Hey everyone,
hope everyone's had a good weekend! Mine has just begun so I'm celebrating with a new chapter! Plus I'm trying not to leave you in suspense for too long haha
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback! I always wonder if people are like me and when there's a part in the story I like or dislike I'm basically yelling at the screen or making weird facial expressions haha that's how I read the feedback anyway, imagining people getting really animated over it! I love it how people get into it so much! So thanks, it makes me smile :)
Anyway, on with the show...
20 Questions
Chapter 7
The next morning Dutchy awoke with a pounding headache, he sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. Why was he on the couch? How did he get home? There was an annoying banging sound, he didn't know where it was coming from. He shook his head trying to re focus and realised that the banging was someone knocking on the door. He stumbled his way to the door, he leaned on the door frame as he opened it, the sun beamed in blocking his vision. He put his hand up to shield his eyes and squinted.
"Hello?"
A woman stepped forward blocking the sun.
"Sarah?"
She smiled cautiously.
"Hi Dutchy..."
He rubbed his face and tried to look a bit more presentable.
"Ah, hi, come in..."
He moved aside and allowed her in, they sat on the couch.
"Ah sorry, I must look like crap! I had a big night."
She laughed.
"Yeah, I was warned."
Dutchy looked at her confused, Sarah laughed again and handed him his phone.
"Check it..."
Dutchy grabbed his phone expecting to see a drunken message that he had sent Sarah but instead there was a message from Kate.
"You're my best friend, of course I want you to be happy. Don't be scared, there is something here, don't hold back, you know what love is!"
Dutchy smiled and put his phone down.
"Kate messaged you?"
She nodded and held his hand.
"I get that you two are just friends, I'm sorry I was jealous. We had something good Dutchy and I'd really like to try again."
He glanced at his phone and then back at Sarah's hopeful face, he knew that he did have some sort of feelings for her and Kate had made it quite clear that she wasn't interested. Before Dutchy could say something Sarah held up a takeaway bag.
"I brought breakfast! She told me that you'd be more inclined to listen if I fed you!"
He laughed and took the bag from her.
"Yeah, it's a good start...I'll go get us some plates..."
He headed to the kitchen and took his phone. He stood at the bench for a moment and opened his messages, didn't really know what to write, but he knew that this was her way of trying to tell him that she was sorry. He may have over reacted the other night when she told him that he needed to move on but she was probably right. He typed a reply.
"Thanks BFF!"
Kate received the message and smiled. She put her phone down and sighed wondering how to fill in her now vacant nights without him. Her phone buzzed again, she picked it up expecting it to be Dutchy, it was from an unknown number.
"Hi Kate, it's Ben, I don't know if you'll remember but we were supposed to have a blind date ages ago. I know this is very random but I would like to try again, I completely understand if it's a no. I felt terrible about it and I would love to make it up to you. Dinner, Friday? Pick you up at 7?"
Kate was gobsmacked, she shook her head and wondered if this was Dutchy's doing or maybe it was a coincidence and good relationship karma? She decided to take a chance and replied.
"Sure, see you at 7..."
The next day at work Kate got a message from Emily.
"Dinner and drinks Friday night?"
She replied.
"Can't, have a date..."
As soon as she sent her message her phone rang, it was Emily.
"Hi Em!"
"Ah date? Excuse me? Did you forget to tell me that you met someone?"
"No, it was actually a blind date that never eventuated."
"He must have come to his sense then!"
"Yeah, something like that, I promise that I'll fill you in on Saturday..."
Mike knocked on the door, she waived him in.
"Ah Kate..."
Emily could hear Mike in the background.
"Is that my husband? Tell him not to interrupt important business!"
Kate laughed and moved the phone aside.
"Em says you're interrupting!"
Mike rolled his eyes.
"I'll come back!"
Kate put the phone back up to her ear.
"Dinner and drinks to debrief on Saturday?"
"Done! See you then!"
Finally it was Friday night, Kate was nervous once again. She stood in front of her mirror finishing her makeup. She stepped back and looked herself up and down, she had a sickening feeling of déjà vu. There was a knock at the door, she looked at her phone, he was a half hour early. She raced down stairs and opened the door, it wasn't Ben, it was Dutchy.
"Dutchy! Oh, don't tell me he messaged you to bail again!"
Dutchy gave her an "I have no idea what you're talking about" look.
"Huh?"
Kate realised it must have been a strange coincidence.
"Ah, your mate Ben messaged me the other day wanting to try again..."
