"I love you, Kylie."
Chapter Twelve
Tyler
And here we are, I finally said it. I told my best friend that I love her. There's no way of going back to where we were before.
Because I can't take it anymore. Being without her is like being without water. On the first day you're suffering, on the second you’re in agony, on the third one you die.
"I love you, Kylie Thompson," I repeat to make it clear, because she's frozen in place with an open mouth, "and not the way you love me, I mean, like a friend. I'min love with you, and I have been for the past ten years."
Her facial expression changes from scared to sad in a moment, and I see how she’s fighting with herself not to start crying.
"Don't lie to me, Tyler," she says with a trembling voice. "Don't lie to me only because you want to fuck me now that I have bigger breasts and curvier hips."
Her lips are shaking, and her eyes are wet, but she does her best to pretend she's not going to cry.
Kylie Thompson has always tried to pretend she's strong and unshakable, but never before has she tried to do this with me.
"I always loved you," I repeat again, "not because of your curves, although they are gorgeous. I love you not because of your sky-blue eyes, so deep that I want to look at them forever. I love you not because of your little nose that you always wrinkle when you're thinking deeply about something. I love you not because you're the smartest girl I've ever met, even though you never brag about it, which is rare. I love you not because your lips are so alluring that I want to kiss them every second of my life."
I take a deep breath. I'm so angry with her that she thinks about me that way, that I could've only wanted her because of how she looks.
But I don't want to fight with her anymore.
"I just love you, Kylie, from the bottom of my heart," I continue after I see the first tear running down her cheek. "I don't know why, and I can do nothing about it, but I love you so much that my future seems miserable when I imagine us apart."
"But before you only tried to kiss me when you were drunk," she says with a trembling voice, and the second tear falls down.
"Because I didn't dare to do it when I was sober." I chuckle.
Kylie's facial expression changes into a surprised one.
"You didn't care if I stayed in Africa, and you..."
"I did fucking care, I just didn't want to show it!" I growl, and she shudders. "Because you were hanging with that guy, and I thought you fell in love with him, and I..."
"There was no boyfriend, you idiot!" she yells, interrupting me, and pushes my chest with her fists.
What did she just say? The guy I've been thinking about for months, the one I hated for stealing my Kylie, doesn't even exist?
"I made him up, okay?" she continues, pressing her palms to my chest. "I just wanted to get revenge on you for sleeping with all those girls while I was in love with you..."
Another tear drops down her face, and she lowers her gaze not to look at me.
Did she just confess to being in love with me through all these years, just like I was?
I guess it's time to finally stop lying to each other.
"I haven't slept with anybody, Kylie." I exhale, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.
She lifts her eyes again, looking at me with disbelief.
"I'm still a virgin, Kylie, just like you are," I continue, wiping away her tears with my thumb. "I went on dates and could've had sex many times, but I never wanted anyone but you."
Our eyes lock, a second ticks by, and suddenly, it's like everything explodes.
I growl as I grab her into my arms, and she moans from pleasure, wrapping her legs around me.