Runner-Up - 9. Chapter 9

The first Sunday since the accident was hard. Emotions that Kyle thought had been able to push aside came back all throughout the day.

Kyle’s parents had strongly suggested that he’d come home for the day, so that he wouldn’t be alone. However, he ended up deciding to go against their advice and staying in his condo by himself, turning his cell on vibration and keeping it as far away from him as he could. He made a promise to himself that he would disconnect himself from anyone he knew for the day.

Having studied for his coming midterms and done all of his homework the day before allowed him to be able to procrastinate and do nothing substantial of the day. He spent the day listening to music, alternating from the sulky ballad to the more upbeat rock song, and watching concerts on DVD.

When the time came to prepare dinner, Kyle went and took a look inside the Fridge. He had some choice, pork chop or he still had some spaghetti sauce, however, he realized that he simply didn’t feel like cooking that night. He instead went to find his cell, he had left in the office with the intention of ordering in.

As he opened his iPhone, he got the notification of a miss call from his parents, and notification of texts from David and, to his surprise, from Jennifer. Being hungry, he ignored his notification and called the pizza place right away.

Once he knew that the food was on the way, Kyle decided to look at his text.

Jennifer was simple and didn’t require any answer back. It was just to wish him well and reminded him that if he wanted, he was always welcome at the store. That alone made him smile and warm inside. He took a mental note that he should go and see her at some point.

He then proceed to open David’s text.

‘Hope you had a good weekend! Feeling alright?’

Kyle looked at the timestamp to notice that his friend had sent it less than an hour ago.

Even if he had made a promise to himself, Kyle decided to answer him. After he had also made a promise to his friend that he wouldn’t push him out again.

‘Was alright, kept myself busy. Wouldn’t mind having an extra day off or two’

Kyle didn't get an answer until after the pizza had arrived and was watching one of the newer James Bond movie that he had started.

'You only have one class tomorrow, I've got 3!'

He thought about what to answer a few minutes before writing back.

'I still got to work tomorrow, so we can call it even.'

When the movie ended, Kyle went and took a long warm shower, then slowly got ready to go to bed. Barely after nine, it was early for him, even for a work night. However, he had nothing else to do instead and it was too late for him to start watching anything else.

By the time Kyle was in bed, he still hadn't received any reply from his friend. It didn't really surprise him as his last text didn't call for a direct answer. Kyle still wondered if he should text him goodnight or not. He chose not to, even if the goodnight he would have gotten back would have made him happy. He was no longer in a conversation, therefore he thought it would be weird to just wish a goodnight, out of the blue, even more so as David certainly wouldn't be going to bed anytime soon.

Nothing worth of mentioning happened the next day until after Kyle was done with work. It was just as busy as any other Mondays, at least until after his lunch break.

After work, as he walked to the university, he decided to get some update from his friend.

‘Hey! How’s your day going?’

Arrived on campus, Kyle took the latest issue of the student newspaper, ‘The Link’.

As he was about to sit in his class, his cell beeped, telling him he had received a message.

‘Good enough. I’ll need some coffee before my next class or I might fall asleep. How about you?’

It made him smile, Kyle always pictured David as the model student, always in class, front row and all. He just couldn’t picture his friend coming close to falling asleep in class.

‘Yeah, you wouldn’t want that. My class is about to start in a few minutes. It should be alright.’

Kyle took the fifteen minutes he had before his class started to read the paper.

The class itself went faster then what he had expected as the subject that was covered was interesting for Kyle. The teacher was talking about the effect on the taxation on the consumers and how it affects the economy. As opposition, as he was looking around, about half of the class was bored out of their mind, barely following the explanation. Towards the end of the class, Kyle’s head however started drift away and started to think about David.

Kyle was remembering about the last weekend, specifically how happy he had felt spending the afternoon with David. Just thinking about it was enough to make him smile a little.

He then thought that he should already try to book some of his time before he agrees on other plans. Although what should they do, Kyle didn't simply want to have him come back home, eat in, watch a movie and sleep, like they had done the last few times. Then it came to him.

