Micah Johnson Goes West (Get Out, #2)(25)

But he heard himself saying, a trifle hollowly, “It’s like you know me.”

Kyle grinned. “Yeah, I guess I do. So you’ve got to put yourself out there a little more. Otherwise you’ll be miserable the whole time you’re there, and that could be years, thanks to your contract.”

“Not really feeling any better.”

“You need a friend, Micah. It’s that simple.”

“It’s not, though. I’ve got friends.” Micah was thinking of Sam and Daril, but could he really claim them as friends? Friends required intimacy; at the most they were mates. And that was probably more his fault, because it wasn’t like Sam hadn’t been trying his hardest to be his bestie/surrogate older brother. And Micah pushed him away at every opportunity. “I need more than that. I need someone to be with, someone to go on dates with, watch TV with, kiss, fuck, make love. I need a boyfriend.”

He was sure his longing for Kyle was emblazoned across his face, but he wasn’t even looking at him right now.

Kyle was looking down at his lap and shaking his head. “I would focus on something other than that right now. You need stability, not a relationship that could break up at any minute.”

Micah knew what he needed. Or, at least, wanted. Before he could talk himself out of it, he threw himself at Kyle, his hand snaking around his neck and bringing him in closer. He kissed him hungrily, and was relieved when Kyle responded after a brief hesitation.

And it lasted just as briefly. For all of about two seconds.

Kyle then pulled away, the distance between them unbearable.

“What’s wrong?” Micah asked.

Kyle looked shaken. “Micah, what are you playing at?”

Bewildered, Micah gaped at him. “Playing?”

“We broke up, remember?”

“It’s not something I would forget.” Now that embarrassment had set in, the usual Micah defence mechanisms had come into play. Maybe Kyle was right, and he was playing after all. Just a kiss and a fuck, that’s all he wanted.

It was easier to try and make himself think that in retrospective.

“It’s just….” Kyle sighed. “Okay, I didn’t want to tell you like this, but I have a boyfriend.”

If Micah had been in a movie, this would have been the part where the dolly zoom shot occurred—Micah’s face remaining in focus while the background zoomed into him for a disorientating effect. He swallowed with difficulty. “That… could have been something you brought up before I kissed you.”

“I didn’t think you were going to try and kiss me!” Kyle protested.

The heat in his face rising, Micah went on the attack. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have kissed me back!”

“I didn’t—” Kyle broke off. “Okay, that was wrong. I guess I did start kissing you back.”

That’s big of you to admit. “What would your boyfriend think?”

He wanted to wound him, and hit the mark. Kyle looked shaken.

“You don’t have to be an arsehole about it, Micah.”

“Who’s being an arsehole?” He was being relentless, though. “I’m just asking a question.”

“I didn’t think. It was almost like….” Kyle struggled for the right word. “A habit?”

“Thanks. You’re making this so much better.”

“I’m sorry. I’m trying to explain… just, I kissed you back without thinking, because I was used to it, and I’ve missed you, and maybe my body reacted before my brain did. But it was a mistake.”

“If it was such a mistake, why did you even invite me out?”

“Is it so bad to want to catch up and see how you’re going?”

“If you have a boyfriend, it might be,” Micah pointed out. “I bet you he wouldn’t have liked you seeing your ex.”

“Maybe he’s mature.”

“Oh, really? So he gave his blessing?”

Kyle’s silence revealed everything.

“I’m sorry for kissing you.” Micah threw open his door. “But I’m even sorrier you kissed me back. You’re right. This was a huge fucking mistake.”

“Where are you going?” Kyle asked.

“Not for fucking coffee!” Micah was now out the door and ready to slam it.

“Micah, get back in the car!”

“I’ll find my own way home.” Maybe he was being childish. But Kyle shouldn’t have kissed him back if he had a boyfriend. And let Micah start to open up in the way he had. If it was a mistake even coming here in the first place, it was even more of one to let people get an insight into your feelings.

Kyle stayed in the car; he didn’t come after him.

But Micah wasn’t expecting him to.




IT WAS a treat to be riding in a tram again. It was something so uniquely tied to Melbourne, and he hadn’t even realised he had been missing them until one came gliding up on the tracks, sounding its little warning bell. Of course, these were newer streamlined models, not like the old green and gold claptraps that people got nostalgic over (and still were emblazoned on postcards even though the majority of them were retired). But they still felt familiar and, oddly, safe. Stepping onto one was like coming home, especially when the doors seamed to hermetically seal him into its warm little cocoon.