“Okay, yeah.”
We walked in silence over to his truck. He had to open the door for me, because I’d never been able to figure it out, or my thumbs weren’t strong enough or something. He hurried around and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Okay,” he shut his door behind him. “Now we can actually talk.” I sat in the spot that Ryan usually occupied. It felt weird. I scooted a little closer and turned toward him with my knee up on the seat. I had no idea what to say, so if he was waiting for me to talk first, it was going to be a long awkward sit in the truck for the two of us. He took a few deep breaths, fidgeting with the steering wheel, and then he asked. “When did you know?”
“Uhm… For sure? It was that night you called. I had some suspicions before that but they were all pretty easy to dismiss. Same last name though, spelled the same even, it was a bit too much of a coincidence and then I found the picture you sent me in Kimber’s yearbook.”
Dominic shook his head and twisted toward me, lifting his own knee up onto the bench seat, I was kind of hoping maybe they would touch, but they didn’t; his leg was a solid four inches away from mine. I thought about scooting a little bit closer so that maybe, if one of us shifted or gestured or moved just so, they might accidentally bump into each other. And then if he didn’t mind, maybe that meant he didn’t entirely detest the fact that the girl he has zero chemistry sparks with is harboring the girl he’s in love with. Or maybe I was just being completely lovesick insane.
“I legit thought it was you when I saw you walk into calculus,” he shook is head. “But then, that didn’t make any sense, because I thought you were older, that you didn’t live anywhere near me, and then you didn’t recognize me at all. Still, I couldn’t believe all the similarities. You looked so much alike, you sounded so much alike, hell, you even basically had the same name. When you waved at us later at lunch, I asked Ryan if he knew you and he said he’d met you at orientation. I was sure, somehow, it had to be you, and then I talked myself out of it. I’m such an idiot.”
“Me too,” I shrugged. “You really don’t look the same as in the picture you sent. But I thought maybe it was you when I heard your name in English, but then, you couldn’t possibly be the same person because you didn’t seem to mind people calling you Dom, and then I texted you, more than once and nothing happened on your end. And then you didn’t bring a pencil to Foods, like ever.”
“Wait. What?” he chuckled. “Okay, the looks thing, sure, I look a bit different, I spent a lot more time in the sun last year, and my hair was bleached super blond. Not a good look. Not my idea. And I can see the Dominic, Dom thing. I don’t tell people not to call me Dom because it’s the quickest way to identify the assholes. Err — just people I don’t really want to get to know — not that your cousin is an asshole. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know how she can be.”
“And I’m pretty sure you and I both feel the same way about texts — I’ll get it when I get it, when it’s convenient for me — because I’ve sent you loads of texts sitting in the same room, or right across from you, and nothing. But you’re gonna have to explain the pencil thing.”
Ugh! Why did I mention the pencil thing? “Well…” I stalled. “You always came across as being really smart over text, I couldn’t make that fit with a guy who didn’t realize he’d need to bring a pencil to class — every freaking day.”
He nodded, then laughed. “Okay. Well, after lunch, I had Independent Study, or, you know, actual lunch. And then I was the TA for Mr. Bell’s Earth Science class, he keeps his pens chained to his notebooks and clipboards. So basically, after English, Foods was the only time I needed a pencil the rest of the day and if I could borrow one, I didn’t need to lug anything around after lunch. So actually, if you think about it, it’s kind of smart.”
“I know you’re smart, Dominic.”
He pushed a laugh. “Not as smart as you, though.”
“What? What is that? Because it sounds like you’re trying to start an argument?”
“No, I like that you’re smart. If we’re gonna argue about something how about we argue about the times I called you Kat and you didn’t respond.”
I gasped. “What? When?”
“The first time I asked to borrow a pencil. I called you Kat, just to test it, see if maybe , somehow, it was really you. You didn’t respond — at all. Katlynn did though, because she thought I was talking to her and she hates it when people call her Kat. I had to tap you on the shoulder.” As I was trying to replay the moment, in every detail, he added. “That wasn’t the only time, just the first.” He shrugged. “Hallway, parking lot, it happened a few more times. Hell, the only time you answered to Kat was at the assembly, when you were performing. Your hair was a good foot longer, you had a beak and feathers, I don’t think anybody who didn’t already know you were you would’ve recognized you. That was when I finally convinced myself, for sure, there was no way you were the same person.”
“I don’t even know what to say about that. I wonder if it would have changed anything?” I said on a sigh, pretty sure I’d be wondering about that a lot in the future; mostly as I lay in bed at night tormenting myself with all the should haves, would haves, and what ifs. “Not that any of it matters. You’ve made it abundantly clear — for always — that the me you know in the real world is not for you.”
“And that’s why you’ve basically been lying to me about who you really are?” he surmised.
“You didn’t want anything to do with me, remember? Even when all I wanted was to be your friend. And we really only became friends because I wouldn’t leave you alone. So, can we just skip to the part where you tell me you don’t want to know me anymore and go back to doing graduation bonfire whatever?”
“No,” Dominic huffed. “We’re not done here, not even close.”
