Someone called Soul Mate - 5. Chapter 5

Both the boys lay snuggling inside the sleeping bag. They were still naked, enjoying the feel of each other’s skin. With Kyle’s head on his chest, Riley could feel his lover’s steady breathing tickling him. His hand was busy playing with Kyle’s blonde tousled hair while his head rested over the other.

Riley looked down at him and wondered what Kyle was thinking at that moment. He had been gravely quiet and anxiety burned inside Riley because of it. Taking a risk by breaking the silence, he confessed, “I missed you so much, Kyle.” Anyone and everyone who got to know Riley over the past five years knew about the love of his life. He had moved to LA with the sole intention of getting away from Kyle and building his career along the way.

A loud exhale came from the blonde and he sat up immediately. “Not enough to visit me once or even call me all these years.” He sulked.

Riley sat up too and palmed Kyle’s shoulders. “I ... I don’t know how to explain it to you. But I guess I was too scared to initiate any contact with you. I mean Alice and Graham called me once every month and even your grandmother would call me every now and then. But you never called me and it made me wonder if you even missed me.”

“Shit, really? You really thought I wouldn’t miss you at all?” Kyle frowned at him and turned his body to face him. “After what we had shared, I wouldn’t doubt that we wouldn’t think about each other at least once. I mean come on; you almost decided to move to New York to be closer to me. We had six beautiful months to spend with each other and those memories were so precious to me that I wanted to have more of them. Why do you think I suggested that we move in with each other? Why do you think … God Riley! I broke up with my fiancé on our wedding day because I wanted to be with you.”

Riley thought it would be easier for Kyle if he was by his side when Kyle told Gabe. He was freaked out, feeling major guilt as they went up the hotel elevator holding hands. Kyle was nervously tapping his foot, waiting for the elevator to take them to their destined floor. It was going to be hard for him and Riley knew he had to be there for Kyle.

He gave a slight caress to his hand and offered a reassuring smile. However, when the elevator bell chimed, he was sure that Kyle’s heart was racing just as fast as his own heart was.

“Okay!” Kyle sighed. “Let’s do this.”

They got off the elevator, and taking a moment outside Gabe’s room, Kyle gave a brisk rap on the white door. “Come in,” a muffled voice called from inside.

With a quick helpless glance at Riley, Kyle walked through the door. Riley was the first one to catch Gabe’s baby blue eyes. It was just a brief stare, that lasted not more than a moment, but in that little time, his eyes spoke volumes and Riley suddenly suspected that Gabe knew. The guilt and remorse returned, along with that thought he had been having since that morning.

He was a home-wrecker. That’s what he was.

Gabe quickly shifted his gaze to Kyle and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God you are here!” He held up a violet tie to his wedding suit. “I couldn’t find the black tie I had chosen, so my dad brought me one of his and I don’t know if it is gonna suit me.”

“Gabe,” Kyle stammered. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

Gabe threw the tie away and rushed in front of the mirror. “Not now, Kyle. The wedding starts in less than an hour.” He nervously fidgeted with his shirt collar, then turned around and frowned. “You are not even ready yet. What the hell, Kyle! You have to be on time for our wedding!”

“This is important Gabe.” Riley looked at his lover, speaking with so much hurt on his face. How he wished he could take away all his pain! But he knew better. He knew this wasn’t his fight. This was something that Kyle had to handle alone. “You gotta listen to what I am saying.”

“You can be so stubborn sometimes.” Gabe giggled. “It will be a challenge for me once we get married. I guess I will just have to handle you the way I have been handling you all this time.”

“Look at me, Gabe.” Kyle said, sternly this time. He looked at Riley for a moment and whispered to Gabe. “Look at us.” They were still holding hands, holding onto each other for dear life.

Gabe blinked.

The blonde gave out a frustrated exhale. “I slept with Riley.” He said, a little too loudly. Guilt crept on his face slowly and Kyle rambled, “I was dancing with him last night and we got together and we had sex.” He paused to see if Gabe was going to yell at him but the guy just stared. “I am sorry.”

Riley was waiting with baited breath for something, anything. He was expecting Gabe to go off at him, yelling and punching him. He would have felt better if he had. But Gabe only remained silent. Beside him, Kyle was shifting his weight nervously too, waiting for Gabe to say or do something.

At one point, Kyle opened his mouth to say something but an awful word came out of Gabe’s mouth and Kyle shivered in fear. All Gabe had to say was, “Okay”. Riley thought he had heard something wrong.

Apparently, so did Kyle. “What?”

