To Kiss Kate

12. the party

Katiya Carpenter's Point of View:

I had spent every day since the accident with Jack. Weeks passed by easily and soon it was August. After work I would go to his house or he would appear at mine. I recognized that this was much to the dismay of his parents, and was reminded of it as we sat in his living room watching tv.

"Jack. We're eating dinner soon, so you should bring Katiya home." His mother said from the doorway. Jack rolled his eyes and looked at me apologetically.

"Can't she just stay for dinner? Save a drive?" He tried, but his mom had already began to walk away, ignoring him. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, wrapping his arms around me tighter and kissing the top of my head.

"It's okay. I should eat with my dad anyways, I haven't hung out with him much this week." I stood up, smiling. I doubted my dad had even noticed, he had probably been drunk most of the week. Jack looked at me sympathetically and I gave him my hands to pull him off the couch.

He stood and pressed off on the remote, letting out a breath.

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked hopefully. I had spent almost all day with him since I didn't work on Saturdays, so I rolled my eyes.

"I think I'm going to hang out with Genny and Hannah. I have work tomorrow." He gave me a sad face. I smiled in response, "oh stop. I've been with you for like 7 hours today." He grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him.

"It's never enough, Kate." He whispered in my ear. God, he was hot. He kissed me slowly, letting it sink in. Fuck. I pulled away before I couldn't anymore.

"Didn't Landon and Hendricks invite you out?" He had been avoiding hanging out with anyone besides me all week, and especially going to parties, which I understood. I understood that he felt guilty about the accident, but it truly wasn't his fault, and Harry was okay. He looked at the ground in response to my question. "Jack. Come on, don't let this ruin your summer. Harry is okay. He's going to be fine." I touched his face and lifted his chin to look at me. "Really. Promise me you'll try to have fun tonight." He nodded unconvincingly.

"I know a better way I could have fun tonight..." I scoffed at him and shook my head.

"Let's go." I detached my arms from his and headed towards the door and into his car. He for some reason insisted on picking me up and driving me home each day, claiming that he liked the extra 15 minutes with me. I didn't mind, we had gotten so much closer in the past week, and I felt like I had known him my whole life. I felt crazy for it.

"I'm sorry about my parents. They're unreasonable and they never even gave you a chance. I just want you to know that will never change the way I feel about you, Kate. I promise." He put his hand on my knee as he spoke, keeping his eyes on the road. I placed my hand over his and squeezed gently.

"It's okay, Jack. I can handle it... I've been dealing with this my whole life, remember?" He looked at me, a little confused.

"What do you mean? You've been dealing with what your whole life?" He put his both hands back on the wheel. I leaned against the car window and pulled my leg up towards me.

"Well, I mean. My whole life I've been the poor girl kind of. This town is full of people wealthier than me, especially in the summer. I'm used to summer kids parents hearing one word about me and not giving me a chance past that. I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me anymore." I said honestly. It was true, growing up I was much less rich than everyone else who I went to school with. My friends all didn't care, and if anything they just gave me more gifts so I wouldn't ever feel left out. My parents weren't poor, but we had much less than those around us. Once my mom died, the financial situation became even worse. I didn't let it bother me. Some of the summer kids wouldn't give me the time of day because of it. But they were summer kids, and it didn't matter. My real friends always had my back.