The bell rang so I put on my books and my pencil case in my bag before I left the classroom. As I stepped outside of the class, I could see that Eleanor was approaching me.
"Hi, Kate!" She wrapped her arm around my shoulder but I didn't smile nor say anything because I was in dilemma whether to tell her about Chris or not.
"I've been a bad friend, El. I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything," I realised that I felt guilty for keeping my secret from my own best friend.
"I don't need an explanation if it was about Chris," Eleanor said.
I smiled. "Good," I sighed in relief. "Because I'm not really sure that I would give you one that would make any sense."
"Um... so, are you and Chris a thing now?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah," I smiled so brightly.
"I always thought you should be together," she exclaimed.
"You did?" I asked but I couldn't hide my happiness.
"Yeah," she looked at me. "I'm glad you're happy, Kate."
"But, how did you know I am with Chris?" I asked.
She chuckled softly. "Gosh, you really a dumbass. How can I am not realizing it when you guys always meet each other in front of your house? Duh..." she laughed again. I laughed along with her.
"Well, I don't know how it started. I can't really tell how we know each other, how we started to go out together," I said. Tomorrow, Chris will arrive in Chicago. I couldn't wait till the time that I was going to see him again.
"You guys look good together, anyway," she exclaimed.
"So, tell me about you and Lucas. How's everything going?" I asked.
"So far everything's good and fine. His family welcomed me so much. They even asked me to go travel with them to Spain after we finished with our school!" She explained happily.
"What did you say?"
"Of course, I agree. My parents are coming too," she chuckled. "I'm so excited," she continued.
I raised my eyebrows. "And Luke?" I asked. She didn't explain much about her and Lucas.
"He's so kind, just like what we expected. He's nice, has a good taste in fashion and he's hot," she mimed the word 'Wow'.
"I knew you will like him," I nudged her elbows.
-
I dressed up in a white dress and braided my hair nicely. I didn't put makeup much because I didn't want to seem so eager. After that, I prepared a plate of grilled steak, mashed potato and a bowl of black paper gravy which all of them I had cooked earlier as soon as I came back from school. I bring them in front of my Macbook and I opened the FaceTime application to call for Chris.
"Oh my God!" He said as soon as my face appeared on his screen. "Wow!"
He definitely looked so handsome in those suit. "Hi, handsome!" I smiled widely.
"Stand up, baby," he requested and I twirled around to show my white dress. "You're so pretty," he said.
"Thank you, you looked handsome as always," I exclaimed.
"You don't want me to show you my suit?" he asked.
"Okay, your turn!" I allowed him. He stood up and started to do his weird dance which made me in stitches. "Oh my God, stop!" I laughed again.
"That's all from me, thank you," he bowed and then, he took a seat in front of his laptop.
"Where are all your friends?" I asked. Considering not heard anything in the background.
"Oh... they're all still celebrating our triumph yesterday," he said.
"What? You should join them," I was mad that he was not telling me earlier.
"Grace," he said softly. "I don't want to celebrate my winning with anyone else but you. That's why I asked you to have dinner with me through this fucking technology," he held every edge of his laptop.
"Chris, you don't have to sacrifice your time there by spending time with me. This is your last season," I looked at him, full of worry.
"Grace, I insist. I could celebrate this later when I enter college. But I can't no longer see you if we were 786 miles away," he exclaimed which soothing the heck out of me.
"Okay, if you say so," I said.
"Cheers?" He held a glass of I don't know, perhaps wine, closer to the screen so we could mimic the toast.
"Cheers," I said as I close the gap of my glass with the screen.
"Ting," he made a sound of glasses clinking and I chuckled softly. He took a bite of his steak and I took a bite for myself too.
"Wow, this steak is incredible. What a good choice of restaurant," I looked at him with my mouth still chewing the steak and my eyes opened widely.
"Mine is a bit salty, I think we should change our plate," he uttered.
"No freaking way! You should complain to the waiter," I suggested.
He raised his hand. "Um... waiter!" With no one coming, he suddenly said, "This steak tasted salty, the chef needs to fix it," and then, he continued, "Thank you." He put his eyes on the screen again. "The waiter is kinda bizarre," he said.
I chuckled again. "Well, he's doing his job really well," I said, playing along with him.
"Oh, my food has arrived!" He showed his plate that was already there the entire time. I rolled my eyes and continued to eat. "It tasted better!" He widened his eyes.
After we finished with our meals, we put the plate aside and stared into each other's eyes. "I miss you, can't wait to meet you tomorrow," I sighed and I looked at him.
"Me too. I will meet you at your house tomorrow," he replied.
"When will you depart from Kentucky?" I asked.
"Supposedly, at 12.30 p.m. and arrived at Chicago 5 hours later. That should be like the afternoon I would arrive in Chicago, I guess?" He explained and I nodded.
"Diane will arrive here in the midnight. She asked you to have dinner with us," I said.
"Great! I didn't have many tasks left to do, I just have to wait for the result of the scholarship application and then, that's all," he exclaimed.
"How fast time flies," I said.
"Yah, time flies," he exclaimed.
-
After school ended, I asked Eleanor to drop me off at Chris's house because I wanted to visit his father. His mom was probably still busy with her work just like Chris mentioned usually. As I stood in front of the door, I knocked on it softly so I wouldn't surprise anyone.
"Katie?" Mary opened the door and then, she hugged me tightly before pulling away.
"Hi, Mary!" I smiled brightly.
"I thought it's Chris. Come on in." She welcomed me to enter.
