If Not for You (Completed)

Chapter 8: Kazzi

8 Kazzi

I could barely breathe as I uprooted my feet from their place and walked out of the alley. My entire body was shaking with a horrid combination of cold, fear, adrenaline, and maybe even a little pride. Kale had finally stepped up and defended himself, and he was freaking terrifying when he did it. I could only imagine the stories Cody and Lisa would tell over it.

My knees were trembling when I reached the store and saw Kale inside. Through the window, I could see him sitting on a stool behind the counter, left elbow braced on his knee, head down. The man called Mo was crouched in front of him, and whatever he was saying, Kale didn't seem to be buying it.

He lifted his head just slightly, and my breath caught at the look of devastation in his expression, raising a lump in my throat. I'd hurt him. I knew that, and despite what I'd tried to tell myself, I regretted it. I'd convinced myself all morning that it wasn't a good idea to get attached to Kale, as a friend or otherwise. In spite of what he'd done for me, it wouldn't work out for either of us.

We were too different, polar opposites, in fact. I was rich and popular, caught up with a rich and popular group of morons doing rich and popular things. And Kale was... Kale. The social scale couldn't sink any lower. I mean, he didn't seem to regularly shower, he wore the same ratty clothes every day... a fat mouse would sooner befriend a starving cat.

But as I watched him, I had an overwhelming desire to reach out to him. I wanted to apologize, even knowing that after what just happened, my apology would mean absolutely nothing to him. It'd barely meant anything the first time, if at all.

I startled as he looked up. In the space of a single heartbeat, the utter despair I saw in his eyes was overshadowed by hatred, and he raised a hand to flip me off, catching the attention of his boss, who stood and stormed toward the door. I ran before he reached it and hid around the next corner.

When Kale came out of the store almost twenty minutes later, I had officially deemed myself the world's biggest idiot.

Sticking to the shadows of the buildings several spaces behind him, I followed him. His head was down against the snow that had started to fall, his left hand shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket. Twilight was approaching, making it colder by the minute, and I shivered as I continued trailing him.

He passed all the apartment buildings, and all the major neighborhoods I knew of, passed even the trailer parks on the outskirts of town. Where he could be going, I couldn't begin to imagine, especially since there were no residential areas on the far side of town, only shipping ports and industrial sites that lined the river. But I continued to follow, anyway.

It wasn't until we came upon the Potomac, however, and he started down the concrete steps to the underbelly of the east bridge, that my curiosity really peaked. I waited until he was all the way down, then tiptoed after, frowning as he approached a doorless entryway beneath the bridge, over which a curtain was tied back. It entered into what looked like could be the old boiler room or warehouse system for the abandoned factory above.

Concrete pillars stood like columns around the front, and I sank into their shadows as Kale disappeared into the interior, where only a soft orange glow was shining out. For several minutes, he didn't come back out, but I could hear voices coming from inside, soft at first, then growing loud. Someone was yelling at Kale, and a minute later he stormed back through the doorway, a gothed-out woman, looking very much like Abby from NCIS, on his heels.

"Kale, no!" She cried, and I hugged the edge of the furthest column to watch.

Kale was moving quickly away from her, stopping only when he reached the end of the embankment to stare out over the river. The sun was just starting to set, engulfing him in a pink/orange glow that surrounded him like a halo. It was then, that I noticed the silhouette of the gun in his left hand, and my breath caught in my throat.