Freeing Katie

Ch. 11 First Kiss

Yesterday was my last day of my part time job. Mom wants me to solely focus on my studies and make a decision on what I want to do after I graduate without having to have the stress of a job on top of all of that. Even though I agree with her, I did develop a soft spot for those little heathens, and I’ll miss working with the kids.

I huff out a breath and close my book shut. I can’t concentrate today, and I’m more or less bored, so I decide to go bother Chase. He texted me at four in the morning- words that made absolutely no sense, so I know he’s probably still in bed after drinking all night. He invited me to the party, but I honestly just wanted a quiet night to myself. Mom was working and Jason was at a birthday party, and I couldn’t even remember the last time I had ‘me time’. He keeps pestering me to meet his childhood friend, so the next party, I really can’t say no.

I throw my hair up into a bun, making a mental note that I need to get something done to it soon, and put my slides on. I don’t care that I’m in my pj pants and plain t-shirt. It’s just Chase- he doesn’t care. The muggy air fogs up my glasses as soon as I step outside, and I have to take them off my face, wiping them as I walk across the yard.

Mr. Young- Daniel- is the one to answer the door. “Hey Katie. Chase is still asleep.”

It’s literally 1pm. I mentally eyeroll at Chase. “Mind if I go wake him up?” I ask with my best smile.

He laughs and opens the door, telling me to go ahead. I walk up the stairs and open his door. He’s made a bad habit of just barging in my room, so it’s only right that I return that favor.

The only sound is coming from his fan that he sleeps with at night. For a teenager and boy, Chase is somewhat of an organized person. I mean, all his clothes are put in the hamper, so he gets brownie points for that. I nose around, seeing if there’s anything interesting to delve into, but alas… nothing. His body is buried under the blankets, so I do what is practical.

I jump on him.

His sleepy/angry ‘oompf’ brings a smile to my face. “Wake up Mr. Sleepy head!”

He drags the blankets off his head and shoulders and glares at me. It’s at this moment, that I realize he’s shirtless. I swallow a gulp of air. The definition of his shoulders and collar bone look extra good today. Yes, I’ve seen him in with only his swimming trunks on, but I can’t remember being this close… this intimate with his torso.

“Eyes up here, Katie,” the ass says with a smug look.

I roll my eyes and move over onto my back on the other side of his bed. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to talk in the morning until you brushed your teeth?”

He rolls over, half on top of me with his thick comforter in between us. “Yes I have smartass, and I woke up two hours ago and did just that.” He proves his point by blowing air into my face, in which I playfully grimace. He laughs and adjusts the bedding so there’s not too much thickness between us and he lays his head on my shoulder while wrapping an arm and leg around me. “Take a nap with me.”

I ignore the intimate setting we are in and half ass push him. He doesn’t budge. In fact, he snuggles in tighter. I try my best to ignore the flutters in my stomach. “I’m bored. Let’s do something.”

“Call Brenna and Taylor,” he muffles into my shoulder.

“Taylor’s out of town and Brenna is working at the store. You’re my last resort and I’m desperate,” I say on a sigh.

He playfully pinches my side, which causes me to sink down in the bed with a girly yelp. His face is right against my neck and his breath sends warmth on me with each exhale. I take my hand and play with his hair and we just lay like that forever. It’s so damn comfortable. My hand skates down the back of his neck to the top of his shoulder, and down the arm that’s wrapped around me, and I finally give into my body to relax, closing my eyes to enjoy this moment.

I don’t know if it’s been minutes or hours, but I finally feel him move slightly. I open my eyes and see him hovering over me, scanning my entire face, as if looking for something. I take a swallow as he leans in, and places a kiss on my lips. My heart rate speeds up.

My first kiss. Well, my first kiss since I was nine years old and Derek from the playground thought we should practice for our future spouses.

Chase’s lips were soft and warm, and I found myself pressing mine back. He leans down on my body and I slightly open my mouth, in which he follows suit, and the tips of our tongues meet in a delicate dance. Nothing feels awkward or forced and the butterflies are multiplying by the second in my belly. My hands fist the comforter as he places a hand on my neck and deepens the kiss. I can feel my inner panic to start, but then he slowly comes to a stop.

