Trust me, babe

Chapter 22

Kenzie

"Bye! See you later!" I shouted before Kathryn closed the door behind her.

"Alligator," Jacky added.

"Oh shut up," I chuckled and swatted his arm playfully.

Kathryn had left to work, leaving Jacky and I alone for the day. To her we'd said we didn't have much planned but in reality we had a busy day ahead of us. Her eighteenth birthday was in a few days and we had decided to throw her a surprise birthday party which still required a lot of planning. I'd already discussed it with Persimmon and she had promised to help us get everything done in time.

"So, any ideas?" Jacky asked as we sat down at the kitchen table in front of my laptop.

"Persimmon promised to take care of the food," I said as I pulled out the text message she'd sent me.

"I'm not sure if it's promising or not given what we saw at her brother's birthday party," Jacky chuckled.

I smirked at him. "Well, at least it's one less thing for us to worry about."

We brainstormed ideas for the rest of the morning, googling cool things to do in Sydney. I even ended up calling Sasha to help me come up with ideas Kathryn would enjoy. In the end we decided to have a small party at her home with just us and Persimmon. We would buy her gifts, eat something good, maybe watch a movie or play some games. After all, it was the thought that counted. Besides, as Sasha reminded me, Kathryn was no longer a friend of big parties with crowds of people.

"Okay, that's it for today," Jacky said, slamming my laptop shut. "I need a break from all this planning. Let's go to the beach. I feel like I could give surfing another try."

"Samson!" I exclaimed, making Jacky flinch.

"I'm Jacky," he remarked.

I swatted his arm again. "Samson needs to come to Kathryn's birthday party!"

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" he asked, looking a bit concerned. "She doesn't seem that fond of him. Well, sometimes she does but most of the time she doesn't. It's confusing."

"She's just cautious because of your brother," I claimed. "But you can't deny there's clearly some chemistry between them. Samson and Kathryn, I mean."

Jacky didn't look that convinced. "I promised Sasha to keep an eye on you."

"And you're doing really well in that," I said, patting his cheek, "but I know this is the right thing to do."

"Have you considered she might just want to stay single for a while?"

"It's clear she likes him!" I exclaimed, growing frustrated. Had he not seen the way she glanced at Samson when she thought no one was looking? Had he not seen how they were so close to kissing at the Opera House right before he had interrupted them because the ice creams were melting all over his hands? I had tried to stall him, it had been the kind of a moment no one wanted to have interrupted. It had been so clear Kathryn was ready to fall for Samson. But then Jacky had rushed there with the ice creams and Kathryn had distanced herself from Samson once again.

"I'm inviting Samson," I decided and stood up as if to say it was the end of the discussion.

Jacky sighed but didn't protest anymore. Once we were at the beach, though, getting closer to the little bar Samson worked at, he kept glancing at me and opening his mouth like there was something he wanted to say.