Bradin sat at the kitchen table eating his breakfast when Jay walked in.
"Hey, man," he said slapping Bradin on the back almost making him choke on his food. "Oops. Sorry about that. So, how was it dancing with Kaitlin last night?"
"We had fun until…" Bradin trailed off.
"Until what?" Jay asked.
"Something happened to Kaitlin last night. She and her friends were dancing like they do every year. As she was dancing, she fell. She was sobbing. I knew that it had something to do with her racing accident. We had to end the night early."
"Is she okay?" Jay asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Bradin said throwing his fork onto his plate. He got up and placed his dishes into the sink.
"Are you okay?" Jay asked.
"I hate seeing Kaitlin go through something like this. I really want to know what happened that day," Bradin said sitting back down.
"She'll start to explain it soon. I know her."
Kaitlin sat on her bed thinking about what happened the previous night. She looked at her arms and how they looked. You could tell that there were bruises if you were close to her arms. Far away, you couldn't tell that she was in an accident. She sighed and put her head back on the wall behind her bed as she closed her eyes. She moved so that she was lying on her bed curled up and holding a pillow by her head. She closed her eyes and was about to drift off into a sleep when she felt someone put weight on the bed. She opened her eyes quickly and saw Bradin lying down next to her.
"Hi," she said with a surprised voice.
"Hey," he said with a laugh. "How are you doing?"
"I… could be better," she said. "How are you?"
"Worried about you," he said moving hair out of her face, "I wanted to come and see how you were doing."
She smiled. "I'm sorry I'm mentioning them but, your parents raised you well."
He smiled and took her hand into his. "Do you feel like hanging out with me today? The others are now couples and are busy. I have no one to hang out with. And, I want to hang out with you."
"I'll hang out with you if big crowds of people cheering something on and bright lights are nowhere to be seen."
"No problem. We could hang out around here today or go out to eat or go to the movies."
"I just want to sleep," she said placing the pillow over her head.
Bradin laughed and moved the pillow away from her head. She looked at him to find his eyes gazing into hers. "I'll bring you home early if you want to sleep."
"No. That's okay," she said sitting up, "I already ended one thing with you early. I don't want to do it again."
"I'll leave you alone to get ready and when you're ready, I'll have a plan for today. Sound good?" he asked sitting up.
"Sounds good." He smiled and left her to get ready.
Bradin sat in Kaitlin's living room with a newspaper looking for a movie that he could see with Kaitlin. Her parents were trying to give suggestions on what movies to see and what to do afterwards.
"We're glad that you and her are becoming friends," her mother said.
"She doesn't have many people in her life like you," her father told him.
"What do you mean?" Bradin asked looking up from the newspaper.
"You care for her and were there for her last night after the incident at the dance. The others just left her to hang out with each other. You stayed with her and walked her home to make sure that she was okay," her father explained, "Yes, we're staying next to you. However, you made sure that she got home safely and was okay before you left."
"Does that mean if I asked her out, you two would say that it's okay?" he asked.
"If we lived here, we would approve it. But since we live all the way in Buffalo, New York, I don't think you two can handle a long distance relationship," her mother said.
Bradin's heart fell when they mentioned that they lived in New York. He knew that they were right about them not going to be able to handle a relationship with that long of a distance between them.
Kaitlin came down the stairs and heard her parents talking to Bradin. "Do you like her?" she heard her mother ask Bradin.
"Who wouldn't?" Bradin asked her mother. Kaitlin smiled because she liked Bradin, too.
It will never work out, Kait, she told herself in her mind, Fuck.
She didn't want to hear anymore. So, she walked into the living room and sat on the couch next to Bradin. He looked over at her and smiled.
"What movie do you want to see?" he asked.
"What's playing?"
He moved the paper so she could look at the movies.
"Want to see 'Honey'? I heard it's good," she said.
"Is it a chick flick?" he asked.
"Bradin," she whined knowing that he wouldn't want to see it, "Please?"
He looked over at her to find her chin on his shoulder and a pout on her face as she gave her the puppy dog eyes. He laughed and shook his head.
"Please?" she begged again, "There are girls in it that you might find hot. I'll pay for it. I'll let you pick what we can do the rest of the day. I-"
"Okay. I'll pick out what we do the rest of the day since we're going to see the movie."
"Thank you!" she said hugging him," You'll like it. I promise."
I won't be watching it, he said to himself, I'll be watching you.