"Hey it's you!" I shouted at the brunette, recognizing him from the week before.
He stared at me for a minute, trying to remember who I was, before breaking out into a huge grin. "Hey I remember you! You nearly ran me over!"
I laughed while I quickened my pace to get to where he was. Once I got there and our laughter died down, we settled into an awkward silence. I wanted to break it and say something, but my social anxiety kept getting in the way of that. So instead, I let myself get distracted by the tulips in the bark, swaying in the breeze.
The guy said something, but because I was so focused on the tulips, I didn't hear what he was saying. Didn't help that my brain registered the other people's footsteps, the bird calls, and the cars passing by at the same volume as his voice.
"Huh?" I said looking up from the tulips.
"I said that was a pretty nasty fall you took. Are you doing alright?" he asked.
I blinked, blanking out for a second, before remembering what he was talking about. "Oh, yea. I'm fine. A few bruises won't kill me. It was a miracle you grabbed me off my bike before I went into the roadway." And once again, the awkward silence blessed us with its presence. I looked around, trying to avoid making eye contact with the brunette.
In an attempt to break the silence, I took a breath and said, "So... nice weather we're having, isn't it?"
"Yea, I guess so," he responded, and the silence took hold once again. All of a sudden, he bent down and ripped a tulip out of the bark and awkwardly handed it out to me.
"F-for you," he said, a light shade of pink dusting his cheek. My eyes widened, at the unexpected action, and I giggled, taking the flower from his hand. Where was that charismatic ladies' man I saw a week ago who rescued me off my bike?
"Um, wow, uh, thank you...?"
"Kai. My name is Kai."
I smiled and said, "Thank you, Kai."
I got more and more annoyed as he drove up, parked and unmounted his bike. He pulled off his helmet and shook his head, noticing me there staring at him. We just stared at each other, neither moving, neither speaking.
He started to make his way up his driveway, not even bothering with a greeting, so I called out to him. "Hey! Where've you been?" I tried not to sound accusatory or angry, and I succeeded. Though I sounded more hurt than anticipated.
He stopped and walked towards me. He walked kind of slowly, like he was trying to avoid me. I stood on the steps, fighting the urge to walk towards him so we could talk. Never ever did I think I'd want to talk to him, yet here I was.
Once in front of me he stayed at the bottom step, not climbing up further. He said nothing and I repeated my question once again, "Where have you been?"
He shifted then just replied with "Out."
"Out?" I repeated, getting refueled with annoyance. "That's it? You've been missing all day and all you have to say is you were out?"
"Fuck, dude, what are you, my mom? I was out! Are you trying to keep tabs on me or something?"
I was angry at him, and started to feel feelings towards him that I haven't felt in months. I stepped down two steps to look at him eye level, ready to argue with him. But, rather than open my mouth to fight, I found myself staring at his tired gaze and freezing for a moment. I didn't want to fight with him, and I saw he didn't want to fight with me-at least, that was my hope.
I let my glare fall and closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around him in the tightest hug I could muster. He seemed shocked, remaining rigid in my arms until I quietly muttered, "I was worried about you, jackass," into his neck. He just sighed before relaxing and hugging me back.