There I Go Again

Chapter 6

A week later Kassie sat at a desk at her father’s landscaping business. She flipped through magazines and answered the phone when it occasionally rang. She started to paint her nails, bored out of her mind when suddenly the phone rang. She jumped smearing the nail polish.

”Jackson Gardens, this is Kassandra, how may I help you?”

”Kas…” she heard Bruno’s voice on the other end.

”Bruno…if my dad knew you were calling here he’d go right over to your house and kick your butt..”

”Will you come to the show tonight?” he asked her in a hushed tone.

”Are you at school, Bruno?” she laughed at him.

”Yeah…Algebra…” he answered. ”Is that a yes, Kittie?” he asked her.

”Yes, Bruno..I’ll go…” she answered. ”I’ll see you tonight…” she said hanging up the phone.

**

Kassie walked into the small venue waiting to see Bruno. Ryan waved her over to the big table they were at.

”Hey there Ms. California…” he smiled at her handing her a glass of water.

”Oh, thanks and hi…when is going on?” she asked the group.

”In a few minutes…”

”Where’s Claire?” Kassie finally noticed that Claire was gone from her normal seat..as close to Bruno as possible.

”Oh..umm…she…she…..” one of the other guys, Mike stuttered.

”She left for Washington…” Ryan told her.

”Whaaattt?” she asked stunned. ”They were cute….” she faked a sad face. Yahtzee! she thought to herself.

”Yeah..whatever, Kassie…” Jordan said.

Bruno stepped out on the small stage holding a guitar followed by his uncle who was going to sing with him. He turned toward his group of friends smiling. He spent an extra few seconds looking at Kassie, who had on her thick trendy glasses, black eyeliner and deep red lip gloss to compliment her straight brown hair.

He sang four songs singing his heart out. I might be wrong about that music thing…she thought to herself.

Bruno came out squeezing into an open space in between Jordan and Kassie. He smiled at Kassie eyeing the door. She nodded her head acknowledging his plans.

”Kass…do you want me to take you home?” he asked her as everyone started getting ready to leave.

”Yes, please…” she responded.

”Okay, come onnn…you can help me with my homework…” he told her.

She jumped in his car looking at him fumble to get the keys out of his pocket.

”What homework are we doing?” she asked playing along with his game.

”It’s the one where you multiple and divide and find out what x is…that’s all I know..” he explained stopping at a stop light.

Kassie followed Bruno into his house giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Tiara watched her intently as she sat down at the kitchen table. Tahiti leaned over to say something to her sister. They laughed at their inside joke while Kassie pushed the led out of the mechanical pencil filling in the answers to his math homework. ”You’re done…” she said putting the pencil down next to his textbook.

”You did all of that in five minutes?” he asked shocked.

”I got an A…” she smiled at him.

*Do my homework for the rest of my life, Kassandra…” he pleaded.

”Only if you’ll do mine, Brunito…” she laughed at him. ”You’ll have to do my Spanish 4 for me…”

”I’ll ask dad to do it for me…” he told her. He put his homework in a folder shoving it in his black Jansport backpack.

Kassie stood up from the table walking toward the backdoor to her house. ”Kassie….wait…” he grabbed her hand from the door. She spun around so fast that her glasses started to fall off her nose.

”Whoops…” she laughed.

”Meet me by the tree at 9…” he said squeezing her hand.

**

”I’ll be back,….” Kassie told her dad as he walked out of her half brother Zac’s bedroom.

”Where are you going, so late?” he asked.

”I have my phone..call me if you’re dead…” she smiled kissing him on the cheek running out the door.

She saw Bruno’s car lights on in his driveway. He rolled down the manual window yelling at her. ”Are you going somewhere?” he asked.

”With you….” she said running over to the car. He slid over to unlock the door for her. He leaned over as she started to grab her seatbelt. He touched her cheek the same way she had told him to a year earlier. He kissed her lightly making her melt. ”Woah….” she said pulling away from him.

”Sorry, Kittie…” he smiled at her the same way he had earlier in the evening.

”You’re killing me Bruno…” she told him a few seconds after he started to drive off.”Does your mom know you’re out?” she asked him.

”I told her I was going to Ryan’s...” he answered.

”Yeah..like that’ll work…:” she told him.

”It will, Kass…” he told her stopping by the same street she had yelled at him earlier in the summer.

”I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier…” she told him stepping out of the car.

”Kassandra…you had every right to yell at me…” he said quietly admitting to his faults. ”And she’s gone…” he said sadly. Kassie did a mental happy dance as he sat down on the rock where they stood last year. ”But…then I realized that I have something better than her right in front of me…” he brought her closer to him by taking her hand. She stood close enough to him to feel his breath escaping his nose. She stared into his eyes trying to decide if she should kiss him or not. He started to laugh at her when she closed her eyes thinking about what she was going to do.

”You close your eyes when you don’t know what to do…did you know that?” he asked her. She pushed him hard. He fell back onto a rock.

”Shut up!” she yelled at him laughing. She walked over to the rock that he was leaning against putting her hands on either side of his shoulders pushing her body against his leaning into him to kiss him. He ran his fingers through her hair as she continued to kiss him. She moved her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling backwards.

”I got you, Kass…” he stopped kissing her to reassure her that she wasn’t going to fall backwards. He moved back in toward her pushing her hair off her shoulder kissing her neck. Sht..that’s going to leave a mark…she thought to herself as she returned his kisses. He ran his fingers along her back touching her so lightly that she could hardly feel it. She pulled back feeling that things were moving too quickly. ”Be my first, Kassandra…please…” he asked her.