FictionPress.com - let the words flow
| FictionPress.com - let the words flow |
|
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Epilogue – The Note
“You’ve gotta squat down, Kaylie!”
She tried to mimic the move she’d seen Marcus doing when his team had the ball, but it was hard to stay bent like that. Her knees hurt, and she certainly didn’t want to kneel in the mud. To appease Joe, she bounced her butt in effort to dip low, but then straightened up again.
“They’re gonna knock you flat on your ass if you stand like that,” Joe sighed with heavy annoyance and stepped closer to Kaylie who was bent over at the waist, her hands on a football. There was no way she could hike the ball to him standing like that. Joe brought his hands to the small of her back, tapped the back of her locked knees with his the toe of his sneaker, kicked her feet apart a bit more, and then shoved her bottom down into a squat.
With a startled cry, Kaylie fell, butt-first, into the snow and mud that covered football field at Mellbrook Stadium. It was the fifth time Joe had knocked her on her butt during the game of touch football, which she hadn’t wanted to play in the first place. It was supposed to be an innocent and fun game, and it had started off fine when Kaylie, Joe, and Fred, who made up one team, had scored the first two points to lead 2 to 0 over Isaiah and Marcus, who made up the other team. Kaylie then made a few tiny mistakes—in ten minutes time—and the score became tied. Playing wasn’t much fun after that. Joe only had fun when he was winning, and he didn’t want to lose on behalf of Kaylie’s poor athletic skills. He let her know it too. Part of her was starting to think that Joe really liked knocking her on her butt.
Aggravated, Kaylie scrambled to her feet, “You jerk… stop knocking me down!”
“Then squat right!” Joe cried. “You’re hopeless!”
“For the love of god,” Fred moaned in annoyance. “Can’t you two just get along?”
“If she’d squat down like I told her too then we wouldn’t be down a point!” Joe cried. “Come on, bend over—let me show you how to squat down.”
“I don’t need a lesson, Joe!”
“You do need a lesson because you suck!” Joe cried. “Why do I get the crappy girl on my team?” Annoyed, infuriated, and a little embarrassed of her lack of skill. Kaylie growled and started to chase Joe. He yelped and took off down the field toward the farthest end zone.
“Oh, come on!” Fred called in annoyance as he straightened up. He watched Joe zigzag to get away from Kaylie and then cupped his hands over his mouth to shout: “Come on you two, let’s just play!”
Kaylie and Joe didn’t listen. She chased him up and down the slushy football field, which they technically weren’t supposed to be on, stopping only to pick up handfuls of muddy sludge to throw at him. Joe laughed and dodged the flying mixture several times. He then stuck his tongue out and ran as hard as he could to the end zone. Kaylie followed. Sometimes she thought that he really enjoyed riling her and pushing her buttons. Ever since she and Isaiah had official became boyfriend and girlfriend three months ago, Joe had taken on the role of big brother to her. He teased her, laughed at her, and harassed her, just like an older brought would, he said.
Kaylie hated being teased; Joe reveled in it. And yet she put up with him because he, Fred, Marcus, and Isaiah, had all had a 7-day suspension for their antics on assembly day. Even though that whole debacle wasn’t her fault, she felt slightly guilty that it was all done to get her back. There was only so much teasing she’d tolerate though, and Joe had just gone too far.
“We’re never going to play a decent game with those two,” Marcus sighed as he came to stand beside Isaiah who was watching Kaylie and Joe run around the thirty-yard line about thirty yards from where they were standing. Isaiah smiled and nodded.
They had only been on the field for an hour and it had taken them that long just to explain the rules of touch football to Kaylie. She didn’t want to play, but didn’t complain since she had forced Marcus, Fred, and Joe to play a game of Trivial Pursuit with them the night before. Isaiah had figured the pay-per-view horror movie Joe insisted on buying was payback enough, since Kaylie said she hated scary movies. It was Joe’s place though and she had very little say in the movie he picked. She watched it regardless, because she didn’t want to call it a night with Isaiah, and pretended like it didn’t bother her. She had screamed so many times that she was sure she had startled the boys more than the movie had. She had been so frightened that she worked herself up on the way back home, and had then had nightmares all night.
At three in the morning, she called Isaiah sobbing uncontrollably, horrified by dreams of killer clown that sucked her soul out through her nose. Her father had gone away to a conference in D.C., and she was petrified of being alone. So, Isaiah came over and climbed into bed with her, which was actually pretty fun. Not that they’d done anything besides making out a little. She had enjoyed waking up with him that morning. He even made her eggs for breakfast.
She tagged along to the football field with the assumption that she’d be watching the game, not playing in it. She was against climbing the fence to get into the field, and constantly said they were going to get in big trouble. Isaiah claimed there was nothing to worry about since the entire district was on Spring Break. The grounds keepers wouldn’t be around until the next week, and sure the field would get a little tore up. Joe said it didn’t matter anyway since the late winter storm that brought four inches of snow had done enough damage on its own, what did it matter that five kids were playing around? Seven, if Tommy and Margaret would stop canoodling in the bleachers to join them.
