"Hm?"
"Earth to Kate," Rick laughs, waving a hand in front of her face.
She blinks. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"Everything okay?"
Nodding, she lets herself sink further into the couch cushions. She doesn't even remember zoning out, and is surprised to find that the movie credits are already rolling. She doesn't really remember watching any of it. He'd invited her over for dinner and a movie—it's not a date, she reminds herself, even if it may feel like one—after she'd finished up at the coffee shop. She's been closing most nights, staying late to compensate for her late starts most mornings.
She hasn't been able to see Rick much because of her work, end of the year assignments and projects taking up the most of her time when she's not at the coffee shop. But by sheer luck, she finally has a semi-free weekend. One law paper is due, but she's started it already and can finish it Sunday night easily.
"Yeah," she breathes, running her hands over her face. "Just... thinking, I guess. Sorry I didn't pay attention to the movie."
Rick shifts his body, situating himself in the corner so he can angle towards her. "Don't be sorry," he says. "Anything I can do to help? Get your mind off of?"
Fighting against the heat that rises to her chest, the way her mind twists his words to insinuate something she's sure he didn't mean to, she offers him a small smile.
"Not really. Just—trying to decide what to do next, you know? I finish my undergrad soon and I need to have a plan. I've always had a plan, until..." Her voice trails off, eyes meeting his as he gives her a slight nod. Until her mom was killed, she'd had a plan. It took a little longer for her to follow through with it, a while to get herself back to where she'd left off, but she's here now, finishing what she started and now she needs to take it to the next step. "But now, I mean, I'm almost done. What's next? Grad school? Law school? The coffee shop is great, Anna's incredible, but I can't stay there forever—"
"Kate," Rick interrupts, cuts off her rambling, and she pauses, looks at him. "Breathe. It seems to me like you do have a plan."
She huffs. "What?"
"Yeah. You know you don't want to stay at the coffee shop, you already know what you're doing—law, like your parents, right?"
Half a shoulder raises. "Ideally, yeah."
"Good. You're better off than most undergrads, then," he tells her. "So, now all you have to do is decide which path you want to take to get there."
Groaning, she lets her head lull into the couch. "Being in school and back on track is great and all, but sometimes I... miss the ease of the club." At Rick's sharp breath, she rolls her head in his direction. "Relax, Rick, I'm not going back. I don't miss doing it, I don't miss stripping, I just—knowing exactly what I was going to do, when, with who. The certainty that I'd have a place on the roster, that I'd make money. That's what was appealing, you know?"
He scoots a little closer to her, places a hand on her knee. "I get it," he nods. "It's simpler, almost. But Kate, you're doing so much better now."
"I know."
"You'll figure out all that other stuff, too," he asserts, so confidently it threatens to take her breath away. His faith in her is astounding, so foreign to her, especially after everything he knows, that he's witnessed. "And I'll be here to help."
Her lips curve up at that, and she covers his hand with hers, squeezes. "Thank you," she exhales. "I know I'm overreacting—"
"You're not," he interjects, shaking a head. "It's all new, Kate. It's natural to be overwhelmed."
Taking a deep breath, she nods. He's right; everything coming up, the end of her undergraduate career, the impending questions she'll have to have answers to. What's next? Where will she study? What kind of law does she want to pursue: Civil? Criminal? Corporate? Deep down she knows she could never work as a corporate lawyer. They make more money, sure, but she'd be forced to lose some of her morals along the way, to let some of her personal values shift to the side.
No, she couldn't do that.
"Stop thinking," he tells her lightly. "There'll be plenty of time to think later, promise. Right now, focus on the present."
"The present," she echoes, a small nod accompanying. Brushing her concerns to the side for a moment, she sits up straighter, takes a breath. "Okay, Rick. What's happening now?"
"Well, right now we're sitting here, watching the ending credits of a movie someone didn't watch." His eyes sparkle with the teasing and she smacks at his arm, rolls her eyes.
"If it's any consolation, I have seen Annie before."
Rick lets out a dramatic sigh. "But you didn't even sing along when Tomorrow came on, Kate. That's unheard of."
"Did you sing along?"
"I did."
Did he? Wow, she was more out of it than she thought.
"I'm sorry," she says, patting at his shoulder. "Do you want to rewind it? Replay Tomorrow? I'll sing along with you; don't want your ego bruised."
