Going The Distance

Chapter Twenty Four - Jackson POV - Madness

"Whoa." I mumbled as I pushed Kylie back. Her eyes looked up at mine with a warm intensity. Her hands were still on my chest, she smiled and bit her lip. Had I led her on somehow? Why the hell had she kissed me. We were just friends.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while." She murmured. A while?

"Kys..." I started as I stepped back. "No." I looked up at the stage, Amber was gone. I fought the urge to chase after her. I needed to sort this with Kylie now.

"Jackson, you know I like you right?" she exclaimed. "I thought we were moving forward... you were so sweet at my place the other night. You almost kissed me before you left."

I shook my head. I'd never thought of Kylie as anything other than a friend. "We're friends Kylie. I wasn't going to kiss you."

"You're still hung up on Amber aren't you?" She pouted and folded her arms across her chest. "How can you still be so hung up on someone who lied to you? She's a Daniel sympathizer."

The mention of Daniel's name got my back up, but I shrugged it off. I'd seen Amber and Daniel hug two days ago. I'd walked in to Ambers dance class at lunch time to apologize for being such a moron, and I had seen them embracing. It had hit me like a cannonball to the gut. Memories of tweenagehood resurfaced, the way I'd felt when Amber had pined after Daniel, and I after her. I'd left without saying a word, and surprisingly I hadn't even felt the slightest twinge of anger, just innate jealousy.

"I'm in love with her." I replied. I always had been, I always would be.

Kylie sighed and let her hands fall back down to her sides. She shrugged and looked down at the ground. "Sorry."

"You'll find someone Kylie."

"He won't be anywhere near as cool as you." She mused. "But thanks."

She walked away without another word I hated that I'd had to let her down. I guess I'd always been dense about girls. Hana and I had only started dating because she took the reins and told me that we were dating. It had been different with Amber, a mutual thing, we both knew there was a connection, and for a while we were both as afraid as the other to admit it. She was more knowledgeable than I was still, because she had known from the very beginning that Kylie was in to me.

But I knew there wasn't anyone who would ever come as close as Amber did, She held my heart in the palm of her hands.

I didn't have time to find her before it was my turn to perform, I just hoped she had stayed. I sang the song I had written for her while I searched the room with my eyes, but I couldn't see her at all. When I finished the room erupted in to applause. I checked backstage for her, but she was nowhere. She was gone.

She had seen the kiss. She must have, Kylie had kissed me as Amber's dance had finished. It had caught me so off guard because I'd been enthralled in watching Amber's movements.

I ran to my car and drove home. Mom and dad said Hi as I walked in, but I didn't have time to give them more than a wave, I had to explain to Amber before it was too late.

I knocked on her door, which was already slightly ajar. The force of my fist was enough to push the door open. She was walking across the floor with a handful of clothes back to her bed where she was packing a suitcase. I gulped and felt my eyes widen. It was too late.

"Are you leaving?" I whispered, it was almost just a breath, but she heard me anyway. She dropped the clothes on the bed and began to fold them.

"I don't know." She replied. "I need to see my parents. I might come back to finish out the year, I haven't decided."