12. Kaitlyn and the Love Concerned
"Oh god, Eve. That is so like The Miz. Putting you and your friends on the 'guest list' to some douchey party?"
Kaitlyn's eyes might as well have rolled all the way back into her head going by her visceral reaction to Eve's 'big' news.
"Come on, Kait, it won't be that bad. Like I said, Mike is nothing like what he was back in high school; he's actually really sweet and genuine now and it's not even an attempt to get into my pants."
Kaitlyn made a retching noise but her facial expression softened somewhat as she stretched out on her bed.
"Yeah, whatever. I'll be there but that doesn't mean I'll be happy about it..."
"You are just impossible to please."
"No I'm not," Kaitlyn smirked. "Difficult to please, maybe, but impossible? No way."
"Well yeah, I'm sure Johnny Curtis can attest to that."
"Eve Torres, you mention that name one more time and I'm hanging up."
Eve giggled on the other end of the line.
"Sorry, you just make it far too easy! Hey, speaking of high school, you never told me who it was that you bumped into the other day."
Kaitlyn sighed and paused for a moment, considering whether or not she could divulge. It was Eve after all. Kaitlyn and Eve had shared a special kind of relationship ever since their school days. It was surprising considering the two initially did not get on at all, but after some prodding from their mutual friends Alicia, Kelly and Maria, the two realized that they had a lot more in common than they would have even guessed. This led to the two being able to share certain secrets that neither felt like they could share with the other three girls; secrets that had remained exclusive to Kaitlyn and Eve even to this day.
"Dolph Ziggler, of all people. I bumped into him in the park while I was on a run."
She could practically hear Eve's jaw dropping.
"Did you speak to him?"
"Briefly."
"And?"
"We just sort of spoke for a couple of minutes, caught up a little, joked around a little. I don't know if he was kidding or not, but I think he tried to ask me on a date."
"And you said no, right?" Eve pressed on through Kaitlyn's silence. "You said no, right Kait?"
"Of course I did."
"Then why do you sound so disappointed about that?"
"Eve..."
"No, Kaitlyn. You know what he's like. If you think Mike is bad, there's no way you can be softening up to Ziggler now. You know exactly what he's like and by the sound of things he hasn't changed a bit..."
"I said no, didn't I? I said no and walked away and that's that."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I probably won't even have to see him again, considering I'm moving to Iowa and all."
"You're what?"
"Yep."
After a brief silence, Eve suddenly burst into laughter.
"Iowa? Of all places, why Iowa?"
Kaitlyn sighed. "It's not that bad. My friend Ettore from college is originally from there and he's moved back and got a job. Me and AJ sort of bounced the idea around a little but eventually all three of us decided that getting a place together would be the best thing for all of us. You know how well I get on with them. It would be the clean break I need."
She frowned as Eve was once again silent.
"Come on, Eve. Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad," she said quickly. "It happens; we were all expecting it. With Alicia flitting off to New York and Kelly working on Miami we've all known the gang was going to be split up again. But..."
"But?"
"But I just don't want you to use this impulsive urge to move to Iowa as a way of escaping from all of this."
"From all of what?"
Eve sighed. "I don't know. From Hartford? From the past maybe..."
"Eve, you know that I'm not trying to do that."
"It just seems a little odd though, doesn't it? That as soon as you happen to bump into Dolph you suddenly concoct this plan to move out of state?"
"We had already made the plan by the time that happened. I just don't get why you support every last impulse of Maria's while I make a genuine plan for myself and you try to talk me out of it."
"That is not what I'm doing! I support you Kait, but I'm just trying to look out for you. That's what you do when you love someone. That's what we do."
Kaitlyn struggled with how to respond. Eve was someone who knew her far too well, and she'd be lying if Eve's concerns didn't echo some of her own.
"Do you think I should go and see him?" She asked quietly, biting her lip as she waited for her friend's response. "You went to see Mike and that gave you some more closure. Maria's got plans to see Punk, of all people. Maybe I should do the same?"
