This book is now available on amazon.com as an ebook

[Chapter Twenty-Two]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tomfoolery \tom-FOO-luh-ree\

(n.) foolish or silly behavior; a silly act, matter or thing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The nurse came in about an hour later with Kyle's paperwork and announced that he had been discharged. She said the best thing for him to do was to rest and let his leg heal on its own. After grumbling about the inconvenience, he agreed to rest and take it easy. It might have been because I promised to visit him every day. I had scolded him for whining when he should be happy that his leg was only fractured.

"I'll come over every day," I promised him, "for my safety and for yours."

"My safety?" he scoffed.

"Yes, from yourself. I know if I'm not there to keep an eye on you, you'll be trying to get out of bed and exerting yourself." I gave him a look, daring him to argue, but he sighed in defeat, knowing that I was right.

He refused a wheel chair, picking the crutches instead, and hobbled his way out to the parking lot. I called a cab to pick us up and take us to Kyle's house. My parents were busy with something, but they had promised to talk to me tonight when they got home. They had been worried sick while I was in the hospital, but I called them as soon as I could and let them know that we were both okay. Apparently that's all they needed to hear.

When we got to Kyle's house, I helped him out of the cab and unlocked his door. "Well," I said awkwardly. I didn't want to invite myself in and I didn't want him to think I was hovering over him because he was injured. I also didn't want him to think that I was clingy. Why did I have to make everything so complicated?

Kyle smirked, immediately understanding my discomfort. "Do you want to come in and hang out? I'm not going to be much of a host, but we can watch a movie or something."

Smiling in relief, I nodded and waved the cab away. I would just call my parents and let them know that I was at Kyle's so that they could swing by and pick me up on their way home. "A movie sounds good," I agreed.

We headed to the living room where Kyle collapsed onto the couch with a defeated groan. I rearranged the pillows for him and propped his leg up on the ottoman.

"Day, you don't have to take care of me all the time. I'm not crippled," he said lightly.

I blushed and took a step back to look at him. "I know, but I want to help in any way that I can. Even if it's just fluffing pillows." I frowned and chewed on my lower lip, "If it irritates you though, I can stop. I just want you to heal as fast as you can and you can't do that unless you relax."

He frowned at my reminder to relax and reached out patted the couch next to him. "You aren't irritating me—"

"Yet," I couldn't help but add in.

He gave me a pointed look and continued. "You aren't irritating me and I doubt that you will. I just hate feeling helpless and I hate that I have to just sit here and wait. That's not part of my nature, so you're going to have to bear with me."

"Okay. Just remember, I'm here to help. I'm not going to be offended or angry if you ask for help, nor will I mock you for it." I smiled warmly at him, "Now, what movie should we watch?"

"I don't care," he sighed.

Letting a slow smile creep onto my face, I glanced at him and chuckled. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes?" he said worriedly.

Hopping off the couch, I went over to his movie collection and started flipping through the titles. When I saw a title I wanted I pulled it out and laughed, "The Wedding Date, it is!"

"What?" Kyle scoffed, "I didn't even know I had that movie. Seriously, Dayna? Pick something else, anything else."

Wagging my finger at him, I inserted the movie gleefully. "Anything got you in trouble last time. We're watching this movie and you can't run away. Ha!" He cursed under his breath and let his head fall back on the couch, whining about the 'lame ass' movie. "Have you even seen it?" I asked him, grinning when he just glowered. "You haven't!" I gave him a soft punch on his arm and smiled, "You'll want to pay attention to the movie. There are some key lines every guy should know."

I sat down on the couch next to him, leaving a small space between us and clicked the remote. Suddenly, it felt like that small inch of space was ten miles wide. I was acting awkward again because I didn't know what to do. I wanted to cuddle up next to him while we watched the movie, but I was unsure if he was a cuddler. Maybe he didn't like a lot of touchy-feely stuff; maybe he was simply content with holding hands. That thought brought on a whole new set of fears. I stared at my hand and his, trying to convince myself to reach out and grab his hand.

"Any reason why you're sitting so far away?" Kyle drawled, giving me a sexy half-grin. My pulse leapt as I looked nervously at him. Was he saying that he wanted me closer? Or did he merely see my predicament and was trying to make me feel better? "Come on, I can't reach you," he said, making a pathetic attempt to reach me.