Dutchy smiled and looked her up and down.
"So you're going out tonight? Well I'd better go then, I just wanted to come and say thanks for messaging Sarah..."
She smiled.
"So you guys are working it out then..."
"Yeah we're trying... well, have a good night! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
He gave her a wink and left. 10 minutes later Ben knocked on the door. Kate stood in front of the door and checked herself in the mirror, she took a deep breath in and opened the door. She was pleasantly surprised, Ben was tall and muscular with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes.
"Ah Ben, hi!"
He presented her with a bunch of peonies.
"Hi! These are part 1 if my apology!"
She smiled and invited him in.
"It's okay, you don't have to..."
He shook his head.
"No! I do and now I see that Dutchy wasn't lying about how beautiful you are I feel like a complete idiot!"
Kate tried to hide her red cheeks.
"Let me just put these in some water and we can go..."
They arrived at the restaurant, it was one of Kate's favourites. He got out the car and ran around to her side to escort her in.
"Why do I get the feeling that you had some inside help?"
He gave her a cheeky grin.
"I guess you'll never know..."
They sat down and Ben poured them a glass of wine, there was an awkward pause, they both laughed nervously. They went to speak at time and laughed again, Ben slid the wine glass towards her.
"Ladies first..."
She shook her head and laughed.
"I don't know if my colleagues would agree with you about the lady part!"
Ben looked a bit concerned, Kate waived her hand in the air realising he could be taking that all wrong.
"Oh no, nothing ah strange..."
She could feel the redness return to her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, let's start again..."
Ben laughed at her nervousness, he thought it was endearing.
"It's okay Kate, don't be nervous... but I do want to know everything about you..."
Kate wasn't really comfortable being the centre of attention, she took a sip of her wine hoping it would help her feel a little more relaxed. She looked over her wine glass at him.
"Anything in particular?"
"Well, just start from the beginning..."
Kate didn't really know where to start, it had been years since she had a first date.
"Well, I'm a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy..."
He smiled and nodded along.
"I was out at sea for most of my career but now I have a shore posting at Navcom."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Why the change?"
She smirked.
"Have you ever tried to have a life while you're constantly being crash sailed..."
He took a sip of his wine and laughed.
"I think we're more alike than we know. I'm in the Army and have just taken an office/intel based position so I'm home more..."
Kate swallowed her mouthful nearly chocking on it, Ben looked worried.
"Are you okay?"
Kate cursed Dutchy in her mind.
"Sorry, it's just umm when I made this deal with Dutchy about setting me up, I said strictly no Navy or SAS..."
Ben laughed.
"I'm not hearing an issue, you didn't say no Army..."
Kate rolled her eyes, it was exactly what Dutchy would have said, Ben suddenly looked nervous.
"Ah, can I ask why? Is it a deal breaker?"
Kate put her hand on his arm.
"Ah, it's silly, my last 2 boyfriends were in the Navy and SAS so I guess it's just a stupid paranoia thing, but no it's not a deal breaker."
Ben could tell she was uncomfortable talking about it, he wanted to make her feel more at ease.
"Okay, well at least we're both on shore right? And it sounds like for the same reason and umm, I feel like I owe you an explanation for the failed date."
She shook her head.
"You're here now it doesn't matter!"
"It does, I felt terrible for weeks, I had just got out of a long term relationship and I didn't want to use anyone as a rebound. I guess I was scared, I mean I thought my future was set, we had all these plans and all of a sudden they're gone..."
Kate couldn't believe how honest he was being, it was refreshing. She squeezed is hand trying to show her support.
"It's okay Ben, we all have a past, we all have that someone who has hurt us."
The rest of the night was pleasant, they laughed and talked for hours. Kate was surprised that she felt so at ease although Ben was very easy to like, he was polite sensitive and it helped that he easy on the eye. He was also very similar to her and liked a lot of the same things. The restaurant lights dimmed, they looked around, Kate laughed.
"I think that's a sign that they want us out!"
He drove her home and walked her to the door.
"So... can I see you again?"
She smiled and hesitated, Ben put on a sad face. Kate rolled her eyes internally, another thing that Dutchy did so well.
"Yeah, I think so..."
"Think so? We'll I'll have to try harder won't I?"
Before she could say anything he leaned in and kissed her, it took her by surprise but she relaxed into it. They separated and Kate giggled.
"I feel too old to be having a first kiss..."
Ben gave her another kiss.
"Dinner tomorrow?"
"Ah, I have plans but why don't you come?"
