Playing the players

Chapter 7

“Kyra.” I roll my eyes as soon as I hear his voice. Why the hell does he need to come after me all the damn time he insults me? Maybe he wants to see me suffer, but I won’t give him the satisfaction.

“What?” I snap at him while I am trying to control my breathing. He looks taken aback when he reaches me and his expression softens for a moment. “Don’t tell me Logan sent you after me again?'' I ask him tiredly.

“No, I just followed you since our freshly joined couple stuck together by their lips.” He says with a shrug and I turn to walk again. ‘And here I thought he came to apologise.’

“I don’t want to see you right now, so please leave me alone.” I tell him with my voice breaking and keep walking towards the washroom. I won’t let him see me cry. I don’t even know why his words affect me so much.

“What? The truth hurts, huh? Do you care about Nick at all? The guy is in love with you for reasons I don’t understand and here you are excited to go on a date with a guy who is- I quote- ‘the definition of hot’.” He says while he is imitating my voice and I stop walking and turn to face him.

“Do you know how many girls Nick made cry in the last few years? He told them he loved them, then had s*x with them and after that he dumped them in a single text and seduced an other. Do you think that was okay because he is a guy? I had just taught him a lesson and he knew very well what he signed up for.” I tell him furiously and my hands were already shaking from the frustration.

“Maybe he didn’t like those girls, but who are you to bring justice to him? You are the same after what you have done to him.” He says furiously, and I am breathing heavier second by second. I turn to walk away before I break down in front of him. That would be embarrassing and I can't let that happen.

“Walk away, that’s what you do the best.” I hear him saying a few meters behind me as I walk away, but I can’t breathe anymore, let alone answer. Tears are rolling down my cheeks as I get a hold onto something while I place my other hand on my chest, trying to make my breathing even. Why now? I don't want him to see me like this for god's sake. Why can't he just walk away?

“Are you serious? Do you think I will fall for your act? I am not like Nick, you can’t fool me.” He says and I start sobbing. How can he be so cold? I am trying to calm myself down to bring my breathing back to normal and here he is making it worse and I can't even talk to tell him off.

“Miss, are you alright? Should I call an ambulance?” A man asks worriedly and I shake my head. I don’t want to make a big deal out of a single panic attack.

“I think she has a panic attack.” The lady says next to him, and now they are trying to help me to calm down.

“Hey, just listen to me , okay?” The lady says softly and I nod my head, still breathing heavily and hiccuping. “Here, hold my hand and try to take deep breaths. Think about something nice and calming, maybe a beautiful waterfall with nice trees around it.” She says and I do as she said. It seems like it’s working because my breathing slowly comes back to normal.

“Kyra?” I look at Jace, who has a worried expression on his face now, but I just shake my head at him.

“I am... going… home, just... go back.” I manage to tell him and turn to the lady. “Thank you… very much… for your help ma’am.” I tell her , still taking deep breaths, and she smiles at me kindly.

“No problem dear, just take care of yourself. Don’t stress too much.” She says and I thank them again and we walk out of the cinema together. I look back at Jace to see him still standing there and looking at me with a guilty expression on his face, but then he turns around and walks back to the movie hall.

I decide to walk back to my dorm room. A walk will do good to me maybe. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Since Jace is here, I am a mess. His insults are actually hurting me and I don’t know why. I don’t know why I care what he says about me. When he talks to me like that, I feel like I am the same shy girl who I was two years ago and I don’t like it, not a bit. I feel vulnerable and I need to do something about it before I fall back into depression.

*

*** Jace’s POV ***

*

It has been a week since the incident in the cinema and that was the last time I talked to Kyra. She is avoiding me like the plague and she does a great job because even though I have tried several times, I couldn’t get a hold of her yet. I asked Amy a few times, but the answer was always the same, which made me even more furious. ‘She is with Cody.’

I am angry at her because of Nick, but I feel guilty about the last time we talked. She had a panic attack and I even told her that she had just faked it. Luckily, that couple came by and helped her. I felt really bad when I realised that she was really having one and I wanted to go after her, but decided not to. Now I regret it, I should have gone after her and apologise, at least I would feel better now, knowing I did something.

