Her last chance

by Danielle Lee

  It had been a long time since she’d made out with anyone. And never had she made out with anyone in public. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to—she did, she just always got the guys who were either too embarrassed…or maybe it was the company they were with. She sighed as she watched them continue their public mauling, and took a drink of the Coke that Kelsey had bought her in the lobby.

  “What’s wrong?” Kelsey asked amused. Noting the two kids in front of them, she pointed out their position.

  “Someday, I want to be like that,” she said. Her face turned red as she heard herself say it out loud. “I mean, carefree…Not impersonating a feeding frenzy on Animal Planet!”

  Kelsey laughed, then looked at her. “Really?” He leaned in and placed his right hand on her cheek, and pulled her in to his mouth for a kiss. His lips were soft. The way his tongue licked her bottom lip made her moan softly, sending a renewed excitement throughout his body. His eyes never left her face, looking into them as he began to touch her.

  After an hour-long session of serious making out, the movie ended with the two of them giving the teenagers a run for their money. As the credits rolled, catcalls were heard from the back of the movie theater, and the boy that sat in front of them—whose face looked to be sucked off from his girlfriend—even commented “Get a room!”

  Kelsey smiled and looked at Katherine, then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat. “Well, how was it? Did I live up to your expectations?”

  Katherine, red-faced, just looked down at the popcorn that lined most of the floor in the theater.

  “That good? It was for me as well,” he laughed, nudging her in the ribs lightly with his elbow. “Coffee?”

  Her head finally lifted slightly to a more appealing angle and quickly nodded once. He smiled at her, then took her hand and led her out the double doors of the theater.

  “I know a place right over here,” he said, gesturing across the street to a coffee shop with a green-and-white overhang.

  Formosa was a cute little coffee shop on the corner of East and Ninth. The sign was dark red with a coffee cup and a magic wand on the front. The tagline underneath read “Our brew is magic.” When they walked in, there were only a few tables left, and luckily for her, they were crammed in a corner. A lone guitarist played some folk music, entertaining the young college scene.

  “Two coffees, please, and lots of cream and sugar,” Kelsey’s voice rang out.

  He did it again: he ordered for her. Not only did she like her coffee black with a splash of caramel in it, but she hated when people took the assumption in ordering for her. Strike two.

  “So, do you bring all of your dates to Formosa?”

  “Not all of them—just the beautiful ones.”

  Forgiven. He knew just what to say and who to say it to. Katherine listened to the guitarist play as he sang his own song entitled “Forever Dazed.” She smiled at the lyrics and surprised herself to see that her foot was tapping. Kelsey seemed to be enjoying himself, too. After a few minutes in the shop, couples started dancing. Kelsey even stood up and offered his hand to dance. She graciously accepted.

  The love song was cute, but not overly cutesy. Kelsey’s hand on her waist led her to an appropriate spot on the wooden floor. Surprisingly, Kelsey could not dance whatsoever. His two left feet constantly stepped on hers and he didn’t seem to notice that he wasn’t at all any good. “I just love to dance,” he said excitedly.

  “Yeah. Me, too.” She smiled in spite of her naked feet to his heel. “Have you ever taken lessons?” She would’ve snorted if it weren’t so unladylike.

  “No, I’m just naturally talented.”

  Yeah, and I’m a football player! “I took a few dance classes when I was younger. My father and I went to a cotillion, and my mother thought it would be beneficial to know how to dance before I embarrassed myself. At the time, I thought it was stupid, but now am grateful for knowing.”

  The lyrics were being sung out loud by the younger people in the shop.

  Living in love, and loving to live

  Dying to love a love like this

  Wanting to wait, needing this time

  Your heart, soul, body, and mind

  Forever dazed, forever crazed

  Your love has left me amazed

  So the song wasn’t the best, but she was having a good time, bruises and all. After a while of listening to the guitarist, they made their way toward the door, held up by a line of people buying the new artist’s CDs. They were stuck behind another couple, who smiled hopelessly at each other.

  “Two CDs, please,” a man said to a woman behind a small folding table. The CDs were sold for five dollars each. He took out a ten-dollar bill and handed it to the woman in charge, then turned around toward the girl who held his attention. “One for you and one for me—our song. I’m having a great time, Lola.” The boy smiled sweetly as the girl folded her arms around his neck.

  “You’re so sweet! Thank you!”

  Katherine turned to look at Kelsey. He rolled his eyes and bent toward her ear. “Ten dollars too much.”

  “I thought it was sweet. Did you see how happy she was?”

  “Really? What a waste of money! There’s no way that guy back there will ever have a record deal. Come on, let’s see if we can get around them before they start making out again,” Kelsey said as he grabbed her hand, cramming her through the little walkway out into the night.

  ***

  It didn’t take long for her to drift off after she got into her pajamas. The night had gone as well as was to be expected. Other than some of the strikes he’d received, she did get to kiss him, and it did feel good to be in a man’s arms once again. Maybe the next time it would be easier for them. Work would definitely be more interesting.

