Stronger...

He appreciated her willingness to call him by Charlie instead of Charles. She was the first one. “No, I am from England, but I guess the American accent is getting to me a little. What about yourself?”

Kai bashfully nodded her head, picking up on the accent after he had brought the fact to light. “I can hear it now.” She laughed, “Maybe but it fits.” She smiled politely at him. “--And Hawaii. I’m from Hawaii.”

“That doesn’t mean you are happy. ” Connor stated as he looked at Kai. He didn’t know what she had been up to, they had drifted apart. “You’re allowed to not be happy, you’re allowed to complain. ” He wasn’t sure the girl’s feelings towards him, or anything for the matter. She had been distant in the emotional way for the longest of time.

Kai didn’t want to complain. There was no point in that. She just wanted to be free from the situation and her thoughts. “I know that.” She replied firmly, looking up at him. “I don’t really think that answering that will change any of this. I’ll be fine, Connor. I just don’t want you to worry about me when you have someone who still can and does makes you happy.” She shrugged. She wanted him to be happy and if that meant that they were threw then that’s the way it would be. She knew that it was the best thing for her sake also because in the begging she was angry but now she just wanted to be done. With all of it. Forgiving him was easy, yet she knew she didn’t have it in her to take him back again and doing that the first time wasn’t exactly the best choice.

Connor really didn’t want to talk about Blakely with Kai, he didn’t want to hurt her anymore. He had sighed at her question. “Are you happy?” Answering her question with one of his own. He didn’t want this to be about him and Blakely, not right now. 

Was she happy? That was a question she hadn’t even realized needed to be answered. Kai had tried to hard to forget about her emotions. Trying to distract herself and that landed her in the hospital. She wasn’t in the best place but she wasn’t as upset as she should have been. “I’m in a beautiful city with all of my friends, college is great and I just recently saw my dad. I can’t really complain, I guess.” She replied, not even referring to the true meaning behind his question.

When she had cleared up the confusion, he was in shock at what she had said. He didn’t know how to respond or even if he wanted to. Shaking his head slowly. “I don’t wanna talk about her with you.” Why would he want to hurt her even more than what she already was. “Let’s talk about you and me.”

There wasn’t anything to talk about when it came to them. She knew they both were aware of what was supposed to happen. Kai understood where h was coming from and there wasn’t really a way to go around what she was trying to say. “Okay then--At least answer this; Does she make you happy?” She questioned, her eyes not moving away from his. 

Charles was taken the slightest by surprise, although it did not show. He was not used to people wanting to talk to him under normal circumstances. “Nice to meet you Kai, I am Charles, but please call me Charlie.”

“Charlie--Okay. Charlie it is.” Kai smiled. “Are you from here? New York, I mean.”

“Hi there. So, why are you dancing? Sports not working out for you in the real world?”

“Injury.” Kai replied, being beyond vague. “This is less of a strain believe it or not so...”

“You’re very welcome. I didn’t know you could dance. I thought you were all sports.”

“You’re not the only one because I thought so too.” Kai replied back, smiling over at the blonde. “Hey, Ashley.”

“No I believe you.”

“Good.” Kai nodded in return. “I think introductions come now. I’m Kai, it’s nice to meet you.”

Sitting across from his girlfriend, it was weird. They weren’t the same people they were before this.  Shrugging his shoulders a bit at her question. “I’ve been okay. What about you?”

Kai didn’t want to talk about herself. She wasn’t very proud about how she had been taking care of herself lately. “Tell me everything.” Kai spoke up, giving him an encouraging smile. She wasn’t doing this to compare herself to anyone nor make the situation worse but she needed to make sure that what she had planned to say was what needed to be said.

He was confused by the girl but didn’t question her choice. “Well we can go to that cafe. I’m not hungry either.” He said going in the direction of the cafe.

Kai didn’t reply after that but only followed silently after him. When they arrived at the cafe they ordered and found a seat near a window. Wrapping her hands around the warm drink in her hands, Kai sighed softly and then met his gaze. “How have you been?”

Connor followed her out the door. He knew that this would be the conversation, that they somehow managed to get away from in the beginning. It was the now or never, her or me. He knew it, she knew it. Falling into step beside her, the air around them was weird. “What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m not really that hungry so whatever you want. I’ll probably just get something to drink anyways.” She replied with a shrug. 

“Until you get better…” he trailed off, stepping further into the room before finding his rest once more against the wall. “Though, please, tell me how someone dreads dancing. I feel that’s too pregnant of a word to use on the subject.”

Laughing lightly, Kai mentally agreed with him. “Okay, maybe not loathe but still I strongly dislike doing it.” She clarified. “Just won’t let myself enjoy it. Don’t really know why.”

Connor felt this tension between the two. He didn’t know where he stood with Kai, and felt like he was constantly walking on eggshells around her. He offered her a kind smile as he observed her body language. “Did you want to grab something to eat?”

“Yea, actually. I’d like that.” Kai nodded, rolling hre lips into a firm line. There was so much that she needed to say. Things she should have said when things began to fall apart in the first place. Gathering all of her things together, Kai made her way over to the door where Connor was standing and flashed him a soft barely-there smile before walking out before him.

Connor nodded, “But it’s a substitute you’re good at.” he pointed out as he looked curiously at her, “Why the switch if it’s not what you want to be doing though?”

“Thank you.” Kai smiled softly at him. “I usually do sports, work out--things like that and I kind of got hurt. Nothing too serious but I was told that I should find something else to do and dancing was recommend.” Kai shrugged.