Chapter 177

KYLE'S POV

I had been a bit skeptical about my suggestion to leave school at first,but an hour after we did, that feeling entirely vanished and I was glad that we had left. There really hadn't been anything going on anyways. Austin had asked me where I wanted to go and I realized I was entirely clueless. When it came to knowledge on cool spots to hangout, I was the last person you'd want to go to. The only three places I could think of were the mall, which was overrated, Frosty's, but we had been there too many times already, and that cafe at the library with the legendary cheesecake. Austin had refused the last one because apparently, he'd been around books way too much and he didn't see the need to make himself suffer much longer than necessary. So I left it to him to come up with ideas, and you'd think he had been planning it out in his head because he had so many suggestions I was genuinely shocked. 

" We could go that place next to the park, they have really cool games, like paintball and stuff like that. Or maybe K Land, they even have a Zipline there. But if you just wanna relax and chill, we could either go to Misty or go watch a movie. And if you don't wanna do any of that, there's always the planetarium, though it's a bit further away, but we have my bike so it's cool. "

That had been the first time I even heard about most of those places. Like Misty and K Land. Just what and where were they? He and I almost always hang out together, so I was confused about when he'd visited all those places. But perhaps he was just very good at research. And he did hang around the likes of Miles. And they were definitely the kind of people who liked to visit cool places for the sake of their Instagram stories. 

" Where do you wanna go? We have a lot of time so we could even visit three of the places you prefer, "

" You sound like a professional tour guide right now. "

He smiled, seeming proud of himself. 

" I actually had plans of taking you to all those spots over the break. We rarely spend any time together. "

" Psycho, we're always together. "

" Not as much as I'd like though. Anyways, I say we start with that paintball place, I can't remember what it's called but the reviews I read were all great. We'll decide on where to go next later on. "

" You even read the reviews? Such commitment!"

" Tell me about it, I feel like I should get an award for best boyfriend of the year or something. "

" I was actually finding your effort charming but you just ruined it. "

Laughing, he gave me his helmet and we rode off. The place was called Clarion as we later figured out. And it made me realize how fun life could be if you weren't constantly worrying about things and just let yourself have fun. I think Austin had been dreaming of playing paintball because that was the first things he suggested we get out. But there weren't enough people to form full teams so we had to wait for others to show up, and in the meantime, we went and rode some quad bikes...that didn't end well though. Austin rode it the same way he'd ride his bike, like he had countless lives and wasn't afraid of crashing. The instructor kept asking him to take it easy but he wouldn't listen. I even stopped my own in an attempt to shout some sense into him, but he just laughed and rode on, it was a large field without any actual obstructions, yet somehow he ended up crashing into the only thing that was there, a small misplaced trampoline. And he had to pay for tampering with the property. I fisted my hand in his hair afterwards and pulled him away, making sure he could feel a nice amount of pain because he deserved it. 

" What the hell was that?!"

" I was just messing around, "

" What if you got seriously hurt? You know they could throw us out for something like that, right? Or maybe even sue you!"

" But they didn't so just relax. "

" Pull one more stunt and I'm leaving you here!"

I wouldn't have actually done that. I had come to finally accept that it was either I get used to his crazy behavior or repeatedly get shocked by his unpredictability. And evening I got mad and warned him against doing something, he was just going to end up doing something else which was just as bad or probably even worse. And if I was being completely honest, I had always been secretly enthralled by his recklessness. As kids I used to find him super cool. He'd get on my nerves sometimes and make me want to scream but there was something about his ability to just ignore the rules that made him more appealing.

We were finally called back to play paintball. So far it was the most fun activity I had participated in for a really long while. We happened to be on different teams, he had asked the instructor to put us in the same one but I'd just said to let it be. Otherwise he would have turned the entire game into a mission to make sure I never got shot. And I knew this because while playing he had the perfect opportunity to shoot me but he refused to do so and let me go, but when I got the chance, I immediately shot him and got him eliminated. 

" You backstabbing traitor!" He shouted on realizing it had been me, a horrified look on his face. He looked so cutely surprised that I couldn't help but laugh, then I asked him to go and sit down somewhere and wait for me to win. 

" And you shot me right on my heart as well! " He complained with a hand on his right side of his chest,still looking like he was in shock. 

" Your heart's on the other side silly, there's a textbook in my backpack, you should go through it as you wait. "

" I don't think I can proceed with this relationship!" He joked, but I ignored him because I was busy trying to not get shot and he was making it hard for me to concentrate. He reluctantly left, and I could see him silently brooding on the sidelines. The sight made me silently laugh to myself, perhaps because he was always so extra with his emotions, and lately he had been either angry or just there, this was different and I liked it. 

He literally celebrated when I was disqualified as well. Punching his fists in the air as he laughed uncontrollably. 

" As Shakespeare once said, "there shall be no success for the evil!" 

I frowned and studied his expression, then I just shook my head and sighed. 

" Which Shakespeare exactly, coz the one I know never said such a thing. "

" Oh, then it must have been God. Or someone else from the Bible, like that prophet guy that was thrown into a den of lions by his jealous brothers because he was super wise. "

Sometimes I wasn't even sure whether he was joking or being serious. And if he was joking then he was super talented because he managed to say all that with a straight face. And I told him that even though I wasn't really an expert on spiritual matters, I was sure that his knowledge was extremely tangled up and confused. He just casually shrugged it off and suggested we try out a smoothie and snacks spot he had seen by the entrance of the place. 

" I'd hold your hand but since you literally just tried to kill me, I'll withhold for now. "

" You're such a sore loser. "

" I fucking let you win. It's called nobleness, but you wouldn't know anything about that Mr. Paint gun Avenger. But seriously, how dare you shoot me?! Your own soulmate!"

He was just amusing me more with each word he spoke. And I realized that I had really missed that version of him. The playful one that always made me want to spend every second by his side because he was too entertaining. I forcibly held his hand because he was pretending to play hard to get. Although all it took was a sudden kiss to make him forget about his little complaints. 

While he was ordering for us, I got a text. I retrieved my phone with a smile, suspecting it was either Max or Kira asking where I was because I hadn't told them I was leaving, but it wasn't either of them...

" I miss you. When can I see you again? Why is he keeping you away from me like this? Please tell me when we can meet, I need to be with you, "

How wonderful, I sarcastically thought.