It looks like he's about to come back with another retort but it dies on his tongue. Instead he just grins, wide and bright, and nods. He reaches over to grab the remote from the coffee table and rewinds to the scene he's looking for, glancing over at her before he hits play.
"Ready?"
Chuckling, she nods. "Ready."
Rick starts the movie once more and the two of them sing out Annie's Tomorrow, a little too loud and just enough proud.
"Kate."
The woman in question turns to find Anna at her side.
She returns with an easy smile. "Everything okay, Anna?"
Her boss laughs, waves a hand in dismissal. "Of course, honey, of course. I'm coming to relieve you while you tend to a proposition over there," she tells her, eyes glittering as they shift to Kate's far left. Her eyes follow, find Rick and Alexis standing at the end of the counter, off in the corner. At Kate's raised brow, Anna shrugs. "You can't say no to that face, dear."
"Alexis or Rick?"
Anna merely grins, patting her on the shoulder with a not-so-subtle shove in their direction. Kate rolls her eyes, stuffing her hands in the pocket of her apron as she shuffles around behind the other workers to reach the two now standing discreetly against one of the far tables.
Her heart stutters in her chest when Rick surprises her, braces a palm on her arm and places a chaste kiss to her cheek.
"Don't be mad."
Kate huffs. "I'm not sure I'm too fond of propositions that start with 'don't be mad'."
"Who said anything about a proposition?"
Her head twists to the older woman now manning the register, and Rick laughs. Alexis bounces on her toes, looking up at Kate with an odd blend of excitement and hesitance.
"Hi, Alexis," Kate says, leaning down to brush a hand along the pom pom on top of the girl's hat. "Looking very festive this morning."
Alexis beams. "Thanks," she says happily, pulling on the ends of her jacket.
"Now..."
"Right, yeah," Rick starts once again, nodding to Alexis. "This one has a question she'd like to ask you. Go ahead, Pumpkin."
Kate turns her attention to Alexis as she leans her hip up against the edge of the table.
"Kate, will you help me pick out a dress for Paige's birthday party?"
She blinks. "Paige... your friend, right?"
"Uh huh."
"She's too old for dear old dad's expertise now, it seems," Rick says, slapping his palm over his chest. "It's a sad day."
Chuckling, she gives a nod. "Yeah, sure," she says easily, though she does have one question, turning to Rick. "Why would I get mad about this? I don't mind helping her pick out a dress."
"Well, you see," he starts, rubbing at the back of his neck. "We kind of mentioned it to Anna and she kind of already said you can take the rest of the day off..."
"Rick—"
"Before you say anything, know I did not ask to steal you from work," he continues. "She found out the party is, well, tonight—we're a little behind schedule—and insisted it'd be fine if you skipped out a little early."
Kate crosses her arms across her chest, swiveling around to look for the woman in question. She finds her boss handing a drink to a customer with a smile before she notices her staring, but Anna just winks, gestures with her head and a small wave. She rolls her eyes, letting out a small huff before turning back.
"I guess I'm ready to go," she shrugs, unfastening the belt from her apron. "I'll go get my bag."
As she walks back out, passing Anna, the woman pats her shoulder. "Go, doll."
"I'll see you an hour early tomorrow," Kate says, giving her a pointed look. A beat later, she softens. "But thank you."
"So, Alexis, do you know what kind of dress you want?" she asks as they stroll through the store, rows upon rows of dresses before them. Rick had dropped the two of them off, said he'd be wandering around the other outlets until they were done.
The girl shrugs. "Something pretty."
Kate hums. "A color?"
"Blue?"
"I think we can handle that," she says, moving to another rack. They all seem to be organized in different ways; some are color-coordinated, which makes looking for a blue dress much more simple, but others are sectioned off more by size.
They find a few different options, and Kate stands outside the dressing room as Alexis takes in a handful to try on. She comes out, one by one, not too enthused by any of the three she's paraded in so far. Kate thinks they all look adorable, but apparently that's not exactly what the girl's going for, and she vetoes each one.
"Are you gonna look?" she hears from behind the curtain.
She looks up. "What?"
"For a dress," Alexis clarifies. "Daddy said you should."
Kate shakes her head. "When did he say that?" she asks, before backtracking. "I mean, no, I'm not. What would I need a dress for?"
"Your graduation."
Okay, sure, she could use a dress for her graduation, but she hasn't told Rick that, so she's not sure how Alexis knows. It's possible he's just assuming she'd need a new dress for the occasion, but this isn't about her.
