Kids In Love (Short Story)

Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I groaned and kept my eyes closed, waiting for that annoying ringing to stop. When it finally did, my curiosity got the better of me and I reached my arm out towards the bedside table, reaching around for my phone.

When my fingers touched the glass of the screen, I picked it up and unlocked my screen. I was surprised when I read the words, "Missed Call: Katie". What would Katie want at seven-thirty in the morning? Maybe she was drunk... maybe she needed help. I was never the kind of person to just ignore someone else because I was too lazy to get my ass up out of bed.

With a sigh, I called her back and waited for her to answer.

"Hey," Katie answered in a quiet tone.

"Hey... did you need something?" I wondered, clearing my throat as I sat up in bed slowly.

"You were sleeping, weren't you?" she ignored me, guilt evident in her tone.

"Not at all, I just haven't spoken today," I lied, hoping to ease her guilty conscience.

"Oh. I just wanted to talk to someone. But it's fine if you don't want to, I understand--"

"Where do you want to meet at?" I cut her off.

Katie was silent on the line for a moment, and I had to check to make sure she hadn't hung up on me.

"How about the café that was next to that Holiday Inn by the pier?" Katie suggested.

I had no idea where that was, but coffee sounded perfect right now.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," I responded, standing up to get dressed.

"Oh... okay, thank you," Katie replied, sounding surprised by my actions.

"It's not a problem," I replied with a smile, hanging up so that I could finish dressing myself.

It took me about thirty minutes to find the café that Katie was talking about, but when I entered the small building, Katie was nowhere in sight. I was halfway grateful that I hadn't left her waiting for fifteen minutes.

Seconds later, the bell attached to the door handle rung, and I turned to see Katie. She looked exhausted. Her hair was in a disheveled ponytail at the top of her head and she was wearing an oversized sweater with a pair of jeans.

Her clothing wasn't really what tipped me off; it was the fact that she had absolutely no make-up on and there were dark bags underneath her eyes. She didn't look bad without make-up on, I had just never seen her without it.

Katie smiled when she saw me before walking over. Her smile was dull, though. It seemed as if she were only smiling in an attempt to please me.

"Hey, I'm surprised you found this place," Katie commented, taking a seat beside me on a bar stool.

"It took me a while..." I muttered, trailing off as she ordered her coffee.

"Did you already order?" Katie wondered, turning to me.

"Yeah, right before you came in," I replied with a nod.

She nodded back at me and smiled when the waiter handed her a cup of coffee and set mine on the counter in front of me. I nodded in appreciation before the man walked away.

"What did you want to talk about?" I wondered, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Oh, it was just some family drama... kind of stupid," Katie said, her eyes not meeting mine.

"I'm really sorry I woke you up," she added.

I shook my head, "Don't worry about it."

"So I did wake you up?" she accused with a small smile playing at the edges of her lips.