Chapter 2/5 Wild Child
Well North Carolina isn't California, I'll tell you that much. It's hot and humid and the ocean is green instead of blue. But Grandpa picked me up, in my half alive state and brought me to his house.
Waking up early sucks, when you are jet lagged. But I have to keep doing it. Well the room Grandpa put me in did strangely feel like home. The walls were painted red and on them, I mean directly on them, was paintings, including a big bulldog over the queen size bed. Along the walls were empty shelves, for what ever reason.
Getting up I took a shower, in the private bath, in order to get the cobwebs out. Next it was the routine of the pills; finally I was able to dress in my skate gear. I guess skate boarding in the streets was frowned upon, but I did remember this park with a basketball court by the river.
I found a note from Grandpa telling me we had plans for dinner. Well I owed him that much. He would be busy all day, but he left me a car to drive around in. Sweet Grandpa is just as indulgent as my mom.
Grabbing my board I headed to the driveway and found the car. It was a classic red hardtop sport car. Sweet! I'm so spoiled; I threw my board into the car and drove to the park.
What sucked about the park was the only hard top was the basketball court. Well at least there were picnic benches I could use. After setting up a course I started to hard core skate.
Cee always stressed to us girls when we skated to wear protection, usual jokes followed about how could condoms protect us when we skate, the adults have always been very open about sex with us. When I would go to skate parks I would wear pads, sure all the time. Around school and just goofing around, hell no! Just like today, Cee would flip.
Dirty Little Secret Number 5: They think am I prefect angel. Hardly! Usually I'm the hell raiser, it drives Hales crazy. Sawyer loves it and is not opposed to be right next to me ninety percent of the time. You see Hales would bail me out of jail, Sawyer would be right next to me laughing about the time we had. I'm a self-proclaimed Wildchild.
"Hey what the hell are you doing?" a voice boomed in the morning. It caused me to loose concentration and fall. Yup I landed hard, it wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last. But each time it reminds me why Cee stresses protection.
I rolled onto my butt and looked up. These two men have to be father and son. They looked so much alike. The older one had a frown on his face and a basketball under his arm, while the younger one had a look of concern. They both had the most beautiful eyes.
"Are you okay?" the younger man asked, and offered his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet. His old man stared me down.
"What were you doing to this court?" the older man asked.
"I was skating," I said.
"Well this isn't the palce for it," he said.
"Dad, let me handle this," the younger man said, claming his father down. He turned to me with those beautiful eyes and I swear he was checking me out. Why do I suddenly feel all creeped out? I'm use to guys checking me out, in fact I encourage it.
Dirty Little Secret Number 6: I have a weakness for beautiful eyes, especial expressive blue eyes. But Jamie's just creeps me out.
"Hey I'm Jamie Scott. Don't worry about my Dad, this place has a lot of good memories for him," he said.
"I'm Kas," I said and glared at him," I was just doing my morning thing. Don't worry I'll put your precious court back the way I found it. Also tell your old man he doesn't have to worry about seeing me again."
I know I was being a bitch. Normally I'm quite the opposite. Something about Jamie Scott checking me out pissed me off.
I started moving the benches off the court and I heard them talking. For what ever reason I someone blessed me with great hearing. So I could usually ease dropping wasn't much of a problem, which I never did, yeah right!
"Jamie, doesn't she look familiar?" The older man asked.
"Yeah! Except for the curly hair she looks like Lily," Jamie said.
The older man must of sighed, "Too weird."
Shaking my head I finished up and grabbed my board. I sure did hope Scott was a common name in Tree Hill. If Lucas Scott was anything like these two tehn I'll have to find a new favorite author.
Just as I got back into the car my cell phone went off. My ring tone is I want to be sedated by The Ramones, ironic I know. I checked out the phone and smiled.
"Hey Jen," I said.
"Kas, I heard you finally came out east," she said.
"Yup, I'm in Tree Hill right now."
"Well I'm visiting my Grandparents why don't we meet at the mall in an hour," she said.
"Sure," I said and Jen gave me the place to meet her. Next stop was my Grandpa's to shower and change into proper mall attire.
