Karen's House
Jessie and Eli slid out of the back seat of Rick and Lily's van and made their way to the front door of their mother's house. The outside light was on, but the house was still—it didn't appear that Karen was home. Eli fumbled as he hurried to slip his key in the lock. His mother was not exactly nimble on her feet. And, pictures of Karen slumped on the floor after tripping with her crutches and falling down the stairs flashed in his mind. Eli's hurried motions caused Jessie's anxiety level to rise as well. She realized that he feared that something was wrong.
Once inside, the two split up to check the house for Karen. After a thorough examination of the upstairs and downstairs, Karen was nowhere to be found.
"Any sign of her?" Eli asked a bit perplexed at his mother's unexplained disappearance.
"Nope," Jessie answered, attempting to figure out her mother's absence as well. She thought a moment. "You don't think she called Henry, do you?" she asked with an undeniable smirk crawling across her lips.
Eli smiled back. "After the pep talk we gave her at dinner anything's possible."
Soliloquy Jessie: (holding Katie's letter) What I told Mom earlier, I really believe that. (She looks down at the letter, and looks up with a huge goofy smile on her face.) Things happen between people… and they don't always make sense or they seem wrong or weird, but those things—they really are the ones that change your life. (She takes another moment. She folds the letter back up and holds it in both of her hands.) And, maybe Henry could be one of those things for Mom—someone who changes her life.
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Henry walked Karen to her front door. The two paused on the stoop.
"Looks like someone's home," Henry commented, seeing the TV flashing inside.
Karen looked in the window, realizing the kids had beaten her back. What should she do now? Invite Henry in, or say goodnight on the stoop? If Karen knew her kids, inviting him in would only lead to incessant teasing. She had intended to beat them back from the reception just to avoid this sort of an awkward moment.
"Well, goodnight," Henry said, tentatively leaning in to kiss her.
Karen made no movement toward Henry, but also didn't back away. She simply let him kiss her. The kiss itself was rather short and a bit awkward—it had been awhile since Karen had kissed someone. After the kiss ended, Henry said good-bye and walked to his car. Karen made her way inside, attempting to slip past her two children, who had fallen asleep in front of the television while waiting for her to get home.
But, just as Karen thought she was in the clear, Eli groggily sat up and turned to see her sneaking up the steps. He moved to help his mother.
"I was trying not to wake you two," Karen whispered as they made their way up the staircase. "How was the ceremony?"
"It was Ok, pretty nice," Eli responded.
"Did Jessie have a good time?"
"Of course—Katie showed up, and you know how those two get." Eli rolled his eyes and Karen laughed softly.
They reached the top of the stairs, and Karen figured she was in the clear. Eli had yet to bring up her late-night activities.
"So," Eli began with a knowing grin on his face. "What'd you do tonight?"
Karen knew she was busted. She couldn't help but return his smile. "If you must know, I called Henry."
"Way to go, Mom."
"Thank you. But, your poor mother is exhausted and her legs are killing her. So I'm headed to bed." She kissed his cheek and then turned to walk towards her bedroom. "Please reserve any teasing for tomorrow at breakfast," Karen called over her shoulder as she opened her bedroom door. She winked at Eli before heading inside.
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Even after her conversation with Rick, Lily still had not slept well. Around seven a.m. she found herself wide awake, so she got up and dawdled in the kitchen drinking coffee and cleaning up from the night before. The plus side to being up so early was that everyone else was still asleep, which afforded Lily some time to herself to think and recoup—such was a rare opportunity in her usually full and bustling house.
Around eight a.m., while Lily was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing her coffee and reading the paper, she heard a knock at the back door. Lily looked up from the paper.
"Come in," she called in the direction of the door, a bit surprised that anyone would come by so early, let alone that anyone would actually knock before entering. The door swung open and Katie tentatively entered. "Katie?" Lily asked, completely baffled.
"I know it's early, I'm sorry," Katie responded, still standing in the door.
"No, it's no trouble. What are you doing up so early?"
