She was such a pain in the ass.
He was Seventeen... And she was Thirteen.
Jensen discovered that she had an annoying habit of popping up at the worst possible moment. Really embarrassing moments.
Like when he was at the back of his house drinking one of his dad's beer. Or when he was making out with some girl behind the old well.
One time he chased her, all the way to her house. He was determined to teach a lesson... Teach her not to mess with him. But when he caught her, he just couldn't. He let her go. Then watched as she tried to dust the sand off her clothes. Her face red.
He smiled. "Kitty Kat" he said.
She answered by calling him a dork.
One time she stole a pack of cigarettes from him and broke them all in two. He wasn't even smoking them, he just carried them around to look cool. He didn't know what to do with her.
It was hell. She wore make up now. He told her it was ugly and she looked silly and that she was trying too hard to look older.
She told him he looked like a geek.
She pissed the hell out of him. And all her brother Jon did was laugh. That's how Katherine was. Annoying. He had to get used to it. Jonathan said.
But annoying as she was. She baked the best cookies he had ever tasted.... And cupcakes. And when she realized he like them, she always brought him some everytime she baked. She would pack them in a shoe box lined with wax paper and bring them to him.
Sometimes she brought them to school for him. As they grew older he realized she cared about him... She liked him. He knew that. And he liked her too... But just as his best friends little sister... He told himself then. She wasn't his friend. He wasn't going to be friends with some kid.
Then he had lost his parents...And it had hurt like hell.
No one had ever seen him cry.. But she did.
All his family members, friends and well wishers were at his house. Everyone one had some consoling words for him. Words that didn't make him feel better one bit.
Some said 'Let me know if there is anything I can do for you' and then walked away before they even found out of there was anything they could do.
Some of the women brought food... Anything to make him eat something. But he wouldn't touch anything.
His grandfather was going to take care of him and his siblings now.
He didn't have appetite to eat anything. He had felt sick inside. Empty. Dead.
And then he opened the door to find Katherine standing there with a box of cookies. She hadn't said a word. No "I'm sorry for your loss" or "let me know if I can do anything". She had just stared at him with her big bright eyes and handed the box to him.
They both left the house. Went to the a spot on the path leading to the river. And they sat on a rock together. She sat so close he could feel the warmth from her where their shoulders almost touched. They didn't say anything. Just ate the cookies.
The cookies and her presence had made him feel better —for a while.
Then he remembered his parents. He was never going to see them again. Nothing was going to ever change that. Suddenly he wanted to be alone... He wanted to run and hide from everything. From everyone.
And so he told her to leave... She did.
And then he had sat there and sobbed in his knees. He thought he was alone. Then he heard a movement. She was back... Or she had never left. He stared at her. He was mad at her for staying. He didn't like that she had seen him cry. But he didn't have the strength to yell at her, though he wanted to so bad.
She folded her hands and hung her head. She walked right up to him and sat down again.
Then she did something he had never expected.
She cried with him.
They got closer after that day. Close enough to make Jonathan a bit jealous. He often told Katherine to go hang out with her own friends. But she didn't seem to mind.
She helped him get over his parents death. And he looked after her at school. Like he took care of his sister. Sometimes they walked to school together or took the bus together.
He remembered sitting with her on the bus one day. Her friend Eva hadn't come to school that day. She was sitting alone, looking out the window. He didn't like the way she looked so he had left his friends and came to sit with her. She was so happy.
She still followed him around a lot . But it didn't annoy him as much as it used to anymore — though it did sometimes. He still called her Kitty Kat. And she told him everytime not to. But he still did because he loved to tease her. She looked so funny when she got pissed.
That rock by the river became their spot. They went there together with some of her cookies. And they ate and talked and argued about almost everything. Like why the sky and the ocean was blue and how planes flew and why engines need oil. They talked about a lot of silly things too.
When he was leaving for college she was very upset. She cried. She didn't want him to go. He was going to miss her too but he was also excited about going to college. They kept in touch for a while... But then the calls and texts became less frequent and then they stopped. Jonathan told him she left to live with one of their aunts when she got into college.
He didn't see her for years after that.
Next time he saw her he had graduated from college and he was back home. He was supposed to join Dillon at their parents company. But he knew deep down that he wanted something of his own. He hadn't expected to see her. Nobody told him she was back.