“You may not believe this,” I pouted, “but I really do feel like I’ve been punished enough for all the stupid shit I’ve done. And it’s not like that punishment ends after I leave, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be carrying this around for… I don’t know, always.”
Dominic shook his head. “No, Kat, you’re not getting it.” He met my eyes, then he reached his hand toward me — or at least started to, then he curled his fingers into a fist and bopped the side of his knee with it. “I lied too.”
My brain was calculating the distance between his knuckles and my knee, when I realized what he’d said. “About what?” I shrugged.
“That I don’t love you. That I never could. That we don’t have chemistry. Katie, Kat, Kiddo,” the corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m totally in love with you.”
I’d heard what he said, but for some reason I couldn’t make sense of it. After a long moment of just awkwardly staring at him I said, “Oh. Okay.” And I was sort of starting to feel all warm and squidgy inside, until my inner cynic coughed ‘hu—bullshit’ from the cheap seats. Then I said, “Oh, okay, I get it. You love me as Kat the girl you know over texts, and she only really exists in me so—”
“No. That’s not it at all. I fell in love with two people — Kat and Katie. I thought I needed to pick one. So I picked the one I met first. Sometimes, I regretted that. But it was important to me to always be true to her — to you. I know we didn’t ever have anything official, but I was in love and I wanted it, so I acted like we did. I lied about loving you, as a way to be loyal to… you.”
I wanted to believe him. I scooted closer to test a theory — if our knees touched and he didn’t flinch, he was telling the truth now.
Our knees didn’t touch. Dominic leaned forward, shifting his knee away and scooting closer as he slipped his hand around my neck, and kissed me.
Was it coincidence that the majority of the cheer squad ran by with sparklers just then, or was is a sign? I only sort of noticed them as a secondary thing when I realized that as amazing as Dominic’s kisses are, cheering and lighting effects are a wholly separate and unrelated part. You know, because reality is still a thing.
&nb
sp; When he pulled away to sit back in his seat, I moved with him. I needed more, and I wasn’t ready to let him go. It was a natural progression for me to kick my leg over his and straddle his lap. He responded with a smile as his hand slipped around my waist and he pulled me close, making my whole body tingle with delightful cravings for more, more, more! And I could die happy in that smile meant just for me. Da-damn mmm!
His kisses are some kind of magical. They fed me, they consumed me. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is. I’d spent a lot of time imagining the feel of him, and his touch. The real thing was better. My hands gripped and explored his muscular form trying to memorize every curve and slope and detail. He slipped his hand under my shirt to my back, softer than I thought his hands would be, firm and sure and wanting. It was beyond intoxicating. I pressed my lower half against him and cursed the fact that I’d changed back into pants.
He growled out a low, “Fuuuck…”
And I said, “Okay.”
“Uhm, no,” he said between kisses. “This is not a good place for that.”
I willed my senses to return to the reality of sitting in a high school parking lot, in full view of anyone who might wander by. “So I was right about the uncomfortable thing?” I teased.
“Eh, there’s a scale, but yeah,” he admitted. “And we’re sitting in the parking lot of a high school where anybody could walk by and see us — including your pseudo boyfriend slash lover.”
I forced myself off his lap. He made it pure sexy torture by keeping his hand against me the entire time, sliding it over my hip, and down my leg as I pulled away. I didn’t go too far though, the lower half of my other leg remained pressed against his, and I kept my other leg across his lap, his hand on my calf. “I knew you were gonna be mad about that,” I said under my breath. “Not before I did it,” I met his eyes. He looked confused. “But later,” I looked away. “I figured, retroactively you’d probably be pissed. And why wouldn’t you be? I tell you I love you then sleep with your best friend. Omigawd,” I slapped my hand over my face. “It’s even worse when I say it out loud.”
Dominic tapped the back of my hand. “I’m not mad, Kat.”
I lowered my hand over face shield. “Are you sure? I mean, how?”
He smiled. “We weren’t together then. We’re not even together now,” he shrugged.
“I told Julian I’d have his babies,” I blurted.
Dominic’s face scrunched into confusion again. “Uhm… What?”
“Not right now,” I assured. “But eventually — many, many, many many, many years from now. He can’t have them on his own, so he asked if I’d do the mom part, and I told him I would, and I don’t know where you and I will be then, but I don’t want to keep things from you anymore.” I was rambling now, so even though I’d probably said more than enough, I kept talking. “And I mean anything, so, you know, no more surprise birthday parties for you, mister. Not if I find out about it first.”
Dominic chuckled. “I’m okay with that. I sort of hate surprises.”
“Sorry about the craptacular Katie-Kat graduation surprise.”
“Stop,” he chuckled. Running his hand up over my knee.
All the tingles. I took a breath to calm them, and my nerves. “I feel like we’ve lost so much time. I’m basically gone for the next three months, and then it’s part time gone after that. And I really don’t want graduation to be good-bye for us, Dominic. I don’t want any time ever to be good-bye for us.”
