Chapter 4
They arrived at the club a little early and Kait broke
off to locate the restroom. While she
was washing her hands she noticed a familiar face. “Hey Laura! What are you doing here?”
“I could as you the same thing. But I’m performing tonight.” Laura was a one of the girls on Kait’s floor. She
was a little shorter then Kait but they were a lot alike, she was dressed in a
tight black dress from the forties and tall heals.
Jonathan and Luke waited at table for Kait to get
back. “So you and Kait are getting
pretty serious huh?” Luke asked.
“Well I guess, why?”
“Because this is the first time you’ve taken a girl to
a club that I can remember.”
“Umm…” Jonathan was saved from answering when Kait
arrived at the table laughing with another girl.
“Hey guys, I want you to meat Laura. We go to school together. Her band is the one that will be playing.”
“Nice to meet you boys. Let me guess,
you must be Jonathan right?” Laura asked
resting her elbow on Jonathan’s shoulder and doing her best May West impersonation.
“That would be me.”
“Too bad this girl of yours is one of my best friends
or I would think of stealing you away.”
Laura said continuing in her best May West, and giving Kait a playful
smirk.
“Try and you die,” Kait countered playfully.
“Well if you excuse me boys, I’ve got a show to
do. And I’ll be seeing you later.” She informed Kait, with a wink and walked
away.
“Oh dear,” Kait sighed with a laugh. “She better not try anything cute.” Kait mused to herself.
“Huh?” Jonathan asked, he heard her say something but
the club was starting to get a little loud.
“Oh nothing.”
The stage grew dark and the audience quieted
down. Then with a flash of color and
light the band appeared on stage and started up with a roar. Neither of the boys knew what kind of music
they were going to be listening to, so when the swing jazz started Luke
groaned.
“I hope this isn’t the only music they are going to
play.”
Before Jonathan could respond Kait had jumped off her
chair and was pulling him out onto the dance floor. “Come on, it will be fun.”
“But I don’t know how to dance to this kind of music.”
“Yes you do, I taught you some moves a few months ago,
remember.” It took Jonathan some time,
but slowly some of it started to come back and he was able to fake his way
through the first song.
When that number had finished Jonathan pulled her off
the dance floor. “Let’s sit this one
out.”
“But you were just starting to get the hang of it,”
Kait protested but followed him back to the table.
They had only been sitting for a few minutes when a
tall very handsome man came up to their table.
“Kait?”
“Yes?” Kait
turned around to see who it was that was talking to her. “Oh, hey Eric. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing good.” He flashed her a
brilliant smile that had invitation written all over it. “Have you been out on the dance floor yet?”
“Only for one song, Jonathan couldn’t keep up with
me,” Kait glanced at Jonathan teasingly.
“Well then that will have to be rectified.” Eric took her hand and pulled her out of her
seat.
“I’m kinda here with
someone,” Kait protested, but still stood up.
“Jonathan, do you mind?”
Jonathan wanted to tell her that he did mind, But that’s not my place, it’s not like we’re
really going out, Jonathan reminded himself. “No, go ahead.”
Jonathan sat and watched them on the dance floor; on
the outside he was the perfect picture of calm but inside he was fuming. The more he watched her dancing and laughing
the more jealous he got. Some where
along the way Luke asked a girl to dance, leaving Jonathan all alone at the
table. What is she doing out there is that guy? Who is he; he’s got to be at least 25. This guy has got to be no good. Half and hour later Kait came back out of
breath, laughing and practically glowing.
“Thank you for the dances Eric,” Kait sat down next to
Jonathan.
“No thank you.”
Then he turned to Jonathan. “I’d
keep a close eye on her, she’s one hot dancer.”
Then he turned his attention back to Kait. “Once again, it was a pleasure.”
“I’ll see you around Eric.” They sat and listed to a few more sets and
Luke came by to tell them that he was going to take off to go find a
party. Kait grew more and more tired and
before she knew it she was resting her had on Jonathan’s shoulder with her eyes
closed just listening to the music.
“You tired?”
