Unspoken

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

^*^*^

Kiera picked her bag up off of the bed, and walked down the stairs, where her parents were waiting for her and her brother.

"Do you two really have to go?" her mother asked.

"Yes Mom, we do, Tony has to be at the shop first thing tomorrow morning."

"Well, you have to come home soon," they were told.

"On our next break," Tony told her, "Which will be in July."

Kiera wanted to tell him that she wouldn't be coming that weekend, but decided against it. She would field that when it got closer, and Kasey formally asked her to go with him.

"Okay," their parents sighed, "I guess we can wait that long."

After they hugged and said goodbye, Tony and Kiera were heading out to the driveway, and to the rental car they had driven from the airport in.

"Are you ready to go home?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, she only wished she didn't have to wait another 24 hours until she was able to see Kasey once again.

^*^*^

Hours later Kiera sat in her own bedroom staring up at the ceiling. Her things were already unpacked, and she was slightly tired, but didn't feel like going to sleep.

"Kiera?" Tony asked from outside her door, "Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"What do you want?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"Okay, I'll go whip something together, and bring it up, okay?"

"Mm-hmm."

She went back to staring at the ceiling. She didn't know exactly why she was staring, she just was.

A little while later, he walked back in the room with a tray – one containing both of their dinners.

"What did you find?" she quietly asked.

"Two bowls of cereal, with milk," Tony grinned as he handed her her bowl, "We literally have like nothing left down there in the refrigerator or cabinets."

"I can go to the grocery store tomorrow afternoon and pick some stuff up for us."

"Okay," he smiled, "Thanks Kia."

She didn't reply, but instead went about eating her bowl of cereal and drinking her Mountain Dew. He was getting good at remembering she'd drink Mountain Dew over Coke any day.

"What's on your mind Kia?" he questioned, as they both set their empty cereal bowls on the tray once again, "You've been quiet sine we've left Indiana. In fact, now that I think about it, you were uncharacteristically quiet all the time we were in Indiana."

"Nothing's on my mind..."

"Kia, don't lie to me. What is on your mind? Is it the food, because we can go out to dinner if you want to."

"No, the cereal was enough, I'm not really that hungry anymore."

"Well then, what is it?"

"I'm just tired, I guess..."

"Well I'll leave you alone then so you can get some sleep," he kissed her forehead, "I'm worried about you Kia, you've been acting totally un-like yourself since we left on Wednesday. If this keeps up, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"I'll be back to normal soon," she smiled, "I'm just exhausted from everything going on lately. I had forgotten how hard the racing life really was."

"I'll let you sleep then," he answered, as he opened the door and walked out, closing it once again behind him, and staring at the wooden sign on the door, "I hope you're right Kia – I hope you're yourself again soon – or I may have to send you back home."

Kiera laid back on her bed, and stared at the ceiling once again. She wasn't tired, and she didn't feel like going to sleep, but she needed her time alone.

She would be fine – as soon as Kasey was back the next day, and she was able to see him once again.

^*^*^

After dinner that night, Kasey, Kale, Shannon and their father all sat down to play a game of Monopoly, just like they used to.

Of course, close to an hour into the game, Kasey hit Boardwalk – with Kale's hotel on it – and didn't have enough money to pay him. So he found himself watching as Kale thoroughly kicked everyone else's ass – as usual. Monopoly was his game.

"Guys, I'm going to go sit out on the porch," he told them, making sure to grab a sweat shirt and his cell phone on the way out the front door.

The three of them were still locked in their intense game of Monopoly, so he got a mere "Mm-hmm" from Shannon as he walked out the door.

He sat down on the swing on the front porch, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Kiera was on speed dial, so he hit the number nine, and heard the line begin to ring.

^*^*^

Kiera was still lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling as she had been for the last few hours. She truthfully didn't know what was wrong with her, but she was beginning to think there really was something going on.

She knew it all came down to Kasey – that she was feeling and acting this way because she hadn't seen him in close to a week – and that was the problem. She shouldn't have been feeling that way just because she couldn't see him as often as she wanted to.

