Chapter 34 - Tough as she has to be
Kat got off work and went to her old hood. She wanted to think and walking around this neighbourhood often put things in perspective for her. She walked past her old house and down the street. She stopped out front of a two story brick business. She looked up at the sign. She was just standing there wondering if she should go in and say hi when a small, old, black woman with a bun of grey hair wound loosely on the top of her head came out and stood on the step. "Katherine, as I live and breath." She grinned at her former pupil. "I haven't seen you here in, what now, a year?"
"It has to be at least that long Mrs. B." Kat answered back. "I moved and we hit some hard times before then."
"Come in Kat, come visit with me for awhile." The woman opened the door and motioned Kat inside. Kat preceded her into the building into the one main room of the bottom floor. She could smell the familiar scent of wood polish; the room was slightly musty in the way that old wood always had this great smell, the smell of old but well cared for and well loved floors and furniture. There was a wall of windows at the far end, two walls of mirrors and a piano. This was where she had used to sneak to practice her dance. Very few people knew about her Ballet and those who knew she'd danced back in New York all thought she'd given it up. She used to come down here and take lessons from Mrs. B. No one knew that.
"Still the same studio." Kat smiled. "How many students you have these days?"
"Not as many as I'd like but enough." The woman said with a small smile. "You're having troubles of some sort aren't you Katherine?"
How did she do that, Kat wondered. Mrs. B always knew when she was down. "Yeah, how'd you guess?" She asked the older woman with a smile.
"You always come down here for the first time when I haven't seen you in forever when you're having a hard time. So what's the matter Kitten?"
"Man trouble." Kat tried to smile.
"Oh, some young man has finally taken your heart then?" She continued without waiting for a response. "I hope he's a nice young man. Is it that Sean boy that use to come and pick you up sometimes?"
"Nope, Sean's like family. It was a boy named Leon. But he found out that I wasn't as nice as I let on and he broke up with me." Kat looked down. "He thought I was one person but when he realized what I'm really like he decided he didn't like me at all." Kat didn't have the heart to tell the old woman any more then that.
"Oh, there's nothing about you that would cause anyone to like you less." Mrs. B blew a raspberry in the air. "You know what you need." She trialed off and went into her office, returning seconds later with a black leotard. "You will dance for me, and you will feel better."
"I don't think so Mrs. B." Kat wasn't in the mood to dance.
"Yes, you will. You will dance and it will make you happier, you'll see. Now go and put this on. I don't know why you always give me a hard time about this, you dance like Anna Pavlova so go and change." She handed Kat the dance clothes. "See, I even still have a pair of your pointe shoes, now go." All Kat's dance clothes were black. She didn't do pink, she only wore other colors when she was on stage performing.
Kat gave up and took the clothes. She changed into the skin tight outfit, feeling self conscious as she always did when she first put on her dance clothes. She walked out into the main room again. "Mrs. B, this stuff is too small."
"No, it is perfect. You always wanted to wear your leotards too big." Mrs. B laughed at her former pupil. "Now, to the barre. You remember how to do the stretches, I know you do, so get started." Kat began to do her warm ups, she did remember it all. She stretched with the barre for 20 minutes. "Turn out Katherine." Kat did her turn out. "No, no. I know you can do better then that. Try again. You haven't been practicing at home have you?" Kat looked slightly ashamed, she hadn't been. It wasn't quite the 30 minutes that her teacher always insisted on in the past but she hadn't come here for a class after all. When that was done and the woman was happy that Kat was warmed up she went to the piano and started to play.
Kat heard the familiar strains of 'Swan Lake' fill the room and she started to move. She couldn't help it. She'd danced to this so many times, it was ingrained into her, no matter how many times she'd tried to give it up. She'd danced this ballet many times and knew why her instructor had chosen it.
Mrs. B picked this piece, this ballet because of the parallels that she drew between Kat's troubles and the moral of this piece. It is a tale of the triumph of good over evil, and the forgiveness of love, tempered by the reality of life that continues on. Kat danced like an angel, but Mrs. B knew she would. She danced the role of Odette, and she danced it well. Mrs. B wanted her to dance the role of the fragile sister. When she'd danced enough of the role that she was hot and sweaty and exhausted her teacher let her stop. She did feel better.
"See, you feel better don't you?"
"Of course. You were right." Kat smiled. "But I should go."