"Oh, I don't want to intrude..."
"I'm just having dinner with friends..."
"Are you sure?
She hesitated for a moment remembering the drama, did she want to involve him in that? Without realising she nodded.
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then, I'll pick you up."
The next evening Ben had picked up Kate and they were driving to Mike and Emily's place. She was debating on whether to explain their situation, she was sick of secrets and drama, she wanted an honest relationship. She took a deep breath in.
"Ah, before we get there I probably need to explain..."
Ben looked over to her intrigued.
"Explain?"
Kate laughed nervously.
"I don't know if this is going to sound weird or crazy, but just in case it somehow comes up I don't want it to be uncomfortable."
Ben laughed.
"Uh oh, here it comes right?"
She laughed and slapped his arm.
"It's not that bad, but I am gonna break the dating rules and talk about an ex."
Ben rolled his eyes.
"Girls and their rules, just tell me Kate..."
Kate took a deep breath in.
"Okay, so Mike and Emily are married. Mike was and still is my Boss, he was my CO on Hammersley for 4 years and now he's my boss at Navcom."
Ben nodded along.
"Okay, no alarm bells yet!"
Kate paused for a moment and glanced at him warily.
"We used to date..."
She looked over to Ben too see his reaction, he didn't seem that phased. He sighed a little.
"Was it serious?"
She broke eye contact and fiddled with her purse.
"On and off for 4 years..."
Ben's eyes darted back to the road and then back to her, he put on his indicator and pulled over.
"Right... was he the one who hurt you?
Kate hesitated, he could guess it was, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.
"Sorry Kate, it's not my business..."
"It's fine..."
There was a pause in the conversation.
"Ah so now you guys are friends?"
Kate nodded. Ben reached out and held her hand.
"Kate, it's fine! Look, it might have been an issue when we were teenagers and insecure but we're adults and you're being honest with me... as long as you're okay with all of this then I am too..."
Kate smiled, it was nice not to have drama and no secrets. He squeezed Kate hand and indicated back out on to the road.
They pulled up in front of Mike and Emily's house. Kate went to get out of the car but Ben grabbed her arm and pulled her back in, he had a serious look on his face.
"Just tell me one thing..."
Kate's heart started to race.
"What?"
A smirk came over his face.
"Am I at least taller than him?"
Kate took a moment to register what he said, she was expecting something serious, she hit him on the arm, Ben burst out laughing.
"Your face was priceless!"
Kate hit him again.
"You're the worst!"
They got out the car and knocked on the door. Mike opened the door, Ben looked him up and down, he was a good foot taller than him. Ben looked at Kate and tried to hide his laughter, Kate hit him on the arm, his laughter started her going. Mike stood there not understanding what was going on.
"Have I missed something?"
Kate shook her head and introduced them.
"Mike, this is Ben."
They shook hands and walked into his house.
Emily ran up to Kate and gave her a hug.
"Kate!"
She looked Ben up and down.
"Oh and you must be Ben..."
She nodded with approval.
"Good work Dutchy! Anyway! Come out to the deck! Dinner's nearly ready!"
They sat out on the deck, Ben talked about his Army career and swapped tough guy stories with Mike. Emily nudged Kate and leaned towards her.
"He's great! And you could totally stare at him all day!"
She giggled and whispered.
"Yeah, he is, but I think he reminds me too much of someone..."
Emily sighed.
"Yeah, it seems that you have a "type", but just give him a chance..."
"I am! If he can survive this, he deserves a chance!"
"Did you tell him about this situation?"
Kate nodded. The guys had stopped talking and they were concentrating on the girls whispering. Ben leaned over and whispered in Kate's direction startling her.
"And what are you two whispering about?"
Kate looked a little guilty and laughed and whispered back.
"You!"
Emily laughed.
"Hey, at least she's honest!"
Ben scooted his chair towards her and wrapped his arm around her.
"Yeah, she's great!"
A week later Kate was sitting on her couch reading, it was her RDO. Her phone beeped, it was a message from Dutchy.
"Hey stranger..."
She smiled and replied.
"Hey! What's happening?"
"Not much, just seeing if you're free at some point, feels like I haven't seen you for ages..."
"Yeah, I guess that's what happens when we both get lives..."
"Dinner tonight?"
"It's a date!"
Later that night Dutchy knocked on Kate's door, she ran to the door excited to see her friend, she swung open the door and smiled.
"Hey big fella!"
They gave each other a hug, they heard footsteps behind them and separated. Kate poked her head around Dutchy, it was Ben. He approached them with an uncertain expression on his face.