Tommy and Margaret had arrived at the house to watch movies just as Kaylie and Isaiah were heading out to the field. Kaylie nearly gave in to stay behind and watch movies with them—as planned—but decided that she didn’t want to sit around while they made out in front of her on the couch. So the new love birds had tagged along to the field insisting that they would play football, only to escape to the bleachers where they were now cuddled beneath Margaret’s Star Trek blanket, doing god knows what.
Kaylie managed to trip up Joe. He landed on the ground with a wet thud, and before he could get up, Kaylie jumped on top of him.
“ISAIAH!” Joe screamed.
“You take things too seriously!” She spat as he struggled to get up. She pelted him with muddy snow until Isaiah grabbed her under the arms and swooped her up. Drawing her way from Joe, Isaiah tucked her in his arms. She was breathless from the exertion of chasing Joe, and damp and cold from the snow and mud. Despite all of that, Isaiah warmed her with his body and kissed her cheek tenderly.
“I don’t want to play anymore,” Kaylie said breathlessly as she pushed her hair out of her face. She pulled out of Isaiah’s arms and stomped passed Joe who was still sprawled on his back. Moving slowly toward the red-topped track, Kaylie headed over to the bleachers where she found Tommy and Margaret kissing. Kaylie paused, not wanting to disturb them, and then sat down on the football bench for the home team. She stared up and down the football field, imagining twenty-two guys running up and down the field while being chased after referees. She still didn’t understand what made the game so exciting, but she had a newfound respect for it.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Tommy and Margaret were still going at it. She sighed and stared straight ahead, waiting for her own heart to stop thudding. Of course it didn’t, especially when Isaiah straddled the bench beside her, and pulled her flush to his chest. The feel of his body against hers always did funny things to her heart.
“I would rather be in kicking it in bed with you all day,” he murmured against her ear. “Rather than see you covered in snow and mud, and shivering.” He rubbed his hand over her damp arm and kissed her jaw.
“I don’t know if the bed is the best place for us,” Kaylie murmured against his lips just before she kissed him. “Too tempting,” she whispered as he brought his hand to her throat and cupped her skin gently. She felt the tip of his tongue against her skin and trembled. For weeks now, their kisses were starting to feel different. He touched and held her differently, and his body moved differently against hers. It was a different kind of a touch all together; never rushed or forced, but a gradual build up of gentle tension that was beginning to gnaw wildly on the insides of Kaylie’s stomach. It was purely sexual, she knew that much, and feared that it would get her in trouble if she wasn’t careful.
She supposed the change was obvious to everyone around them. Her father had commented on it after she had Isaiah over to dinner a week or so before the holiday break.
“Wow… you could cut the friction with a knife,” he muttered under his breath. Kaylie had been at the sink washing dishes. Her hands halted under the hot water, she waited for him to elaborate, but he just shuffled uncomfortably back and forth from the kitchen table to the refrigerator. “Do you… um…”
Kaylie felt a tug of dread and looked over her shoulder at her father. He busied himself rearranging leftover containers on the top shelf of the refrigerator. Finally he asked, “Do you need more condoms?”
“Dad!” she cried. He jumped up, banging the backside of his head on the inside of the refrigerator. Cursing he rubbed the spot and glanced over at her. “We’re… we’re not… we… n-no!” She put the pot she was washing in the dish drain, forgetting to rinse it off, and had to take everything out to rinse off the suds. “We’re not—I mean, we haven’t… he and I… No.”
“Oh, thank god!” Melvin hugged her fiercely from behind, and as he let her go, he said one simple word: “Don’t.” And then added on, “ever.”
Kaylie and Isaiah hadn’t had sex—yet. She wasn’t sure when they were going to do it either. She wasn’t ready, and he said he wasn’t in a hurry. The build up was fun. Sometimes she thought otherwise.
Isaiah drew back slightly as his friends slowly approached them. Fred had the football tucked under his arm. Isaiah dropped his hands to Kaylie’s waist and held her there as he asked, “Ready to go?” Fred nodded his head, his eyes darting toward the stands where Margaret had just begun that squealing laughter of hers.
“Um, no, we’re not leaving yet—we haven’t finished the damn game!” Joe whined. Isaiah agreed to a twenty more minutes of play time and headed out onto the field with his friends. Kaylie watched the slow movements of his long legs and felt her cheeks flood with blood at the memory of waking up with one of those long legs tossed over her hip, and his hand on her breast. She knew that it hadn’t been an accident to find him groping her in the morning. He said that he always slept like that, but with a pillow. She just rolled her eyes and curled her fingers between his. She knew he was just testing the waters with her.