Nick is my cousin and we have always been close since we are both an only child in our family, so we played a lot together when we were young till we moved away. Now that we moved back, I want to have the same close relationship as we had before and I want to be there for him.

When we got here, I didn’t recognise my friend, who was always happy and confident. Now he is sad and timid all the time and I don’t like it at all. I wanted to see the girl who did this to him and teach her a lesson, but this whole situation starts to get confusing as time goes by. Nick says just leave it alone as they are friends now. He even said that he deserved it and Kyra said the same thing and I don’t know what’s going on anymore.

Now Kyra is hanging out with that guy from the restaurant and they are dating, I guess... what makes me furious. How can she do that to Nick, dating another guy in front of him and she is the one who got a panic attack when I called her a sl*t? Why should I even feel bad when I just told the truth?

“Hi Jace. What’s up?” Nick asks as he walks into my room.

“Nothing much, with you?” I ask him in a bored tone as I lay on my bed.

“Same, today is Logan’s party and I was helping him a bit.” He says and I look at him with wide eyes.

“Is that today?” I ask, I totally forgot about the party, but maybe Kyra will be there. Wait… who cares if she will be there or not? Nick seems like he doesn’t really care either, so why should I care about her?

“Yeah, you are coming, right?” He asks and I nod my head.

“Yeah, I have to. Logan would kill me if I didn’t.” I tell him.

“Yeah, he will definitely kill us if we miss out on his famous party.” Nick says with a laugh and I laugh and nod along with him.

“Let’s go to get ready then.” I tell him and head to the bathroom and Nick goes home to get ready too.

I take a shower and wear jeans and a black t-shirt with my leather jacket. I was a popular guy in Chicago, but I hated it, so I try to be invisible here in New York. It doesn’t seem to work because girls notice me anywhere I go, so to stay invisible is impossible with my looks. I don’t do one-night stands, so I don’t like sl*ts who throw themselves at me. I like to have a challenge if it comes to girls. I had two serious relationships, the last one ended right before we left Chicago. I broke up with Sandra because of the move. Long-distance relationships are not for me, so I thought it would be better this way. I wasn’t in love with her anyway, she has changed a lot since she started her modelling career. We were together for two years, but the last half year wasn’t good at all. This move just helped me to get rid of her. She is still calling sometimes, but I try to avoid her calls as much as I can.

When I am ready, I drive to Nick’s to pick him up and we are off to the party.

I park the car in the front of Logan’s house and the house was already half full of people. I don’t know everyone since I just started at the university here, but I see a few familiar faces.

Nick leads us through the crowd but stops in front of me abruptly and I walk into him.

“Sh*t… what the hell man?” I ask him while I rub my forehead what I hit on the back of his head as he stopped walking. He doesn’t say anything, so I look in the direction he is staring at. My eyes widen when I see Kyra and that guy, Cody, dancing sensually. His hands are all over her and their bodies are pressed to each other’s tightly while they are kissing. My blood starts boiling from anger and I want to walk up to them and call her out on it, but I need to be there for Nick now.

“Come on, let’s have a drink.” I tell him and drag him to the kitchen. I try to look calm in front of him, but I am raging from the inside. I actually felt sorry for her after she left the cinema, but now I see that she deserved every word I said. She is a heartless b**ch, she just broke up with Nick a few weeks ago and now she is here , dancing with her boyfriend at Nick’s best friend’s house in front of Nick. Who does that?

“Cheers.” Nick says as we drink the whiskey in one go.

“Forget about her , bro. She doesn’t deserve your attention.” I try to reason with him.

“It’s okay, I am fine, it was just a bit sudden, but I am fine. We agreed to be friends and I told her it’s fine so… I will be fine, don’t worry about me.” Nick says and I let out a sigh. The fine word left his mouth too many times and I know he is totally not 'fine'.

“If you say so..” I tell him and he smiles.

“I will look for Logan, are you coming?” He asks and I shake my head. Maybe he doesn’t mind what she is doing, but I do. I can see it’s bothering him, he can’t lie to me.

“I will stay here and drink some more, I will find you later.” I tell him and he nods his head and walks away while I watch his retiring back till he disappears into the crowd. I drink a few more glasses of whiskey while girls come up to me. I am not interested in them at all, but I don’t want to be rude either, so I start talking to them until I see Kyra walks through the kitchen.