Chapter 26
"Hey Kay, did we say that Weber went into the section on political theory or methodology?"
"Let me check my notes," she said. They were sitting in his office which had, over the past two weeks, become the center of both their worlds as they chased down reading material and sources before the professor's classes were to begin the following week. Nicholas peeked in her direction over reading glasses and the massive amount of books stacked on his desk. Kay was searching frantically through what amounted to several reems of paper and strewing them all over the floor in the process. But Nicholas was even more concerned about how her leaning forward over his desk pushing things around in her tank top was giving him an improper view of her... well, things he didn't need to see when he was thinking about the theoretical place of Max Weber.
"Uh, Kay, I think the notes are under the pizza," he said, unable to keep his gaze off her... things he didn't need to see.
Kay smirked to herself. She hated using her body as a sight of desire when she wanted so much more for him, but guys were so stupid about these things, she had to meet him on his lower level. She lifted her eyes to him and caught him staring down her shirt before he hastily brought his gaze up. "Oh, that's right, thanks," she replied as she innocently pretended not to notice his bright red face.
She sauntered over to the pizza box laying on the floor across the room and Nicholas immediately realized his mistake as she turned away from him and bent her long frame over to shuffle under the box, giving him ample view of her... well, other things he just didn't need to see.
"Wait, Kay, I remember now, it's methodology," he stammered, making up an answer to his own question on the spot. For the past two weeks, despite of his conviction that things would remain completely platonic between them, Nicholas was being continually reminded that he had felt very strongly for Kay as an attractive person inside and out before the whole mess with that blue nonsense.
Kay smirked as she took her time standing up straight. "Okay, Nicholas."
----------------------------------------------
"Hey Nicholas, I'm not feeling well, would you mind bringing me those notes so I don't have to get over to campus today? I really want to compile it all this weekend." Kay sniffled into the phone for added effect.
"Oh hey, why don't I just e-mail them to you? That way you won't even have to retype them," he replied helpfully. His immediate reaction to her request was to scream yes, I'll be right there into the phone, and it was precisely for this reason that his more thoughtful reaction was to avoid going to Kay and Simone's place. Whatever Kay had was making her voice wonderfully husky and melodious and he didn't need to be exposed to that more than absolutely necessary either, so he rushed to add, "I'm e-mailing it now, you should have it in a few seconds, feel better," and then hung up the phone.
Oh no you don't Nicholas, Kay thought. She hit the redial button on her phone. "Nicholas," she rasped in an even throatier voice, "I can't check email at home because Simone took the laptop to Earth until the computers there have been set up. Can you please bring the notes over? We're children of the 90's, I think I still remember how to use a type-writer," she added with a smirk in her voice.
Simone, who had entered to catch Kay's plea, snorted. Sure, she had taken the laptop to Earth, but only because Kay had begged her to so she could make this call.
Kay furtively signaled to Simone to keep the snorting to a minimum as she listened to Nicholas's reply. "Uh, sure Kay, I'll be over in a little bit."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," she responded in a voice meant to send shivers down his spine. She heard him drop the phone and nearly broke the snorting ban she had just imposed on Simone.
"Uhh, so-so-ssss--- uh, yeah, s-sorry about that, the phone slipped," he stammered.
I'll just bet it did, Kay thought to herself. "No problem, Nicholas, I'll see you in a little while," Kay said to him before she calmly placed the phone on the hook.
"Kay, you should be ashamed of yourself, practically moaning his name into the phone like that," Simone admonished.
"What?" Kay said innocently, still rasping a bit. "I really am sick, my throat is a bit sore,"
"Sure, daahhhhhling," Simone replied, dropping her voice an octave and drawing out the word to imitate the way Kay was speaking. "All you have to do is have Charity stop by and as quick as she can give you a high-five, you'll be all better."
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that," Kay replied simply. "If he wants to pretend like blue doesn't exist, I might as well manipulate the situation for the greater good."