"Couldn't really sleep last night."
"Yeah, me neither." Lily noticed that Katie seemed a bit preoccupied about something. "Well, Jessie's still at Karen's. She won't be back until later but you're welcome to come on in." Lily motioned for Katie to join her at the table. "You want something to eat?"
"No, that's Ok." Katie crossed over to the table and sat down in a chair next to Lily. She pointed at the saltines on the table. "Morning sickness?" Lily nodded.
"So, what brings you by?"
Katie fidgeted in her chair. "Oh, I left my English book in Jessie's room, and I have an assignment due tomorrow. I just thought, you know, as long as I was up I could maybe get something done." Technically, it was true; she had left her book in Jessie's room. But, what teenager does homework at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Lily looked at Katie skeptically as she took a sip of coffee, obviously not buying the story about the English book.
Feeling under the microscope, Katie began to ramble. "I know I said some things at the reception—It probably seemed weird. I mean, I was just kind of—I mean, Jessie and I—Australia's a ways away—" Katie couldn't seem to finish her thoughts. Each sentence she began seemed to be headed toward a dangerous ending: revealing her feelings about Jessie.
Something was going on that Lily couldn't quite put her finger on. Something about Katie's manner during their conversation at the reception, and now as they sat at the table, nagged at her. The whole situation seemed a bit off.
"Katie?" Lily stopped the girl's ramblings, convinced that Australia was not the only thought troubling Katie.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to overstep myself," Lily paused to gather her words carefully. "You've been spending a lot of time here lately. And at Karen's. Is something going on at home? Are things Ok?"
Katie took a deep breath. "No. Nothing's wrong at home. Nothing besides the normal teen-parental relations." A tear ran down Katie's cheek in spite of her attempt at humor.
Lily couldn't help but feel her parental radar was an exquisite machine. Katie's tear was clearly a sign of troubled thoughts. "I know I may just be your friend's stepmom, but maybe I can help. Maybe talking about whatever it is will help."
"That's the problem. I'm not—I can't talk about it." Katie wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Can't?" Lily reached into the napkin holder on the table and handed a napkin to Katie for her to use to wipe her eyes and nose.
"I promised someone." Katie looked at Lily.
Lily nodded. The two sat in silence a moment. "Well, if you decide you want to talk about whatever it is, I can keep a secret. And, you know, that way we'd both have dirt on each other." Lily smiled warmly. She realized that she was pressing Katie, probably unfairly, but truthfully she just wanted to help.
Katie thought a moment and another tear escaped. She was confused—about what she felt, about being in a relationship, about having to hide all the time. She wanted to believe that Lily could help, after all Lily seemed to be a pretty liberal parent. Grace practically led the Gay/Straight Alliance and Lily supported her.
Katie sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I think I'm in love."
"You are?" Lily asked gently.
"Yeah. I'm in love…" Katie paused. "And, I'm kind of afraid. I guess that sounds stupid."
Lily shook her head. "It's not stupid at all."
Katie rolled her eyes and dabbed at them again with the napkin. "I know that you're probably thinking that it's just a crush or like, puppy love or something. Maybe it is." Katie sniffled. She tried to stop the tears from falling. "I can't help it," she choked out. "God, why am I crying?"
"Oh, Katie," Lily started, pulling Katie into a hug. "Love can be confusing and scary—for anyone—but, especially at your age."
Katie took some deep breaths. As her tears subsided, she whispered, almost to herself, "I just—I can't help how I feel. I can't… I love her."
Lily was unsure she'd heard correctly. She studied Katie's face as the girl pulled out of the hug. Katie wiped her eyes and blew her nose on the napkin. Her? Lily thought. And, then it all began to come together. Katie spending twenty-four hours a day with Jessie, Jessie and Katie cuddling at the reception, Katie's dramatic concern about Australia… "HER" was Jessie. It had to be. The question, though, was whether Jessie knew of Katie's feelings.
