The Open Door - Sean and Kaycee

15. Questions

Sean

It's almost midnight. Kaycee and I have been talking for over an hour now. Just talking. It's crazy how easy she is to talk to. Conversation just keeps flowing. Maybe it has to do with her perpetual laugh -- how she manages to find the bright side of everything. Maybe it's the fact that beneath the silly weirdo, she has a truly brilliant mind, one that is sharp and witty, uncannily poetic, and wise beyond her years. Or maybe it's just because it's her. The beautiful and charming Kaycee Rice.

The girl who I'm falling in love with more and more every day.

And yet, I still don't know her very well. I see her on the outside, but I know that she, like me, lives in a completely separate interior world that only she has access to.

I check my watch. 11:11. Make a wish.

I want to find out more about Kaycee. I want her to allow me into her inner world.

"Sean, you okay?" Kaycee says, breaking my train of thought.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good," I respond, "I just--"

Kaycee looks at me, and I have to look away to avoid being blinded by the brightness of her eyes against the darkness of the room. "You just what?"

"I just... feel like I know you, and yet I don't know you at all," I say, surprising myself, "and I want to get to know you, Kayc--all of you."

Kaycee blushes. "What you see is what I am 99% of the time," she says softly, her voice a little bit shaky.

"And the other one percent?"

"No one ever sees that girl. I don't think you would want to. I despise her, which is why I keep her hidden for 99% of the time."

I look at her. "Okay, fine. But I still don't even really know who you are--even the most basic things about you."

"I could say the same thing about you, Shamu," she says, "who is this adorable, brilliant, and dimple-faced creature in front of me?"

I laugh awkwardly, but my face is probably as red as a tomato. Luckily, the room is dark enough to hide it. "Dimple-faced?"

"Oh come on, Shamu, your dimples are adorable," Kaycee says, with her easy-going laugh.

"We should play Five for Five," I say out of the blue, to change the subject.

"I've never heard of that game," Kaycee says suspiciously.

"That's because I just made it up," I explain, and we both laugh. "We're going to come up with five questions to ask each other. But they can't be too awkward or embarrassing because we'll also have to answer our own questions."

"Mine might be awkward and embarrassing, just FYI," Kaycee warns me. "since you made up the game, do you want to go first?"

"Uh... sure. Let me see... question 1: What's your middle name?"

Kaycee stops to think for a second. "Caitlin. You?"

"Did you really have to think about it?" I say laughing.

"Sorry, I'm having an identity crisis," she responds.

"That's okay, happens to the best of us. My middle name is Charles."

"Nice to meet you, Sean Charles Lew," she says, extending her hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, Kaycee Caitlin Rice," I respond. "Next question... how many siblings do you have?"

This time, she takes a long pause. "Two," she says finally, "a brother, Devon, and a s-sister, Kylie." She looks down and covers her face with her hair.