by Amy Wiseman
"Goodnight," she whispered into his neck, nuzzling his ear and giving him a soft kiss in the sensitive spot behind it.
"Goodnight, Kara." She slipped her body down and snuggled under his chin, slipping her right leg between his as they both fell asleep.
Chapter Eight
The ring of his cell phone woke Jason around four in the morning. At first he was disoriented, but quickly took in his surroundings as flashes of the night before came back to him. He looked over at Kara, who was sound asleep curled on her side; the covers were pulled up to her chin, covering her chest but drooping down on her back, giving Jason ample view of her luscious, soft skin. The need to touch her was overwhelming; however, before he could reach out, his phone rang again. He got out of bed quickly, reaching for his pants, and finding his cell phone in the pocket.
Checking the caller ID he recognized the number of the hospital. Not wanting to wake her, he walked from Kara's bedroom into the kitchen and pulled on his jeans as he answered the phone, "This is Doctor Dietrich."
The on-call service replied, informing Jason that a patient of his from pediatrics had been admitted to the hospital and he would be needed as soon as possible.
"Thank you," Jason replied, hanging up the phone.
He walked back into Kara's bedroom, found his shirt and shoes, and quietly put them on. Once dressed, he was unsure what to do. Should he wake her up to tell her he had to go into work, or just leave her a note? She looked so peaceful asleep but Jason didn’t want to risk her not seeing a note, and instead decided to let her know he was leaving. He crouched down in front of her and gently kissed her shoulder. "Kara," he whispered.
"Hmm…" she mumbled without opening her eyes.
"I have to go to the hospital; one of my patients was admitted this evening," he explained, his hand gently stroking the hair at the nape of her neck.
"Mmm…" she replied. Jason laughed softly.
"Sleep, beautiful." He kissed her nose and cheek, and left the room. Finding his keys on the key hook, and smiling as he remembered Kara telling him to hang them there, he quietly left her apartment, locking the door from inside before closing it.
~*~
Kara awoke a few hours later. As she stretched and rolled over, she immediately opened her eyes and saw Jason's side of the bed empty.
She looked around startled, having expected to find him there sleeping beside her. Clenching the sheet to her chest she called for him.
"Jason?" There was no reply, and the apartment was eerily quiet. Quickly she got up and grabbed the bathrobe hanging on the bathroom door and tied it firmly around her waist. A quick tour of her apartment proved she was correct; Jason was nowhere to be found.
She stood in the middle of the living room, unsure of what to do next. Did she really just have a one night stand? Holy shit, what time did he leave? She began to feel nauseous with the realization of her current situation. Taking a deep cleansing breath she looked around, hoping to find a note of some kind; some sort of explanation as to why he would leave without saying goodbye. She checked the kitchen and then returned to her bedroom, looking around by the bed and on the floor but came up empty-handed. She collapsed onto the bed, her head in her hands, shame welling up in her heart.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there in stunned silence before she got up and turned on the shower, cranking the knob until the water was as hot as she could stand it. Kara wanted nothing more than to climb in, and scrub her body clean, while trying to scour the memories away as well, but she didn’t succeed. Jason was everything she had been waiting for; successful, charming and attractive. Their connection in high school only seemed to enhance the connection she had thought they shared now.
When the water began to run cold, Kara climbed out of the shower and dried off. Throwing on jeans and a sweatshirt, she brushed her hair back into a simple ponytail then walked assuredly into the bedroom and stripped the sheets from her bed. Not even thinking twice, she pulled a trash bag out and threw the sheets into it. She grabbed the bag and her keys from the key hook, and slammed her door on the way out, dropping the bag of sheets into the dumpster before she climbed into her van and drove to the bakery.
~*~
Kara’s phone rang five times that afternoon before Evalyn finally showed up in person.
"Kara ..." she started, leaning over the counter, watching her friend as she decorated a princess birthday cake.
"Evalyn," Kara replied shortly.
"What's wrong?" Eva was suddenly worried. She had been expecting to dish on Kara's date with Jason, but instead had found her friend in a less than euphoric state.
