Page 119 of Catching Kyle

“Here,” she says. She pulls out her phone, scrolls for a bit, then hands it to me. She has an article from ESB pulled up. The title reads ‘Kyle Weaver Comes Clean about What Happened with Ex’.

I look up at her, deadpan. “Really?”

“Really,” she says, invoking our true word. “That’s the freaking ESB right there. Just skim it.”

I do so begrudgingly, but I find myself surprised by the end. Robyn, the same woman that first leaked that Kyle and Amani were dating, quotes Kyle in saying that Amani did not cheat on him and rather that the relationship ended on mutually respectful terms. He ends the article by saying that any disrespect or slander toward Amani will not be tolerated.

“Is this really true?” I ask.

“Really,” she says, and my chest warms. It’s so nice to hear her say that again.

“And it’s not just that,” she continues. “Kyle personally took me out to dinner to apologize.

Butterflies take flight in my stomach. “You saw him?”

She nods. “He took me to this fancy place and apologized to me in person. He asked if there were any personal ramifications from the lies that were spread about me ‘cheating on him’. I told him the fallout wasn’t as bad as it could have been, especially if I was famous, and that I was fine. He asked me about my writing, how work was going.”

I exhale through my nose. “He really said all that?”

She nods. “And it really seemed genuine.”

Our food arrives, and we both eat in silence for a bit, which gives me time to process what I’ve just heard.

Kyle came to Amani and apologized for what he’s done. Does that mean I should be expecting to hear from him?

Amani takes a sip of her water. “He also asked about you,” she says. “Because he wants to see you.”

I nearly spit out the water I’m drinking. “Yeah, right,” I say. I put on this indifferent façade, but there’s a tingling feeling in my chest now. Part of me wanted to know that Kyle wanted to see me. And I’m relieved that he does.

When Amani doesn’t respond, I take the bait.

“What did he say about me?”

“I really don’t want to act as the messenger between you two,” she says. “I mean, look where that got us.”

I chuckle. “Yeah.”

“But he said he hasn’t been able to reach you.”

“Yeah,” I say, fiddling with some sushi with my chopsticks. “I blocked him after I never heard back.”

“I get it,” she says. “I’ll share what he said now and leave the rest up to you.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Kyle wants to talk. In person. To explain himself. To apologize.”

I roll my eyes. “Explain what? That I deserved to be ghosted?”

Amani shakes her head. “Like I said, I’m not getting involved more than I am. That’s what he said, you can take it or leave it.”

I lean back and fold my arms, biting down on my lip. Part of me really wants to see Kyle again, but where would it go? So much of our back in forth has involved him acting out because he’s too afraid of being gay, crawling back to me, us working for a while, and then him acting out again. It’s a pattern, and I’m tired of it. We’ve talked enough. He needs to change his actions.

“Shit, I forgot,” she says.

I groan. “There’s more?”

“Last thing, I promise,” she says. “He got us suite tickets to the playoffs in Seattle. Paid for plane tickets and lodging for us as well.”