Dreaming of Roses

Chapter 3

Chloe closed the door behind her. As she did, it seemed that all her worries fell away, she even walked taller, if that was possible considering her shoes already added four inches to her frame. "Holy it's hot out here." Chloe complained as they started walking to Clyde's.

"Yep," responded Caitlyn. "By the way, Sunday dinner at our house. Dad's making roast beef."

"Your Dad knows that's my favourite! Is Theo going to be there?" asked Chloe, as they rounded the corner.

"With Trish, of course. I really wish they weren't so serious. Theo's going to be so far away," Caitlyn responded wistfully.

"I don't understand why you don't like her. He's your brother Caitlyn, not your kid. She seems like a nice enough girl." Chloe liked Trish, and thought her and Theo were a good match.

"I know, I can't help being a big sister. I just get weird vibes from her when she looks at him, almost like she wants to eat him."

"He has developed into a good-looking young man. Well, almost man." Chloe corrected herself. "The girls in Kenora don't know what's coming their way." She chuckled.

"That's the worst part of it. They should just agree to go their separate ways when he leaves."

"Kittycat, you can't save everyone. I know you try, but one day its going to break your heart." For someone so light-hearted, Chloe was awful wise sometimes. "Besides, how do you know they are that serious? Theo has a good head on his shoulders, I'm sure he doesn't want to get married anytime soon."

The thought of Theo getting married filled both the girls with giggles. "Can you imagine? Hey look, there goes Jeff. Maybe we'll get a drive downtown after all." Chloe waved at their friend as he drove by in a beat up hatchback car.

All of a sudden, the car bucked to a stop, and the passenger side door opened. "Where are you going?" he asked. Chloe pulled up the passenger seat to crawl in the back. "We're going to Clyde's for dinner. Wanna come?"

"Wouldn't miss it. I love steak and eggs for dinner!" replied Jeff. Jeff had known Caitlyn and Chloe since Grade 9. They met on the first day of school in the lunchroom, and all three had been fast friends since. It hadn't taken long for Jeff to develop a crush on Chloe. Caitlyn was well aware of Jeff's feelings for Chloe, but she seemed oblivious. Chloe was not the type who wanted to be tied down to a boyfriend.

Caitlyn buckled her seatbelt as Jeff pulled away from the curb. A few intersections later they pulled into the parking lot for Clyde's. "Not busy tonight," Jeff said. His couldn't take his eyes off Chloe as she stepped out of the car. "You look beautiful Chloe. Where'd you get the shoes?" As Chloe and Jeff chattered on about where Chloe had been shopping recently, Caitlyn made a mental note to talk to her friend about the situation with Jeff. He was so infatuated he was even willing to listen to her shopping stories.

They entered the restaurant, and debated sitting inside or out on the patio. Jeff wanted to sit inside, but the girls, even though it was warm, felt it had cooled down considerably since school, and wanted to people watch. Well, Caitlyn wanted to do the people watching, it was one of her favourite pastimes. Chloe wanted to be seen in her outrageous outfit.

They ordered appetizers to share, and Chloe started working on Jeff, asking him to join them at Luzora. Jeff had made plans to go and see a movie, but when Chloe worked her magic on him it was hard to resist. As Chloe was trying to wheedle Jeff into coming with talk of hot girls who would want to dance (of course Jeff only wanted to dance with Chloe), a guy walked out on to the patio with a group of friends.

Caitlyn suddenly felt dizzy, like the world had shifted onto a different axis. She looked up at him, surprised to find that the rest of the world seemed to go fuzzy, but she could see every detail about him. She could almost hear a click, like the universe decided everything was set. The boy was tall, with an athletic build, and looked about 19 years old. He had liquid brown eyes that looked orange depending how the sunlight hit them. He had short, sandy blond hair, and as he looked around the patio his eyes lit on Caitlyn.