This calls for a little more than chocolate and tissues

Chapter 2

Hey there! Here's part 2. After I realized how short the first part was, I figured I needed to make this one longer. Enjoy!

P.S - Don't forget to vote and comment!! Feedback is always welcome. = )

Will's POV.

She was fairly pretty, quiet, and would make a good trophy wife. Truthfully, it was all I was going to get anyway, even as bad as it sounded. I figured it would be best to just rip the Band-Aid off and tell her.

She sat there, silent and unmoving; the waves of light reflected off the pool made her blue eyes sparkle even more.

"This is the worst birthday party ever." And I wasn't lying. A small smile formed on her lips, as if this was nothing new to her. Silently, I wondered how much went though her head without actually making it out to the open where it was audible.

"I didn't catch your name."

"Oh! Uh, Kate. Katherine, but Kate."

Pretty. Like her eyes. "I'm Will." Just after it had slipped out, I realized how stupid I had been at that moment.

She chuckled. "I hope I would have recognized a face to go with the name on the invitation. Or I guess you could accuse me of gate crashing some random party." I smiled at that.

I took a deep breath. JUST SPIT IT OUT, ALREADY!!! "My parents had this party so I could find someone that would agree to an arranged marriage." Damn. Not something you hear every day.

Her head turned so quickly that I was pretty sure she gave herself whiplash. "WHAT??"

"Yeah."

After she saw that my face didn't falter and that I was indeed telling the truth, her head slowly turned back. "That's, um...well...why?" Bless her; she was trying to form sentences. It didn't seem to be working.

"Hmm...tradition? Mental illness? Probably a tradition OF mental illness?"

"Wow."

Crickets.

"Then why aren't you back there mingling right now? Your future spouse could be over by the punch bowl and you're wasting your time with me?"

"Because I have a question for you..."

Kate's POV

I really hoped that someone was hiding in the bushes, waiting to jump out and yell "surprise!" This is some demented family. With a psychotic son that just asked me to marry him. I shocked myself when the words that came out of my mouth were calm and monotonous.

"Will Perry, I have now known you for three minutes of my life. You know nothing about me, except my first name and eye color."

"Fine. What's your middle name?"

"You really want to play this game."

"Why not?"

"Lee. That's my middle name. My parents picked it because my last name is Harper, and when you flip the two, you get Harper Lee, who wrote-"

"To Kill a Mockingbird. Good book."

Well, at least the boy wasn't stupid. Or at least remembered freshman summer reading list. He then kept the questions coming. It was awful. I hated opening myself up for any reason. This was not helping.

"Favorite color?"

"Blue." And it went on and on and on and then when I really wanted to punch him, I resisted (I'm proud to say) but instead did something that surprised him.

Will's POV

I honestly thought she was going to slap me. I got extremely nervous as she started to lean towards me and stretch out her hand. But then, she lightly placed her fingertips on my mouth.

She looked weary, as if she had the stress of a century pressing down on her delicate frame. The placid smile on her lips did help to erase some of the strain, though. "Enough." She stood up, and held her hand out for me.

I got up slowly so I wouldn't end up pulling us both down, and looked anxiously at her face.

With a quiet voice, she whispered "I'll do it."

Kate's POV

Ever since my parents died, I had been living with my aunt. Her heart was in the right place, but she was always so... strict. I often felt like I was just taking up space.

Like I served no purpose in life but to take oxygen from the air.

I looked at this as an open door, and I might as well run towards it before it slammed in my face.

Will seemed really nervous, like he didn't know what to do now. "Um...well...."

"Can I meet your parents?"

He smiled. "Right this way," and lightly grasped my hand as we made our way through pale linen dresses and quiet small talk.