disclaimer- i don't own kickin' it

KIM'S POV-

Ugh, I thought to myself as I examined my puffy, red eyes and swollen, tear soaked cheeks. My post-crying appearance was always rough, and people could always tell i'd been crying. I stood on the pink puffy bath mat of my bathroom, leaning over the sink and running a hand over my face. I was meeting my parents for a few hours today for lunch. Two hours to talk about everything that had happened over the past four weeks. I often wondered why my parents had had me. I mean, I knew they loved me, but they cannot handle their jobs a long with a child. The second I turned sixteen and had a license, they dropped me in an apartment and sent checks when they needed to. I wondered what they would say if they knew I was thinking this. The only other person who knew about my feelings towards my parents was Grace, who knew what I was thinking every second of the day and who always had great advice and a comforting shoulder to cry on. My thoughts drifted back to last night when I had fallen asleep crying. I had woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of a wailing siren and men's voices outside my door accompanied by metal wheels scraping on a hardwood floor. I couldn't remember if that was a dream or not. I stepped out of my apartment door when my next door neighbor stopped me.

"Did you hear what happened last night? Some old lady's gone and fell down with a stroke." She spoke in a hushed whisper so the other neighbors wouldn't overhear. I shook my head no. She nodded and turned back into her room. So that's what had happened, I thought to myself. I hoped the old woman was alright. I didn't even know who it was. I could only imagine what the family of the poor woman was feeling now. I pressed the down button on the elevator and stepped in. When it opened, I walked out through the garage door to my car. Jack hadn't texted me yet, I realized. What if he became uninterested? Or heard something about me that he didn't like? I ignored the negative thoughts that were echoing in my head and flipped the lock of the car door with my key. Taking a deep breath, I pulled out on to the road, heading towards my parents hotel.

I arrived at the Seaford on the Sea hotel about twenty minutes later. It was an incredibly nice hotel, with gold plated floors and fine china and white lilies in tall elegant vases that were taller than I was. And in the midst of it all, my parents stood in the center of the lobby, with my mom's wild blonde hair rippling in the wind of the open doors, and my dad's sparkling brown eyes becoming animated as he told my mom a story. Time seemed to slow down in the space between my young looking parents standing there and me walking toward them. They turned to me and walked forward with outstretched arms. I felt my mouth muscles turn up in a smile, but on the inside I felt my stomach becoming heavy and my heart twist up.

"Hey Kimmykins," My mom's soft voice entered my ears.

"Hi mom and dad," I tried to muster some enthusiasm into my voice, but it came out as flat and broke down as an old car radio out in the middle of Oklahoma. Concern laced the eyebrows of my parents, but they knew I had moods. I was like this a lot, and usually never wanted to talk about it, but this time I wanted to. I wanted them to know how I felt about them abandoning me and my issues and my sadness, but every time I managed to gather enough courage to talk to them, they were already on the plane back to whatever country needed the most help. They were so focused on helping the other children of the world that they always seemed to forget their own. We all grabbed hands and walked into the restaurant adjoining the hotel.

One hour and forty-five minutes later, we were paying the check and laughing over a story that my dad had told about me when I was little. We had talked about me going to college soon, my parent's adventures in Africa, and me wanting to leave soon and make something of my life and of myself. My wanderlust was no secret to anyone. I made it known that I couldn't wait to be my own person and not have to live to anybody's rules or lifestyles. My parents nodded and understood. They always told me that I got my adventurous spirit from them, and that they were once like me. My parents got married in Seaford a year before I was born. From then till the day I was sixteen, had a drivers license, and could function properly, they worked in a laboratory, discovering cures for new diseases. Then they left. They'd always been distant, and it wasn't their fault. They had demanding jobs and they had tried their hardest to be good to me, and be there for me when I had no friends or I was made fun of. But I always had to be there for myself, to fix myself and lift my head high even when all I wanted was to lay down and cry.

