Freeing Katie

Ch. 9 Late Night Splash

CHASE POV

Once my Uber pulls up at my house just after 3am, I stumble out of the car and trip on the sidewalk.  I laugh to myself, but then quickly grab my head as the spins come in.  Oh, I hate the spins.

Tonight was a fun night.  It was my first night off work in over a week and one of Josh’s neighbors was throwing a field party.  Jello shots were being tossed left and right.  I even got to make out with an older girl I’ve never met before.  It was a great time!

Sex was not on the agenda, even if that girl was hot as hell.  I still haven’t forgotten that time with Nikki.  Heavy drinking and s*x are not just not ideal.

Standing on the lawn and fumbling in my pockets for my keys, I hear a splash from Katie’s backyard.  I walk, well, drag myself over and open up the side gate.  Through blurry eyes, I see a silhouette in the water and immediately a smile forms on my face.  I take a seat in one of the chairs as the spins hit me again, and I see Katie emerging from the water.

Even with the darkness and beer goggles, I can tell it’s her.  It would be really awkward if it was her mother.  Her dark hair is finally down, and… is she in a bikini?  The shortest shorts Katie ever wears are those Bermuda ones, so this will be a treat.  I watch her do a couple of laps, closing my eyes on and off in the process.  I would let her know her know I’m here, but I don’t want to scare her.

“JEEZUS CHASE!”  I jerk alert, realizing I closed my eyes again, seeing Katie holding onto her chest while glaring from the middle of the pool. 

“Hey Katie,” I slur out.

“Are you drunk?”

“Maybe?” I laugh.

She swims to the edge of the pool and crosses her arms on the concrete.  “And what are you doing here?”

I shrug, leaning my elbows on my knees.  “Heard something out here when I was going in the house. Come out and hang with me.”  I can’t be sure, but it looks as if she’s scared.  I really didn’t mean to scare her.

“Can… can you turn around until I’m dressed?”

“I’ve seen less on girls, Katie, and you’re not fat.  I don’t see the issue.”  Immediately, I can see that was the wrong answer to the way her head bowed and she began to swim towards the deep end.  Damn, I feel like a jerk.  “Sorry, Katie,” I rush out.  “Turning around now.  No more jerk comments.”  I turn around quickly, hoping that she will come talk to me.

I feel like I wait forever, but I finally hear the sounds of the water sloshing as she gets out.  After another minute, her voice is low.  “Okay, finished.”

I turn around and see her sitting on the hammock that her mother set up a few weeks ago.  She pulled on a t-shirt and is wearing her beach towel like a long skirt.  I go over to sit next to her, hugging her from the side.  “Sorry I was an ass.”

She pats my back, then tries to push me away.  “I’ll get you wet.”

“I don’t care,” I laugh out.  I lean back and pull her down with me, so we can lay down.  I start rocking the hammock slowly with my heels as I look at the stars above.  I look over to Katie and see that she’s doing the same.  I’m surprised she hasn’t gone stiff, giving my arm is still under her neck and shoulder.  “What are you doing up?”

She looks over to me and adjusts her head to get more comfortable, then shrugs.  “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Ahh, the little demons from the Y giving you nightmares?”  We both chuckle.  The stories she tells about those kids make me want to get a vasectomy.  Kids are little shits sometimes.

“They were actually good this week,” she says on a yawn.  “Nightmares, though, yes.”

We sit in silence for a bit, listening to the crickets and enjoying the night air.  I figure if she wanted to talk about it, she would on her own terms, so I don’t press.  I can feel my side getting damp from our connection, but I really don’t care.  It’s comfortable having her next to me.

“No hook up tonight?  I think you’re losing your touch, Chase,” she says randomly.

“Jealous?” I snark out, earning a rib poke, but I just use my other arm to bring her closer to me, hugging her tighter to me.  “Nah.  Kissed a girl once or twice, but nothing hot enough to fire up this engine.”