All-in-all, she just felt that maybe everything was happening a little too quickly: the feelings she felt for Kasey; it was all too quick for her.

She liked him; she wanted to see him. She enjoyed the time she spent with him – she was always smiling and happy when she was with him. And best of all – he made her laugh and feel safe – something that hadn't been there when she was with any guy in possibly forever.

But still, it was too quick. She had known Kasey for a little more than a year – being introduced to him the year before by her brother at a Busch race – but they had only been officially dating for a few weeks.

And already, she feared she was falling for him. Not that that was a bad thing, but it was all too quick. Was it possible to fall in love with someone in a few weeks time? To fall in love with everything about them?

"Maybe I need to distance myself from him a little bit," she mumbled to herself, "Give myself a little time and space to sort out my feelings and figure out exactly what I'm feeling for him."

But what does he feel for me? she wondered, because if she figured out it was love she was feeling, it still wouldn't matter if he didn't love her back.

She wrestled with what to do – distance herself or not. If she distanced herself, it might be easier for her to figure some things out, but would it make him think she wasn't interested in him? But if she didn't distance herself, it could just make things a whole lot more confusing on her.

What was she going to do?

She didn't want to screw things up between Kasey and herself, but she didn't want things to move too quickly. In her prior experiences, relationships that started off too quickly did not last in the end. And she certainly didn't want that to happen to their relationship.

"I don't want to do this," she said sadly, "But I have to. I have to distance myself from Kasey no matter how much I don't want to. I only hope that in the end it works itself out, and he can understand why I had to do this."

And then her plan went down the drain, when from the table next to her bed, her cell phone rang.

She grabbed the phone off the table, and answered it without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ki."

When she heard him call her 'Ki' – the nickname he had come up with for her, she knew she could never go through with her plan. How could she distance herself from someone she wanted to be with, and see more than anything?

That answer was easy: she couldn't.

"Hey Kase. How's your last night in Washington going?"

"Pretty good. But Kale just kicked my ass in Monopoly. He's working on doing the same to Dad and Shannon right now."

"Aww, you guys were playing Monopoly? I wanna play Monopoly."

"Well, I'm just warning you, if Kale ever asks you to play with him: say no. He is the undefeated champion of Monopoly. I should have never let him talk me into playing with him."

"You're just mad because he beat you," she teased.

"Maybe I am."

"At least you can admit it, unlike some other people that I know."

"Tony?" They both laughed together. "So, how was your flight home?"

"Good, but long. I love it in Rushville, but I was missing North Carolina." And you... she silently added to herself.

"I'm missing North Carolina too, but it's a nice change back home. It's so quiet, peaceful and relaxing here. And it's good not to have to wake up every morning and go into the shop. I can actually sleep in, if I wanted to of course."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. What time do you guys fly out tomorrow?"

"Umm... I'm not sure, Kale handled the tickets, so I'd have to ask him, and right now he's kicking everyone in the Monopoly game, and when he's playing, he ignores everything and everyone else."

"Well, just call me tomorrow, and we'll see if you're up to doing something tomorrow night."

"Don't worry Ki, I'd never give up an opportunity to spend time with you."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow Kase."

"You can count on it."

"Bye."

"Bye Ki."

He hit the 'end call' button on his phone, and sat back against the porch swing, running his fingers through his hair. He loved talking to Kiera; there was just something different about her – different than any other girl he had ever had a relationship with before.

"Talking to Kiera?"

He jumped.

"Jeez Shannon, you scared the shit out of me."

"Kale beat me, it's just him and Dad left now. So I decided to come out and sit with my favorite brother. But apparently, you weren't just coming out to sit out here."

"So what, I came out here to call Kiera so maybe I could have a private conversation. But apparently, people's conversations are no longer sacred in this house."

"Chill out Kase, I didn't hear that much of the conversation, just the very end. It's not like I stood in the doorway and listened to the whole thing. Plus, I would have told you I was standing here, but you looked like you were having a good conversation, and I didn't want to interrupt."

"I was – having a good conversation that is. But, any conversation I have with her is good."

"It seems to me that she makes you happy, and seeing as how I've never actually met her, I'm basing that observation off your conversation with her, what you've told me about her and what Kale's said also."

