by Claire Adams
Then I saw something that shocked me. Off to the side stood Katie. She had a small smile on her face, and when Jet saw her, he went to her and hugged her, wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving. I was speechless at first, and didn't know what to say. Karen noticed my shock and stepped in, “That's Katie; she's been like family to us. Her parents are best friends with our mother, so they often come and spend the holidays with us. I think she also knows Jet from school.”
“Yes, I've met her before. I was just surprised to see her, that's all.”
I could not believe the terrible luck I had. Honestly, what were the chances of Katie showing up for the holidays? One in a zillion? And why hadn't Jet have told me that she was so close to the family, especially if she frequented these events often? He had made it seem like they were just friends, teammates involved in the same sport. I was truly appalled by the fact that she was at the same event that I was. It was supposed to be something special for Jet and me.
A sharp pang of jealousy coursed through me as they hugged, a hug that I felt just lingered a little too long. I felt betrayed that Jet had invited me there without mentioning the possibility that Katie would be there. He must have known how I felt about the girl, because of the night at the club. Why would he bring me here when she was here? Was he really so insensitive? I teared up immediately, though I tried to stop it from happening. It took all my self-control to prevent those tears from spilling down my cheeks. I did not want to cry or make a scene at dinner. I wanted the family to like me, not to think I was a hysterical mess. I needed to control my emotions and just get through the night without strangling either Jet or Katie.
“Is everything okay?” Karen asked me, concern marking her face. I wasn't sure what she had seen. Maybe she saw the tears in my eyes, or maybe my face was flushed red. It certainly felt like it was burning with embarrassment. I felt like I was a fool for being at the dinner, the same dinner that Katie was enjoying with her family. It really made me wonder. How had the two of them never gotten together if she had been tight with the family for so long? How had they not even hooked up? Maybe they had hooked up and Jet just never told me? Calm down, I kept telling myself, just calm down. I was letting my thoughts run away with me, and it wasn't a very good idea.
I was aware that Karen was still looking at me, so I took a deep breath and turned away from Jet and Katie. “Yes of course, I'm sorry. I just feel a little warm in here. Is there somewhere I can hang my jacket?”
“Oh, of course. Let me take it.” I slipped off my jacket and handed it to her. She went down the hall to hang it up in the side closet. I turned back around to see where Jet was, and he was saying hello to Katie's parents before he made his way back to my side. He kissed me on the cheek and smiled. The smile didn't last long, however, as I glared at him as discreetly as I could.
“What's wrong?”
“Are you serious right now? Did you forget to tell me something?” I was whispering, or more like hissing at him, but I didn't want to alert the others to our conversation.
“Natalie, what's wrong? I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“What the hell is Katie doing here? She's practically family? Is this real life?”
He shot a glance over at Katie, and then looked back at me, looking rather stupid.
“Oh my God, Natalie, I'm sorry. I may actually be the stupidest guy alive. I quite literally didn't even think about her. And that should tell you something. Sometimes they come, and sometimes they don't, I had no idea whether she would be here or not. And to be honest, it never even occurred to me until now.”
He looked genuinely sorry, and I had to consider the fact that I might just be losing my mind. It probably was just an innocent little mix-up, and I should cut him a little slack. It wasn't the end of the world, as long as Katie kept her claws out of Jet for the evening. I didn't have the patience for her at all.
“Come on, everyone, let’s gather in the kitchen and have some dinner.” His mother waved for everyone to follow her into the kitchen. I took Jet's hand and smiled up at him to let him know everything was okay.
We all gathered around the table and found seats. I was happy to see that Katie and her family were not sitting directly across from us at the table. Dinner was a bit overwhelming. I had Jet's family asking me all kinds of questions about myself, which normally wouldn’t be too bad, except Katie seemed to watch me intently as I answered them. Everyone, however, seemed to be in good spirits, and dinner went by without a hitch. The meal itself was incredible. There was far too much food on the table for the amount of people that were there. It was way too much; I was sure a whole village of people could have fed off of the meal. There were three types of meat: duck, turkey, and ham. There were mashed potatoes and gravy along with various kinds of vegetables. That was just dinner; dessert consisted of pies of almost every kind, and a seven-layer chocolate cake. I worried that I was going to have to be rolled out of there. I had eaten so much food just to be polite, and I worried that Jet would have to get a crane to haul me out of there for the evening.
When dinner was over, we all retired for the evening to the sitting room. Everyone engaged in their own conversations, and Jet came over with a deck of cards and suggested we play.
“Well, aren't you a glutton for punishment. Haven't you learned your lesson by now?”
“I can't help it. I feel like I should win at something here.”
I giggled. “Would it help if I let you win?”
“No! I want an honest win. What do you say to some Rummy 500?”
I laughed. “Sure, sounds good.”
We played five games total, and I won every one of them. He fought some hard rounds, but in the end, I prevailed. It was actually hilarious how frustrated he became.
“Baby, how on earth do you keep kicking my ass at everything? It's rather heartbreaking, actually.”
“I know. I actually did consider letting you win to help you save face, but in the end I thought I would just bring you down.”
