Chapter Twenty-One – Cat
Gusts of wind encircled her, embraced her as her feet kicked through the air. It was at the height of spring, where nature supposedly was brought back to life. Bulbs of flowers were said to burst into petals of colour, the greenery was supposed to brighten up Britain’s dull winter yet all Cat could notice from the sounds and grasps of nature was that spring in Britain was just as dull as the winter. Somehow, she couldn’t quite grasp an understanding of how everything intended to begin afresh.
What she could understand, however, was the melodic voice from beside her. Like spring, it was new to her – fresh, vocal and ready to burst into action. The strum of guitar made it impossible for her to miss, especially since it was one of her favourite sounds. There was something about the voice, though, as although it was new, there was a hint of familiarity in it – Mickey.
He was humming away to himself as his hands flicked the guitar strings. Cat had forgotten that he could even play the guitar. She should have been surprised at that, but she wasn’t. Over the last few years, she had tried to forget everything that had ever happened between them. Unfortunately, the band made it much more difficult to erase it from her mind.
She wasn’t even sure that he knew she was there. It was easy to get lost in the music when you were playing and it certainly seemed like he was lost in his own world; there was always a way to tell. Cat decided to speak up.
“I haven’t heard you sing in a long time,” she said, resisting a smile.
The music came to a halt, stopping right in the middle of a chord.
“You hear me sing all the time at practice,” he replied, adding a chuckle at the end. His hesitant tone made him a little suspicious but she shrugged it off, keeping it in the back of her mind just in case.
“You know what I mean.” Suddenly, the chords changed to something a little more familiar and Cat couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Out of all the ones he picked, he had to choose the one she hated the most. If that wasn’t bad enough, he started belting the lyrics:
“Uh-oh, here you come
What is it about you, I don’t know
Getting closer, no time to run
it’s only fair you cure me so”
He nudged her shoulder, prolonging the tune.
“I can only keep this up for a little while longer, you know,” he teased, “so you better start singing.”
Her head told her no – singing with him again meant that she forgave him and she wasn’t ready for that.
“Stop it.” Cat shifted away from him, but he only moved closer. Her shoulder rose so that they met her neck, tensing at the closing proximity between them.
The last time she sung this song was the day before everything went downhill between them. It was day before he ruined her chance of having a proper adolescence.
Mickey seemed to understand her change in mood, as he stopped playing.
“I’m sorry, you know,” he spoke. His voice was hushed, near enough a whisper. “It probably doesn’t make up for anything I’ve done to you, but I do mean it.”
Cat nodded for the sake of it. She couldn’t tell if he truly regretted the past or if he was just trying to get her to forgive him. Something she had learnt from Kyle was to never trust someone who hurt you in any way, who broke you. It was difficult to keep pretending that she was actually alright with talking to him. She stood up to leave, only to have her arm grabbed by Mickey.
