[chapter twelve]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of
them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please.
;-)
**
Kick knew she was in trouble when they started playing racing games on the
X-box.
Chad knew he was in trouble when she began belting out "Game Over" by *Nsync.
They both knew they were in trouble when they killed the beer before either one of those activities began.
"God…I've never gonna be able to go to work in the morning." Chad moaned as he slumped on the floor by the TV.
"I'm never gonna be able to work on Tuesday at this rate…thank god I have tomorrow off." Kick answered, kicking the controller out of the way and taking another swig of her beer before splaying on the floor beside him.
"Must be nice." Chad whined. "I have a meeting tomorrow, too. Not looking forward to it."
"Tell them you were nursing a sick friend." Kick replied, looking over. "It's sorta true."
"Nursing a broken heart?" Chad asked with a small smile.
"Nursing a aching ego, pissed off attitude and bruised heart, yeah." Kick replied sullenly. "I still can't believe…I mean, for weeks he and I have been…and it's been so great. He's been so great."
Chad nodded. He hadn't asked what had happened, but he had a pretty good idea. Junior's unfailing streak of hurting women had struck again, and this time, Kick was the victim.
"He was so nice to me." Kick said, almost to herself. "Made me feel like I was the only woman in the world. Evidently, not."
"What exactly did…" Chad trailed off, not quite daring to ask. Instead he popped another beer and sat up attentively, grimacing at the sudden movement.
"Exactly? Exactly, he was fucking some other girl when I got to the track. Makes me wonder if he was doing that all along." Kick said, her voice angry and hurt.
"I'm really sorry, Kick."
"I guess I shoulda listened to you, huh?" Kick said grudgingly. "You tried to warn me. But I thought…"
"What?"
"I thought you were warning me more about…" Kick shook her head. "Doesn't matter. What matters now is beer and another attempt at kicking your ass in this stupid game. But first, I'm going to get the other Nsync CD. It's in my car."
Chad groaned and lay back down as Kick tried to stand, albeit unsteadily, and headed for the door. She gasped in surprise when the door opened and Jimmie strode in. Ducking her head quickly, she moved to sit back down, away from Jimmie's penetrating gaze.
What she didn't know was that Jimmie had been standing on the front porch for the last few minutes, hearing every word they said through the opened windows of the family room. He'd only come inside to avoid discovery of his eavesdropping by Kick going to her car.
"Hey man." Chad said from the floor as Jimmie greeted him, giving Kick the barest of nods.
"Hey. I just…I didn't know you had company. I didn't mean to interrupt, I was just gonna ask you a few questions before the meeting tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Jimmie said, his hand still on the doorknob, turning to go.
"Don't go on my account. I should…" Kick motioned to the front door but Chad shook his head vehemently.
"You aren't driving anywhere." He said seriously.
"I can take you." Jimmie said softly. "Wherever you're staying."
Kick shook her head no, wincing slightly at the unsteady sloshing of her brain in her head. "S'okay. I can…"
"I'll take you."
Weighing her options of riding in uncomfortable silence with Jimmie or crashing on Chad's floor, she slowly made a decision.
"Thanks." She said quietly.