Chapter One

Kaitlin looked at the boxes cluttering the floor.  Most everything was put away, her parents had left an hour ago and her roommate had gone out to dinner with hers, so much for her first day at college.  Quickly she picked up the boxes and began collapsing them to be stored, eager for something, anything to do.  After she had taken the boxes to the storage closet she stood once again in the middle of the floor, feeling the quiet of the dorm room press down on her, almost smothering. Suddenly getting an idea she went to the door and wedged it open.  Sounds from down the hall drifted in, people talking and laughing.  With the oppressive silence successfully banished, Kaitlin curled up into the corner of her bed and began to read.  Twenty minutes later she was jarred from her alternate reality by the ringing of her cell phone.

Isn’t that always the case!  Just when I begin to really get into a book I get interrupted.  And I thought I would escape that once I left the house!  Kait thought bitterly.

Begrudgingly she answered her phone.  “Hello?”  By the tone of her voice no one would know they had just committed of Kaitlin’s worst pet peeves, interrupting her when she was reading.

“Kitty?”

There were very few people she ever let call her that.  Surprised Kaitlin looked at the phone’s screen to see who it was. She knew by the voice but as long as she had had a phone she couldn’t remember him ever calling her.

“Hey Jonathan, what’s up?”

“I kind of need a favor,” straight to the point, just like him.  “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Well I still need to unpack a few things,” Kaitlin lied.  Quickly she took a look around hoping that she had least at least one box of something to justify what she had said.  Her eyes fell on the box next to her bed labeled “books”.

“Unpack?” There was a short pause while Jonathan tried to figure out what she meant.  “Oh, did you just move in to the dorms today?”

“Yep, Gail and Donald left about an hour ago,” Kait explained.

“Oh,” His vocabulary just dropped off the charts.

With a sigh Kait gave in. “The stuff can wait. What is this favor you need?”

With her mind’s eye Kait could see Jonathan begin to fidget. He hated asking for favors.  “Well, my friend Luke is having this end of the year summer party…”

“And where do I fit into this?”  Kaitlin prodded.

“Well you see, ever since Wendy and I split he’s been trying to set me up with his sister and well…” Once again she could imagine him fidgeting with something.

“And you don’t want to get set up right?”

“Right.”

“I still don’t see where I fit into all this.”

“I kind of told him that I was already seeing someone.”

“Which you’re not.” Kaitlin had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she knew what he was going to ask.

“That’s where you come in.  Would you come as my *date*?”  The last part he said in a low voice very quickly.

Yep, just what I thought. “OK,” she said with only the slightest hesitation. “What kind sort of party is it?”

“It’s a beach party, so just wear your bathing suit, and I’ll be there to pick you up.”  Kaitlin could hear the relief flooding into his voice and mind.  Had he been really nervous about asking her? Why?

“Umm, Jon?”

“Yes?”

“Do you even know where I am?”

 “Oh . . . uh, no. I guess I don’t. Could you give me directions?”

“Sure,” she rattled off directions.  “You might have a hard time finding parking, so try circling around for a while.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“All right, I’ll see you then.”  Kait put down the phone and gave dejected sigh.  She hated anyone seeing her in a bathing suit.  Dejectedly she pulled out a suit and something to wear over it, and closed her door to change.  When she was finished she opened her door again and settled down back into her book.

Some twenty minutes later she heard two male voices down the hall.  “That’s her room right there.  It was nice to meet you Jonathan.”

“You too Rick.”  There was a little bit of silence, then a knock on her opened door.  “Kitty?”

“Huh?”  Kaitlin answered absently.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Wha…” Kaitlin finally looked up and saw Jonathan standing next to her bed in shorts and a T-shirt.  “Oh, yes.” She dropped her book into the beach bag and slipped on her thong sandals.  “Okay, all ready to go.”

When they arrived at the beach, the party was in full swing.  There were people in the water and the bonfire was already going.  There were about twenty people in the group all doing their own thing. Other than that the rest of the beach was completely deserted. The spot where they were was nice and secluded, surrounded by trees on one side, sand dunes on two and water on one.  Kait judged there to be an hour to an hour and a half before sunset.

“What do you want to do first?”  Kait asked.

“Well how about we drop our stuff in the sand and then we can hit the water before it gets too dark.”  Jonathan answered, picking up his towel and her beach bag, then heading for an open stretch of sand away from everyone else.  Just as he was putting their stuff down a tall blond guy walked up to them.