Standing in the foyer of the hotel, we all hugged and kissed each other goodbye for another four weeks. My mom squeezed my hand and whispered

"We're always just a phone call away, Kim. If you ever need anything."

No need to lie mom, I thought, but I smiled and nodded an 'I know.'

When we were finished, I drove back to my apartment and got ready for work. I worked from 3 to 7:30 tonight with Grace, and I was glad. Now I had someone to really talk to. When I walked through the door, I felt my phone buzz in my bag. It was an unknown number. I opened the text and it read,

'Hey Kim. It's Jack. Hope I have the right number. Text me about when you want to hang out and stuff.'

My heart jumped for joy, and after saving his number into my contacts, I immediately replied,

'Hey Jack. It's Kim. I'm free really anytime, but i'm at work right now.' Feeling impulsive, I quickly added, 'Do you wanna hang out tonight?'

I waited a while till I felt a reply from my pocket. The text read,

'Where do you work? And sure, i'm free tonight.'

'The coffee shop down the street. It's new.'

'Awesome. I'll see you there. My best friend is coming with me.'

I rushed towards Grace and spoke as quickly as I could,

"Okay, so I was going to talk to you about meeting with my parents today, but that can wait because there are two boys coming here right now, one of which I could possibly be interested in, okay?" Grace's eyes grew wide as she passed the blueberry muffin towards her waiting customer and she nodded. A short time passed, and soon enough, two tall boys walked through the doors. First was Jack, who looked exhausted out of his mind and a bit sad, but seemed to perk up once he saw me behind the counter. I noticed Grace notice Jack's sudden change in behavior towards me and she raised an eyebrow. Behind Jack was a tall, hispanic boy with a camera around his neck. I saw Grace straighten up and I smirked. She was interested in the other guy! I was also pretty sure the other guy was the bassist from Jack's concert the other night, and on closer inspection I realized I was correct.

"Hey Kim," Jack smiled at me, walking up to the counter. Something was different about him. He looked older and tired, like something had changed in him. He was still cute, just different.

"This is Jerry, my best friend." He gestured behind him to his friend. Jerry grinned and shook my hand,

"Hey Kim, nice to meet yo-" His voice faltered and stopped as he looked up behind me and saw Grace standing there. I suppressed a smirk. Grace leaned forward and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"This is Grace, my best friend. Grace, this is Jack and Jerry." I said, raising my eyebrows towards her with a look that said 'hahahahahayougotitbadddddd.' I saw that Jack was giving Jerry the look as well, but I don't think Grace or Jerry noticed because they were both too fixated on each other.

"C-can I get you something?" Grace stammered.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." Jerry replied, mesmerized.

Me and Jack rolled our eyes at each other at our best friend's love connection and moved farther down the bar.

"What's up?" I asked Jack, wincing at how juvenile that sounded.

"Tired. Haven't gotten any sleep in a while." He replied, turning away from me.

"Why?" The concern clear as color in my voice.

Jack swallowed heavily. "My aunt had an accident last night. She's in the hospital right now." He choked out. The pieces of information clicked together in my brain as I made the realization that the ambulance had been for Jack's aunt.

"I am so, so sorry. Is she alright? What happened?" I asked.

"Thanks, she's okay, for now. She had a stroke." Jack responded.

"Can I get you a coffee or something?" I offered.

"Yes please. I really need to wake up." He started to pull his wallet out, but I reached out and stopped his hand.

"This one's on the house."

"Thanks."

We both instantaneously glanced down at Grace and Jerry down at the other end. Grace was laughing with her head tilted back and her long hair spilling down her shoulders, the way she laughs when I tell her a joke. Her real laugh. Jerry snapped a photo of her with his camera at that exact moment, and she leaned over close to him to get a better view. I turned my attention back to Jack and saw that my hand was still on his. I smiled at him, took my hand away, and started making his drink. But I could feel him smiling back at me.

authors note-

sorry if this chapter was crappy guys. i wrote this in the car. see you on saturday!