Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 59

Isla

I'm laughing at something one of the guys on the football team said when it dawned on me that the sun had gone down already. I didn't realize the time considering all the things that have been happening around me and that I was definitely late.

"Shit," I curse under my breath as reality hits me. This wasn't how I wanted it to go. I look around, patting my dress, before realizing that I don't have my phone with me. I look back at the guy and ask, "What time is it?"

"It's, uh, nearing 11?" he answers, giving me a weird look, and I feel the blood drain from my face. I was definitely late. "Okay,"  I breathed, and then held out my hands. "Where's my phone? Has anyone seen it?"

Through my overwhelmed searching of my phone, I hear someone shout out, "Here." I spin around to Kyler with a grateful smile as I say, " Thank god."

Kyler hands me my phone, giving me a weird side glance as he says, "It was with me the whole time, remember? You gave it to me right before we went to the store to get things for the beach."

I nod, and he continues, "Yeah. And someone had been blowing up your phone on and off for the whole day? Do you know who it is?"

I wince. Only my boyfriend. I messed up badly.

I take my phone and say, "I need to leave."

"Who was doing all the calling?" Kyler asks, and maybe it sounds weird to say that it was my boyfriend. I also wanted to leave here as soon as I could, so I lied. On the spot, I say, "My mom probably. She wanted me home for dinner." Which was a truth on some ends. I curse as I say, "But it's so late now."

"All good," Kyler says, giving me a smile. "I can take you back home."

"Oh actually—"

"It's no problem," he says, cutting me off before I could add that I wanted to go somewhere else. He pulls his keys out of his pocket and beckons me over. I walk over to him, and he grabs my hand. As we walk, he holds up my wrist in the air and says, "Everyone." The music quietens down, and Kyler gives a smile. "The birthday girl is leaving, so make sure you say goodbye."

As we walk out of his house, I say goodbye to a lot of people I don't know. I guess they were here for the party because most of the people weren't close to me. I didn't even know if they knew the party was for my birthday. Kyler drives me back to my house in under ten minutes, considering how close we live. Before I can get out of the car, he grabs my hand, and I stall. Turning back to him, I watch as he gives me a wider smile.

"Hey," he says, and I can tell that his smile is far more charming than friendly. "I haven't seen you much this summer. Why's that?

"Just busy," I answered, which was true. He rubs the back of my hand, and I curse internally. Leaning forward, he says, "It was nice seeing you today. It's like we finally got closer, yeah?"

"Yeah but—"

"Isla, I love—"

"Kyler, no," I say, cutting him off. I take my hand out of bis hold and force a smile. He winces at my words and sits back in his seat, simmjngky embrassed. "You always do this," I say. "Every time. When we hang out together alone, you start to think you like me. But we are better off platonic, okay?"

Kyler doesn't say anything for a moment before he sighs. "Yeah."

"And you're one of my greatest friends," I say with a real smile this time. "We cannot go down that path, okay?" He nods, and I say, "Thank you for the party and everything else, by the way. It was nice, and I appreciate it."