Falling To Pieces #1 (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER TEN

The next two weeks passed by rather slowly. We spent most of that week together, in Katherine’s room, either playing around with my cello, listening to music, watching movies or just sitting on the balcony, overlooking the breathtaking view. We went down for meals as per usual, but neither of us said anything. Everyone was used to me being quiet, but Katherine had always engaged in conversation. Now that she didn’t, it was obvious that something was very wrong. Amelia kept shooting daggers  at me, but I ignored her and Katherine barely made eye contact with anyone. It was her way of trying to detach herself from everyone. She even refused to speak to or spend any time with Nikita now, which the older woman looked quite hurt by. When the weekend finally arrived, Katherine still hadn’t switched on her phone. I asked her to check whether Monroe or any of the others had tried to contact her, but she said that she didn’t want to know how many times Micah had tried to reach out to her. That was the reason she had switched her phone off in the first place after all. So that Micah could realise she wanted nothing more to do with him. He'd get the picture and just move on. They had only been on one date, if they could even call it that. He didn’t have any hang ups, so she was hoping that his interests in her would just fade out sooner rather than later. Her plan was very logical, but that didn’t mean she liked it one bit. Actually, she took it harder than I expected she would.
Monroe showed up on Sunday afternoon and demanded to know why we were avoiding everyone. When we finally managed to get him to stop yelling at us, we had to assure him that we weren’t. Katherine told him that her phone was off because she was avoiding someone, and forgot to give him my number if he or one of the others wanted to reach out. Monroe immediately knew she was talking about Micah, but he surprisingly didn’t push for answers. He spent the rest of the afternoon with us and as usual, he cheered us up in that easy way of his. We didn’t see him or any of the others during that week as they all had college, and Monroe had to intern at his father’s company. By Thursday, I missed Terry’s company, so I called her and asked her if she didn’t mind coming over to hang out. Without me having to ask, she brought over her nail kit. I knew how much Katherine loved these things and when Terry made her nails look pretty, I could see that her spirits had lifted a little. Terry came over again on Friday, so did Monroe, Lola, Wes and Riley.
Even though they had no idea what had happened between Micah and her, they made it clear whose side they were on. The fact that they had all cancelled their plans to spend time with Katherine was enough to lift her spirits even more.
We all sat around the pool with our feet in the water, while catching up on the past couple of weeks spent apart. Riley and Wesley told us about the surfing competition they had entered, and Lola filled us in on a few rather intimate details about her and Jackson’s relationship, which as it turns out, had nothing to do with emotions and everything to do with ‘crazy good sex’. It was way too much information, but she didn’t seem to have a problem with oversharing. At least Monroe seemed entertained, which meant he made it entertaining for all of us.
On Saturday afternoon we all went to Fort Lauderdale beach to watch and support Wes and Riley compete in the surfing competition. The day turned out to be amazing; both guys made it to the semi finals that would take place the following week. I loved the beach here. It reminded me a little of home and spending the day soaking up the sun. Katherine was laughing again too, so what was not to enjoy? After the competition ended, there were still activities taking place like beach volleyball and soccer, the limbo game, and loud music that people danced to. We stayed to watch the sunset, which was breathtaking, and then stopped to grab a bite to eat.

It was Monday night and we were just coming back from another quiet and awkward dinner, when the doorbell rang. Nikita was closer to the door, so she was the one who answered it.
“Micah? Oh, Hello... Yes she is... Come inside”
Katherine and I exchanged panicked glances and then as one, looked toward the stairs. We wouldn’t be quick enough to make it to our rooms, maybe if we ran back to the—
“Katherine.”
Ah, shit.
Well this was awkward, wasn't it? Katherine and Micah just stared at each other, not saying anything, Nikita looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what was happening, and I could hear more footsteps behind us, which meant we had more company.
“Katherine, can we talk? In private, please.” Micah asked, not sparing a glance at anyone else.
Nikita’s eyes widened before shifting her gaze to the floor. She apparently knew how to take a hint and hurried pass us. I heard the other footsteps follow her out, so I knew we were alone now. I turned towards the stairs to give them their privacy, but Katherine grabbed onto my arm and held me back. I honestly did not want to be part of this, but I would stay, simply because it was Katherine.
“Why are you ignoring me?” Micah asked, accepting the fact that I was not going anywhere.
