Sweet and Spicy

            Kyle wished to see me for an evening, so I suggested that we raid the local criminal hub, nicknamed The Rustler’s Den. We could share each other’s company and earn extra work credits!

            When he arrived, he was dressed in strange clothing. Before I could even question his attire, he launched into an explanation.

“You know how I wouldn’t, like, uh, kiss you when we first started going out?” he nervously asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, I had a reason for it! Not a very good one or anything but I still had one.” Kyle paused to rub the back of his head. “You see, I felt like I was lying to you and I didn’t want to start anything serious under false pretenses or whatever.”

“What were you lying about?”

He breathed out heavily, deflating his large chest. “I’m not on the force anymore. I quit while you were in college.”

            I was so angry at first and let him have it. How could he have left law enforcement? It was one of the things that gave our relationship perfect sense. And he’d helped me decide on my career while I was still in high school. Why wouldn’t he have told me right away? How had I not noticed?

“You’re kinda the reason I quit.” I glared at him and he further explained. “You were so passionate about becoming a cop. I loved it! And then I realized that I was pretty jealous. I wanted that fire in my life. The only real reason I became a patrol officer was because my dad was one.”

            Well, that was surprisingly sweet. My anger dissipated for the better part. After examining his outfit further, I said, “You’re a magician now. Have you found your passion then?”

“Well, I’m not really sure yet. I like making kids happy, and being able to use pickup lines about magic is going to be really great.” He laughed and I joined him.

“So, I assume you will not be up for raiding the den then?”

“No, but there’s other things we could do.”

            We sat in the patchy grass and watched the stars, holding hands the entire time. It did not elicit wild adrenaline rushes, but I still found our evening to be fun. 

            I received a text message on my phone. It was a reminder about the plans I had in an hour. Without saying why I needed to leave, I said goodbye to Kyle. He shyly kissed me and told me that he would miss me. My stomach churned painfully while I watched to make sure he left before I got into my car and drove to meet Dedrick.

            At quite a different venue, I met Dedrick outside. The bass of the club’s music shook the sidewalk.

            Admittedly, we did not spend much time visiting on our date. Well, not visiting with words anyhow.