Page 25 of Considering Us

“I think so,” I choked out. “I’m sorry. I just owe it to myself to see. To see what, I don’t even know. But I have to.”

Kyle swallowed so hard I could hear it. “What was this then? Why did you want to kiss me?”

“I had to know what it was like—if it was the way it was before. And it was. It was still good and felt right, I promise you. Until it was interrupted, of course.”

“But it meant nothing, really, if you’re still going out with him.”

“That’s not true,” I said, my voice shaking. “It did mean something. This is all very confusing.”

“I feel a little used,” he admitted, and I couldn’t deny any of it. He let go of my hand. “But maybe I deserve it. Maybe this is what I get for what I did when I went to London,” he said. “Let’s walk back. I’m not going to leave you out here alone.”

I followed him silently through the woods, not grabbing onto him this time. When we got to the main path, I said, “Thanks for spending time with me tonight. I had fun until those kids showed up. I’m sorry if you’re mad at me.”

Kyle shook his head. “I’ll see you at Midsy,” he said and walked away, leaving me to walk the rest of the way back to Wentworth.

13

I woke to the din of loud voices, someone shouting into a bullhorn, and the clanging and banging of objects outside my window. I ran to the big window in my kitchen and could see a crowd of probably fifty people gathered in the vicinity of The Stallion. I threw open the window and climbed out onto the fire escape to get a better view and to hear what people were saying, or in this case, yelling.

“Hey, Chef! Nice pjs! You having a sleepover?” shouted a voice from the ground below. It was Ashlyn Lark and two of her followers, and they were laughing uncontrollably.

I looked down at myself and realized I was in flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt that read “I like piña coladas” and no bra. I crossed my arms across my chest. “I’m alone!” I yelled and then realized how ridiculous I sounded. Anything I had retorted with would have been stupid.

They kept laughing and walked toward the crowd. I shifted my attention to the swelling group of people who were being asked by police and campus security guards to move back as they hastily set up a barrier around the art installation using stakes and yellow police tape. It looked to be a mix of local residents and students. Some of the people standing behind the line held signs that said things such as, “Your Art is Ugly,” “No Porn on St George’s,” and probably the most pointed of the attacks, “Connelly is a Perv.”

I went back inside and closed the window. If Tam didn’t know about it yet, she would soon. “I was waiting to hear from you,” she said as she answered her cell phone.

“So, I take it you’ve heard about my place of employment.”

“I’m on my way up there right now,” she said. “I have a full crew with me. I’m sitting in the back of a van—if you can’t tell. Want to be interviewed?”

“Andrea probably wouldn’t be thrilled. Are you going to talk to her for your piece?”

“She’s still deciding what she wants to do. Off the record, she sounded a bit overwhelmed on the phone when I talked to her about a half hour ago.”

“She’s always overwhelmed. That, too, is off the record. But yeah, I would imagine this sucks for her.” I yawned, making coffee to try to wake myself up. “Anyway, I’m supposed to go on a date this afternoon. I’m thinking of canceling.”

“A date?! Dev, that’s great. Or is it with Kyle? I mean, that would be good, too. I just want you out there in the world again.”

“Not with Kyle,” I said. “I kissed Kyle last night. But it’s not with him.”

“You kissed Kyle,” she repeated, obviously trying to understand my situation. Hell, even I didn’t understand my situation.

“Yes, and it probably wasn’t nice of me to do it. I wanted to try something out. To see if I still had feelings for him.”

“And? Devon, do not leave a girl hanging like this.”

I sighed. “I do. I liked kissing him … until we were interrupted by these little shits fromThe Underground Stallion. But I’m supposed to go out with Heath this afternoon. And Kyle’s pissed at me. So, I’m pretty confused at the moment.”

“The Underground Stallion?Who is Heath? I swear, someone should follow you around and make a documentary. I might pitch it to my producer. I’ll call it The Devon Digest.”

“More like The Devon Disasters. Anyway, Heath’s the hot paramedic. He showed up when one of Kyle’s soccer players passed out in the dining hall from dehydration. But that’s another story.The Underground Stallionis an underground newspaper, and I think Andrea’s horrific niece runs it, but I have no proof. There’s a lot of drama here at Rockwood.”

“Hot paramedic, huh?” She asked, skipping over the Ashlyn aspect of my reporting. I could feel Tam drift off into romantic comedy land. “I think there was a Hallmark movie with something like this.”

“Probably,” I replied. “He looks like he belongs in a Hallmark movie. But those tend to be on the wholesome side. I might want to do some very unwholesome things with him. I’m not on speaker-phone with a van full of production crew types listening, right?”

“Nope,” she said with a laugh. “Well, good luck with all of it. I do kinda feel sorry for Kyle, though, Dev. I’m sorry to say that because you know I’m always on your side. But that boy must have been so happy to finally kiss you again. He’s probably hurting a lot now.”

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