Chapter 7
As Catherine walked down the stairs she could smell freshly brewed coffee and orange kitchen cleaner, Jackie had made the coffee and cleaned the kitchen in an attempt to occupy her mind and disperse her worried thoughts over what had happened earlier but hadn't really succeeded. "Hmm, that smells good" Catherine said walking into the kitchen "I hope you don't mind but I decided to clean up a bit" Jackie said placing a steaming cup of coffee into Catherine's hands. "Yeah, sorry about the mess, I guess I haven't been doing the cleaning much recently" Catherine muttered looking rather embarrassed and avoiding eye contact, Catherine turned and walked round the units and sat down at the table, Jackie momentarily did the same. An awkward silence filled the room, both of them thinking about what happens now, neither of them having an answer, so Jackie decided to focus on the present. "I've got to go back to the hotel today at some point to get some stuff, that is as long as you want me to stay here, I could stay at the hotel if you'd prefer" Jackie said nervously "Of course your staying here, I need you to stay here. I'll tell you what why don't I come with you, maybe we could walk Ethan on the way back" Catherine suggested. "Ok, sounds good" Jackie replied drinking down the last of her coffee. Jackie reached over the table to take hold of Catherine's hand, but Catherine moved just out of reach at the same moment pain filled Jackie's eyes, she desperately wanted to be intimate with Catherine but she was still giving off leave me alone vibes, just like this morning. Maybe Catherine was embarrassed about how emotional she got yesterday Jackie thought to herself, it was all very confusing after all in the last 24 hours Jackie told Catherine she loved her only to find out the feeling was mutual and yet Catherine was avoiding being intimate 'Well at least it wasn't a headache, you know you're in trouble then' the little voice in the back of Jackie's brain announced which made her giggle nervously. "What's so funny" Catherine asked, Jackie looked up to see Catherine staring at her with a puzzled look on her face "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking" Jackie replied quietly as she stood up and placed her mug in the sink "We should probably make a move soon, I'm going to go get washed up" Jackie said weakly avoiding Catherine's eyes as she walked past and headed up the stairs.
Catherine watched Jackie leave and only once she was out of earshot she swore 'Fuck' she said out loud the rest she kept inside her head 'What do I do now, what am I scared of' Catherine's head was going into overdrive, one of the downfalls of being a psychology professor was that she over analysised everything especially her own thoughts and feelings. Catherine started remembering the first time they had sex, how nervous and scared Jackie was and how exhilarating Catherine found it to be. So much had changed since then Catherine was unsure how they could reconnect as lovers but that wasn't really the problem. The sound of Jackie's footsteps coming down the stairs brought Catherine back to reality "Ready" Jackie asked as she walked back into the room "Yes, I'm ready" Catherine answered, only herself knowing she was really answering her own question and with that she stood up and collected her coat, then both women and the dog headed out the door.