Jonathan asked abruptly, it was then that Kait realized that those were
the first words he had said sense she had gotten off the dance floor with Eric.
“Yeah, kinda.” Kait answered
quietly.
“Want to head home?”
“I was going to stick around until Laura was finished,
so I could talk to her. But home does
sound good. I’ll see her tomorrow
anyway.”
The ride back to Kait’s
house was an uncomfortably silent one.
Kait could tell Jonathan was mad over something but she wasn’t sure
what. Jonathan pulled up into her
driveway and turned off the car.
Before Kait got out of the car, she had to know what
was wrong. “Jonathan, what’s
wrong?” She asked touching his arm.
Her little gesture broke all the floodgates for
Jonathan. “What was that guy?” He asked her venomously.
“What guy?”
Kait was shocked by his outburst.
“That guy you were dancing with, you know, the one who had his hands all over you.” Jonathan couldn’t get the picture of them
dancing together out of his mind, Kait with her head tilted back laughing at
something he said, and him leaning close to whisper something in her ear.
“Wha…you mean Eric?” Kait asked surprised, what was going on?
“Yes I mean him.
Kait I don’t know what’s gotten into you, that guy is no good.” Jonathan spat out.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Jonathan’s nonverbal accusations were
starting to make her mad, just what was he insinuating.
“I do to know what I’m talking about. I don’t like seeing some other guy hanging
all over you practically drooling.”
Jonathan was really mad now; just the idea of Kait defending that guy
was enough to make his blood boil.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about what was going on on that dance floor.
You let that goon put his hands all over you.” Kait sat there in shock. “Mean it would be one thing if he had done it
once and you told him to stop, but no, you were encouraging him
“Hold on a second.
Your girl, sense when was I your girl? I don’t seem to remember anything about me
not being able to dance with other guys in our agreement. You know what; I’m not going to get into this
with you. I’m going inside,
good-night.” Kait got out of the car and
slammed the car door behind her.
*******
Jonathan sat at his desk desperately attempting to
work on a drawing that he had been working on all day. He looked at the clock and sighed, no wonder
he couldn’t concentrate, it was
“Hi, is this Jonathan?” His heart sank, it wasn’t Kait’s
voice.
“Yes it is who this is?” And why the hell are you calling on Kait’s
cell phone? Jonathan didn’t ask the
other question, though he wanted to.
“Oh, sorry, this is Laura, Kait’s
friend. We met at the club…”
“Oh, okay I remember-” Jonathan had no time to finish.
“Good,” Laura cut him off. “Sorry if I’m a little abrupt but I don’t
have much time. What the hell happened
between you and Kait? Did you get into
some kind of argument or something?”
“Is that what she told you?” Jonathan thought better of the question the
moment it crossed his lips, he really didn’t want to be hearing this from a
third party. “You know what, never mind,
I don’t want to get into this with you, it’s none of your business.”
“Well, I make it my business when I have to watch one
of my friends starts of fall apart.”
Laura snapped back.
“What do you mean fall apart?” Jonathan asked now slightly worried.
“What I mean is; she isn’t herself, she hasn’t been
since she got back from Thanksgiving break.
She’s moody and only would come out of her room to go to class and we
had to practically drag her to meals.”
There was a muffled sound and Laura stopped talking for a moment. “Look I’m running short on time, whatever
happened between you two, but no fight is worth this much grief. Think about talking to her. If you decide to, call me back on my cell
phone and I’ll help you set it up,” Laura raddled off her phone number.
“Why are you doing this?” Jonathan asked.
“Because Kait is my friend and I
want to see her happy again. Now I gotta go, Kait’s coming back, just think about what I said.” Then the phone went dead in his hand.
Jonathan pulled the phone away and looked at it
perplexed. Could Kait really be as bad as Laura made it sound? Could that fight have affected her that much? There was a knock on his door that caused him
to look up, “Oh, hey Luke. What bring
you here?”
“We were supposed to meet over an hour ago,
remember?” Luke reminded him calmly and
leaned his back against the door jam in Jonathan’s room.