"I just come by to visit Chris's dad. How is he, by the way?" I asked as she walked me to the living room.
"Don't worry, honey. He's fine! He just finished his chemotherapy this morning and he just arrived at about 11.00 a.m. So, perhaps he must be awakened right now," she explained and the moment she wanted to enter Louis's room, I stopped her.
"It's okay. I can wait. By the way, is Oliver here?" I wanted to ask him about the warning that he told me at Walmart the other day.
"Oh... Oliver. He had resigned. Last week. He didn't tell much about the details," Mary replied. I nodded but I felt upset because I didn't know his whereabouts. Never mind, I would just forget about it.
"Katherine?" A sound of walked wheelchair surrounded the living room.
"Hi, Louis. How are you?" I bent a little so I could hug him.
"I'm fine. What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Just a little visit and uh... by the way," I searched for something from my bag. "I made this yesterday. It just a simple souvenir, I guess." I passed Mary and Louis a packet of chocolate chip cookies for each of them.
"That's so sweet of you," Louis uttered.
"You don't have to do that, darling. Thank you, anyway," Mary kissed me on my cheek.
"There's something I wanted to show you," Louis walked his wheelchair to another room which was located beside his and I followed him. Meanwhile, Mary had left both of us alone.
The room that he walked me into was full of books, boxes and files. He must be really a workaholic back then.
"Is this your working room?" I asked as my eyes instantly wandered and scanned every inch of the room.
"Was," he answered. He took out a book from a shelf that looked like an old album. "I used to collect stamps. It's kind of like my big hobby when I travelled," he explained.
I approached him and smiled brightly. "This is amazing," I exclaimed as I stood in front of his desk. "You have so many postage stamps. How did you get started in all this?" I asked, putting my hair behind my ear so that my vision remained undisturbed.
"Through Chris, actually," he said while he took out a stamp and observed it for a long time. "Not his thing anymore," he sighed.
"What is that?" I pointed my index finger to the stamp that he was holding.
"This is Two-Cent Blue Hawaiian Missionary," he showed me the stamp. "In 1963, Life magazine said this stamp "Pound for pound, is the most valuable substance on earth." The stamp dates back to 1851 when Hawaii was a sovereign nation and a popular destination for American missionaries spreading the gospel. My friend gave it to me actually. I didn't collect a stamp at that time but when Chris started to show interest in the stamp, I searched all around the house to show him this pure rarity," he narrated. I smiled. No wonder that Chris is his father's son. "Do you want to see some more?" He asked. I was so interested in his hobby.
"Absolutely, yes, if you don't mind," I said.
He opened another page of the album and then, he took out another stamp. "This is Saint Pierre and Miquelon," he showed me the stamp and I immediately reached it. "The first definitive St Pierre and Miquelon stamps were issued in 1885," he explained.
"This is fascinating," I said. And then, he passed me the album of the stamp for me to go through. "These are abundant. I don't have any idea how can you be this consistent," my mouth was widely opened.
"Chris stopped collecting stamp when he entered school. He shifted his hobby to playing basketball," he said.
"How do you feel that day you found out he was no longer fancy on collecting stamps?" I passed the album back to him.
"I felt sad, not because he has left our hobby behind. But, it was because he has grown up. You know, that kind of feeling that you don't want your kid to grow up because he will no longer rely on you just like when he was just a little kid," he sighed heavily and then, he put the album back to the shelf.
"Come on, I will walk you out," I said and I pushed his wheelchair slowly and we walked at the backyard. "Have you ever regret of getting Chris?" I asked, breaking the silence between us.
He chuckled. "Judy must have told you the story," he chuckled again.
"Pretty much," I smiled.
"He's really a great kid. He's not really the type that gets mad," he smiled too. "I never regret having him even when I was so sad or even mad," he exhaled a deep breath. "Tell me about your parents, Katie. I didn't even know about them."
I smiled wryly. "They have passed away five years ago. I lived with my aunt, Diane Winter. She's an incredible person," I explained to him.
"Well, I'm sorry for asking that," he said.
"No, it's fine. I am no longer a crybaby," I laughed and he joined me too.
"Did she raised you all by herself?" He asked.
I nodded. "Um... where's Oliver?" I asked him. I knew he had resigned but I still wanted to know his reason.
"Oliver? Unfortunately, he has resigned. He's a good guy. He didn't tell me why, so I had to recruit a new nurse for me," he said.
"Have you found one?" I asked.
"Yeah," he nodded.
And then, we heard a car arrived. Perhaps, it was Chris. We just waited at the backyard until Chris came. He hugged his dad and me as soon as he saw us.
"What are you doing here?" Chris asked.
"Just checking out your dad," I smiled brightly.
After we had our evening coffee, Chris drove me home as I finished saying goodbye to both Mary and Louis. When we arrived at the front of my house, I didn't bother to go out yet.
"I had fun today," I exclaimed. "I like your dad. He's kind," I smiled when our eyes met.
"Where you been all day before going to my home?" He asked.
"I've been busy with my final project and final exam. There are a lot of things to do," I explained. And then, I frowned by the look on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.
He sighed. "You're starting to make me a little nervous," he exclaimed.
I raised my eyebrows and asked him, "Why am I starting to make you nervous?"
He licked his lips and then, he put his eyes on the street. "I'm starting to think you might be too good of a person for me," he said.
"Oh..." I nodded. "No, I'm not that good of a person," I added. "I have faults, Chris. Trust me, I have plenty of them. You'll see." He shifted his gaze on me and I kissed him on his cheek before I exited his car. "See you tonight," I smiled.