Prologue
"I'll see you after class?" Kiara Nalak asked her boyfriend as stepped into the doorway of her third period class.
Tyler Stearic flashed her the smile the made him so popular with the girls. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Kiara sighed despite herself. She had been dating Tyler for 6 months (and 14 days she added mentally), but she still couldn't prevent herself from melting every time she saw his smile.
"I love you," she whispered.
"You, too," he said. Someone down the hall, presumably one of Tyler's teammates from the basketball team, yelled for him. "I got to go, babe," he quickly said and then left her without another word. She watched his tall form walk away and then dramatically dropped herself into her seat.
"I love being in love," she proclaimed in a sing-song voice.
The girl seated in front of Kiara turned around. Rolling her brown eyes, she said, "Oh please. Every girl and their mother 'loves' Tyler." Kiara knew there was no use trying to contradict what her best friend, Alyssa, had said. Tyler, being a straight A student and captain of the high school's basketball team made him a winner with all the mothers in the area. And of course, the girls just seemed to crumble under the gaze of his brown eyes. Every time he flashed that perfect smile of his or ran his hand through his hair to make it look fashionably messy, all the girls seemed to swoon.
Kiara flipped her thick mane of bleached blonde hair over her shoulders. "Yeah, but I'm *in* love with him. There's a difference you know." Alyssa, having had this conversation many times before, simply turned around in her seat, saying nothing.
Kiara couldn't understand why Alyssa always seemed so against her relationship with Tyler. She always claimed that she just didn't trust Tyler, but wouldn't explain why. The only excuse she would give was that Tyler was a guy and guys only thought with one thing and it definitely wasn't their brain. For most guys, Kiara would have whole-heartedly agreed, but not with Tyler. She was in love with him and couldn't see herself loving someone that couldn't be trusted.
As the teacher began the lesson, Kiara spied the paper listing the nominees for the title of senior Prom King and Queen. There was no doubt in her mind she and Tyler would win. "Ty and Ky", as they were widely known, were the "it" couple of their high school. It was rare that they weren't together and when those uncommon moments happened, someone was guaranteed to ask where the other was. Even when Tyler was playing a basketball game, Kiara was cheering him on as the head cheerleader. To everyone they seemed like the perfect couple and to Kiara, 'perfect' sounded just right.
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"Dude, I can't believe you were getting all mushy with her like that," Brandon Cole exclaimed as he walked down the hallway with Tyler. "I felt like I was watching a friggin' soap opera."
Tyler shook his head and rolled is eyes. "I was not 'getting all mushy'. I was just playing the right cards. Sometimes you have to say certain things to make a girl happy." He smirked and then added, "Aren't I just too nice?"
"Playing the right cards doesn't normally go as far as telling the girl you love her."
Tyler stopped in his tracks and raised his finger in the air to emphasize that he what he was about to say was crucial. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it; I never said that I loved her."
"But you said-"
"I said, 'You, too.' That's completely different from 'I love you.' Even I would never go so far as to lie about something like love. That's stooping a little too low if you ask me."
"But you realize that your saying 'You, too' right after she says those three little words really makes it sound like you're saying that you love her, right?"
Tyler resumed walking and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "It's not my fault she's misinterpreting what I'm saying."
Brandon smiled slyly at Tyler. "Oh you've definitely gotten some from her, haven't you?"
Tyler returned the smile. "I know this usually goes in terms of bases, but since I'm more of a basketball kind of guy, let's just say it's been a slam dunk."
Brandon whooped out loud and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Damn, you're lucky. I would give anything to get with a girl like that." They were quiet for a moment before Brandon asked, "So, is she as good as you had first thought she would be?"
Tyler laughed. "Let's just say that her being into gymnastics creates very interesting.positions."
Brandon laughed loudly. "Is she better than Veronica?"
Tyler thought of his ex and smiled wickedly. "I can't really say. It's been a while since I've been with her."
Brandon caught on to what Tyler was leading to. "So how about you refresh your memory?" He then added, "Strictly for research purposes only of course."
Tyler nodded his head. "Exactly what I was thinking."