"Yes, go then. But Kat, Don't forget, you are what you are, and you are fine the way you are. Never let anyone try to convince you that you should change your stripes for them." Mrs. B went into her office and Kat changed and headed home. She had her life back in perspective just like she hoped. She'd known subconsciously where she had to go to get that focus back.
She had to drive by the Toretto's to get home. She saw Leon playing Basketball at the net over Dom's shed with Vince. She made sure he wouldn't know she had looked at him. She pulled into her driveway with a squeal and headed into her house.
There was a note from the guys saying that Connor had called and they headed down to his place. She could either join them or they'd catch up with her later. She decided she was in the mood to be alone and she headed out to the backyard. She pulled her lounge chair out into the sun and ran into the house to change into her bathing suit. She picked the purple one and then went to lie out. Her hair was still up in the knot she'd put it in for dancing and the hot sun felt good on her back and shoulders. She felt herself falling asleep in the sun. She was going to let herself sleep in the sun for awhile. If she got a burn then so be it. She'd put the stereo on and just let it play. She'd put the speakers in the window before she went into the backyard. She forgot what CD was in.
It was her 'Save the Last Dance' soundtrack. She loved that movie because of the parallels between her life and the main character's in the movie. They both danced and gave it up when their moms died. Of course Kat would never go back to it, she just didn't think she had it in her to and she didn't think she'd ever be good enough for Juilliard, she just did it every once in awhile to calm down now. But she'd been good at it as a child, could be good enough at it to be in a troupe now if she practiced but she doubted very much she'd ever be the Prima Ballerina her mother had been, the beautiful dancer her mother had always wanted her to be.
And maybe Katharine could have been that dancer, but Kat couldn't. The part of Katharine that could have been the beautiful, graceful, elegant ballerina died, she died right along with her mother in that car wreck. She'd left Kat behind and Kat wasn't beautiful or elegant. She was tough as she had to be and pretty enough to get by.
As if her thoughts weren't morose enough the soundtrack had a song called Crazy on it, about a person who's apologizing to someone for what they did, and how he's thinking of the girl and how he wished she'd come back. It had this line if you really love me then why are you leaving me. The chorus was 'I'm goin' crazy thinking about you baby'. She cursed herself for not checking the CD's just as she started to cry like a baby. Katharine had cried, Kat never did. Never. She didn't allow it. But this whole thing with Leon had made her cry more in the last month then she had in the 4 years leading up to it.
She cried through that song, then the cd changed in the changer. She figured she was safe then but then the next song started and it was Almost doesn't count by Brandy. She just couldn't win. She laughed at the irony of those two songs playing one after the other even while she cried her foolish head off over all that had happened.
Vince had come to talk to Kat about her spread in the import tuner. He wanted to thank her for talking about Jesse, cause it was obvious that Leon wasn't going to do it. He also wanted to see for himself if she was as over everything as Leon seemed to think she was. Vince knew that he and Kat were not friends but he couldn't believe anyone would just get over what she'd done. He knocked on the front door but no one answered. He knew she was in there, he'd seen her go by when he was shooting hoops with Leon.
He got worried when she didn't answer the door. Leon had told him what Kat had said about trying to kill herself once. He thought he heard music so he went around to the back. There was Kat, lying on her stomach on a lawn chair crying her heart out. Vince had been on Leon's side of things to that point. He knew that Leon had been messed up after what she'd done, but the reason why he had really been mad at her was because he'd believed Leon when he'd said that Kat obviously didn't even really care about it. Well here was proof she did in fact still care.
"Kat, you ok?" Vince asked. He was no good at this crying girl stuff. Hell, his disastrous ending to his relationship with his ex was proof of that.
"Vince?" She sniffled and asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to say hi, thank you for talking about Jesse and ask you how your trip went. You sure you're ok?"
"I'ma be aight. It's just the sad music, it got to me. I should go and change that over to something more upbeat." She tried to smile.
"Oh girl. It's tough huh?" Vince knew that as well as anyone.
"Yeah it is. But I fucked up and now I gotta pay the price." No one had really tried to talk to her candidly about what happened. Everyone treated her like she was made of spun sugar and she might shatter if they talked to her about it frankly instead of in sugar coated terms. She had a funny feeling that Vince wasn't the type to sugar coat anything. She wasn't far off.
"Well, yeah you did fuck up, but I mean from what I hear Leon isn't totally innocent in the whole deal."
"Maybe not but that's irrelevant now." Kat was still sort of crying.
"No it's not. You and my boy need ta have a talk about the whole mess Kat. You must know that."
