It filled him with a warmth that he hadn't realized he was missing this whole time, to be hugging Kitty like this. To be close to her, to smell her hair, to lift her in the air...it was intoxicating and he wanted it. He wanted to always be able to do this. She wasn't Tina, but she was Kitty and that had been enough for him in the future and he was sure that with a little bit more time, it would be okay for him in the present too.
Putting her down and pulling away slightly, he said, "I want to do this right. I don't want to mess this up. You know that even though she isn't here, I still love Tina...but if you stick through it, I think I can move on from her." He hadn't said it in so many words, but he wanted her to be his girlfriend. "I love you too, Kitty. I'm not going to deny it anymore."
MIke hadn't admitted it to himself, but part of the reason why he had been so angry was because their relationship had been left so undefined. But he was fixing that now, or at least he hoped he was. He was still, after all, only sixteen years old.