Find Her, Stay With Her

Shortly after returning from their accidental space trip, Kyle, Lyra, and Jan were all trying to settle down for the night, especially after having been shaken up by the events from earlier. They were exhausted, however, and ended up falling asleep fairly well into the night.

On the following morning, all three had gotten up fairly early to get a nice complimentary breakfast in before they would have to checkout. Kyle had finished his plate, but he was still a bit hungry, primarily because the three had not eaten dinner last night.

"I'm gonna go back for seconds." Kyle said, standing with his plate.

He went to get some more hotcakes, as well as some melon and a cup of juice, since he already had his morning coffee. As he was about to grab what he came up for... something grabbed his attention. He happened to see a girl who was waving at him from an isolated corner of the hotel's breakfast hall. After examining her from a distance, his eyes widened.

“Megan...?” Kyle uttered in realization.

The girl motioned him to come over... and he did indeed recognize her. It was most definitely Megan, one of his crushes from back in his early high school years. Obviously, she had turned him down, given that Lyra was the very first girl (or, well... mare) to accept his love and reciprocate it.

"Kyle! Hey, how are you?" Megan said, happily. "It's been so many years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has..." Kyle said, still a bit put off by seeing her so randomly.

"Small world, huh?" Megan said. "So, did you come to watch the Shuttle launch, too?"

Kyle shrugged. "You could say that..."

Not to mention that we accidentally wound up ON that thing when trying to escape from two sociopathic prison escapees... he thought.

"And, just curious... are you still living in Atlanta?" Megan asked.

"Yes..." Kyle answered.

Right about now, he just wanted to get the hell away from Megan. She had rejected him in a very brutal manner... one that always pained him to think about, and just made him want to avoid her so as not to be reminded of it. Even then, she was not dating anybody, but after rejecting him, started going out with a strange guy named Craig, who was slightly overweight and did not shave his face properly. All of their peers agreed that they were a "cute couple"... and it was something that Kyle was disgusted about.

Kyle despised having everyone disagree with him and his desires. He always wanted to fit in while being himself, but it seemingly never worked out well, or if it did, never for the long-term. It did not help that Megan and Craig were some of the popular kids during their school years. Hell, Kyle was surprised that she even remembered him after all these years...

"So, anyways... I figured that, since you're here... I want to..." Megan briefly trailed off. "...to tell you something that I've wanted to say... for a while, now..."

Kyle sighed. "I really don't know if I'm in the mood to listen to you... especially out of the blue like this..."

He might be coming off as rude, but after what she did, he didn't care.

"Kyle, look..." Megan began. "...I understand if you just want to leave me. I know what I did all those years ago was wrong... but I've matured! I finally know right from wrong! When I was just a teenager... I didn't know any better!"

"Okay..." Kyle said. "...but what does that have to do with anything now?"

“Well... see... I know that I turned you down over Craig...” Megan began. “...and, yeah, we actually got married a couple years after graduating high school... but, things have changed! Our relationship was strained pretty badly, so I went to the court, and after sifting through some paperwork, I got a divorce!”

“So... what is it you're trying to tell me?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle... see... I hadn't realized my true feelings about you... until now...” Megan said.

Kyle had a feeling of where this might be going... but he was not even going to consider following through mutually.

“...would you like to go out and... do something with me sometime back in Atlanta?” Megan asked.

Being a master of psychological manipulation, Kyle decided to feign surprise. He was also not going to mention anything about his current relationship with Lyra, since he wanted Megan to utterly suffer. When she rejected him back in early high school... it was utterly humiliating for Kyle, since she started gossiping about how he tried to ask her, and he became the laughing stock of the school, and a major target for bullying. That was something he could never let go.

“Hold on a minute!” Kyle said. “When I asked you out back in freshman year, you turned me down!”

“Well, that was before!” Megan said.

“Before what?” Kyle asked.

Megan fiddled with her hair a little bit.

“...Before I found out you were a famous artist.” Megan said. “I looked at your Facebook page, and saw your posts. You're 'xXx_Abstraction_xXx' on DeviantArt, and you've got hundreds of thousands of fans around the world. So, I figured... y'know... I actually like guys who can draw and paint... plus, with the money you make, I figured... I could have a decent lifestyle... and with a guy I misjudged at first, but... I'm really sorry about everything I did, Kyle!

“I was young and immature and naive! I didn't know how I really felt at the time, but now I do! So, I know it's, like, ten years late, but... would you... would you please be my boyfriend...?”