"I thought so once Vince, but I don't think so now. I mean he said he didn't want to see me again. I guess I owe it to him to respect that. If he wants to talk that's fine but I'm not seeking him out."
"I guess I can understand that. But he still cares about you Kat. I know he does. He did nothing but mope around the whole time you were gone. And you shoulda seen the look on his face when he saw you in the car mags. Plus, I'm the one on our team with the moppy spot. I told him I didn't wanna share."
"I heard about you and your ex. Why are you so sure that Leon and I need to talk when you and that girl never did?"
"Well, that's a whole lot of history. I know. Come to our place after races tonight and I'll tell ya. It'll give Leon lots of chance to take the initiative to talk to ya too."
"I don't know Vince. It's not likely a great idea."
"Sure it is. Wear something that'll knock 'em out and then come as my guest. He'll see you with other guys and get jealous. It'll make him realize he still wants you and then you two can talk out your problems. It's perfect. Plus if you get me drunk enough I'll tell you about me'n Ny..My ex." Vince still hated to say her name.
"I'm definitely going to races and I'll think about your offer."
Vince sat down on the chair beside her and put his feet up. She was still sniffling. "So you know you'll be at races eh?"
"For sure. I didn't know there were races tonight but the guys might have." Kat could never stay away now that she knew about them. Leon was just gonna have to get use to the idea that they were part of the same world and they'd be seeing each other around. Even if Kat didn't go to the party as Vince's guest.
"Maybe I'll challenge you for a shot at that pussy show car you're runnin'." Vince teased. She sputtered like a cat in a rain storm for a second.
"Pussy show car! You better challenge me son, and you better have 1000 bucks to give away. I'll show you show car." She looked so indignant, but it made her stop crying, which was all Vince had been after in the first place.
"Well, I mean, the cars in the 'Import Tuner' are all show and no go, everyone knows that." Vince laughed at the look on her face. She figured him out in that moment.
"You're teasing me." She smiled at him. "I was worried at first because I am invited to take the car to 'Hot Import Nights' and compete. I thought you were pickin' on me for that."
"'Import Tuner' and 'Hot Import Nights' in one week? That's quite a week."
"Yeah, Harry's super. He hooked me up with everything while we were away. I know he did it to take my mind off things at home and it worked while we were gone. But now that everything's right in my face again it's still hard." She frowned.
"It'll be ok."
"How are you so sure Vince? Things aren't ok for you. You still don't have your girl." Kat just looked sincere. She wanted to know from someone who'd been where she was at this point.
"I do aight. I mean I still miss her and I'd jump at the chance to get back with her and all but I'm ok now. I don't think about it every second anymore like I did in the past." Vince rubbed her back. "You'll get him back, or you'll get over him. Pretty girl like you'll be able to get any guy. I mean I know that Leon's one of the best, but if you don't have him you'll get someone just as good."
"Aw thanks Vince. I know you just want me to stop crying. I bet you thought about runnin' away when you saw me bawlin' like I was. Guys can't cope with crying females. Hell, I find it hard. But you men, you get all flustered an shit." She smiled at him.
"Hey, I'm just tellin' it like it is Kat, there's tons of guys who'd jump at the chance to take you out. Hell, take some of 'em up on it, date some other people. He'll take the hint he's jealous and doesn't wanna see you with other guys soon enough and you'll have him back."
"You think so?" She asked. She wondered if he really felt like that or if he was just trying to make her feel better.
"Hell yeah I think so." Vince patted her on the head. "Now, go get ready so you're ready to roll at 12." Vince stood up.
"Vince, it's only 8pm."
"I know you must be just like Mia'n Letty, it'll take you 4 hours to pick out an outfit and do your hair." Kat stood up.
"I'll have you know that it only takes me 3 hours to get ready. Not four." She stood with her hand on her hip and stared at him. She tried to keep a serious look on her face but she cracked up. "Well shit." Something had occurred to her.
"Wha?" Vince asked.
"Well, if the guys don't come home I'm not goin' anywhere. I'm not goin' alone." Kat pouted.
"Call them and make sure they come home."
"Good idea!" She smiled and turned to go in the house. She stopped and turned back to Vince. "Thanks Vince. I mean it, I really appreciate you taken' the time to talk to me like this."
"No problem. Just think about what I said. I expect to see you at my house later with a shot of tequila in your hand." He walked toward her fence. ."I'll be joining you."
"We'll see." She called after him. "We'll see." She said to herself and headed in the house to get ready to roll.