"Nothing," Kara gritted out as she started piping small pearl drops along the ridge of the cake.
Evalyn was quiet for a minute taking in her best friend's demeanor. "So then the date was a bust?" she questioned cautiously.
Kara closed her eyes, her hand stilled over the cake, then suddenly she hurled the dispenser on the counter and let out a guttural growl. When she opened her eyes, Evalyn could see they were red and were slowly filling with unshed tears.
"Kara! What is it?" Eva came around the counter and pulled her friend in to a tight hug.
"I'm a slut!" Kara bawled into Eva's shoulder.
"What?" Evalyn was completely baffled by Kara's admission.
"I slept with him!"
"K, you've been with like two and a half guys. I'm pretty sure having sex with the hot doctor did not make you a slut," Evalyn said soothingly, pulling back from her friend and tucking a strand of hair behind Kara’s ear. "Oh, wait...unless he talked you into anal. Oh my God, Kara did you let him in the back door?!" Evalyn was joking, of course. Mostly.
Kara pulled back and glared at her friend, then reached over to pick back up the icing dispenser and went back to work on the birthday cake, completely ignoring Evalyn.
Eva dipped her finger into the mixing bowl containing the rest of the pink icing for the cake, tasting the sugary concoction.
She gave Kara a few more minutes of silence before starting again. "Okay, seriously, why do you think you're a slut?"
Kara sighed and set the icing dispenser down once again. "He left," she answered quietly.
"He left?"
Kara nodded her head, looking down. "You're killing me here Kara, I need the deets if we're going to go Goodbye Earl on this guy." Kara looked up suddenly, laughing at her best friend.
Shaking her head, Kara breathed deeply as if resigning herself to telling Evalyn the details of her night. "We had dinner at Beau Lac. It was amazing. Romantic. We talked about high school and how we both had noticed each other, sort of,” she tossed her hands around in the air, “fate-like. He told me why he didn't date; apparently he had some cheating girlfriend in Seattle." Kara walked to the back of the bakery into her sub-zero refrigerator and grabbed the bottle of chilled tequila that had been there since her birthday, and two shot glasses. She poured the shots and then returned to the front of the store and handed one to Evalyn.
"Thanks. Salt?"
Kara shook her head no. "Suck it up and drink it," she taunted, then tossed her shot back and urged Evalyn to take hers. Evalyn downed the shot in one gulp, wincing slightly at the burn.
Kara continued, "So we have this amazing connection and I tell him I have dessert at my place, we go back, eat, and ..." She trailed off, pouring two more shots.
"And ..." Eva pressed.
"We kissed. It was ... amazing."
Evalyn gave out a snort at her friend’s overuse of the word. Kara just gave her a side eye and finished, "I told him I didn't want him to leave. He said he didn't want to leave. So he didn't. Only he did. He just did it after I was asleep."
Eva's mouth dropped open. "Oh, he's dead," she said flatly. Kara sniffled. “No note?” Eva had to ask already knowing the answer. Kara just looked at her and rolled her eyes.
They sat in silence for awhile, each taking another shot, and then Kara went back to finishing the cake on the counter while Eva watched in com
plete awe of her friend's ability to make such beautiful cakes, even in the midst of an emotional breakdown.
"Soooo ..." Evalyn started again, "how was it?" she asked, drawing out the question. Kara looked up from the task in front of her shocked.
"Eva!" she growled with disgust and shook her head. Finally done with the piping, Kara stood back and turned the cake slowly in a circle so she could see all sides, a small smile showed her pleasure with how it turned out. She opened the cooler beneath the counter and carefully put the cake inside.
"Come on Kara,” Evalyn prodded again, “it's been forever since you got any, and I think it’s a completely valid question - that in no way reduces his douchiness, or the fact that if I see him again, I'm gonna catch and release his ass back in to the wild without his testicles. But he was seriously hot, so you gotta spill, was it good?" Evalyn shrugged, staring at her friend.
Kara huffed in obvious irritation but gave in, as Evalyn knew she would. "He was ..."
