Part Two: Chapter Five

Their dinner was fun and relaxed; Kaylin was thoroughly amused at Nick’s fascination with the diner stereotype as he insisted on ordering the special and then two slices of pie. He refused her offer to sit in the smoking section because it wasn’t fair to her. He was full of questions: her favorite music, her favorite TV shows, and her family. She answered as honestly as she knew how since no one really asked her those things. Nick’s constant smile faded only when she told him about her mother, and her ailing Grandfather. In a bold move, he reached over and took her hand.

“I’m sorry I pried,” he said, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand gently, “I ask too many questions when I get nervous; I’m sorry.” Kaylin looked down, embarrassed – he was nervous?

“You’ve got to have some of this pie, it’s amazing,” he announced, changing the subject.

Kaylin smiled at his attempt to soothe her and reached over with her fork to snag a bite. Nick gave her a mock-shocked face, but smiled at her ease with him. Stephen, Alicia’s brother, had introduced him to a few other girls in the area pretty early on; each girl acted so enthralled by him and were way to forward for his liking. He realized that he was the ‘new kid in town’ and the attention showered on him would wane with time. Sure, the attention of the local girls was flattering, but they acted ditsy or were unabashedly flirtatious – both moves that did more to make him want to leave quickly rather than enjoy their company. But not Kaylin; she didn’t act like he was anything special and didn’t put on airs like she was either: she acted like herself and he adored her already.

They wrapped up their dinner, and Nick quickly paid the bill, refusing to even deign himself to hearing her protests. While at the counter to pay, Kaylin noticed that his wallet was on a chain that connected to his belt loop, so she yanked on it as she passed him making the wallet flip out of his hand. Nick gave her a “hey!” but laughed and continued through the transaction.

Kaylin skipped down the few stone steps of the entrance to the diner and waited for Nick. She was pretending to read the headlines of the local papers resting in the vending machines out front when she felt a tug on one of her braids.

“All right, Pippy Longstocking, where to next?” Nick said dodging her as she turned around to push him. He grabbed hold of her hand and she momentarily lost her balance, regaining her footing only a few inches from him.

Any thought Kaylin might have had that Nick just wanted to be friends, any feeling that he was going to be like a big brother – as Stephen was – flew away the instant his skin touched hers in that moment. The laughing smile on her face softened as she stared into the deep sapphires that were his eyes. Her heart raced, sending her blood and what felt like electricity through her veins. Nick moved her hand to his waist and reached up to her neck with his free hand, inching her face even closer to his.

Kaylin had never been kissed before, but her instincts took over and she reached up on her toes and leaned in to him. This might have been her first kiss, but she was damn sure that it was a good one. The air around them crackled and her mind went blank of everything except for this perfect moment.

The next hour Kaylin took Nick to the park, and they took turns on the one working swing. It was officially dark, and some of the older teenagers were sneaking into the wooded areas around the playground for secret parties, rendezvous, and to nip from their parents’ beer collection. Everyone nodded a hello to Kaylin, and some stopped to be introduced to Nick after inquiring why she was out so late. No one seemed bothered that they were seen by her, and no one seemed too worried about her well-being with this relative stranger in town. She was regarded as trust-worthy and able to take care of herself, Nick surmised.

As they walked, Nick held her hand and would look over to her as she talked, telling him about the area that used to be a fountain, but was now just a raised area of dirt, or the place where someone once found a human hand in the bushes. She showed him the scar on her left knee, and pointed out where Sean Rizzman had pushed her and Alicia off the jungle gym during a fierce boy/girl war when she was in the third grade. Twice he stopped to kiss her again, and twice her world tilted and she grew dizzy from the affection.

They wound their way through the streets of Riversedge, Kaylin showing him little landmarks and memories, Nick taking it all in and still holding her hand. Finally they arrived at the dark green duplex that was her house.

“Well, this is where I live. I guess I should get going it’s probably pretty late,” she motioned to
the door and surveyed the windows to see if Seanathair was still awake. The house was dark except for the porch light that illuminated the few feet of a concrete stoop and the stairs leading to it.

“Looks like no one’s home,” Nick commented, looking at the time on his pager that was tucked into the pocket of his shorts, “it’s ten though.”

“Oh, Seanathair is home, he doesn’t go out,” Kaylin said absent-mindedly.

“Shan of hair? What?” Nick was confused.

“Seanathair, shan a hair, it’s Gaelic for grandfather. My grandfather is home. He lives with my dad and me. I sort of take care of him. He’s sick.” She skirted her eyes from his gaze, uncomfortable suddenly.

“Ah, that's right. Ok, then I should let you go and take care of him. Where’s your dad?” Nick was stretching to peer into the bay window that looked into the living room.

“He works. A lot. He won’t be home for awhile still,” Kaylin responded trying to wrap up the conversation. It had been such an amazing night, but she was tense now that he was so close to her house. So close to the threshold that transposed this world of summer and comfort into the one that she normally lived in; a life filled with black mucus and gurgling breaths; filled with a stumbling father who knocked over tables and slammed doors at all hours of the night; filled with a tired girl trying to make food at any hour of the night after being woken up because her father was hungry and there wasn’t a damn thing to eat in this house.

“Are you ok Kay? You seem like your someplace else all of a sudden,” Nick commented, encircling her waist with his hands, his thumbs absently rubbing her hipbone over her dress. She snapped back to reality and laced her arms under his and around his waist, leaning in to rest her head on his shoulder and hug him.

“It’s just been such a great night,” she said and she found herself sad. Not the usual sad of having to reenter her house, but sad that with the shutting of her front door this night would be over and perhaps in the dawn things would be different. Nick rested his against head against hers, his chin at her forehead.

“It really has,” he said sounding far off, “Kaylin?”

She pulled her head away from it’s resting spot on his shoulder/chest and looked up at him with questioning eyes.

“I think I love you,” he finished.

She didn’t know how to respond, so she hugged him close to her and laughed, “There are much easier ways to get in my pants, Nick.” She could feel the rumble of laughter in his chest.

“I’m serious. Just wait. What are you doing tomorrow? Let’s go out, to a movie or something, I don’t care but I need to see you again.”

She looked up at him, and although he was grinning his words were serious.

“We’ll see. It depends how my grandfather is, ya know? It’s like a day to day thing,” she was trying to put him off, but she did want to see him again.

“Ya, I understand,” he leaned down and kissed her again, then moved his face to her ear and using his best Terminator voice whispered, “But I'll be back.”