Take Me There

Good Cries and First Kisses

 Chapter Sixteen

 I cried the entire way back to the hotel. And I don't mean like the silent tears that just streak down your face. Oh no. I completely lost it. I bawled like a baby with huge tears that made my mascara smear like crazy.
 I was sure I had Kim Kardashian's ugly cry face beat by a long shot.  Kiptyn tried to comfort me the best that he could, but Kiptyn isn't exactly a sympathetic person, so he kind of just awkwardly patted my arm which didn't really help at all.
 Whenever we got back to the hotel, I let Kiptyn deal with a very pissed of Lyle while I headed up to my bedroom. As soon as I opened the door, I felt the tears beginning to start up again. I really hadn't cried since the trip started, not like a really good cry. So seeing a picture of Austin, my twin brother, with my birth mom was just too much.
 I immediately fell onto the nearest bed and buried my head into the pillow, sobbing into it as hard as possible. I was just so angry. Yes, I was upset, but I also felt betrayed. My own flesh and blood hadn't spoken to me in months because he'd been getting to know our birth mother. Without me.
 "What the hell?" Sadie suddenly asked, walking out of the bathroom. "What's happened?"
 My shoulders shook as I looked up at her, mascara streaked across my face. "I...Know..Where Austin...Is," I mumbled between sobs.
 Sadie's eyes widened. "What? What do you mean?"
 I threw my hands up in frustration. "He's been with Hollie this whole time!"
 "Your birth mom?"
 I nodded my head, wiping at my eyes. "I could punch him in his fucking face."
 "Why wouldn't he take you with him?"
 I felt another tear leak out of my eye. "I don't know."
 Sadie just stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes wide. "I knew he was a selfish dick, but really?"
 I just shook my head, laying back onto the bed and rubbing my head. I was still in disbelief and the stress from the new knowledge was causing my head to ache.  
 Honestly, I felt like nothing good had even come from the library visit. If anything, I was even more hurt than before. And I hadn't even found an address. And I knew Kiptyn hadn't, he didn't even have time to.
 "Do you want me to do something?" Sadie asked, giving me a sympathetic look.
 I sniffed, shaking my head slightly. "There's nothing you can do. Just finish getting ready."
 "You're still going to come tonight, right?"
 "I don't want to," I whispered, rolling onto my side.
 Sadie sighed and I felt her sitting down onto the edge of the bed. I didn't look over at her, I just closed my eyes and tried not to think about the picture. Some things are really better left unseen.
 "You need to keep going, Dallis."
 "I have been," I muttered.
 Sadie stood up. "You need to go."
 "Just go finish getting ready," I said through clenched teeth.
 She didn't respond, but I heard the bathroom door click shut which let me know that our conversation was over and I could shut my eyes. Sleep was all I really wanted to do right now. Sleep and not think of Austin or how he betrayed me more than anyone I'd ever known.

 
 "I'm glad you came," Lincoln said from beside me. We were standing behind the stage while the guys set everything up, a beer in both of our hands. Since today had obviously been stressful beyond belief, I'd decided that if I was going to come to the gig tonight, I was going to attempt at loosening up.
 I took a sip of my beer, slowly nodding my head as I did so. "I guess it's better than wallowing in my own pity."
 Lincoln looked at me, her eyebrows furrowed. "You're the strongest person I know, Dallis."
 I snickered and shook my head. "I'm not strong at all."
 "Instead of running away from your problems, you're trying to face them," Lincoln started, "Even though you left California, you're still dealing with everything and keeping contact with your parents. Everything that gets thrown your way, you try to find a way to overcome it."
 I ran a hand through my hair. "You obviously didn't see me in the fetal position crying like a baby earlier today."
 "A good cry never hurt anyone."
 I was quiet for a second and took another sip of my beer. I turned to look at her. "Thank you. For thinking better of myself than I do."
 She smiled and gave my hand a comforting squeeze. "You need to give yourself credit. You've been a through a lot."
 I let out a sigh. "More than most people go through in the span of two weeks."
 She nodded her head in agreement. "See? Strongest girl I know."
 "I don't know about all of that," I said, giving her a small smile at her attempt at cheering me up.
 "What are we talking about over here?" Kiptyn suddenly asked, throwing an arm over my shoulder and pulling me against his side. I watched as Lincoln's eyebrows shot up at the closeness of Kiptyn and I. Even though she knew I had some kind of feelings for him, I don't think she realized that we were actually friends now.
 An apology can do a lot for people.
 "We were just talking about how hot you look setting up the stage," Lincoln said, rolling her eyes and putting her beer to her lips.
 Kiptyn smirked before glancing down at me. "Oh, really?"
 I felt my cheeks beginning to redden. "No."
 "It's okay to think I'm hot, Dallis," Kiptyn's smirk grew as my cheeks became hotter, "A lot of girls think I am. Some boys, too."
 "I don't know if I would willingly admit that one," I said, a small smile on my lips.
 "Oooh, good comeback," Kiptyn rolled his eyes, "Such an ametuer."
 I pushed his arm off of my shoulders and took a sip of my beer. "You're such a pest."
 Kiptyn smirked once again before his face softened. I looked away at his sudden sympathetic stare, surprised to see that Lincoln was no longer standing across from me.
 "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice soft.
 I nodded my head, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm fine."
 "I heard Sadie telling Jase that you were really upset," He said, his eyes still searching mine. "I'm sorry that the whole library thing ended the way that it did. I never thought that it would end up upsetting you even more."
 I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You couldn't have known anyway."
 I stared at him and watched as he shifted slightly, his eyes leaving mine. It was almost as if he was nervous or something, or like he needed to say something but he wouldn't. Or couldn't.  
 But of course, with all of the drama already going on in my life, I ignored the look.
 "Kiptyn, you ready?" Lyle suddenly asked, slapping Kiptyn on the back. "Time to play, man."
 Kiptyn nodded his head. "Yeah, just give me a second."
 Lyle gave me a small smile before walking back towards the stage. I glanced back at Kiptyn and sighed. "Thank you, though. For wanting to help me and everything."
 He nodded his head. "I want to help."
 I raised my eyebrows. "Don't go too soft on me."
 "Never," He said, a smirk landing on his mouth.
 I pushed his shoulder. "Go do what you do best."
 He smirked again. "Dallis, this is not what I do best."
 I rolled my eyes. "Don't even start with the sex jokes."
 He turned to walk towards the stage, his shoulders shaking with laugher. I couldn't help but smile after him, the butterflies in my stomach growing by the second.
 Yep, I definitely had a thing for the bane of my existence.