He was Twenty five and she was twenty one.He was going on some errand for his grandfather or something —he couldn't remember what it was. Because the moment he saw her walk down the beach toward the dock he had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.He was hidden in a group of trees. Oh yes —he remembered now —he was cutting wood from a tree that had fallen when he heard the hinges squeak and a screen door slam. He cast a quick glance toward the house where a girl in bright blue bikini came down the front porch steps and crossed the lawn.He leaned a shoulder against a tree and just watched her. She had a great body. He had thought.Then he recognized her face. He couldn't believe it. It was Katherine Kavell—kitty Kat.He stared at her, his mouth open.Gone was the awkward teen who wore too much make up and followed him everywher
He hadn't moved, only watched her. He said nothing until she finally glanced up at him. He gave her a long look she would have to be blind not to understand.And she got it. Her face flushed and she looked down quickly, rubbing the hell out of her her legs so she missed the grin he had to bite to hide. She straightened then, still holding the towel. She raised her chin a little, defiant and challenging, the Kitty Kat he remembered. He smiled.A moment passed. A minute or two. Neither said anything. They just stood on the dock and looked at each other under the warm and unpredictable sunshine. He felt like a thirsty man staring at an icy cold beer.She returned his look, then whispered his name in that raspy grown up voice he felt go all the way through him."Jensen" she said softly.Just Jensen — his name was all she said.And he was lost."Hey Kitty —" he said.
They swam on the cove where the water was shallow and warm enough to enjoy. One time they hung out in a sailboat's small cabin, laughing at the weather and eating a Lunch of egg salad sandwiches and barbecued potato chips she had brought along. Years later, he couldn't eat barbecued potatoe chips without thinking of that day —without thinking about her.They spent so much time together. They talked about everything. About school. About poetry. About music and movies they loved. They talked about life and death and dreams.One day they went to their childhood favorite place. The place where she had seen him cry. The place that had become their favorite spot. They stayed out there till late in the evening, and when they decided to go back, on their way he pinned her against a tree and did the one thing he had wanted to do since he saw her again on that beach.He pinned get against a tree and kissed the hell out of he
He tried not to let out bother him much.Till Jonathan had told him she planned to move away for good — with Mitch.What the hell? He couldn't let her do that. Even if she was doing a damn good job of hiding it he knew she still had a thing for him. He saw it in her eyes whenever he saw her, the sharp intake of her breath whenever he was close to her, with the way she did everything possible to avoid him.He couldn't let her go. He forgot about his decision to respect her wish and he went after her.And so he told her. The night before she left. Told her he wanted her to stay....Begged her to stay. She didn't want to listen. She said Mitch cared about her and she was going to try to make it work between them.In his opinion Mitch didn't care about her like he did. Mitch didn't deserve her. And he told her that.Telling her that hadn't helped matters. Be
One day, Eight hours and…six minutes.That was how long the text had been sitting in Jensen's inbox. He detested that he was reduced to even knowing how long it had parked itself in his consciousness, taunting him with it's presence.Taunting him with that gut twisting mix of hope and bitterness he thought he was finally rid of. He detested the fact that it had taken just one text from her to reduce him to this. He hated that she still had that effect on him. After five damn years.How he wished it were one of those mundane work texts or emails he had become so adept at passing to his assistant to deal with.Then, from a safe distance, it would have been so easy to tell her to handle it. Or, better yet, delete it.But here it was. Not handled. Not deleted.And about as far from mundane as it could get.Not when he had already read
Jensen was torn between grinning at her sheer nerve and cussing at her unsubtle hints that his response was in any way defective.Okay. So maybe he was a little rude. He could admit that, but It wasn't like she didn't deserve it. He thought.But even at that, his gaze remained riveted on a particular line: I'm moving back into town in a few days.…She was coming back. So even if he didn't meet with her. He was definetly going to see her again. And that was something he wasn't sure he wanted to do.He sighed."Damn you, Kat" he muttered. "Damn you".----------------------------------Katherine realized that she was boxing up the kitchen stuff with a little more force than required.She stopped, and took a deep breath. It wasn't her fault. No one could blame her. Jensen and his stupid attitude was capable of making anyone lose it.The
It read :I didn't know you were moving back. That's good news... I guess. Anyways, we could meet in my office on Monday. One pm..I guess you already know where my office is. If you don't, get Jonathan to tell you.Katherine stared at her phone for a while. The man hadn't changed. He was still as arrogant and annoying as before, maybe even more annoying.She realized a part of her was hoping he would refuse to meet her. Now that he had agreed to meet her she was nervous. How the hell was she going to handle seeing Jensen Packard after all these years.——————————————Katherine sighed as she got closer to her parents house. It had been a long journey. And definitely not easier when Tim had asked "Are we there yet?" like every fifteen minutes.Their stuff had arrived two days ago, thanks to Jonathan. He took care of that too, and Katherine was so thankful. What could she have do
Maybe agreeing to meet her wasn't such a good idea. Jensen thought.It was Monday. And he was in office. He couldn't get anything done. He realized he had been having difficulty getting anything done since she had sent him that bloody text. She was constantly on his mind and he found himself always losing focus.His secretary knocked and entered his office"Sir" she said."Yes, Mrs Geller" he answered, her presence making him snap out of his thoughts."There is a Miss Kavell here to see you, she says you are expecting her, but I checked and she doesn't have an appointment.""Yeah... Let her in"It wasn't going to take long. He just had to hear what she had to say. Straight. Sharp. To the point. Sayo nara. Goodbye. Maybe seeing her once again was just what he needed to get over her —to get her out of his mind once and for all.Jensen grimaced as he a