I met up with the guys outside of the Bobby Wasabi Dojo. My "hey," was greeted with a salutation, a hello, and a 'what?'
"Where's Kim?" I asked.
"We thought she was with you," Milton answered, "You guys spend so much time together and everything…" He left his sentence dangling, challenging Jack to question him.
"We're just friends," I answered, coloring slightly.
"Mm-hmm," the guys said, I was about to, I don't know, kill them, when I was interrupted.
"Hey guys," Kim walked up to us. Her long , golden hair fell around her face perfectly. "What were you talking about."
We all answered at the same time: "Nothing," me."Homework," Milton."Guy stuff," Eddie "You," Jerry.
"That's not confusing at all," Kim rolled her eyes. "Let's go in."
We walked into the dojo to see Rudy (also referred to as the man child on quite a few occasions) sitting on the floor in the middle of the sparring area, hopelessly entangled in karate uniforms and belts. Boxes covered the floor, the places that weren't covered in boxes where cluttered with practice dummies, bow staffs, breaking and wood, other equipment. There was barely enough room to breathe in here, let alone practice karate.
"Rudy, what is all of this?" Milton asked.
"Since we have been performing so well, Bobby Wasabi gave us a budget raise." Rudy replied, trying, and failing, to get up, " I think that if we keep doing as well as we are, we might attract more people."
"But how are we supposed to practice," Kim looked a little panicked. "There. Is. No. Room!" She practically shouted.
I looked at her worried, she looked like she was about to hyperventilate. "Um, Kim, are you okay," I asked tentatively.
"I-I have to go, I don't feel well." She replied before hurrying out the door.
"Practice is cancelled for the rest of the week!" Rudy called after her.
"Wait, Kim," I followed her out, "I'll walk you home."
"Thanks, Jack." She smiled at me and I tingled a little bit. Me. Jack Anderson. Tingled. Maybe, I wasn't feeling well either.
We walked in silence, broken only by the sounds of cars, trees, and then eventually kids playing on the sidewalks in front of their houses. We stopped in front of Kim's house.
"Here we are," I made a big show, spreading my hands out wide.
Kim smiled, and I, yes, tingled, again. "You're the best, want to come in."
I pretended to check an imaginary watch on my wrist, "Sure I've got a few minutes."
Kim laughed, and then opened the door. We were met with the smell of baking cookies. My stomach grumbled loudly, but not quite as loudly as Kim's. We both laughed before heading into the kitchen.
"Hello, Kimmy. You're back early," Kim's mom looked like a slightly older version of Kim with the same blonde hair and captivating eyes. " and who is this?"
"Mom, this is Jack," Kim said.
"Ooh. So this is Jack," Kim's mom smiled a bit and her eyes twinkled as she said, "Kim's told me so much about you."
"Mom!" Now both me and Kim were blushing.
"I'm sorry. How about a chocolate chip cookie to make it better? They're almost done."
"Deal!" We both yelled, and Kim's mom laughed. Wow, I thought, even her laugh sounds like Kim's.
Twenty minutes, and about forty delicious, gooey, cookies later, I had to head home. "I have to be home in time for dinner." I said, "As if I will have any appetite left. It was nice meeting you Mrs. Crawford, thanks for the cookies. See you tomorrow Kim."
I walked home slowly, reliving every single moment. How at ease Kim was with her mom, how cute she looked with strands of hair escaping her ponytail and freeing her face, how she didn't feel self-conscious about eating all those cookies.
For the first time in almost the entire year I had known her, I let myself admit that I was in love with Kim.