From Friends to Lovers

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Kate woke the next morning, Rick's face was the first that came to mind. And it made her smile. It was 8 am. She reached for her phone and saw that there was a text from Rick. It was sent to her at 5 am. She sat up, and read it. And it made her heart clench with pain.

'Kate,
I know this is sudden and you're going to hate me for this, because by the time you read this, I'll be out of the city. but I've taken some days off, I needed sometime to myself, there's a lot going on in my head right now and I just need some time to sort it all out, to fix myself. I'll be back before you know it. Good bye Kate. :*
Ps, please tell Lanie and the rest of them too.'

Kate sat motionless on her bed, she couldn't move, her heart was beating erratically. He left. He's gone and he didn't even tell her why.

She didn't know she had tears in her eyes until one rolled down her cheek. Why didn't he find it important to talk to her about what was worrying him? They always talked these things out. They always had each other's back.

And Kate began asking herself whether she had done or said something to him that pushed him away. More tears ran down her cheek, and she couldn't understand why her heart was aching so much. She read the text again.

He hadn't mentioned how long he'll be away and that hurt Kate more, not knowing where he was, how he was, and when he'd return. Suppose he was never going to come back…

Kate was at the table now, quietly eating her breakfast. Johanna knew something was wrong, she asked "Kate, is everything okay?"
She didn't get an answer, Jim tried now, realizing his wife's worry, "Katie, your mom's asking you something, are you alright?"

Now she looked up at them and realized they had been talking to her, "I'm sorry, what?"

Johanna spoke "honey, are you not feeling well or something? U don't need to go to school"

Jim interrupted "I'm sure Rick wouldn't mind coming to see you before school, he always knows how to cheer you up"

On hearing her dad take his name, Kate couldn't sit there any longer, she excused herself and got up from the table, Johanna followed her out the d doorway. "Kate darling, please tell me what's going on, did you and rick have a fight or something."

Kate turned around, her shoulders slumped. She kept shifting her weight from one side to the other. She was restless and on edge.

"I don't know. Rick's been acting different around me lately, like something really serious was troubling him, and now he's gone all of a sudden, and all I've got to draw conclusions from is a text. And I know that whatever's troubling him has something to do with me."

Kate ran her hand thru her hair, Johanna just looked at her daughter for a minute, and then pulled her in to her arms for a tight embrace.

"He'll be alright honey, and I'm sure he'll be back for you, if there's anyone in this world that boy would do anything for, it's you.
And now, he just wants his space, give it to him. He's an adult Kate; he probably knows what he's doing."

Kate had texted Lanie that morning, asking her to meet her a little early; she wanted to speak with her before class. So they decided to meet for coffee.

Kate walked over to the table Lanie was seated at,

"so, what's this really important news that you got for me?"

Kate told her about Rick leaving, and how he'd been different around her, and how she had a feeling it was something she may have said that got him upset.

And all the while that she was talking; Lanie listened with a knowing smile on her face.
When Kate was done talking, she took a sip of her coffee and looked up at Lanie.

"What?"

"He's in love with you Kate"

she almost choked on the next sip she had tried to swallow. "What? What are you saying?"

"Kate the guy is crazy about you. I know Rick. He was a different person before he met you, but ever since the day he saw you, he's a better person. I've seen the way you two used to be, around each other before Josh came into the picture. He may have not been sure of it then, but i think watching you with Josh made him realize."

"Lanie..."

"let me finish, yesterday, he turned to tell you something during the movie, but you seemed preoccupied with motorcycle boy, and by preoccupied I'm talking about all that smooching you guys do. And i think that's what made him feel uneasy."

Kate stared down at her coffee mug. Her hands were shaking. Lanie reached out to her, and held her hands "tell me what you're thinking"

Kate exhaled deeply, and then finally spoke. "I knew he was falling for me, I was falling for him too. But that's the reason I started dating Josh"

Lanie stared at her, confused and waiting for her to explain.

"Lanie, he's my best friend, I've never had any guy treat me the way he does, and I thought, if I let him fall in love with me, and if I tell him what I feel for him, it'll lead to something more serious.
And then what if one day we break up, I'll never be able to handle it Lanie, I can't do without him."

Now Lanie understood what she was trying to say.

"so with the intention to keep him as your best friend, you started dating Josh. But you don't actually want to be with Josh. Am I getting this right?"

"Don't get me wrong Lanie, I like Josh, he's a nice guy, he's been so good to me, but... He's not Rick. I think I only started dating Josh because you told me that people were beginning to think rick and I were together, and I was afraid... I still am."

"Kate, you're a smart girl, I don't need to tell you where you went wrong. But I can tell you one thing; you'll never really know how beautiful a relationship can be, until you take the risk.
It's what the greatest love stories are about, beating the odds."

Kate took a few moments to just think, and process it all. She nodded then.

"You're right Lanie... I guess I'll just have to wait till he's back, and then I'll talk to him. I just want to fix things up. I want everything to go back to normal."

"listen to me girl, you're going to do this right this time around, and if it goes the way I think it will, thing's between you and rick will be better than normal"

Kate was back home now. Lying in her bed and staring up at d ceiling. She was feeling a little more hopeful now. And a little light-hearted that she finally talked everything out.

She'd only started dating Josh to avoid falling harder for Rick, but she had hurt him in d process. And she hated herself for causing him so much pain. And now, the more she thought about the many times she had displayed affection towards Josh in front of Rick, the more sick she felt.
The guy was in love with her.

Kate knew, with the amount of love she had for Rick, if she ever saw him with another girl, she'd probably go knock the daylight's out of her.

And yet she had the nerve to flaunt Josh around him so many times. Kate felt horrible. What was she thinking! It was so selfish of her.

And now she regretted letting Rick slip through her finger's that way.

And then the thought hit her, what if Rick went away with the hope to get over her, to move on, to forget her? it brought her more heartache than before.

A tear rolled down her cheek, and she shut her eyes tight, and prayed, prayed that Rick will come back for her. She made a huge mistake and she needed to make it right. They were no longer 'best friends'. In fact that term could have been done away with a long time back.

Kate loved Rick now. And she needed him to know.

He'd come back for her, she assured herself, thinking back on that night when he had promised her, she'd never lose him.