I was just talking to your girl about coming over tonight. She was looking a bit down, and I figured I know a thing or two about cheering her up…” He said while wiggling his eyebrows at her. Her reaction wasn’t what I expected. Normally she’d just roll her eyes and laugh about it. Today there was a touch of worry as she looked at me.

“Sean,” she started, a faint blush on her cheeks. “About that—”

“You can come and watch again if you want,” he said, completely misreading the situation. He smiled proudly at Kaylee. “I know how much she enjoyed that.”

“That—” she started.

“—up to her.” Kaylee looked at me, shocked as I managed to finish before her. After a moment of silence, she gave Liam and Sean a tense smile before grabbing my arm.

“We’ll be right back,” she said before dragging me away. I let her pull me along. Turning the corner, she stood in front of me, hands on her hips. My heart hammered against my chest as I stared into her eyes. “Are you really okay with this?”

I felt my throat tighten. “Huh?”

“You do know what Sean is proposing, right?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“And you’re okay with it?” She was so serious. The level of intensity she was showing was unlike her.

I opened my mouth, releasing the lie she wanted to hear. “Yeah.”

A few seconds passed as those beautiful blue eyes stared into me. Relaxing, she let out a relieved breath. “Thank God,” she muttered.

“What?”

Taking a step forward, she pressed her body against mine as she looked up at me. “I know we haven’t really had a chance to talk about us,” she said, placing her hand on my chest. There was a faint red to her cheeks as a group of girls passed by, giggling at the sight of us. She didn’t move though, her eyes not leaving me. “This is the first time I’ve been in a relationship so I’m not sure how exactly this all works. I mean, I do. But knowing and actually doing is… I know some guys can be a bit jealous about their girlfriend sleeping with guys they like—”

Panic hit me. “Wait, you like Sean?”

Her eyes widened. “Not like that! Definitely not like that,” she said, stepping back as she waved her hands in front of her. “He’s good in bed, that’s it. I swear you don’t have to worry about it being anything more than that.” Looking like a chastised kid confronting an angry parent, she placed her hands behind her hips and looked up at me. “I want you to know that I am committed to making this work between us, even if we can’t…” Her voice trailed off as she glanced sheepishly at the ground.

Stepping forward, I bent over and gave her a kiss. Once more, she melted into me, throwing her arms around my neck. We got stares and some giggles from people heading to class, but for the moment, I didn’t care. I knew that dating Kaylee wouldn’t stop her from sleeping with other guys. She’d said as much. At least this was something familiar. She’d slept with a lot of people while we were just friends, and I could handle that. It was being there and watching that tore me up inside.

Thankfully, she hadn’t said anything about Sean’s offer for me to tag along. I wasn’t ready for that and I don’t think I could stomach another. Right now, we were just starting out. We had plenty of time to figure things out.

Returning to Sean and Liam were, I heard the last part of their conversation. “—believe you are her brother. Never would have guessed.” Sean perked up when he saw us. “Everything good?” Bless him, he actually sounded concerned. Part of me wanted to hate the guy. Well, a rather large part of me did. After all, Kaylee really liked the guy—in bed I reminded myself.

That didn’t actually help any considering Kaylee had actually been considering trying to date him. I didn’t want to doubt myself or Kaylee now. If she said there was nothing there, then I was going to believe her.

Still, there was something about him that prevented me from hating him. In a way, he reminded me of a dog. He was so damn happy and just wanted to help in his own way. It wasn’t his fault that girls seemed to gravitate towards him. He was enjoying the cards he was dealt.

“Yeah, all good,” Kaylee said with a smile. “Can you come over around eleven? I should have all my homework done by then.”

“That’s pretty late for a school night,” he said, rubbing his chin. Kaylee acted like she was pouting, which got him to smile. “Damnit, girl. Fine, fine. Eleven it is.”

“Thanks, Sean.” She turned her head to give me a smile before grabbing my hand. “Walk me to class?”

Nodding, I said my goodbyes to the two and headed off with Kaylee. And while I knew everything was normal, I couldn’t help but feel unease as I watched the storm clouds move over Kaylee’s face. She was still upset about Zoe, but I wasn’t about to charge headfirst into that minefield. When she wanted to talk about it with me, she would bring it up. Until then, well, I would be right here by her side.