I laughed and scooted closer so that our thighs were touching. However, as soon as I was within arm reach, he snaked his arm around my waist and yanked me towards him. I tumbled and ended up sprawled over half of him. At first I was worried that I was going to hurt his injury further, but I quickly realized it was on his other side, the side not touching my body. Embarrassed, I tried to scoot back and put a little space between us, but Kyle refused to loosen his grip on me.

"Kyle," I whined, hoping he couldn't see my blush.

"I want you right here the entire movie. If I have to sit through this sappy crap, I'm damn well going to be comfortable doing it," he demanded arrogantly.

I blushed even deeper and looked up at him. "This is comfortable?" I asked skeptically.

He grinned a very male grin and nodded, "Most definitely." His features softened as he smiled at me, understanding my uneasiness. "You don't have to be so cautious around me, cookie," he said. "If you want to hold my hand, do it. If you want to cuddle, go for it. If you want to kiss me, I'll kiss you back. I'm not going to push you away or hurt you anymore."

My heart ached as I thought about how blessed I was to have met him. He understood me—really understood me—and still liked me, despite my faults. I guess the same could be said for me understanding him. I simply needed to learn to trust him. Simply. What a crazy thought. There was nothing simple about trusting someone that much. I couldn't just give him a piece of me and hope to walk away unscathed in the end—if there was an end—but I also couldn't hold back. Not with Kyle. He deserved everything and more from me. We had a long way to go as a couple, especially with his daddy issues and my trust issues, but I knew we could work things out.

Resting my head on his chest, I kissed the spot over his heart and sighed, happy and relaxed for the first time in a long time. I felt his lips press against the top of my head as the movie started, neither of us needing to say anything more—we understood each other perfectly.

Although Kyle would never admit it, he was enjoying the movie. When it got to my favorite scene, I poked him in the chest so that he would pay attention. "Oww," he hissed dramatically.

"Shh," I scolded, "listen to this part."

Kat Ellis, the heroine was talking to Nick, the hero. 'You know what pisses me off? I've been spilling my guts all weekend and I don't know a thing about you.' I grinned and waited in fervent anticipation for Nick's line as he paused and looked at her. 'I'm allergic to fabric softener. I majored in comparative literature at Brown. I hate anchovies. And I think I'd miss you even if we never met,' he said.

"See!" I poked Kyle again, "every guy should learn from this movie." I sighed blissfully, "that was so romantic and...perfect."

Kyle muttered some insults under his breath about spewing romantic crap, so I smacked him on the arm. "I'm not saying you have to say that exact line. I'm just letting you know, girls melt when a guy says something romantic and meaningful, not that lame gushy crap you read on Valentine's Day cards."

"Anything else you'd like me to do?" He said sarcastically, "Pull flowers out of my ass and sing?"

I gasped and looked at him hopefully, "You can sing?"

He frowned and avoided my gaze. "I don't sing. Anymore." My grip on his arm tightened as I waited for him to finish explaining. Men who can sing are so damn hot, I was nearly ready to swoon. "I used to be in Honors Choir in high school. I was a bass, but I stopped singing once I joined NANO. It wasn't that big of a deal, it was just something I was good at."

"Lord have mercy, you just got hotter," I said in an appreciative voice. "We'll have to talk about this singing thing later, for now, let's just finish the movie." He gave me an embarrassed look, but didn't argue. I think he was just happy that I changed the topic. For now. Man, what other delicious secrets about Kyle was I going to discover?

When the movie ended, we let the credits roll, happy to just sit there, holding each other. We still had a couple hours to kill before my parents came to pick me up, so we were in no rush to move. However, my dang stomach ruined the moment, letting me know it was lunchtime.

I groaned in embarrassment and buried my face in Kyle's chest. "I don't want to move," I moaned.

"Then don't," he suggested, being a pain in the ass.

Pushing away from him, I stood up and crossed my arms, ignoring my rumbling tummy. "What do you want to eat for lunch? I can cook up just about anything."

"Dayna, I'm not going to let you make me lunch," he said stubbornly.

"Yah, well I'm not going to bring you your crutches, so there. I can make lunch just as good as you can." I smirked at him, knowing I had won this round. "Now, what would you like to eat?"

