Author: Jenny
Disclaimer: They still don’t belong to me.
Pairing: Kyle/Tess
Rating: MATURE
Summary: Kyle and Tess go to prom. Misunderstandings abound. Set during Heart of Mine (some dialogue is taken from the episode).
Author’s Note: Written for killjoy and nibbles2 for the Support Stacie Author Auction. Bonus cool points if you know the meaning of the title.
This will be two parts, and I hope to have the second part up in the next day or two.Part 1
“Kyle Valenti, get out of that bathroom right now!”
Tess Harding pounded on the bathroom door with the heel of her hand, much harder than was really necessary, and she winced against the slight pain that it caused. But Kyle was being an even bigger pain, having been occupying the bathroom for well over half an hour. They would need to leave for school soon, and she hadn’t even fixed her hair or brushed her teeth.
When the door finally opened, Kyle was whistling nonchalantly. “Oh, did you need to get in here?” he asked Tess innocently, acting as if he hadn’t heard her hammering on the door.
Tess shoved past him and into the bathroom. “You’re worse than a girl,” she told him. Kyle just chuckled and left her to get ready. She speedily brushed her teeth, aggravated that she had to rush because Kyle had taken his sweet time. I swear, sometimes he’s like an obnoxious little brother, she thought to herself. Not that she knew what it was like to have an obnoxious little brother.
“Come on, Tess, we’re gonna be late!” Kyle called as he passed from the hallway, and Tess could have throttled him. She finished running a hairbrush through her blonde hair, and at a loss for what else to do, pulled it into two low ponytails on each side. Kinda cute, she thought with a lopsided glance in the mirror.
“Tess!” Kyle called again.
“God, give me a second!” she yelled back in exasperation. Typical of him to rush her when it was his fault they were running late in the first place.
She grabbed her things, hoping she wasn’t forgetting anything in her rush, and met Kyle at the car. She had barely gotten inside and closed the door before he was backing out of the driveway. She was all ready to lay into him about his obnoxious morning behavior, but he was already relaying her with an amusing story from the previous day’s baseball practice. Despite herself, Tess couldn’t help but laugh, and by the time they were walking into the school, he had her in stitches.
How Kyle had the astounding ability to piss her off one minute and have her laughing the next, thus making her forget why she’d been mad in the first place, she would never know.
***
Whether the main reason for a relationship is physical attraction, an inner feeling that one shares the same interests or a deep identification, there is much to learn.*
Kyle tuned out the sounds of the bustling students around him, completely immersed in the Buddhism book he’d found in the library a couple days earlier. He paid no attention when another body sat down next to him, but then he felt a pat on his shoulder and a familiar voice said his name.
He sighed deliberately and looked up, annoyed at being interrupted, and greeted Ernie Malamud, one of his (not-so-favorite) teammates.
“You still reading this Hinduism crap?” Malamud asked, a hint of disdain in his voice.
Kyle was so not in the mood for this moron right now, but held his cool. “It’s Buddhism,” he correctly calmly. “And if you’re asking about my spiritual journey, I’m touched,” he added mockingly.
“Well, no, actually,” his friend said, “I was wondering if it’s gonna help you get into Tess Harding’s pants.”
“Right,” Kyle replied, caught off-guard by Malamud’s comment.
“No, I’m serious, man. How long are you gonna let that blonde little hottie live under your roof before you make your move?”
Kyle looked at Malamud for a moment, a dumbstruck look on his face. Truth was, he hadn’t given it much thought. Sure, he’d had the major hots for Tess when she first came to town, but then he’d found out about the alien invasion, and his whole world had turned on its axis. Did he find Tess attractive? Absolutely. Did he enjoy spending time with her? Without a doubt. She’d become, over the course of the last months, one of the most important people in his life. But how did he feel about her?
Malamud was now blabbering on about the upcoming game, and was thankfully cut off by the school bell, signaling the end of lunch period. Kyle stuffed his book in his bag and grabbed his letterman’s jacket. He looked up just in time to see none other than Tess across the hall, walking to class with Pam Troy. She saw him and waved, and a small smile crossed his face as he waved back.
He made his way slowly to his next class, unable to stop thinking about what Malamud had said, and how pretty Tess looked when she smiled.
Damn.
***
“So, you and Kyle,” Pam said to Tess as they settled into their seats in their fifth period English class.
Tess looked at Pam, momentarily caught off-guard. “Me and Kyle?” she repeated dumbly.
“Yeah. Are you two, like, together?” Pam asked, somewhat cautiously.