He laughed. Karen walked over and stood beside where Jet was sitting.
“What are you guys doing?” she asked.
“Well, we were playing cards but Natalie has been kicking my butt. She always does, actually, it's kind of embarrassing. She's like a card shark, and I can't quite figure out how she does it.”
I laughed. “It's really not that dramatic. My dad just taught me a lot of stuff.”
Karen laughed. “Don't be a spoilsport there, Jet; you can't win them all.”
“Well, why not?”
We all laughed, and Jet got up from the chair he was sitting in. “Well I have to hit the little boys’ room. I will be right back, Natalie. I will leave you in the care of my lovely sister.”
Karen sat down in the seat that Jet vacated and smiled at me warmly. I really liked his sister. She seemed sweet. I was just about to engage in a conversation with Karen, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie get up from her seat. It wouldn't have seemed unusual, except for the fact that she went the same way that Jet had gone. I sat there for a few minutes, wondering what I should do. I wanted to be able to trust Jet, and I was sure the two of them going down the hallway had just been a coincidence. But something was nagging at me to go find Jet.
“Natalie, are you sure you're okay?”
Startled I looked at Karen and nodded. My God, she must think that I'm a basket case.
“Sorry, Karen, I'll be right back.” I stood up abruptly, not offering any type of explanation, and headed down the same hallway they went down in search of the bathroom. I knew there had to be a main floor bathroom for guests, and when I turned another corner, there was Jet against the wall. They appeared to be talking when all of a sudden, Katie kissed him. It was the worst thing I had ever seen, and I wanted to scream.
“What the hell is going on?” I yelled at them, and Katie separated from Jet immediately, looking embarrassed. I spun around and walked away, hearing Jet call to me from down the hall. I wasn't about to have
any type of a conversation with him at that moment. All I wanted was to get the hell out of that house. I made my way around the corner and headed for the closet to grab my coat. I didn't want to alarm any of the other guests, so I slipped my coat on and quietly left the house without looking back. I just needed to get out of there.
Chapter Eight
Jet
I stood in the hallway with Katie, unable to believe what just happened. Staring at her, I just shook my head; I didn't even have words to say to her at that moment. I turned away and ran down the hallway to find Natalie. I couldn't find her at first. I checked the other bathroom, and the sitting room where my family was. I asked Karen if she had seen her. It hadn't occurred to me that she would actually leave my house. But as I stared at the front door, I knew that she had done exactly that.
I rushed out the door and saw her walking down the sidewalk. She was actually planning on walking home alone on Thanksgiving. I could have just killed myself at that moment. After all the time it took to get her to be mine, and now this had to happen. How could I have been so stupid? To have allowed anything to upset Natalie this way? She didn't deserve things like this happening to her, especially after she went through what she did with her ex.
It killed me to see her walking away from me. I called out to her a few times, yelling her name down the street, but she didn't even turn to look at me. She just kept walking. I start running after her and grabbed her by the arm. I turned her around, and the look on her face should have turned me to stone.
“Natalie, please let me explain.”
“Explain what, Jet?”
I sighed. “Natalie, it's not what you think at all. Please, I know what it looked like, but it wasn't what you think.”
“Oh no?”
“She kissed me, Natalie; I didn't kiss her.”
“Oh, is that how it works? So because she made the first move, it doesn't count?”
“That's not what I mean. It wasn't me doing anything. She made a move on me; it was out of my control.”
“Don't feed me bullshit, okay? She has been all over you every chance she’s had, and you're telling me you had no idea that she was about to kiss you? I wasn't born yesterday. I sure as hell know when someone is about to kiss me, so how is it that you don't know? She was practically dry humping you at the bar―could you possibly be more stupid?”
“Natalie, it wasn't me. You act like we were making out in the hallway. You literally walked in at the exact moment she just up and kissed me.”
“Yeah, God knows what would have happened had I not walked in.”
“You can't seriously mean that, Natalie.”
“I do. I'm sick of this crap with you. I've always felt like I wasn't enough, and you just proved that to me. Why can't you just leave the other girls alone? Is that really too much to ask?”
She was revved up, and I could see that I wasn't going to get anywhere with her. She was screaming at me at that point, and the more I seemed to try to calm her down, the angrier she got.
“Baby, please. I'm crazy about you, how can you not see that?”
“I saw enough tonight, thank you very much,” she screamed at me.
It was pointless trying to talk her out of anything, and I didn't think that there was any point in continuing the conversation. She was so angry that she wasn't willing to hear my side of things. I had majorly screwed up, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I should have told Katie to go back to the sitting room as soon as I saw her following me down the hall. But I didn't think she would actually try to kiss me. Boy, had I been wrong. She had caused a huge problem between Natalie and me, and I would like nothing more than to strangle her at that moment.
If things weren't already bad enough at that moment, I turned to see Katie walking up behind us. My mouth dropped open and I was quite literally speechless.
“Katie, what the hell?”
“Can we talk?”
Natalie turned to find her there, and yelled, “Ugh!” She stomped past us and headed back to the house. At least she was going in the right direction, but I was sure Katie had just done far more damage by coming out of the house.
