Living with Jason was actually a lot easier than I expected and he came in handy quite a bit. The first day he had stayed I woke up to the smell of pancakes and quickly went downstairs to thank Maria for the lovely breakfast but instead found Jason in the kitchen cooking away as if he had been doing it his whole life.
“Hey, what are you doing? You know you could have asked Maria to make you something. She's an...”
I had started to say before he cut me off.
“I told Maria to take a vacation. Besides, I can cook and if you don't like my cooking we can always order something in.”
He turned around to look at me from his spot in front of the stove. Well I certainly didn't mind his cooking, especially right after I had the first bit of the chocolate chip pancakes he had made. For the rest of the day we just hung out at the house, went swimming, watched movies, and it seemed as if Jason was trying to keep me busy so my mind wouldn't wander to a few days back. I deeply missed Kelly and I knew she would have just loved sitting around watching Jason act as if he was just a regular guy. Truth be told, something in my gut had me thinking Jason was no normal guy. In fact, at times, he seemed like he was from a completely different planet. Guess that's the whole “Men are from Mars” theory. It was now the second day I had spent with Jason and we were just hanging out in the kitchen cooking some breakfast.
“Hey, Kate, will you get me the salt and pepper for these eggs, please?”
“Of course,” I answered from my position by the toaster, “You do know that I can cook as well, I don't have to be resulted to toasting the bread.”
“Nope, not a word from you Missy. We already had this talk yesterday when you said you were going to make me lunch. I told you, I'm here to help, so let me help.”
He turned back and smiled at me which was something I had started to love. His smile was like no smile I had seen on a guys face before. It was kind and sweet yet showed that he truly was happy. And goodness knows I had been hoping, no more like praying, that he was happy here with me.
I handed the salt and pepper over to him and then leaned against the counter to look at him.
“Thank you,” he said with a smirk and turned back to his eggs.
I began to study his face. There was something different about his face, he almost looked perfect, not one flaw. Smooth and radiant skin, eyes glowing, his features were beautiful. I wanted so badly to touch him, just see how his skin felt. Before I knew what I was doing I had reached my hand up to his face and turned it so he was looking at me. I couldn't believe what I was doing but his skin was so smooth and as soft as I had imagined it would feel.
“Kate?” Jason barely spoke as if he was trying to figure out what I was doing as well.
Embarrassed at what I had done, I quickly dropped my hand and turned away.
“Um, sorry, I'm going to be right back.”
And then I left the room, nearly running up the steps, and shutting myself away in my room.
My heart was ponding.
She had touched me, cupped my face in her soft hand. I could smell the sweet fragrance coming off her and for a moment it seemed as if she had wanted me to come closer. Could she have wanted me to kiss her? Certainly she didn't. We hardly knew each other and how could Kate be thinking that about a guy like me. If only she knew the truth. I went back to cooking the eggs and when they were done I scooped them onto a plate, grabbed some buttered toast, a glass of milk, and headed up the stairs to find Kate. The door to her room was shut so I figured she was hiding away in there. So much for helping her get over Kelly.
I approached the door and knocked gently. When no reply was made I called out her name and still no reply. I looked down to notice the door knob was turning very slowly.
“Kate, please, just open the door. We don't have to talk I just want to make sure you have something to eat.”
The moment I finished talking the door swung open and there she stood. Her eyes looked a little red but she wouldn't look up at me. Instead she grabbed the plate and glass I was holding then turned around and shut me out again. I clearly had hurt her some how. Probably brought up a memory of Kelly. I went back down the stairs to eat my own food and ended up in the living room where I had left the book I was currently reading.
Right once I had gotten to the climax of the story I looked up to find a near by clock over the fireplace and realized it was growing closer to being noon. Kate had officially been up in her room for five hours without one word. It was the longest we had gone without speaking, minus sleeping hours of course. I realized that the more manly thing to do would to be to go back up those stairs and apologize for whatever memory I had reminded her of and try to help her through it.
She beat me to it though.
The next thing I knew Kate was sitting across from me on the other sofa fidgeting with her hands and hair. She looked completely nervous as if she was about to confess to a crime.
“Kate? Is everything alright?”
She finally looked up at me and I saw right away her eyes were swollen and red. Why hadn't I gone up there sooner to see her? I placed my book down on the sofa and got up to sit next to her but the moment I sat down she scooted away.
“I don't know if I can do this, Jason.”
Her words were confusing me.
“Do what?”
“Live here, with you. I think...well...I think that we might...well...
develop feelings for one another. Or at least one of us will.”
She said the last statement as if she was speaking of herself and blew out a short laugh while she shook her head back and forth. I realized I hadn't been listening to what she was saying and more over just looking at how she was saying it and began to replay the worlds she had said over in my head.
“Live here, with you. I think that we might develop feelings for one another. Or at least one of us will.”
The words rang in my head. So she had realized that I was slowly but surely falling in love with her. She was going to realize it one of these days.
I began to blush when Jason just sat there thinking over what I had said. Maybe I had come on too strong. Well of course I had. Hello I just told the dude that I was developing feelings for him. Of course he would freak out and probably question my sanity. Then go into asking me a million question about how I could possibly develop feelings for a guy I had just met. How was I suppose to explain the connection I had felt when we were in the kitchen without looking like a complete crazy head. There was no way.
“You think that I wouldn't develop feelings for you?”
His voice caught me off guard and I looked back up into his face that had a small smirk on it. I started to blush even more. Guess I should have picked up on all the times he had been flirting with me but something had changed between us while we were making breakfast and I couldn't see myself ever turning back to normal life.
“Kate, please, talk to me. This silence is agony!”
“Yes, I guess I did think you wouldn't develop feelings for me.”
I will never forget what he did next. One minute he was looking at me as if I was insane for thinking what I was thinking and the next he was smiling so big that if I had blinked I would have missed it.
“Kate, you are far from right.”
He turned towards me some more and scooted over so he was sitting closer. He looked at me as if I was the most precious thing he had ever seen. Never before had someone looked at me with such endearment that the breath in the back of my throat got caught. This guy was breath-taking and had basically just told me that he was having the same feelings for me as I was for him. My blush deepened and I could totally feel it.
He slowly lifted his hand and lightly traced the side of my face from my forehead to the tip of my chin. Then suddenly his hand was tracing down towards my neck and his face was growing closer to mine. It was the sweetest kiss a girl could ever have.
