Chapter Five
Well, it was official. Kim's life was over. She was going to die of embarrassment. Right here. Right now. This was it. Game over.
Kylie had always denied it vehemently, but now Kim had definite proof that the little sneak had read her diary. What had she ever done to the spirits to deserve this?
"His name is Jared, and he's just a classmate," Kim informed her sister, attempting to sound stern, but failing horribly due to her intense mortification. "And he's not buying you anything because he's just here to bring me the work I missed today. That's it."
Even though she was studiously attempting not to make eye contact with Jared—a.k.a. the most gorgeous man alive—due to her embarrassment, Kim couldn't help but notice the hurt expression that flashed across Jared's face before he spoke.
"I really don't mind," He told her earnestly, and Kim was instantly reminded of a dog trying to please its owner.
"It's okay, really," Kim told him. "Kylie will be fine without it, won't you?"
"But I want to," Jared insisted before Kylie could say anything. He turned from Kim to face Kylie. "What kind of juice do you want? Orange? Grape? Cranberry? Pineapple? Nectarine? Boysenberry?"
"Orange!" Kylie exclaimed before Kim could make any further protests, giggling at all of the options Jared had listed off. "Please!"
"Okay, I'll be back in like ten minutes," Jared told her, sent one last smile in Kim's direction, and then disappeared down the hall. Kim was vaguely aware of the sound of the front door closing behind him.
What the hell had just happened?
"Kimmie?" Kylie's voice sounded from somewhere to Kim's right. "Kimmie, are you okay?"
"I…I…" Kim found herself unable to even form a coherent thought, let alone vocalize anything. Seriously though, what had just happened?
Jared had come to her house. Jared Cameron. The Jared Cameron. Jared Cameron had come to Kim's house. To see Kim. Jared had come looking for her. For Kim. The boy she had secretly been in love with for years had come to her house looking for her.
Clearly she had slept through some kind of apocalypse this morning, because there was no way this was real life.
"Kimmie!" Alright, so maybe the deafening shout right in her ear was proof that she wasn't actually dead quite yet.
"Ow…" Kim said pointedly, leaning away from Kylie.
"You were making funny noises," Kylie informed her sister, her young face overly serious. "I was just making sure you were okay."
"Thanks for that," Kim said, rubbing her ear.
"Your boyfriend is very nice," Kylie said happily, apparently over her concern for her sister. "I like him."
"He's not my boyfriend," Kim replied immediately. "That's the most he's ever said to me in my entire life. I didn't even think he knew I existed. He…I…I don't know what's going on…"
"Well, he's buying me orange juice right now," Kylie told her, still smiling away. "He's very nice," She repeated. "Hey, Kimmie?" She asked suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Why are you wearing a bathrobe?"
Kim's eyes widened in alarm as she looked down to see that she was indeed still clothed in her bathrobe and nothing else.
Oh. Dear. Lord. Jared Cameron had come to her house…been in her bedroom…and she was only wearing a bathrobe.
This situation was officially beyond mortifying.
There was really only one solution Kim could see for all of this. The Middle of Nowhere, Washington just wasn't going to cut it. She was going to have to hide out in Antarctica for the rest of her life. She wouldn't have to embarrass herself through another afternoon like this one if she was a hermit living in the most inhospitable place on the planet.
"You should probably get dressed." Kylie's voice broke Kim out of her thoughts once more. "I think Jared liked your bathrobe because he kept staring at you, but if Mommy comes home soon she'll probably tell you that it's not polite to wear it when you have company over."
Kim groaned—Kylie was right, there was no way Jared wouldn't have noticed what she was wearing—and stood up to find something to wear that would hopefully be presentable.
Ten minutes later found the two sisters in the kitchen, with Kim—who was now fully dressed with her damp hair tide back in a braid—standing at the stove heating up some soup while Kylie sat at the table still in her pajamas. That was where they were when Jared returned, having let himself in through the front door, a paper bag in hand.
"Sorry it took so long," Jared said immediately, setting the bag on the counter beside the fridge. "There was a line."
"Can't have more than five people in there at a time," Kim muttered sarcastically. Her gaze remained on the soup she was stirring over the stove, but she saw Jared's grin out of the corner of her eye. Was this really real life?
But really, it was a legitimate question. Jared Cameron had come to bring Kim homework that she'd missed, and then he'd gone out of his way to run a completely unnecessary errand for her, and now he was laughing at her pathetic jokes? She was probably still sleeping. Or, even more realistically, Kylie had gotten her sick and this was a fever-induced hallucination. Yes, that made perfect sense.
"Oh!" Kylie suddenly exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "You bought the good orange juice!"
