After a few agonizing moments of waiting, she heard the door unlatch and it opened. There was something about him today. He normally was perfectly groomed and dressed, but now something about the way his shirt was unbuttoned nearly halfway down so his chest was just barely visible, and his uncombed hair hanging over his forehead, Kristen felt her stomach flip-flop. As usual, he was smiling down at her with his perfect pearly whites. She just took a moment to bask in his perfection. This was going to be harder than she thought.
"Hey," he greeted her.
"Hmm..." Kristen sighed, still staring, "Oh, hi!"
"Did you want to come in?" he asked.
"Yeah, uh, sure," Kristen said
He opened the door wider to admit her. She moved past him and inside. He had a pretty high class apartment, especially for a college student. She sometimes wondered if his family was rich. She knew his father was a foreign ambassador, but did that mean he was rich? She never asked, she felt like that was prying. She just waited until the subject came up, which it had not yet.
After she was inside, David closed the door behind her and moved around so he stood in front of her. "So what's up?" he asked, "You sounded pretty concerned on the phone yesterday. Is it serious?"
Kristen cleared her throat. Do it. Just do it. If he accepts you for it, great! If not then he's not worth your time... right? Ugh, she had forgotten how distracting those green eyes could be! Now with that open shirt and the hair, it was almost impossible to think. Just don't look directly at him... like the sun, or whatever!
"Look, David," she began. Okay, good start. Now keep going. "I came here to tell you..."
She looked into his face. Why did she have to do that? She couldn't go right to the point like she originally planned with him looking down at her like that. Now she had to start off on a more casual topic. "I was just over at Annalise's before I came here and..."
"Did you tell her you were coming over here?" he interrupted.
"No," Kristen replied, slightly taken aback by the abruptness of the question, "I just left my usual plate of cookies. I don't really do a lot of talking anymore."
"Why? You don't think she cares?"
Kristen sighed and nodded.
David nodded as well. "You're probably right," he said, "Anybody who refuses to even open a door for their own sister cannot be too good with the whole love thing."
Kristen felt her heart drop. "Well, I-I don't know," she said, "I mean, it seems a little harsh to say she doesn't love..."
"Look, Kristen, you've been trying for months to reach out to her. If she had any semblance of a heart, don't you think she would have acknowledged you by now?"
"She takes my cookies..."
"They're cookies. Who wouldn't take them?"
Kristen felt as though she had been slapped in the face. She felt her eyes begin to sting and she looked down at the ground. In a moment, she felt an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you," David said, "But I just don't want to see you keep putting yourself out there like that, only to keep getting knocked down each time."
Kristen wiped away a tear that had forced its way out and down her cheek. "I know. You do care, don't you?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course," he answered.
Kristen sniffled slightly, pushing back her pain. "Okay," she said, "I came here... to tell you something."
"Alright," David said, pulling away from her and sticking his hands in his pockets, staring at her attentively.
"Now... we've been dating for a while," Kristen said.
"Yeah, couple months," David said.
"Yeah," Kristen said, "And it's been great. That's is uh... mostly."
"Mostly?"
"Yeah, er... well, you know, umm... I love kissing!” she said abruptly, “I mean, kissing's great, especially kissing you. It's like kissing a marshmallow. No! Not that you're fat, because you're not! You're by no means puffy in any way! Er, what I mean is... your lips! They're soft... like... a marshmallow. Ugh, that sounded better in my head. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I do like kissing... you. But it's just that... well, I don't really know how to say this."
David raised his eyebrows. "Just say it."
Kristen took a breath. "Well..."
Suddenly the sound of a phone ringing split the air. David looked down and pulled one of his hands out of his pockets, pulling his phone with it. It was buzzing and ringing in his hand. He looked at the ID, frowning. "It's my mom," he said, sounding confused, "She never calls unless it's urgent. I'm sorry, I need to take this."
"Oh yeah, sure," Kristen said, trying to mask her disappointment with nonchalance, "Take your time."
David answered the phone and stepped into the other room. "Hello?"
Kristen sighed. Fate was against her it seemed. She had been so close to finally telling him. And just when her courage was at its peak, his phone had to ring.
He was not gone long. However, he returned with his eyes downcast, looking almost on the verge of tears. Something was not right. Kristen moved closer to him. "David? Is everything alright?"