When his econ teacher let him, and the rest of the class, go free, Kyle had his plan all mapped out. But first, he had to make sure that David would be available on Friday.

'Do you have any plans for Friday night?'

If there was some times when Kyle was hoping for a quick response, this was one of them.

Thankfully, he received his answer before he reached the side door of the building.

'Yeah, there's an event organized by the McGill queer club that I'm going with friends.'

It wasn't the answer that Kyle was looking for. Friday was perfect for him, as he wasn't working in the morning, he would only have had to make a deal with one of his co-worker to switch shift on Saturday. Given that the girl owed him one, that would have been a done deal. There was still another option.

'Okay, how about Saturday night then?'

Since the answer didn't come right away, Kyle went outside and walked to the closest metro station, Guy-Concordia.

By the time he was about to enter the station, and lose his cellular signal, Kyle looked on his phone to see if he had received an answer yet. He noticed that he indeed didn't hear the text notification while he was walking outside.

'I can't either, we have a little get together for Lucas' birthday.'

It was starting to bug Kyle a little as he really wanted to know when he'd be able to organize something with his friend. He decided to take a more direct approach this time around

'Do you think you'll have some time this weekend to see me then?'

After sending the text, Kyle went inside the station just in time for him to catch the train that was coming in.

When Kyle got off the train at Berri-UQAM to change line, Kyle was able to reconnect to the cell network and received the reply.

'I don't think I will. Looks like I'll have lots of school work to do and midterms to study for. Following weekend?'

Kyle wasn't exactly pleased by the answers he was getting. However, it's not like he really had any other choice. He didn't expect David to change everything for him either. He would certainly be happy if his friend were to tell him that his plans had changed and that he'd be able to go out with him. In the meantime, he had to go with what was available to him.

'Reserve your Friday night next week then.'

It might not have been his first choice, but having to wait an extra week had the added bonus that he didn’t have to work around his work schedule. Kyle still promised himself that, even if it’s not for a big night out like he wanted, he would still try to see David before then. Kyle bet that there was no way that he wouldn’t be able to steal a thirty minutes, time for a coffee, or something, before then.

The days went by and all looked the same. Kyle would wake up in the morning, relax a little at home before leaving for his class or classes, he’d get back home where he would do his readings, homework and work on his papers. Once that done, it was normally time for dinner and relax in front of the TV.

The weekend was also pretty much uneventful. The Saturday, after work, he went shopping at the St-Bruno promenades, one of the biggest mall on the south shore, with his parents.

They had been asking to see him for a while, and it's not like Kyle had anything better to do. He managed to get some clothes, paid by his parents, out of the shopping trip and finished off with some homemade food.

Kyle spent the Sunday afternoon, and a better part of the night, doing school work and studying for an exam he had later in the week.

Kyle and David continued exchanging texts every day, but, as David had expected, they didn't have time even for an impromptu meeting. Sure, Kyle would have loved to have a big hug from David, but he has been so occupied himself that he didn't really see the time go by.

Hugs and cuddles, those are couple of the many things that Kyle missed the most about being alone. In general, Kyle was adapting better and better to the fact that his boyfriend had died.

'What time will you be able to meet me?'

It was finally Friday, on his way to the food court on his lunch break, Kyle decided to confirm for tonight.

'Depends, where are we meeting?'

'Up to you, if you want, I can come and get you at your dorm, then we'll head out, or you could meet me at my place.'

This time around, the reply didn't come right away. Kyle had time to arrive at the food court as usual to get David's answer.

'I'll meet you at your place. What time? 5:30? 6?'

Kyle heard the notification as he was standing in line at the pizza place and took a quick look.

He however waited until he was seated and ready to eat before answering.

'Any time before 6, that way we'll have time to eat before leaving.'

David immediately sent his reply.

'Where are we going?'

'I'm bringing you to the movies.'

Kyle waited until he was on his way back to answer as he was debating if he should keep his plan a surprise or not.