“Okay.” Gabe shrugged. “You are sorry. You came clean about it. Now kick him out and get ready fucking soon, Kyle. We don’t have time to waste.”

There it was. The cold vibe!

“Gabe,” Kyle snorted, “I just told you I slept with some other guy, who is not you. And you still want to marry me?”

“You are thick today.” Gabe sighed. “Yes, Kyle. I still want to marry you. What? Did you think I didn’t notice you two disappearing from the dance floor last night? I may be blindly in love with you but I am not naïve. I have seen how he looks at you.” Riley didn’t miss the disgust in his tone when he referred to him, even when he was trying hard to tone it down. “You made a mistake and you said you regret sleeping with him. You were honest.”

“No, wait… I said I am sorry because,” Kyle explained carefully, “… I was sorry that I cheated on you. But, Gabe, I don’t regret a single minute that I spent with Riley last night. It wasn’t just sex; we made love.”

“Love?” Gabe sarcastically laughed. “Right! Isn’t that what you’ve been saying to me all these years? That you loved me? That when we made love, it took you to heaven?”

There it was. The rising anger!

Kyle looked scared and letting go of Riley’s hand, he went up to Gabe. “It wasn’t a lie, Gabe!” His voice wavered. “I loved you so much, you were my first and you will always hold a special place in my heart. But … you left me and wouldn’t talk to me for a year. I guess… I just fell out of love.”

“And now what? You are in love with him now? This guy you barely even know?”

“Riley and I … we just connected.” Kyle shrugged.

A tear escaped Gabe’s eyes. “So, basically you brought him here with you to shove it in my face… this connection of yours?” he mocked, waving his hands at both of them.

“You are taking this the wrong way, Gabe…” Riley started, but he was interrupted with a deafening yell from Gabe asking him to shut up. So, he raised his hand, gesturing him to calm down.

“You don’t get to open your mouth here with us, you piece of shit. You did this. We were happy together and you did this.” Gabe shook his finger at Riley and he officially became the home-wrecker.

“Riley didn’t…”

“Kyle! You have said enough.” Gabe shot him an angry glare. “Now the only thing I want to hear from you is that you want to break up with me and that you don’t want me in your life anymore.”

“Gabe it’s not…” He moved his hands up to hold Gabe by his shoulders but Gabe stepped away from his touch.

“Say it!” Gabe hissed.

Kyle visibly swallowed a huge lump in his throat and gave out a sob. “I want to… I want to break up with you, Gabe.” He stammered.

“And?”

“Please Gabe.” Kyle cried, begging him with his eyes not to make him say it.

“Just get it over with Kyle so that you can go fuck around with your new boy-toy. Give me my freedom. I deserve at least that.”

“I … don’t want …” He sobbed, his eyes downcast. “I don’t want you in my life anymore.”

Just for a moment, Riley felt no pity for Gabe. Seeing Kyle crying like a baby in front of him, it made him angrier. Although, he understood Gabe to some extent, he wanted to punch him in the face for causing so much pain to the love of his life.

Kyle broke down after that, kneeling on the floor and Riley crouched behind, to hold him.

“Good! Now get the hell out of here.” Gabe said, mercilessly. “Oh, and I guess you should have the honor of announcing it to the guests that the wedding isn’t happening.”

“Believe me Kyle; you were on my mind all the time. I used to be sick, worried about you. Every time Alice or Graham called, I used to ask how everyone was when I really was asking about you. I hoped you would call me sometime so I would get to hear your voice, just once. But you never called me.” Riley sadly uttered.

That ticked Kyle off. “How can you even expect that? I was grieving, Riley. I had lost Gabe ... I am sorry if I didn’t act thoughtfully because my mind was elsewhere. I was left with our shop to take care of since Gabe went missing. It was our dream shop – Gabe and I had started it together and it kept reminding me of our time together and the memories we shared. I was so damn frustrated – angry that I lost him, angry that you went away, angry that you didn’t call.”

“You sent me away Kyle. I didn’t even want to go. I wanted to be there for you.” Riley snapped getting irritated. This felt like a déjà-vu moment.

“But you went and look at you now; you’re a full-fledged director, while I am still the old, broken Kyle who is so tied up with all my old memories.”

Riley narrowed his blue eyes at him. “What is this all about? Tied-up wi- what do you even mean by that?” He seriously had no clue.

“If you were sleeping through all this that happened between us, let me remind you – we slept with each other right now, Riley. I had sex with you, not even knowing where we are headed, and tomorrow you will be going back to LA; hanging out with big stars and celebrities, while we – well, I guess we go back to ignoring that this ‘we’ thing ever existed between us.” He sardonically snorted. Every word out of his mouth was stinging Riley’s heart.