"Kate? Something you forgot to tell me?"
She walked up to him and gave him a hug and a kiss.
"What are doing here?"
He glanced and Dutchy and back at her.
"Ah, I'm here hoping that I'm not discovering that you're dating other people."
Kate laughed and looked back to Dutchy.
"No... Ah, hang on, I thought you two knew each other?"
Ben shook Dutchy's hand.
"Ah, Dutchy I assume!"
"Yeah, hi Ben how are you?"
Kate was completely confused.
"I thought you guys were mates?"
Ben held Kate's hand.
"Umm, it was a friend of a friend, long story..."
Kate hit Dutchy on the chest.
"So you were going to set me up with a complete stranger? What if he was a psycho!"
Ben laughed but acted offended.
"Hey!"
Kate turned to Ben.
"Sorry Ben, no offence!"
He put his arm around her.
"Well you can make it up to me later!"
He winked at her, she whacked him on the chest. Dutchy laughed.
"She does that a lot!"
Ben nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I've noticed."
They walked into the house, Kate stood at the door.
"Great is it gonna be a gang up on Kate night?"
Dutchy got them a beer out the fridge and handed one to Ben.
"This'll be fun!"
Kate shut the door and grabbed a bottle of wine.
"I think I'll need this!"
Ben sat in the couch and wrapped his arm around her, Dutchy sat in an arm chair opposite them.
"So, you know all of each other's secrets yet?"
Kate laughed.
"I don't know what you're talking about Dylan!"
He smirked, Ben leaned toward Dutchy.
"Oh, I bet she's got some good ones..."
Kate shot him a look.
"Hey!"
Dutchy took a sip of his beer and raised his eyebrow. She laughed and chucked pillow at him and turned back to Ben.
"Don't listen to him! He's like an annoying younger brother..."
He threw it back at her and scoffed.
"Don't push your luck McGregor, I know all your dirty secrets!"
Ben smiled and opened his beer, he wasn't usually a jealous person but he felt a little intimidated by Kate and Dutchy's friendship.
Ben's phone rang, he took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID.
"Sorry, it's work..."
He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek and went into the kitchen.
Dutchy got up and sat next to Kate.
"I thought it was just gonna be us tonight..."
"Sorry, I had no idea he was coming over! I swear! Anyway what do you think?"
Dutchy shrugged.
"I don't really know him!"
Ben walked back into the room, Dutchy moved back to his chair.
"Sorry, I gotta go into work!"
Kate stood up and gave him a kiss.
"It's okay, I thought you'd be sick of me by now anyway!"
He gave her a more passionate kiss on the lips and left.
Dutchy scrunched up his face, Kate noticed his expression and started to get defensive.
"What? Don't you like him? 5 Minutes ago you were like frat brothers! Plus you said you don't even know him so how can you not like him?"
Dutchy wondered why she was getting so defensive, he took a sip of his beer.
"Yeah, I dunno..."
Kate leaned back into the couch and folded her arms.
"Could it be that he's so like you?"
Dutchy nearly spat out his mouthful of beer.
"What? He's nothing like me!"
Kate laughed.
"Okay, whatever you say! So how's things with you and Sarah?"
Dutchy shrugged.
"Ah, yeah good... nothing much really to tell..."
Kate sensed a funny tone on his voice, she didn't know whether to pry or not.
"Okay, but you guys are good?"
Dutchy smiled.
"Yeah, thanks to you!"
Dutchy's phone rang, he put his beer down and answered it.
"Oh, hey, yeah no worries... yeah I guess. What that soon? Yeah okay. Thanks. See you then!"
He sat back on the couch, Kate stared at him. He looked in her direction.
"What?"
She punched him on the shoulder.
"Ah, what was that about?"
He chucked his phone on the table.
"None of your business, nosey!"
Kate rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I'll butt out!"
She took a sip of her wine and looked at him suspiciously over her glass, Dutchy leaned against her.
"Hey, promise me something?"
She put down her glass and looked concerned.
"Sounds serious? What am I promising?"
He sat up and looked her in the eye.
"That we'll make more time for each other..."
Kate gave him a sad look.
"Dutchy I always have time for you, it's our schedules, you know that! Plus now we both have partners, it's life..."
He sighed.
"I know, maybe I should get to know him if he's sticking around...you really like him don't you?"
Kate nodded.
"I guess, it's pretty early, I mean it's hard not to compare relationships..."
Dutchy laughed.
