Caught Up In A Moment [Kaylor]

Chapter Eight - calamitous love

There was a very exclusive, very limited amount of things in the world that were capable of causing Karlie Elizabeth Kloss genuine anxiety. She was generally very well-composed, if she were to toot her own horn, and rarely found herself dreading a situation. Even in the most stressful of times, she kept her cool like it was nobody's business.

That was absolutely not even close to being the case as she stood outside of Josh's apartment door. She had paced from the elevator to his suite nothing short of at least ten times but had been unable to calm her racing heart and the thoughts that matched its pace. She'd tried to dress casually so as to not give Josh the wrong idea—a pair of light blue Levi's (her lucky pair), and a white T-shirt along with her riding boots and jacket—and decided to make sure that the break up would be an amicable one by suggesting a casual dinner date in his home. She'd even tried to make it as informal as possible by deciding to not lock up her helmet with her bike and instead brought it with her as if she was simply going to a friend's house. A friend. That's what they would be at the end of the night.

Okay, it was a good idea at first but now she wished she had picked somewhere a little more public, if only to ensure that neither of them would do or say something they'd regret, but it was too late for that now. Now she just had to woman up and knock. Whatever happened next would happen. Karlie mustered up the courage, and after taking a deep breath and curling her hands into a fist, she gave three strong raps at the door. Feigning confidence, she made sure to put on a wide smile. It felt fake, but she knew it would look convincing enough, especially to Josh, who was never one to read emotions well.

After a moment in which Karlie managed to quell her beating heart a smidge, the door jostled and opened to reveal a dressed-up Josh. He wore a white button-up and dress pants, matching that with a black blazer and shiny black shoes. Josh had always cleaned up nicely, and not even now could Karlie deny that. He smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before gesturing for her to come in.

"Hey, you look nice," Karlie greeted, placing her helmet on the bench near the entrance. She figured that she could keep her boots on since Josh had kept his shoes on and forwent that step entirely.

"Thanks, hun," he responded, motioning for her to follow him to the dining room. "Hey, you're not wearing the ring I gave you."

Oh, right. The ring. Karlie unzipped her jacket pocket and reached in, gripping the ring tightly between both fingers before pulling it out. "Yeah, I just, um, didn't want it falling out while I rode or when I took my riding gloves off." She strained a smile and slipped the ring on for the first time since she'd received it.

"You like it, right?" Josh asked with his puppy dog eyes. Karlie hated how he could be so genuinely adorable.

So she nodded. It wasn't time. Not yet. "Yes, I love it." She then looked around the room. It was romantically lit, with a trio of candles in the middle and two empty glasses on each end. Once again, Karlie wished they had just gone to a restaurant, because she felt worse now after seeing the effort that Josh had put into their date. "Wow, this is... fancy," Karlie pointed out with a forced laugh. "I thought we were going to do something more, ah, casual since we decided to stay in."

Josh laughed in return and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, well I definitely misread the situation. If you want, I can just order in a pizza instead. No biggie."

It was tempting. Really tempting, since Karlie felt herself lose more and more of her confidence—if there was ever any in her to begin with—the more time passed. Still, though, she shook her head. "No, it's fine. I love it."

With a smile, Josh pulled out a seat for her. "Alright, then sit down. I'm not the best cook, but I did my best to make dinner. I know you love salmon, babe."