“I don’t want to see you anymore” Katherine replied bluntly, without making eye contact
Micah smiled sadly and nodded. “Yeah… that much is pretty obvious.” His smile disappeared as he stepped towards us. Katherine still didn’t look up, but she knew he was getting closer. The death grip she had on my arm was proof of that.
“Why?” He asked, in a surprisingly demanding voice.
Suddenly, I understood what she meant when she said he gave off ‘he-man’ vibes.
“I just don’t like you like that, okay.”
“Bullshit!” He spat
Katherine whipped her head up and glared at him, but he just glared back.
“Explain it to me. I deserve that much. You led me to believe that things were good between us…More than good actually, then you just cut me off? Just like that? And I'm supposed to let it slide and what? Just forget all about it? What happened after I left?” He demanded.
Katherine didn’t answer him, so he turned to me for answers. I kept my face blank and my mouth shut. I wasn’t getting involved.
“Did someone tell you to stay away from me?” He asked in a hushed voice.
He was quick. I'd give him that.
“No” She lied.
“Then why? Give me something! Give me a reasonable explanation and I’ll leave you alone. I don't play games Katherine and right now, I can't stop fucking thinking about you so tell where your head's at. I deserve to know.”
He looked and sounded so vulnerable, to the point where it seemed as though he was almost begging her. It was evident that he really liked her, even though all of it was still very new. He wouldn’t have been here right now if he didn’t have real feelings for her. Any other guy would have moved on by now but apparently that wasn't the case here. I pitied my sister. He was not making this easy for her, especially since she felt the same way about him. I didn't understand any of this. It was crazy to me that they seemed to like each other this much after only just one date, but here we were.
Their relationship couldn’t work though, and he needed to fully understand that.
I squeezed her hand to get her attention. That's when I saw the unshed tears.
“He deserves a reason” I whispered “The real reason”
Katherine looked at me with huge sad eyes
“Everything?” She breathed.
Silently asking permission to share our tragic tale.
“Everything that involves you” I replied. "Then tell him what happened when we got back that night"
She nodded her understanding and then walked to the door and waited for Micah to follow. When the two shut the door behind them, I headed towards the stairs but Nikita, including the rest of the family rushed in to stop me before I even took my first ascending step.
“Kara, wait!” Nikita called out desperately.
“Is he the reason Katherine's been acting so weird lately?” Blake asked eagerly.
Katherine's silence had been hard on him too.
“I didn’t even know they were seeing each other…and I know everything!” Beverly interjected.
“If that were true, all your grades would’ve been a lot better” Blake said dryly.
That one earned him a slap against the head from his father and a murderous glare from Beverly.
“Are they seeing each other, Kara?” Gregory asked “It wouldn’t matter if they were”
“Not really” I replied
“So, is he? The reason why Katherine's been so withdrawn?” Nikita asked almost hopefully. “It’s not because of something we did?”
I wasn’t going to say anything, but then I saw Amelia’s smug face.
“Depends which one of you, you’re referring to”
By the time everyone followed my gaze, Amelia had already hidden her smug expression and replaced it with one of shock.
“What?! I didn’t say anything” She exclaimed
Everyone looked back to me, almost accusingly, except for Amelia. That stupid smug face appeared again. Ugh! I hated this woman. She pissed me off like no one else.
“Katherine, following in your mother’s footsteps I see” I repeated her words from a couple of weeks back. “Charm a rich man into marrying you, and then live off his money for the rest of your life, like a parasite”
Her eyes narrowed at me, but when Nikita’s hurt gaze turned to her, she feigned surprise, again.
“Do you have any abandoned children back home that we should know about? Ring any bells, Amelia?” I asked.
“I have no idea what she’s talking about” She said, looking at me like I was losing my mind.
“No? I must have imagined the whole confrontation then” I said sarcastically.
I already knew she'd continue denying it. Then it would be her word against mine and I wasn’t going to stand there while the family took her side and made me the liar. So, I hurried up the stairs and went back to my room. I threw myself down on my bed, put in my earphones and turned up the volume to The chain by Fleetwood Mac. The longer I lay here, the shittier I started to feel. I shouldn’t have said those things down there. Yes, I wanted to prove a point, but in doing so I wasn’t only exposing Amelia, my words might have caused trouble in their family and it definitely hurt Nikita. I didn’t feel like it was my place to have done that but Amelia was being a bitch and the smug look on her face was so infuriating so I only acted on impulse.
It was my bad.