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Three weeks later, Kiara hummed softly to herself as she reentered the school building on a Saturday afternoon. It was one of those wonderfully cool days in the beginning of May where it marked the transition between spring and summer. The sun was shining, flowers were blooming, birds were chirping, and one couldn't help smiling. Of course, Kiara thought, the fact that Tyler had just led the basketball team to yet another victory made the day seem even better. The pride she felt every time she watched him make a shot never seemed to dull.
She glanced up a clock in the hallway and frowned. She hoped Tyler wouldn't be too annoyed that she was going to be so late getting to his house. She would have been on her way over already, but she had forgotten her cell phone in the cheerleader locker room and if there was one thing everyone in school knew it was that if you left something out in the open for more than a couple of hours, chances were that you would never see it again.
She turned the corner of the hallway and was surprised when something, or rather, someone, bumped into her. She stumbled backwards slightly, but when she regained her balance, she exclaimed, "Watch where you're going!"
The person who bumped into her froze and was obviously debating whether or not to make a run for it. Of course, during that split second of thought, Kiara had already realized who she bumped into. "Alyssa? What are you doing here?"
"I-I-"
"You forgot something, too?" Kiara said, not noticing her friend's distress. "Please tell me the locker room is still open. My mom will kill me if I lose this phone. I've only had it for a couple of weeks." Alyssa opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out. "What's wrong with you?" Kiara laughed. Alyssa still seemed unable to get the words out of her mouth and Kiara began to grow annoyed. Her brows furrowed together as she said, "I have no idea what's going on with you, Al, but I'm supposed to be at Ty's house already so I'm kind of in a hurry." With that she pushed past Alyssa and walked to the door leading to the locker room. When she placed her hand on the handle, Alyssa finally said,
"Don't go in there!"
Still holding on to the handle, Kiara looked over her shoulder and asked, "Why?" But when Alyssa opened her mouth, once again, no sound came out. Kiara rolled her icy blue eyes and turned the handle on the door, letting out a low "Thank God" when the door opened. She walked to the left side of the locker room to where she kept her stuff. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw her cell phone lying on one of the benches. She picked it up and turned around to leave when she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.
A moan.
Kiara had to clamp her hand over her mouth in order to stop herself from exploding with laughter. She realized what Alyssa had been so shocked about and why she had told her not to go into the locker room. Alyssa was the type that got extremely embarrassed about stuff like this. Kiara, however, had already learned that sometimes people couldn't wait to get home to do certain things. She remembered one particular time when it happened with Tyler and suddenly, she couldn't seem to get to his house fast enough
Still keeping her hand clamped over her mouth, she very quietly began to creep out of the locker room. After all, she may have not been embarrassed by hearing people having sex in the locker room, but that did not mean she wanted them to know she was there. That would have caused quite a little scene and she wanted to avoid that at all costs.
"What about your other half, Ty?" a very feminine voice made slightly deeper by desire filled the room. Kiara immediately stopped all movement, including her breathing. No, she thought, it has to be some other Ty. There were lots of Tylers, she tried to rationalize. It definitely wasn't *her* Tyler.
"What other half?" came a deep male voice in between heavy breathing. Kiara felt her whole world crumble. She could easily recognize that voice filled with such wanting.
"You know who I'm talking about; Kiara."
A grunt came as a response and for a moment, Kiara thought that would be the only response, but then Tyler said, "She doesn't have to know. And if you're able to think so rationally right now, obviously I'm not doing my job very well." Kiara could practically see the sly smile on his face as he added, "Perhaps we should speed things along a bit."
"Oh, Ty," came the answer in form of a moan. Kiara knew she had to get out of there. She couldn't bear to hear it anymore. Her heart was broken.even more than broken; destroyed. He had said he loved her. She believed him. Choking back a sob, she remembered how she so willingly gave up her virginity. All that time she thought he loved her, instead he was just using her and probably even laughing at her behind her back. She tried to move her feet, but they seemed unwilling to move.
"But Ty," came another protest. "Kiara's never done anything to me to make her deserve this."
Tyler growled. "You didn't seem to care about Kiara last Tuesday."
