Moving Up

CH 5- The Grapevine

      You and Kyle ended up at the same restaurant where the two of you had met, which you honestly found ironic. The walk there was fairly uneventful as you two really just created small talk about classes. Complaining about ones you had together that you thought were gonna be hard and asking about the different major specific classes you each had. You had found that despite his math centered major he had chosen Kyle had a love for humanities and was excited for it.

      You absolutely could not look away from the boy as the two of you walked and talked. You did have to ignore your phone that was blowing up with texts from Wendy and Bebe already asking how the evening was going.

—

      When the pair reached the restaurant Kyle made sure to scoot ahead of you so he could hold the door open. He also scooted in quickly after you to tell the hostess it was a table for two. This caused you to blush as it really did almost feel like a date.

      You two were seated right away but instead of a table like with the group you two were put in a booth off to the side. You both slid in to sit down and there was only a beat before Kyle cleared his throat and spoke.

      "I wanted to grab dinner together to have a conversation about something," He started, folding his hands on the table. Your nerves shot up at the sudden serious posture the boy had. You decided to test the waters.

      "You took me out to have a conversation about something?" you innocently asked, and the boy's demeanor only faltered for one second.

      "As I've said before you're a popular girl Miss Scholarship, if we stayed on campus I'm sure we would've got interrupted," he gave a lopsided grin. Innocent enough.

      "So then," you mirrored his clasped hands, "What is our uninterrupted conversation about?" you asked, a sudden surge of adrenaline running through you.

      In almost comedic timing a waiter came to your table to ask for drinks. This caught you off guard but Kyle just quickly asked for water with lemon and you got (drink). You failed to suppress a chuckle as the waiter retreated. Still you began to scan the menu as you waited for Kyle to continue.

      "I wanted to talk about earlier, with Cartman," he said and your heart dropped. You were not mentally prepared for confrontation. Kyle could see the color drain from your face so he elaborated, "I'm not accusing you of anything, just Cartman said some things and I know I shouldn't believe him but I would still rather ask."

      You cleared your throat and kept your eyes down at the menu to seem nonchalant, "What did Cartman say?" A chuckle from the boy made you glance back up at him. His serious expression from before was replaced with a soft, almost sad one.

      "Well Cartman claimed you asked him to talk about us," he slowly said and you noticed his ears beginning to turn red. Kyle was embarrassed he believed Cartman. And if it was true he was embarrassed for thinking you would be different.

      "Not directly," You clarified. You really did want to at least be friends with Kyle but if this was going to make or break your friendship you needed to be honest now.

      Kyle's face fell, "Not directly?"

      "He was complaining about you guys and out of curiosity I asked him to elaborate," you confessed and you could almost see the gears turning in his head. But nerves made you continue, "I didn't know he would tell me... the things he did. He was complaining about how good you guys were at school. I never thought he would confess a private medical condition."