"Amazing?" Evalyn finished and they both laughed.
"Yeah." Kara snickered and nodded her head. "His hands. Wow. He's very skilled,” her eyes glazed over as she reminisced, and then snapping back to reality she set up their shot glasses one more time.
"Nice." Eva slammed the tequila and Kara did the same, both of them shuddering, "Are you going to call him?" Eva finally asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.
Kara just shook her head. "I can't call him." She walked back into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses, filling them both with water, and handed one to Evalyn.
"Why not? I mean, at the very least, the guy deserves one good, angry, drunk dial." Kara snorted, accidentally inhaling her water as she took a sip, launching her into a coughing fit.
After she got her coughing under control Kara sighed, "You know, I just need to forget the whole thing. I mean he's obviously not the kind of guy I thought he was. And now, on top of it all, I need to hit the mall and get new sheets," she admitted sheepishly.
Eva cocked her eyebrow at her friend. "I know you tend to shy away from modern technology, and seeing as how it usually tries to blow shit up on you, I really can’t blame you - but really, you shouldn't fear the washing machine, Kara. It's your friend." She paused a beat, then, seeing the bashful look on her friend’s face, asked, "What did you do with them?" She envisioned Kara with a pile of sheets and lighter fluid.
Kara smiled and then admitted sheepishly, with an embarrassed look, that she had tossed them in the dumpster. "They were the Pottery Barn ones, too. The more I think about it, the more I’m actually beginning to get more pissed off over the loss of those sheets than I am about the one night stand." She snorted in anger and growled.
Kara looked up startled when Evalyn walked over and smacked her on the back of the head. “Ow, what was that for?” She rubbed her head.
“That was for throwing away two hundred dollar, six hundred thread count Egyptian cotton sheets!” Eva stared at her friend for a moment, then grabbed Kara’s arm and began pulling her toward the door to the shop. “Come on, we’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?” Kara asked, struggling against Eva’s pull as she tried to grab her purse and keys.
“You are going dumpster diving.”
Chapter Nine
"Gross!" Kara shouted from inside the dumpster. Evalyn had no desire to know what was gross. She decided to file this under one of those situations where Kara could keep that shit to herself.
"Ugh!"
"Find the sheets, Kara," Evalyn replied evenly, leaning against the dumpster and looking over her cuticles.
"They aren't worth it," Kara yelled.
"They cost over two hundred dollars, woman! Find those sheets!" There was no way Eva would let Kara escape the dumpster without them. As Kara continued to look, her cell phone rang and Evalyn, holding Kara’s purse, dug the phone out and glanced at the caller ID. Oh, this was going to feel good.
"You have a lot of nerve calling her. What? Do you have a guilty conscience now? You know what, don't answer that, she doesn't want to talk to you, and quite frankly you're lucky I don't have the time to hunt you down." Eva hit end and went back to inspecting her nails.
"Was that him?" Kara popped her head over the side of the dumpster.
"No, it was Ed McMahon." Eva turned to face her, then backed away from the dumpster. "Oh damn girl, you stink."
"Fuck you, Eva," Kara replied.
"Did you find them?"
Kara sighed, "Not yet." Her head disappeared once more into the bin.
~*~
Fifteen minutes later she emerged from the dumpster with the bag of sheets. As they made their way back to Kara's apartment a familiar car pulled into the complex and parked near them. Evalyn dug through Kara's purse to find her keys so they could go inside, just as Jason got out of the car and hurried toward them.
"Kara?" He looked distraught.
Kara looked to her friend to hurry up. Evalyn grimaced and dug around furiously.
"Kara," he said again slightly louder, walking up to them, only to stop short at the sight of Kara covered in unmentionable things. "What happened?" He looked her over, honestly worried and confused.
Kara squared her shoulders and turned to face him, holding her head high and chin out.
"I lost something in the trash, but I've got it now," she replied, holding the bag of sheets up. "I really don't think we have anything more to say to one another." Turning around she yanked her purse from Evalyn's grasp and emptied it on the porch in search of the elusive keys, finally remembering they were in her front pocket. "Of course," she grumbled, pulling the key ring out and quickly unlocking the door.
