Chapter Five: Kate

Chapter Five: Kate

So. Shortly after Matt’s party, I invited Kate over and we decided to go to the diner around the corner for a bite to eat. 

Somewhere between her arriving at the house and us sitting down to eat, it was feeling more like a date than anything else. Maybe I was more flirty in nature than I thought. Yeah, I know I’d set myself that no dating rule, but that was a while ago. Now that I was the backup vocalist of Tainted Soul, I was feeling more confident about my career. Anyway, we caught a movie after we ate. I’ll admit there was a little bit of flirting outside the theatre. Just a bit.

I found Kate cleaning the kitchen the next morning. 

‘Tired?’ I said by way of greeting.

She poked me in the arm, laughing. ‘Did you just wake up?’

‘Maybe.’

She laughed again. ‘Actually, I’m not tired. I went to sleep as soon as I got home.’

‘Sleep’s boring. I much prefer to roam the house, guitar in hand.’

Kate just shook her head at me as she continued to wipe the bench.

‘Anyway, I think we should hang out today. Just us.’

‘There’s a slight problem with that,’ she said as she carried the dirty dishes over to the sink. ‘I’m not finished cleaning your house yet.’

‘What’s left, making Matt’s bed and taking the trash out? It’s not like the place is ever that messy. I’ll still pay you.’

Kate bit her lip, then threw her hands up in the air. ‘Okay, okay. I do want to hang out with you. But I don’t have any clothes to change into.’

‘Even better. I really like that cute little uniform.’

We grabbed lunch at the Bistro, then walked across the road to the park.

 We hung out there all afternoon. I tried to show her how to fish, but she got bored pretty quickly, so I played guitar for her instead. She liked that.

 After I put the guitar away, we talked and laughed about anything and everything.

 Then, I kissed her goodbye.

It was a bit hard for Kate and I to keep our hands off each other after that, what with us both being in the house during the day. Karen caught on pretty quickly, since she was normally home during the day too, and it wasn’t like we were being quiet about it. I could tell she was a bit annoyed at us both, but what was I supposed to do? We were over, I’d explained that to her.

One of the things about Kate I found so endearing was that after we’d emerged from my bedroom, she’d run around finishing the cleaning of the house.

 I always made sure to kiss her goodbye before I left for work.

One morning, I woke up before Kate got to the house, so I decided to run some errands, collecting money from the local businesses I had a share in. I got chatting to Illaina Langerak at the Bistro and lost track of time, so It was no wonder I sounded a bit apologetic on the phone when I called Kate.

‘I’m sorry! I woke up early for once so I went to run some errands. Did you miss me?’

She laughed. ‘I must say, I was a bit disappointed when you weren’t there. But I’d forgotten how fast your house is to clean when you’re not being interrupted all the time.’

I grinned to myself. ‘So you’re done then?’

‘Yup. I’m at the beach, want to join me?’

‘For sure.’

So I drove down to the beach with a smile on my face. I had something special planned for tonight.

When I got there, I saw Kate silhouetted in the setting sun, staring up wistfully at the houses directly across the street from the beach. 

‘I’ve always wanted to buy one of these houses,’ she said as I approached. ‘But I’d never be able to afford it.’

I looked over at the row of houses I’d just driven past. They were pretty cute, really. And you’d get great views.

‘I might buy one,’ I said, grinning at her. ‘You know, they do pay me to get up on stage and sing.’

She punched me lightly on the arm, smiling too. ‘You would do that, just to spite me.’

‘Well, I’d let you come and clean it.’ I took her hands as she stifled her laughter, shaking her head at me. ‘So, what do you want to do tonight? It's my night off.’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Whatever you want to do.’

‘Well, I did have this idea we could go the theatre. Not to see a movie, but I could give you, like, a guided tour.’

She grinned. ‘Sounds great.’

I loved showing Kate my world. I took her to meet the band that was playing tonight, showed her my dressing room, the works. We actually got a little, uh, carried away in the dressing room. Lets just say it’s a good thing I locked the door.

When we emerged into the cool night air in front of the theatre, we were both still a little giggly. 

‘I can’t believe I just did that!’ she said, sounding a little breathless. 

‘The wild life of dating a member of Tainted Soul,’ I said with a smirk. ‘Which reminds me. I want to ask you something.’

She tilted her head to the side, a half smile on her face. ‘What?’ 

‘I want it to be just us. I want us to be exclusive, official. I guess I’m saying... I want to call you my girlfriend.’

Kate’s eyes widened, and I felt a knot of uncertainty form in my stomach. ‘Unless - you don’t want to?’

She shook he head. ‘No - I want to, I’m just trying to figure out why you want to,’ I started to speak, but she held up her hand. ‘I mean - I’m older than you. And - I know I’m getting ahead of myself here, I know we haven’t discussed this, but I might not be able to have children, Hadley. I just thought you should know.’

I stared at her. ‘You’re right, I haven’t given a thought to kids, or anything. But what I know is that I want you, and I don’t care that you’re older than me. I’ve never cared. And if you can’t have kids - well, we’ll get to that when we come to it. Okay? But I don’t want anyone else. Because I love you.’

She threw her arms around me, and I closed my eyes, lyrics already forming in my head.

A few more things of note happened over the next few days. Over breakfast the next morning, Kaelie told me that she and Karen were moving out. 

I also had my adult birthday that night. I didn’t have a party, just celebrated with Kate. I bought myself a new Yoshomato Evasion as a birthday present.

The day after that, Karen and Kaelie moved out. Bye girls.

And the day after that, the lead guitarist of Tainted Soul quit and I was asked to replace him. Are you kidding me? Of course I stepped up to the plate. 

I had the perfect job and the perfect girlfriend. Could life get any better?

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Author's Notes:

I've got some funny pictures for you. First, Matt scaring Hadley:

And next, that Christopher guy fishing in his formal wear:

Well, I thought it was funny. Anyway, so yeah, I was so glad Hadley chose a girl all by himself! Oh, and I did take  pictures of him ageing up, but do you think I can find them? They've just disappeared. But yeah, all it was was him standing in the driveway with Kate cheering.

Guess what the next chapter is? Hadley's free day! Woot! I think you know what that means ;)

Until next time,

xx Courtney