PROMISE

THIRTY-FIVE: Hopeless Romantic

AMANDA

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO."

I stilled when I heard Kyle's frantic voice. With my back turned to his, I couldn't see his facial expression. But I could quite decipher the urgency in his voice.

"No."

I repeated, completely astounded.

"Not now."

He said almost in a panic as I turned my head to glance at him.

"Not now? Then when?"

I frowned at him as he stared at his phone in disbelief. He scratched the back of his head before he started pacing up and down. He suddenly stopped like he just remembered something.

"Sorry I don't mean you. I'm just thinking out loud."

That wasn't exactly reassuring at all. Not in the least. I thought that he might be eager to talk to me since I had literally brushed him off the whole day. When he hugged me earlier I thought he had been afraid that something was seriously wrong. Well there was and that was the only reason I had come here. So that we could clear the air and have no secrets between us. Well on my end anyway. But it just sucked that he wasn't as eager as I was.

Brushing aside my feelings, I turned my whole body to fully face him.

"Okay. As I was saying..."

"Shit this can't be happening."

He said cutting me off. He paced some more for a few seconds, looked at his phone and rubbed his eyes. He was behaving as if he had seen a ghost. And the fact that he was more focused on his phone than our conversation was starting to rub me off the wrong way. Having had enough already, I threw my hands in the air and glared at him.

"What can't be happening? Okay stop pacing. Kyle what the hell is going on? You're acting weird. And the fact that you're more concerned about whatever it is that's on your phone is actually insulting." He looked over at me as if he wasn't really seeing me.

"Nothing is wrong."

He smiled at me for the briefest of seconds before staring at his phone yet again. I could tell that something was bothering him. Yet again, Kyle chose to bottle his feelings and not share them with me. He kept building up walls that I thought were actually crumbling down.

"Kyle."

I called out to him, trying to bring his attention back to me.

"Tell me what's going on. Please."

The look on his face was of pure fear as he entered into full blown panic mode. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and whispered words that made my heart sink to the pit of my stomach.

"She shouldn't be here."

Although he said it softly, I heard it as though he had shouted the words.

"I shouldn't be here?" I asked completely floored by his behaviour.

"Yes." He said and my eyes instantly stung.