“Hey man, glad to see you finally decided to show your ugly mug around.”

Assuming that they were going to be talking for a while Kaitlin quietly unfolded the blanket, sat down and pulled out her book.  The blond lowered his voice.  “So, who’s the book worm?” Kaitlin pretended not to hear.

“Luke,” Jonathan’s normally cool fluid tone was replaces with one with a hint of steel behind it.  “This is Kitty Fenton, the girl I was telling you about.”  Jonathan held his hand down to Kait and helped her up.  His voice softened back to normal when he spoke to her.  “Kit, this is Luke Jackson. He’s going to be one of my roommates.”  The steel laced itself back into his voice when he addressed Luke again. “Kit is a good friend of mine.” It wasn’t until then that Kait realized that the change in his voice was a warning to Luke, a don’t-you-even-think-about-it warning.

“I get it man, off limits.  Drinks and food are over there.”  Luke waved his hand in the direction of the bonfire.  Someone called to Luke to give a hand with something.  “Sounds like I’m needed.  It was nice meeting you Kit.  You and I’ll talk later Jono.”  Giving Jonathan a questioning look, Luke made a hasty retreat.

Jonathan started rearranging the blanket and pulled out his sun block.  He got his arms and face but couldn’t quite get his shoulders or his back.

Kait took the bottle from him and squirted some onto her hands. Jonathan jumped when her cold hands came into contact with the warm skin on his back.

“Very funny.”  Jonathan bit back a sigh as she worked the lotion into his back.  In the year and a half that he and Wendy had been dating, never did she think to do anything like this.  It was only a small favor but Kait did it even without thinking, like she had done so many other things.  He could recall hundreds of little favors that she had done for him without him asking, just because she could.

When Kait finished she shrugged off her sweatshirt to reveal the top of her red and white bathing suit, dropping to the sand next to her sweatshirt were her jogging pants, under them she had on a pair of black boy’s board shorts that hung to her knees.  For a moment Jonathan stopped fiddling with the blanket and watched Kaitlin.  Her movements were quick and discreet.  He recalled how she hated drawing attention to herself.  She had always been self-conscious when it came to being around people she didn’t know.  And here she was, soon to be the center of scrutiny by all the girls once word spread that this was his “friend”.

“Kit, I think there’s something I forgot to mention when I called you.”

Uhh oh, Kait’s body stilled.  She hated surprises and by Jonathan’s tone she knew he was going to pop a big one on her.  She forced her limbs to keep moving and hide her growing anxiety.  “Yeah?”

“Umm,” Jonathan ran his hand over his short-cropped hair.  I kind of told Luke we were more than just friends.”

Kaitlin let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.  “No, duh, Sherlock.”  Kait laughed and poked him in the side playfully.  “We’re practically brother and sister.  Why else would I put up with you all these years?”  She knew what he was talking about but she wasn’t about to make it any easier on him than possible, she wanted to hear him admit what he had told them.

“That’s not quite what I told him.”

“Then what did you tell him?”

Come on man, just spit it out and get it over with, Jonathan silently coaxed himself, “I told him that we were dating.”

“Oh.”

That’s all?  What does “oh” mean?  Is she mad, or is she okay with it?  Worse yet was she going to make a scene and yell at him?

Feeling like playing along Kait said, “So let me get this straight.  You told Luke we were dating so he wouldn’t set you up with his sister?”

“Yep, that’s about it.”

“”Okay,” Jonathan couldn’t believe his luck; she wasn’t even batting an eyelash at his deception.  “Then it makes sense.”

Jonathan’s head shot around to look at her.  “What makes sense?”

“Why all the girls are giving me the death look.”  Kaitlin shrugged and continued walking toward the water.  After a pause, “What should I say if the girls ask questions?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well they are bound to ask how long we’ve been together, how did you first ask me out, what did we do for our first date, you know, typical noisy girl questions.  The ones I’m always asking you.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.  Umm…just make something up, you’re the actor.”  Jonathan said bewildered.

Kait laughed, “Don’t worry, I won’t ruin you’re reputation.  Come on, let’s hit the water.”

“So, how long have you two been going out?”  One of the girls asked.  Kait and Jonathan had only been in the water for ten minutes.

“Only a couple of weeks,” Kait responded innocently.

“So where did you two meet?”  Another girl asked.

Kait knew it had begun, she had expected a little more time to prepare but lucky for her, Jonathan was near by and could hear everything.  Most of the questions she was able to answer with some form of half-truth or the whole truth.