hey guys. thanks for all the great reviews! this chapter is uber-short - i didnt want to write more for it. the next chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after. R&R! oh, and by the way, thanks to ann brashares for inspiring this chapter.
"Ryan!" Seth squirted him with his water pistol, right between the eyes.
"Okay – you're in for it now." And with that, Ryan had disappeared. Seth sat, and waited for the ambush.
After waiting for what seemed an eternity, he got up, and turned...where he was hit by a bucket of cold water. Ryan had been standing there the whole time. Seth put his hands on his hands on his hair, and feeling the wetness he ran inside.
"Seth...Seth!" Ryan yelled after him. Seth came to his parents' window, brandishing a hairdryer.
"Dude. I have to blow dry my hair now, or it'll fuck up, and look like Debra Messing and Don King's love child. So kindly do not pour water – or any liquidy substance – on my head again. Thanks."
Ryan laughed. It was just so...so 'Seth' to think something like that – actually, he probably got it from his father. Ryan remembered Seth once told him about the time when Kirsten had asked Sandy if Seth looked 'rad', and Sandy had responded:
"Oh, yes, you do look rad. Mad props, son." For Seth, it had been painful. For Ryan, it was just amusing.
"Urgh!" it stopped being so amusing, however, when Seth poured a bucket of water over Ryan's head.
Ryan stalked up to Seth's room to use the hairdryer, and he saw Kathryn playing soccer by herself in the street. He noticed her incredible ball control, her style with which she flicked the ball up into the air, and caught it in a header. She had great skill. He wandered down to the front door, and went outside.
Kathryn saw Ryan leave the bedroom, and she knew he was coming outside. When he walked out the door, she kicked the ball up, and caught it under her arm.
"Hi." She said. She still felt a little awkward around him since the incident at the pool.
"Hey. You're quite a player." He pointed to the ball.
"I was showing off for you," she confessed.
He held his thoughts for a second as he looked her in the eyes. Then he looked back at Marissa's house.
"Kathryn, don't," he said quietly.
"Don't what?"
"Don't...don't...push this." He couldn't find words he was happy with.
"Why not? Why am I not allowed to want you?"
He was taken aback by her directness. He glanced across at her and groaned.
"Look, I'm...flattered. I'm honoured. Who wouldn't be?"
Kathryn clenched her jaw. Flattered and honoured weren't the words she wanted to hear. Anyway, she didn't believe them.
"Kathryn, you are beautiful. You are amazing and talented and just...just irrepressible." His voice was softer now. He met her eyes. "It's not like I haven't noticed. Trust me, I have. But you're too pretty and you're too sexy and you're too...perfect for me. And I know I'm...rough, I guess, but when you showed me that judo move, having your body so close to mine was a huge turn on. And having been so close to you, I can't be around you and not think about what that feels like...besides, I have a girlfriend." He added the last part sadly. He kissed her, slowly, but not for long enough. Then he turned, and walked back toward the house. She collapsed, and sat in the road.
"But she's not right for you," she breathed sadly. He heard, and turned back.
"I'm sorry."
She threw the ball after him, not looking up. She hated that he'd said that.