"Kale?" Kasey questioned, "You've talked with Kale about Kiera?"

"Yeah, actually, a night or two ago."

"And what'd he say?" he asked. If Kale and Shannon were talking about Kiera, and his relationship with Kiera, he wanted to know exactly what was said.

"Just that you seem, like, really happy. And he's never seen you happier. And that he's known Kiera for a while too, and in all the time he's known her he's never seen her as happy as she is when she's with you. From the way it sounds, he's seen her with a few other guys to know when she's happy. Oh yeah, and he also said he's never seen Tony Stewart actually happy about someone dating his sister."

"And I sure hope it stays that way," he spoke up.

"What?"

"Tony actually being happy seeing someone dating his sister, because if you think he gets pissed off on the track, you should see him when someone hurts his sister. He's a madman."

"Well, then you better never hurt her."

"I don't plan on it," Kasey told her, "Because if I ever hurt her, it'd hurt me in the process too."

"But, we never really mean to hurt the people we care about," Shannon pointed out, "We normally don't do it on purpose, it just sort of happens."

"Good point." They heard a ruckus coming from the house. "My bet is that Dad just called Kale a cheater, and got mad, and disrupted the board by hitting it."

"No," Shannon shook her head, "It's got to be Kale. I bet you that Dad just beat Kale and inside that door is the aftermath."

"You wanna make a bet? Twenty bucks?"

"You've got yourself a deal," Shannon said as she shook his hand.

Kasey had been right.

^*^*^

Kiera made her way down the aisles of the grocery store, buying supplies she and Tony needed to even be able to eat any time in the near future.

When she had walked down the stairs that morning, she had opened the fridge and the cabinets, and Tony had been right – they literally had nothing.

So that's how she had found herself at the grocery store, only half paying attention to the aisles of things passing her, and what she was doing.

Her mind was elsewhere as she pushed the cart down the aisle, and maneuvered her way around a corner, only to run head-on into another cart.

"Shit," she muttered, looking down ashamedly, "I'm so sorry."

When she looked up, her eyes became big, and narrowed a bit. "Kase? What are you doing here? Aren't you still supposed to be in Washington? Aren't you supposed to be leaving this morning?"

"Kiera, slow down. One question at a time." He held up one finger. "I am shopping." Another finger. "Technically, yes." And yet another finger. "We left late last night, and got in early this morning."

She grinned. "I never expected to see you here."

"Neither did I. Speaking about you, of course," he smiled.

"So what are you shopping for?" Kiera questioned, while gazing up into his intoxicating eyes.

"Supplies for tonight."

"Tonight?"

"It's a surprise, Ki. A surprise for you. You'll just have to wait until tonight to find out."

"I hate it when you say stuff like that, and make me wait," she pouted.

"That's not going to help you out any, you know."

"Darn!"

"Anyway, if I want to get everything all ready, I have to go now."

"I don't want you to go," she protested.

"We're in a grocery store Ki, if you're going to throw yourself at me, at least wait until we're in the confines of my apartment," he joked.

"Haha Kasey, very funny."

"I thought it was."

"Well, I didn't," she told him, pretending to be mad and turning her back on him.

"Ki, don't act like that," he said, turning her around.

"And why can't I?"

He didn't answer her, instead leaning his head down so their lips touched for the first time in almost a week in the middle of a grocery store.

"I can't stay mad at you when you do that," she sighed.

"You were never mad at me in the first place," he smirked, "You were pretending to see if I'd tell you what the surprise is."

"Well, you have no proof of that..."

"I'm sure I could get some."

"Is that a threat, Kase?"

"Not a threat, but a statement. I could find out if I wanted to."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh, and how would you go about doing that?"

He leaned a little closer until his mouth was right next to her ear, and whispered. "Well, first of all, it wouldn't be happening in this grocery store. Somewhere more private. Like my apartment."

Kiera blushed, and looked at the floor. Trying to make it so he wouldn't see the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Kase," she warned, "Let's not go into a subject like that in the middle of a public grocery store."

"You brought it up."

