“You look like crap.” Peyton said, as Katie stepped out of the back office.
“I didn’t sleep well.” Katie said, rubbing her hands over her face.
“And all this time I thought the bags under your eyes were your new fashion statement.” Peyton joked as Katie forced a smile.
“Just haven’t been sleep well.” Katie replied.
“Is everything okay?” Peyton asked, as Elisabeth came over to the two.
“I just can’t stay asleep.” Katie said, busying herself with random thing around the store in hopes of making them drop the subject.
“Is Isabella waking up a lot?” Elisabeth asked.
“No, and Kevin is sleeping fine before you even ask that question. I just can’t sleep.” Katie said, her voice sounding a little strained.
“Bad dreams.” Peyton asked.
“I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” Katie said, walking over to the counter and smiling at customers as she walked by.
“You know, when you were pregnant with Isabella, you couldn’t sleep.” Elisabeth suggested.
“I’m not pregnant.” Katie quickly replied.
“How do you know for sure?’ Peyton asked.
“Well, mostly due to the fact Kevin and I haven’t had sex for seven months!” Katie snapped. She leaned onto the counter and took a deep breath; avoiding looking at her two best friends. “I’m just going to go home. I’ll see you guys later.” Katie said, grabbing her purse and leaving the store.
Elisabeth and Peyton watched Katie quickly leave the store. Katie had never really snapped of at them before. She had never really fought with them without apologizing right after. She wasn’t acting like herself, something was up.
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The sink felt cold against Katie’s back. It was helping calm her down and helping the redness in her face to fade. She wiped at her eyes, being very careful of the make-up that she had taken a lot of time to do.
The door to the bathroom opened and Kevin stepped in. “Kate, you’re crying.” Kevin said, moving to take her into his arms but she flinched away.
“Don’t touch me!” Katie said.
“Does it hurt?” Kevin asked, nodding to the spot her hand still covered. Katie nodded and slowly pulled her hand off the spot.
A red mark wrapped all the way around her arm. It didn’t remind Kevin of a handprint at all.
“Oh beautiful.” Kevin said, as Katie’s body started shaking with sobs. He quickly pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “It’ll be okay Kate.” He kept whispering.
“No it won’t.” Katie whispered, pulling away and wiping her eyes. She turned to face the mirror and turned on the water. “Damn it!” She yelled as she slammed a fist down on the tile.
“Katie, what’s gong on?” Kevin asked.
“Nothing. I ….I just need to deal with something really quick.” Katie said.
“Can I help?” Kevin suggested.
“You and I both vowed not to.” Katie replied, not even looking at him as she splashed cold water on her face.
“Katie…” Kevin started.
“Kevin, its fine. I’m fine and I’ll be back out there in just a minute.” Katie said, smiling a little.
Kevin let out a sigh and left Katie in the bathroom.
Like she said, Katie was out a few minutes later. Her make-up had been fixed and she wasn’t hiding the mark on her arm anymore.
She started hitting up the dance floor, something that Kevin couldn’t believe. She wouldn’t leave. When a new song started, she would start dancing. When that song ended, she’d just stand there and wait for the next song to begin.
She started enjoying what the girls had called their “dirty dancing”. They were getting low when “Low” played. They were even having contests around the group to see who could go the lowest. She held onto Kevin’s hands and swayed against him when “Glamorous” played. Katie honestly seemed like she was doing fin.
When ‘Cha Cha Slide’ started playing, Katie dragged Kevin into the bigger group to dance with it.
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Katie looked at the mess of the bed sheets that she had made. Kevin would have to fix it before he’d sleep tonight. But, at the moment, tearing the made bed up had made her feel better.
She looked around the room, noticing her pillow over by the closet door. Kevin’s was over by the door, along with one of the ones used for decoration. Another extra pillow was just a few feet away.
“Katie?” She heard Kevin call.
“Bedroom.” She replied, quickly wrapping herself up in the sheets.
“I stopped by the store to see if you wanted to have lunch but Laura said you had left earlier.” Kevin said, stepping in and noticing the mess of pillows and the comforter on the floor. “Did the bed attack?” He asked.
He watched as Katie sat up and slowly let the bed sheets fall. “Katie…” He forced out as she made her way to the edge of the bed.
Katie wore a forest green slip that stopped right at her thighs. “I want to have sex with my husband. Is that a problem?” She asked sweetly.
Kevin seemed like he was going to say it was a problem or that they couldn’t. But, he looked her over and leaned in. He kissed her ever so softly on the lips and wrapped his arms around her and he laid them back on the bed.
************************************************************************
“Something’s going on.’ Peyton said, sitting in the bakery with Elisabeth.
“Katie has never acted like this.” Elisabeth added.
“Once.” Peyton replied, rubbing her face with her hands. “Right after the Reggie incident.”
“What had happened?” Elisabeth asked.
“You remember how she and Kevin became engaged sometime that night or the next day and they had disappeared at various times throughout the night after dealing with Reggie?” Peyton asked, watching Elisabeth nod. “If you ask either Katie or Kevin, they swear that nothing happened but there are stories of them having sex at the party.”
The door to the bakery opened and the bell hanging chimed, causing the two girls to turn and see Kevin walk in.
He walked over to the counter and talked to the older lady. Once the lady had nodded, he turned around and saw the girls. He waved, which caused them to motion for him to come over.
“Is something up with Katie?” Peyton asked. “She said she hasn’t been sleeping well and she had this total freak-out at the store this morning.”
“I don’t know of anything wrong. She hasn’t really said much about sleeping to me.” Kevin said, shrugging a little.
“Nice battle wound there.” Elisabeth said, pointing to the hickey at the base of Kevin’s neck.
“Katie surprised me when I got back from taking some stuff by the school.” Kevin said, running his fingers over it.
“Wow. She put those 7 months to good use.” Peyton said.
“7 months?” Kevin asked, confused.
“We just asked Katie if it was possible that she was pregnant and that was why she couldn’t sleep. And, she said that you guys hadn’t done anything in 7 months.” Elisabeth answered.
“Unless 7 months was last night, she fibbed to you.” Kevin said, as the bakery lady came over and handed Kevin some boxes. “I’ll see you ladies later.” He said, as the two girls turned back to their meals.
“She lied to us?” Elisabeth asked, surprised. “She lied to us about sex with her husband?”
“Something is up.” Peyton said, grabbing her purse a she got up from the table.