As soon as he lifted her, she interlocked her arms in his, the same way she used to when they would swim at The Plunge during the summer and he would try to toss her up in the air. Because of the way their arms were intertwined, he wasn't able to release his hold on her, and momentum sent him tumbling onto the bed with her.
When they came to rest, Katie was on her back, the golden mane of hair spread out across the pillows behind her head like a shining, silky cloud. Her eyes were wide and her skin was flushed, and she looked as beautiful as he had ever seen her look. More beautiful than any woman he had ever seen in his life.
Her blue eyes opened wide in astonishment, but whether that was in response to something she saw in his face or something that was going on inside her own mind and heart, he had no idea. Maybe it was combination of both.
He was immediately lost in those giant blue azure pools, as he always was any time he looked into them. His awareness of everything else in the world faded away – of the fact that Bobby was next door, of the fact that they were in her childhood bedroom, of the fact that he was growing harder by the instant – he was not aware of anything but Katie's big blue eyes.
Katie reached up and trailed her fingertips lightly over his face. God, the sensation was almost too much to bear.
Her exquisite eyes filled with tears that shone like diamonds as she whispered, “Jason...”
There was so much emotion infused in that one tiny, desperate whisper that he had to close his eyes against the sudden rush of his own intense feelings. Eyes closed, he pressed his forehead to hers, breathing hard.
“God, I've missed you so much,” he whispered back to her, his intensity matching that of her own voice just a moment before.
He opened his eyes and looked into hers again. He saw in them that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. He knew the time was right. Their lips were mere millimeters from touching...he slowly moved his head towards hers...
At that exact moment, the loud strains of, “I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE, YOU OTHER BROTHERS CAN'T DENY...” filled the room, startling both of them.
Katie jumped involuntarily, which caused her forehead to bang into his with a loud knocking sound. Jason reared back, moving his head away from the pain, and his hand flew up to where he had been hit.
This movement caused him to lose his precarious balance on the edge of the bed and, in one quick motion, he fell to her wooden floor, landing flat on his butt with a hard thud.
The strains of Sir-Mix-A-Lot's party anthem continued to fill the room (damn Alex and his constant prank ringtone changing!), but he could pick out one sound over the canned rap song.
He looked up and saw Kit Kat's beautiful face looking down at him. God, with her golden hair backlit by her bedside lamp, she really did seem to have an angelic glow about her – it looked like a soft, bright halo surrounded her lovely face.
Then he realized what the sound was that he could hear over the blaring ringtone.
She was laughing her ass off at him.
Chapter Thirteen
Hearing the doorbell ring mere minutes after Jason had left with Bobby, Katie ran down the stairs of her childhood home and opened the door to see Sophie standing on her porch, like she had seen a thousand times before. Katie was struck once again with the differences in beautiful Sophie's appearance.
She was no longer a bouncing four year old, or a tomboy eight year old, or a pre-teen with a mouth full of braces. Sophie stood before her in stiletto heels, skinny jeans and a sparkling black top, and she was a beautiful young woman.
“Ready to party?” Sophie asked mischievously, and Katie grabbed her and hugged her.
“Are you okay?” Sophie asked, concern lacing her voice as she rubbed her hands up and down over Katie's back.
Katie, for her part, was too choked up to speak for a moment. In all the drama that had been consuming her thoughts, she really hadn’t let it soak in that her little Sophiebell was getting married!
“I’m fine,” Katie assured her with conviction as soon as her voice returned to her. She gave Sophie one more hard squeeze before grabbing her purse and heading out the door. “I just really missed you, chickadee. I'm so happy to be a part of your big day.”
As Katie climbed in the party bus filled with rowdy women eager to begin their night out at The Grill on the Riverwalk, Katie noticed something disconcerting. The guy on the motorcycle, the one that Jason had pointed out earlier in the day after they left Mona’s, was sitting on his bike two car lengths behind the bus.
Hmm...that’s odd, Katie thought to herself. She felt a little tingle at the back of her spine, but put both the thought of Motorcycle Man and the tingle of fear firmly and deliberately out of her mind. I mean, this was Harper's Crossing. It was a small town, not like San Francisco, where seeing the same person twice in one day could almost never be random.
As the bus pulled away from the curb and headed toward downtown, she made a decision to keep thoughts of this weird little coincidence out of her mind for the rest of the evening, and just concentrate on having a good time.
This resolution became ten times harder to follow when the motorcycle pulled away from the curb immediately after the bus did, and began to follow them.
--- ~ ---
It felt so strange to Katie to actually be walking up the wooden steps to the bar portion of The Grill. She had never been upstairs before, although it had always held a place of reverence and mystery in her mind. But the last time Katie had been in Harper's Crossing, she wasn't legal yet. Nick and Jason had snuck up there several times when they were all teenagers, but Katie had sat her butt in her seat at their table downstairs in the restaurant portion of the establishment and staunchly refused to go with them. It was against the rules and Katie NEVER broke the rules.
She had always been curious about it, though, and was excited to finally have the chance to see it with her own eyes. As she handed her driver's license and ten dollar bill to the guy working the door, she realized that – although she was 28 years old and a practicing lawyer – she had never actually felt quite as “grown up” as she did at that moment.