Kyle narrowed his eyes.

“Megan...” he began. “...to be completely honest...”

Megan folded her hands in hopeful anticipation, a smile appearing on her face.

“...I'm sorry, but...” he began, causing Megan's smile to start fading. “...I'm afraid I've changed my mind. You had your opportunity back in grade school... and you just let it slip right by. Plus... I don't think we're really... right... for each other...”

“...W... wh...” Megan struggled to speak. “...WHAT...!? Is this... is it... because of what I did? All the gossiping... and making fun of you...?”

“It's not just that...” Kyle responded. “...it's... more than that...”

He was only being vague, since he was not going to mention he was already taken by Lyra, but making it seem like he was rejecting her out of pure choice.

“I-I can... I can change! I-I'll make it up to you...! I'll—” Megan pleaded before she was cut off.

“Megan... please, don't.” Kyle said.

“Kyle... why are you doing this to me? Don't you... don't you know... you can't reject a nice girl!?” Megan said as her eyes started tearing up.

“I'm sorry, Megan, but I'm afraid that ship has long sailed.” Kyle stated firmly.

“Give me... a second ch-chance...!” Megan sobbed.

Kyle shook his head while pressing his lips together.

“Honestly, I must've given you a thousand of chances all those years ago... I've moved on.” he said.

“Kyle!” Megan scolded. “Give me a s-second chance, or I'll c-c-cry...!”

Kyle shrugged. “...Then I guess you're gonna cry. There's nothing I can do about it.”

“Yes, y-you can...!” Megan said.

“Once again, Megan...” Kyle began. “...I'm sorry, but... it's just... not going to work."

Kyle turned to begin walking away.

"Goodbye...” he said for the final time.

Megan kept one hand on her chest, held out the other towards Kyle as he was walking away.

“...Kyle... no...! Please, wait...!” she begged. “...Please don't leave me single...!”

Kyle did not acknowledge her existence any longer, and simply left the area without looking back. Megan brought her hands up to her face as she tipped her head down, silently crying in self-pity. He continued to get his second portion of breakfast... and she made no attempt to get up and try to beg or demand that he change his mind.

Briefly setting down his plate and glancing back at the now-depressed Megan... Kyle silently chuckled to himself with a satisfied grin on his face, pressing his five fingertips on both hands together in a devious manner.

Payback's a bitch, huh Megan? Kyle thought. Now she knows the pain she caused me ten years ago! Maybe I'm a bit evil for doing that... but right now, I don't care! All I care about concerning my love life is Lyra! And as said by the Klingon... revenge is a dish best served COLD!

Ed and Danny had woken up and decided to check back at the hotel. They were lucky enough to find a window from which they heard Kyle, Lyra, and Jan's voices from, and figured out that they would be heading home on that day. After waiting for a little while, the Schaeffers got their luggage loaded into the SUV, and Lyra and Jan waited outside while Kyle got them checked out at the front desk, and handed in the room keycards. Fortunately, they managed to do so before noon, because after that, they would be charged double.

The two escapees took advantage of this opportunity to climb into the back of Kyle's car once again while Jan and Lyra were distracted. This time, they made sure to go to the bathroom and brought some food and water that they stole from a convenient store last night while the clerk was briefly away from the counter. They also got some good exercise in so as to not be so uncomfortable while traveling for eight hours.

Once again, the back of the SUV was devoid of any luggage, as they had been put into the second row of back seats. This left Ed and Danny with enough room to hide once again.

"Wonder how he doesn't notice our added weight?" Danny said.

Ed shrugged. "I'm guessin' that idiot doesn't know how cars work."

In a way, it was true. Kyle did not know a whole lot about automobiles, since he always opted to have his vehicle tuned up and maintained by the mechanics at Discount Tire.

In any case, the Schaeffers were soon back in their car, and Kyle pulled out of the parking lot.

"Okay, time to hit the road before the traffic piles up... not that we'll be going anywhere near it." Kyle said.

Kyle never liked to take freeways and interstates, and usually preferred to take unorthodox routes on the lesser highways, away from the main freeways.

"Let's just hope we can get the hell away from Ed and Danny!" Lyra said.

Oh, you fucking wish... both of the stowaways thought.

It was going to be a long drive back to Atlanta... and sadly, it would only leave one final day with him and Lyra, before she would have to leave him for good...

...but what else could happen...?