He leaned close and brushed his knuckles over my cheek. “I don’t want that either, but you and me saying goodbye forever, is never gonna happen. I spent nine months solidifying you as a permanent part of my life — no matter what. You being away, isn’t going to change how I feel about you, our relationship has already proved that much.”
“I almost told you the truth so many times. It was almost always when I was angry though, like I could use it as a way to get back at you, to hurt you with the truth, that she was me.”
“I’m glad she’s you, that you’re her. That you’re you.”
“So what do we do now?”
“We do our thing,” he shrugged. “We talk, we love each other, we work, eat, sleep, hang out with our friends, we keep in touch, and we see how it goes.”
“So, no guarantees,” I pouted.
“We don’t need ‘em.”
I hoped he was right.
The End.
・❀・❀・❀・
Okay not really.
Sound words of advice: If you happen to be dating the most popular guy in school, and you also happen to make-out with his best friend in a parking lot, with only a completely see-through windshield obscuring you from view, you gotta know, people are gonna see that. You also gotta know, they’re gonna tell everyone else exactly what they saw. And that juicy bit of gossip is gonna permeate faster than soft butter on a hot biscuit.
I was happy to keep making out in Dominic’s truck until they dragged me kicking and screaming to Vegas but Dominic decided we should join the party.
Not caring, and maybe not thinking, except the move was 100% deliberate and premeditated, I slipped my hand into Dominic’s as we walked toward Ryan’s bounce house kingdom. His breath caught, and he stopped, looking down at our hands linked together. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
“Feels pretty good to me?” I shrugged.
Dominic chuckled. “Okay.”
Kimber was the first indication that something was awry in the land of recently freed high schoolers, when she gasped and said, “Omigawd, Kat-napper. What the actual fudge is happening right now? Please explain,” she pointed to our hands.
“We’re holding hands,” I said.
“Kat,” she hurried over to us, her brow furrowed. “Like fifteen different people saw you making out with Dominic in his truck. And they all thought Ryan should know about it. And apparently he said, ‘Good for them.’ Good for them, Kat!” Kimber’s voice pitched.
Dominic and I exchanged smiles.
“So, what the what?” Kimber threw her arms in the air. “Are you guys like a trouple or triplets or whatever it’s called, poly, open, something or whatever?”
“I don’t—”
“We’re not labeling it,” Dominic offered.
“Oh,” Kimber’s freakout faltered. “Okay. Well, as long as everybody’s cool and consenting and what not,” she shrugged.
Ryan saw us then and came trotting over, smiling. He pulled us both in to a hug and kissed us both in turn, on the lips, starting with Dominic, “I love you guys so much. Have you heard the rumors? We’re all dating each other now.”
“Goodie,” Dominic chuckled.
“Yeah,” Ryan grinned. “I even heard some guy say, ‘I knew he was into dudes.’ I don’t know if he was talking about you or me, or both, but whatever. I thought it was great. You guys want some pizza?”
I declined but Dominic happily helped himself to several slices.
That night, everything felt sort of right with the world. Not that it was, because that’s seriously not a real thing. It’s impossible to know what the future will bring or where it will take us, but our text game has always been strong, our feelings for each other run deep, and I’m… optimistic.
So, this is only
The End
for now.
The Author: Lauren T. Hart
Hey all, it’s me, Lauren, the author of this story. And here’s a little bit about me:
I’m a writer. It’s what I do. I love to learn, to laugh, to read, and to write. I also love to lounge about with friends and family and music. I love words and artistry and intangible magic. I think a lot — it’s one of my favorite pastimes. I’m prone to repeating myself and I loathe taking things too seriously.
Some of my interests right now include: writing, reading, grammar, language, the human condition, creativity and the creative process, science fiction as well as science fact, the supernatural and all sorts of unexplained phenomenon, animals, a
rt, culture, love, the pursuit of happiness and the interrelatedness of all things.
I was born and then raised throughout the mountainous desert state of Utah, located in the western part of the USA. I live, work, and play there still. Life — and family — is ever changing; so in an effort to not to leave anyone out, I’ll just say: I am lucky enough to have a life that includes friends, family, loves, kidlets, littles, and lots of fur babies. Life is good.
Happy Reading!
You can find me online at these exotic locations:
Laurenthart.com
Facebook.com/laurenthartwrites (fan page)
Facebook.com/laurenthart (just me)
Instagram.com/laurenthart
Twitter.com/laurenthart
Acknowledgments:
Sage Steadman — As always, your insights are invaluable, even if I ignore most of them.
Trissa Fonnesbeck — As always, your insights are invaluable, especially when they support ignoring Sage’s insights.
And a very special thanks to the guy from high school who drunkenly called me at the beginning of my sophomore year and bared his soul and all his woes. And then later, standing alone in front of a school bus after an away game, when I asked if he was going to the dance, told me: just because I knew his name didn’t mean I knew him, didn’t mean it was okay to talk to him, and then told me to fuck off and never talk to him because he wasn’t interested and he’d never be interested… It was such a surreal moment — perfect for fiction.
Kit Kat & Katie Did Page 50
