William Creswell Naval Academy – Chapter 10

"It's not broken, just a sprain; you'll have to keep that icepack on it for a little while and then take it off. Then you'll need to rest it for a couple of days – which means no training, that will just stress it out," emphasised the doctor.

Kate sighed, looking down at her bandaged wrist. Nikki gave her a small smile, and a shrug of the shoulder. "Could've been worse."

Exciting the doctor's office, they walked back to their quarters. "Nikki, it was worse; not only did I fall and sprain my wrist, I met Mike's girlfriend! His girlfriend!" She huffed, slamming their shared room door open and then shut. Turning around, she asked, "Did you ever meet her before today?"

Nikki shook her head. "Nope. The only think I'd ever heard of Mike's mysterious girlfriend was that she was blonde and didn't go to our school. I'd also heard that they met when he was in Melbourne with his dad three years ago."

"Three years ago?" Kate whispered. Three years ago she was still in Melbourne. Three years ago he was in Melbourne. The bastard came back! She let out a shriek of annoyance, collapsing on her bed.

"Gosh, PMS much?" Nikki laughed, stopping as Kate's eyes turned to her. The expression that Kate wore was unusual; it wasn't the usual determined one Nikki had been so used to seeing. In truth, Kate looked hurt, wounded. "Kate, are you alright?"

She whimpered, fighting to keep away the tears behind her eyes. Nikki's expression softened and she moved over to sit at the end of Kate's bed. "Oh Katie... did something happen between you and Mike before?"

Kate sat up, and bringing her knees to her chin, she began to rock. "We knew each other five years ago – he was down in Melbourne for the summer, and his parents were thinking of moving there... But um..." She wiped away the tears that began trickling down her face. "His parents ended up deciding against the move... Mike was so against it they had to drag him away in the end..."

"So basically you were sweethearts?"

She managed a short laugh in between her tears. "We were hardly sweethearts; strictly no kissing. We were twelve Nik, it was just hanging out like friends – it was only a peck on the lips."

Nikki giggled. "You still kissed! Aww, that's so cute!"

Kate blushed. Talking about her summer with Mike was weird. "Yeah..." She sighed, turning her face away to look at the wall.

"You really did love him didn't you?" Her voice was quiet.

"I was twelve – I didn't even know what love was," Kate answered, her tone equally as quiet.

"You're never too young to know what love is," Nikki replied, her words sounding like words of wisdom.

"Yeah, foolish love."

"Love is love Kate; if you loved him, and still do... you never know... I saw the way he looked at you when you fell."

Kate shook her head, going into a state of denial. "I don't care anymore; I've cried enough tears over him and I don't need any more."

"Yeah."

"I'm going to beat him."

"I know you will Kate." Nikki caught Kate's eye and they burst into laughter. "Mike Flynn is going down!"

---

He's not going down. Kate hit the back of her head against the tree, wincing as the pain shot through. She growled slightly as he came over and sat down beside her. "Go away Flynn."

At the sound of his last name, he cringed. She really did hate him. Idiot. "I just wanted to explain myself."

"I don't want to hear it."

He sat down beside her, leaning his head back against the tree. "Please Kate; I didn't mean to piss you off."

She almost choked as his words. She turned to look at him, her expression stone cold. "Piss me off? You did more than just piss me off Mike – you hurt me."

He sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry Kate." He opened his eyes again, turning his head to gaze into the green ones he always saw at night.

A calm expression had graced her features, and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "Why did you go back to Melbourne three years ago?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"It was a holiday; my parents remembered that they actually enjoyed the summer we had in Melbourne and so we went down again for Christmas and New Years." He avoided answering the question he knew she wanted answered: Why didn't you visit me?

"Why didn't you visit me?" She knew that he knew that she wanted the question answered, but she also knew that he wouldn't answer it without some pushing.

He closed his eyes again, wanting to get away from now and instead go back to before. "I was scared," he admitted. "I thought that you would take one look at me and think: 'what a jerk for coming back.' I didn't know what you would think, and that's what scared the hell out of me."

"It wouldn't be natural if you knew what I thought," Kate replied. "I don't even know what I would've thought."

"I'm sorry I didn't see you; I'm a fool."

"Yeah, you are." She paused, thinking of all the things she could say but didn't want to. In the end she chose to confront him about the one thing she couldn't understand. "Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend Mike?"

"Would you believe me if I said I forgot?"

"Don't even try to be funny with me Mike; obviously I am not in the mood."

"Sorry." He sighed, running a hand through his hair – a habit he had been trying to break, but to no avail. "I – I guess that I... that I... – In truth? I don't know. Whenever I'm with you all thoughts of me having a girlfriend completely slip away. With you I'm a different person. I'm still the same competitive guy that I'll always be, but you make me feel like there's forever in this world. Everything stops and all I can think about is you and me."

For the first time that afternoon, a smile graced her features. "You can be a real romantic when you want to be – but I'm still not going to forgive you for what you've done."

"I don't expect you to; but is there some way that you might?"

"I think it's my turn to say sorry now... Mike..."