Floating by

Chapter 14: Some Sort Of Closure

Kayla was back in her room lying on her bed after her shower. She was thinking of Zach and what he was doing.

He's probably with Maya.
She's really pretty.
I can't compete with that.
I should've known he already had someone.

Kayla let's out a frustrated sigh about to turn the tv on as a distraction when there was a knock at her door.

Her heart starts beating faster, thinking it was Zach. But when she looks through the peephole, it was the last person she'd want to see.
She throws the door open and crosses her arms over her chest.

"What do you want Rick."

"Hey Kayla." He has the decency to look embarrassed. "Can we talk?"

"Does Shannon know you're here? Or are you cheating on her too?" Kayla snaps out a bit harshly.

"I deserved that. But uh, Shannon was the one who convinced me to come over here to talk. To fix this. She misses you. I miss you." He says looking down at his feet.

"What do you possibly have to say that can fix any of this?" Kayla says stubbornly throwing her arms up.

"Please, just hear me out." Rick looks up at Kayla with pleading eyes.

"You have 5 minutes. That's it." Kayla says while stepping aside to let Rick in.

"Wow. Your room is much nicer than mine. Plus you get it all to yourself." Rick says while looking around.

"Rick, if you're going to just make small talk you might as well leave now."

"Right. Okay. Can I sit?"

Rolling her eyes Kayla uses her chin to point towards the bed's edge. She decides to stand away from the bed, not comfortable with being this close to him.

"Clock's ticking Rick." Kayla says impatiently.

"I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry for how things ended. I swear it was never meant to be this way. It...it just sort of happened. I never wanted to hurt you. We never wanted to hurt you. I swear Kayla, hurting you was never something we intended. I-I just didn't love you like that Kayla. And that's not your fault, it just never felt right. It doesn't excuse my behavior and how I treated you. I was a dick and I'll have to live with the decisions I've made. I just hope that one day, you'll forgive me because I miss my best friend and I know Shannon misses you too."

Kayla stands there, arms crossed soaking it in.

"Say something, please." Rick begs.

"I lost more than you'll ever know Rick. I lost my two best friends and all my other "friends" in the same day. Do you have any idea how that felt? How it still feels? To have everyone just turn their backs on you, even though it wasn't your fault? To have all eyes on you, looking at you like you're some pathetic loser who didn't know her boyfriend was obviously cheating on her with her best friend? Do you? No! Because you were on the other end!" Kayla shouted angrily at Rick, with hot tears rolling down her face. She wipes them away, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them, she looks directly at Rick, who is sitting there embarrassed and speechless.

"I want to thank you though. Because of everything that's happened, I finally know who my real friends are. None of those people were my friends. Not even one. I've met some amazing people since then and even though I've only known them for a short period of time, they're already better than the ones I used to have. And you know, I agree with you. I don't think I ever really loved you in the right way. I was glad you were around and I appreciated you, but I've come to learn that, that isn't what real love should be. But I'm starting to figure it out. So thank you Rick. Thank you for showing me what love isn't." Kayla says with a sad smile.

"I wish I could take back everything that happened, I wish I had the balls to just end things with you when I could. But I didn't, and I'm never going to forgive myself for it, And I know it's a lot to ask, but will you ever consider forgiving us?"

"I don't know Rick. I really don't know. Maybe. But it'll take some time. A lot of time."

Rick nods and stands up, silently walking towards the door and Kayla follows behind. He steps out and turns to face Kayla.

"I'm happy for you Kayla. I just want you to be happy. I guess this is it. I'm still going to try Kayla. I'm not giving up on our friendship."

Kayla doesn't say anything and just looks at him, unsure of his intentions.

"Can I at least get one last hug?"

Kayla nods and opens her arms for him to step into. The hug lasts about 4 seconds before Kayla pulls away.

"I'll see you around Kayla." Rick says as he turns left to walk away.

Kayla sighs and looks in the other direction, only to lock eyes with someone else.