Chapter Seven
It had been three weeks since Naomi had been at college and so far it had been extremely hectic and tiring, but satisfying. She had not realized how unhappy she had been when she had been living with her father. And now that she had gained her independence she knew she would never be able to give it up for anything; it was too precious to her.
Naomi had even started to feel slightly more comfortable around strangers; although she did still have her bad days, after all it was something she could not control. But she had contacted the college counselor and had already had four appointments with her.
Dr. Juliet Travers was a slight, gray haired woman in her fifties who looked like she was still living in the hippie years. She always had a cigarette in her hand, although she rarely smoked it, and was always chewing gum. She had a multitude of rings on her fingers and joked that most of them were from her ex-lovers. All in all she was a very interesting character who seemed to actually care about Naomi and her problems.
This was the first time that Naomi felt she could talk to her therapist properly, and luckily Dr. Travers, who also had a private practice, had already signed her up as a patient.
Naomi hadn't seen Steve all that much in the last three weeks but she had become quite close to Mary. The two of them met almost every second day, Mary loved coming to the college campus to check out the cute guys. Naomi laughed as she remembered Mary's reaction when she had come to meet her for lunch.
She had taken one look at a group of guys sitting next to them, one of them was a fellow pre-med student and had stopped for a quick chat.
"Humana humana! Maybe I should go to college" Mary said eyeing his butt as he walked back to his table.
"Mary quit staring! I have to see him everyday" Naomi blushed as she noticed the boys look back at them and Mary waved at them flirtatiously.
Mary laughed, "Lucky you, sweetie. Too bad you're not going to do anything about it".
Naomi almost choked on the iced tea she was sipping on, "What do you mean?"
"C'mon. I know how you look at my brother" she smirked, "And boy have I seen the way he looks at you".
Naomi knew her cheeks were burning, "Well nothing is serious. We're just friends".
"Yeah right. Friends who kiss constantly" Mary pointed out and when Naomi looked shocked, "Yes we have all seen you guys sneaking off from time to time". Mary reached for her hand, "You know there is nothing wrong with how you feel about him".
"I know, but I am just worried that I won't be able to have a proper relationship with him. He isn't a boy who will be satisfied with just kissing and over the clothes touching" Naomi sighed, "Maybe I should just stop with all this. I feel like I'm leading him on".
"Sweetie, as you just pointed out Steve is a man, and he is not the type that can be lead on by a woman" Mary laughed and then shuddered, "Eww, thinking of my brother and sex in the same sentence is grossing me out".
They laughed and let the subject go, but Naomi was worried. She really liked Steve and she knew she was falling for him, hard. If she was not careful she was in serious risk of losing her heart and breaking hers and Steve's
-X-
Steve walked into his house and noticed the smell of something cooking, although he was not sure whether that was a good thing or bad. With Mary around, it was unpredictable.
"Mary!" he called as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed the woman sitting at the table sipping a glass of wine, while Mary stood at the counter, vengefully chopping a carrot.
"Oh Steve. You're home" she looked up at him and abandoned the chopping. She came toward him, glowering angrily at him, "You jerk. I thought better of you" and walked off.
Steve knew what she was talking about as he looked at the woman sitting at the table, it was Catherine. She looked great as always, but somehow instead of feeling the usual happiness he only felt guilt.
"Hey there Sailor" she greeted him as she came closer. Before he could stop her she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was still too stunned to react so he just stood there. "Hmm, I missed you. Although I got the feeling your sister was not too happy to see me" she laughed lightly.
Then her laughter turned to a frown, "And I'm not too sure you're very happy to see me either".
He managed to shake himself out of his stupor, "Oh God no. Of course I'm happy to see you" he pulled her into a hug and he noticed the confusion in her eyes when he did not kiss her like a lover.
With a puzzled expression still on her face she moved away, "So are we going to have a nice dinner this time or…" she smiled slightly and Steve knew exactly what she was talking about. When they were together, they rarely ever managed to get out of a bedroom. But that had to change now.
Steve felt extremely guilty, "Look, Cat I need to talk to you. Do you want to come down to the beach?" he knew he sounded very shrill, but he avoided her gaze and pulled out a beer from the fridge.
When they reached the beach, they settled on the loungers lying on the sand. Catherine stayed quiet, but one glance at her face, he could tell she was wondering what was going on.
"What's going on Steve?" she asked as she sipped her wine.
Steve looked at her and he felt bad for the fact that he could have forgotten about their relationship so easily. They had never talked about being exclusive, but he had never really gone out with anyone other than Catherine for the last five years, since they had met. He had never had the time and had never been in one place long enough to form a relationship.
