Tempted | Kai Parker

ninety four: second chances

The next morning a loud knock caused me to jolt awake.

At first, I was disoriented - trying to blink away my confusion. It took quite a few seconds until I realised that I wasn't in my bed and was actually curled up on the sofa. With a few more seconds, I became aware that I wasn't the only one here.

On the other end of the sofa, Townes was sound asleep - covered in a large blanket and propping his head on a throw cushion.

We must've fallen asleep watching TV, I realised as I rubbed my eyes. Then the knock came again. Townes stirred slightly, but still didn't wake up - not even as I lifted myself from the sofa with a deep groan.

I grabbed Townes' hoodie on my way to the door and threw it over myself to cover up my tank top and shorts and slipped my feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers that were abandoned in the hallway. A large yawn rose from my throat as I pulled the door open, my body still trying to battle off lethargy. And as I yawned, I heard the words 'good morning' spoken so chirpily that they could only possibly have been from one person.

"Caroline?" I blurted, as my eyes shot back open. She laughed off my abrupt reaction, but I was still hyperaware of the man curled up on my sofa right now.

"Hey - you didn't answer my texts." She said. "I'm meeting Stefan for brunch if you wanna come with."

"Oh - I'm busy actually." I explained, attempting to keep everything as vague as possible. "We're still on for lunch tomorrow though, right?"

"It's your birthday - of course we're still on." She smiled. "I still don't know why you don't want to do something more exciting than lunch with the girls though."

I shrugged, inwardly admitting to myself that the reason that I didn't feel like doing anything much on my birthday was because I'd imagined for months that I'd spend the day with Kai. And now it didn't look like that was going to happen.

"I have a ton of packing to do." I said as an excuse. "And if I don't get it started tomorrow there's no chance it'll all be done by Friday."

"Fine - but when we move to college, I'm taking you on the biggest bar crawl ever to make up for this."

I chuckled, slightly shaking my head at the blonde. "Okay - deal." I nodded. "Sorry about brunch but tell Stefan I said hi."

"I will do." She agreed, turning to walk back down my porch steps. I almost thought I'd gotten away with hiding Townes until she paused. She turned back to face me with knit brows and pointed to my sweatshirt. Townes' sweatshirt. "That's not yours."

My heart rate spiked. "It is - it's new." I lied calmly.

"No, it's not - it looks worn."

"No, it doesn't." I scoffed.

She inched closer, small smile playing on her lips. "You're lying." She chuckled. "Whose hoodie is that?"

"Mine."

She cocked her head, staring at me impatiently.

"Fine - it's not mine." I groaned. "You win - now go get brunch with your boyfriend."

"Who's is it?" She quizzed.

I pushed a long sigh through my nostrils.

"A boy?" She pressed eagerly.

"Caroline - you are the nosiest -"

"Are they still in there?" She grinned excitedly. I remained perfectly silent. She gasped knowingly. "They are!"