"Kait..." Eve heaved a sigh. "The circumstances are different, you know? I know that deep down a part of you is aching to accept his offer, but you know you can't do that. Just think about Kelly, about how heartbroken she'd be if she knew you were hooking up with her ex."
"It's not 'hooking up'," Kaitlyn hissed. "And she wouldn't have to know. It'd be coffee, maybe dinner, and that's it. It's normal to see people you knew from high school; you and Maria have been doing just as much."
"Would you accept a date from Johnny Curtis? Or Derrick Bateman? No? Then what makes this so different?"
Kaitlyn stopped to think for a moment. For all intents and purposes, Eve was right. There really was no reason for her to go and see Dolph Ziggler again. Who was he, anyway? An arrogant jerk who had cheated on her best friend and broken her heart. An arrogant jerk who treated women in general like dirt; something Kaitlyn knew full well through all of the things she had seen of him in high school. Surprisingly, they had been friends at a point. Through the passion they both shared for sport and fitness they had found themselves running in the same circles – literally and figuratively – when they were younger, but this ended when he had found popularity later on in high school and of course used and abused the naive Kelly Blank.
"Okay, Eve. Maybe you're right. I'm just being stupid. Fuck Ziggler."
"That's the spirit," Eve giggled. "Now why don't you tell me more about Iowa?"
The conversation quickly changed pace as Kaitlyn began catching Eve up on her plan to move to Iowa, beginning with a short trip over there in the next few weeks to give her and AJ an idea of the place and eventually culminating in the town packing up in their respective hometowns and make the drive down to the Midwest where E would be waiting in their brand new apartment.
Eve let out a sigh as Kaitlyn finished.
"It sounds great, Kait, it really does. I was wrong; you definitely seem to have it all figured out."
"I wouldn't say that. I've still got to find a job and pluck up the courage to shove all my stuff into my car and move to a new state entirely, but I'm getting there."
Kaitlyn sat up in bed, crossing her legs and twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. The more she spoke about it with Eve, the more dramatic it all seemed. When she and AJ had first spoken about Iowa, it seemed like a fun, new experience; but now verbalizing it with one of her childhood friends it actually became more and more daunting. Sure, she'd moved out of state for college, but this would be different. There would be no going back home for the holidays; this would be the real thing, her new home.
"One of these days I'm going to muster up enough courage to do what you're doing," Eve said. "God forbid I stay in Connecticut for the rest of my life."
Kaitlyn smiled softly, chuckling.
"There's always starting small. Pick one brave and drastic change to make to your life and the rest will follow. Or so I hope."
The two women giggled and then shared a long sigh in unison.
"Can you believe that going to a party hosted by The Miz of all people is the most exciting thing that will have happened to us since we got back to Hartford?" Eve said.
"Tell me about it. Just like high school."
"High school, but hopefully with hotter, and less disappointing guys."
"So... basically everything college should have been?"
Eve laughed again. "Exactly. I bet Alicia and her man are going to have the best couple of days in Greenwich; not to mention New York. I don't know how that girl does it."
Kaitlyn perked up as she heard the front door slamming shut; signalling her mother's return home from work.
"Okay Eve, I'm going to leave you before this conversation gets even more depressing. My mom just got back so I better go be a good daughter and hassle her."
"Alright, see you soon. Give Ms Bonin my love."
"Of course."
Kaitlyn hung up and jumped out of bed, heading downstairs to see her mother.
"Hey mom," she called as she entered the kitchen.
"Hey Kait, help me with the groceries will you?"
Kaitlyn nodded and began taking food items out of the bags her mom had placed on the counter; wandering around the kitchen to put them in the right places. Her mother Olivia did the same, giving her daughter a warm smile as they finished.
Kaitlyn and her mother had always had a strong relationship. After her parents had divorced several years earlier, leaving the two women alone to fend for herself as Kaitlyn's father and Olivia's now ex-husband had made the decision to relocate to his hometown of Houston, Texas, the two had become even closer. Kaitlyn felt she could share almost everything with her mother and Olivia took great pride in the woman her daughter had grown to be. She was more than happy to welcome her back home after college, supporting her as much as she could.
