Unspoken Words (Part 2 to Drunk Mistakes (on yt))

Part 9

Lloyd still had his hands on the door and door handle. He gulped and slowly turned around.

Kai continued staring at the door until he couldn't avoid Lloyd's eyes. He glanced at Lloyd, holding his breath.

"Uhm... hey..." Kai hesitantly spoke. "This is... uh, a little extreme on their part, right?" Kai suggested with an awkward chuckle.

Lloyd only silently nodded in response, looking away from Kai in embarrassment.

He felt like this was partly his fault.

He had told Nya that he actually wanted to talk to Kai, but because he and him had been avoiding being alone with each other in fear of being seen and even more rumours being spread, he hadn't had any moment with Kai to talk about it.

But he hadn't told her to do anything about it.

"This feels like something that only happens in movies," Lloyd said with a small laugh, glancing up at Kai.

"That's for sure," Kai smiled back. "I-- I feel like this whole situation is something that only happens in movies..." Kai added, trailing off.

Tension filled the room. Both of them were dying to say every thought on their mind, but neither of them knew what to say first. Lloyd shifted on his feet and glanced around at the things on the floor.

Eventually, Kai walked over to a stack of gymnastics mats near the centre of the room and sat down with his back to Lloyd with a sigh. He took off his guitar case from his shoulder and carefully balanced it in the corner between two shelves.

Lloyd hesitated at first, but then slowly picked his way through the junk and shakily sat down on the other side of the stack, facing away from Kai.

They sat in silence, letting the squeaking sounds from the mats fill the still air.

Eventually, Lloyd drew his breath.

"I've wanted to ask..." Lloyd started, waiting for Kai to tell him he was listening.

"Mm?" Kai slightly turned towards Lloyd. Lloyd hesitated.

"I-- Uhm, on-- on the first day back, after the party... uh, Chad came up to me and-- was a dick like usual," Lloyd paused.

"Tch, Chad... there'll be a day when I'll punch him into next year..." Kai grumbled under his breath. Lloyd let himself chuckle and Kai smiled hearing his laugh. Lloyd sighed.

"But uhm... he mentioned something, it made me kind of confused..." Lloyd played with his fingers. "He... he said something about... 'it being bound to happen to one of us eventually'," Kai drew his breath. Lloyd looked to the side, leaning on his hand. "What-- what did he mean by that?" Lloyd looked up at the ceiling, waiting for an answer.

Kai held his breath. He started to shake with nerves.

After a long pause filled with tension, he shakily let go of his breath and closed his eyes, hugging himself.

"Ah... well..." He gulped. "It's just... it's-- it's not the first time something like this has happened..." Kai started. Lloyd silently listened. "Uh, you see... uhm..." Kai hesitated, feeling his throat start to grow tight.

Lloyd took a breath in and decided to move. He shuffled backward until he was beside Kai, sitting with his knees up on the mats, facing the opposite direction to Kai, but looking at him, with a worried look.

Kai looked up at the movement and their eyes met. He felt himself blush but he was too nervous to care about Lloyd noticing. He looked down, realising his knees were shaking.

"You can tell me anything," Lloyd broke their silence. Kai caught his breath.

Lloyd twiddled his thumbs, looking at his knees too. Kai smiled a tiny smile.

"Thanks," Kai whispered. "You too," He winked at Lloyd who smiled back.

Kai looked away, hesitating one last bit, but then he finally spoke.

"Despite the fact that I was friends with you back when people hated you, I still had a lot of admirers around school," Kai started. "And some of them happened to be people who had control over party invites, so I ended up receiving quite a few of them, although I ended up accepting only the first few before..." Kai trailed off. Lloyd leaned around him to get a better look at his expression.

He looked almost scared of what he was saying, and it made Lloyd almost scared of what was making him so worried.

"Uh-- Well, what Chad meant... is that, uhm... well, obviously, at these parties, there was a fair share of alcohol," Kai rocked back and forth. "And those were my first experiences with it, so I had no idea what my limit was or when too much was too much, and... un-- unfortunately..." Kai closed his eyes. "Unfortunately, most people at the parties... decided to take advantage of that..." Kai felt his eyes sting. Lloyd considered what Kai was saying and he felt like it wasn't all of the story.

"How... how did they take advantage... of that?" Lloyd prompted hesitantly. Kai bit his lip.

"Uh... well, they uhm... they almost, kind of, I guess, tricked me? Into drinking a lot more than I should've..." Kai fought his tears away. "They got me the same level of drunk as I was at the party 4 weeks ago," Kai glanced at Lloyd who was still listening patiently. "To the point where... I wasn't able to control what I was doing, nor remember that I had done anything the day after..." Kai explained. "And... and..." He hesitated. "Well-- They took advantage of that too," He said with finality. He shut his eyes, expecting Lloyd to get it, but there wasn't any sign of that in the stiff silence.

He opened his eyes and found Lloyd trying to work things out in his head.

They... took advantage of him not remembering what he would do... what shitty people. Kai obviously means something by that... He looked up at Kai and tried to read his expression. He felt bad when he realised Kai was expecting him to get it.

He shook his head. Kai released a breath, he thought for a moment.

"I... Whenever I'd tell you about the drama online, I left out... certain posts..." Kai sighed, looking away. "Almost after every party, I'd come to school, and people would ask me if... if I--" Kai choked up on his heavy breathing. "If I... had... screwed some girl at the party..." Lloyd caught his breath. "But the thing is, I couldn't remember. All I had to go off of were the looks people gave me and the way Nya laughed in the morning when I'd complain about being sore..." Kai noticed his tears growing harder to keep at bay. "And, people assumed my silence was confirmation... and so..." Kai paused. "It became almost like a joke? That I, at parties, just... made out with anyone..." Kai took a break, realising he couldn't concentrate on keeping his voice steady and stopping his tears at the same time.

A joke that he made out with anyone? I didn't realise our classmates were that bad... ok, well... and assumed confirmation... Lloyd's brow furrowed in thought. They took advantage of... He gasped.

He looked up at Kai who looked back and noticed the shocked yet concerned expression on Lloyd's face.

"So... so-- you're saying that... those girls, they-- they took advantage of the fact that you wouldn't remember what happened at the party, and they-- they were the ones who would-- who would make out with you, and then they-- THEY BLAMED IT ON YOU!?" Lloyd breathed heavily with anger and worry, some of his breaths catching in his throat from his building tears.