Kiss Me Katie (Complete)

Chapter 10

Katie

"Hey, where was Riley off to like he had a fire-cracker up his arse?" Joel leaned over Annie to ask.

And, of course, I giggled – yeah, I know, immature yada yada – shaking my head as I turned to Annie and Joel. "He went to see if we could book the rehearsal studio earlier. Like, for the whole afternoon."

Annie clapped her hands, then winced like I'd done after the giggle. Okay, we really needed to work on squashing the over-excited-little-girl responses to things. Time to start acting at least slightly mature.

Yeah right, like that was ever gonna happen. A vision of a 'mature' conversation between Annie and me swam into my mind, posh voices included:

"Oh Annie, I have such exciting news. Riley has managed to acquire access to the rehearsal studio for the entire afternoon."

"How lovely, Katie. I'm sure that will be a most enjoyable experience."

The added visual of the two of us sitting with demurely crossed ankles and hands folded in our laps brought me undone, and I cracked up laughing. The worried look I caught Annie and Joel sharing just made me laugh harder. They probably thought I'd lost the plot.

Which might not be too far from the truth.

"Ummm... Katie." Did Annie seriously sound nervous? I really must be acting like more of a nutter than usual. "Joel and I thought we might grab the programme and audition pieces while we wait for Riley. You wanna come, or are you happy to wait here?"

I wiped the tears from laughing away and smiled into Annie's worried face. "Nah. I'll wait here. I'd hate Riley to get back and think we ditched him." I reached out and rubbed Annie's arm. "I'm fine... really. Just a bit of sensory overload I think. It's been a long time since I've had this much excitement, or this many people, in my life. Ya know?"

Annie smiled, tears filling her eyes. "I know. Nice to have you back," she whispered, trying to blink the tears away before turning back to Joel. "Come on Kenny. Time to brave the 'madding crowd'."

Joel threw me a wary nod, then grinned and walked beside Annie to the back of the auditorium. They certainly seemed awfully 'chummy' all of a sudden. Had I missed something there? Suddenly I couldn't wait to get back to our room tonight. So much had happened in one day, and it was far from over. At this rate, we'd be talking half the night.

I looked back to see Riley coming through the same door he'd exited earlier. And just the sight of him had my heart doing that stupid little flutter thing.

Okay, time to have some serious words with that particular organ. Which part of f.r.i.e.n.d.s didn't it get? All of it, obviously!

Being around Riley made me so wired I didn't know which way was up anymore. And it wasn't just about his hot body, ruggedly handsome face, and baby-blue eyes I could get lost in...

Okay... all that did make him pretty irresistible.

But it was more about the person he was on the inside. Even when we were sparring, and he wasn't acting like a surly weirdo, he made me feel good about who I was. And apart from Annie, no-one else had ever made me feel this way.

Riley flopped back down into his seat, grinning like the cat who swallowed the canary. "Hey. Mission accomplished. Studio Five is ours for the rest of the day. Where'd Annie and Joel get to?"

"Oh, they went to grab the audition stuff. I told them I'd wait here for you." Seriously Katie? You sound like some puppy-dog waiting for her master's return. "I mean... we didn't want you thinking we'd ditched you or anything. Besides, I was starting to feel a bit like the third wheel around Annie and Joel."