"Kate… Kate… Wake-up, Kate." Slowly, I open my right eye then my left. I rub the bleariness from them to see I'm in my bedroom. The curtains are drawn back, and sunlight is flooding the room. A painful pulse runs up the back of my head as I try to sit up, which makes me lie down again. As I press on my skull, I realize I can hear classical music playing probably coming from my kitchen radio. There's also the sound of dishes clinking and water running. I didn't wash my dishes from last night or this morning.
Great, I'm in my home but I don't know how I got here and there is someone playing music I don't like in my kitchen while washing my gross, dirty dishes. Fantastic. The water turns off and the clinking stops. A moment later, footsteps are coming up the hallway. I snuggle in the sheets and pretend like I'm still asleep. I didn't have time to grab the nightstick in my nightstand, but that won't stop me from defending myself if necessary. Next, the smell of something fantastic waves past me and I feel a small weight on my legs.
"You can stop pretending you're asleep, now." I keep my eyes closed and my breath even. I know that voice. "Fine, play dead. I guess I'm gonna have to eat these bacon and eggs all on my lonesome." The weight lifts from my legs. I pop open my right eye. Half-turned from me with a tray of food in her hands is Linda.
"Wait."
Linda stops and looks at me with a big, slightly stupid grin on her face. "Morning, sleepy head. How are you feeling?"
I sit up again; my head still hurts but not as bad as before. "Better than a minute ago."
She laughs and sets the tray in front of me. I sit crisscross and dig in. She smiles before she goes to the windows. When they open it lets in the sounds of birds singing and the smell of freshly baked bread.
"Hold on." I look at my clock. It's 7:15 in the morning. "Oh, that's not funny. Tell me that clock is wrong."
"I'm afraid not." Linda comes over and sits on my bed. "You banged your head pretty hard on that desk." She reaches up and touches the left side of my forehead. I hiss and pull away from her hand. The pain is pulsing through my head again. "I guess it still hurts."
"You think?" I lie down and pull a pillow over my face, the breakfast on my bed forgotten. "How did I get to my apartment?" Linda lifts the tray off me. I guess she places it on the floor because she doesn't get up from the bed.
"After you fell, I checked you out. You were okay, but it worried me that you weren't waking up. I guess the hit to your head was nastier than expected. Anyway, I took your keys and locked up the store for you. Then I took you home."
"How did you know where I lived?"
"I called Barbara and told her what happened. She gave me your address." Great, Barbara is never going to let this go.
"So, you tucked me into bed and left?"
There's the distinct sound of a scoff before she answers. "Of course not. I crashed on your couch waiting for you to wake up." I take the pillow off my face and look at Linda. Unlike usual, her brown hair is down and flowing around her shoulders. It's long and stops right above her breasts. She's wearing PJ pants and a fitted t-shirt. I can see the strap from her exercise bra peeking out the shirt's collar. Her pajamas are all white and with the sunlight shining behind her she looks like an angel.
"Hi." Linda's eyebrows knit briefly before she smiles and pushes her glasses up her nose.
"Hello. Do you want to finish your breakfast?" I nod like a child enamored by her hero and watch Linda lean down to pick the tray off the floor. Her shirt rides up slightly revealing a sliver of skin. As soon as Linda sits up, I turn my eyes to something else. "Katherine, are you okay? Your face is all red." I'm sure I turn a deeper shade at the use of my full name. "Kate, I think you need to eat. If you turn any redder your face will match your hair." I wait until the blood leaves my face and sit up to eat my breakfast. Linda stands up and walks to the foot of my bed. I stop eating and watch her. "By the way, we need to talk. I was going to take you out for a late lunch-slash-early dinner yesterday but the 'you getting knocked out' was kind of a hindrance."
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Eat. We'll talk once you're dressed." Linda yawns and stretches her arms over her head. I can see the muscles in her body stretch as her shirt reveals a new sliver of skin. Good Grief. Linda pushes her glasses up her nose and walks out my room. I can hear her bare-feet padding down the hallway to the kitchen. I feel the blush rise from my neck and meet my hairline. I stare at my breakfast and hear the classical music turn up in the kitchen. A cold shower, yes, a cold shower is sorely needed.