"But-"
"Or last Thursday-"
"Well-"
"Or even yesterday."
"You're making me sound like such a whore, Ty."
"Never, Veronica," Tyler purred. "You're just about as good as they come." He then added, as if it was an afterthought. "In more ways than one."
Kiara finally got her feet to move, but her legs seemed averse to carrying her weight and gave out beneath her. She fell right into the metal lockers with a loud crash. She froze completely.
"What was that??" Tyler asked out loud.
"I don't know," squeaked Veronica. Kiara could hear both of them scrambling to put back on any clothes that had already been discarded.
"Shit," Tyler swore. "If someone caught us, my reputation is ruined." Kiara could hear his footsteps getting closer and filled with horror, she realized he was walking right towards her. She struggled to her feet and tried to run out of the locker room without either Veronica or Tyler seeing. But it seemed that she had absolutely no luck at all that day.
"Ky?!?" Tyler exclaimed from behind her. Kiara knew she couldn't turn around. She wouldn't be able to handle looking at him after all the things he had just said. She continued walking just as if she hadn't heard him. She would have walked right out of the building if Tyler hadn't grabbed her arm and prevented any chance of escape.
"Let go of me, Tyler," she said in a guarded tone. She refused to allow him to know how much he had hurt her. That would only give him more reason to gloat.
"Come on, Ky," Tyler said softly. "At least turn around and look at me." Kiara wanted to throw up because how sweet he was pretending to be. She was proud of how strong she was being though. Although her heart was screaming at her to turn around, her mind was winning in its battle to keep her from doing so. Tyler let out a soft sigh and then said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Please."
Her heart became victorious.
Slowly, in a defeated manner, Kiara turned around to face him. "Why, Tyler??" she asked him, angry at herself for sounding so desperate. "Why did you do this to me??"
Tyler stuffed his hands in the pockets of his gray sweat pants and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." A boyish, lopsided smile began to form on his face. Kiara hated that it still made her melt inside. "I guess what Alyssa always said was right. Guys only think with one thing, right?"
Kiara had to look away from his face to keep herself from throwing herself into his arms. "Don't try to weasel your way out of this. It's not going to happen. You-" Kiara could hear her voice cracking, so she stopped.
"No, say what you want to," Tyler said, still smiling. "We've always been good at sharing how we feel with each other. We have a connection like that, right?"
Kiara closed her eyes for a moment, trying to unsuccessfully will her tears away. When she opened them, she looked up at Tyler with a haunted look that caused his smile to vanish. "Y-You said you loved me."
Tyler was about to make his argument that technically he had never said that, but the look he saw in her eyes made him stop. "I lied," he admitted.
Kiara let out a strangled sob. How everything in her life went from perfect to horrendous so quickly, she didn't know. Just a few moments before she couldn't wait until she saw Tyler and now, she didn't want to see him ever again. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep steadying breaths, although her lungs didn't seem to want to cooperate with her.
Tyler began to speak again, "I'm-" She held up a hand to stop him. She knew what he was going to say. She thought wryly that if she had a penny for every time had been said to her, she would have been a billionaire. She had heard it so much that now, the only affect they had on her was to make her block out whatever feelings she had. To her, "I'm sorry" meant "I pity you" and she did not want to be pitied.
"I guess that makes the both of us," she said, slapping a false smile on her face.
Tyler's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
Kiara let out a short laugh. "You didn't really think I really loved you, did you? Oh God, please. Everyone says it nowadays. 'I love you' basically is used as often as 'What's up'"
"The way you reacted just a few minutes ago doesn't make it seem that way," he quickly retorted.
"I was just shocked, that's all," Kiara tried to reason. His smugness was beginning to break down her barrier and she knew she had to leave him before she broke down again. "Look, this isn't worth discussing. We both had our fun and now it's over." *Over.* The word felt so horrible to say that she almost choked on it.
A brief silence fell over them before Tyler looked at her suggestively and said, "You know, it doesn't have to be over. I may not have loved you, but I definitely loved the things we did together."