I turned from Natalie and faced Katie, anger emanating from me. “What are you doing out here? Do you really think Natalie wants to see you right now?”
“I thought I could fix things, say something to her.”
“How could you have kissed me?”
“I thought you would like it.”
“Katie, we have been over this a dozen times. We aren't hooking up. Don't you think we would have by now? I have known you forever. And I have a girlfriend.”
“That hasn't stopped you before.”
“This time it's different. She's different, and you probably ruined that for me. What kind of friend are you?”
“Look Jet, I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't trying to hurt you. I've just had a crush on you forever, and I just thought that we would make a pretty hot couple.”
“It's never going to happen. I'm sorry, Katie. I think you're great and really beautiful, but you're not for me. I'm with Natalie; she’s who I want. She’s who I've always wanted.”
She looked heartbroken, but that wasn't my problem. My problem was sitting in the house with my family, and I hoped to God I could fix that.
“I'm sorry, Jet. I really am.”
“Just fix it, Katie. Make it right. I want her to know that I didn't kiss you, that I would never kiss you. That it was you who kissed me, and that we weren’t making out or anything.”
She just nodded, and I walked away from her to go find Natalie. When I get back into the house I found her in the sitting room with my family. I walked up to her and smiled. She took one look at me, dismissed me silently, and went on talking to my family. I couldn't exactly talk to her about my problem with my family right there, and she wouldn't go anywhere with me. I had ruined my own girlfriend's Thanksgiving.
“Is everything okay? Can we talk?”
“No shot. Now leave me alone for the rest of the night.”
I turned away from her and saw Katie come in from outside. She went over to my sister and they chatted amongst themselves. It couldn't possibly be more awkward at that moment. I had no way to fix it and I had to accept the fact that the evening was ruined and try to mend things with Natalie another day.
We spent the whole night apart, but my family was none the wiser. Natalie put on a good show, even though she did avoid me like the plague. I wanted to kiss her or hold her hand, but I worried that if I tried to do anything like that, she would explode in front of everyone. Again, things would have to wait for another time.
We spent the night in the sitting room, chatting amongst everyone and playing a few family games. My mother offered for Natalie to stay the night, but she declined. She walked up to me with her purse and coat in hand.
“I would like to go home now.”
“Are you sure? I thought we were going to stay for a few days. Go sightseeing.”
“I have no interest in that. I just want to go home and be alone. It was a mistake coming here. Can you please just take me home?”
I smiled at her sadly. “Yes, sweetheart, I'll take you home.”
We said our goodbyes to everyone, and headed out the door. I walked with her to the car, and she didn't say a thing to me. I drove her back to her apartment and through the entire 45-minute drive, she didn't say a word. Neither did I. I just didn't have anything more to say, and I thought that she needed a break from me.
I pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment and turned off the car. I was hoping she was going to invite me up, but that wasn't going to happen.
“Goodnight, Natalie.” I smiled as I grabbed her hand before she went out the door. She paused before getting out, and rolled her eyes. She pulled away from me then and got out of the car without saying another word to me.
Chapter Nine
Natalie
I could barely concentrate on photography class that day. We had another op
portunity to go into the darkroom, and normally I would have been stoked, but I barely even smiled that whole day. Brenda had finally asked me what the hell was wrong with me, and I had just shrugged. The last thing that I wanted to discuss with anyone was my boyfriend’s infidelity. If you even wanted to call it that. I was aware that he hadn't full on cheated on me, but I definitely felt like he encouraged Katie's affections and flirted with her, which caused her to eventually kiss him, and that was bad enough.
It was easily the worst Thanksgiving I had ever had, and I wished that I had just declined the invitation. It was obvious that Jet and I weren't meant to be together, and I wished even more that I hadn't agreed to go out with him. He had turned out to be a far greater disappointment as a boyfriend than I had ever imagined.
I didn't want to even think about that day, but it was hard to get that image out of my head. I hated seeing him even flirting with Katie. Training had almost killed me, so seeing her actually put her lips on him was just too much to bear. If I could forget it and forgive him, I still don't think I would ever be able to get the image out of my head, so how was I supposed to move on with him? He had turned out to be just like Tom, and it had broken my heart.
I wasn't stupid. I knew he wasn't making out with Katie, but it didn't matter. She had touched him and he had allowed it. Not only that, but her affections had always been encouraged by him during training and God knows where else, so it was inevitable for her to have kissed him. He put himself in that position, and I wasn't about to forgive him about it.
It had been three days since that dinner, and we had not spoken once. It hurt, but I refused to talk to him about it. I knew I would have to eventually, but I wasn't ready. He had been texting me nonstop, and calling at all hours. He had even messaged Julie to try to get her to convince me to talk to him. She had put in her best effort, too, because she really had wanted us to talk, to work things out. She and I had even tussled about it, but I didn't think it was any of her business, and I wasn't going to be forced to do it. I wasn't ready to talk to Jet, and I couldn’t care less about how heartbroken he was over the whole thing. He had broken my heart, and I didn't particularly like him at that moment. He would just have to wait until I felt ready to deal with him.