Yes, its almost a week past the holiday. Yes, you will get over it :P. Haha, enjoy!
"Uggh. What does she want?" Jade groaned as she looked at the screen of her phone, 'Call from Cat Valentine'. She contemplated ignoring the call, but at the last minute she hit answer instead.
"What?"
"Hi, Jade! It's me, Cat!"
"I know who you are."
"Oh."
"Well…..?"
"Well, what?"
"Why did you call me?"
"Oh , right! Do you have any plans for the holiday tomorrow?"
"What holiday?"
"The Fourth of July, silly. How are you celebrating?"
"I'm not."
"What? Why not? You should come with me to-"
"No."
"There's going to be a picnic and fireworks at night and-"
"No."
"Pleaseeeee Jadey?"
If there were anything Jade hated more than tacky celebrations it was when Cat whined.
"No Cat. I hate the Fourth of July."
"Please Jade? There's no one in my family close to my age. We can hang out just the two of us all day!"
"Ugggh. If I say yes can I get off the phone?"
"Yes!"
"Fine, I'll go."
"Yaaay! Come to my house at 2 okay? There will be a cook out and-"
Click. Jade hung up the phone before Cat could finish and tossed it onto her bed. She was not looking forward to having to spend the day with Cat's family, but she knew that if she didn't go she'd end up having to spend the day with her own family.
The next day when 2 o'clock rolled around Jade was parking her car outside of Cat's house. Not two seconds after she turned her car off did Cat come running outside.
"Hey Jadey!" Cat said as Jade got out of the car.
"Hi Cat. Let's just get this day over with."
"Kay kay!" Cat cheered as she grabbed Jade's hand and started pulling her towards the back yard.
"What did I say about touching me?" Jade snapped.
"To never do it," Cat responded sounding upset.
The two walked into Cat's backyard where most of her family was already roaming around talking to each other or trying not to get trampled by the young kids running around with water guns and toy swords. There were tents set up around the yard with multiple tables underneath, each with an American Flag centerpiece and red, white, and blue lights along the edge of the tents. Jade let out a sigh of disgust at the sight of the uncontrolled children and the overload of red, white, and blue. She followed Cat around, doing her best to avoid the awkward introductions to Cat's family members. She had never met Cat's extended family before, but she didn't expect much from them based on her immediate family. She wasn't wrong. Cat's whole family was overly excited for everything and everyone insisted on hugging Jade as they were introduced to her. She was going crazy and decided to spend most of her time seated at an empty table in the back corner constantly refreshing her page on The Slap hoping something interesting would appear until Cat would come over for a few minutes and tell her the funny joke that her Uncle Duke had just told her. Cat also kept trying to get Jade to play cards with them, but she wanted nothing of it. Finally, Cat told her it was time to eat. The food was bland, the drinks kept getting warm, and the frosting on the cupcakes melted in the heat and got all over Cat every time she ate one. This day was nothing Jade cared to remember. As the sun started to go down Cat's family got ready to drive down to the park to watch the fireworks. Once they got there Jade and Cat lingered in the back of the group as they walked from where they parking lot to the entrance of the park. As they reached it Cat grabbed Jade's arm and pulled her to the side.
"Cat! Don't touch me!"
"Shhh. Guess what!"
"Uggh. What Cat?"
"I know of somewhere way cooler than a park to watch the fireworks!"
"The only place cooler would be anywhere that I don't have to watch them at all."
"Shh. Just follow me."
Jade was kind of skeptical as to what crazy little Cat had in store for her, but she obeyed and decided to follow her anyways. If they missed the fireworks it wasn't like Jade cared. She followed Cat down then street and around the corner, the whole time rolling her eyes at Cat's childish giggles. She looked down the street and realized that the whole street looked like nothing more than tall buildings with a gas station at the corner.
"Cat, where are we?"
"My aunt lives in that apartment complex over there" she said pointing to a building on a few feet away.
"Okay?" Jade asked confused.
"I have a key. She lives on the top floor, c'mon!"
Once again Jade followed her. She had no idea what was going on, but she figured anything would be better than sitting in a park with hundreds of other people. They went inside and took the elevator all the way to the top floor. As the elevator door opened Cat looked around and making sure that no one was there she ran down a hallway.
"Cat! Why are we running?" Jade called as she followed her.
She didn't answer until she reached the door at the end. There was nothing written on the door, no number, so Jade knew this couldn't be her aunt's apartment.
"We're going to the roof!" Cat said excitedly.
"The roof?"
"Yes, silly. I used to sneak up there all the time when I visited my aunt because she'd be so busy watching my brother she'd never notice that I was gone for a few hours."
In an attempt to avoid hearing another long crazy story about her brother Jade reached for the door knob, turned it, and as she pushed it open said, "Let's go to the roof then."
When they got outside Jade noticed that there was a blanket laid out.
"I put that there yesterday after you told me that you were coming" Cat said with a shy smile.
Without acknowledging what Cat had said, Jade just walked over and made herself comfortable on the blanket and Cat settled down next to her. Not long after they laid down did the fireworks start going off. As they started Jade felt Cat's hand brush against her arm. She turned to tell Cat to knock it off, but only saw the look of pure enjoyment on her face. Even Jade didn't want to be the one to ruin this moment for her, but she must have been staring at her longer than she thought because Cat turned to her, the look of enjoyment melting off of her face. She quickly pulled her hand away from Jade's arm.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to touch you."
"Oh, no, it's fine." Jade said feeling nervous, but she wasn't sure why.
Cat went back to watching the fireworks, but Jade couldn't stop watching Cat. She never noticed how sweet she could look when she wasn't bouncing all over the place. She never noticed the one little dimple she had on her left check and she couldn't help but notice how cute Cat's smile was.
"You're staring."
"Huh? What?"
"You're staring at me, not the fireworks, Jadey."
"Oh, uhh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I don't mind," Cat said smiling, nudging herself a little bit closer, without protest from Jade.
They both went back to watching the fireworks for a few more minutes before Jade found herself staring at Cat again. She couldn't explain how she felt. How happy she was just laying here, on a rooftop, looking out at the beautiful colors exploding in the clear night sky, surrounded by stars. Cat's head had found its way to her shoulder, but she wasn't angry. She just rested her own head on Cat's and picked up Cat's hand. She heard a squeal of happiness escape from Cat's mouth just as the finale began, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the fireworks or the fact that they were now holding hands. Just then Cat sat up and leaned over planting a quick, soft kiss on Jade's lips. Jade, too shocked from what was happening, hadn't returned the kiss so Cat started to pull away, afraid she had done something wrong, but Jade reached her arm around the back of Cat's head and pulled her in closer, planting a longer, yet still soft and gentle kiss on Cat's lips. They remained in this kiss until the fireworks ended, pulling away as the cheers of the people at the park below them began. Both girls laid back down on the blanket, hands linked, smiles from ear to ear, staring up at the beautiful night sky. Maybe this was a Fourth of July Jade would care to remember after all.