My First - Jason & Katie (24 page)

It started coming back to her in snippets.

She saw flashes of herself taking shots, beginning to feel sick, making her way across the bar, getting drinks spilled on her, and Jason coming in the bathroom.

She couldn’t remember anything past that.

AH! She hated the feeling of not being in control. There was a reason she had gravitated toward the legal profession. It was a world that was all about laws, which were the ultimate arbiters of control and rules.

Not being able to remember her own actions was the ultimate loss of control.

She sat up and lifted her arms above her head to stretch. As she did, she looked down and saw that she was in her regular night shirt. The Def Leppard shirt. She didn’t remember how she got home, let alone how she got into the shirt.

Damn, everything was so foggy...if it wouldn't be so painful, she'd shake her head to clear it.

Just then, she glanced at the clock and realized that it was about time to get this show on the road.

She climbed into the shower and let the hot water stream over her sore and aching muscles. She tried to sing a few times to clear her thoughts, but the rise in pressure that it caused inside her head was just too great.

After her shower, Katie made her way slowly back into her bedroom and repacked her suitcase. She felt like she was moving at a snail's pace, but she couldn't help it. She was just so sore and foggy-headed.

She glanced at the clock again to see how she was doing according to the schedule, and was shocked by the realization that this was just a few hours past the time she had pulled into town yesterday.

God. So much had happened in 24 hours!

She needed a cup of coffee.

She made her way downstairs, still trying to piece together the events of the night before and at the same time silently praying that Mom or Aunt Wendy had made coffee already. If it was already made, she would have just enough time for a cup (or maybe two) before she got out onto the road.

Her head still felt fuzzy, but about half-way down the stairs, she did recognize the intoxicating aroma of freshly brewed java drifting into her nostrils.

Ahhhhh, yes, she thought. Thank you, God!

As she stepped into the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee machine, she heard a deep voice behind her say, “Good morning, Sunshine.”

She screamed and jumped two feet in the air, twisting as she did so, and landed so precariously that before she knew it she had fallen flat on her rear.

She looked up from her position, sprawled on the kitchen floor, and saw that Jason was rushing to her side to help her up.

Hmph, she thought grumpily as she accepted his help, that's gallant of him and all. But he doesn't have to laugh quite so hard!

--- ~ ---

As Jason helped Katie off the floor, he tried not to notice how good she looked in her red v-neck t-shirt and blue jeans...but, DAMN, she did look good. The hint of cleavage that was peeking out of her shirt made his mouth water. Literally.

“Still unsteady on your feet, huh, Kit Kat?” Jason teased, trying to direct the conversation away from anything remotely sexual.

“I’m not unsteady on my feet,” she declared defensively, once she was standing upright again and had the leverage to push away from him, “YOU scared me, that’s why I fell.”

“Yet another thing that’s my fault,” Jason mumbled under his breath as he went to take his seat once again at the kitchen table.

He saw something flicker across Katie’s face but he couldn't decipher what it might have been. As fast as it had appeared, it was gone again. She groaned, “I need coffee!”

He watched as she poured herself a cup and waited while she took a few sips. He had always known that talking to Katie before she was ready to listen was a mistake, so he waited patiently. Sure enough, after a few minutes she asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you would already be headed up to the lake with Bobby.”

“Well, Sophie wasn’t feeling very well this morning, so Bobby wanted to drive her up so he could take care of her. You know, make sure that she had everything she needed.”

“She’s sick?! Oh, no! Is it bad? Oh My Gosh! I should be with her, I’m her maid of honor!” She quickly set her cup down and headed towards the front door, “I can’t believe I got drunk last night, what was I thinking?!”

“Slow down, Kit Kat,” Jason tugged her arm as she rushed past him, “Sophie’s fine. It's just a bad hangover. And, believe me, she would rather have my brother taking care of her anyway. They left a couple of hours ago, they should just about be at the lake by now.”

Jason saw all of the tension leave Katie's muscles. Her arms relaxed, her shoulders dropped down, and she let out a huge sigh.

She stepped back into the kitchen, “Well, if that’s the case, then I need one more cup before I hit the road.”

Jason stood, walked over to the fridge, and pulled out eggs, butter, cheese, assorted chopped veggies, and orange juice.

“Sit down and enjoy your coffee,” he said amiably, “I’ll fix you an omelet before we hit the road.”

“Are you headed up there right now, too? I mean, like I said, I'd think that you would've left earlier.”

Katie scooted by him to take a seat at the breakfast bar as she delivered this speech, and he felt her body brush against his back as she passed. The contact sent electricity
surging through his body.

He tried to ignore it.

“I had a meeting with a surveyor that ran a little late. I was just headed out of town when I got a call from the Grandpa J saying he thought you might need a ride,” he said neutrally. He knew he would need to ease into this discussion carefully with Katie.

“Oh, that'
s sweet of him, but really I'm totally fine to drive!” She said, waving her hand in a gesture of dismissal.

“That very well may be the case, but he wasn’t calling into question your ability to drive. It was more a question of having the transportation necessary to do so.”

She gave him a puzzled look as she downed the last of her second cup of coffee, looking more alert by the minute. “I have my rental car,” she said, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Well, yeah, that’s the thing,” Jason explained as he plated her omelet and set it in front of her at the breakfast bar. He then went to retrieve the Tabasco sauce, he knew that Katie always had Tabasco sauce on her eggs. As he set the small, red bottle in front of her, he said, “There's no air in the back tires of your car.”

