The Friendzone Project

08 | Stop Doing That

Paige

THE RIVERWALK IS beautiful. Even for a chilly weather in October, the park is brimming with warm and vibrant autumn colors. Red, orange and brown leaves fall down the pavements as we walk. I can understand why the Riverwalk Park is the crown jewel of our city.

"It's sad that we can't try out those paddle boats," I frown as I pointed the sign. It says 'closed until summer'.

Kile almost let out a snort. "With the weather like this, we'd freeze to death before we even get to start paddling."

For some reason, Kile's presence makes me forget about the cold weather. He makes me feel warm—the comforting kind of warm. Probably because of all the running we did earlier.

I smirked at his response. "Real funny, Kile."

"I think you're the funny one." Kile dryly said, pointing to my creative scarf.

Along the way, I got tired of clutching my school sweater vest. I decided to wrap it around my neck. Pretty comfy, actually.

I scoffed at his response. "You just don't know the true meaning of fashion."

"Right." He said, dripping with sarcasm.

I tilted my head to his side. "You claim yourself to be a bad boy but where's your black leather jacket?" I said. "You're forgetting the signature look."

"Didn't know that you had to wear a black leather jacket in order to be a bad boy." Kile mused.

I shrugged at him. "I read a lot of novels."

"Didn't pegged you as a bookworm, Paige." Kile paused, as if realizing something. "Wait, wait. I get it now. Paige. Page. You're part of a book, no wonder you couldn't resist reading novels." He teased.

I had to roll my eyes at him. "That was so badly made, Kile."

He chuckled deep in his throat. We stopped walking when we reached the stairs, straight down ahead was the river. Kile suddenly jumped and sat on the railing, sliding off down.

At the end of the railing, there was a brunette standing and leaning while using her phone. "Wait—Kile!" I warned him, but it was too late.

Kile was all but smiling to me until he bumped the brunette. "Oof!"

He was scrambling to his feet. It was a good thing Kile has good balance or else he could have knocked his face on the stairs. The brunette simply looked at him in shock.

I quickly went down to Kile and grabbed a hold of his shoulder. "Are you okay?" I asked him. "That was a stupid move." I scolded.

"Yeah," he replied, rolling his shoulders. He faced the brunette—she looks pretty, her chocolate brown eyes staring at us, she can't be more than 20. "I'm sorry for that. Hope you're fine." Kile sheepishly said.