Page 70 of Tease
A small figure pops out from the shadows directly in my path. I pause my steps, not knowing if I should be worried that this is a deranged fan or somebody looking for someone.
I hear a sniffle before words are whispered into the darkness. “I’ve ruined everything… Everything we could’ve ever been…”
Wait a minute…“Kailey?” I start to walk toward her when she puts her hands up, signaling me to stop.
“No. Stay right there, Jared.”
I stop and softly lower my duffel bag to the ground. “Kailey, what’s wrong?”
“Me!I’m what’s fucking wrong; can’t you see? I’ve ruined everything that we could’ve ever been!” Her body folds in half as she starts to sob.
I have no clue what the hell’s happening right now. I don’t want to scare her by pulling her into my arms, so I stay put, my voice calm. “Everything’s fine. I promise. Why are you so upset?”
She pats her cheeks with her sweatshirt. Her finger points behind me, toward the auditorium. “I saw you out there, Jared. I saw what you did.”
Seeing her cry has got my mind all over the place. “Okay… That’s great… Yeah, you saw me win. Let’s go celebrate.”
“I should have never left you.” Her words are defeated, like she’s struggling to let them be free.
My heart cracks inside my chest.
“Kailey, I never forgot you.”Shit… Do I take this moment of her breakdown and tell her my truths?
Her shoulders tremble, her voice stable now. “You go byCapout there?” She takes a step closer to me. Her head hangs low. “You double tap your fucking wrist before each fight?”
I take a step forward. “Wow. Okay. Uhm, I don’t know where you want me to start.”
Her bloodshot eyes, greener than usual, stare up at me. “Tell me why?”
I can’t help the smile that takes over my face, and my hand goes to wipe her tears. “That’s easy. Because of you. It’s always been you, Dimples.”
Kailey starts to laugh while she continues to cry. “But I ruined this.” Her hand reaches out to point between us. “You and me.”
Seeing her this way is killing me. Can she really not see how I feel? My arms wrap around her as I pull her against my chest, knowing she can feel my heart racing. I rest my chin on the top of her head while squeezing her tight. “Dimples, you’re still my pulse.”
I pick her up, her legs wrapping tightly around my waist. Kailey’s forehead rests against mine. She looks up, her mouth grazing my lips. “Could you ever forgive me?”
Fuck it.I place her feet back on the ground and walk back to my duffel bag, pulling out my phone. Her body hasn’t moved; she’s frozen in place. I hold the phone out for her to take.
She just stares at my phone, unsure what to do. “What?”
“Unlock it; the code is your birthday. And open the text messages.” I stand over her shoulder and watch her pull open the messages. A text thread calledDimplesis pinned at the top, and theKaileytext thread is pinned right underneath it. I tap onDimplesand watch as she scrolls… and scrolls… and scrolls. Her eyes scan every text of every day that I sent her over these last five years. She reads everything, from my ramblings about everyday, mundane tasks to my deepest, darkest desires andfears. She reads about how I miss her, how I feel like I can't breathe, how my heart can't beat in a regular rhythm when she's not near. She learns that I never stopped thinking about her, never stopped aching for her, yearning for her. They go on and on, showing everything I’d wanted to tell her over the years. Every. Fucking. Day. Ended and began with texting her. The last texts telling her why I’m really here, in Chicago.
Her head falls back and she sobs. “How is this even possible?” Kailey holds the phone up to me. “I got rid of that number when I moved away. Who the hell have you been texting all of this to?”
I shuffle from one foot to the other. “Myself, technically.”
Her mouth falls open. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. When you left, I knew you’d change your number. Once I got past the anger, Steffan and I drove to the cell phone store. He knew a girl that worked there. I gave her my number and told her to let me know whenthisphone number got put back out there, and that I wanted to add it to my plan.”
She looks back down, her finger scrolling through multiple text messages, all showing Delivered but never Read. “This starts from the very first text message we shared, and you continued to text it when you came to Chicago.”
“You’re right, it does. I’ve loved you every day. Every day, I continued to text you,your old number, knowing it was going to no one.”
I kiss her cheeks, one then the other, kissing away the tears. “I’ve always been yours, Dimples.”
Kailey grabs both of my cheeks, her palms squishing them, and kisses me deeply. I deepen the kiss, picking her back up and thrusting her back against the wall. Eventually, we pull apart, lips swollen, our breaths uneven. “I think that… I’ve always been yours, too.” She kisses my forehead, her mouth lingering there. “I’m sorry that I needed so much time.”