“What?!” Katie looked alarmed.

“Eat,” He commanded as he pushed both the hot sauce and the plate closer to her and leaned his elbows on the counter. He waited until she took her first bite and then continued.

“Both of the back tires are flat. I called the rental company and they're sending out a tow-truck, they didn’t know how long it would take. I told them that you had arranged other transportation, so they are only charging you for one day.”

“Other transportation...meaning you,” She clarified.

“Yes, indeed,” he said cheerfully as he turned to wash out the pan he had used to cook the eggs. “So, eat up, and we’ll hit the road.”

“That’s so weird,” she mused as she worked her way through the plate of eggs and sipped the orange juice. “I wonder what could have happened. Why would both back tires just go flat like that?”

Slipping off the barstool after finishing every last bite, she bumped Jason’s hip with hers in a friendly gesture of camaraderie as she set her plate in the sink, “Thanks for the breakfast, Jas. I'm starting to feel human again. And, also for taking care of the rental and the ride to the lake…just…thanks Jas, for everything.”

He smiled and nodded at her. What he
actually
wanted to do was pick her up, set her on the counter and kiss her so hard she wouldn’t be able to think straight...but he knew she wasn’t ready for that.

Things had gotten way too physical yesterday, and he needed to establish their connection on a non-physical level if he had any chance at not scaring her off again.

She smiled warmly up at him as they finished up the dishes, and he reveled in the cozy feeling that completing this little domestic chore together engendered. After they finished wiping their hands on the dish towels that hung beside the sink, she surprised him by throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight embrace.

He held her close, breathing in the scent of her hair and just
feeling
the intensity of the moment. Rubbing her back, he gently asked, “Hey, are you ok?”

She gave him one more squeeze and then leaned back with
a small smile on her lips. She said, “It’s good to see you again Jas.”

Then, the moment over, she grinned and patted him on the chest as she spun away, “I gotta go pee before we hit the road, Jack.”

Damn.

He
really
didn’t know what he was gonna do if – no, scratch that, when - she left again. He didn’t want to think about that, and he determined to put the thought as far out of his mind as possible for the rest of the weekend.

Katie was relaxed on the drive up to Whisper Lake. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time that she had been quite this relaxed. She and Jason were riding in companionable silence, his music was playing low in the background, and she was watching the beautiful and increasingly tree-lined scenery that was so familiar to her.

Katie used the time to reflect on how things were going this weekend, particularly with Jason. She had felt so overwhelmed when she hugged him. On the one hand, it had felt really good to be in his arms – safe and right. On the other hand, she had absolutely no idea what had possessed her to hug him in the first place, and that made her feel dangerously out of control.

She had just suddenly had this overwhelming desire to hold him – and she went with it. Not like her AT ALL.

Then, because she certainly didn’t feel ready to dwell on
why
she felt that way, she decided to try and piece together the night before.

She started with what she already remembered.

The shots. Feeling sick. Getting drinks spilled on her. Locking herself in the bathroom. Jason coming in. Jason taking off his shirt...whoa, OK, that was a new one.

She vaguely remembered the sensation of being carried by him. Then leaning her head against his window. Then she started to remember being mad at Jason. Hmmm. Why was she mad at him again?

Oh! Yeah, that’s right. The girls who had done shots because they had all done various naughty things in Jason’s truck.

But, then...why didn't she feel mad again right now when she remembered the truck adventures? Wait...she seemed to remember Jason saying he hadn’t done anything with any of those girls…?

Better get to the bottom of this.

“Jas, do you remember last night when I told you why I had taken all those shots?”

She saw his hands grip the steering wheel and his posture stiffen.

“Yep, Kit Kat, I wasn’t the one who was smashed,” he said tightly.

“Whatever. Anyways, did you happen to tell me that you didn’t do anything with Lisa, Jill, Kylie or Tiffany?”

He nodded his head in the affirmative, but remained silent.

“That’s so weird. Why would those girls lie about that? It’s not like they were trying to impress someone. We’re not in high school anymore. I mean, we're pushing 30.”

She waited for Jason to reply, but there was no response from the peanut gallery.

“I mean...they
had
to be lying though, right? Because if they're not lying, that means that you're lying. And you don't lie.”

Nothing, crickets.

She shook her head. She felt like this was some kind of Sudoku puzzle of drunkenness. It would all come together if she could just find the one missing piece.

If she wasn’t mistaken, her silent travel companion held that piece.

“OK,” she tried another angle, “So, let’s say they weren’t lying. Maybe you let someone use your truck.”

Silence. He did, however, shoot her a look that told her in no uncertain terms that theory was crazy.

“Right,” she agreed with his unspoken criticism, “Neither you or Nick would EVER let anyone else drive your trucks.”

She stared at Jason’s profile, hoping he would fill in the blanks for her, but it seemed that he was going to remain mum on this topic.

Jason wasn’t verbally offering any new insights, but his body language was screaming for her to drop it. Still, she just couldn’t bring herself to let it go. Something just wasn’t adding up.

Man she wished she hadn't drunk so much last night, It would be SO much easier to reason all of this out if she didn’t still have 'mush brain' from last night's over indulgence.

Facts. She just needed to stick to the facts.

“OK, so let
's begin with the basic building blocks of what we know. The girls said they had several 'experiences' in the cab or bed of a black Chevy truck. They have no reason to lie. So let’s proceed on the assumption that they are, in fact, telling the truth.”