"Whatever you say, chica," Simone said, "I'm gonna head downstairs to make sure Shawn doesn't need me for anything... as long as you're done using me to work your feminine wiles on Nicholas," she added, laughing and slamming the door behind her before Kay could actually answer.
----------------------------------------------------------
Kay nearly tripped and fell in her rush to get the door after she heard Nicholas ring the doorbell. She remembered that she was supposed to be house-bound sick at the last minute and slowed her roll. All she needed was for Nicholas to see a broken ankle and then accidentally help heal it.
She plopped down on her couch and called out making sure to capture the true soreness of her throat in her voice, "It's open, Nicholas."
As he opened the door, Nicholas thought to himself, I wish she would stop saying my name in that voice. It's gonna be stuck in my head forever at this rate.
"Nicholas, I really appreciate this," Kay said as he dropped a folder full of hand written notes on the coffee table in front of Kay. He'd never seen gym shorts and athletic socks look as great as they did on her. He stared as he tried to figure out why her ill-fitting and ill-advised gym shorts that must have belonged to her father when he was on the high school track team combined with chunky socks that may have been white five years ago before someone wore them in a mudpit captivated him so. He brought his gaze up slowly to her unmade up face, which had turned pink during his perusal of her attire.
Even Kay's attempts to use her female assets to get what she wanted had its limits, and she had chosen to wear what she would have worn if she had really been sick for on this stage she had created. As his eyes met hers, she knew she'd done the right thing.
Nicholas couldn't keep his emotions out of his gaze and couldn't remember why he would have wanted to. The funky socks and tore up shorts looked so wonderful on her because they were on his Kay. She could have worn a tight burlap sack that hugged every roll and curve and he would have wanted her as much as if she was wearing a dress designed to flatter her figure. As she continued to read all of this in his gaze, Kay was fighting to maintain control of her carefully set-up plan.
"Kay, I..." Nicholas began as he moved towards the couch.
Kay just barely won her internal battle, resisting painfully the pull of the blue that sparked between them. "Nicholas, you aren't ready," she interrupted, keeping her voice low and calm in opposition to her racing heart. She felt tears build in her eyes as she read the plea in his own eyes, struggling to keep his continuous rejection of blue, of her love, in her mind. She could feel the blue in both of them, fighting to be made one in their joining and fought for long minutes with all her ability to keep it in check while Nicholas watched. She felt the moment when the blue, the love, finally subsided in the face of her will, and mourned its absence even as she felt relief that the pain it had been causing also died down slowly.
Nicholas, who had seen on her face what his own indecision had done to her, what his inability to accept that part of her was doing, was heart broken. The look of calm acceptance he was now reading added to his pain. He though about the last couple of weeks, the time they had spent together working on organizing sources, and a flicker of hope came unexpectedly. Kay saw this too, and grasped on to it as proof that her plan was working. Even if Nicholas refused to admit it, she knew he had the ability to accept the blue that came along with her and she would continue her battle against his own stubbornness for as long as it would take.
Her will fortified, she continued. "Nicholas, you aren't ready," she repeated firmly, and then added clearly, "but you will be one day."
He backed toward the door as though the very confidence that had first attracted him to her were now pushing him away. He just couldn't be as confident about what he perceived to be a relationship based on something beyond either of their control. They barely knew each other, after all...
Kay couldn't read his expression anymore, as Reese had often told her, that nonsense only happened in the movies for any extended period of time, but she could just guess that his pride and need to control everything had kicked in and was making him pull away. She decided to make a mini- recovery.
"Hey, Nicholas, Simone's got some great tea downstairs, maybe that'll help with my throat. Give me a minute and I'll change, and then we can go downstairs to discuss these notes a bit before I get them presentable. Since you've come out here, I should be polite and treat you to a mug."
He silently agreed with a nod and sat down on the sofa as she got up, his thoughts still churning in his head. It seemed like, whatever she thought about the future, Kay was willing to keep the status quo for now, and he'd just see where it led them.