Jonathan covered his eyes with his hand and ran it
down is face. “Sorry man, I forgot.”
“I figured that much.
You’ve been forgetting a lot recently, is something wrong man?”
“I’ve just been kinda distracted,
that’s all.” Jonathan hoped is answer
was good enough to satisfy Luke.
“Yean, I’ve noticed that, it wouldn’t happen to have
anything to do with a certain girl you happen to be dating but haven’t seen for
over three weeks?”
“How did you know that?” Jonathan asked trying to change the subject.
“I’m your roommate remember? I know everything. I also know the last time you saw her was
that at club when she was dancing with that other guy.” There was a light pause. “You wanna know
what I found out about him?” Jonathan
raised his eyebrows in questions. “Well,
the dude’s name is Eric Hewle, and as it turns out
he’s the manager for that girl, Laura’s band.
He and Kait only met a few times before the club and she hasn’t seen him
since.”
“How did you find all that out?” Jonathan asked surprised.
“I have my ways. So you wanna
go still or what?”
“I actually have something rather important to take
care of. Can I give you a rain-check?”
Luke paused, a little talked aback that he was being
brushed aside from something “important” but he hid it well behind his usual
smile. “Sure man, I’ll catch you later.”
“Thanks.”
*******
Kait said goodbye to Laura and went upstairs to her
room. She was really tired; Laura had
spent most of the day trying to figure out why Kait was so unhappy. She really didn’t want to talk about it, it
still hurt too much.
It wasn’t the things Jonathan had said, those weren’t
all that bad. It was what he meant, he
had practically accused her of…she didn’t know what he was accusing her
of. But he had treated her as if she had
done something wrong, and practically forbid her from talking to Eric. Kait desperately tried to block out
everything and go to sleep, she hadn’t been sleeping well and she had a long
day ahead of her, she still had a lot of shopping to get done before Christmas.
Just as she was starting to doze off she heard
something tapping against her window. What in the heck? Kait thought sleepily. She tried to ignore it but a few moments
later she gave up and got out of bed to see what it was. Kait nearly screamed when she pulled back the
curtains of her window, someone was sitting right outside her window. He moved just slightly causing the light from
the street lamp to spill across his face.
It was Jonathan!
Quickly Kait hurried to open up the window. As Jonathan climbed through the window she
asked him, “What are you doing out there?
It’s freezing!”
“I needed to talk to you,” Was Jonathan’s explanation.
“You could have just called.”
“No, I needed to talk to you in person,” Jonathan led
her over to the bed and sat down on it pulling her down to sit next to
him. “I was a jerk, and I’m sorry. I just saw you with that guy and I got mad.” Jonathan hoped his apology would be enough,
he didn’t really know what else to say.
“I don’t see why you got mad, we were just dancing.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I was completely out of line. Can you forgive me?”
Kait just looked at him blankly for a moment, and then
a broad smile spread across her lips.
“Did you just say that you were wrong?
Where is my tape recorder when I need it?”
Does that mean that I’m forgiven?” Jonathan asked hopefully.
Kait’ face grew sober, “I don’t know about that.” Kait closed her eyes trying to think of the
words to use. “Jonathan, I was really
hurt by some of the things you said.”
“Look, Kait,” Jonathan cupped her cheek in his
hand. “I know I screwed up. And I really am sorry. I don’t know what I can do to make it up to
you. Can I at least try?” Jonathan chocked out his last question. This
can’t be the end, Jonathan thought to himself. I can’t
loose her now. These past few weeks have
been hell for me. I’ll do anything to
get her to forgive me.
Kait finally opened her eyes and searched Jonathan’s
expression. As far as she could tell, he
was sincere. “Okay look, our parents
still think we are together, so why don’t we keep this charade up until after
the holidays and then I think we should end this thing. I think it’s starting to affect our
friendship. I really hate it when I
can’t talk to my best friend because we aren’t speaking.”
“I hate it when we fight too.” Jonathan avoided saying anything about the
“break up” that would be coming; he really didn’t want to think about it.