“Kyle ... you know me, you know how much I love you. How can you think that I’d leave you after what we shared tonight? And you better get this straight; I wasn’t ignoring you. I was just afraid to find out whether I still meant the same to you.”

“Then I suppose you found that out today?” Kyle wanted to know.

Riley smiled and whispered, “Yes; it was in your eyes.” A long silence prevailed between them. Those words did bring a calming effect to Kyle’s anger. In a split second, his red, angry face softened and the only thing he could do was stare at Riley. It encouraged Riley to continue, “When I saw you today, I could see the happiness in your eyes, that excitement of meeting an old friend, the nervousness of saying the right words, the lust you felt when you were checking out my ass...” He chuckled and Kyle looked down to hide the blush forming on his face. But Riley held his chin and made him look up again before he tenderly added, “... and more than that, I saw that love from our past sparkling in your eyes.” Riley slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against Kyle’s. The brown eyes staring at him closed in pleasure, and Kyle kissed him back. This kiss wasn’t anything like the hurried one they shared earlier in the woods. It was more of a tender, light kiss filled with all their love they had for each other.

Kyle looked down breaking the kiss and slowly opened his eyes. “So where do we stand after this?” This time there was no anger, only a hint of anxiety in his eyes.

“We can start where we left off, or start fresh and you can have me fall in love with you all over again.” Riley grinned.

The corner of Kyle’s lips did twitch but he didn’t smile – stubborn ass as Riley knew him to be, really cute but damn stubborn. Kyle looked him over and asked, “And how exactly do you think we can do that? I mean, you have to go to LA and I have to get back to my life in New York. Seems impossible to me.”

“You can come to LA with me.” Riley shrugged saying it casually. But in actuality, his heart was racing at an unusual speed. He wondered what Kyle would say.

Kyle scowled, “I can’t, Riley. I told you my life in New York is busier now. My mom’s hotel business is based in New York, not LA. The shop or my writing career - I can’t abandon any of it.”

“You never wanted these things, Kyle. Running a hotel business is not your dream. You want to be a writer and you can be a successful one living in LA.” Riley tried to make him understand. “And as far as the shop is concerned, I believe Gabe’s dad would be happy to take it.”

“Easy for you to say ... that shop was Gabe’s dream and working there makes me feel closer to him.”

“Of course, but he would never want you to give up your dreams to fulfill his, would he?” Riley persisted.

“I don’t know.” Kyle looked down at his hands.

Riley moved closer and hesitantly put his arm around him. “You already gave a meaning to his dreams, Kyle. And wherever he is right now, he will feel proud of what you have done to make his dreams come true. But your work is done; you have to let it go. You have to let go of the shop, and you have to let go of the pain his memories bring you.”

Kyle shrugged off Riley’s hands from his body and looked at him with disappointment. “You will never understand what his memories mean to me because you couldn’t stand him.”

Riley exhaled. “Yes, I didn’t like him because he almost took you away from me.”

“He didn’t do anything Riley.” Kyle yelled. “When will you understand? We fell apart because you pushed me away; you didn’t believe me when I assured you that it wasn’t your fault that he and I broke up. You never respected my decision. You would just dismiss my touch when I wanted to hold your hand.”

“I-I wasn’t in my right mind. You should understand what was going on in my head.”

“And what about me? Do you think it was easy for me?” The agony of remembering all of this was hurting Kyle too much to hold back the tear that left his eye when he said, “I wanted you to be there for me. You were the only person who I wanted to be close to at that time.” He paused and pursed his lips trying to control his emotions. “But you just broke up with me and left for LA.”

“You said you wanted more from me. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I could be any help to you at that time.”

“Who the hell gave you the right to think that you could help me or not? I was capable of deciding it myself.” Kyle’s voice rose in anger. “But no, you made that decision yourself and left me alone.”

The rumbling of rain clouds could be heard outside and the disturbed climate seemed to match the tension rising between them. Riley didn’t know what else to say. Actually, he knew what to say. He wanted to apologize, to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. Kyle was right; he did cause excessive pain to the only man he loved the most in his life.

After the big break-up on Kyle and Gabe’s wedding day, Riley couldn’t help but blame himself for all of it. It was too much to bear. Kyle had cried for weeks after that, especially after Gabe’s dad had told him that Gabe had gone missing. Nobody knew where the boy had gone and it troubled not only Kyle but Riley too.

