Page 44 of Rhythm

“Uh…” She looked incredibly awkward. “Kaitlyn is here to see you? Do you want to see her, or should I tell her to go away?”

My head was spinning. Why would she be here right now? Right after I’d gone to her house? The timing was too weird to be a coincidence.

Had she seen me? And even if she had seen me, why would she be here?

“Yeah… yeah, I’ll see her,” I told her, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to. But I had too many questions on my mind. I had to have them answered.

“I’ll send her your way, then,” she said. She shut the door and went back out to grab Kaitlyn.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I still couldn’t understand why she’d come here to me if she had already moved on to someone else. Why embarrass me further if she’d seen me run away?

Just seconds later, my door creaked open again, and Kaitlyn was standing in the hall.

“Hello,” she said softly.

“Hi,” I said back, equally as quietly.

We stared at each other in silence for a moment, taking in one another’s presence. At least, I was taking in her presence. I hadn’t seen her in weeks, so seeing her now felt so odd.

“Uh, come in.” I motioned to the bed as I stood up to shut the door behind her. I wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but I knew I didn’t want Abby hearing it. Not before I got to explain things. She took in a deep breath but didn’t say much.

“So… you should probably be the first to talk,” I began for her.

“I should?” she questioned. “Why?”

“Uh… because you’re the one who came here?”

“Yeah… right,” she said, nodding. “I, uh, just…. were you at my apartment?”

Great, so she had seen me. And for some reason, she’d decided to rub that in my face.

“Is that all you came here for?” I asked. “To ask me what I was doing at your apartment complex?”

“Uh, yes,” she said coolly. “I see you at my place, and I’m not allowed to ask you why you were there?”

No, of course she wasn’t allowed to ask! If she’d moved on, the last thing she should be doing was asking me about my business. Wasn’t it hard enough for me to see her kiss a new girl? And she saw me run away, and she didn’t think that was a clear sign I was hurt?

“You can if you want to be a bitch,” I answered equally as coolly.

Her expression turned sour. “A bitch? Really? I’m a bitch just because I want to know why you were at my place?”

“Yeah, if I made it obvious that I regretted going, maybe you should have left it at that. Maybe coming over here and rubbing my nose in my mistakes isn’t the best idea.”

“Right, and I’m the mistake, right?” she asked, looking a little hurt.

“This time, yeah! You are! Like I said, it was obvious that I didn’t want to see you anymore so—”

“How was that obvious?” she cut me off. “Look, clearly coming here was a mistake. Almost as big

of a mistake as I am to you, apparently.”

God, why was she being so bitter to me?! She’d moved on with her life, she was happy again, and I was obviously not. Why couldn’t she just show me some kindness? This was so unlike the Kaitlyn I used to know. The Kaitlyn I used to know had been so compassionate, caring, sweet… maybe she was still bitter about how I’d broken up with her. But if she was with someone she cared about, I didn’t see why that shouldn’t even matter anymore.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked her.

She furrowed her brow. “Doing what, Emily? You act like I’m torturing you just by coming here. And, fine, maybe to you, I am. So, I guess I’ll go,” she said as she stood off the bed, “but that was not my intention. And had I known you didn’t want to see me, I wouldn’t have come. I don’t know how you think I was supposed to read your expression through a car window, but clearly it’s been some giant grievance on my part.”

“Through a car window?” I asked, not processing that part.


Tags: H.L. Logan Romance