"How was your day?" She asked.
"Uneventful but what's new?"
"This time period is always difficult. You've only just graduated from college, after all."
Kaitlyn shrugged.
Olivia poured herself and her daughter a glass of orange juice before taking a seat at the kitchen table. "How's the job hunt going?"
Kaitlyn went and sat opposite her, accepting her drink. Resting her elbows on the table in front of her, she gave her mother the kind of fed-up look that had been making appearances across her face for over two decades.
"Nada. I've seen some postings here and there but I'm always either over-qualified or under-qualified for them. AJ's had a lot more luck than me; she's already got her eyes on some tech companies looking for recent graduates. It's great for her because she knows exactly what it is she wants to do with her life, but me? I wouldn't even know where to begin."
Her mother gave her a sympathetic look and a pat on her hand.
"You've only just got out of school. Why don't you focus on a starting point instead of all this big picture stuff? The strangest opportunities fall into your lap when you're least expecting them; you just have to be gracious and accept small signs as they come."
"I guess," Kaitlyn sighed.
"You know it took me years to settle into a career after I got my degree. I never even realized I'd love teaching as much as I do, yet look at me now."
Kaitlyn nodded as her mother took her trip down memory lane, giggling at the life lessons she'd throw in here and there.
"Just remember," Olivia said. "There's no hurry for you to move out. I'm happy with you being here and me supporting you as long as you need it. I just want to be sure that the only reason you leave is because you're ready to and you know what you're leaving for."
"I know, mom. And I'm so grateful for it."
Olivia gave another soft smile and stood, walking around to the other side of the table to hug Kaitlyn gently.
"I'm going to get started on dinner. Are you wanting anything in particular?"
Kaitlyn beamed and jumped out of her seat, joining her mother as the two began bustling around the kitchen, preparing dinner together. Occasionally, Kaitlyn would look over at the older woman and grin as she watched her humming quietly to herself as she chopped vegetables and boiled potatoes. One thing Kaitlyn had noticed was that after her parents had gone through their tumultuous divorce back when she was in high school, stress and worry had left her mother almost as quickly as her husband had. Despite now being a single divorcee, she had developed a certain air of independence, peace and happiness; something that Kaitlyn had spent years trying to learn from her. Her mother's stress-free, take-life-as-it-comes attitude was one of the many things Kaitlyn wished to inherit from her, and as she now prepared to begin her own adult life out of her mother's home, spending as much time with her as possible seemed to be the way to do it.
They enjoyed dinner together that evening, catching up on their days and sharing jokes and anecdotes like they usually did. Olivia was surprised to hear that Kaitlyn, Eve and their friends were heading off to one of Mike Mizanin's parties that weekend (of course, she was fully aware of most of the high school drama the girls had gone through) and curious to hear that Kaitlyn had bumped into Dolph Ziggler out in town.
"The two of you got on pretty well when you were younger," she stated through pursed lips, giving Kaitlyn a sideway glance.
"Yeah, I guess," Kaitlyn replied quietly, staring down at her plate and pushing her food around. "He changed a lot as we got older. You know what he was like, especially when he got with Kelly."
"Poor girl," Olivia sighed. "She of all people definitely didn't deserve that. But I guess it worked out for the better, seeing how well she's doing now."
"She's definitely a lucky one," Kaitlyn said with a nod. "Dolph's probably still living up that playboy lifestyle of his."
Olivia chuckled. "He's older now, I suppose. Hopefully wiser."
"Yeah. Hopefully."
They continued eating their food as the conversation returned to small talk. Kaitlyn's responses became more distant and much less varied as her mind drifted back to the two conversations she'd managed to have today concerning Dolph Ziggler. The more she thought about it, and about the past couple of months in general, the more she realized that she really could not wait to move out of her hometown for good.