Chapter 2: Kim's Hat

Kim's Point of View

We walk up the narrow staircase. I am walking in front. His hand is on the small of my back, gently leading me toward his apartment. He turns off on the third floor and leads me to room Three-C. He unlocks the door.

"Please don't be frightened by the complete disarray of my apartment. I just moved in yesterday." He tells me with a smirk.

"Tommy, I lived with you, remember? Nothing can scare me at this point." I joke.

"Haha. Very funny." He responds dryly. He opens the door to reveal lots and lots of brown boxes. I think that I might see a couch and a chair buried near the window and I can see the top shelves of a bookshelf.

"Wow. Tommy. Just wow."

"Thanks Kim." He says monotone. In response, I turn and kiss his cheek.

"So," I start. "Let's get started. Shall we?"

"Sure. Do you want to take off your hat Kim?" He asks. When I don't respond, he takes my hand and pulls me toward him, so I have to face him. "Kim, what's wrong?" Again, I don't answer. Instead, I look down at his hand. "Come with me." He whispers.

He leads me into his bedroom and sits me on the bed. "Beautiful. Hey," Tommy lifts my chin so I have to look at him. "Kimberly, what's wrong? Why don't you want to take your hat off?"

I know that I don't want to explain it, but he will have to see sooner or later, so I take it off. My hair is gone. I now have really short hair, little more than fuzz.

"Baby, what happened?" He asks while lightly running his fingertips over my fuzz covered skull.

"Chemo." I mumble.

"Oh. It's alright Kim. It will grow back. If it will make you feel better, I'll shave my head and you'll have more hair than me again." He offers.

"No. I like your hair. Don't shave it off." I answer. "I love you Tommy. Come on. We have boxes to unpack."

Hours later, I collapse on Tommy's bed. "I'm exhausted" I exclaim as he collapses next to me.

"I can't believe we unpacked everything. Slave driver." He jokes.

"Hey. It had to get done . . ." I start.

"Yeah, but not all in one day!"

I snuggle into his chest and he automatically puts his arms around my shoulders. I let my eyes close for a minute and release a heavy sigh. "What's the matter?" He asks in a loving, yet worried tone.

"Nothing Handsome. I'm just tired. I'm so glad to be with you again and I-" I am interrupted by his ringing phone.

"Give me a second Beautiful." He picks up the phone. "Hello?" He sits back down next to me. "Oh, hey!" I lay my head in his lap and he strokes my forehead with his right hand. "Actually, I'm done unpacking." He smiles at me. "I made a friend. She helped me unpack today." He contorted his face at the person on the other line. He looked rather annoyed, but like he had a plan to annoy them as well. "She's actually laying on my bed right now. She's very beautiful." I had to snicker when I distinctly heard Jason's voice yelling through the phone. "You won't believe it Jase, her name is Kimberly. She claims to know you."

I distinctly hear Jason yell "Tommy, you're an ass. Put Kimmie on the phone."

"Jason would like a word with you." Tommy chuckles.

I take the phone from him. "Yes Jason."

"'Yes Jason'! That's all you have to say! You left in the middle of the night, you had me worried sick! You never called. You never wrote me. What the hell! I was so worried! Don't do that Kimmie! I thought you might be gone for good." Jason rants.

"I'm sorry Jase. It was for the best. I'm okay now. I've been cancer free for three months. I'm in college here." I answer. I want to make this short; I am tired from all that work. "Jase, I'm going to go. I can give you the number for my house, but I am so tired right now."

"Fine. Give me your number. But don't you think that you're off the hook."

"Fine Jase. It's 593-696-7465. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Alright. Bye Kimmie."

"Bye Jason." I hang up the phone and look up at Tommy. "He is going to have my head Tommy." I complain.

"I think you need a kiss." He smiles. I nod and he leans down and lightly kisses my lips. "You look tired."

"I am tired." I answer.

Tommy lays down next to me and pulls me close. We fall asleep in each other's arms. We both sleep the night away and I forget to call my roommates and tell them where I am.

"Hey Beautiful. You want to wake up?" He tickles my sides. I make a grunt of disapproval. Tommy snickers. "Kim, you have to get up sometime today. I want to spend time with you before I have to start classes tomorrow. I don't know anything about this town. I need your help. Please wake up. Come on Kim. Wake up."

