"W-Why did you do that, Nick?" Kindlin asked, nervously.
"I don't know," Nick said slowly, sounding unsure. It, of course, was a lie, but he didn't know what else to say. 'I like you' probably would have earned him a slap... knowing Kindlin.
Tears came to her eyes as she stood up and turned back to him. "I'm really sorry... Thank you for dinner... But I gotta go. I'll see you later."
Nick called after her as she walked away, but his voice was hardly heard over the loud music playing in the restaurant. "Kin, where are you going?! Crap!" he stood up and ran to the cashier, throwing a wad of money at them. "Here... it's for table #10. I gotta go!"
Nick ran out of the restaurant and into the hotel lobby, not seeing Kindlin. 'Maybe she went to the hotel room,' he thought, and though he knew that weren't the case he went to check anyway.
Coming back down to the lobby 5 minutes later, Nick ran through the revolving door and hailed a taxi, glad there was one near-by. Not knowing any other place to go in Seattle, he went to her parents house. "You're so stupid, Nick!" he murmured as he walked back down the pathway in Kindlin's parents front yard, to get to his car. "Who the heck goes to their parent's house when upset??" he continued his trek to find her, stopping at every store, restaurant, and park immaginable, yet still never spotting her.
Taking a deep breath, Nick looked down at his watch... "2:36 a.m.," he mumbled to himself. "Great. Just great."
So it was 2:30 in the morning, Nick still hadn't found Kindlin, meaning she was still out there... in the dark, in the cold, with crazy men lurking around dark corners, just waiting to abduct her and-
Nick's mind was going about a thousand miles per hour, with all the different things that could be happening to her at that moment.
With a sigh, Nick headed back to the hotel room, hoping she would at least call. He un-locked the door and stepped inside the hotel room. "How long have you been here?!" Nick screeched, half angry at her and half just glad she was okay, as he ran over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Do you know how worried I was?! I looked everywhere for you, Kindlin! Don't ever do that again! Do you understand me?!"
Kindlin shrugged his hands off of her shoulders and walked over to the window, turning her back to Nick and looking out at the city lights.
"Kin?" Nick asked, quieter then he had been before. When he didn't get a response, he walked over to her and gently turned her around, looking down at her face. "What's wrong?" he whispered. "What, exactly, happened downstairs?"
"Nothing happened," Kin looked up at her with a stern look on her face. "Nothing at all happened... Do YOU understand?? Nothing!" she stated firmly, through clenched teeth.
Nick's eyes widened and he gulped as he felt his heart fall to his feet, crushing everything in its path, on its way down. She was going to just act like nothing had happened: like he hadn't kissed her, like she hadn't run off... and he couldn't believe it! How could he just let her act like nothing had happened?!
Kindlin moved around him and walked away and into the bathroom. There was his answer. That was how. They were going to go back to ignoring each other - and when not doing that, being cynical to each other - no matter if Nick wanted to or not. And there was nothing he could do about it.