With some hesitation, about a month later, they did start dating. Every once in a while, Kyle would bring up the subject of Gabe and how his dad hadn’t heard anything from the cops. A month later, Gabe’s dad calls him up to tell him that Gabe was admitted to a mental health facility. Kyle’s sorrow would kill Riley inside and there would always be an empty spot in their relationship because of it. And then one day, exactly six months later, Kyle got a phone call from the facility informing him of Gabe’s condition, and that had turned their worlds upside down.

Some commotion outside was heard, but the two were so occupied with their own thoughts that they didn’t pay attention to it. Suddenly, Riley heard a familiar voice calling his name and they both broke eye contact. He quickly put on his still sodden clothes, passing the other pair to Kyle and yelled for the person outside to hold on. Once they were dressed and decent, he unzipped the opening of his tent and saw his fellow crewmate standing outside with an umbrella. Others were there too, pulling down their tents hurriedly and moving all their belongings away. The rainfall was still at its peak.

“What’s wrong, Brandon?” Riley asked letting him in. The short, red-haired man entered and the tent seemed crowded all of a sudden. Kyle moved, making some room for Brandon to sit.

“Pack up all your stuff, we are moving.” Brandon said, his face showing the panic he was experiencing.

Kyle exchanged a worried look with Riley. The brunette looked at him and then faced Brandon again. “Why? We still have a couple of hours left.”

“No, this place is being cleared. River Caddo is flooding like shit and the area is beginning to get water-logged. All the campers are being evacuated to some dry land. We have to move too.” Brandon told them.

“Wait, my family is camping by the river.” Kyle freaked out. “Shit, I must go warn them and get them out of there too.”

“You can’t go there. The water has risen way above the lower ground. It is not safe to go back there,” the man warned him.

Kyle was too worried to think straight though. “But I can’t just sit here when my family needs my help.” He was feeling helpless. Then, remembering about Chris and the girls, he asked, “What about the guy and the girls who came in with me? They were still partying down there with you, right?”

“They were gone pretty quickly. I guess they thought you went back to your camper, so they left too.”

“Fuck! I feel so stupid for leaving them like that.” Kyle began to get up telling Riley, “I’m going to go and see if they are all okay.”

Riley called behind him but Kyle was already out of the tent and starting to leave. The brunette followed him out, and took his hand, stopping him. “Kyle, wait. You heard Brandon; it is dangerous. I can’t let you go down there.” Their bodies which had dried out by then, were now wet again as they stood unprotected from the heavy rain.

All around the area, his crew members were fearful and were frantically making preparations to get out of there. He heard the boys yelling at each other and the sounds of tents being broken down.

“And I can’t leave my family just like that Riley. What if they are stuck down there and couldn’t get out?” Kyle was yelling, and the heavy gusts of winds were making it hard for Riley to hear him. Kyle gasped in fear of losing his family. “Fuck! It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come up here in the first place.”

“Don’t say that, Kyle. I’m glad you are here now. At least I know you’re safe.” Riley hugged him protectively. “And as far as your family is concerned, I am sure they are safe too. Didn’t you hear? Everyone is being taken to some safer place, I’m sure they already left.”

Kyle glanced up at Riley with a hopeful look and relief showed on his face. “Yes... oh God yes, they could be safe. They have to be safe.”

“I am sure they are.” Riley smiled sadly.

“You’re right. They must be on their way, but I still have to go and see them,” Kyle said, thinking about it and nodding to himself. “Yes, I have to go. They must be worried about me too; I should go,” he repeated.

He began to turn but Riley stopped him again, “Don’t be silly, Kyle. We have to get out of the danger, not into it.”

“Riley, my parents, my brother, sisters and Jess are down there. They need me and I am going.” Kyle stubbornly said.

“Aargh Kyle! Can you stop being so adamant at a time like this?” Kyle’s face didn’t lose his determined look. Finally, Riley exhaled in defeat. “Fine! But you are not going. I will go and find them for you. You are gonna go with my crew members and let them take you to a safe place. I will find Alice and Graham and the others and meet you up there, okay?”

Kyle shook his head vigorously, “I can’t let you do that.”

“And I can’t let you do it either.”

Kyle cupped his cheek and said calmly, “Riley ... Riley, please listen to me. It is better if I go and look for them. If you go, I will be worried about you too and I can’t live with that.”

Riley stared at him for a moment and then uttered, “Then there’s just one thing we can do ... we both go.” Kyle began to say ‘no’ but Riley interrupted him and continued, “Your family is as important to me as you are, Kyle. So please let me do this with you, okay? We can face whatever comes our way together. Agreed?”