I release a heavy sigh. I am on my right side with my back against Tommy's chest and stomach. I turn so I am on my back. I stretch my arms over my head and let out a big yawn.

Tommy plants a kiss on my lips. Then says jokingly, "Yes Kim, you have lovely tonsils. That's the first thing I want to see in the morning. And your breath smells really good too." I chuckle and hit him playfully on the chest.

"I should probably go back to the café. I need to get my car so I can go home and change." I say. I am really stalling. I don't want to get out of bed. It is so comfortable and I couldn't be happier. Being with Tommy makes my life so much brighter. And I've learned that time apart really does make the heart grow fonder.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asks simply.

"Do you really want to?" I question back. I burry myself more into the sheets and blankets. They smell like him. It has been so long . . . too long.

"I do." I smile in response. "Can you give me a few minutes so I can get a shower and get ready? You can see what's in the kitchen. I know I at least have some cereal. My mom went to the store when we got here yesterday. I'm not sure what's there though, I haven't looked yet."

Before I can answer, my stomach does for me. My insides let out a big gurgle. "That sounds like a good idea." I say embarrassed. He grins and heads toward the bathroom. I force myself out of the warm, comfy bed and walk to the kitchen.

Once in the tiny, crammed kitchen, I start going through the cabinets. I find a set of brand new kitchen ware (glasses, bowls, plates, etc.) in the first one I open up. The next one is full of spice bottles, sugar, salt and pepper, and on the top shelf I can see cleaning supplies. The next cabinet is stuffed with pasta, rolls, and bread. I finally find cereal in the next cabinet.

I pick out a box of whole wheat cereal. I take one of the bowls, find a spoon, and get the milk out of the refrigerator. I deplete the contents of the bowl quickly.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Tommy asks appearing in the doorway. I place my bowl in the sink and we start our walk toward my car.

"You can come up Tommy. I'd imagine that my roommates are still asleep. Monica and Karen always sleep late on the weekends." I say as we exit the car and head toward the elevator. Once we reach the tenth floor, we depart from the elevator. We walk to room thirteen and I unlock the door. I open it to find two very angry looking women, my roommates. Tommy is still out of their line of sight.

"KIMBERLY ANN HART! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?" Karen screams.

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN CALL! WE WERE UP ALL NIGHT WORRYING." Monica adds.

"Calm down-" I try.

"Calm down! CALM DOWN! We thought someone kidnapped you. You could have been raped. You could have been hit by a truck. We didn't know what was happening. You didn't call. Don't tell me to CALM DOWN!" Monica explodes.

"Guys, I'm sorry. I just-" I can't finish before Karen interrupts me.

"How do you think I would have felt if we found you dead on the side of some street? How do you think it would have gone if I had to call your boyfriend in Angel Grove, and I had to tell him what happened to you? Hmm? So where were you that you couldn't even call us?" Karen says with a mixture of anger, relief, and annoyance.

"I was with my boyfriend from Angel Grove." I state calmly as I pull Tommy into view. I stride into the main room of our apartment with Tommy trailing me. Both Monica and Karen look at me dumbfounded. "Now, if I could explain." The two women nod, so I resume. "I bumped into Tommy yesterday morning. Literally bumped into him. I came back here, both of you were still asleep. I went out to lunch with him and I left you a note." I walk over to the refrigerator and pull off a post-it. "'Meeting up with someone. Don't know what time I'll be home. Karen's turn to food shop. Love, Kim.' I take it that we have no food then?" I ask after reading the note off to them.

Both look at me sheepishly. I continue anyway. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I helped him unpack his apartment and feel asleep. But still, you two should take a look around you once in a while. It's kind of hard to miss a yellow post-it in such an empty place."

I turn to Tommy. "I'll be out in a few minutes. You are about to be bombarded with questions." I smirk. I then turn to Karen and Monica. "Remember, he's mine. If he tells me that you so much as stared at him a moment too long . . ." I walk out of the room and into my bedroom.

So, that's chapter 2...

Thanks to my reviewers... Ghostwriter, TrueRomantic, karone-sakura, CrystalClear444, hansongirl14, and SHiNiGAMiLENNE

spoiler: I'm going to sing (or at least hum) "Joy To The World" (by three-dog-night) continuously backstage to annoy Jeremiah. He deserves it...