"Kara, I have no idea what's going on." Jason sounded irritated, as his hands pulled at his hair. Kara opened the door and motioned for Eva to go inside, then spun around to face off with him. She closed in on him, poking him in the chest.
"You. Fucking. Left." Each word was emphasized with a poke. "You didn't even leave a note," she ground out, "and I'm sorry Jason, I don't know what kind of girls you're used to dating, but for most people, that is considered a major fucking dating faux pas!" she finished yelling.
Jason stood there, mouth agape, in shock. Kara turned and started back to her apartment.
“Wait!” He reached for her, but pulled back and ran his hands through his hair again, trying to make sense of everything, “I woke you up to say goodbye!” Kara stopped short, her breath catching in her chest. Jason walked up and turned her around by her shoulder to face him. “A patient was admitted to the hospital, I got called by the service and had to go in, but I woke you up, Kara.”
Kara looked at him hesitantly, unsure of whether to believe him.
“We had only been asleep a few hours. I told you I had to go, and I would call you later. Your eyes were closed, but you said ‘mmhmm’. I thought you were awake! I never would have left without saying something.” He looked frustrated. “Damn it,” he dropped his hands from her shoulders and clenched his fists. “I was going to leave a note but I thought you might take that wrong, so I decided to wake you up and tell you instead.” He stared into her eyes, as if imploring her to believe him. Kara was speechless, her hand flying to cover her open mouth. Immediately she recoiled from the filth and started spitting from the contact. Jason just watched, with furrowed eyebrows. “Are you alright?” he asked, hesitantly, the look on his face betraying his confusion mixed with amusement.
“I am an idiot. I’m an overly emotional idiot,” Kara said, her shoulders sagging as she finally looked up at him. “I told you, I’m not good at this. I never ask guys to stay over and I panicked,” she shrugged, defeated, then looked down at her feet and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
She looked back up to see Jason smirking. “I need a shower,” she stated the obvious. “Will you come inside?”
Jason laughed, releasing the tension, and nodded in agreement while looking her over. “What did you do?”
She pointed at herself and repeated, “Ove
rly emotional, romantically inept idiot. Seriously, let’s just leave it at that.” Jason nodded his head and followed Kara into her apartment.
As Kara entered the apartment followed by Jason, Evalyn eyed her friend, brow raised.
Kara stopped in front of Evalyn, hanging her head in shame. "Yeah, so, he tried to wake me up,” she admitted, looking at Eva’s feet. Evalyn snorted out a laugh, and then looked to Jason, waiting for him to speak. He just shrugged, nodding his head in affirmation.
"Then your balls are safe. For now. Don't screw this up. I own Ginsu knives." Eva then turned back to Kara and hooked her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the door, "I'm gonna get out of here. I'd give you a hug, but," she looked Kara over, "I'm not going to." Kara laughed. "Call me," Evalyn demanded, pointing at Kara as she headed for the door. Kara nodded her agreement.
Eva walked out the door, leaving Kara and Jason alone. Kara glanced up at Jason shyly. "I'm going to go take a shower," she said quietly.
Jason grinned, "Good idea."
"Make yourself at home." She motioned toward the living room, then turned and went to clean up.
~*~
Now alone, standing in Kara's entry way, looking around her living room, Jason let out a deep breath, shaking his head to clear it. He was suddenly acutely aware that his life was going to be drastically changed by this woman. And he couldn't be more excited about it.
~*~
Once again under the hot spray of her shower, Kara took a moment to reflect on her incredible asshattery. She washed her hair and scrubbed every inch of her body once again, only this time trying desperately to remove the filth from the dumpster, and not the reminder of her night spent with Jason. She couldn't help but shake her head at the absurdity of it all. Jason was currently sitting in her living room, instead of burning rubber to get the hell away from the crazy girl he slept with the night before. This was going to take more than cupcakes to atone for; oral was definitely in his future.