Shaking my head, I opened my bedroom door and walked inside. It didn’t matter if she would have developed an interest in me or not. That wasn’t what was happening here. Denny wasn’t leaving her, he was just going away for a couple of months. No big deal. They were fine, absolutely fine, and for some weird reason, that thought made me a little sad.
Denny and Kiera were attached at the hip while they counted down the minutes until he left, but I managed to get Denny alone. “Hey, can I talk to you?”
“Of course. What is it?”
I had no idea how to say what I wanted to say without sounding rude…so I just said it. “I saw how upset Kiera was when you told her you were leaving. Are you sure about this?”
Denny frowned, like he thought I’d overstepped my bounds. Maybe I had. “It’s just a few months.” His expression shifted to excitement. “You don’t understand what this could mean for me, Kellan. This could be the beginning of something great.”
I held my tongue, but all I could think was It could also be the end of something even better.
On the day Denny had to leave, I offered to drive him to the airport, since I didn’t know what else I could do. Kiera’s eyes were only on Denny as we made our way to Sea-Tac. Denny’s eyes, however, were locked on me the entire drive there.
Inside the airport, I gave my two friends some space to say their goodbyes. It was an emotional moment, and I found it hard to watch Kiera’s obvious struggle. Her devotion…I’d never seen anyone care that much. Certainly no one had ever cared that much about me.
They broke apart after a passionate kiss. Denny said something that had to be goodbye, kissed her cheek, and then made his way over to me. He smiled as I said goodbye, then he glanced back at Kiera. When he returned his attention to me, his face was completely different. Hard, almost. Leaning in, he whispered, “I need your word that you won’t touch her while I’m gone. That you’ll look out for her, but you’ll stay as far away as possible. You understand what I’m saying?” He pulled back, his expression deadly serious.
Shocked, I flicked a quick glance at Kiera watching us. Was he seriously warning me not to sleep with his girlfriend? Did he really think I would? Yes, I liked Kiera…I cared about her a lot, actually…but she was his, and I respected that. I respected him. I would never…
Denny stuck his hand out. I nodded once, dumbfounded, then reached out and clenched his hand. Somehow shaking hands felt more like we were making a pact than saying our goodbyes. “I won’t…I would never do anything to hurt you like that, Denny.”
Denny gave me a brief smile in response to my oath, then turned and blew Kiera a kiss before he headed to security. It took me a minute to process everything that had just happened. I always thought Denny saw the best in me…but he must not trust me as much as I thought if he believed I’d do something like that while he was gone. Even Evan thought he had to warn me…Was that the person people saw when they looked at me? Was that who I was?
Kiera was staring at the space Denny had just left, and tears were starting to form in her eyes. I figured she was about fifteen seconds away from a meltdown, and I also figured she didn’t want to do that in the middle of the airport, so I quickly ushered her back to the car.
She held it together until we hit the freeway, then she completely fell apart. I’d never seen someone so torn before, like her soul had been shredded into pieces. Her pain made me ache, and I found it really hard to understand why Denny would put her through this. I wanted to fix her, wanted to take away all of her pain, wanted to protect her from ever feeling that way again. I realized I couldn’t do any of those things though, so I simply drove her home, set her up on the couch with some water and a box of tissues, and sat in the chair beside her to keep her company.
Hoping it would take her mind off things, I found something funny on the TV for us to watch. It seemed to work. After a few chuckles, her complexion was brighter and she wasn’t going through nearly as many tissues. I watched Kiera more than the movie. Her eyes were greener in her pain, and she chewed on her lip while she watched the ridiculous movie. I suddenly wished I could sit beside her on the couch, maybe wrap an arm around her, give her my shoulder to cry on, but I’d promised Denny I’d keep my distance.
Eventually her tears dried up. I could see the exhaustion on her face when she lay down on the couch, and it didn’t surprise me at all when she fell asleep before the movie was over. She probably hadn’t slept at all last night. I found a light blanket and laid it over her curled body. She stirred a little and smiled, like she knew I’d done that for her.