Kiara felt the bile rise up in her throat, not because of what he said, but because part of her wanted to take him up on his offer. Part of her felt that any relationship with him was better than none at all. Forcing the bile down, she said briskly, "Nope, sorry. I'm bored of you anyway."
Without waiting for him to make a response, in fear she would change her answer, she quickly turned and swung open the door. Out in the hallway she saw Alyssa waiting for her. "Oh, Kiara! I'm-"
Again, Kiara did not want to hear those words. "I'm fine," she said. When Alyssa put a comforting arm around her shoulders, she gratefully sighed, but said again, "Really, I'm fine. It's no big deal."
Alyssa raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, knowing that Kiara's way of dealing with things was to do so in private, by herself. Kiara was appreciative that Alyssa did not push the topic any further. Even if Kiara had wanted to talk about what had happened, she wouldn't have been able to because her thoughts were all scrambled. However, through the whole array of thoughts in her head, one thing stood out in her mind.
From that moment on, Kiara knew she would never allow herself to fall in love again.
A/N - So, I've decided to post this story a little sooner than expected, but I'm curious to see what you all think. Obviously, I chose to do none of the ideas I mentioned at the end of "Let Me Show You Everything". This one seemed more appealing. Obviously, this story is way different than my past ones. It's of a more mature nature and well, the guy isn't perfect. I know that this will probably cause me to lose many readers, but I wanted to try something new so I took the risk.
I don't know how often I'm going to update. I have up to chapter 4 already written and I plan on starting chapter 5 today, but since the story is still in the beginning stages it takes me a little bit more time to write each chapter. I will try to update as often as possible, but I can't promise anything I'm afraid.
On that note, please do review. I know the prologue is relatively short, but I promise the chapters are longer. I also know that this probably isn't what you guys expected from me, but please be open minded. I'm trying my best with this one.
A/N II - Ok, so this is actually the second time I've posted this. I had it up like a week ago, but then chickened out and removed it. Sorry to those who may have received an email and then could not find it. I'm just really nervous about how you all will react to this. Well, please let me know!
~*Danielle*~
"I'll see you after class?" Kiara Nalak asked her boyfriend as stepped into the doorway of her third period class.
Tyler Stearic flashed her the smile the made him so popular with the girls. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Kiara sighed despite herself. She had been dating Tyler for 6 months (and 14 days she added mentally), but she still couldn't prevent herself from melting every time she saw his smile.
"I love you," she whispered.
"You, too," he said. Someone down the hall, presumably one of Tyler's teammates from the basketball team, yelled for him. "I got to go, babe," he quickly said and then left her without another word. She watched his tall form walk away and then dramatically dropped herself into her seat.
"I love being in love," she proclaimed in a sing-song voice.
The girl seated in front of Kiara turned around. Rolling her brown eyes, she said, "Oh please. Every girl and their mother 'loves' Tyler." Kiara knew there was no use trying to contradict what her best friend, Alyssa, had said. Tyler, being a straight A student and captain of the high school's basketball team made him a winner with all the mothers in the area. And of course, the girls just seemed to crumble under the gaze of his brown eyes. Every time he flashed that perfect smile of his or ran his hand through his hair to make it look fashionably messy, all the girls seemed to swoon.
Kiara flipped her thick mane of bleached blonde hair over her shoulders. "Yeah, but I'm *in* love with him. There's a difference you know." Alyssa, having had this conversation many times before, simply turned around in her seat, saying nothing.
Kiara couldn't understand why Alyssa always seemed so against her relationship with Tyler. She always claimed that she just didn't trust Tyler, but wouldn't explain why. The only excuse she would give was that Tyler was a guy and guys only thought with one thing and it definitely wasn't their brain. For most guys, Kiara would have whole-heartedly agreed, but not with Tyler. She was in love with him and couldn't see herself loving someone that couldn't be trusted.
As the teacher began the lesson, Kiara spied the paper listing the nominees for the title of senior Prom King and Queen. There was no doubt in her mind she and Tyler would win. "Ty and Ky", as they were widely known, were the "it" couple of their high school. It was rare that they weren't together and when those uncommon moments happened, someone was guaranteed to ask where the other was. Even when Tyler was playing a basketball game, Kiara was cheering him on as the head cheerleader. To everyone they seemed like the perfect couple and to Kiara, 'perfect' sounded just right.