Kat got off work and went to her old hood. She wanted to think and walking around this neighbourhood often put things in perspective for her. She walked past her old house and down the street. She stopped out front of a two story brick business. She looked up at the sign. She was just standing there wondering if she should go in and say hi when a small, old, black woman with a bun of grey hair wound loosely on the top of her head came out and stood on the step. "Katherine, as I live and breath." She grinned at her former pupil. "I haven't seen you here in, what now, a year?"
"It has to be at least that long Mrs. B." Kat answered back. "I moved and we hit some hard times before then."
"Come in Kat, come visit with me for awhile." The woman opened the door and motioned Kat inside. Kat preceded her into the building into the one main room of the bottom floor. She could smell the familiar scent of wood polish; the room was slightly musty in the way that old wood always had this great smell, the smell of old but well cared for and well loved floors and furniture. There was a wall of windows at the far end, two walls of mirrors and a piano. This was where she had used to sneak to practice her dance. Very few people knew about her Ballet and those who knew she'd danced back in New York all thought she'd given it up. She used to come down here and take lessons from Mrs. B. No one knew that.
"Still the same studio." Kat smiled. "How many students you have these days?"
"Not as many as I'd like but enough." The woman said with a small smile. "You're having troubles of some sort aren't you Katherine?"
How did she do that, Kat wondered. Mrs. B always knew when she was down. "Yeah, how'd you guess?" She asked the older woman with a smile.
"You always come down here for the first time when I haven't seen you in forever when you're having a hard time. So what's the matter Kitten?"
"Man trouble." Kat tried to smile.
"Oh, some young man has finally taken your heart then?" She continued without waiting for a response. "I hope he's a nice young man. Is it that Sean boy that use to come and pick you up sometimes?"
"Nope, Sean's like family. It was a boy named Leon. But he found out that I wasn't as nice as I let on and he broke up with me." Kat looked down. "He thought I was one person but when he realized what I'm really like he decided he didn't like me at all." Kat didn't have the heart to tell the old woman any more then that.
"Oh, there's nothing about you that would cause anyone to like you less." Mrs. B blew a raspberry in the air. "You know what you need." She trialed off and went into her office, returning seconds later with a black leotard. "You will dance for me, and you will feel better."
"I don't think so Mrs. B." Kat wasn't in the mood to dance.
"Yes, you will. You will dance and it will make you happier, you'll see. Now go and put this on. I don't know why you always give me a hard time about this, you dance like Anna Pavlova so go and change." She handed Kat the dance clothes. "See, I even still have a pair of your pointe shoes, now go." All Kat's dance clothes were black. She didn't do pink, she only wore other colors when she was on stage performing.
Kat gave up and took the clothes. She changed into the skin tight outfit, feeling self conscious as she always did when she first put on her dance clothes. She walked out into the main room again. "Mrs. B, this stuff is too small."
"No, it is perfect. You always wanted to wear your leotards too big." Mrs. B laughed at her former pupil. "Now, to the barre. You remember how to do the stretches, I know you do, so get started." Kat began to do her warm ups, she did remember it all. She stretched with the barre for 20 minutes. "Turn out Katherine." Kat did her turn out. "No, no. I know you can do better then that. Try again. You haven't been practicing at home have you?" Kat looked slightly ashamed, she hadn't been. It wasn't quite the 30 minutes that her teacher always insisted on in the past but she hadn't come here for a class after all. When that was done and the woman was happy that Kat was warmed up she went to the piano and started to play.
Kat heard the familiar strains of 'Swan Lake' fill the room and she started to move. She couldn't help it. She'd danced to this so many times, it was ingrained into her, no matter how many times she'd tried to give it up. She'd danced this ballet many times and knew why her instructor had chosen it.
Mrs. B picked this piece, this ballet because of the parallels that she drew between Kat's troubles and the moral of this piece. It is a tale of the triumph of good over evil, and the forgiveness of love, tempered by the reality of life that continues on. Kat danced like an angel, but Mrs. B knew she would. She danced the role of Odette, and she danced it well. Mrs. B wanted her to dance the role of the fragile sister. When she'd danced enough of the role that she was hot and sweaty and exhausted her teacher let her stop. She did feel better.
"See, you feel better don't you?"
"Of course. You were right." Kat smiled. "But I should go."
