Right in Front of You

02. Dumb Apologies

Never in her life had Kathy spent so much time sitting on concrete steps. Her butt hurt!

But after Kelly left, she spent another half hour until Donnie stepped out as well and took a seat next to her.

She gave him a sideways glance. There was a bandage around his head to cover the scrape on his forehead, but otherwise, he looked fine. And it was precisely that which stopped her from fawning over him. Because once she was sure he would be alright, the anger returned. This could've been avoided if he'd only had an ounce of sense.

"I know what you're going to say," he said.

"Oh, do you now?" She kept her voice cold.

"Look, I know you don't approve of--"

"Don't approve?" She turned to him, her fists on her hips. "You could've gotten yourself killed! What if you'd have run into traffic?"

"I didn't, did I?" He waved his hand as if it was no big deal.

"And that's only because someone helped you!"

"That guy was a pain in the ass. Kept trying to explain stuff to me as if I didn't know what I was doing."

Kathy blinked, fighting the urge to rub her eyes. Or, better yet, clean her ears. Or point out that he really didn't know what he was doing. "What was he explaining?"

Donnie frowned and rubbed his chin. "I'm not sure. Something about swerving, drifts and, um..."

"Stopping?"

"He said something about a throttle and torque and breaks."

Oh, dear Lord, Cecily's boyfriend really was trying to help. "And why didn't you listen?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Don't get mad but... I guess I was a little scared. And I didn't like how he was yelling at me either."

Kathy took in deep breaths, trying her best not to fly off the handle. The deed was done and yelling would fix nothing. "Please promise me you will never do something like this again."

"Sugar, I didn't--"

"Promise me, Donnie."

He let out an annoyed grunt, but finally said, "I promise. Though I can't figure out how you're okay with being invisible."

This threw her off a little. "We're not invisible, Donnie. We have each other. We've been together, been in love for almost six years now. You have friends. I have friends."

He rolled her eyes. "Yes, we have some friends. But no one knows who we are."

"What do we even need that for? The chances are we won't be seeing any of these people again next year. And honestly, would you rather be known as that idiot who almost killed himself on a moped? Do you have any idea how scared I was, how you made me feel?"

He glared at her, but she wouldn't back down. Finally, he let out a defeated sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry you were worried about me. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She knew he didn't mean it. He never did, and yet he kept trying to get attention with dumb stunts and dares. But she would drop it this time and hope he'd learned his lesson after almost cracking his head open.

"How are you feeling?" she asked instead.

"Better. Good as new, actually." He glanced towards the parking lot and then at her. His eyes fell on the purple ticket still in her hand. "What's that?"

"Concert ticket for some thing tonight."

Donnie's eyes widened. "Uncaged?"

"Yeah."