"Hey Kay, did we say that Weber went into the section on political theory or methodology?"
"Let me check my notes," she said. They were sitting in his office which had, over the past two weeks, become the center of both their worlds as they chased down reading material and sources before the professor's classes were to begin the following week. Nicholas peeked in her direction over reading glasses and the massive amount of books stacked on his desk. Kay was searching frantically through what amounted to several reems of paper and strewing them all over the floor in the process. But Nicholas was even more concerned about how her leaning forward over his desk pushing things around in her tank top was giving him an improper view of her... well, things he didn't need to see when he was thinking about the theoretical place of Max Weber.
"Uh, Kay, I think the notes are under the pizza," he said, unable to keep his gaze off her... things he didn't need to see.
Kay smirked to herself. She hated using her body as a sight of desire when she wanted so much more for him, but guys were so stupid about these things, she had to meet him on his lower level. She lifted her eyes to him and caught him staring down her shirt before he hastily brought his gaze up. "Oh, that's right, thanks," she replied as she innocently pretended not to notice his bright red face.
She sauntered over to the pizza box laying on the floor across the room and Nicholas immediately realized his mistake as she turned away from him and bent her long frame over to shuffle under the box, giving him ample view of her... well, other things he just didn't need to see.
"Wait, Kay, I remember now, it's methodology," he stammered, making up an answer to his own question on the spot. For the past two weeks, despite of his conviction that things would remain completely platonic between them, Nicholas was being continually reminded that he had felt very strongly for Kay as an attractive person inside and out before the whole mess with that blue nonsense.
Kay smirked as she took her time standing up straight. "Okay, Nicholas."
----------------------------------------------
"Hey Nicholas, I'm not feeling well, would you mind bringing me those notes so I don't have to get over to campus today? I really want to compile it all this weekend." Kay sniffled into the phone for added effect.
"Oh hey, why don't I just e-mail them to you? That way you won't even have to retype them," he replied helpfully. His immediate reaction to her request was to scream yes, I'll be right there into the phone, and it was precisely for this reason that his more thoughtful reaction was to avoid going to Kay and Simone's place. Whatever Kay had was making her voice wonderfully husky and melodious and he didn't need to be exposed to that more than absolutely necessary either, so he rushed to add, "I'm e-mailing it now, you should have it in a few seconds, feel better," and then hung up the phone.
Oh no you don't Nicholas, Kay thought. She hit the redial button on her phone. "Nicholas," she rasped in an even throatier voice, "I can't check email at home because Simone took the laptop to Earth until the computers there have been set up. Can you please bring the notes over? We're children of the 90's, I think I still remember how to use a type-writer," she added with a smirk in her voice.
Simone, who had entered to catch Kay's plea, snorted. Sure, she had taken the laptop to Earth, but only because Kay had begged her to so she could make this call.
Kay furtively signaled to Simone to keep the snorting to a minimum as she listened to Nicholas's reply. "Uh, sure Kay, I'll be over in a little bit."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," she responded in a voice meant to send shivers down his spine. She heard him drop the phone and nearly broke the snorting ban she had just imposed on Simone.
"Uhh, so-so-ssss--- uh, yeah, s-sorry about that, the phone slipped," he stammered.
I'll just bet it did, Kay thought to herself. "No problem, Nicholas, I'll see you in a little while," Kay said to him before she calmly placed the phone on the hook.
"Kay, you should be ashamed of yourself, practically moaning his name into the phone like that," Simone admonished.
"What?" Kay said innocently, still rasping a bit. "I really am sick, my throat is a bit sore,"
"Sure, daahhhhhling," Simone replied, dropping her voice an octave and drawing out the word to imitate the way Kay was speaking. "All you have to do is have Charity stop by and as quick as she can give you a high-five, you'll be all better."
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that," Kay replied simply. "If he wants to pretend like blue doesn't exist, I might as well manipulate the situation for the greater good."