He ends the kiss, pecking me one more time before getting up.

Okay……

“Um… thank you?” I half laugh/question. I’m glad he stopped when he did, seeing I was on the verge of a full panic attack, but part of me wanted to keep his soft kisses going. What is wrong with me?

He rubs the back of his neck, and looks around the room as if the right thing to say will pop out at him. “Sorry, should have asked your permission. You just… You’re really beautiful, ya know.” He coughs as I feel my cheeks turn red and he quickly turns into his closet to get clothes.

As he gets ready, I pretend that it never really happened. I lay on his bed and twiddle my fingers. It was just a kiss. It was a really great kiss and it made me feel good. And he called me beautiful! I touch my hand to my lips as he goes to the bathroom to style his hair.

He probably doesn’t think anything of it. He does this all the time with other girls. It’s not like it’s anything special. It’s not like I want it to happen again… do I? Ugh, why do I even care so much?

I groan and shake my head at myself as I climb out of his bed. He was just giving me a compliment and that’s just the ‘Chase way’ to show he meant it. He didn’t know that was my first real kiss, and he would never do that out of malice, so I should just take it as it is- a simple friend kiss.

Yeah, that works.

After he got dressed, we ended up just driving around town until we hit up a diner for an early dinner. We talked about my temporary beat up car and classes that we have coming up. We also discussed my lack of ‘fun-ness’ about going to parties.

The kiss was never discussed.

We stayed at the diner for over two hours, then decided to go back home. When he walks me to my door, he gives me a hug good night as always, then we split ways. I’m not sure if I feel confused or relieved that the kiss never came up, and I can’t understand why I feel at a loss when it didn’t happen again.

*

*

The first day back to school is a bittersweet thing. It was good to see everyone back in one setting… but it’s so damn early! And it sure doesn’t help that I have science as my first class.

The bell rings and I try to wake myself up with an actual head shake. At least I’ll have Brenna in my next class, then Chase in 5th period after lunch. He was so freakin’ happy when he found out we had English together again. I almost laugh out loud to myself thinking about his childish excitement.

“Katie!”

I turn and smile as I see Evan shuffle faster towards me. “Hey Evan. How are you?”

“No complaints. Where you headed?”

“The end of C Hall.”

He says he has a class there too and we walk through the crowd together, catching up on the things we did over the summer. He mentions something about a concert coming up, but I almost tune it out passing by Chase standing closely to a girl I haven’t seen before against the lockers.

Nothing has happened with Chase since that improv kiss… not like I wanted it to, but I guess seeing Chase back to his usual self around girls gives me the solid information that I needed to remind myself it wasn’t anything special.

Chase…. is just a friend.

Their body language is definitely one of flirtation, especially when she laughs and places her hand on his arm- typical girl flirt move.

“So… w-would you want to go?”

“Huh?” I shake my head, trying to regain focus. “Sorry- spaced out for a second.”

He laughs awkwardly. “It’s okay. I was just wondering if you wanted to go to concert… with me.”

“Oh!” I bite my lip for a second. I mean, Evan’s nice, and dating is a typical thing to do in high school, but am I ready for something like that? I look over to him and he looks nervous, trying not to turn his head to see my answer. He really is a sweet guy, and I know he wouldn’t pressure me into anything. Maybe a date will be fun? “I’d love to, Evan.”

His cheeks deepen with pink and sports on the biggest smile. I hold my own smile as we continue our walk, discussing the day and time that the date will happen. He even walks with me to my class before turning around to head the opposite way of the hall.

“What’s got you smiling?” Brenna asks, bumping into my shoulder. We rush to two empty desks that are side by side and place our bags down.

“Oh, nothing…. Except the fact that Evan asked me out, and I said yes,” I half smile/laugh out.

“Really? Ohmygod!” She quickly gets her phone out. “Taylor’s gonna flip! She’s going to hate us even more now since we don’t have classes together.”

I laugh as both of our phones begin to blow up. I guess this will be the ‘go to’ topic at the end of school today.