Never Far
Chapter 19- ReunionKari was shocked once more in the morning when she opened her eyes to the pink everything that surrounded her. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she pulled back the thick blankets and stumbled out of the gigantic bed.
Groggily, she headed toward the bathroom. She walked past the big fluffy futon, noticing the blanket folded on the cushion, but the sight did not inspire any memory of the night before. At least, she didn't remember until she opened the bathroom door.
Although the steam in the bathroom had fogged over the mirror and shower doors, the room was clear enough for the Kari to see everything. She had somehow managed to open the door at the exact time T.K. was stepping out of the shower.
She froze in the doorway, letting the warm air flood out into her bedroom. For a moment, she didn't know what to do. This was definitely not the first time she had seen him naked but she still felt herself blushing.
She took in the sight of him quickly, resisting the urge to let her gaze linger over his beautiful body. Physically, he had not changed much in the past year. His muscles were slightly larger, more noticeable, as if he had been working out. He was taller than she remembered, his chest and shoulders somewhat broader. Otherwise, he was still the same boy she had known her whole life, at least, that's what she told herself.
He grabbed a towel and began to dry himself off, not even acknowledging her except to say, "Do you mind shutting the door? You're letting the heat out."
With an exasperated huff, Kari slammed the door behind her and headed over to the sink. If he could ignore her, then she could ignore him. He looked up at her as she grabbed her toothbrush, and continued to stare while he wrapped the towel around his waist.
She purposely took her time brushing her teeth, knowing that her interruption of his privacy was most likely frustrating him. If it did frustrate him, however, he didn't say as much. In fact, he seemed almost amused at her tactics.
He smiled at her, "How was the trip?" he asked, trying to break the extremely awkward silence.
She only glared at her own reflection, refusing to meet his gaze. Instead of answering him, however, she finished her business and stalked out of the bathroom, making sure to slam the door behind her.
He followed her then, barging straight into her room while she began to unpack her clothes.
"Is this how it's going to be then?" he asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.
Still ignoring him, she pulled her suitcase onto the bed and began unpacking her clothes.
When she still hadn't answered him, however, he stormed over to the bed and jerked the lid of her suitcase shut.
With no other choice, she turned to stare at him, wanting so much to let all the anger she had built up explode. Instead, all she could do was look away.
He had expected her to be angry, he had almost wanted her to hate him, but when she refused to meet his eyes, he knew it was because she was close to tears and knowing that he could her cry, and had done so, had haunted him for the past year.
"Kari, are you okay?" he asked cautiously. There are distinct lines between enemies, friends, and lovers, and he had no clue as to where they stood.
She turned her back to him, fidgeting with the strap of a lacy tank top she had placed on the bed beside her suitcase. "Please go," she whispered. "I don't want this."
The tears were brimming in her eyes and he couldn't bear it. "I'm sorry…" he attempted to say. There was so much that he wanted to say to her, all of his regrets, all of the emotions he still felt for her, even after such a messy breakup.
He moved closer to her, and she squeezed her eyes shut against her tears and his tempting naked figure. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat from his shower and smell that alluring scent of soap and masculinity.
He had stepped towards her instinctively, his body reaching out to embrace her before his head had even caught on. She stepped away from him immediately, though she knew from his body language that he had meant to hold her. Part of her wanted to let him, the part that wanted to believe that because he was here in her room, naked and gorgeous, that nothing had changed.
She knew better though. Everything was complicated now. There was no way that they could just hug and everything would be exactly the way it had been before.
He paused as she stepped away, as if coming back to the reality. She wrapped her arms around herself, and asked him once more to go.
He nodded, finally understanding and left through the bathroom door. Kari knew it was stupid to cry over a boy, especially when the issue was mostly her fault, but after the door clicked shut, she climbed into the bed beside her suitcase and let herself cry.
After the much needed release, Kari willed herself out of bed and returned to her unpacking. She changed into a pair of comfy jeans and a lacy pink tank top and headed into the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup. This time she opened the door cautiously, but, thankfully, there were no naked men present this time around.
The bathroom was spotlessly clean, and if it weren't for the plastic green toothbrush beside the sink, she never would've guessed he had been there at all. She arranged her beauty products around the bathroom and just when she had finished pampering herself, her bedroom door opened and Tai bounded in.
"Kari!" he screamed as he threw his arms around her. "You have to come downstairs. T.K. said you were still sleeping, so I decided to come wake you up. Everyone is going to be so excited to see you. We've already introduced the others to Lynn, Hannah, Tom, and Mikey."
He was talking at a rate of about a million words per minute, but she smiled politely and tried to absorb all he was telling her.
"I figured you must've told Lynn about me and Matt and that's cool. It's a good thing for all of us that she's not all flirty around him anymore. When I came up here they were swapping hair tips." He rolled his eyes, apparently Tai wasn't the stereotypical feminine gay boy, but that didn't surprise Kari.
"Mikey keeps following T.K. around. It's pretty cute. They look alike and the kid pretty much worships him. But oh well, I'm sure T.K. doesn't mind, and I guess that's one way to keep both of them out of trouble." He winked at her, but talking about T.K. already had Kari heading for the door. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her relationships with her protective older brother. Not that it mattered though. Their last conversation was proof enough that Tai would talk about whatever he wanted to, despite what anyone else wanted.
Knowing that Tai was going to ask her about her encounter with T.K., she opened her door and headed down the two flights of stairs to the main level. She followed the noise and her nose to the dining room where almost the whole gang of digi-destineds sat eating stacks of pancakes and French toast.
She had hoped that no one would notice her late arrival, but when she entered the room there was pandemonium as all of her old friends jumped out of their seats to greet her. Davis practically knocked her over, but by now she was used to his hellos.
When things finally got settled down, Kari took a seat beside Sora, who immediately threw stacks of pancakes onto Kari's plate.
"Thanks, mom," Kari said sarcastically and Sora just smiled, not even trying to deny the maternal instincts she had developed towards the younger kids.
It was nice for Kari to see how not much had changed since she'd been gone. Tai and Matt, were of course exactly the same as she remembered, and disappeared as soon as Tai was done scarfing down his third stack of pancakes. Ken asked where they two boys had gone, but Sora shook her head and told him he didn't want to know. Ken blushed and soon regretted asking.
Sora was now running her mother's flower shop, and coaching a young girl's soccer league. She was currently engaged to a man Kari hoped to one day meet, and planning to soon have kids of her own.
Izzy was still the same computer genius, now making loads of money for his talents.
Mimi was still the same bright and buoyant girl she had known when she was younger. The only difference was that she was now dating Joe, who was the same studious worrywart.
Kari learned that Davis, Yolei, and Ken were all planning to attend the University of Tokyo, Davis and Ken with soccer scholarships, although Ken's included an all-expenses-paid, full ride thanks to his academic skills as well.
Cody was in high school now, and while she didn't get much of a change to talk to him over breakfast, he seemed as if he was the same quiet boy as always. She wasn't surprised at all, when he began discussing philosophy with Tom over their pancakes.
And then there was T.K. Now he was a mystery to her. Unconsciously, her gaze slid to his end of the table where he sat next to Mikey, who was chatting incessantly. He felt her gaze and their eyes met briefly. For once in her life, she couldn't read the message in his cornflower blue eyes, but she still felt that nervous fluttering knot in her stomach that only he could give her.
He was a mystery all right, but she truly hoped that it wouldn't be that way for long.