A/N: I know, I know, I know

A/N: I know, I know, I know. Don’t say it. LOL Hey but at least I’m trying
to write again? It’s been so long and I suck big time, but I’m never giving
up on this story no matter how long it takes to finish.

Cathy woke up and found herself wrapped in the muscular arms of Brent. Her
entire body was lying on top of his through no will of her own. Obviously,
he’d pulled her on top of him either in his sleep or while he was awake. One
large hand held her head against his chest. His heart beat strongly in her
ear. She moved to slide away from him and realized she couldn’t. Brent arms
were like steel bands around her. She wiggled against him trying to get
away. Brent half opened his eyes and suddenly rolled her over. His huge body
sunk her deep into the bed. He propped himself on his arms to lessen the
weight of his heavy body and smiled at the confused look on her face. Caught
off guard, Cathy wasn’t prepared to find herself under Brent. She didn’t
know if it was a good or bad thing to be on top or bottom. One thing for
sure, she was not escaping anytime soon. She watched as Brent’s dark blue
eyes, which a few moments ago were filled with humor, gradually turned
serious. She knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Stop it,” she told him.

“I can’t help it,” Brent admitted. “Every time I look at you; you suddenly
look so fragile to me.”

“That’s probably because you’ve got that big body of yours draped over me,”
Cathy said. She made an attempt to push him away.

“Cathy, I’m serious. This is serious.”

“I don’t want you to make a big deal about it.”

“What do you mean you don’t want me to make a big deal about it? We are
talking about your life here.”

“Yeah, Brent, we are and that means you don’t interfere with what I decide
to do with it. Don’t try to stop me from living my life. I want things to
stay the same between us. No special treatments and don’t tell the others
okay?”

Brent stared at her in disbelief. Telling him not to interfere with
something so serious was as bad as asking him not to love her. He stared
down at her. Her beautiful brown eyes pleaded with him to do as she asked.
He didn’t want to start another argument with her after last night. So, he
decided to not say anything.

“Promise me…” she told him.

Instead of replying, he kissed her.

Brent stood in the middle of the room looking at the small crowd of friends
surrounding him. He had called only his closest friends there, except Cathy
who had no idea what was going on. They thought he had a surprise for Cathy.
Dana and Sheila thought he was planning on proposing to Cathy and wanted
them to help him set it up. No one had been prepared to hear what he told
them. Everyone had a shock look on their faces except Kiara who looked
worried. She kept glancing at the door as if she was thinking about running.
Brent stared at her suspiciously.

“Kiara, did you know about this?” He finally asked when she wouldn’t meet
his eyes.

She started to make a run for it, but Chris caught her just as she stood up.
She found herself in his lap. His arms were wrapped around her waist
preventing her from escaping.

“You told me that heart medicine was yours,” Chris pointed out.

“Okay, okay, I knew. She made me promise not to tell anyone and she probably
made you promise the same thing, traitor.” Kiara frowned at Brent.

“You can’t be mad at her for keeping it a secret,” Dana said in Kiara’s
defense. “She didn’t want to betray Cathy’s trust.”

“Some secrets are not meant to be kept,” Brent said. “Cathy has no idea how
to take care of herself. She wants to continue to live a normal life, but
she can’t. She’s had two breakdowns already. The only reason I’m telling you
this is because I’m afraid for her. Cathy shouldn’t be doing anything that
would exhaust herself. If you see her running, lifting anything heavy, or
even looking distressed, do something about it. Just don’t let her know I
told you. She’s very sensitive about her heart problem.”

“I can’t believe Cathy has a weak heart,” Dana said.

“It’s like the twilight zone,” Sheila commented.

“Don’t worry, Brent. We got your girl back,” Tyrese assured him.

“You know that pisses me off for some reason,” Faze said. “She should have
told us this the first year we met her. She’s always so busy taking care of
other people. The girl never thinks about herself.”

“Does Lee know about this?” Sheila asked.

“I doubt it. Nobody knew. Besides why are you asking about Lee?” He gave her
an angry look.

“Nothing just curious,” Sheila said quickly, realizing Lee was still a sore
spot that didn’t need to be rubbed with Brent.

Cathy had just finished her last class for the day and hadn’t seen Brent
since this morning. She wondered what he was up to. He’d kissed her after
she tried to make him promise not to interfere with her heart condition. She
knew he’d done it to distract her and it had worked. She sighed. She could
never resist his kisses. Through out the night, he’d held her close and made
her feel cherished and loved. He’d given her tender kisses and gently rubbed
her back as they laid there lost in their own thoughts. They hadn’t spoken
much to each other. There really wasn’t a need at the time. This morning,
she had ended their kisses abruptly when his alarm clock went off and she
realized she was late for her first class. She had hoped to talk to Brent
again about the promise, but hadn’t seen him. She’d also noticed the strange
behavior of her friends during lunch. They were watching her more than
usual, but quickly looked away when she caught them. Her first thought was
that Brent had told them, but she quickly dismissed that idea. How could he
have done it so quickly without her knowing? Besides, Sheila and Dana who
were one of campus major gossipers would have approached her by now.