"Yes, go then. But Kat, Don't forget, you are what you are, and you are fine the way you are. Never let anyone try to convince you that you should change your stripes for them." Mrs. B went into her office and Kat changed and headed home. She had her life back in perspective just like she hoped. She'd known subconsciously where she had to go to get that focus back.
She had to drive by the Toretto's to get home. She saw Leon playing Basketball at the net over Dom's shed with Vince. She made sure he wouldn't know she had looked at him. She pulled into her driveway with a squeal and headed into her house.
There was a note from the guys saying that Connor had called and they headed down to his place. She could either join them or they'd catch up with her later. She decided she was in the mood to be alone and she headed out to the backyard. She pulled her lounge chair out into the sun and ran into the house to change into her bathing suit. She picked the purple one and then went to lie out. Her hair was still up in the knot she'd put it in for dancing and the hot sun felt good on her back and shoulders. She felt herself falling asleep in the sun. She was going to let herself sleep in the sun for awhile. If she got a burn then so be it. She'd put the stereo on and just let it play. She'd put the speakers in the window before she went into the backyard. She forgot what CD was in.
It was her 'Save the Last Dance' soundtrack. She loved that movie because of the parallels between her life and the main character's in the movie. They both danced and gave it up when their moms died. Of course Kat would never go back to it, she just didn't think she had it in her to and she didn't think she'd ever be good enough for Juilliard, she just did it every once in awhile to calm down now. But she'd been good at it as a child, could be good enough at it to be in a troupe now if she practiced but she doubted very much she'd ever be the Prima Ballerina her mother had been, the beautiful dancer her mother had always wanted her to be.
And maybe Katharine could have been that dancer, but Kat couldn't. The part of Katharine that could have been the beautiful, graceful, elegant ballerina died, she died right along with her mother in that car wreck. She'd left Kat behind and Kat wasn't beautiful or elegant. She was tough as she had to be and pretty enough to get by.
As if her thoughts weren't morose enough the soundtrack had a song called Crazy on it, about a person who's apologizing to someone for what they did, and how he's thinking of the girl and how he wished she'd come back. It had this line if you really love me then why are you leaving me. The chorus was 'I'm goin' crazy thinking about you baby'. She cursed herself for not checking the CD's just as she started to cry like a baby. Katharine had cried, Kat never did. Never. She didn't allow it. But this whole thing with Leon had made her cry more in the last month then she had in the 4 years leading up to it.
She cried through that song, then the cd changed in the changer. She figured she was safe then but then the next song started and it was Almost doesn't count by Brandy. She just couldn't win. She laughed at the irony of those two songs playing one after the other even while she cried her foolish head off over all that had happened.
Vince had come to talk to Kat about her spread in the import tuner. He wanted to thank her for talking about Jesse, cause it was obvious that Leon wasn't going to do it. He also wanted to see for himself if she was as over everything as Leon seemed to think she was. Vince knew that he and Kat were not friends but he couldn't believe anyone would just get over what she'd done. He knocked on the front door but no one answered. He knew she was in there, he'd seen her go by when he was shooting hoops with Leon.
He got worried when she didn't answer the door. Leon had told him what Kat had said about trying to kill herself once. He thought he heard music so he went around to the back. There was Kat, lying on her stomach on a lawn chair crying her heart out. Vince had been on Leon's side of things to that point. He knew that Leon had been messed up after what she'd done, but the reason why he had really been mad at her was because he'd believed Leon when he'd said that Kat obviously didn't even really care about it. Well here was proof she did in fact still care.
"Kat, you ok?" Vince asked. He was no good at this crying girl stuff. Hell, his disastrous ending to his relationship with his ex was proof of that.
"Vince?" She sniffled and asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to say hi, thank you for talking about Jesse and ask you how your trip went. You sure you're ok?"
"I'ma be aight. It's just the sad music, it got to me. I should go and change that over to something more upbeat." She tried to smile.
"Oh girl. It's tough huh?" Vince knew that as well as anyone.
"Yeah it is. But I fucked up and now I gotta pay the price." No one had really tried to talk to her candidly about what happened. Everyone treated her like she was made of spun sugar and she might shatter if they talked to her about it frankly instead of in sugar coated terms. She had a funny feeling that Vince wasn't the type to sugar coat anything. She wasn't far off.
"Well, yeah you did fuck up, but I mean from what I hear Leon isn't totally innocent in the whole deal."
"Maybe not but that's irrelevant now." Kat was still sort of crying.
"No it's not. You and my boy need ta have a talk about the whole mess Kat. You must know that."
