A Demon For Christmas

Ch-09

Amelia knew her family members were going to try to be nosy so she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

She knew Kyle had something important to say if he wanted to talk to her privately and “private” was something they barely did in this house….and that was one of the many reasons she left their town those years ago.

“Let’s go around the back.” She suggested, nudging him towards the direction. “The verenda should be free from prying eyes.”

“Right, I remember how your family can be.” Kyle responded with a nostalgic smile and she returned a tight one, staring pointedly at him so he could move along.

Already, she could see several of her family member’s faces pressed to the window pane as they walked around the house.

By the time they arrived at the veranda, they had both slipped into a silence that wasn’t as uncomfortable as she'd feared.

Since they were already getting to be friends again, Amelia believed that was all there was to him wanting to meet with her.

“You wanted to see me?” Amelia asked when it seemed like Kyle wasn’t going to make the first move.

“Ha, yes.” His throat bobbed. “I wanted to ask you something actually.”

Amelia could see that he was nervous and wondered why.

“Okay?” She prompted when he lasped into silence once more.

“I was wondering if you would be free later this evening” he started hesitantly, “we could walk around the old lake. You know the one we used to go to to hang out when we were teenagers?”

Amelia remembered the lake. She hadn’t been there in forever and she also remembered it would look extremely beautiful this time of the year.

There was nothing stopping her from going. It would give her a chance to leave the house and get fresh air while catching up with an old friend.

“Sure. I’m free. Just let me know what time to come to you” she said, agreeing to the walk.

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll come pick you up myself at six.” A bright smile appeared on his face and they shook on it.

She walked him back out to the front pouch, waiting until he rounded up the corner before going back inside.

Her entire family stared at her like owls.

“What?” She asked, barely biting back an eyeroll as she returned to the seat she had just vacated.

“So, a date!” Kat’s voice was high pitched, breaking the silence.

Amelia realized they must have been listening in on her conversation with Kyle. She should have known better than to talk to him where they might be able to hear. She should have walked further away from the house.

“No. No. Not a date. Definitely not a date.” Amelia flushed, teeth grinding in frustration. “He just invited me on a walk to talk. I’m just going to be catching up with an old friend, nothing more.”

She didn’t want her family thinking there was more to it when there would definitely not be more to it.

She knew her family would try to push them to date and they had already turned this silly walk into the idea of a date.

There were several reasons why she didn’t want to date Kyle, two of them more important than the rest. One, she was still healing from her divorce to Greg. It was definitely too soon to think of wanting to date. And two, her past with Kyle.

Every time she looked at Kyle, she was constantly reminded of the fact that her brother died a very horrible death. She couldn’t date someone whose very presence made her continually sad.

Already, the conversation was already shifting to what dress she was going to wear to this “date”. Amelia tried to inject several times that it wasn’t a date but no one was listening to her.

When she realized they would continue and that would only make her mad, she got up and went into her room, bolting the door. She half expected one of them coming to pester her.

She looked around, expecting Thalrik to be lurking somewhere but he was surprisingly absent. Usually, he popped up in times like this to tease her about hiding away from her family.

Something squeezed in her chest and she realized that she kind of missed him?

Instead of dwelling on that feeling, she decided to get ready. She picked out simple clothes and put them on. She sat by her dresser and brushed out her hair. Since it was going to be chilly in the evening, she needed the heat her hair would generate.

She contemplated a scarf but decided against it. She didn’t want to be out for too long anyway. It was a short walk to the lake after all. She would be fine.

Just before six p.m, Kyle arrived at Amelia’s house. He was pulled in by her mother and relatives and questioned about where he was taking her to. He told her it was only a walk but from his tone, they knew he wanted it to be more than just a walk.

Amelia came out from her room and pulled him away from them. Kyle barely had time to say goodbye to her family when they left.

During the walk to the lake, they talked about almost everything. Amelia laughed more than she had in the last few weeks as Kyle reminded her of the very funny parts of their childhood.

Kyle was proving to be a wonderful walk companion and it was a good thing he was still a friend to her. That was all he could ever be to her.

They were nearly at the lake when Kyle suddenly stopped.

“What?” She asked, wondering why he had suddenly stopped.

She followed his gaze and saw that they had stopped under a shining mistletoe. She looked back at him and saw him watching her with a strange expression on his face.

“You’re creeping me out, Kyle. Why did we stop? Am I being a boring companion?” He shook his head, not answering her questions verbally as he stopped towards her.

She looked at him in confusion and just as she was about to turn around to continue walking, Kyle grabbed her face and tried to kiss her.

Amelia panicked and pushed him away, tears dropping from her eyes as she ran all the way back to her house, not stopping until she was in her room, the door locked.