Part 5. I struggled with this one a little bit. Shawn is not in this part that much (sorry), but he will be everywhere in the next one. I would love to know your thoughts! Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! -xx.
She luckily had a few seconds to calm her heart rate before Kate had met her at the elevator bank with Joe. They showed her the pristine apartment and then talked briefly about the price and utilities. Kate could leave her current apartment at the end of November because her lease was monthly. This meant they could be moving in within two weeks.
After viewing his apartment, she and Kate walked over to Bee’s for a bite and to discuss everything.
“I don’t know, Kate. It’s beautiful, but I’m not gonna lie. Living with Joe might be weird.” She picked up a french fry— her current stress level was high.
“Okay, that’s fair. Why don’t we invite Joe out to dinner sometime this week? And you can get a chance to know him more. That way you can see if living with him is a possibility.”
Kate took a bite of her burger. It had been too big of a bite because some ketchup ran down her cheek. She grabbed for the stack of napkins on the table and they were knocked onto the floor. She watched the mess happen and gave a half smile at Kate’s mess.
Kate was rather clumsy. Although she couldn’t talk because she was just as bad, which is part of the reason they got along so well in college. Moving into her dorm a few years ago had been hectic and sweaty. The lines for the elevator to get up to the dorm were ridiculous. Not wanting to wait and ignoring the heat, her dad convinced her that they could make it up the stairs without a problem. So, with her father in the lead, they dragged her two suitcases up four flights of stairs. She was trailing behind, and it was a good thing she was not in front of her father. By the time she made it to the fourth floor landing, her sweaty grip hadn’t held and her suitcase tumbled down the stairs. Flinging her super plus tampons (not the cute little ones), thongs, period granny panties, bras, and her stuffed animal, Elliot, all over the stairwell. She had lost her footing when the suitcase went down, but luckily her father was agile and grabbed her arm before she took a tumble too. Kate happened to be on the third-floor landing when her things rained down like confetti. She caught her suitcase from passing the third floor, but in doing so, sent her box of DVDs down the stairs. The only casualty of the whole ordeal was Love Actually, which she replaced for Kate the same day. Their first encounter had been quite memorable-– “here are your tampons.” “Thanks, and here’s My Bloody Valentine.” The irony hadn’t been lost on her.
“Hmm,” she played with the half grilled cheese left on her plate.
“Hey, what’s up?” Kate inquired noting her mood.
“It sounds great, Kate.” She said halfheartedly and dropped the fry to her plate.
“No, what’s really bothering you? You were pretty quiet back at the apartment.”
“I-I-I’m feeling so many different emotions right now, and I don’t know how to process it all. I’m sorry. I do want to meet up with Joe. I think it’ll be good,” she took a breath, “I just… Tom, and Shawn, and grad school…”
“It is a lot. Is it weird that I don’t feel as sad about Tom as I thought I was going to?”
Kate wiped her fingers on a napkin rescued from the floor and picked up a fry, “No, you were mentally mourning that relationship long before it was officially over.
“You missed some,” she pointed to Kate’s ketchup cheek, “and yeah, but we were engaged. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sad and I do miss him, but not in the way I thought I would.”
“What? More like he was a friend than a boyfriend?”
“It wasn’t a healthy relationship in the end.”
“No, it really wasn’t,” she continued to play with her grilled cheese.
“And Keira did nothing to help that,” Kate added, “you dodged a bullet.”
She forcefully snorted, “psycho.”
Keira and Tom had “dated” in fourth grade. It lasted for two weeks, and yet that was a fact that Keira felt the need to bring up every single time they were all together. She felt compelled to tell her that she knew Tom better, and would make jokes about how she had him first. No one thought any of this was funny except for Tom. Keira, in his eyes, could do no wrong, and it was a fight they had a few too many times.
She added, “maybe Keira will finally make moves.”
Kate paused, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she already has, or maybe not. Maybe it was only fun because she got to torment you. I don’t remember her being as clingy with Tom when you weren’t around.”
She rolled her eyes, “it’s in the past.”
Kate nodded in agreement with her mouth full.
“Oh, call Joe, and invite him out to dinner on Friday. I think it’s a good idea.”
The side door to Bee’s opened, the bells attached to the frame twinkled. Into the warmth came G and a beautiful blonde woman. It was undeniably G, if nothing else, the height and the beard gave him away. The couple sat in a booth across the diner. She eagerly looked at the door again, hoping that just maybe he’d appear too.
“What,” Kate probed. Her cheeks heated at the realization that she was half standing from her seat to get a better view. Kate leaned over and stuck her head in the aisle of the diner to look at what had her so preoccupied.
“That’s G, and I think, his girlfriend.”
