Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 24

KATE 

I felt my heart start to accelerate. Did he seriously say that? He thinks I'm beautiful?!

Everyone just stared at me as all the blood drained from my face.

"Well, what'd he say?" Corey demands.

I sighed before making up something in my head so I wouldn't give away the conversation that I'd had with him during work. I wanted to keep my conversations with him confidential. As well as his identity.

"Well, I just said that I'd enjoyed working with him today, and he said that he had too."

Corey clapped with glee. "Aw, Kate, I'm so happy for you."

"My turn," I said, changing the subject. "Kyle, truth or dare?"

Kyle smiled. "Dare."

"I dare you to kiss Amy," I said since I'd never actually seen them kiss before.

Kyle leaned in towards his girlfriend. He kissed her gently and it just seemed so natural between them that I could tell that they had kissed a million times before.

Corey and I clapped and I turned back to my phone, feeling bad that I hadn't responded to Axel's text.

KATE - And today I noticed that you have really pretty eyes :)

I soon realized that it was the most honest thing that I'd ever said to him and that scared me. He was beginning to get through my walls and I didn't know if I'd be able to stop that from happening.

✡ ✡ ✡

"Dinner time, everyone!" Corey's mother called to us from the kitchen.

We all got up from our spots on Corey's bedroom floor and Amy and Kyle were the first to leave, their steps echoing down the hall then disappearing.

"Hey, um, Kate?" Corey called to me.

"Yeah?" I responded, turning around.

"That's not what he'd really said, was it?" Her voice was soft, not accusing.

I shook my head, not wanting to lie to the first friend I'd ever made.

Corey nodded. "It's okay that you didn't want to tell us, it was just a stupid dare anyways. You tell us about him when you're ready."

In that moment, I had never felt so thankful for someone's understanding than I did about Corey's, so without even realizing what I was doing, I hugged her. She hugged me back, her arms wrapping around my waist in such a comforting way that I almost felt like crying, without even knowing why.

Pulling away, I said, "Thank you."

Judging by her face though, I don't think she understood how much that I'd meant that.

Kyle wasn't kidding, Corey's mother really was an amazing cook. Definitely better than my father. She'd apologized to us many times about Corey's father's absence due to a work meeting, but I couldn't see how this night could get any better with him or without him.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Woods, this is really good," I said, swallowing my last bite of the dinner.

Corey had warned her mother that I was diabetic so she'd been careful about what she'd chosen to prepare for dessert. She set paper plates in front of us and we all dug in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Corey kiss her mother's cheek, which was an image that made me feel bittersweet. It was sad because I knew that I could never do that to my own mother, at least not after what she'd done. But mostly, I'd felt happy for Corey since she had such a stable family that appeared a lot as mine had before everything fell apart.

I took a final sip of my water before going up the sink to clean my dishes.

Corey's mother laughed. "Oh, Kate, you don't have to do those."

I smiled as she placed a comforting hand on my back. "No, really, I don't mind helping, Mrs. Woods. It's the least I could do after everything you've done."

Corey's mother looked surprised by my gesture and also grateful at the same time. "Your parents have really raised you well," she said, "and please, call me Jen."