To Kiss Kate

9. the ex

Jackson Michaels Point of View:

The day had not gone well. I agreed to meet with Angela, knowing it would end badly. It did. Not in the way I had expected with arguing and yelling, but because I truly didn't care for her anymore. Seeing her didn't hurt like it had before, and talking things out with her just left the same blank hole in my heart I'd had before. I was over it.

But Kate. Kate was a whole other story. I had fucked up pretty bad. Kate never worked on Saturdays. Never. That was like the first thing I ever learned about her. So I figured Duke's would be a safe place to meet Angela. I was dead wrong. Kate was working, and I flipped. Angela flipped when I flipped, and suddenly I had created a mess. But now, Angela was gone and all I had to worry about was hoping that Kate wasn't. 

I was at Hendricks eating a bowl of cereal as we waited for people to show up. It was around 9:30 and a majority of people were here. A movie was playing in the basement but only a few people had made their way down to watch it. I was nervous. I needed to talk to Katiya, but Jason was here. He kept looking at me and saying nothing. I was ignoring it and talking to my friends. But people were starting to notice.

Around ten everyone had managed to go downstairs. Katiya arrived around 10:30. She had just gotten out of work, but she looked gorgeous.

"Hey guys." She said as she walked in, sitting down next to Genny and Hannah. Jason's eyes lit up as he was the first person to say hi back to her. Everyone else said hi in unison. I waved to her from across the area and she gave me a small smile back. Genny glanced at me and then whispered something to Kate. Kate turned and started talking to Genny, but I couldn't hear what. Apparently, others could.

"Guys, shut up." A guy I didn't really know well named Logan said, sitting up and looking at Kate. They rolled their eyes and laughed. I had to talk to her. I looked around the room, everyone was sitting pretty quietly watching the movie, which was surprising. I sent her a text.

Can we talk?

I watched her check the notification and look at me. She nodded and got up slowly.

"I'm going pee." She said and walked towards the stairs. It was surprising that there wasn't a bathroom in the basement, but I figured maybe she went upstairs on purpose. A few seconds after she walked up the stairs I followed without saying anything. I could feel Jason's glares at me.

I headed up the stairs and she was standing at the top.

"Hey." I said. She didn't smile.

"Hi."

"About earlier..." I was waiting for her to interrupt, but she didn't. "That. It was my ex. I didn't think you worked on Saturdays-"

"Oh so since I don't work on Saturdays that makes it okay? I'm not gonna let you play with my feelings, Jack. I've done enough of that with Jason." Her eyes were bright with anger. I took a step towards her and she didn't react.

"That's not what I meant." I let out a sigh. "Just like Jason, Angela really hurt me. She fucked me up pretty bad a few months ago. And then i hurt her pretty bad as well. She asked to meet up and I agreed. We just talked and it made me realize that I am completely over her. I haven't even thought about her since I came here, Kate." She didn't say anything. "Since I met you...." She shut her eyes and breathed for a few seconds.

"Why haven't you made a move, Jack? You send me so many mixed signals." My heart began to beat a little faster.

"I don't want to fuck up. I actually care about you, Kate. I don't just want to hook up and then leave and never speak again, and Jason. I mean, Jason really-" she cut me off by taking a step towards me and saying my name.