He glared at me and grumbled, "Turkey sandwich. Make it however you want, I'm not picky."

Grinning, I gave him a nod and headed to the kitchen. "Don't even think about moving or I won't come back to visit you tomorrow or the next day!" I called over my shoulder. I heard him curse ungratefully, but I couldn't quite make out the words. Oh well, I'm sure it was unflattering.

Grabbing supplies from his fridge, I threw together two turkey sandwiches and grabbed two cokes before heading back to the living room. "Lunch is ready!" I sang obnoxiously, passing him a plate. We ate in quickly, and I took the plates back to the kitchen a couple minutes later.

"Now what?" I asked.

An evil gleam entered Kyle's eyes as he looked at me. "Well, since you've already tortured me for the day, I think it's time for me to torture you."

"Torture?" I asked warily, not sure what he had in mind.

"Exactly. How about you run through those defensive moves I taught you two days ago?" Two days ago, that was it? It felt like a lifetime ago that I had been at NANO headquarters.

"Do I have to?" I whined. It wasn't that I didn't remember them; I just didn't want to have to do them while Kyle was watching. It was one thing to practice while he was helping me and doing it with me, but he was just going to sit there and observe.

"Yes, you have to," he said arrogantly. "Hop to it."

Glaring sullenly, I curled my hand into a fist, pretending to punch an imaginary opponent. Kyle patiently instructed me, reminding me of key factors to the movements. After that he had me move to the series of kicks I had learned. They were my least favorite part of this exercise and I swear Kyle knew it because he kept me kicking for over thirty minutes.

"Am I done yet?" I groaned, feeling the burn in my thighs and calves.

"Yes, you're done," he grinned.

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank—"

"With the kicks, that is," he added wickedly. "Do a couple rounds of the SING technique." I groaned, and practiced SING, chanting "Stomach, instep, nose, groin," over and over and I pretended to defend myself against an opponent at my back. I was going to kill Kyle for this. I didn't know how, but I was going to find a way to make him miserable. Watching a chick flick with me was nothing compared to what I could come up with.

"That's it!" I announced after ten minutes of that crap, "I'm done. No more!" I left the room, heading to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

"Grab me a coke!" Kyle yelled to me, sounding amused. Grumbling, I did as he asked, grabbing a water bottle for myself. When I entered the living room again, Kyle was watching the door with a satisfied look.

"Yah, I'm glad at least you're enjoying yourself," I griped. "I need someone to come join 'Team Dayna' over here." My phone rang seconds later, blaring out the ringtone 'I'm Too Sexy'. Score one for Team Dayna.

"Yellow!" I said into my phone, expecting Dash to be on the other end. It was his personalized ringtone after all.

"Green?" Jaz replied back.

Laughing, I tossed Kyle his coke and plopped down on the couch next to him. "What's up and why are you on Dash's phone?"

"He had your number and I didn't," she said cheerfully. "I was just calling to see how you're doing. I'm thinking we need to get together soon."

A brilliant idea hit me and I grinned evilly. "Remember how you wanted to have a nail painting party? I was thinking that today is the perfect day to do it."

Jaz gasped and I could hear her rummaging through some stuff. "Brilliant! I am so there! When and where?"

I glanced at the clock, ignoring the intense look Kyle was shooting my way. He was trying to catch my attention, but I was studiously ignoring him. "How about now?" I suggested. "I'm over at Kyle's, so you'll have to come here with your thousands of bottles, but he won't mind. In fact, he might just want to join us. It'll be good revenge for making me practice self-defense while he watches."

"Oh you evil girl," Jaz chuckled. "I'm in. What's his address?"

"Uh, hang on." I turned and smiled at Kyle. "What's your address?"

"I'm not telling you," he grumbled. "I don't want her over here because you are not painting nails in my house."

Smiling sweetly, I blinked twice, "You can either tell me or she'll look it up. If she has to look it up I'll be painting your toenails seeing as you can't move anywhere."

Glaring like a petulant child, he rambled off his address and started furiously clicking the remote, taking his anger out on the small inanimate object. I repeated it to Jaz and hung up shortly after, excited about having her around.

I snuggled up next to Kyle, resting my head on his chest and sighed happily. "Thank you."

