Lost & Insecure

Twenty-Nine - Present Tense

The last time Katie spoke to Dana was the day after Valentine's Day more than two months ago. It was now April 16th and Katie had spent the last two months reconnecting with both Ashley and Martina. She talked to them both on a daily basis. Ashley caught Katie up on everything going on back at Ridgeway, and Martina was there for Katie to talk to whenever she needed it.

Katie realized that living with her aunt wasn't all bad. She may have been away from her friends and the town that she grew up in, but that didn't mean that she didn't have those friends anymore. Ashley and Katie spoke as often as they could. Ashley would visit Katie nearly every weekend and Katie would take Ashley out with Lindley and Sierra. Katie called Martina every night and they'd talk about their days.

Katie was doing well in her new home. She was finally adjusting and was happy with where she was. She still had days where she missed her old home and school, but she was happy she didn't have to hide who she was in her new one. Katie's aunt didn't care that Katie had fallen in love with a girl. Katherine was just happy that Katie was happy. Katie told Katherine all about Dana and what they had gone through and how crazy they drove each other but, when they were together, how crazy they were for one another.

As soon as the final bell rang, Katie was in her Aunt Katherine's car. Jeremy and Chris weren't far behind considering it was Friday and everyone wanted to go home. Katherine went straight to pick up Marcus from school. She told Katie and the boys that they had errands to run. After running errands, Katherine took the four out to grab something to eat and then to see a movie. Katie didn't know why her aunt was taking them out so much, but she wasn't complaining. She didn't have any plans for her Friday night so she enjoyed spending the time with her aunt and cousins.

On the way home later that night, Katie dialed Martina's number and began telling her about her day. Katherine pulled into the driveway and turned the car off. All of the boys raced inside and Katherine followed behind, ordering them to head straight upstairs.

Martina was making Katie laugh over the phone, telling her one of her infamous outrageous stories. "Wait wait wait," Katie said through her laughter, "so you're telling me that you're more terrified of geese than snakes? Marti that doesn't even begin to make sense." Katie entered the house and dropped her bag on the ground, still having it from her day at school. She was about to make her way to the couch, but something else caught her attention. Katie stopped laughing and stared at what was before her.

"Katie?" Martina noticed the girl on the other line go silent. "Katie are you still there?"

"I'm still here..." Katie's voice was a cross between uneasy and curious. "Aunt Kat?" Katie called for her aunt but got no response.

"What's wrong?" Martina was unaware of what had caught Katie's attention.

"There's a trail... of rose petals..." Katie's eyebrows furrowed.

"Well follow them!" Martina instructed.

"Okay, okay." Katie slowly followed the trail throughout the house. It led her through the first floor. Through the living room, then the dining room, then the kitchen. Katie's eyes were glued to the ground as she opened the sliding glass door and ran out onto the deck. She didn't look up once as the trail of rose petals led down the stairs of the deck and to the stone path in the backyard. Katie lifted her head as she reached the stones lying in the grass. "Marti?"

"What is it? What's happening?"

"Can I call you back?" Katie didn't give Martina a chance to respond. She hung up the phone and slid it into the back pocket of her dark shorts.

Katie slowly made her way up the path, still following the rose petals. Standing at the end of the path was a wooden gazebo. The gazebo had fairy lights strung around every post. There were red roses and white lilies everywhere. Standing in the middle of the gazebo was none other than Dana Thomas, wearing a black tie suit.