Once Bitten

Epilogue

10 in the morning

I stretch my limbs slowly, savoring the soreness in my muscles. I stretch until I realize something is missing. Kyle isn't in the bed like he should be. Before I scare myself, wondering if I'd been played, I figured he was probably in the bathroom.

I get up and walk to his dresser to find a shirt to put on. Walking to the bathroom, I realize it's empty. Well, maybe he's downstairs eating breakfast, I tell myself as my chest starts to hurt. When I get downstairs and hear movement in the kitchen, I relax. Until I walk in.

" Well, good morning dear. It's great to see you; it's been so long," Mrs. Tyler says while pulling me into a hug.

" H- Hi, Mrs. Tyler. Good morning, Mr. Tyler," I say to the man sitting at the table drinking coffee.

He smiles at me warmly, and raises his cup in salute.

" Now, I heard you didn't feel well last night and had Kyle taking care of you. Do you feel better now? O r do I need to call your mom?" Mrs. Tyler asks me.

"I... uh feel much better now. Thank you. Do you know where Kyle is? I'd like to....um thank him for... helping me last night."

A slight frown forms on Mrs. Tyler's face, and I feel as if I've just let her know I slept with her son. However, she puts my those fears to rest, and creates new ones, with her next statement.

" He's gone off to school, honey. He left early this morning, so he could get there for summer football training. Didn't he tell you all he was leaving today?" she asks me looking genuinely confused. She didn't know she'd just crushed what little hope I had left.

Holding in the tears the I could feel burning behind my eyes, I asked her if Reese was home. She was.

Running upstairs to her room, I threw open her door and found her crying on the bed. Reese never cries. This dries my tears up, as I move to her side.

" Hi, hon. What's wrong?" I ask her.

" He's gone. He left this morning. I didn't even know he was leaving until last night. I miss him already," she manages to get out.

I can feel my tears coming back, as I assume Ryan has gone, too.

" I can't believe Ky, just up and left like that. He waited until the night before to tell me he was leaving. Even Ryan knew before me," she continues to cry.

I manage to hold in my own tears and heartache, as I realize my brother is still here. I also decide not to tell Reese what's happened. I know she's never even gone a week without seeing Kyle, and as much as he annoys her, she loves him a lot. It wouldn't be nice of me to give her a reason to hate her brother, when she's clearly upset over his leaving. I can only imagine how that would go.

Hey Reesey. I've done something really bad.

Shaking my head, I turn to close the door and see Mary walking out of the bathroom.

" Oh hey, Megan," she says," Kyle told me you weren't feeling well last night. How are you?"

I can't speak as I began to realize just how bad I screwed up last night.

Taking my silence for embarrassment, she puts her hand on my shoulder. " Don't look like that. He took care of you didn't he?"

Wouldn't you like to know? I think towards myself, hearing a double meaning in those words.

" I'm gonna miss him, while he's gone. But he said we'd try to make a long-distance relationship work. I wish I could have been with him last night, but he told me he needed to rest up for the trip today...."

I tuned her out, as I realized that he'd lied to me. They were still together, and I'd had sex with her boyfriend.

Yeah. I did something really bad.