The Imposter

The Imposter | Chapter Eleven [Discombobulate]

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[Chapter Eleven]

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discombobulate \dis-kuhm-BOB-yuh-leyt\

(v.) To confuse or disconcert someone; upset; frustrate; perplex

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I don't think I've ever been so on edge in my life. Not only was I scared to death of the movie we were watching, but, on top of that I had to be consciously aware of my actions. There was no way in hell I was going to allow myself to jump onto Kyle, regardless of how scared I was.

We were maybe halfway through the movie and I had managed to stay in one spot...with my five pillows and two blankets surrounding me. I would give the occasional scream or jump, but I was quite proud of myself for not being embarrassing. Granted, I was chanting in my head, over and over, 'Don't jump on Kyle, don't jump on Kyle' to prevent myself from doing so, but I was still quite successful.

"Are you whimpering?" Kyle whispered to me during an intense moment, scaring the crap out of me. I screamed and jumped, grabbing a hold of his arm with wide eyes. When I realized what I was doing I let go of his arm quickly and buried under the pillows again.

"What is wrong with you?" I hissed. He was snickering around his hand, trying to hold back the laughter while I glared at Andrew and Olivia who were shushing us angrily.

"I couldn't resist," he whispered, "It was the perfect opportunity. And you were whimpering like a small child."

I threw a pillow at him, and went back to watching the movie, trying to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, I hadn't been watching much of the movie so all I knew was that according to the music, something scary was going down.

When the music reached its climax, Kyle leaned over and whispered to me again, "Don't jump." So, of course, I did the exact opposite and screamed again.

"Aargh!" I yelled, throwing another one of my pillows at him. I was getting freaking pissed off. Just because I was easy to scare, didn't mean he had to revel in it.

"If you keep throwing pillows at me," he mused, "you're not going to have anything to hide under."

I gave a feral snarl, but chose to otherwise ignore him. There was no way I was going to let him ruin my evening any more than it had been already. I didn't care if I amused him, and I didn't care if he thought I was a pansy—I wasn't going to let him have any effect on me.

I was looking forward to the end of the movie, because Kyle would have to go home and I would stay here. My parents were already informed that I was going to spend the night at Andrew's and return home sometime in the morning. However, Kyle wasn't staying, at least, as far as I knew he wasn't staying. Regardless, after the movie was over, I would be rid of him and Olivia's transparent matchmaking attempts.

Right now, I really didn't know what to make of him. He had told me that he was an agent for NANO, so he was supposed to be helping me, yet at the same time, he treated me like a petulant child, or a thorn in his backside. It was frustrating to think that I had done absolutely nothing to warrant his displeasure, yet it was still there all the same. But I think what really frustrated me was that he acted like an asshole, despite the fact that in reality he wasn't such a jerk. I had seen glimpses of the man he really was through his small gestures of kindness he unconsciously performed. I really wanted to get to know that guy beneath the thick façade of callousness.