The Lonely Girl Pt. 01

He was about two thirds of the way through the shipments. He had just boxed up the four jars of sauce and was about to adhere the label he printed when he noticed the address and name. He smiled to himself and adhered the label.

*****

Driving down 513, Kyle admitted to himself that this was equally as stupid as the first time he visited her, but he somehow felt better about it this time. He had brought Claire's order and grabbed a selection of pasta to give to her as well. He pulled up the drive and parked next to Claire's car. Grabbing the bag of pastas and the box of sauce off the front seat, he headed up the walk to the front door and knocked.

*****

Claire was in the kitchen prepping her dinner when she thought she heard a vehicle pull up the drive. She put down the knife and washed her hands. Other than the pasta sauce, she wasn't expecting any deliveries, and the sauce was not supposed to ship until tomorrow. As she walked to the front door, she saw a person through the window. They stepped onto the front porch and knocked. Claire walked up to the door, a little worry entering her mind as she knew she was all alone in the middle of the woods.

She leaned against the door and called through it, "Who is it?"

"Hi Claire, its uh, Kyle."

She went from slight worry to instant panic. Her nightmare was on her porch.

"GO AWAY!"

"Claire, I just, uh, brought your delivery... and I was hoping we could talk?"

"PLEASE GO AWAY... I'LL CALL THE POLICE!" She was actively crying now, and Kyle could tell.

"Ok, ok! I didn't mean to bother you... look, I'm just going to leave the delivery on your porch and I'll go... I'm sorry... I just..." and he didn't know what else to say. He could tell how frightened she was but just couldn't understand why. He put the packages down, headed back to his truck and left.

Claire sat with her back against the door for a bit. She heard the truck start and looked through the window in time to see it pulling out of her drive. She sat there for a bit longer to calm herself before opening the door and bringing the packages inside.

She was no longer hungry, so she packed up the food she had been preparing when Kyle arrived. She stared at the packages for a while, considering if she should again be childish and throw it all away. Reason got the better of her and she put the pasta in the fridge, unpacked the sauce and put it in her pantry.

*****

"She was fucking terrified of me."

"Yeah, but why?"

Kyle and John sat at the bar inside Smokey's sipping beers and waiting for some of the other guys to get there.

"No idea, dude. But she was so upset, I felt bad being there. Even though I don't know what I did, whatever she thinks I did must be horrible." He paused for a moment. "Does that even make sense?"

"Yeah, it does." John replied. "I'm just wracking my brain to figure out what it is as well. Except for that one kid, you were always nice to everyone in high school."

John paused for a moment before adding, "It had to be in high school right? I mean, you haven't seen her since, have you?"

"No, I remember I started chatting to her a bit at the end of the year. I remember thinking that I might ask her out. But then she just disappeared right before graduation. I asked a few people if they knew what happened to her, but no one was really friends with her. At least that I could find."

They both took a sip of their beers as Brian walked up and slapped John on the back. Kyle turned and was about to say hi to Brian when a familiar face stepped from behind him.

"Hi Jen, what are you doing here?"

Kyle had always like Jen. She was sweet and friendly and never talked down to anyone. He probably would have wanted to date her, but she had a boyfriend from the next town over when they were in school together.

"I'm back from school for a bit. My big brother said he was coming to hang out with you guys so I figured I'd tag along."

"Brian's your brother?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?"

"No, we only met a few weeks ago through John... so you're still in school?"

"Yep, grad school. Graduate later this year."

"Congrats!"

"Thanks!"

Brian and Jen ordered drinks and they all chatted at the bar for a bit.

Jen and Brian had just started their second drinks when she asked, "So Kyle, dating anybody yet? I remember you were the most eligible bachelor in school."

"No, still single," he stated when John chimed in, "Yeah, he tried to have another go at Claire, but that didn't go so well."

Jen's face paled slightly, and she asked, "What do you mean?"

Kyle relayed his encounters with Claire, with John adding in a comment or two since they had just been chatting about it.

Jen took a step towards Kyle and her voice softened, "Kyle, I think I know why she's scared."

Kyle was really confused now, "What, why?"

"Right before I went to college, I went to a party at Lexi's house. One last get together for the cheer squad kind of thing. I really didn't even want to go. I was so done with some of those girls' bullshit. But Sally and Becky talked me into it.... anyway, Kaitlyn got drunk, of course, and started talking about how they had humiliated Claire."

"What do you mean they humiliated her?"

"I don't remember how, it's a few ago now, but Kaitlyn, Lexi and Kristin somehow convinced Claire that you wanted to meet her at Henderson Park." She saw Kyle's face visibly darken. She continued, even quieter than before, "They um, lured her there... and they um ...they attacked her."

Kyle bolted out of his seat. He looked around the bar as if he would suddenly see Kaitlyn standing there. He quickly calmed and sat back down. He stared at his beer for a minute before turning to Jen, "Thanks Jen, I appreciate you telling me."

"I'm sorry, Kyle."

"It's not your fault...you're one of the good ones, Jen."

He stayed only a few minutes more. He didn't want to ruin everyone's time and he knew the melancholy he felt would not pass quickly.

*****

Kyle couldn't concentrate at work at all. His mother commented on it after he wrote down the second order in a row wrong. She wasn't mad, she was just concerned. Something was bothering him, and he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it.

It was the end of the day, and he was sitting in his truck behind the deli. He knew what he wanted to do but felt it would only go badly. Fuck it, he thought. He knew he wouldn't sleep again tonight if he didn't do something. He started the truck, put it in gear and headed toward 513.

*****

Claire was sitting in the breakfast nook reading. She had gone to the fridge three separate times and looked at the pasta, but just couldn't bring herself to cook it yet. She went back to concentrating on her book when she heard the truck pull up the drive. She put the book down, knowing who it was. It had to be him. There were no deliveries she was expecting on a Saturday evening. She grabbed her phone, punched in 911 and headed to the front door. She got there just as he knocked.

She paused at the door and just waited for a moment. Maybe he would go away if she didn't answer.

"Claire, I know you're in there. Please open the door. I need to talk to you." He actually didn't know if she was in there; he was going off a hunch.

"Claire please, there are things I need to tell you."

"Go away Kyle, I really am calling the police this time." Her finger hovered over the button. There were no tears this time, only resolve.

"Claire, you have to listen to me... I didn't know."

He didn't know what? Of course he knew. He planned it. Now the panic was starting to set in again. She looked at the phone. She should call.

He knocked on the door again, startling Claire as she stared at the dial button the phone.

"Claire, please believe me. I only found out about what happened to you last night. I had no idea what Kaitlyn had done."

Finally, her tears came.

She sobbed through the door, "YOU PLANNED IT! YOU HUMILIATED ME!"

"I didn't Claire, I didn't know, please just listen."

"GO AWAY!!"

"Claire please, I'm begging you, please listen to me, I want to tell you something. Do you know why I got in that fight when that kid was picking on you?"

"I DON'T CARE. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Claire, I'm just going to tell you... I'm going to tell you about my sister."

His sister? What was he talking about?

Kyle leaned against the door frame and told his story.

By the time he finished he was sitting on the porch, leaning against the door frame crying as well.

Claire slowly opened the door, looked down at Kyle and a new round of tears started. Kyle stood and took a slow, hesitant step forward. Claire looked up at him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently.

Neither could tell how long the embrace lasted. But when they finally separated, Claire took a step back into her house and said, "come in."