Now that made Kim look up, and she couldn't help the groan she let out when she saw the carton of juice Jared had just pulled out of the bag. For some reason that was not immediately discernible to Kim, his face fell at this reaction.
"What's wrong?" He demanded. "Have I screwed up already?"
"Already?" Kim questioned in confusion, but continued on without waiting for a reply, "No, it'll be fine, I suppose," She sighed, "That's more sugar than I'd normally be willing to give her, but I guess she has to get her energy back somehow…"
"I can return it!" Jared insisted instantly, moving to replace the carton in the bag. "And I'll get the right kind. I'll go right now!"
"It's fine," Kim reassured him, taking a step closer to him—attempting to suppress the sudden feeling of giddiness rising in her—and resting a hand gently on his arm to prevent him from making another unnecessary trip to the store. It would, after all, be a pretty lame hallucination if the secret love of her life kept leaving her to run errands.
Jared seemed to freeze as soon as Kim's hand made contact with his arm, and his gaze lowered to look where she was touching him. Embarrassed yet again, and internally chastising herself, Kim snatched her hand back quickly.
"Sorry," She murmured, hastily looking away from him and back to the pot of soup which, she suddenly realized, was in danger of boiling over at any moment. Forgetting all about Jared's indecipherable reaction, Kim quickly turned the stove off and switched the pot to a cooler burner. "Crackers?" She asked without turning around, her hand reaching up to open the cabinet above the stove so that she could pull out a soup bowl.
"Not today," came Kylie's reply. "I think that would be too much food."
"And we wouldn't want a repeat of last night, now, would we?" Kim asked in a teasing tone as she ladled some of the hot soup into the bowl.
"What happened last night?"
Kim jumped at the sound of Jared's voice—how she could have completely forgotten in such a short span of time that he was standing right there, she had no idea.
"I threw up!" Kylie said cheerfully before Kim could respond. "A lot. Me and Kimmie stayed up almost all night because of it."
"Oh," Jared said shortly, and Kim couldn't help but look back at him when she heard his tone. The squeamish expression on his face caused her to let out an unexpected laugh.
"What?" Jared demanded immediately, his expression lightening. "What's so funny?"
Kim shook her head, her face reddening slightly as she turned back to the food she was getting ready for her sister.
"C'mon," Jared wheedled, stepping closer to Kim, "What is it?"
Was it just Kim or had the temperature in the kitchen just risen about ten degrees?
"Would you like something to eat?" Kim blurted out, awkwardly attempting to change the subject so as to avoid having to awkwardly explain to him that she was so amused by the face he had been making.
"Normally I wouldn't turn down food…but I've always thought soup was kind of nasty, to tell you the truth."
Kim paused and turned to look at him, the incredulous look on her face quickly morphing into a grin. "I couldn't agree more." She could feel her face reddening even more as Jared returned her grin and so turned to Kylie, who was still sitting at the table. "You can go sit on the couch and watch T.V. if you want; I'll bring your food to you."
"Okay," Kylie agreed happily, standing up and scurrying out of the room. Well, she was definitely feeling better then.
Kim turned back to the cabinets in order to get a cup for Kylie's juice but instead came face-to-face with Jared who was holding Kylie's soup bowl in one hand and a cup of orange juice in the other.
"I'll bring this to her," Jared informed her cheerfully, following Kylie's path out of the kitchen.
Kim could only stare after him as he left. Honestly, she knew she wasn't hallucinating. Well, probably not, anyway. But for real though, why was Jared being so…nice? It wasn't that he'd ever been actively mean to her before, but she couldn't think of a single reason why he was being so helpful right now. Surely it couldn't be just because she'd lent him a few notes for class…
The indecipherable sound of Jared's voice followed by Kylie's giggles broke Kim from her thoughts. What did it really matter what Jared's reason was for acting the way he was right now? All that mattered was that he was here, and Kim was newly determined to make the best of it. Who knew how long it would last, after all? With that thought in mind, Kim crossed the kitchen to the refrigerator; if Jared wasn't too picky about food, they were bound to have something in there that he'd like.
Kim had just finished digging through the freezer when Jared finally returned to the kitchen.
"Your sister is cute," He commented, leaning casually against the doorframe.
"You bought her something she wanted," Kim replied, turning to face him, "Good luck ever getting rid of her now. So, I was going to make myself some lunch…do you want to…er…stay?"
"Sure," Jared replied immediately. "What are you making?"
"I was thinking hamburgers," Kim said, indicating the frozen patties she'd found in the back of the freezer. "So, on a scale of one to three, how many should I make you?"