 Whenever the gig was over and we got back at the hotel, I decided that the best thing for me to do was take a really quick swim. Sadie rejected my invitation, saying that she would rather go have a quickie with Jase. And Lincoln said she would rather sleep because of the traveling we'd be doing tomorrow.
 So, I'd gone up to the room and changed into one of the few bikinis I'd taken on the trip. I grabbed a towel out of the bathroom and slipped on my flip flops, walking out of the bedroom and leaving behind an already sleeping Lincoln.
 It was almost one in the morning, so I was actually really surprised that swimming was something I wanted to do right now. But for some reason, I felt like the water would calm me. Especially since my heart was still racing from the information I'd found out today and the way Kiptyn made me feel earlier.
 I dropped my towel onto one of the lounge chairs and slipped off my flip flops. I pulled my hair down from the ponytail it had been in since the show and walked over to the edge of the deep in. The clear water was lit up with the inside lights, making it look that much more inviting.
 I stuck one of my toes in and smiled at the warm temperature. I took a deep breath before diving into the water, loving the way it felt as it rushed all around me. I immediatley began to swim across the pool to the other end, coming up for air every other stroke.
 I kicked off the other side of the pool and headed back for the other side, setting a pace for myself as my arms and feet propelled me. I knew I was almost at the other side of the pool again, so I stuck my arm out to grab the side.
 Instead, my hand came in contact with skin. Really, really, hard skin. Like way too muscular skin.
 I gasped, stopping my strokes entirely and looking up. I let in slow breaths and mentally groaned whenever I realized that the person I'd ran into was Kiptyn.
 It was beginning to look like a relaxing swim in the pool wasn't going to happen.
 "What are you doing out here?" I asked, still breathless. I grabbed the edge of the pull so that I wouldn't have to strain to keep my head above water in the deep end.
 "A nightly swim sounded nice," Kiptyn said, going under the water before coming up again. He ran his hands through his hair and I found myself staring at his bare chest.
 "I was hoping for a nightly swim alone," I said, giving him a pointed look.
 "This pool is for anyone paying to stay at the hotel," He said, smirking.
 I rolled my eyes, not exactly in the mood to converse with Kiptyn right now. Just his presence was confusing me beyond belief. All of these mixed feelings were just not okay with me at all.
 He came closer to me, holding onto the edge in front of me. The stubble on his chin made my insides warm for some weird reason that I didn't know how to explain. His blue eyes were staring at me intently, and his gaze was only me making me that much more nervous.
 "You don't want to swim with me?" He grinned. "I like seeing you almost naked."
 I felt my cheeks growing hot once again. "You are such a hormonal teenage boy."
 "Adult boy."
 "You just contradicted yourself, idiot."
 He came closer. "It's not nice to call people names, you know."  
 I gave him a look. "I call em how I see em."
 He grinned. "You're getting better at the comebacks."
 "I've learned from the best."
 He was so close to me now that his breath was mixing with mine. His blue eyes were searching my face and whenever his hand made contact with my hip, I thought I was going to pass out from the butterflies.
 He began to make small circles on the skin where his fingers were resting as my heart began to beat like crazy. "What are you doing?"
 He shrugged. "Touching you."
 "I-I-Why?"
 He smirked. "You're stuttering. It's cute."
 My cheeks reddened. "You're making me nervous."
 "Because I'm touching your hip?"
 I shook my head. "Because you're making me feel things."
 His smirk faltered slightly but he regained his composure quickly. "Things?"
 I felt myself drifting closer to him as the grip he had on my hip tightened. "Like butterflies."
 "I thought you hated me."
 I wrapped an arm around his neck, letting go of the edge of the pool completely. I shook my head. "You haven't been too difficult ever since you apologized."
 "Too difficult?" He smiled.
 "You're actually kind of nice."
 He grimaced. "Don't let anyone know."
 I grinned, shaking my head. "I won't."
 I'm not sure how it happened or why it happened, but suddenly his other hand was cupping my face and my lips were on his. It was the first kiss I'd experienced in almost two weeks and within the first two seconds, I knew it that it was going to be the best one that I had experienced in the past two years.
 Surprisingly, his lips were soft against mine. He didn't try to rush anything and I sure as hell didn't either. His grip on my hip was tightening as my fingers began to play with the wet hair on the nape of his neck.
 His tongue brushed my bottom lip and I eagerly opened my mouth so that the kiss could deepen. I could feel my heart beating in my ears as Kiptyn's hand left my hip and grabbed my ass, pulling me as close to him as possible.
 I couldn't believe this was happening, but at the same time it felt like the best decision I'd made since leaving California. His lips felt perfect against mine and everything about the kiss just felt right.
 Yep, I definitely had a thing for Kiptyn Cross. A thing that was growing by the second.