“No,” Tess answered, drawing the word out.
“Oh,” Pam responded, seeming to perk up a little. “Is he seeing anyone?”
Tess raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Why?” she asked, avoiding Pam’s question.
Pam shrugged nonchalantly. “If he isn’t, I was thinking of, maybe, you know, asking him to prom.”
“He already has a date,” Tess said quickly. The words were out of her mouth before she even realized what she was saying.
“Oh,” Pam said in disappointment, a small pout forming on her lips. “Who?”
“Me,” Tess answered on autopilot, again shocked at the words coming out of her mouth.
“But you just said—”
“I mean, we’re going as friends.”
“Oh,” Pam said again. “Well.” She pulled a notebook out of her bag and said, “Maybe Ernie then…”
Tess went about pulling her things out of her bag, completely shocked at what she’d just done. What had possessed her to tell Pam that she and Kyle were going to the prom together? They hadn’t so much as discussed the option.
She couldn’t explain it. The minute Pam had said she wanted to ask Kyle to prom, Tess’ predatory instincts had kicked in. She couldn’t fathom the thought of Kyle going to the prom with Pam Troy.
She couldn’t fathom the thought of him going with anyone.
Crap. What have I done?
***
Later that night, Tess sat on her bed trying to finish her homework, but she was beginning to think it was a losing battle. She’d been distracted since her conversation with Pam and her own bizarre behavior. Subsequently, she’d avoided Kyle for most of the day, and she wasn’t even sure why.
Did she want to go to the prom with Kyle? And if she did, why didn’t she just ask him? She didn’t think he’d invited anyone else yet. Her stomach churned again at the thought of Kyle asking some other girl to go to the prom with him.
What was going on with her? Why did picturing Kyle with another girl just make her crazy? Could it be…
Do I have feelings for Kyle?
Her train of thought didn’t go much further, because she heard a soft knock on the door, and none other than the subject of her thoughts poked his head in the room.
“Oh, Kyle, hey.”
“Hey,” he greeted her. He seemed nervous. Tess momentarily panicked that he’d gotten wind of her telling Pam that they were going to prom together.
“What’s up?” Tess asked as casually as possible.
“Last year, I went to the prom with Trudy MacIntire,” Kyle said, and Tess wasn’t sure why he was telling her this. Another involuntary stab of jealousy went through her.
“Oh, Trudy, she’s cute,” Tess said, hoping she sounded enthusiastic.
Kyle nodded, twisting his hands in front of him. “Yeah, and so we went, and everything was okay, but I didn’t really know her, uh, so we didn’t really have much to talk about… to say to each other.” He paused briefly. “And so I realized that I feel like I really know you. Which is unusual for me with girls and, uh, anyway, I just…”
Tess couldn’t help but smile at his rambling, and her heart rate quickened of its own volition. She felt like she knew where he was going with this, and couldn’t believe her good fortune.
“Feel free to say no,” Kyle continued, “or laugh or be outraged or whatever, but would you… want to go to the prom? You know, with me?”
Inside, Tess rejoiced, but she held her composure. As coolly as she could manage, she replied, “You know, I’d really like that, Kyle.”
“Oh.” Kyle seemed genuinely surprised that she’d said yes.
Tess smiled widely. “Thank you,” she told him.
“Sure,” Kyle said, and he smiled. An awkward silence briefly filled the room before he said, “Well, I’ll let you get back to your homework. Good night.”
“Good night,” she responded, and she waited until he was gone before she fell back on the bed in glee. She couldn’t believe that Kyle had actually asked her to prom. And not just because she’d already told Pam that they were going together, but because she did genuinely want to go with him. The idea of going with anyone else had never even occurred to her.
She sat back up abruptly, again wondering about these strange new feelings towards Kyle. She’d never given it much thought. Ever since she arrived in Roswell, Kyle had always just sorta been there, whether it was when he was trying to make a move on her last spring, or as a roommate and… well, a brother.
She moved to put her homework away even though she hadn’t finished it, because she knew she was even less likely to concentrate on it now, but stopped short and gasped when she saw her notebook.
Doodled in the margins of her notebook, over and over again, was Kyle’s name, complete with little hearts. Tess hadn’t even realized she’d been doing it. I really hope Kyle didn’t notice this, she thought in embarrassment, heat spreading across her face.
As she put her notebook away and prepared for bed, Tess came to the realization that the feelings she had for Kyle were anything but sisterly.
*As far as I know, the book Kyle was reading in this scene, The Buddha Advises on Relationships, does not really exist. The quote is taken from this site.