  The next morning when she arrived at work, people seemed a bit cheerier. The hallways were bustling with more people than usual, and everyone was smiling at her as she entered the building. Men were paying attention to her for the first time since she’d worked there. They must have known that she’d had a great time last night. They saw her confidence as a woman rise. When she sat down in her cubicle, she received her first phone call within minutes. “Kat, it’s Mom, I had no idea that you were doing a different date column.”

  “Mom, like I tell you all of the time, it is an advice column, not a date column.”

  “Well, then, why does it say ‘My Date with Disaster’?”

  If Katherine was surprised by her mom’s call, she wasn’t surprised after the twenty other calls that were holding on the line for her. Her secretary was bogged down with messages flooding her inbox. “Mom, what are you talking about? I’m not doing a dating column; I just have the same old advice column. Who told you that?”

  “Well, Kat, unless you had a date last night and decided to write about it, then you better find out why you are on the High Fashion website.”

  Warning lights went off in her head…

  “WHAT!” she screamed without even realizing it. She turned on her computer and went straight to the High Fashion website. She looked at the issue that was to hit that month’s newsstands, and there it was. There was no way that this was happening to her. She rifled through the website when she came to the page “My Date with Disaster: the Kelsey Martin and Katherine Daniels Love Story.”

  Her face fell in hurt, then twisted in anger. Her skin flushed. “No, no, no!” she repeated. She could hear her mother's voice on the other end of the phone, but couldn’t comprehend what to say or do at that moment. The article discussed everything—even him ordering for them and her just sitting there like a pathetic person, taking it. It also claimed that they were together that night and “hit a home run” was how he put it. She then read something about how she had hopelessly fallen in love while he did all of the wrong things. He had taken their date together to sabotage her into a relationship? She then remembered what she’d thought the night before, how the date went just like something out of the movie How to Lose a
Guy in 10 Days, and she suddenly felt like a big fool. “Mom, I will call you back. Everything is all right.”

  “Are you sure, baby? Do you need your father and me to come there?”

  “No, Mom, everything is fine. I will call you later; right now I have to take care of something.”

  As soon as she hung up the phone, she started throwing her things in a plastic container that she kept in her work closet.

  “Katherine, I am…What are you doing?”

  Katherine looked up to see Janice staring at her through her doorway. “I’m packing my things. You obviously have been trying your best to get rid of me. Well, you will have your wish!”

  “Katherine, I don’t know what to say. I had no idea that was going to be online today. I…”

  “Save it, Janice. You’re the boss! You’re in charge of production! You knew exactly what was going up on the site! If I were you, I would think about getting a good lawyer! When I am done with my lawsuit you may not have a penny in that pretty little account of yours!” Her voice didn’t shake as it usually did. She spoke with clear conviction. She felt confident suddenly.

  Janice’s face paled. “On what grounds?”

  “How does libel sound to you?”

  “I don’t see how…” Janice’s voice faltered.

  “I knew something was going on. For weeks, you have been treating me like dirt, then I hear about a poll that you did, saying something like I didn’t fit in fashion-wise for your stupid-ass magazine! You have been jealous since day one. Just because you can’t get any other kind of production to see your work doesn’t mean you have to take it out on me. Honestly, Janice, Kelsey? What did you have to give him to write about me?”

  Janice’s face brightened. “Didn’t take much, he wanted to do it—then he started chickening out at the end…I had to assure the idiot to have coffee with you after your ridiculous make-out session at the movies.”

  Katherine’s face turned red. “How did you know about that? Oh…”

  “He called to tell me that he couldn’t do this to you anymore, and I assured him that he could keep his job if he could get a good story. He did well, didn’t he? I bet the Times won’t publish your little articles anymore.” She smiled to herself.

  “You seem awfully sure of yourself, Janice. Don’t you think the higher-ups will have a field day with this one?”

  “You don’t have any proof. Besides, a lot of people here know how much you make googly eyes at Kelsey.”

  “I have all of the proof I need; I can’t wait for my lawyer to get ahold of you. Good luck in your writing career. I don’t think you will be able to get a job writing jingles when I am through with you.” She held up her mini tape recorder and pushed the stop button, then rewound a bit of their conversation for entertainment purposes. When she pushed play and they heard the last bit of the conversation, Janice gasped and lunged forward.

  “It was all a joke…”

  “Save it for someone who cares. Now if you please, get the hell out of my cubicle.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The plane ride to Connecticut from La Guardia wasn’t totally unpleasant. Katherine sat in 12B, crammed in the middle of a young-couple sandwich known as Jean and Paul. Jean was a grad student in dance at NYU, and Paul was an architect for Morris Builders in Queens. The two of them met during a small art gallery opening where Paul’s sister Carol used to work. Their love story was so sweet and so romantic that Katherine could barely stand to hear it, yet she yearned to be told it repeatedly.

  They were perfect for each other, and their attraction was evident from the moment she sat down between them. They were a beautiful couple. She talked with them about her work with High Fashion Magazine. Jean was extremely impressed, as she’d read High Fashion ever since she could remember. She couldn’t believe that Kat was the one in the latest article. Paul offered to beat up Kelsey, and Kat smiled at the thought.

  “So what’re you doing going to Connecticut, and why didn’t you just drive?” Jean asked curiously.

