Nonsense (Chapter 2)

Katrina and Jack are just full of surprises

Previously on More Than Meets The Eye:

“Katrina?”

I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a second. I looked up into hazel eyes so familiar to me that at one point in my life I would have done anything to make them show happiness.

“Max.”


When she said that name with such finality I knew there was no mistaking who this was. This was Maxwell Gerribond, the boy who shattered Katrina’s world, in the bad way. I knew she hadn’t told me the whole story, but I also knew that she couldn’t. She couldn’t
put it into words and that was fine. At least she trusted me enough to try.

I didn’t want this d****e around her. The last time he was around her, she tried to kill herself. I’m the one who stopped her and I thank my lucky stars every day that my mom forced me to do track since I was twelve.  

Running had become an escape for me at some point in those five years before I met Katrina. In fact, that’s what I’d been doing when I’d caught Katrina heading into the waves. Even though I hadn’t know her, what she’d been through, or anything like that, I’d felt the need to stop her. I couldn’t fool myself into believing it was a midnight swim.

Max still hadn’t responded as I broke out of my reverie. I inched my fingers towards hers and covered her hand with mine. I decided to play pretend to know where we stood. “Who’s this, Love?”

That was better than honey at least, which sounded more brotherly than crazy in love. I involuntarily shuddered on the inside at the thought of Katrina as my sister.

She looked at me, mouth open and her big green eyes wide with shock. “This is…Max, babe.”

“Um, no. That’s Mark,” I faked a chuckle and pointed out the guy we’d humiliated earlier.

The corners of her lips turned up, “No, no, this is Max.”

“Oh, well, hello Max,” I said pleasantly. “Do you need something?”

Max looked surprised as Hell. For some reason, his tone was less pleasant than mine. “I just wanted to say hi to Kat. Seems like we haven’t talked in forever.”

Katrina stiffens and it suddenly makes sense. She didn’t like it when I called her that at first because it reminded her of him. I trace circles on the back of her hand with my thumb comfortingly.

She relaxes and responds, “Well, hi then. We’ll have to catch up sometime, but really, me and Jack, my boyfriend, need to get going.”

I smile wider at Max, and enjoy his light frown. I’m proud of Katrina for saying what she did and how she did it. We both ease up and I put my arm around her shoulders as she leans into me. “Oh, yeah, well…I should be getting back to Cece; I told her I’d be back in a few minutes.”

I knew this was a low blow by the way Katrina tensed. “Well, you should go then.”

I turned us around and began walking towards my baby. The sun glinted off of the shiny paint job and I could help but feel proud that this was my car.

Once situated inside I turned to her, “So that was him?”

“Yes.”

“Well, okay.” I turn back and stare straight ahead as I pull out. A few minutes later she looks at me, a frown marring her pretty face.

“Jack? I’m sorry, it’s just…I don’t even know.” She puts her head in her hand, sighing.

“Don’t worry about it,” I refrain from adding that I’m used to it. “So…we should go home?”

“Yeah I guess,” she sighs.

When we get back to her house, no one’s there. I wonder where Seth went, I think he was here when I picked her up. We’ve only met a few times but he’s not that bad. She headed to the kitchen and put her jalapeños back. I leaned against her counter, watching her.

The two of us ended up on the couch watching The Dilemma. We’re not big fans of Kevin James, but the movie seemed good. About halfway through someone pulled up in the driveway. It was Rae , Katrina’s stepmother.

“Hey, can you watch Emma for a while? I just have to go to the doctors  but I can’t take her with me. Would you mind?” Rae  asks, clutching her oversized purse.  Oversized was the word I’d used to describe her actually. She pulled up her black sweatpants and pulled down her tank top at the same time.

“Oh, yeah sure. Where is she?” Emma is five going on six. I’ve only met her like twice, but she’s a really cute little girl.
Ten minutes later a similarly chestnut haired little girl is sandwiched between us. Only she has a little more red in her hair than her older sister, who has more black. She has blue eyes that have little flecks of green and yellow in them. Katrina told me that Rae ’s had once been the same color but when she’d turned eight they’d become more green than blue. Her little dress and leggings, I think, are pink and white, her favorite colors.

“What happened to the fishies?”  Emma asks, pointing to the screen.

“Their tank broke.”

“How?”

“The guy smashed it.”

“Why?”

“He was mad.”

“Why?”

Katrina’s finally tired of answering these questions and goes with a simple, “I don’t know, keep watching.”

Half an hour later, Emma has fallen asleep with her head in Kat’s lap and her feet on my lap. It must be around one, maybe two. Katrina gently picks up her sister and holds her for a minute. I turn my eyes back to the TV, wrongfully thinking my day would continue to be uneventful. How wrong I was.

“Um, Jack?” Katrina’s voice makes my head snap back to meet her eyes. She sounds anxious and a bit scared.

“What?”

“There’s a naked man in the front yard.” Her eyes are glued to the window, and she’s biting her lip.

I shoot up from my slouched position on the couch, “What?”

“There’s a naked man in the front yard…and I think he’s bleeding.” I come up behind her and peer over her shoulder.

And that’s how the end started…with a naked man in my best friend’s front yard.

Author's Note

I'm trying to make something into nothing.

Reviews

[Jordan's Back]

Ohhh that Sonof abitch had no business smashing it grrrrr