“Cathy!” Someone called her name as she started to go up the steps to her
dormitory. She turned around to see Lee approaching her. His car was loaded
with suitcases. Sierra sat in the passenger seat. Stephen sat in the back.
Her heart ached. She hadn’t really thought about Lee leaving until she was
faced with the reality. He stood in front of her as she looked up at him.
Her brown eyes reflected how she felt.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Lee told her.

“I can’t help it. You’re really leaving. I know you had to, but I didn’t
think it was going to upset me so much.”

Lee smiled a little. “I’ve left before, Cathy.”

“Summer vacation, this isn’t the same. It’s going to be a while before you
come back isn’t it?”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of adjustment we’ll have to do at home. We can’t leave
dad by himself right now.”

“I understand.”

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “I will miss you like
crazy.”

“I’ll miss you too. I’ll keep in touch. Call you, write, whatever it takes,”
Cathy promised him.

“You better,” Lee looked up and saw Brent watching them from the top steps.
He frowned slightly. Brent had to appear out of nowhere and mess up their
moment. He could have at least given them their privacy, but he didn’t. He
stood there like protective guardian with arms crossed watching them
intently. Maybe it was better this way. Lee hadn’t known if he could resist
getting emotional and kissing Cathy’s lovely full lips again as he said
goodbye. Instead, he kissed her cheek warmly and pulled away. He wished he
hadn’t looked at her. Cathy stood there looking like she was about to cry.
It was almost his undoing. He was very close to breaking down and kissing
her again regardless of Brent watching her.

“Don’t you dare,” he warned gently. “I’ll get all emotional and your
boyfriend who’s watching us right now will come down here and kill me.”

Cathy glanced up and saw Brent’s large figure above them. She gave him an
annoyed look. He stood there stubbornly, both feet planted firmly on
concrete.

“I guess I can’t really blame him. I did tell him I’m in love with you,” Lee
said.

“Lee,” Cathy said hesitantly.

“It’s okay. I can’t help how I feel about you. It’s just something I’ll have
to deal with.”

“Cathy,” a soft voice said behind her. She turned around. Sierra leaned over
and kissed the bruise on Cathy’s cheek. “I’m sorry. Could you ever forgive
me?” She asked humbly.

Cathy smiled. “There’s nothing to forgive.” She gave Sierra a warm hug.

A car horn blasted loudly catching their attention. Stephan sat in the
driver’s seat. “Come on you two! We’re going to miss the plane if you don’t
hurry up!”

“I guess we better go,” Lee said. He looked at Cathy one more time and ran
his fingers affectionately across her cheek. “Later love.”

Cathy shook her head as she watched them walk away. The same old Lee, she
thought, happy he wasn’t going to change.

“I can see why you love her,” Sierra commented as they got into the car.
“But she will never love you that way. Her heart belongs to the one that
keeps a constant watch over her. They are soul mates.”

Lee looked at Sierra in shock at hearing that. He watched Brent walk down
and put his arms around Cathy as she waved good bye to them. His heart broke
into little pieces. “Let’s just go.”

Cathy stared up at Brent pointedly.

“What?” He asked feigning innocence.

She shook her head. “So, where have you been all day?” She asked curiously.

“I’ve been pretty busy. Are you coming to the pep rally this evening?”

“Don’t I always?” She asked noticing he avoided her question.

“So, how are you feeling?” Brent asked.

Cathy frowned up at him and sighed. “I hope you’re not going to start asking me that every hour of the day.”

“I just worry about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you. It would kill me,” Brent said sincerely.

Just like that, her irritation disappeared. She supposed she couldn’t blame him after telling him such a huge secret. Perhaps, he just needed time to get over the shock.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Nothing is going to happen to me, I promise.”

“I’m going to make sure you keep that promise,” Brent told her.

Cathy smiled at him and shook her head. She turned around and stared at the scenery of the campus looming in front of them. Brent wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. The beginning of her junior year certainly came with a lot of unexpected surprises. She had never dreamed she’d end up being Brent’s girlfriend or that he’d been in love with her since last year. Even Kiara had found someone. She’d discovered Lee had also been in love with her. And now, she had a feeling Brent had told everyone about her heart problem although he’d promised her he wouldn’t. She couldn’t get angry at him over it. She supposed it was just his stubborn way of watching out for her again. Since the year had just begun, she wondered what the future had in store for her. Then again, perhaps it was better to just live it than wonder. She looked up at Brent. He smiled and bent down to kiss her lips gently.

The End