"Yeah, tell me about it!"
"But there are reasons why those other ones don't exist anymore so I'm gonna give it my best shot. We seem to have a lot in common, he recently took an intel based job so he could concentrate on his personal life."
Dutchy smiled and put a hand on Kate's
"I'm happy if you're happy!"
She smiled.
"How bout we go on a double date sometime? I should probably get to know Sarah better too!"
He nodded.
"Yeah, I'd like that!"
His phone rang again. Kate snatched it off the table.
"Hello, Dylan Mulholland's phone, I'm sorry he's not avail... oh hi Boss... sure I'll let him know..."
She hung up the phone not looking impressed. Dutchy grabbed the phone out of her hand.
"What?"
"You've been crash sailed...you leave in 4 hours."
Dutchy rolled his eyes.
"Might have to come join you on shore soon!"
The next afternoon Kate was in Mike's office waiting for him to return from a meeting. She sat in his chair and shuffled through his messy desk.
"God Flynn! Ever heard of a filing cabinet..."
Mike walked in and cleared his throat.
"Kate?"
She held up stack of paper.
"Mike, how do you get anything done?"
Mike laughed.
"I'll have to educate you on the Flynn filing system..."
Kate rolled her eyes, she picked up a few bits of paper and glanced at them, she did a double take of one with Dutchy's name on it. Mike saw the expression on her face change, he walked over to her and glanced at the piece of paper. She looked up at him in disbelief.
"When do they get back?"
Mike looked at his watch.
"Any minute, but Kate..."
Kate ignored him and stormed out of his office and down to the dock. She stood there arms crossed waiting for the Hammersley. The boat docked and the crew started to disembark the boat. She smiled and said her hellos to her old crew, Dutchy was one of the last to disembark. He walked down with gangway and smiled as he saw Kate.
"Aww, did you miss me?"
Her expression was blank, she pulled him aside.
"Have you forgotten to tell me something?"
Dutchy pretended to think, she could tell he wasn't taking her seriously. She shoved the piece of paper against his chest. He took it from her, is face dropped when he realised what it was.
"Where did you get this?"
She put her hands on her hips.
"Seriously... that's your response? What the hell Dutchy?"
He looked around to see if anyone was listening.
"Can we talk about this later?"
She ignored him.
"I don't understand! Yesterday you said we needed to make time for each other but we can't do that if you're half way across the country!"
Dutchy attempted to put his arm around her.
"Come to my place... we can talk..."
She shrugged him off and they walked to the car.
Dutchy's house.
Kate stormed in the house, Dutchy put his bag in his room. They sat on the couch, Kate waited for him to explain.
"Well?"
Dutchy took a deep breath in.
"I applied after we got back from our holiday... You and Emily were right, I wasn't okay with going back to just friends..."
She threw her hands in the air.
"This again? We discussed this, anyway you're with Sarah now, why didn't you cancel it...Dylan, you said you guys were good."
He sighed.
"We are, but you and me, we're different..."
Dutchy put his hand on hers, she looked down.
"Dylan, I am with Ben and..."
He interrupted.
"Do you love him?"
She got off the couch and started to pace.
"That's ridiculous, we've only been going out for a fortnight, how can I know..."
Dutchy got up and stood in front of her making her stand still.
"You said you knew you loved Mike instantly..."
Kate cursed Dutchy's good memory, she glared at him.
"Every relationship is different Dylan, I just don't understand, you've lied to me all this time? And what about Sarah? You've just pretended?"
Dutchy exhaled loudly and reached out to touch her hand.
"We are okay, she's agreed come with me. But I couldn't leave without knowing..."
She snatched her arm out of his grip.
"What does it matter now anyway? You made your decision to run away..."
She turned to walk away from him, he grasped her arm harder, pulling her back. He looked into her eyes and swallowed hard.
"Not if you ask me to stay..."
Kate stepped back, she couldn't believe this was happening, hours ago they were fine, they were moving on, why did he have to do this? She didn't really know how she felt. Dutchy stepped closer, she desperately wanted to pull away but couldn't.
"Kate, you said that Mike never said that he loved you. I'm prepared to say it right now if you let me..."
Kate put her head in her hands and whispered.
"Please don't..."
Dutchy moved her hands away uncovering her face, she looked up at him with a distressed expression, he gently placed a hand on her cheek.
"Don't say it because you don't feel the same way or don't say it because you do?"
End Chapter 7.
Please let me know what you think! (or just tell me how much you hate me for leaving it here) xx
