Chapter 21

"Hey, Kay, what's goin' on?" some guy she thought might be called Brad asked, as he stood too close for her comfort.

"Nothing much at all," she said, firmly planting her hands on his chest and pushing. Once word of her break-up with Miguel had spread, guys were comin' out of nowhere to flirt with her. And now that she had finally made it through her sophomore year in college, Kay wasn't interested in a relationship with anyone, especially not the semi-drunk loser that attempted to dance with her now.

"Hey uhh... Brad?" she looked at him questioningly.

A little of his bravado fell as he responded, "Um, it's Bruce."

Kay grinned sheepishly, "Right, Bruce, sorry. It's the end of the year and I'd love to get to know you better, but I'm going home this summer and don't want to start anything new, ya know?"

Bruce, who knew a dismissal when he heard it, decided to be graceful about it. "Yeah, sure, I gotcha," he responded vaguely and wandered off, moving on to his next potential companion for the evening.

Kay caught Simone's eye across the room and grinned. She made her way over to stand next to her friend. "Hey, you. How come you're not out there shakin' what your mama gave you like you normally do?" Kay asked. She suspected that Simone was seeing someone and purposefully not letting her friends in on the secret, but she couldn't figure out why.

"Oh, I'd be out there if this song were, ya know, a good song," Simone replied back.

"Hey guys, what's up?" said Charity as she joined them. "Kinda lame pickin's tonight, huh?" Ever since the incident with Miguel, Charity had hit the dating scene full force, never taking anyone seriously, but definitely making the rounds. With her flaxen blond hair and bright blue eyes, Charity had no problems keeping her weekends full, especially since Kay's dessert habits had worn off on her and she'd put on a little weight, rounding out her once emaciated figure.

"Yeah, what do you guys say? It's our last night on campus, want to spend it somewhere with people we actually want to see?" Kay asked.

"Absolutely," Simone agreed quickly. "Let's get outa here."

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"Okay, guys, let's go around and spill our summer plans," Simone said. The women had gone over to Haven and were sitting in a private space in the back. One the way over, they had called Miguel and Reese, who brought their friend Chad along. Simone, happy that almost all of her favorite people were in one place - her place--, was anxious to begin her summer plotting.

"I've got this great deal to put in studio time for an album I'm working on here this summer," Chad started. "There are also rumors of a night club in the works in the area, so I'm talking to people about having a regular DJ gig there." He surreptitiously looked over at Simone.

She hid her grin behind a napkin as she pretended to wipe her mouth. Only Reese caught the private exchange, and he decided to file it away for future mischievous purposes.

"Chad, that's awesome," Kay said. "Well, I'm still trying to decide whether I want to stay here as a research assistant or go back to Harmony..."

"Dude, Kay, what the hell? You've gotta go back to Harmony, I've gotta meet..." Reeses voice faded as he realized that everyone was looking at him with amused glances. "Um, I mean, I'm going to see this Harmony for the first time, it'll be weird with just this joker over here showing me around," he finished lamely as he gestured at Miguel.

"Kay, do whatever the hell you want, Reese will be fine in Harmony. Besides, we're only going there for a couple of weeks. I've gotta get back and take those summer classes," Miguel put in.

Charity perked up at this tidbit of information. "Oh, really, Miguel? You're going to be here this summer? That's cool. I'll uh.... be around too."

Miguel looked over at her interested. "Really? That's awesome, it'll be great getting to know more of Kay's family."

"That's not the branch of the family I'm interested in getting to know," Reese muttered.

Kay wacked him softly. "Reese, Miguel will introduce you to my sister. She'll get a kick out of having a love-sick college guy following her around, I'm sure..." Kay grew thoughtful. "Come to think of it, my mom is always looking for help around the B'n'B that she runs. When you get there, you should tell her you're interested; it would give you an excuse to hang around Jessica... I mean Harmony, all summer." Kay grinned wickedly.