Kate went back to her burger, “the one who was drugged?”
“Shh,” her eyes widened looked around to see if anyone overheard their discussion.
“Oh, come off it. They’re all the way over there.”
Kate smirked at her paranoia, “okay. I’m sorry. So now what happened again?”
“I’m not entirely sure what happened, other than that she’s okay,” she practically whispered.
“Shawn told me,” she lowered her voice again and this time Kate laughed, “stop mocking me.” She whined and Kate laughed harder.
“Wait a second. Shawn told you?”
Her cheeks colored almost immediately, and her face felt hot. Internally, she cursed her genetics for making her so easy to read. Kate smirked, “ah, so you bumped into him? Where?”
“He actually lives in the same building as Joe.”
“No way. We need to move in then!”
“What? That cannot be the reason we decide to make a thousand-dollar decision.”
“It’s not the only reason! But oh, come on, think about how fun and easy that relationship would be.”
She giggled softly, allowing herself to think about Kate’s suggestion, at the thought of creeping up in the middle of the night to see him. Him bringing food by when she was too lazy to move. Stealing his jacket. Maybe have some of her reoccurring dreams like the one from this morning actually transpire. It would be just an elevator ride…Her smile stilled and she looked at her left ring finger which was resting on her mug of hot chocolate. She barely knew Shawn, and she had literally just gotten out of a relationship in which she had been engaged. Was it too soon to even be joking about moving on? She didn’t even know if Shawn really liked her or if he was just being friendly. She ran her fingers along the rim of her mug.
Kate reached out and put her hand on her arm, stopping her trailing fingers. “Hey,” Kate said softly, “what’s going on in your head?”
“It’s just –—“ The front door of Bee’s chimed announcing another patron’s entrance. They didn’t have a clear of a view of the front door from their booth. The figure was wearing a snapback and running shorts. Whoever it was, was extremely tall. Kate looked round at the sound too, “I call dibs on this one. You can have Shawn.”
She laughed, “what about Joe?”
“What about him? We’re not dating.”
The man walked over to G’s booth and sat. She felt a giggle bubble up at the absurdity of her life, and pulled her leaning body back into the booth, away from any prying eyes that might see her in the aisle. She couldn’t stop laughing. Kate looked confused.
“That is Shawn,” she breathed out and let out another chuckle, “sorry. I- it just took us weeks to bump into each other and now I’m seeing him everywhere.”
Kate smiled at her, and pointed her hamburger at her, “it’s a sign. Go over there.”
She shook her head and bit into her now cool grilled cheese causing her to grimace, “no let’s just finish our dinner and maybe I’ll say goodbye.”
“Why are you being weird?” Kate tossed a fry at her. It hit her shoulder bounced onto her plate.
She picked it up and took a bite, “I’m not being weird. I just don’t want him to think I’m stalking him.”
“Girl, that doesn’t even make sense. Why would he think that?”
Her phone vibrated on the table. She flipped it over.
iMessage from (xxx)xxx-xxxx: Picture attachment.
Kate leaned over the table to see the message and laughed, “looks like he’s the one giving off stalker vibes.”
The photo was of Kate tossing a fry at her in their booth. It was clearly taken from across the diner.
iMessage from (xxx)xxx-xxxx: I spy a jacket thief
She poked her head out from the booth again and laughed when she made eye contact with him. He looked… hot. His curls were spilling from under the snapback, and his cheeks were rosy. He looked like he just came from a run. He was grinning widely at her, and when she poked her head out, he stood and made his way over with a water bottle in hand.
Her eyes widened slightly and she pulled back into the booth a bit – feeling terrified and elated. Kate was still staring at Shawn, and under her breath appraisingly whispered, “fuck.”
He stopped at their table and smiled warmly at her, “long time.”
“Too long,” she found herself smiling back. It had only been a few hours.
Kate grabbed her purse, and scooted to the end of the booth to stand, “well, I hate to leave, but I have to finish all that paperwork for my current lease. Maybe you can find someone here to keep you company.” She teased and pulled her coat on. Shawn introduced himself to Kate with a smile.
“I’m Kate. Think you can take on this awful task of keeping her company while I’m gone?”
“Eh, I don’t know,” Shawn looked over at her still sitting in the booth. Her heart jumped.
“I mean, she is quite low maintenance. Occasionally requires wine and chocolate, but mostly she’s self-sufficient,” Kate joked.
“Toilet trained,” He looked back at Kate for an answer.
“Hey!” she called from her spot in the booth. They all laughed.
Kate put her scarf on, “nice meeting you,” she directed at Shawn, “see you at home.” Kate gave her a pointed look that said she wanted details later.
Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! -xx.