"Steve will you just come out and tell me. You're killing with the suspense" she laughed.
He took a deep breath, "I have no other way of saying this, Catherine, I met someone" he looked up at her.
Her pretty face went through a lot of expressions, but for once Steve was unable to read them. "Well, how serious is it?" she asked and he knew she was asking whether he had already slept with someone else.
"At this point we're only friends; we've never slept together. But…" he trailed off.
"But you want to. And you've thought about it" she stood up from the seat and walked toward the water.
Steve followed her, "Catherine, its more complicated than me wanting to sleep with her. In fact, I haven't even thought that far".
"She must be special".
"I met her four years ago, on a mission" he told her.
"So she's in the Navy as well. Do I know her?" she asked.
"No. She was the mission" he sighed, "Look I rescued her with my SEAL team. But I met her again this year at the Governors Ball. And as soon as we met it was like we had this… bond" Steve hoped he didn't sound too chick flick.
Catherine looked at him, for a moment she looked angry, but then her expression settled into one of sadness. "I know we never said this was exclusive. We both just got really comfortable with what we had".
"And I would never change anything" he sipped his beer and laughed, "We did have some good times".
She laughed with him, "Maybe now we can finally have that dinner we keep forgetting".
"Yes we definitely can".
They talked for a while then, decided to head to a nice restaurant for that promised dinner. Throughout the meal they reminisced about their time together and Steve was glad that they would end things on a good note, without any bitterness.
"Well Lt. Commander McGarrett, I do hope that you will be happy with your lucky lady" She smiled at him and reached for his hand.
"I hope so too, although I know it's going to be some work getting her to trust me".
Catherine laughed at that, "Why Commander McGarrett, you're having lady trouble. Maybe I can help".
Steve looked at her; he had always talked to her about things, but somehow talking to her about Naomi did not feel right. When he remained quiet Catherine only nodded her head, "She really is special" she said quietly.
They talked some more and finished their meals. When it was time to head home, Steve insisted he drop Catherine off, but she refused. They stood outside waiting for a cab.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off?" he asked her again.
"Yes Steve. You can head home when I get a cab".
Soon enough they got a cab, "Bye Steve. And I honestly hope you will be happy with Naomi".
They hugged and then out of habit they kissed. It was a kiss of farewell and friendship, noting more.
"I'm going to miss you Steve. Take care" she kissed him once more, got in the cab and left.
Steve stood for a while at the curb and watched the lights fade away, people passed him by on the sidewalk and he stood still. Catherine had been part of his life, rather on and off, but he had become comfortable with her, exactly what she had pointed out.
Now Naomi came along, and she had issues that his skills could not resolve. He was not sure if he could be the man that she needed him to be. He had never thought of anyone other than himself and his close family; he had never had to. But if he were going to make a relationship with Naomi work, then he would have to be strong and be faithful.
-X-
Naomi wanted to cry. And she had never cried over a guy before in her life. She excused herself from the group and went into the ladies; that's when the tears came.
She knew she would not be able to hold onto someone like Steve, especially with all her problems. She had told him about her problems and she had believed him when he said that they would work things out. He had obviously changed his mind. She knew it was too much to hope that a guy would stick around and wait for her.
It wasn't the fact that he could not wait that upset her; it was more the fact that he lied about wanting to be with her. She didn't think Steve was that kind of a guy. Maybe Jason had also been with other women; after all they were red-blooded young men in their prime and it was unfair for her to expect them to be faithful to her when she could not promise anything.
But those thoughts were not of a rational thinking woman. She knew she deserved respect and if a man made a promise to her she had every right to expect him to keep true to it. Therefore she had no reason to feel ashamed and guilty for anything. Now she was just angry and hurt.
She made a decision; she would go out there, have a lovely dinner with her friends and forget about seeing Steve kissing that woman, even if she had to have a creepy smile on her face the entire evening.
She had no idea how she went through dinner. She was aware of one of the guys, Andrew flirting with her, but unfortunately her mind was not in it. All she could think about was Steve. God damn that man! She was so mad at him!
She wasn't sure whether she should ignore Steve or to act as if nothing had changed. She wished to God she had some idea of what to do with a man like him. Although she knew she could avoid him for a while, she was extremely busy with her classes and she started her new job soon as well. It wouldn't be a lie when she told him she could not meet often, and then maybe this attraction would fizzle out. There were other guys out there, and maybe it would be better if she went out with someone less intimidating.
An image of Steve and his smile flashed through her mind and she knew it was not going to be easy to ignore him. Especially when she was half way crazy about the guy!