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"Dude, I can't believe you were getting all mushy with her like that," Brandon Cole exclaimed as he walked down the hallway with Tyler. "I felt like I was watching a friggin' soap opera."
Tyler shook his head and rolled is eyes. "I was not 'getting all mushy'. I was just playing the right cards. Sometimes you have to say certain things to make a girl happy." He smirked and then added, "Aren't I just too nice?"
"Playing the right cards doesn't normally go as far as telling the girl you love her."
Tyler stopped in his tracks and raised his finger in the air to emphasize that he what he was about to say was crucial. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it; I never said that I loved her."
"But you said-"
"I said, 'You, too.' That's completely different from 'I love you.' Even I would never go so far as to lie about something like love. That's stooping a little too low if you ask me."
"But you realize that your saying 'You, too' right after she says those three little words really makes it sound like you're saying that you love her, right?"
Tyler resumed walking and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "It's not my fault she's misinterpreting what I'm saying."
Brandon smiled slyly at Tyler. "Oh you've definitely gotten some from her, haven't you?"
Tyler returned the smile. "I know this usually goes in terms of bases, but since I'm more of a basketball kind of guy, let's just say it's been a slam dunk."
Brandon whooped out loud and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Damn, you're lucky. I would give anything to get with a girl like that." They were quiet for a moment before Brandon asked, "So, is she as good as you had first thought she would be?"
Tyler laughed. "Let's just say that her being into gymnastics creates very interesting.positions."
Brandon laughed loudly. "Is she better than Veronica?"
Tyler thought of his ex and smiled wickedly. "I can't really say. It's been a while since I've been with her."
Brandon caught on to what Tyler was leading to. "So how about you refresh your memory?" He then added, "Strictly for research purposes only of course."
Tyler nodded his head. "Exactly what I was thinking."
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Three weeks later, Kiara hummed softly to herself as she reentered the school building on a Saturday afternoon. It was one of those wonderfully cool days in the beginning of May where it marked the transition between spring and summer. The sun was shining, flowers were blooming, birds were chirping, and one couldn't help smiling. Of course, Kiara thought, the fact that Tyler had just led the basketball team to yet another victory made the day seem even better. The pride she felt every time she watched him make a shot never seemed to dull.
She glanced up a clock in the hallway and frowned. She hoped Tyler wouldn't be too annoyed that she was going to be so late getting to his house. She would have been on her way over already, but she had forgotten her cell phone in the cheerleader locker room and if there was one thing everyone in school knew it was that if you left something out in the open for more than a couple of hours, chances were that you would never see it again.
She turned the corner of the hallway and was surprised when something, or rather, someone, bumped into her. She stumbled backwards slightly, but when she regained her balance, she exclaimed, "Watch where you're going!"
The person who bumped into her froze and was obviously debating whether or not to make a run for it. Of course, during that split second of thought, Kiara had already realized who she bumped into. "Alyssa? What are you doing here?"
"I-I-"
"You forgot something, too?" Kiara said, not noticing her friend's distress. "Please tell me the locker room is still open. My mom will kill me if I lose this phone. I've only had it for a couple of weeks." Alyssa opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out. "What's wrong with you?" Kiara laughed. Alyssa still seemed unable to get the words out of her mouth and Kiara began to grow annoyed. Her brows furrowed together as she said, "I have no idea what's going on with you, Al, but I'm supposed to be at Ty's house already so I'm kind of in a hurry." With that she pushed past Alyssa and walked to the door leading to the locker room. When she placed her hand on the handle, Alyssa finally said,
"Don't go in there!"
Still holding on to the handle, Kiara looked over her shoulder and asked, "Why?" But when Alyssa opened her mouth, once again, no sound came out. Kiara rolled her icy blue eyes and turned the handle on the door, letting out a low "Thank God" when the door opened. She walked to the left side of the locker room to where she kept her stuff. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw her cell phone lying on one of the benches. She picked it up and turned around to leave when she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.
