"Think about it. After he found you, he always asked you to hang out," he raises his two fingers on both hands and draws quotation marks in the air, "and always visits you at your work. He even helps you when he has free time on his hands," he added.
That makes sense but I don't want to make my hopes high, it's just George's random guess. "Yes, he is helping us in the clinic even here in the café, but we are friends, it's natural for him to visit us if he's free and we haven't seen each other for a very long time so maybe ... he just ... wants to ... catch up?"
I can't explain the emotion on George's face right now. It's more confusing with an irritated look. Maybe because I'm too in denial that, maybe, his guess is right. But like I said, I don't want to put my hopes up. I might suffer from so much pain if I let myself expect too much and I don't want to feel that pain again.
"Whatever! I want to say that normal friendships don't ask their friends to always hang out and visit them now and then. Even more to help without asking anything. I'm telling you, girl, this Kyle, even if I haven't met him yet, I know he has feelings for you based on what you told me," I'm not sure if George was so desperate to find me a partner that he even sees my dear friend as my suitor.
When I arrived home, I can't forget what George said about Kyle wanting to be around me and that he has feelings for me, but I can't convince myself that he has. Maybe he loves me but as his friend and not as his lover.
What George said to me that day bugged me and I didn't have a good night's sleep. I even dreamt about Kyle and me kissing. It's all George's fault for giving me false hope.
We don't have many customers today, so I played with the shelter animals and Brandon since Kyle adopted him. He is almost fine now and ready to release after a few more days.
I waited for Kyle to visit the clinic but he didn't come. Maybe he's busy with his work now and he doesn't have time to visit us here. It almost slipped my mind, he adopted Brandon so the reason why he is always here in the clinic is to check him out and take care of him not because I'm here.
I assumed so much but at least I didn't let my hopes up. That's why it was not that hurt when I realized it.
It was almost a week but Kyle didn't show up even in the café. I once asked Elaine and the guard, they say they didn't see him visit there. I wonder what he's up to? He didn't tell me anything about his whereabouts or what happened to him. He always informs me about what he's doing or what's going on with him.
He complains to me every time he's having a bad time but now, he doesn't even text me, call, or chat with me. I tried to call his phone but he's not answering it. I'm starting to get worried about him.
Thursday night, Elaine and I were in our rooms when a loud knock was heard at our door. It is in the middle of the night, who's the crazy bastard that will knock at our door by this time? When I opened my door, I saw Elaine open hers too.
I grab something I can use as a weapon if he wants to harm us. We both climbed down hand in hand, we didn't open the light because we wanted to surprise whoever the bastard was outside.
I let Elaine open the door while I am bravely standing before it and getting ready to attack in case the person outside attacks us. I breathe deeply and then give Elaine a sign to open the door. I raised my weapon and when the door opened instead of hitting the person outside, I let go of the weapon and caught him.
"Open the lights," I told Elaine then she rushed through the switches. I don't know why I didn't hit him, but his figure looks familiar to me. I don't have many friends, especially a man who knows our apartment except George. And I noticed something, this man smells stinky, how many bottles did he drink?
When the lights finally opened, we were both surprised at who made the noise. Kyle, and he's wasted. He faints after we open the door. He even disturbs our neighbors and our sleep.
"What's up with him?" Elaine wondered. Even I, his friend, don't have any idea what's up with him. He didn't tell me if he had problems or what. "Help me, let's put him on the couch," since Kyle is much taller and bigger than us, all we can do is drag his feet until we reach the couch and lay him down there. Elaine got extra pillows and a blanket for him in my room while I prepared a basin of warm water and towels to clean him up.
"Thanks, Elaine. You can go back to sleep now, I can handle him," Elaine immediately leaves us alone because she knows that I'm an expert in terms of taking care of a drunk person. After all, I'm always looking after her when she gets wasted when we were in college until now. I didn't know that Kyle can drink alcohol now. Is he stressed? Why didn't he tell me anything about his problem?
I put the towel on the basin and drench it with water. I started with his face and then his hair. It's sticky because of the gel he puts on it to hold back his hair. When I was done, I started to unbutton his shirt when I realized something was wrong.
Is this appropriate? I mean, yes, I already did this but only with Elaine. I never did this to a man.
I'm starting to get nervous. My heart started to beat so fast and loud, that it almost shook my whole rib cage. I have to relax, we are friends, it should be nothing. This is not considered rape, right? I only need to remove his shirt, that's all, nothing more. I continue to unbutton his shirt without looking at him.
When I open up my eyes, I feel my jaw drop on the floor. This is not the toothpick Kyle I knew back then; this is a different Kyle. The Kyle I know doesn't have six-pack abs on his abdomen and doesn't have a hard chest that can make your head bleed once you hit it and biceps that can choke you to death.
I felt my face heating up again, I didn't expect that Kyle could be as masculine as this, once he gets older. Shame on me for drooling on my friends' bodies like this. I snapped myself to reality and started to wipe his neck down to his hard chest, then on his waist, and land on his well-chiseled six-pack abs. I ran my finger on it which made him shiver because of my touch.
I sigh a relief after I finish wiping his upper body, the only remaining part that needs to be wiped is the part down there. I can feel my blood rushing to my face again when I think about it. I'm such a pervert. I want to punish myself for being such a sinner. I'm not going further. I already wipe his upper part, and let him wash the remaining part of his body once he woke up.
I'm about to leave when I heard Kyle say something. I saw a lone drop of tear coming from his eye. He's crying in his sleep. He said something but I didn't understand it so I walked closer to him and put my right ear in his mouth.
He stops murmuring when I come closer. I put my hands on the couch to support my body to stand up but he pulled it so I ended up falling on top of him. He turned to his side along with me.
I tried to free myself but he was too strong. He's hugging me so tight that I can't free myself. "Kyle, wake up!" I tried to wake him up but it was not working. He's dead asleep. I felt dizzy and felt something in my throat that I wanted to throw out.
"Please," he started to open up his mouth again and his breath was killing me. It smells like rotten food with a mixture of super sour vinegar. Viola! You have a rotten salad with a puke dresser. I hate alcohol.
"Don't leave me alone. Don't go with him," Is he dreaming about Stephanie? I thought he had already moved on with her. "Please, stay here with me. I'm begging you. I need you. Don't leave me, please," his hug became tighter as he begged. I don't know what to do, he needs comfort so I place my hands on his back and pat it gently to comfort him.
He's already calmed down but he's still not releasing me.