Reese grinned back. "Unlike the rest of you chumps, I am not in denial about my emotions, I'm more than willing to admit that Jessica Bennett greatly intrigues me. Thanks for the tip, Kay."

"Speaking of being in denial about emotions," Simone chimed in, "Kay, I'm surprised that you'd consider going back to Harmony considering who else might be in town."

Kay looked at Simone, a little confused, "You mean he's going home? I thought he hated home?!"

Miguel, uncomfortable still with the thought of his best friend and Nicholas together, especially after hearing a little bit about the way the jerk had been treating her, decided that now was the perfect time to pull Charity aside to discuss a plan that was forming in his head. "Hey Charity, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Charity nearly bumped her leg on the edge of the table in surprise. She'd been avoiding making eye contact with Miguel all night. "Uhh, sure Miguel, why don't we head to the bar for refills?" The two of them got everyone's order and wandered over to the bar lining one wall of the front room.

Kay was still looking at Simone, willing her to give up more information. "You think that Nicholas is going to be in Harmony this summer?"

"I'm saying nothing of the sort," Simone said indignantly. "Nicholas doesn't know what his plans are yet. I'm just suggesting that you might want to work things out with him before you both end up bumping into each other all the time in that small town."

"I am not going to spend all summer bumping into him having awkward moments," Kay said.

"So you're gonna work things out with him?" Simone said, injecting hopefulness into her voice.

"No," Kay said, sure of her plans now. "I'm going to take that research assistant position here. You wouldn't be saying that we were going to bump into each other in Harmony if he wasn't going to be there." Kay saw Miguel and Charity struggling at the bar to carry all their drinks. "I'm gonna go help the two goofballs over there with our order."

As Kay walked away, Chad looked at Simone grinning widely. "You know damned well that Nicholas is staying and continuing as a TA this summer..."

Reese laughed out loud at this bit of information.

Simone smirked at both of the men. "She should be working things out on her own, and if she doesn't, it's my responsibility to manipulate her into doing it."

"Now that's an attitude I can admire," Reese put in.

Miguel, Charity, and Kay returned with the drinks. Kay was grinning broadly and Charity looked nervous.

"Hey guys, guess what?" Kay started.

"Hey, woman, let us tell our own news," Miguel interrupted her. "Charity and I are going to be living together this summer."

"Wait, Miguel, you said we were going to split an apt. together," Chad began. Under the table, Simone pinched his leg. "Errrr, nevermind," he said. "I'm sure I can find somewhere else to crash."

"Oh, no, Miguel, you didn't tell me that!" Charity began to protest.

"Oh please, Chad is just trying to make me feel guilty. The thing is, I found this great apartment that I'd have to move into right away to hold, but since I'm going home for a couple of weeks, my apartment-mate would have to hold it. Chad said he'd like to stay with me, but since I'm going to be going to classes during the day and he's doing this DJ thing, our conflicting hours would make both of us miserable, which is why he KNEW I was looking for someone else."

Chad jumped in, "He's right, Charity, I was just pulling his leg."

Simone added, "And I know someone Chad can bunk with."

Kay looked confused, "What a second Simone, I'm staying with you, right?"

"Yes, of course," Simone agreed. "You don't think I'd stay with a perfect stranger, do you? I barely know this Chad character." Now, it was Chad's turn to pinch her under the table.

Kay, realizing that Charity had somehow been roped into living with Miguel, began to see the beauty of the summer arrangements. "Well, that's great that you two could help each other out like that," she said to Charity and Miguel. "I know Charity was desperate about finding somewhere to crash."

Charity groaned internally, knowing where Kay's head was. "It is convenient," she acknowledged. "I couldn't have stayed with Simone another summer," Charity was warming up to subtly getting back at her friends' matchmaking. "The woman is crazy, and since Kay is crazy too, I figured they'd work better together."

Kay dipped her fingers in the water pitcher on the table and calmly flicked some at Charity.

Simone looked over the faces of her friends as they began an extremely undignified water fight in her establishment and thought to herself that it was going to be a fabulously interesting summer.