Jen Jagielski, next to my spiritual sisters, is my closest friend. She's not a left coaster like me, she lives in Savannah Georgia. Her dad and my mom were friends in high school, who stayed in touch. Jen use to summer out with us, she tried to fit in but couldn't really skate or surf worth a shit. Yet Jen and I were still good friends even though we were two years apart in age, roughly.
She was easy to spot in the mall. It was just the way Jen was, she tried to stand out. It was always something I admired about her. Boy! Did she look hot too.
"Hey Jen!" I yelled and hugged her.
"Hey Kas," she said, one thing Jen did was inherit her dad's soft spoken nature, "So how is Tree Hill treating you."
I smiled my fake cheerleader smile, as we sat down at the food court table.
"So far, My Grandpa set me up with this awesome room and a hot car. There is a lot of eye candy around," I said as I checked out a lot of the local twenty something talent.
"Stop checking them out, the guys will get jealous," Jen said.
"Who said I was checking them out?"
"Come on, Kas," Jen said, "Well never mind, so what are the bad points?"
I sighed, "I met Jamie Scott and his father when I was skating earlier," I said.
"Where were you skating?"
"On a basketball court by the river."
Jen gasped, "My god you were skating on holy ground," she said in mocking despair, "You'll burn in hell."
I shook my head, "C'mon."
"That's where Nathan and Lucas Scott use to play Basketball. It's kinda a land mark. To Nathan Scott that is the holiest of the holies."
"So?" I asked.
"Jamie Scott is Nathan's son; you met both of them today."
I nodded, "I hope being a jerk doesn't run in the family."
"Why?"
"I'm interviewing Lucas Scott tomorrow."
Jen looked at me shocked, "He's actually giving an interview? Wow!"
I nodded, "Pea can be very pervasive."
"Where are you doing it?"
"Karen's Café," I said.
"Typical, that's his mom's café."
That really ended the conversation. Jen and I went shopping and just caught up. I really missed her, since she graduated college she had little time to come out to California. I had to leave so I could get ready for dinner with Grandpa. We made plans to get together tomorrow night. I hoped I'm up to a marathon time, Jen and I can be a bit wild.
The next morning I had an easier time waking up. The jet lag really started to wear off last night. Grandpa and I had a great dinner. We caught up and I told him about meeting Nathan and Jamie, he laughed. He said it was typical Nathan and Jamie Scott, he saiod don't worry they are harmless.
Well after my morning ritual of pills, I decided to jog instead of skating today. I didn't want to piss anyone else off. After a nice jog I showered and changed to look nice and professional for my interview.
Driving through Tree Hill it was certainly a nice town. But it was too small and quiet for my tastes. I loved LA and Malibu, and the surf.
The café was easy to find, and I was able to park right in front. After feeding the parking meter I went inside. The bells ringing on the door caused a girl around my age to look towards the door.
Two thoughts popped into my head. First thought was damn she's hot. The second thought was except for the straight hair it was like looking into the mirror. How can someone look so much like me? Also how can I be attracted to them?
Dirty Little Scret Number 7: I'm bi-sexual and polyamours, and no they don't tie in together. Also no, you can't watch, and no you can't have a three some. I've found myself attracted to both sexes since I was fifteen. Also I'm not one for just one relationship, I usually have a committed boy friend and a committed girl friend at the same time, and they both know. Right now I have neither. No my mom doesn't know, and no Hales and Sawyer were never my lovers that's sick, they are my spiritual sisters, and to me that would be incest.
"Can I help you?" my near clone asked.
"Yes can I have a cup of coffee," I said.
"Sure," she said and poured me a cup of coffee, in a nice mug. I thanked her and sat at the counter. My clone was busying herself with cleaning what little mess there was.
I checked my watch as the bells rang again. Turning to face the door, there he was, my idol, Lucas Scott. He looked older then his picture but he still looked good for a forty year old man.
"Lily is Larry Sawyer here?" he asked.
The girl behind the counter shook her head, "No Luke," she said.
"Funny," he said, "I wonder why he has the classic out."
Now I'm interested, he knows my Grandpa. He also knew him enough to know the car I drove here on sight. This could be an interesting interview.