When she stepped inside, her skin tingling with anticipation at what wonders the space might contain, she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed with what she saw. It wasn't the “den of iniquity” that she had always imagined that it might be, and it also wasn't the cosmopolitan oasis that she had also, at times, dreamed that it was. In fact, it didn't match up to any of the visions that Katie had always had of it in her head.
In reality, it looked pretty much the same as the restaurant downstairs. It had the same wall coverings, the same tables, the same chairs, the same art on the wall. The only difference was a large dance floor in the center of the room and a glossy wooden bar that ran across the entire left hand wall.
Katie smiled to herself as she surveyed the space. It was exactly as it should be. She wouldn't have it any other way.
Seeing Sophie get carded was also a strange experience. Sure, logically she knew that Sophie had turned 21 the previous summer, but to actually SEE her in a bar was strange.
Who was she kidding? To actually see her drive a car was strange, let alone gain admittance into a bar.
There were about fifteen girls present that were all part of Sophie's party. Katie knew about half of them already, and was looking forward to getting to know the rest during the course of their night of “debauchery.” Amber was in attendance, as well as the Sloan girls Haley, Krista, Jessie and Becca (QUAD SQUAD! REPRESENT!). The rest of the attendees were girls that Katie remembered being Sophie’s childhood friends.
As she stepped through the “VIP” area (which, in reality, consisted of a red rope sectioning off three tables...but, hey, this was Harper's Crossing!) she spotted a girl sitting at the far table and did a double take.
“Chelle?!” Katie exclaimed, and realized that, because of her surprise and excitement, it had come out a little louder than she had meant it to – but, then ag
ain, with the music pounding from the speakers, even her enthusiastic exclamation was barely audible.
As the woman turned, Katie saw that it was, indeed, her Chelle. She screamed and ran over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
Rachelle Thomas (AKA Chelle) had been Katie’s best friend since second grade. Rachelle had started at Harper’s Crossing Elementary mid-year and so, of course, she was branded the “new kid,” with all of the social stigma that entailed among vicious little seven-year-olds. Chelle had been really quiet for the first few months that she attended Harper's Crossing Elementary. Katie had thought about approaching her, but the girl had seemed so contentedly self-contained that Katie wasn't even sure what she would talk about with her.
Then, it had happened. Chelle had gotten the dreaded chicken pox and had to miss several weeks of school. When she came back, she had worn, not one, but two badges of shame – now she was not only the “new kid” she was the “chicken pox kid.” The other members of their second-grade class had descended on her at every playground opportunity, taunts at the ready, like a pack of blue-jeaned and pig-tailed wolves circling an injured deer.
That pissed Katie off. Even at seven years old, she had a strict moral code. She didn't believe in being mean to people. Not only that, the teacher had said that they needed to welcome Rachelle back and show her some support. The teacher had SAID it! That made it a rule!
Katie mulled over what to do about the situation. She knew that explaining to the other kids that what they were doing was wrong was a losing proposition. She also instinctively recognized that sticking up for Rachelle while the mob frenzy of mocking was in full effect would not have the desired outcome, but would rather just make her a target, as well.
Then, she came up with the perfect idea. She wouldn't try to confront the bullies directly. She would just ACT in opposition to them. She would be as NICE to Rachelle as they were being mean, and hopefully they would see the difference and be ashamed of themselves.
Well...that was probably too much to hope for, Katie decided, but at least Rachelle would have somebody being nice to her!
The very same night that she had that idea, she spent all evening making an elaborate card for Rachelle. On one side of the inside flap, it had read “YOU ARE” in big, bold letters. On the other side of the interior, Katie had listed all of the good qualities that she had noticed about Rachelle in the time she had been going to school there.
The next day, as all of the class was filing in and taking off their coats, putting their backpacks away, and making their way to their seats, Katie had walked up to Rachelle and wordlessly handed her the card. She wasn't trying to be mysterious, she was just nervous about what Rachelle's reaction would be! She sat down in her seat and stared steadfastly forward, waiting for the teacher to begin, and then lost herself in her work until morning recess.
As the class was filing out, Rachelle hung back to wait for Katie. She looked just as nervous as Katie felt, which made Katie relax a little bit.
“Did you mean that stuff?” Rachelle asked shyly.
Katie nodded with conviction.
“Do you wanna play on the monkey bars?” Rachelle asked as a follow up.
Katie nodded again, and they had scampered out to the playground together, where they spent that recess and every recess thereafter. They had become fast friends from that moment on.
The mean kids stopped making fun of Chelle, preferring targets who were isolated and defenseless.
In middle school, they had gotten necklaces that had the words “Best Friends” written across a heart that was split into two pieces. Katie had gotten the section of the heart that said “Be Fri” and Chelle had chosen “st ends.”
But when Aunt Wendy had seen the necklaces, she said that a lot of people have ‘best friends’ but very few had ‘diamond friends.’ She explained that ‘diamond friends’ were better than plain old ‘best friends’ because diamonds were not only rare, they were forever.
So, needless to say, from that day on Chelle and Katie were ‘diamond friends.’