'Like a date?'

Was it a date? Kyle never really thought about that. For sure, from the moment he first met David until that day, Kyle have become found of him. For sure, the interactions he have with David had become, even more, an integral part of his life. He certainly knew he had feelings for David. Was it a date? He didn't even know if he was ready to date yet. It was a little too soon, no? Kyle decided that there was no point for him to try and define his relationship status.

'Well, I'm taking you out tonight, you can call it whatever you want. ;)'

Kyle finally gave a non-committing answer to David's question before going back to his desk for the final stretch. He was getting nervous and his expectation was getting high for the night. He had been mentally preparing the outing for over than a week now.

As Kyle arrived back home, he realized that he still had lots to do before the arrival of his visit.

Living alone mean that there was less things laying around to pick up. However, it also meant that he was the only one to do the cleaning when it needed to be done.

Kyle started with what he knew would take the longest. The first thing he did was to go in the kitchen and to start his spaghetti sauce. Once the sauce only needed to simmer, Kyle was ready for the next task.

He went to his bedroom, put away the few clothing items laying on the ground, and changed the bed sheets. After his bedroom had been tidied up, Kyle rapidly tackled the rest of the condo.

When everything was done, Kyle had time to watch the news on TV before preparing a casserole of lasagna. He timed himself perfectly, as soon as he added the final layer of cheese, Kyle received a text message from David.

‘I’m at Berri, I should be there in 15 minutes.’

Kyle set the oven to preheat then decided to go and great David at the metro. He slowly grabbed his coat and made his way outside.

From his calculation, Kyle arrived in the atrium of the metro station a few minutes in advance. He sat down on the benched so he could have a good view on the stairs from which David would be coming up and waited.

Sure enough, after not too long, a crowd of people came rushing up, hurrying to try to catch their connecting bus. After the first wave had passed, Kyle saw him, coming up the stairs and going for the main entrance. Kyle got up, snuck up on David from behind and enlaced him.

"David!"

David jumped from being snuck up on and stopped on his track in front of the doors.

"You didn't have to come down here."

"How could I not resist."

Seeing that they were in the way, they decided to make their way to Kyle's condo.

"So, how was your day?"

Kyle asked as they were waiting to cross the street.

"Unfortunately, it was long. I had a quiz this morning, which I don't think I did very good. Both of my classes ran a little over the two hours mark, then I went to the gym and I've been tired since."

By the time David had finished talking about his day, they had arrived in the condo building.

"Aww, I'm sure you didn't do as bad as you think on your quiz... And I'll make sure to have you rest enough."

They rode the elevator in silence until they were about to get out.

"It makes me think. Tomorrow, I'll need to leave by ten, ten-thirty max."

Kyle understood why David was telling it and to some extent was graceful that he did as Kyle knew what to expect. However, at the same time, it made him feel as if David was there until he had to go for something better.

"Then we'll make sure that you'll leave by then."

As they were arriving at Kyle's place, it hits David that they haven't seen each other in a while.

"Is it me or has it been a while?"

"Well, last weekend you were too busy, so two weeks."

Kyle immediately realized that it could have sounded spiteful, so he clarified himself.

"I mean we were so busy with the university that we couldn't spare some time to actually meet."

"Ya! Oh, well!"

Kyle went to the kitchen, confirmed that the oven was ready before placing the plate of lasagna in the oven.

"What will it be for dinner?"

David had followed him in the kitchen.

"Oh, I've made some lasagna. It should be ready in about forty minutes."

They made small talk about everything and nothing until dinner was ready and served.

They rapidly agreed on a show to watch and installed themselves to eat in front of the TV.

"It's actually very good." David commented after his first bite.

"After all this time, were you really still doubting my culinary talent?"

Kyle pretended that he was hurt.

"Of course not, just confirming it.”

By the time they had finished dinner, it was time for the two of them to head out.

“Where are we going?”

“To a Cineplex not too far from here.”

David didn’t argue and followed him to the garage.