He walked over to the counter and sat down. Lily without out even asking handed him a bottle of water. He nodded his thanks and started to drink it.
"Mom wants to know if you can come over tonight for dinner?" Lily asked.
He nodded, "I'll be there," he said, "Crap! I have Reagan tonight."
Lily smiled, "That's why we asked, you've been monopolizing time with her, I for one miss spending time with my niece."
So Lily is his sister, I noted. He also had a daughter name Reagan. This was stuff that was usually left out of his biography.
"Okay," he said laughing, "Is there anyone looking for me?"
Lily shook her head, "No," she said.
Now I chose this as my time to speak up, "Mr. Scott I would be the person looking for you," I said.
He turned around and we met each other's gaze. My blue eyes locked onto the same exact set of eyes staring back at me. Wow, was all I thought it was so weird.
He offered his hand and smiled genuinely, "Lucas Scott," he said.
"Karen Sawyer," I said, I used my full name to sound professional.
"Sawyer, you say, any relation to Larry Sawyer?"
I nodded, "He's my Grandpa," I said.
He nodded, "Really, so your mom is Peyton Sawyer."
Again I nodded, "Yeah my mom's name is Peyton."
He smiled, and then nodded, "So tell me about you."
"I'm supposed to be interviewing you."
"Let's get to know each other before, and I promise you the best interview I've ever given."
I smiled, he was certainly pervasive. "Where do we star?"
"Your name," he said, "Not a typical name for your generation."
"Karen Anna Sawyer," I said, proud of my name, even though no one calls me by it, "I was named after my Grandmothers, My Dad's Mom was named Karen and my Mom's Mom was named Anna."
Lucas nodded, "Was?"
"Yeah, Grandma Anna died when my Mom was nine, and my Grandma Karen and My dad died n a car accident before I was born."
Lucas nodded. "What drives Karen Sawyer?"
"Please Kas, everyone calls me Kas."
"Okay Kas what drives you?"
I shook my head, he cut to the point. Never would I have thought I would meet Lucas Scott, never mind tell him anything on how his books affected me.
"I want to be an author," I said, letting out my deeply held ambition, "Ever since I was ten and I first read An Unkindness of Ravens, I wanted to tell a story just like you did. Ever since I tried to live so I had something interesting to write about."
We talked for hours. It went back and forth, on who was interviewing who. I told him about my family and what a great life I had, and how Bee spoiled me. We also talked about how we ended up calling each other by nicknames, about my heart condition, and about how I surf and skated, plus my love of watching basketball.
He told me why he stopped writing. It was because he felt he had no more stores to tell at the moment. He wasn't reclusive, just very private, and just wanted time with his family and his thoughts. I was also told that he had been married twice and divorced twice, his second marriage lasted five months, and the first was a mistake. The first produced his Reagan, his seventeen year old daughter, whom he loved dearly and never regretted having.
We talked of influences both personally and writing wise. His one regret was letting his high school sweet heart get away. We talked about lifestyles, and how because of child support and alimony he lived modestly in a beach condo. His only indulgence was his Classic Mustang that was once owned by his uncle.
Finally he told me about his heart condition. The heart condition ended his first dream of playing professional basketball. His plan b was to become a writer. It was funny he had the same genetic heart condition that I had. He also told me how it motivated him to tell his story.
We drove Lily crazy all day. At the end he asked if I wanted to join him and his family for dinner. I said I had plans and couldn't join them, and I was busy the rest of the weekend.
Dirty Little Secret Number 8: I was really scared. I would have blown off Jen, just to spend more time with my idol. But something about him scared me. I was getting to close to Lucas Scott way to easily. It was like we just got each other on some deep level. Not romantic but like we were suppose to have met and know each other. I saw it in his eyes too, but he learned to live in the moment from a life long of heart break and a limited time, I still held just a little back.
We ended the interview on a positive note. Funny we even exchanged cell numbers. He made me promise to let him read my first novel so he could put a quote on the cover for me. I was flattered, but he truly liked me. I thanked him and left. I should have remembered what wrote "Freedom lies in being bold."