"I thought so once Vince, but I don't think so now. I mean he said he didn't want to see me again. I guess I owe it to him to respect that. If he wants to talk that's fine but I'm not seeking him out."
"I guess I can understand that. But he still cares about you Kat. I know he does. He did nothing but mope around the whole time you were gone. And you shoulda seen the look on his face when he saw you in the car mags. Plus, I'm the one on our team with the moppy spot. I told him I didn't wanna share."
"I heard about you and your ex. Why are you so sure that Leon and I need to talk when you and that girl never did?"
"Well, that's a whole lot of history. I know. Come to our place after races tonight and I'll tell ya. It'll give Leon lots of chance to take the initiative to talk to ya too."
"I don't know Vince. It's not likely a great idea."
"Sure it is. Wear something that'll knock 'em out and then come as my guest. He'll see you with other guys and get jealous. It'll make him realize he still wants you and then you two can talk out your problems. It's perfect. Plus if you get me drunk enough I'll tell you about me'n Ny..My ex." Vince still hated to say her name.
"I'm definitely going to races and I'll think about your offer."
Vince sat down on the chair beside her and put his feet up. She was still sniffling. "So you know you'll be at races eh?"
"For sure. I didn't know there were races tonight but the guys might have." Kat could never stay away now that she knew about them. Leon was just gonna have to get use to the idea that they were part of the same world and they'd be seeing each other around. Even if Kat didn't go to the party as Vince's guest.
"Maybe I'll challenge you for a shot at that pussy show car you're runnin'." Vince teased. She sputtered like a cat in a rain storm for a second.
"Pussy show car! You better challenge me son, and you better have 1000 bucks to give away. I'll show you show car." She looked so indignant, but it made her stop crying, which was all Vince had been after in the first place.
"Well, I mean, the cars in the 'Import Tuner' are all show and no go, everyone knows that." Vince laughed at the look on her face. She figured him out in that moment.
"You're teasing me." She smiled at him. "I was worried at first because I am invited to take the car to 'Hot Import Nights' and compete. I thought you were pickin' on me for that."
"'Import Tuner' and 'Hot Import Nights' in one week? That's quite a week."
"Yeah, Harry's super. He hooked me up with everything while we were away. I know he did it to take my mind off things at home and it worked while we were gone. But now that everything's right in my face again it's still hard." She frowned.
"It'll be ok."
"How are you so sure Vince? Things aren't ok for you. You still don't have your girl." Kat just looked sincere. She wanted to know from someone who'd been where she was at this point.
"I do aight. I mean I still miss her and I'd jump at the chance to get back with her and all but I'm ok now. I don't think about it every second anymore like I did in the past." Vince rubbed her back. "You'll get him back, or you'll get over him. Pretty girl like you'll be able to get any guy. I mean I know that Leon's one of the best, but if you don't have him you'll get someone just as good."
"Aw thanks Vince. I know you just want me to stop crying. I bet you thought about runnin' away when you saw me bawlin' like I was. Guys can't cope with crying females. Hell, I find it hard. But you men, you get all flustered an shit." She smiled at him.
"Hey, I'm just tellin' it like it is Kat, there's tons of guys who'd jump at the chance to take you out. Hell, take some of 'em up on it, date some other people. He'll take the hint he's jealous and doesn't wanna see you with other guys soon enough and you'll have him back."
"You think so?" She asked. She wondered if he really felt like that or if he was just trying to make her feel better.
"Hell yeah I think so." Vince patted her on the head. "Now, go get ready so you're ready to roll at 12." Vince stood up.
"Vince, it's only 8pm."
"I know you must be just like Mia'n Letty, it'll take you 4 hours to pick out an outfit and do your hair." Kat stood up.
"I'll have you know that it only takes me 3 hours to get ready. Not four." She stood with her hand on her hip and stared at him. She tried to keep a serious look on her face but she cracked up. "Well shit." Something had occurred to her.
"Wha?" Vince asked.
"Well, if the guys don't come home I'm not goin' anywhere. I'm not goin' alone." Kat pouted.
"Call them and make sure they come home."
"Good idea!" She smiled and turned to go in the house. She stopped and turned back to Vince. "Thanks Vince. I mean it, I really appreciate you taken' the time to talk to me like this."
"No problem. Just think about what I said. I expect to see you at my house later with a shot of tequila in your hand." He walked toward her fence. ."I'll be joining you."
"We'll see." She called after him. "We'll see." She said to herself and headed in the house to get ready to roll.