A moan.
Kiara had to clamp her hand over her mouth in order to stop herself from exploding with laughter. She realized what Alyssa had been so shocked about and why she had told her not to go into the locker room. Alyssa was the type that got extremely embarrassed about stuff like this. Kiara, however, had already learned that sometimes people couldn't wait to get home to do certain things. She remembered one particular time when it happened with Tyler and suddenly, she couldn't seem to get to his house fast enough
Still keeping her hand clamped over her mouth, she very quietly began to creep out of the locker room. After all, she may have not been embarrassed by hearing people having sex in the locker room, but that did not mean she wanted them to know she was there. That would have caused quite a little scene and she wanted to avoid that at all costs.
"What about your other half, Ty?" a very feminine voice made slightly deeper by desire filled the room. Kiara immediately stopped all movement, including her breathing. No, she thought, it has to be some other Ty. There were lots of Tylers, she tried to rationalize. It definitely wasn't *her* Tyler.
"What other half?" came a deep male voice in between heavy breathing. Kiara felt her whole world crumble. She could easily recognize that voice filled with such wanting.
"You know who I'm talking about; Kiara."
A grunt came as a response and for a moment, Kiara thought that would be the only response, but then Tyler said, "She doesn't have to know. And if you're able to think so rationally right now, obviously I'm not doing my job very well." Kiara could practically see the sly smile on his face as he added, "Perhaps we should speed things along a bit."
"Oh, Ty," came the answer in form of a moan. Kiara knew she had to get out of there. She couldn't bear to hear it anymore. Her heart was broken.even more than broken; destroyed. He had said he loved her. She believed him. Choking back a sob, she remembered how she so willingly gave up her virginity. All that time she thought he loved her, instead he was just using her and probably even laughing at her behind her back. She tried to move her feet, but they seemed unwilling to move.
"But Ty," came another protest. "Kiara's never done anything to me to make her deserve this."
Tyler growled. "You didn't seem to care about Kiara last Tuesday."
"But-"
"Or last Thursday-"
"Well-"
"Or even yesterday."
"You're making me sound like such a whore, Ty."
"Never, Veronica," Tyler purred. "You're just about as good as they come." He then added, as if it was an afterthought. "In more ways than one."
Kiara finally got her feet to move, but her legs seemed averse to carrying her weight and gave out beneath her. She fell right into the metal lockers with a loud crash. She froze completely.
"What was that??" Tyler asked out loud.
"I don't know," squeaked Veronica. Kiara could hear both of them scrambling to put back on any clothes that had already been discarded.
"Shit," Tyler swore. "If someone caught us, my reputation is ruined." Kiara could hear his footsteps getting closer and filled with horror, she realized he was walking right towards her. She struggled to her feet and tried to run out of the locker room without either Veronica or Tyler seeing. But it seemed that she had absolutely no luck at all that day.
"Ky?!?" Tyler exclaimed from behind her. Kiara knew she couldn't turn around. She wouldn't be able to handle looking at him after all the things he had just said. She continued walking just as if she hadn't heard him. She would have walked right out of the building if Tyler hadn't grabbed her arm and prevented any chance of escape.
"Let go of me, Tyler," she said in a guarded tone. She refused to allow him to know how much he had hurt her. That would only give him more reason to gloat.
"Come on, Ky," Tyler said softly. "At least turn around and look at me." Kiara wanted to throw up because how sweet he was pretending to be. She was proud of how strong she was being though. Although her heart was screaming at her to turn around, her mind was winning in its battle to keep her from doing so. Tyler let out a soft sigh and then said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Please."
Her heart became victorious.
Slowly, in a defeated manner, Kiara turned around to face him. "Why, Tyler??" she asked him, angry at herself for sounding so desperate. "Why did you do this to me??"
Tyler stuffed his hands in the pockets of his gray sweat pants and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." A boyish, lopsided smile began to form on his face. Kiara hated that it still made her melt inside. "I guess what Alyssa always said was right. Guys only think with one thing, right?"