"Does 'she' know? Did you tell her how you feel?" Lily asked, cautiously gauging Katie's reaction. Katie simply nodded. "How did she react?"
Katie shrugged. "She told me she just wanted to be friends." Lily couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. But Katie wasn't finished, "But then I asked her for my letter back—I wrote her a letter, you know, to tell her—I told her she should throw it away and forget it. But she wouldn't." By now Katie had regained a little control over her emotions. It felt good to talk about this, and Lily was one person that Katie felt she could confide in. She did have her own talk radio show; advice was her job.
But, Lily didn't know what to say or how to digest all the information Katie had shared. She sat there, silently, trying piece everything together.
"Do you think she feels the same way?" Lily managed.
"I think so. But it's complicated." Katie got up from her chair and threw away the napkin she had been using for Kleenex.
Lily, still seated at the table, mulled over Jessie's reaction to Katie's letter. "She's afraid," Lily said aloud to herself. Of course she was afraid. Poor Jessie was going through all of this alone—as was Katie. Both girls must be terrified.
Katie made her way towards the door. "Please don't tell Jessie I was here."
"Of course," Lily answered, startled out of her thoughts by Katie's voice. Katie opened the back door and went to leave.
"What about your English book?" Lily asked, stopping Katie's motion.
"I'll get it later. And, Lily—thanks," Katie responded before leaving.
So, all this time Lily had been worried that Grace was gay, when really Jessie was the one struggling with her sexuality. She couldn't help but wonder whether Jessie and Katie were in a relationship, whether anyone knew about them. How was Jessie handling all of this—her mother's accident and her new relationship? And, what should she do now? Should she try talking to Jessie, should she tell Rick or Karen? Lily knew she had been sworn to secrecy, but she wasn't so sure that secrecy was the best method here.
Before Lily could reach any sort of conclusions, the back door opened and Judy entered.
"Thank goodness you're awake," Judy said, shutting the door behind her.
It took Lily, who was distracted by the implications of her conversation with Jessie, a moment to react to Judy. "I couldn't sleep," she answered absentmindedly.
"Me neither," Judy replied. She set her purse on the table next to the saltines. Morning nausea, Judy thought.
"Must be going around," Lily quipped.
"What?" Judy asked, turning her attention away from the saltines.
"You just missed Katie."
"Katie? Jessie's friend? It's 830 in the morning."
"I know," Lily replied. "She couldn't sleep either…" Judy looked confused. "She came by to get an English book that she left in Jessie's room," Lily explained. She had to fight back an almost undeniable impulse to tell Judy all about her and Jessie's conversation. Truthfully, she was unable to concentrate on anything else.
"At 830 in the morning?" Judy asked, obviously as skeptical of the reasoning as Lily had been.
"We ended up having a long chat."
"About what?"
"I promised I wouldn't say anything."
"That good?" Judy asked with arched brow. Lily nodded. "C'mon, Lil. I won't tell anyone." Lily took a deep breath, trying to decide whether or not to divulge the news to Judy.
"Apparently Katie's in love—" Lily began, her voice lowered.
"Ooooh."
"With Jessie."
"Ohhhh." Judy was completely shocked. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure." Lily sighed. "I mean, she never said exactly who it was, but she did say it was a 'she.' And Katie has been very preoccupied with the idea of Jessie going to Australia."
"That doesn't mean it's necessarily Jessie—"
"She is," Lily interrupted.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I saw the two of them at the reception. They were sitting along the edge of the dance floor. Jessie was leaned up against Katie with her head on Katie's shoulder. And they were holding hands. Not to mention, they've been attached at the hip lately—here, at Karen's."
"So Jessie…" Judy looked completely shocked.
"Apparently." The two stood there, both attempting to sort through everything. After a few moments, Judy broke the silence,
"Well, at least she's not dating Mr. Dimitri."
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Next time in "Distracting," Colleen finally re-titles this story and moves on to part 3. Judy tells Lily the reason why she showed up at 830 a.m. And, Grace makes her entrance in this fic at a very inopportune time.
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