Part 4

A Story by Stephnathan

I sat in the middle of the bed with nothing but a pillow covering myself. I was in shock and disbelief, frozen with a pained expression on my face, eyes wide. One minute Katie and I were the only people in the world, I shut my eyes and when I opened them again, everything was wrong. She had been ripped from underneath me and there was anger and jealousy in the air. I couldn’t understand why Alex had done this. I knew she wanted to hurt me but it wasn’t just me she was hurting. It was Katie and Josh as well. How could she break up two innocent people just for some petty revenge? I didn’t know how much time had passed. I was still on the bed, knees up by my chest. Josh had walked in, eyes flickering wildly between me and her. He started to say something, voice low but hard, teeth clenched. Why wasn’t he shouting? Then Katie started talking back to him so he must have been addressing her and not me. I couldn’t hear anything, it was all muffled like they were talking underwater. She got out of the bed and started getting dressed, still talking to him. She looked angry but I could tell from the way her hands were shaking as she fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, that she was actually really frightened. I wondered if Josh had picked up on it too. Her voice seemed to grow louder and angrier, her hands gesturing at him in the air. I heard his voice do the same thing and he pointed in my direction. What was he saying!? My mind was shutting everything else out. This went on for a while. They stood in front of me, shouting over the top of each other. Tears rolled down her face and I yearned to push him away and wrap my arms around her, to make everything better but my body refused to move. Something told me that I was safer here. Katie sat on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. Josh continued to yell at her, trying to get her to react. But then after a while he gave up and flew out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Alex was no where to be seen and I still hadn’t moved. Eventually Katie turned round to face me and placed her hand on my cheek. My expression softened at her touch and I managed to relax. I smiled an apology but she just sighed and dropped her hand. She leaned forward, kissed me quickly and escaped out of the door. Leaving me naked on the bed with nothing but the taste of her on my lips.

The night was a mess. No one seemed to realise what had happened upstairs, the music was too loud to hear the shouting. Josh and Katie had broken up in their argument, it was inevitable. But now I didn’t know what to do or what to say. There was really only once place that I wanted to be and that was the field, I needed to be alone. So I forced myself to move and put my clothes back on. I gathered my things and made my way to the vast area out the back of Katie’s house. The night was clear and the air was warm, almost humid. I layed back on the grass and lit a cigarette. I sighed, taking smoke in at the same time, trying to numb the sensation in my chest. I knew I should have felt guilty, I had just slept with someone else’s girlfriend, but the guilt never came. I sat up and stared into the distance. There was nothing but blackness. I stared for so long my eyes started to make out an imaginary figure ahead of me and my vision caused it to blur and mutate. It came closer and closer and more focused. To my complete surprise the figure came in view and I could see exactly who it was. It wasn’t just the darkness playing tricks on me. Of course it was Katie, walking home from the party. Stupid. I should have known she would walk through here and I felt extremely embarrassed that she had caught me.

“Hey Katie” I called to her so that she knew it was me “Oh hey! What are you doing here?” She asked while coming to sit next to me. I stubbed my cigarette out on the ground and flicked it away “I just needed to escape for a bit” I replied, mumbling into my lap, more embarrassed about everything that had just happened. I wish I knew what she was thinking. Was she upset about the fight with Josh? Was she angry at me? Did she regret what happened between us?

“Yeah I know how you feel” She said, looking away from me. But as she did she placed her hand over mine and turned it so our fingers intertwined together. My heart skipped and I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my face “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened tonight. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen” I blurted out, still not able to look at her properly.

“It’s okay. I think I’m glad that Josh and I broke up. After you and me… well I don’t know what I want anymore” I felt her squeeze my hand gently. I willed myself to turn towards her and using my free hand I pulled her face towards me. I kissed her suddenly and she kissed me back, taking her hands and putting them either side of my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pushed her down onto the ground. She giggled into the kiss. I pulled back to look at her.

“You don’t have to decide what you want right now. But maybe you’d like to come back to my house with me tonight?” I asked, my voice thick with the lust that was washing over me. She rolled us over and kissed me “I’d love to” She giggled again. We stood up and walked hand in hand back through the field. For the first time, I wasn’t watching her walk away from me.