From Friends to Lovers

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It wasn't long until Rick heard the sound of wheels against the road; he quickly stood up and went to the window. It was Kate and Josh.
He went to the door, so that he could let her in, but the sound of soft giggles stopped him from opening the door. He peeped through the peephole, and immediately he wished he hadn't.

Kate had her arms around Josh's neck, and he had his around her waist, and they were smooching to their heart's content.

Rick felt sick, the way they didn't seem to want to stop. He walked back to the couch, mentally slapping himself for the feelings conjuring up inside him. Josh was her boyfriend, obviously they kissed like that. Why was it worrying him so much?

He heard the doorknob turn, and he looked toward the doorway, and when Kate saw him, she smiled "hey".
"Hey" he said, trying to hide his emotions from his face.

She walked into the kitchen, then peeked back out and said, "you coming?"

he quickly stood up and followed her; he sat at a stool at the kitchen counter. She was moving around setting two mugs down for them and then preparing them some hot chocolate, when she finally sat down beside him, he took a sip and almost burnt his tongue.

She laughed "Hey, you alright?" she was still laughing at his reaction.
"You know there's a reason it's called hot chocolate, wait a while till it comes down to a drinkable temperature."

He nodded, and smiled, he liked hearing her laugh. "Hey, that's good by me, the more time I get to spend with you, the better."

She smiled down at the mug in her hand.
"You know Rick, I'm sorry, we haven't been getting time to hang out like we used to…"

he stopped her mid-sentence. "Kate... Kate, that's not what I meant. I totally understand, you got a boyfriend now, things will be different."

She finally looked up at him, "What if I don't want it to be different?"

he just looked at his mug, "what do you mean?"

"Rick, I don't want this to change, I don't want us to change, I don't want to lose you just because I couldn't make enough time to be with you. Not every girl is lucky enough to have a guy best friend. And I don't want to risk this, I don't want to risk what we have"

He now reached out to hold her hand "Hey, what makes you think you'll lose me?"

he didn't wait for Kate to answer "Kate, nothing's going to change between us, we've been friends for so long now, there's no way I'd let something like this get in the way of our friendship. I'm not going anywhere Kate. Hate to break it to you, but you're stuck with me!"

Kate squeezed his hand in hers. "However shall I live" she deadpanned.
They both laughed to themselves. And then looked at each other, it was a silent promise between them. They'd always be friends, come what may. She softly whispered "thank you" and he said "Always."

A minute passed and she asked him "So, u finally succeeded in chasing my dad away with your lame jokes"

"hey, my jokes are not lame okay! And your dad was tired so I told him I was waiting for you to get back and then I'd leave." she nodded.

"So, how was your date then?" a smile crept onto Kate's face and Rick suddenly regretted asking her the question. Did he really want to hear what a great time Josh gave her?

Kate began to tell him about her evening. Every single detail and it made Rick wonder if Kate would be this happy if it were him instead of Josh!

'Hold that thought' he heard a voice inside him say. 'Stop it! Stop imagining yourself with her. You're her best friend. And that's what she needs you to be for her. She's happy, look at her, she likes this guy and you should be happy for her too.'
'I can't' he argued with the voice inside him.
'Try' came a reply.

Kate had finished her animated description of their date, leaving out the part where they shared a passionate kiss at her door. He smiled "Sounds like you had a great time"

"I did. But I think what makes this night perfect is that I can share a hot chocolate with you"

and that did it for him. Kate just had to say something like that and his heart felt lighter.

"For the record, my night's been made perfect now too."
They talked for another hour, their usual flirty banter. It was 1 am now, and Rick looked at his watch, "well I better get going, I don't want your dad to ban me from ever coming over again"

he laughed and got off his seat. She followed him to the door, and he put his hoodie jacket on, "hey, you know you're welcome here anytime, they love having you around."
"I know" he said.
"But I'm a gentleman, so I don't want to keep a girl up and away from her beauty sleep"

she laughed at that. "Thanks for staying Rick, I had a great time."
"Me too" they just stared at each other, smiling and then Kate moved forward and gave him a tight hug. He held her tight too. "Goodnight" she said and pulled away from him.

"He flicked her nose with his finger and said "sweet dreams Kate, I'll see you tomorrow" he opened the door and walked out, "Rick," she called out.

"you just love saying my name don't you? Admit it." he teased.

"Guilty as charged," she laughed and continued, " the only reason I agreed to be your friend when I met you, was cause you share your first name with my favorite author."

"Your favorite author?"

"Richard Castle. oh my god! you haven't heard of famous mystery writer, best selling ghost writer Richard Castle?"

"Uh.. I've read his books... he's okay I guess."

"Are you kidding me? Okay? you have no idae what a huge fan of him i am!" she took a deep breath, "Sorry, we shall discuss that later. now let me remember what I called you back for."

She paused to recollect what she was going to ask him and then continued.

"I hope you don't mind, I invited Josh to join us this weekend for movie night at your place..."

Rick suddenly felt this perfect night just got bad.

He looked up at her and smiled "Yea sure, no problem, its fine. The more the merrier".

As he walked home, he couldn't help wondering, was it really ok? Was he really fine with it?"