Page 111 of Catching Kyle

I open the sliding glass door. “Kyle?” I call out. Nothing.

I get uneasy. I pull out my phone and try to call him. It rings until it goes to voicemail. Maybe he’s up at his mom’s helping her with something. That would make sense.

I slip through the cabin and make my way up the hill toward his mom’s house. I glance back at the lake and see all the lanterns floating peacefully about.

When I lit our lantern, I wished for a peaceful love with Kyle Weaver. Before I came on the trip, I thought that these would be our last days. But after thiswonderful time, I don’t see how our relationship could end. I’m hoping that wherever the wind takes the wish, it’s fulfilled.

I reach the back door, and it’s already cracked open. And that’s when I get an uneasy feeling. I slip inside, and before I can even shut the door, I hear the front door slam.

“Honey,” someone says. It’s Linda, Kyle’s mom.

“This isn’t good, ma,” he says, his voice shaky. He’s crying. I would show myself, but this seems like a private moment, one I would disrupt if I made myself known. Yet I can’t just leave. I have to hear this. So I stay in the kitchen and eavesdrop.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Timmy’s what’s wrong.”

“Your agent?”

“He knows everything, ma. About me and Michael.”

My stomach turns over itself, and I have to brace myself against the counter.

“What do you mean he knows?”

“The NFO doesn’t like queers,” he says. “It’s not like Michael and I were public. But he found us out. And now…”

Now what?I want to yell. Water drips onto my shoe, and that’s when I realize I’m crying.

“How did this happen?” Linda asks.

Kyle sniffles. “He found my fake girlfriend on a date with someone else—a woman—and that’s when he pieced it together. He got more intel from that reporter Ricardo about her and Michael’s history as a pornstar, and then it was obvious.”

My shock turns into rage as I grip the counter until my knuckles turn white. Amani said she would be faithful to Michael to not arouse suspicion. Did she just jeopardize this whole thing?

“Oh, baby,” she says. There’s silence, and I assume they’re hugging.

“And now,” Kyles says, and I can hear him suck on his lips to stop a sob. “We have to break up.”

My chest caves in on itself, and my face gets white hot.

“If I’m to stay on the team, then I gotta find a woman. And I gotta win a Championship Game. So Timmy’s gonna find me a real girlfriend this time.”

My knees weak, I slump against the counter and let myself slide to the floor. Miss Beautiful finds me and starts rubbing against me, purring. She might be the only thing keeping me from losing it entirely.

“But honey,” she says. “He’s your boyfriend. You love him. Are you really willing to give him up just to finish out this season?”

Yeah, I say to myself, clenching my fists so hard they tingle.Are you really willing to give me up?

“You don’t understand,” he says. “When Timmy was talking to me, I swear it was like I was ten years younger, talking to Dad again. I swear I could hear his voice, and I remembered him saying what it means to be true to myself. What it means to have integrity.”

“You think integrity is going back in the closet?” Linda asks.

“It’s not living two lives, that’s for sure,” Kyle says. “I can’t keep dating Michael if I want to live an honest life.”

“Honest to who, though, Kyle?” Linda asks. “Because you’re not being honest to yourself if you deny who you truly are.”

Kyle groans. “You don’t get it!” he shouts. “Michael is an amazing guy. You think so. Jimmy thinks so. But it just can’t work between us. And he deserves someone who can make it work.”