Sweet As You

(15) Cade

Cade had a bearable couple of days. His socialite neighbor hasn't, strangely, shoved rainbows at him for two consecutive days. The hallways were back to being drab-looking, his nights were quiet as they can be.

Still, it haven't stopped him from wondering where his usual intruder was.

He stepped out of the elevator, on his way to a morning run. A flash of a yellow cab turns his head as he made it through the revolving doors out of the building.

A heel clad foot emerges from the opened taxi door. A set of beautiful legs made it out to the sidewalk. The brown hair in loose waves that he recognized well, draws him in.

It was Kathie.

"Bye, Rob. I'm sure it'll work out for you and Martha."

Cade couldn't help but notice the slight slur in her speech. His suspicions were later confirmed when she closes the door shut and wobbled, almost losing her balance. He rushes to her side, catching her back to her unsteady feet.

Her hands grasped the fabric of his shirt. There was the sparkle in her eyes when she smiled up to him. "Cadey."

"You'll be all right, Kathie?" The taxi driver peeks out the rolled down car window.

"Course, I will. This is my favorite friend Cadey," she slurred, his name sounding more like 'Candy.'

"Okay, then." The driver gives him a brief glance before easing his car back on the road.

Kathie leaned more of her weight against him, her legs wobbling. She looks up, lashes fluttering as if clearing the doubt in her hazel eyes. Her mouth stretches into a pretty smile. "Cadey."

She almost look like herself, but then came a hiccup that rippled through the silence of the damp morning.

"You're drunk."

"No. Just a little tipsy," she mumbles with a cheeky grin.

He waited for another minute for the urge to pull away to settle in, but it never came. He held her shoulders gently, doing a rough estimate of how she can make it across the pavement and to the marbled lobby of their apartment building. There's about seventy to eighty percent chance that she won't make it without stumbling.

Kathie taps him on his chest. "Carry on with your life, Cadey." She sidesteps, her gaze falling to his hand that refused to let go of her arm.

He hesitated, then waited for a sense of detachment. Anything at all. But like an idiot, he shakes his head. "Let me help you."

"Really?" There were the sparks in her eyes again.

Cade sighed. He underestimated the pull she had on people. "Yes."

"Okay." She giggles, taking another staggering step. Clearly a mistake because she would have fallen headfirst had he not pulled her upright.

"It's better if you don't walk."

She scrunched her nose. "How else am I going to make it to my apartment?"

Cade clicks his tongue, lifting her off the ground before he could think better of it. She yelps in surprise, instinctively putting her arms around his neck. "Gee, Cadey. I didn't know you could sweep a girl off her feet."

They made it to the lobby, Kathie chirping at the guy in the front desk even in her drunken state. He wasn't exactly in a hurry. It was just strange having her uncomfortably close. Especially when she keeps looking up, her head tilting slightly like she was in a wild fascination of him.

"What are you looking at?"

Her lips curved into a small smile. "I like your eyes."

He resisted an eye-roll. Once they made it to the elevator, he allowed a glance but retrieve it immediately like he was burnt. She was blatantly staring. It has to be the alcohol. Her martini-soaked brain has to be responsible.