"Today's about finding you a dress," she reminds the girl. "Now, come out here and let me see option number four."
"Fine," Alexis grumbles, emerging from the small area in a dress with puffy sleeves and more frill than anticipated when it's on the hanger. "I don't think this is the one."
Nodding, she doesn't argue. "That's okay, there's still one more in there, right?"
"Right." There's a pause, and a small smirk takes over the girl's face. She doesn't like that look. "But I'm not gonna try it on unless you try on a dress with me."
"Alexis..."
But she shakes her head, tiny arms crossed. "Please, Kate. It's only fair."
"Pretty sure this is the complete opposite of fair and you know it," she counters. Alexis is unfazed, just continues to grin, batting her eyes up at the woman and knowing she'll cave. So predictable. "One dress."
"Three."
"One."
"Two," the girl bargains. "And I get to pick one."
Shaking her head, she lets out a deep sigh. "All right, fine. Go pick one."
She can't believe she's doing this. Today is entirely about Alexis finding a dress for her party that starts in—she glances at her watch—about two hours, and here she is perusing the racks for a dress for herself. It's pointless, really, because she won't be buying a dress, but she'll do it to please Alexis.
Her fingers brush against the fabrics as she moves, when she lands on a deep burgundy dress. It's beautiful, stunning even. For a night out, a date, but not so much for a graduation. She keeps moving, finds a simple green dress with a deep v and not much else happening. It'll do.
Grabbing it from the row, she heads back to the dressing room to find Alexis already there, standing with a white dress held against her chest.
"Here you go," she beams, extending it in her hand. "Time to get changed."
"You too," Kate laughs, pointing back towards the curtain. "A deal's a deal."
Inside her own dressing room, she tries on the green dress first. It's nice, a deep hunter green, and it fits well. She looks at herself for a few seconds and takes it off, because she'll just show Alexis the dress she picked out and call it a day. Plucking it from the hanger, she steps into it carefully, this dress more form-fitting than the one she'd chosen.
Once it's zipped up and she has a chance to look in the mirror, she finds herself staring, blinking. It's... well, beautiful, really. Now that she's thinking about it, she's pretty sure this is the dress that was on the mannequin in the front of the store, the one she'd been looking at while she thought Alexis was buying one of those bouncy balls from the quarter machines. She must've seen her, though.
The v is deep, but not as low as the other one, and it falls to just above her knee. It's short sleeves, and there are triangle cutouts around each rib cage; nothing too suggestive, but tasteful.
"You done?" she hears, and she laughs.
She leaves the dressing room to find Alexis coming out in a light blue dress. It's not as child-like as the others, with a lack of frills or floral patterns, but more simple with a white ribbon-like-belt wrapped around the middle, coming together in a bow at the front. "I think I like this one."
Kate smiles. "You look beautiful, Alexis."
"It's perfect," the girl says, smiling as she looks at her. "I saw you looking at it before and thought it would look good on you. You have to get it, Kate."
"Oh, no," she says. "We'll get you that dress and that's more than enough."
"But you look so pretty!"
"That's very sweet. But the deal was I try it on, not buy it," Kate says, hating the disappointed look on Alexis's face. Aside from this dress being grossly outside of her price range, she really doesn't need it. It'd be nice, but she has other perfectly good dresses in her closet she can make work for graduation. "Turn that frown upside down. You picked a beautiful dress, Alexis, but right now we just need to get yours. Come on—let's get dressed, you don't want to be late for Paige's party, do you?"
That gets the girl moving, back into the dressing room and dressed within minutes.
As they're ringing up at the check-out counter, Alexis turns to look up at Kate.
"Thanks for coming with me," she says with a small smile. "Daddy's great and all, but his dress knowledge is severely lacking."
Laughing, she squeezes the redheads shoulder. "Anytime, Alexis."
A/N: First off, to anyone still reading this, I am incredibly sorry for the disgustingly long wait. The only reasoning I have to offer is that I lost inspiration. I couldn't figure out where to take this story, and (while I still don't plan on abandoning it) I'm still a little unsure, both about this chapter and where to go from here, but I'm trying to work it out.
That being said, I do have a question: would you guys rather I post as I write (which may include longer intervals between chapters, though I hope nowhere near as long as this one) or finish the story and then post the remaining chapters on a regular schedule? Let me know!
Thank you so much to anyone still here, and again, I'm so sorry it's been so long.