She laughs silently while shaking her head.  My memory goes back to the night where we all played ‘Never Have I Ever’, and she drank to the virginity question.  I was shocked to learn that she wasn’t one, just given how long it took me to just get a hug from her, but based on her behavior after that, I assume that it wasn’t a great experience.  We’re both still young and make poor choices.  I just hate that her s****l history isn’t a positive one.

“When are you going to work on my car?  You promised you’d take it in before school starts.”

I let out a groan.  I took a job helping one of my friends’ brother at the auto shop, and Katie’s been begging me to give her car a tune up.  Honestly, based on how old it is, I’m scared on how much I’ll have to quote her to get everything done properly.  “I’ll check the calendar next week.”

“Mmhmm, you do that.” 

We lazily talk about our day, both of us yawning, but refusing to get up to go to bed.  She ended up curling her knees into my lap while I continued to rock the hammock.  While I was in the middle of talking about the party I went to, I look over and see that Katie fell asleep. 

Underneath the moonlight, I look over the light dusting of freckles on her cheeks.  I scan her face and find myself actually wondering what it would be like to kiss her, and if she would actually want me to.  Her lips do look soft and inviting. 

I shake those thoughts out and lay my head down.

This is Katie… my friend.  We are just friends.

Now that I think about it, I don’t have really any girls that are just my friend like she is.   And I don’t know if I could cross that line with her.  Plus, we’re neighbors.  I don’t want to risk hurting her and not being able to talk to her every day like we have been.  Yea…. Definitely have to shake those thoughts out.

*

The sound of a lawn mower jars me and I groan from the headache I have.  I have to squint my eyes tightly from the sun’s powerful rays, and the summer morning mugginess greets me.  I look over and Katie is no longer next to me, so I stretch out my limbs, feeling the ache from sleeping in that position all night.  When I scratch my stomach, I pull a post-it note off my shirt.

Thanks for the nap.  Mom caught us.  That was a fun way to wake up (frowny face).

P.S. You snore

I snort and shake my head, getting up to head home.  As soon as I walk through the door, I smell bacon and instantly my mouth drools.  The radio is playing softly and I see a big batch of bacon out as my dad is scrambling some eggs.  “Morning dad,” I yawn, then grab a crisp strip, popping it in my mouth with a groan.

“Have fun last night?”  I reply with a hmm, getting juice out of the fridge.  “Pop some bread in the toaster for us, will ya?”

We complete the breakfast and sit down at the table.  I see my dad side eyeing me every now and then, making it more than obvious he has something to say.  “What?”

For a second, he didn’t answer, and it was getting annoying.  “So, you and Katie…..,” he drawls out.  I look at him, waiting for him to carry on, and he thumbs to the side of the room.  “Saw you out back this morning.”

I make a noise between a laugh and a huff.  “We just fell asleep, dad.  Nothing happened.”  He’s definitely giving me that ‘I don’t believe that s**t’ look, and I roll my eyes.  “Hate to break it to you old man, but that’s the truth.  Got home late, heard her in the pool.  We were chatting and just fell asleep.”

“She’s a good girl.  I think you two would be good for each other.”

He’s earned himself another eye roll.  “Aren’t you supposed to be dating her mother?  Isn’t that like promoting future i****t or something?”

I smirk as he throws a piece of egg at me.  “No, you little s**t, that would not be i****t.  It’s not like you’re blood related or raised together.  Anyways….we’re, uh, we’re not dating,” he says, looking to his plate of food.  He almost seemed put out when saying that.

After I swallow another bite, I lower my fork.  “Why not?  Thought y’all hit it off?  It’s about time you hit the dating pool.”  I honestly haven’t seen him date anyone since mom.  Not that he’s been celibate or anything.  I mean, hell, I’ve seen lipstick on his collar from when he gets back from out of town, but as far as serious stuff goes?  He never goes there.  I was actually happy when him and Katie’s mom got along so well. 

He sighs out.  “We met up for coffee a couple weeks ago- had a long talk.  She’s not ready to date just yet, and I respect that.”  He picked up his plate and walked to the kitchen.  There seems to be more to it than that, but I guess he can manage his own relationships. 

I just hope he finds someone someday to be happy with.  He deserves it.