He didn´t expect to meat Catherine here in Miami. He stared at her in surprise for a moment, leaned back in his chair and tried to process the sight in front of him. She wore a bikini in blue and dark green with black edges and looked absolutely stunning in it. Her sheer presence dumbfounded him and he was aware that he was ogling her but couldn´t help it.
When he looked up into her eyes he saw her determination, the way she stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest, not quite amused to see him.
„What are you doing here?" - She asked dryly. She had been on the beach for half an hour and no sign of Erika, but Vincent was always on her mind. Meeting him was something else, though.
„I took a week off for one of Erikas jobs, but... what are you doing here?"
„Manuel got work to do here and I … decided to take a week off ….!" now she giggled.
She gestured around her:" It was totally worth it, don´t you think? The weather and those cocktails!"
He smiled at her generously, glad to be around her for once in a relaxed surrounding: „Looks like we were left to stay on the beach for the week."
This was a question rather than a statement and secretly he hoped that she would agree to spend time with him.
„Right... one week." she sighed.
„Want a drink at the bar?" he asked, not quite sure if she would push him away or agree to his offer.
„Catherine, it´s not what you think, it's not a date! Please, give me a chance, we have a lot to talk about."
„Well, fine..." she sighed
No matter what had happened between them in the past, Catherine just couldn´t deny the pure physical attraction she felt towards Vincent. He was as strong and muscular as she remembered, she hadn´t expect anything less. Eversince she knew him he had been a very physical person, always in action.
„What can I get you?" the waiter asked
„Soda for me, please!" she answered, and her gaze wandered over to Vincent.
„Get me the same?" he didn´t look at the waiter for a second but observed Catherine closely.
„So, any news about the wedding?" her attempt on small talk, her curiosity beating the embarrassment, the fear of suddently getting too close, becoming too private.
„We... had to postpone the festivities. We´ll get four more months to prepare everything."
The strange sadness in his eyes disturbed her.
„Vincent, why are you going to marry her? That´s crazy!" JT exclaimed surprised.
„You really wanna know? I hoped to get Catherine out of my mind, is that what you want to hear?
„Ohh, man! Will you ever work that out? Seriously, you´ve screwed up with Catherine more times than I can count, Alex, your escapade with Tori, I wonder why she kept taking you back, anyway.
You can´t help it, can you? Things don´t really work out when you two are together but when you are apart, you two feel miserable. Believe me, Tess filled me in on Cat´s feelings.
K, dude, look at me. Do you love Erika? More than Cat?"
He stood tall in front of Vincent, demanding answers but the look on Vincent´s face said more than a thousand words.
„Vincent..." sighed, reassured in his persuasion.
„Remember when you tried to convince me to join `Team Cat` before Muirfield took you?
You are supposed to be brave, do you get it? Get a grip and go back to that old self of you, ok?"
Vincent had just listened to JT´s speech and tried to process the flood of information.
Now the only thing he could get out was something unintelligible, close to „How...? „
JT rose from the couch in searched the table, before he handed Vincent a crinkled piece of paper.
„Tess is so gonna kill me for this! Here is Cat´s adress, in case you wanna talk to her!"
„You´re lucky if you get to tell you the good news before she watches ´Good morning America`" JT mumbled.
„Vincent? So, what do you say!" he didn´t get the question.
„Uhh, sorry. What did you ask?"
„No, it´s ok! It was stupid anyway."
„How have you been? I mean... after we broke up, since... you know?."
He wanted to change the subject, make the conversation about her, not him.
„I've been good but do you really want to discuss this now?" ´fine´wasn´t quite true but the weather was clearly too sunny for those cloudy topics.
„Are you sure that you are ok? You dont look well...!" Catherine didn´t want to talk about the past, and Vincent didn´t look so well either.
„Yeah, uhhm, that´s because I´m not. Look, I´ve kept thinking about the wedding a lot and... It`s just so confusing. I don´t really know if I´m ready to get married." She listened closely but was totally stupefied by now.
Deep inside she knew where this thoughts were coming from: he was supposed to be her future, somewhere on the way Tess and JT had commented, something about „destiny, faith, epic love".
„Vincent, you´ll be a good husband!" she tried to reassure him.
„You will be fine, ok?"
„You know this means a lot to me, don´t you?" he smiled mildly.
This time she smiled like she used to, her typical laugh, crinkled nose and all:" I do! Aaand, in case you have to deal with another attack of serious wedding angst..." she grabbed a pen and wrote her new phone number on a napkin. She had changed it with the intention to leave her old life behind, and because JT wouldn´t stop calling.
„But – I have to go, I left my bag on the chair and I´m supposed to meat up with Noah!"and before she left Vincent standing at the bar she added:"It felt good, you know – talking to you!"
Vincent looked down at the napkin in his hand and shook his head lightly before he cracked a smile. This was a step into the right direction.
Hey guys, hope you like this chapter. I love him. What do you think of the episode? Do you like the way you act vincent? Please review, I read all your comments. Please review. Thank you so much dear, Thisisjulchen!