"Whatever you say, chica," Simone said, "I'm gonna head downstairs to make sure Shawn doesn't need me for anything... as long as you're done using me to work your feminine wiles on Nicholas," she added, laughing and slamming the door behind her before Kay could actually answer.
----------------------------------------------------------
Kay nearly tripped and fell in her rush to get the door after she heard Nicholas ring the doorbell. She remembered that she was supposed to be house-bound sick at the last minute and slowed her roll. All she needed was for Nicholas to see a broken ankle and then accidentally help heal it.
She plopped down on her couch and called out making sure to capture the true soreness of her throat in her voice, "It's open, Nicholas."
As he opened the door, Nicholas thought to himself, I wish she would stop saying my name in that voice. It's gonna be stuck in my head forever at this rate.
"Nicholas, I really appreciate this," Kay said as he dropped a folder full of hand written notes on the coffee table in front of Kay. He'd never seen gym shorts and athletic socks look as great as they did on her. He stared as he tried to figure out why her ill-fitting and ill-advised gym shorts that must have belonged to her father when he was on the high school track team combined with chunky socks that may have been white five years ago before someone wore them in a mudpit captivated him so. He brought his gaze up slowly to her unmade up face, which had turned pink during his perusal of her attire.
Even Kay's attempts to use her female assets to get what she wanted had its limits, and she had chosen to wear what she would have worn if she had really been sick for on this stage she had created. As his eyes met hers, she knew she'd done the right thing.
Nicholas couldn't keep his emotions out of his gaze and couldn't remember why he would have wanted to. The funky socks and tore up shorts looked so wonderful on her because they were on his Kay. She could have worn a tight burlap sack that hugged every roll and curve and he would have wanted her as much as if she was wearing a dress designed to flatter her figure. As she continued to read all of this in his gaze, Kay was fighting to maintain control of her carefully set-up plan.
"Kay, I..." Nicholas began as he moved towards the couch.
Kay just barely won her internal battle, resisting painfully the pull of the blue that sparked between them. "Nicholas, you aren't ready," she interrupted, keeping her voice low and calm in opposition to her racing heart. She felt tears build in her eyes as she read the plea in his own eyes, struggling to keep his continuous rejection of blue, of her love, in her mind. She could feel the blue in both of them, fighting to be made one in their joining and fought for long minutes with all her ability to keep it in check while Nicholas watched. She felt the moment when the blue, the love, finally subsided in the face of her will, and mourned its absence even as she felt relief that the pain it had been causing also died down slowly.
Nicholas, who had seen on her face what his own indecision had done to her, what his inability to accept that part of her was doing, was heart broken. The look of calm acceptance he was now reading added to his pain. He though about the last couple of weeks, the time they had spent together working on organizing sources, and a flicker of hope came unexpectedly. Kay saw this too, and grasped on to it as proof that her plan was working. Even if Nicholas refused to admit it, she knew he had the ability to accept the blue that came along with her and she would continue her battle against his own stubbornness for as long as it would take.
Her will fortified, she continued. "Nicholas, you aren't ready," she repeated firmly, and then added clearly, "but you will be one day."
He backed toward the door as though the very confidence that had first attracted him to her were now pushing him away. He just couldn't be as confident about what he perceived to be a relationship based on something beyond either of their control. They barely knew each other, after all...
Kay couldn't read his expression anymore, as Reese had often told her, that nonsense only happened in the movies for any extended period of time, but she could just guess that his pride and need to control everything had kicked in and was making him pull away. She decided to make a mini- recovery.
"Hey, Nicholas, Simone's got some great tea downstairs, maybe that'll help with my throat. Give me a minute and I'll change, and then we can go downstairs to discuss these notes a bit before I get them presentable. Since you've come out here, I should be polite and treat you to a mug."
He silently agreed with a nod and sat down on the sofa as she got up, his thoughts still churning in his head. It seemed like, whatever she thought about the future, Kay was willing to keep the status quo for now, and he'd just see where it led them.