Then, Chelle had to move the summer before their senior year because her dad got transferred. They had kept in touch through letters for the first few months, but by the end of senior year Katie had gotten so busy she hadn’t written...and then she left for California.
She almost couldn’t believe her eyes. They hugged long and hard, and as they pulled away Katie felt tears forming in her eyes. Oh, good! More tears! At least she was consistent. Oh, well, at least these were happy tears. She'd had enough of angst.
“Hi, diamond friend,” Chelle said with a big smile on her face and tears brimming in her own eyes, “How ya been?”
“I can't believe I'm seeing you here!” Katie non-answered.
Chelle smiled and said in her signature dry tone, “Really? Because, since I moved back here a year ago, the word on the street is that it's a lot more rare to see you around these parts than me.”
Katie laughed, “Guilty as charged. So, you moved back to Harper's Crossing, huh? How did that happen?”
“Well, that's a funny story. You know David Price? Remember from high school? He's running for City Planner now. Well, anyway, we reconnected on Facebook a few years ago, and started talking. It just turned into something...more...and now we're engaged!” Chelle said happily, showing Katie her ring.
Katie struggled to keep the expression on her face positive...or, if she couldn't manage that, at least neutral. Katie had always thought that David Price was a supreme douchebag. But, hey, maybe he had changed. Right? As long as he made Chelle happy!
As Katie and Chelle caught up, it seemed like no time at all had passed since the two girls had seen each other. Katie learned that Chelle’s older brother Eddie was in the wedding, a last minute replacement. He and Riley Sloan were best friends, and when it became clear that Riley was not going to be able to make it back, Eddie had offered to fill in so that the ratio of bridesmaids to groomsmen would not be skewed. And since he also worked with Bobby and Jason as a project foreman at Sloan Construction, it seemed even more natural.
Katie, in turn told Chelle all about becoming a lawyer and being on the fast track to Jr. Partner.
“That sounds exciting!” Chelle enthused.
Katie nodded in agreement, but her manner was thoughtful. She replied, “Well, I don't know if exciting is really the word I would use. I mean, it's a lot of work, a lot of pressure. But it's very fulfilling.”
“Oh, that's amazing!” Chelle said with a wide smile, “It must be so cool to help all the people that come into your office, all of your clients. I know you always talked about wanting to help people who were in trouble. Just like you did with me! And now you're a lawyer! Now you can!”
Katie nodded, although it was even more half-hearted than before, and said, “Well, yeah...I mean...I've never really met our clients. I mainly work in corporate acquisitions. I mean...it's pretty much making sure paperwork is in order, preparing briefs and things like that.”
Chelle nodded. There was a moment of awkward silence and then they both burst out laughing. They laughed until tears ran down their faces.
“OK, so I'm just gonna shut up then,” Chelle mocked herself when their fit of giggles was over, “I'm putting my foot back into my Jimmy Choos before I can stick it in my mouth again.”
“No, no,” Katie said, “Really, it's fine. I mean, yes, I know that my life doesn't look like I had always dreamed it would be. But it's nice, you know? I live in a beautiful city, I have a job I enjoy and that I'm really good at, an apartment I love...that's a pretty damn good life, right?”
Chelle nodded enthusiastically, “It is. And are you happy?”
Katie affirmed that, yes, she was indeed happy.
Chelle paused a beat and then said quietly, “Well, why do you look so miserable, then?”
Katie opened her mouth to respond, but before anything could come out, Amber came over and informed them that the party games were getting started. Katie
was glad. She didn't have the first clue what she was planning to say.
As Katie and Chelle settled into their seats, which the other girls had formed into a large circle, Sophie announced, “The first game we will be playing is ‘Same-Same-Shoot It-Shoot It’ the object of which is to find out a little bit more about each other. Well...the object of which is to get drunk, who are we kidding?”
A raucous cheer went up from the girls at Sophie's party, and she continued, “The way it works is, you pass around a hat filled with general relationship questions. One person at a time draws, and then answers the question. Everyone who has the same answer has to drink.
“For example, if the question is 'At what age did you have your first crush?' and the person says 6, and 6 is the same answer for you, then you have to yell 'Same-Same!' and then everyone else will yell 'Shoot It-Shoot It.' Then the person who drew the question and everyone who had the same answer has to take a shot. Got it?"
The group nodded their understanding and the game began. When it came to Katie's turn, she pulled out a card, expecting something innocuous. Her question read, “How old were you when you met your first love?”
She opened her mouth to answer and stopped herself before the reply that had automatically popped into her head had come flying out of her mouth. Good God, what was wrong with her? She had met Nick the summer before 7th grade. So why was the first answer that had popped into her head, 'I was 5 years old'...and why did that realization feel like a punch to the gut?
“I was eleven,” Katie answered quietly and Haley Sloan yelled “Same-Same” with everyone chorusing “Shoot It-Shoot It” immediately after.
Chelle’s turn was next, and her question was “Have you ever had an unrequited love?”
She immediately responded, “Yes.”
Several people yelled, “Same-Same” and the group called out a spirited “Shoot It-Shoot It!”
My First (Jason & Katie) Page 15