One Day

Part 20 - Kate

I allow myself several minutes of self-pity before I finally pull myself together. Questioning myself and wondering what I did wrong isn't healthy for anyone, especially for me. There are times that I can take myself to a dark, dark place, if I allow it. A place filled with thoughts of not being good enough, of never being the most important to someone and of unrealistically comparing myself to others. I was in that place when Jace first came around.

I had taken the next day off work so that we could spend some time together. Now I'm wondering what I'm going to do to keep my mind off Jace and January being together for an entire day.

I make my way to the living room in hopes that I can find something on TV to keep myself distracted when I hear the back door open. I quickly turn thinking he had changed his mind and hate how disappointed I feel when I realize it's not him.

"Wow, if looks could kill..." Kate says as she makes her way down the hallway and plops down on the couch, making herself comfortable. "So, what happened this time to make him think of her?"

I had hoped that my expressions were a little less telling but when someone practically lives with you, I guess they start picking up on things pretty quickly. Although Kate had only been in my life for a short amount of time, she was one of the few people that saw the good, the bad and the ugly of mine and Jace's relationship. She's at my house more than her own so she's been there for it all. Circumstances forced Kate to grow up much faster than any child should, and although Kate acts my age, she is actually four years younger at just 17. Her curly brown hair encompasses her innocent face making her look even younger but she's fierce when something doesn't go her way. We hit it off immediately and became really good friends during our time working together at Sonic and I do my best to help her when I can. She's spunky in all of her 5'3" and doesn't take crap from anyone.

"I know something is up," she says. "When things are going well with you two, you are the happiest person on this planet. Nothing can wipe that sappy, love-sick smile off your face...except for him, when he has one of his moments. So, spill it. What happened?"

I shake my head knowing that she's not going to give up until I tell her, "She's back in town for the weekend."

"And that concerns him how? The last I recall, you are his girlfriend, not her," she quickly replies. I silently love how defensive she is of my happiness. She's been around the two of us more than any other person so she knows how quickly things can go from perfect to nightmarish.

"Well, he actually asked if we could take a break so that he could figure things out," I say with air quotations to drive my point home that he still hasn't "figured things out." "And, he has plans to see her tomorrow. I think they may be going out together so they can talk," I continue.

Her expression changes and she sits up, "I'm not allowing you to sit around here all day watching TV while driving yourself crazy over-analyzing everything that has happened. Let's have a girls' day!"

Having a girls' day is the last thing that I want to do but at least it's something. I really would just rather binge watch CSI and not move for the entire day. "Fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it."

"Great! I'll be here at 7:00 in the morning. You're driving," she says as she jumps off the couch and heads towards the door. "Stop worrying about it, seriously. He knows how you feel so let him take this weekend to work things out in that brain of his and then hopefully we can all move past this. I know you love him but if this keeps happening, there comes a point when you have to decide if all this heartache is worth it or not. I'll see you in the morning but call me tonight if you need me."

She leaves almost as quickly as she came and I'm again left sitting alone wondering what tomorrow is going to bring.

Thanks for reading One Day! I try to post each weekday and look forward to where this story takes us as it is a work in progress.

If you liked what you read, don't forget to follow me to receive notifications and VOTE! Also, please feel free to share this story with your friends and leave some comments (I'll write back, I promise!)