He snorted, but the furious clicking slowed down. "Like I had much of a choice. You will be paying for that though."

"Oh I will, will I?" I chuckled.

"Yup," he grinned, "I was going to go easy on you regarding self defense, but after that little stunt, I'm thinking you need to be taught some discipline." I gulped and looked up at him, seeing a feral gleam in his eyes. Crap. He was definitely going to get me back for that.

"Not fair," I pouted. "You know I suck at anything involving coordination. Increasing the intensity of the sessions is only going to make it worse."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have invited Jaz over to paint nails," he pointed out.

Frowning, I pulled back and looked at him carefully. "Would you rather have me pick her up and go somewhere else? I really want to see her and I need to paint my nails. No—" I laughed when he glanced at my feet, "for therapeutic reasons. I'm not going to make you join in, unless you keep complaining and acting like an ass."

Kyle sighed and leaned down to press his lips to mine in a soft kiss. "No, I don't want you to go elsewhere, I just don't want to be involved in more girly stuff today."

"Then call up Dash or Jay and invite them over to play Xbox or something while Jaz and I have our girl time. I'll still be here."

"Okay," he nodded, "I can do that." He reached for his cell phone and called up Jay while I searched his bathroom for any necessary supplies. I figured Jaz would bring everything we needed, but it didn't hurt to be ready, just in case.

She arrived ten minutes later with a purse the size of a small dog. I assumed was full of polishes, but it seemed a little bit excessive.

"I'm so bloody excited!" she said, setting the bag on the couch. She unzipped it and pulled out toe separators, different brushes and nail polish remover. "Go ahead and look through the colors while I get everything set up. I'll pull them out later and arrange them on the side table," she said.

I did as she suggested, pulling out color after color. Soon, I had about five different colors that I really liked. It was getting really hard to narrow it down to just one. I showed them to Kyle, but he just made a face and shrugged his shoulders. I sighed in defeat and stared at the five bottles, mentally talking myself out of some of the colors. I put back the pink and red, telling myself they were standard nail polish colors. Finally I had it narrowed down to two bottles: 'Royal Blood', a true purple color with glints of red and 'Ocean Song', a deep blue color.

"I can't decide Jaz," I said regretfully, "and I don't want to use both, just one."

"Hmm," she said, studying the colors. She had picked out a lime green paint, called 'Electric Slide' "I'm not going to make the decision for you, but I think you should test out both colors first and then decide."

"Test?" I repeated dumbly. Understanding dawned seconds later and we both looked at Kyle.

"What?" he asked suspiciously. His eyes widened in horror, "Oh hell no, not happening! Don't even think about it, Dayna," he hissed.

I crossed my arms and pouted, giving him the puppy dog eyes. "How am I supposed to tell which one I like?"

"Paint your own nails, that's what nail polish remover is for!" he said affronted.

Jaz shook her head, a grin tugging at her lips. "That ruins the true color, because the remover doesn't get everything off right away. It's better to just paint the nails one color and stick with it."

He glared at us, using a pillow to ward us off. "I'm not messing around, stop looking at me like that Dayna," he growled.

"Please Kyle," I said, letting a couple tears well up.

"Ah hell," he groaned, "don't cry. I can't handle it if you cry." He rested his head in his hands and said something in a different language. "Fine. One toenail only."

"Two," I corrected, "Since there are two colors." He waved his hand, keeping his head buried. "Be quick about it. I want this over with." I tossed Jaz one bottle and took the other, shaking it and opening it before Kyle could change his mind. We painted his big toe and took a step back, looking at the two colors.

"I don't know, one nail is kind of hard to make a judgment on," Jaz said. She leaned back down and painted the rest of his nails before he could argue. "Go on Day, finish it up." I gave Kyle a guilty look and painted the rest of his nails.

We put the lids back on and took a step back, looking at the two colors. Kyle peeked from between his hands and groaned again, hiding his face. "What do you think?" I asked Jaz. "Blue or purple?"

Jay chose that moment to stroll in, taking the scene before him. He glanced at Jaz and I, then at Kyle, and finally at Kyle's feet. "My vote is for the blue," he said casually.

Kyle snarled, and threw his pillow at Jay. He turned to glare at me, mouthing 'you will pay for this.'

Gladly.

aq'