Chapter 9

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I woke up the next morning with a slight headache and a disgusting taste in my mouth. I began to move, but came to a halt when a body on top of mine groaned and shifted. Katie. Of course I hadn't forgotten what happened last night... it just seemed like a dream; a blurry dream.

I rubbed my eyes with the sides of my hands and let out a sigh. Getting a bit warm underneath the blankets, I pulled them down so that both mine and Katie's bodies were exposed to the cool air. I closed my eyes, but they opened again when I felt the blankets being pulled back up over us.

You have got to be kidding me.

I groaned softly, earning a giggle from the girl atop me. That surprised me.

"You're awake?" I questioned, running my fingers up her side.

She laughed and pushed my hand away, "That tickled," she explained in a tired voice.

 I smiled down at her when she rested her chin on my chest. She looked adorable.

"How do you feel?" Katie wondered, tracing the ink of the sparrows on my chest.

"Hungover," I answered honestly, earning a giggle from Katie. "What about you?" I questioned.

 "Hungover," she agreed with a slight nod, laying her head against my shoulder. I rested my head back against the pillows. This felt nice.

"I need to get home, though," Katie spoke after a few minutes of silence.

My heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Did her parents know where she was? Were they going to find out that their 17-year-old daughter had sex with a 20-year-old man? Katie noticed my uneasiness.

"What's the matter?" she wondered with furrowed eyebrows, sitting up slowly and setting herself beside me.

"Do your parents know where you are?" I questioned in a quick breath. I felt almost numb with worry.

Katie chuckled and shook her head, "No they don't. I don't think they'd care anyways. I live with my grandmother and she thinks I spent the night at Cassidy's house."

The pounding in my chest slowed back down to its steady rhythm. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding in. Katie smiled.

"I wouldn't throw you under the bus like that, don't worry," she stated, standing from the bed slowly and picking up her articles of clothing that were strewn on the floor near the bed.

I leant against the headboard of the bed and watched her dress herself. Even though she was a clumsy, hungover mess, I still found her to be graceful. I chuckled as Katie attempted to pull one of her legs through her shorts and fell to her ass on the carpeted floor.

She shot me a playful glare when she heard me laugh at her.

"Do you need some help?" I offered, not meaning for the question to sound suggestive. I hadn't realized how it sounded until I saw Katie's smirk.

"Sure," she answered, standing up carefully and walking over to me--shorts in hand.

I sat up on the bed and sat with my legs off of the edge of it, grabbing them from her when she offered them to me. I let her put her hand on my shoulder when she tried balancing on one leg. It reminded me of how mothers helped their children get ready in the morning before school.

When her shorts were on, I zipped them up and buttoned them. The button had a bird on it.

"Thanks," Katie spoke in a quiet tone, sounding vulnerable.

I glanced up at her and smiled when I saw that she was smiling down at me. She was so beautiful. She was also very young.

I stood from the bed quickly, ignoring the pounding in my head, and moved Katie aside by grabbing her hips and pushing her to the left as I walked past her.

"Okay, what is it now?" Katie asked in a somewhat exasperated tone as I searched for my own articles of clothing.

"What do you mean?" I wondered, not turning to face her. I had found my jeans, but not my shirt or boxers.

"One minute you're acting like you want to be around me and the next you're acting as if I have tuberculosis," she stated bluntly.

I turned when I felt her tap my shoulder. My boxers and shirt were both in her hand. I thanked her quietly and turned back around to dress myself.

"So was this just a one night stand?" she questioned. Even though I wasn't looking at her, I could tell that she was hurt.

I pulled my jeans over my legs and left my shirt in my hands before turning to Katie. Her eyes were very bright. Maybe they were like that when she was hungover.

"No, it wasn't a one night stand," I answered genuinely. I had wanted to do that more than she would ever know. And I would love to do it again and again.

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place. We were both drunk and you're not of legal age to be with me," I finished. It hurt me to say it, but it was true. Nothing good would come out of an illegal physical relationship.

"So what we're just... friends?" she wondered. That was a very good question.

"Friends that have seen each other naked," I corrected, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. I had gotten a weak smile out of her. I decided to take it, knowing that I probably wouldn't get much more.

After dropping Katie off at her grandmother's house, I had some time to think.

Katie had seemed a little uneasy when I had dropped her off; most likely due to our awkward conversations that started with, "So..." and ended with, "yeah...".

I sighed. Of course I had wanted to have something with Katie. The girl is beautiful, funny, sweet... and she actually thought of me more than a friend. I always seemed to leave out two factors when it came to her, though.

One: I wasn't going to be here forever. I was leaving in a matter of months and starting something with Katie would just end up being pointless.

Two: She was a lot younger than she led others to believe. When I had first met Katie, I knew that she was young; maybe 19, 18 at the youngest. But she wasn't. Since she was a 17-year-old, it worried me. The last thing I wanted was to be imprisoned in a foreign country.

The more I thought, the more I contradicted myself.

I was the kind of person that if I was to start a serious relationship with Katie, I would probably end up staying here. I would just uproot and live here in Santa Monica to be with her. That is, if she wanted me to.

I knew it wasn't smart to do such a thing, but I couldn't help it; I was a hopeless romantic--to some extent, that is.

Another contradiction that I had found myself thinking quite often was: 'When is Katie turning 18?'. If her birthday was sometime soon, I would have no issues being with her comfortably. However, we would still need to keep a lot of things to ourselves.

My thoughts continued to race on and before I knew it, I was turning back towards Katie's grandmother's house.

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Yay, I updated! Sorry it took so long, I've been super busy with school. /:

Thank you for reading, I love you. :) <3

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⏰ Last updated: Apr 22, 2014 ⏰

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