Kiara had to look away from his face to keep herself from throwing herself into his arms. "Don't try to weasel your way out of this. It's not going to happen. You-" Kiara could hear her voice cracking, so she stopped.
"No, say what you want to," Tyler said, still smiling. "We've always been good at sharing how we feel with each other. We have a connection like that, right?"
Kiara closed her eyes for a moment, trying to unsuccessfully will her tears away. When she opened them, she looked up at Tyler with a haunted look that caused his smile to vanish. "Y-You said you loved me."
Tyler was about to make his argument that technically he had never said that, but the look he saw in her eyes made him stop. "I lied," he admitted.
Kiara let out a strangled sob. How everything in her life went from perfect to horrendous so quickly, she didn't know. Just a few moments before she couldn't wait until she saw Tyler and now, she didn't want to see him ever again. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep steadying breaths, although her lungs didn't seem to want to cooperate with her.
Tyler began to speak again, "I'm-" She held up a hand to stop him. She knew what he was going to say. She thought wryly that if she had a penny for every time had been said to her, she would have been a billionaire. She had heard it so much that now, the only affect they had on her was to make her block out whatever feelings she had. To her, "I'm sorry" meant "I pity you" and she did not want to be pitied.
"I guess that makes the both of us," she said, slapping a false smile on her face.
Tyler's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
Kiara let out a short laugh. "You didn't really think I really loved you, did you? Oh God, please. Everyone says it nowadays. 'I love you' basically is used as often as 'What's up'"
"The way you reacted just a few minutes ago doesn't make it seem that way," he quickly retorted.
"I was just shocked, that's all," Kiara tried to reason. His smugness was beginning to break down her barrier and she knew she had to leave him before she broke down again. "Look, this isn't worth discussing. We both had our fun and now it's over." *Over.* The word felt so horrible to say that she almost choked on it.
A brief silence fell over them before Tyler looked at her suggestively and said, "You know, it doesn't have to be over. I may not have loved you, but I definitely loved the things we did together."
Kiara felt the bile rise up in her throat, not because of what he said, but because part of her wanted to take him up on his offer. Part of her felt that any relationship with him was better than none at all. Forcing the bile down, she said briskly, "Nope, sorry. I'm bored of you anyway."
Without waiting for him to make a response, in fear she would change her answer, she quickly turned and swung open the door. Out in the hallway she saw Alyssa waiting for her. "Oh, Kiara! I'm-"
Again, Kiara did not want to hear those words. "I'm fine," she said. When Alyssa put a comforting arm around her shoulders, she gratefully sighed, but said again, "Really, I'm fine. It's no big deal."
Alyssa raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, knowing that Kiara's way of dealing with things was to do so in private, by herself. Kiara was appreciative that Alyssa did not push the topic any further. Even if Kiara had wanted to talk about what had happened, she wouldn't have been able to because her thoughts were all scrambled. However, through the whole array of thoughts in her head, one thing stood out in her mind.
From that moment on, Kiara knew she would never allow herself to fall in love again.
A/N - So, I've decided to post this story a little sooner than expected, but I'm curious to see what you all think. Obviously, I chose to do none of the ideas I mentioned at the end of "Let Me Show You Everything". This one seemed more appealing. Obviously, this story is way different than my past ones. It's of a more mature nature and well, the guy isn't perfect. I know that this will probably cause me to lose many readers, but I wanted to try something new so I took the risk.
I don't know how often I'm going to update. I have up to chapter 4 already written and I plan on starting chapter 5 today, but since the story is still in the beginning stages it takes me a little bit more time to write each chapter. I will try to update as often as possible, but I can't promise anything I'm afraid.
On that note, please do review. I know the prologue is relatively short, but I promise the chapters are longer. I also know that this probably isn't what you guys expected from me, but please be open minded. I'm trying my best with this one.
A/N II - Ok, so this is actually the second time I've posted this. I had it up like a week ago, but then chickened out and removed it. Sorry to those who may have received an email and then could not find it. I'm just really nervous about how you all will react to this. Well, please let me know!
~*Danielle*~