Kyle looked at him not knowing what to do. Riley could tell he was battling with his conscience, but in the end, although reluctantly, he saw the blond head nodding in agreement.

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As they walked down the path that led them closer to the river, they got deeper and deeper into the logged water. They were now by the area named ‘Area B’ which was quite higher, and away from the river. Still, it was filled with knee-deep water. Kyle and Riley both struggled to keep going against the flow of water, using their hands firmly to hold onto each other.

The whole unit from Riley’s crew had left for the safe house that was arranged for the campers. He had asked Brandon to take his things while he decided to go with Kyle. The kind man had tried to talk them out of it, but it was in vain.

On their way down, they saw many campers hurriedly moving to save their lives. Their faces showed horror and worry for their families and friends who were with them. It broke Riley’s heart. The calamity had brought dire consequences to everyone’s lives. He saw Kyle and he could see the same worry surfacing on his normally pretty face.

Riley bit the inside of his cheek and gathering some courage and he blurted, “I’m sorry.”

The blonde, bewildered, looked at him. “What?” Kyle asked.

“I said I’m sorry.” He repeated and looked down feeling each of his steps as he walked. He feared he would trip on something or slip. He didn’t want that to happen. Kyle relied on him.

“For what?” Kyle asked, looking ahead.

Riley scrutinized Kyle as he walked a bit behind him. He wondered if Kyle really didn’t know what he was talking about. “For everything... I shouldn’t have left you in the first place ... but I did. And I am sorry for that.”

Kyle was quiet for some time and then he laughed sardonically, “It still doesn’t help to alleviate the pain you inflicted on me.”

The brunette stopped walking and held Kyle from going further. He didn’t turn back nor did he say a thing. “I know, and I don’t expect you to forget it that easily. But I hope that you can forgive me,” he said quietly and sighed. “Kyle, look at me please.” He begged and gave a pull to their held hands. Kyle’s shoulders rose and fell and Riley watched him turn around at a snail’s pace. When he had eye contact he continued, “When I went to LA, I had that film to co-produce and I knew my career life was starting. Things kept getting better and better and I ended up signing a contract for directing my first film too. But every second as I lived this success, I always regretted one thing; and that was you not being in my life.” Kyle’s eyes showed the love sparkle in them once again and it melted Riley’s heart. “Of course I dreamt to be a successful director for as long as I can remember, but that one day you walked into my life … or well, drove your car over it…” They shared a brief laugh. “My dream had changed that day. I began to dream of my success with you beside me.” His tender look changed to a serious one in a second. “But I had lost you; making mistake after mistake and believe me, losing you like that was the only regret I carried for the past five years.”

“Regrets aren’t good.” Kyle whispered and moved closer. Riley felt the giddiness as Kyle’s face neared and he closed his eyes feeling Kyle’s breath.

However, just as they were about to kiss, they heard an agonizing scream coming from behind them. They both jumped at that, and Riley turned around to look. An older man came floating by rapidly with the flow of water. The water had risen above their thighs now; almost to their waist. It was deep. The man was trying to swim but he wasn’t able to. He was yelling for help as he kept being swept under the water and then coming back up again.

As he was floating by the force of water, he happened to pass by Riley’s side. The brunette quickly went to his rescue. “Riley, no!” Kyle yelled in shock.

The man was still quite far from where they stood, however Riley managed to get a hold of the man’s hand. But in the process, he lost his balance and at that moment he would have been swept away by the current along with the man, had Kyle not grabbed him in time. “Riley!” Kyle yelled for his attention, “Let him go or you will be float away too. The force of water is getting stronger.”

“He is gone, Kyle. Let them take him.” Riley had cried, holding Kyle in his arms.

“We can’t leave him, Kyle. He is going to die.” Riley looked horrified, the past memories resurfacing in front of his eyes.

Kyle wouldn’t let go of him. “No it can’t be… he can’t be…”

Kyle’s face showed sorrow and he said regretfully, “It’s too late; we can’t do anything. Let him go Riley.”

The brunette turned to look at the man. He had stopped screaming and struggling too. His eyes were shut tight and his face pale. Shocked, Riley let go of his hand looking wide-eyed at the motionless body that was floating above the water. The body disappeared with the current right in front of them. Kyle stepped closer to Riley and hugged him sideways while all Riley could do was stare in the direction the body had drifted. He was transported back to the time they had last seen Gabe – lying lifelessly on the stretcher as the hospital staff rolled him off to have his corpse transported to the cremation grounds.

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