XXX
I finish breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and orange juice, and jump in the shower. I keep the water as cold as I can handle and clean up. When I leave the shower, it hits me I don't have a change of clothes. I usually dry off a tiny bit then stroll down the hallway naked, but with Linda in the kitchen that wouldn't work. So, I do what I must. I wrap myself with a towel and head to my room. What I don't see coming is Linda being in my room grabbing the breakfast tray. I figured she would have gotten it by now, but no. I'm frozen in place as she bends down to grab the tray and turns around. I expect her to freeze in place at seeing me in nothing but a towel, but without batting an eyelash she smiles and walks towards me. Her warm arm brushes against my cold one as she passes. The shiver that shakes my body must be noticeable. I close the door behind me and drop my towel on the floor. It is going to be a long day.
XXX
By the time I get dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, it's half past eight in the morning. I open my bedroom door and head to the kitchen. The classical station has been changed to pop. My kitchen is wonderfully clean, and Linda is flipping through a newspaper. She doesn't notice me, at least I think she doesn't because when the next song comes on she sings with it. It's not loud but I can hear it from where I'm standing. The song is an old Kelly Clarkson one.
"Don't tell me you like Kelly Clarkson?" Linda jumps in her seat. I laugh and walk into the kitchen. Her eyes narrow at me from behind those thick frames.
"It's not my fault. My sophomore roommate in college was obsessed with her. It was the only music she ever played. And since I didn't have any favorite artists then, I listened to the albums with her. Besides, what's wrong with Kelly Clarkson?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong with her. I just didn't peg you for a Kelly fan."
"Well, you should know by now people are never what they appear to be. I'm a perfect example of that."
"Really? How so?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk Katherine. We've only just met. I can't reveal all of me to you yet. That would be no fun." Linda winks at me. I look away from her and pretend to look for something to eat in the fridge. I don't dare face her until my blush is gone. "Careful Katherine, if you keep your head in there any longer you'll give me the impression you're just hiding that blush of yours from me." The blush that had been disappearing came back with a vengeance as soon as Linda brought it up. I am a woman at an age I will not divulge, yet I'm blushing like a teenager. This is ridiculous.
Blush or no blush, I grab a carton of apple juice from the fridge and a glass from the cabinets and pour myself a cup. I'm certain the blush is gone by the time I put the carton away and sit across from Linda. She is finishing the Sudoku puzzle in the back of newspaper, already done with the crossword and word search.
"I generally dislike crosswords, but this one was easy," she says while tapping on the puzzle. "The theme was superheroes." I sit and watch Linda finish the puzzle. I'm amazed by how quickly she moves through the word scramblers and another number puzzle. When the last one is solved, she flips to the comics section. "Funny how I work in a newspaper, but my favorite sections are the comics and the puzzles." Linda sends a crooked smile at me and pushes her glasses up her nose.
"You know, what people read tends to tell you about them." Linda looks at me from over her glasses, then folds the paper, places it on the counter, and clasps her hands on it.
"Really? What does all this say about me?"
"Well," I lean forward on the counter and make it look like I'm trying to scrutinize her. "You read the funnies, so that says you have a nice sense of humor, since it's your favorite section. Then there's the puzzle section, and from how fast you finished it you have to be very smart if not brilliant."
"Wow, how... insightful." Linda laughs at me then goes back to reading the paper. It feels strange sitting with her in my kitchen so early in the morning. Oddly enough, it's also quite nice. I don't quickly attach to people. It takes months, even years, for me to be this comfortable with people. But something about Linda invites me in. Her warmth, her personality; I'm not quite sure what it is I like about her.
"Linda." She looks up at me. "I want to apologize for this morning." She's confused by what I'm saying. "I want to apologize about the towel thing."
"Oh… Wait, why do you have to apologize? I'm the one who invaded your room. Besides, after seeing Wonder Woman walk around in the nude so many times, you get used to it." Linda freezes as soon as the words leave her mouth.
"Excuse me?"
"What I-what I meant was that I've been covering the peace talks in DC. That's where I've been the past several days. Anyhow, the only time I could speak to Wonder Woman was in the early morning and she always takes a shower in the morning. Every time I spoke to her, she had just gotten out of the shower. I guess growing up on an island with nothing but women doesn't make you shy."
"I guess." I return to nursing my apple juice while Linda returns to the newspaper. Long day. For sure.