"Shut up," she told him.

And he grinned. "Make me."

"Oh," she growled, "I'll make you all right."

And make him, she did. She practically attacked him with her lips. Savoring his kiss, and not caring that she was doing so in the middle of an aisle of a grocery store.

"See," she whispered, her voice raspy as they pulled apart, "I made you shut up, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. And I have to say I didn't mind it one bit."

She blushed again, and looked down at the floor, before looking at her watch. "Shit," she muttered.

"What?"

"I told Tony I would be home thirty minutes ago. He's probably getting worried."

"Go then. Finish shopping. But be ready at seven. I'm picking you up."

"Seven," she nodded, "Okay."

"Bye Ki," he told her, smiling, as he lowered his lips to hers once again. Once they were not in public, she'd tell him exactly what she had been waiting to tell him for days.

"Bye Kase."

And she continued on her way, shopping. Her spirits were up, and she was already feeling better, and more like herself.

^*^*^

Kiera made sure she was ready and waiting downstairs for him by quarter of seven, wanting to make sure she wasn't holding them up at all.

"Where are you going?"

She turned around quickly, holding a hand to her heart. "Jeez Tony, you scared me."

"Sorry about that, but where are you going?"

"I'm going out with Kasey tonight."

"He's back in town?" Tony questioned.

"Yeah, got back this morning, I ran into him at the store. And he wanted to know if I wanted to go out with him tonight."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door, and Kiera looked up at Tony with her puppy dog eyes. "What do you want?"

"Answer the door for me? And let him in?"

"Fine," he sighed, "I live to serve Queen Kiera."

"Damn straight you do," she joked, as she ducked around the corner of the kitchen wall, and listened as Tony opened the door and let Kasey in.

"She should be out any minute," she heard Tony say as she came around the wall, and walked into the living room, smiling at Kasey.

"Hey Kase."

He looked at what she was wearing, and grinned, "Hey Ki. Ready to go?"

"Yep."

"Okay, let's get outta here then."

She followed behind him as he took her hand and lead her out the door, and to his Durango where he opened the door for her, and helped her in.

Once they were both securely in the truck, and buckled in, he looked over at her with a grin. "You look fabulous."

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Ready?"

"You betcha."

And they were on the road, heading back to Kasey's.

^*^*^

She was quiet the entire way there, and he wondered why.

"Kiera?"

"Hmm?"

"Something wrong?"

"Nope."

"Okay..."

Somehow he didn't believe her, but he was going to let it pass for now. But it was definitely a topic they'd be revisiting later.

They walked into his apartment, and she noticed the quietness. Obviously, Kale wasn't home.

"Where's Kale?"

"Umm... out somewhere. He didn't really tell me where he was going."

"Oh. Okay."

"I'm cooking," he told her.

"What are you cooking?"

"You'll see."

Silence overtook them for most of the duration of when Kasey was cooking. And it wasn't a comfortable silence.

"What's wrong Kiera?"

She shook her head, obviously having been in her own, little world. "Nothing."

"I think something is bothering you," he answered, "And I want you to tell me what."

"I already told you nothing is bothering me."

"And I think you're lying."

"I'm not Kase."

He walked over to her, and stood in front of her. She stood up in front of him. "Kasey, really, I'm not."

He turned away, "Yeah. Whatever you say."

"Kase, don't be like that. I'm not lying. And I'd actually believe you if your eyes weren't scrunching up at the corners, just like they always do when you lie."

She sighed. "What do you want with me, Kasey?"

"Just be honest with me."

"What if I am?"

"You're a really bad liar," he told her, turning away again. But she grabbed his wrist, and turned him around so she was looking at him.

"You really want to know what it is?" she questioned.

"Of course."

"It's just that, umm... I'm glad that you're home. I missed you this week." See, she told herself, That wasn't so hard. It was official: her plan of distancing herself from him was thrown out the window.

He wrapped his arms around her, and laughed. "That's it? That was what was bothering you?"

"Yeah..." she answered hesitantly.

"I missed you too Ki, and I'm just as glad to be home. And here."

And then the smoke detector went off.

^*^*^