I’m not sure how long I stayed like that until I heard distant knocking. I ripped my earphones from my ears and moved to my bedroom door but, then I heard the knocks again. It wasn’t coming from that door. Katherine and Micah stood on the balcony, waiting for me to open up. I frowned. Why was he still here?
When I opened the door for them, they walked in with their hands intertwined. I didn’t even bother hiding my disapproval of whatever the hell I was looking at.
“Just listen” Katherine blurted, before I could say anything.
“What did you tell him?”
“Everything” Micah replied
“I have a hard time believing that” I argued.
“Nikita is Katherine’s real mom, but she was young when she had Katherine, so your parents took her in as their own.” Micah said “Your father died of a heart disease and your mother…” He looked at me with the sympathetic expression I had once been so used to. I hated that look. “Kara, I’m sorry—”
“Yeah, whatever” I snapped.
He cleared his throat.
“Katherine said that there was more to it but that it wasn’t her place to say. She told me that the only reason you guys moved here was so that both of you could get away from that place and recover, until you were ready to move back home”
“So then you understand that we have every intention of moving back. We won't be staying here for good.”
“But you’re here now. Katherine is here now.” Micah shot back. “Look, I care about your sister a lot, and I know she feels the same about me, so why not just be together right now?”
I scrunch up my face in annoyance. “That makes no sense! You two just met. Why complicate things when both of you can just end it now before you fall in too deep?”
“We might not even work out. A few weeks from now, we’d probably realise this thing between us just isn’t working, but at least we’ll know for sure, instead of just assuming. Look  I don’t want to look back and wonder; what if Katherine and I had given it a shot? What would have happened? I wanna see where this goes Kara. We both do”
They both looked at me like they were holding their breaths. I could almost get where he was coming from, but what if things just became even more fucked up? We didn’t need any more shitty luck and heartbreak.
“What if it ends up being the alternative? What if you end up actually falling for each other? We can’t stay here forever Micah. At the end of the day, we’re going to have to leave, and you’ll have to say goodbye”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there” Katherine spoke up finally. “It could be months, a year even, before we move back, we don’t know how things will turn out. Micah’s right, let’s just see where this goes”
I wasn’t completely sold on this. I didn’t like it, but as I studied her for a long time, I could tell that she was dead set on being with him for now. It wasn’t my choice in the end and nothing I said was going to change her mind. He clearly wanted to be with her, so who was I stand in the way of that? They were the grownups in this situation after all. They probably knew what they were doing anyway.
“You’re sure about this?” I questioned sceptically.
She looked at me with wide eyes and nodded frantically. The sight made me smile a little and before I could even say anything, she had her arms around me.
“Thank you!”
When she finally let go of me, Micah immediately pulled me in for a tight hug.
“Thanks Kara.”
“If you hurt her, I. Will. Cut. You.” I whispered in his ear
“You can trust me, I promise.” He whispered back
“We’ll see” I replied.
Even though I already trusted him a little, I wasn’t about to admit that to him just yet.
He turned back to Katherine and kissed her forehead. “I have to go; I still have some things to prepare for tomorrow’s case but I just had to see you and I'm glad I did.”
“Me too” She smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
I turned around to give them some privacy and reached for my IPod.
“Please switch on your phone.” He told her when they broke apart.
“I will” She giggled
“There might be some really embarrassing messages on there, so… If you could just ignore those; that would be very much appreciated”
I hid a smile as I put my earphones back in. Katherine was not going to ignore them, but he’ll find that out soon enough. When he left, Katherine settled down next to me. She pulled out one of my earbuds and put it into her ear. Weird, considering the fact that she didn’t like the music I listened to.
We stayed quiet for a long time before I finally broke the silence.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing”
“Too soon to tell” She replied honestly.
We went quiet again, until we heard some sort of commotion taking place downstairs. My guilt automatically intensified.
“I wonder what that's about.” Katherine mused.
“I… might have told everyone what Amelia said to you the other night” I admitted and scrunched up my face.
She lifted her head from the pillow and looked at me in surprise.
“Kara... Why?”
“They wanted to know if Micah was the reason you were acting weird. I wasn’t going to say anything but seeing Amelia’s smug face made me lose it. I really don’t like that lady, but now I regret saying anything. I should’ve just kept quiet.”
Katherine didn’t say anything to reassure me. She just threw an arm around me and pulled me closer. She was trying to make me feel better but it didn’t help, especially since the argument became louder and more intense. I decided that I should just suck up my pride and apologize whenever I could… or at least try to.
Apologies had never really been my strong suit.