"That... that was my mom," he said heavily, "She told me that... my grandmother just passed on."
"What?" Kristen said.
"She's been in the hospital for five months with a brain tumor. We were surprised she even lasted this long," David said, sitting down on the sofa and putting a hand to his forehead. Was he... crying?
Kristen rushed to his side. She gingerly rested her hand on his. "Were you close to her?" she asked gently.
It took him a moment before he answered. "She was the best grandma anyone could ask for," he said, "You know, she did all the usual stuff like make you cookies and brownies and whatever when you visited. And she had the most awesome house with the best tire swing on this giant tree in the backyard. I always remember her sitting in her green rocking chair knitting hats and scarves and stuff. And whenever my brothers and I would stay over, she would always make up bedtime stories right there on the spot and they were the best stories I had ever heard in my life."
Kristen smiled. "That sounds nice," she said softly.
"It was," David said. He began to get choked up again slightly, but he fought it back. Kristen held his hand. "Now she's gone," he said through deep breaths, "Why does everyone always have to leave? First my grandpa, then Jamie... I never thought I'd ever get over her. I told you about her, right? In high school... my first girlfriend?"
Kristen nodded, then clung tightly to his hand and pulled it close to her. "Not everyone leaves," she said, "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
David cracked a smile and he squeezed her hand. "I know. That's why I love you."
Kristen's eyes widened. "What?"
David's melancholy atmosphere disappeared slightly. "Oh..." he said, realizing, "I had planned on telling you under less gloomy circumstances."
"You... you love me?" Kristen repeated, shocked.
"Yeah," David answered, slightly sheepish.
Kristen processed this information for a moment. No one had ever loved her before, at least not romantically. There was always her parents's love, and she had once thought Annalise loved her, but who even knew about that anymore. But David loved her? It seemed too good to be true! She slowly smiled at him. "I love you too," she said.
He leaned closer to her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," she said.
And he closed the gap between them. Plan? What plan?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Do you think she actually went through with it?" Petey wondered.
"I certainly hope so, for her sake," Sam answered.
"Jonathan, you did say she was going to do it today, right?" Petey asked.
Jonathan just nodded, staring at his binder in his lap as the three of them sat on the steps in front of the Castle Building. He was still trying to process the feelings he had been experiencing ever since his tutoring session with Kristen the previous day.
"Hey, are you okay? You've been acting all weird since yesterday," Sam said.
"I'm fine," Jonathan said, "I've just have a bit of a headache, that's all."
"Alright, suit yourself," Sam said, shrugging, "But if you want to talk, I'm right here for you."
"I do not need to talk, Sam," Jonathan snapped, "It's a headache."
"Okay, fine," Sam said, holding up his hands in surrender.
"Hey look, Kristen's coming this way!" Petey announced, pointing.
Jonathan's head snapped up in the direction that Petey was pointing. Sure enough, Kristen's petite figure was moving towards them in the distance. Jonathan could feel his heart rate suddenly speed up and he could even feel a blush rise to his cheeks. What in the world? That was just not okay! He took long steady breaths in attempt to slow his racing heart and he prayed that his face was not too noticeably red.
Kristen approached. She was not smiling. Petey spoke up first. "So?"
"So what?" Kristen asked.
"So what happened?" Petey asked.
Kristen adjusted her collar. "I don't see why that's any of your business."
Petey's face dropped slightly. "Didn't you tell David about your problem?"
"I might have or maybe not," Kristen said, "I still don't see why it's any of your business."
"Kristen, are you okay?" Sam wondered, "You're acting a little strange."
"I'm fine!" Kristen said sharply, "And if you must know, I am still with David and everything's been resolved."
"So you told him?" Petey asked.
"No. But everything worked out for the best," Kristen said.
""Worked out for the best"?" Sam repeated, "Kristen, if you didn't tell him your problem, how can everything work out for the best?"
"You wouldn't understand," Kristen said, "None of you have been in a relationship, so how can you know what's best?"
Everyone just stared at her, dumbfounded. Kristen inhaled sharply. "Now excuse me, I have a class that starts in five minutes."
With that she marched up the steps and disappeared into the Castle Building.
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