  “Well, I don’t have a car, and it’s a ways away from my parents’ place. And the reason why I am leaving now and not later is because after the article went out, I moped at home. I think Ben and Jerry’s had to do a stock inventory.” Jean laughed, then smiled reassuringly. “The funny thing is a few days before this whole mess happened, my parents called and asked me to come home to help my father out. It couldn’t have happened at a better time, really. The thing is, no one knows that I quit High Fashion. Well, except for Walter Miller of Miller, Wade and Thomas, my lawyer.” Katherine put the last part in the familiar air quotes. “Anyway, so technically I am jobless, unless the New York Times decides to hire me, which I would take in a heartbeat.”

  “Damn,” Paul said, looking from his girlfriend to Katherine. “Is your father all right?”

  “Well, I think so. He has heart problems, but my mom assured me yesterday when I talked to her that the surgery was going to help him and it was a relatively standard procedure. So I guess I feel good about that. I suppose I’m insensitive thinking only of myself. It’s just been rough. I really liked Kelsey. Eight years of wasting time. You both are so lucky!”

  Jean sighed, then looked at Paul. It was hard to look at them and hard not to at the same time. Love radiated off the couple, giving her hope for herself.

  “I still can’t believe what that jerk did that to you,” Paul said to Kat.

  She just shrugged her shoulders and looked toward the back of the seat in front of her. She wished she could change the last week and a half from happening. Date from hell, no job, and now leaving her home for Connecticut. Life sure didn’t always turn out rosy. Her father used to say that a lot, and he was right: it sure as hell didn’t.

  The flight attendant made her speech as the seatbelt light went on. They began their descent toward the runway, and soon enough, her family would ridicule her for the article. Her nerves heightened as her two newest friends exchanged phone numbers and emails with her, promising to keep in touch and meet up while she was in Connecticut. It would be a nice diversion during her stay with her folks.

  ***

  Karen Daniels held up a small sign with Katherine’s name on it as she descended the walkway from the plane. Kat saw the sign and grinned. “Ha, Ha, very funny, now put that away!”

  A nice-looking man stood not five feet away as she put her hand on her sister’s sign. “Hi,” Kat said as she nodded to the man. He smiled back at her and started walking with them. She glanced to the side and smiled again, then looked at her sister, realizing that this must be the infamous boyfriend.

  “Hi, Katherine, I’m Warren.” His hand extended and firmly met hers. Her hand was soft, and his was the complete opposite—strong, like surgeons’ hands. His eyes blazed like fire as he took in her appearance. She blushed slightly. Get ahold of yourself, Kat; this is your sister’s boyfriend, and you know the kind she attracts!

  “It’s nice to meet you, Warren. My mother has told me a lot about you and Karen.”

  Warren smiled and Karen laughed.

  Katherine looked at both of them curiously. “What?”

  “You thought Warren was my boyfriend? As if!” Karen laughed, and then nudged Warren in the arm. “He’s like a brother—that’s nastier than incest!” She laughed again as she saw the mortified look on Warren’s face. Warren playfully nudged her back.

  “Karen, that pretty much is the definition of incest,” he joked.

  “She never was the brightest bulb in the box.” Kat laughed.

  “Nice.” Karen smiled.

  “Her boyfriend is a lot more interesting,” Warren said, trying to hold back his laughter. “The last time I saw him, he wore goggles on his forehead while sitting at your mom and dad’s dinner table. It was all Bill could do not to laugh!”

  Karen smacked him once again. “You both could’ve been a little less obvious. Besides, they weren’t goggles, they were Mattons, the newest in fashion. Kat will tell you. It’s all over h
er magazine.” As soon as she said it, her sister flinched. “Sorry.”

  “Hell, I’d apologize, too, Mattons are horrible.” Katherine laughed and noticed the eye roll her sister gave her. Her sister and this Warren sure had a good relationship: maybe a gay-best-friend kind of thing going on. She wasn’t sure.

  “Anyway, Warren’s a family friend—actually he’s dad’s doctor, and he reads High Fashion.”

  Warren’s face reddened.

  “I’m actually surprised Bill and Gail never mentioned him,” Karen droned. She used their first names when she wanted to sound mature.

  “I—well, like she said, I read it. I’ve read your column for a while now. Your father brags about you quite a bit. I thought I’d see what all the hubbub was about.” He smiled genuinely.

  Hubbub. Yep, definitely Dad’s doctor. She wondered if he’d read Kelsey’s article, too. “Thank you, I’m honored.” She smiled as the three of them waited for the luggage return. Warren was a tall man. He looked to be in great shape; he certainly could fill out those khakis and polo shirt. Her body was very aware of how male he was, practically screaming virile. His scent lingered to her as he helped her with her luggage. Damn, she needed to get laid. She laughed to herself.

  “I’ll help you with those, Katherine,” he said as he reached down to pick up her luggage, slightly brushing her shoulder with his left arm. A tingle of electricity made its way up her arm and their eyes met at that moment. He must have felt it too. The depths of his eyes were like pools of water, the piercing blue she was sure could see right through her. She shivered.