They made out a little bit, and she supposed if they were going to have sex it would have happened that morning. Isaiah was more than ready. Kaylie, however, wasn’t. Once she had forced out those three simple words, “I’m not ready,” Isaiah eased back and settled by her side until he was relaxed. The entire situation was so unlike the one with Jake, who had pouted for days when she said that she wasn’t ready. Jake had gone on and on about her not loving him enough. Isaiah had just held her close and laughed along with the morning cartoons. He was nothing like Jake, and Kaylie still couldn’t believe that she hadn’t seen that from the very beginning.
“Kaylie!” Tommy called from the bleachers. She turned her head and saw that he and Margaret had de-suctioned their lips and were now sitting up, wrapped in the blanket. They both gestured for her to come toward them. Standing, Kaylie climbed up and over the fence and headed up the bleachers toward them. She sat on the bench in front of theirs, as to not see anything that may cause her more nightmares, and sighed.
“Want some hot chocolate?” Tommy wiggled his silver thermos over Kaylie’s shoulder. “Margaret made it for me—it’s deeeeelicious.”
“Then why are you sharing it if it’s so good?” Margaret demanded. Kaylie bit her lower lip to keep from smiling and kept her eyes forward.
They were like this, the two of them. They’d hit it off after Kaylie had left Winter Formal unexpectedly with Isaiah. Margaret approached him and told him that he was dense and blind if he couldn’t see how much she loved him. Tommy asked her to dance, during which he kissed her. From that moment, they had never been apart. It was rumored around school that they were now the most experienced couple to walk the aged halls of Mellbrook High. Kaylie didn’t doubt it. They were always together, locked at the hip or lip, oblivious to their surroundings or the fact that they had each had ten detentions for inappropriate behavior since Winter Formal. Tommy was on the verge of being suspended. And Margaret was turned on by the rebel in him.
“You should have some, Kaylie, it’s the best stuff I’ve ever had!”
“Then why are you going to give it away!” Margaret demanded. Her tone was sharp and forceful, the same tone she used with everyone. Most people feared Margaret because she was bossy and demanding, but Tommy loved her because she was so blunt and forceful. He knew how to pacify her. He could tame the beast.
“Margie,” Tommy said soothingly. “It’s good to share. I love your cocoa… and I want to share it with my best friend.” Kaylie smiled at Tommy’s gentle voice and then gagged at the kissing noises that commenced a moment later. “Okay?” He asked her.
Margaret harrumphed and muttered something under her breath. Tommy tapped the thermos against Kaylie’s shoulder and told her to have some. She took the thermos and bit her cheek hard to keep from laughing as Margaret huffed and pouted over Tommy sharing his special drink with her. Untwisting the cap, Kaylie sniffed the steaming contents and then poured a tiny amount into the cup of the thermos. She sipped the hot chocolate and discovered that it really was tasty.
Turning to commend Margaret for creating such a rich chocolaty brew, Kaylie froze and watched Tommy and Margaret’s tongues waging a little battle of wills. They were like lizards, their tongues flicking over each other madly. Kaylie had never kissed Isaiah like that; it seemed almost sinful to watch. Kaylie jerked back around the moment Tommy’s hand moved over Margaret’s right breast, causing the uptight Science Club president to moan passionately, Kaylie slurped down the remaining hot chocolate, screwed the thermos cap back on and then quietly got up and headed down the bleachers. She glanced back in time to see Tommy leaning Margaret down on the bench, moving over her.
“Wow,” Isaiah said as he ran over breathlessly. “Are they going to do it right there or something?” Together they watched as Tommy pulled the blanket over his and Margaret’s head. It wasn’t but a moment later that Margaret’s legs kicked the blanket free and twisted up around Tommy.
“Oh!” Kaylie spun around so she wasn’t watching anymore. “Oh… oh my god… oh…”
“Wow, he’s seriously…” Isaiah snorted slightly and then tugged Kaylie away. She refused to look over her shoulder at the two lovers. Instead she followed Isaiah back onto the field and decided to give the center position another try. This time she did squat down and hiked the ball to Joe perfectly. He tossed it back to Kaylie who screamed and scrambled to the end zone, her boyfriend and his three friends tearing after her. As she sailed through the goal line to win a point, she spiked the ball with excitement and threw her arms into the air. Joe was the first one to her. He picked her up, spun her around and jumped into the air with a whoop of triumph.“I told you it was fun!” Isaiah exclaimed as Kaylie turned toward him.
Kaylie conceded with a shrug and smiled triumphantly at Joe. He nodded in approval and ruffled her hair, which she hated. “So, let’s go again… but this time, I don’t want to be the center—I want to catch a pass!”
Fred, Joe, Marcus, and Isaiah exchanged hesitant looks. Marcus, who had been in Kaylie’s gym class for the past several months, knew that she couldn’t catch the ball. She could run, yes, but running and catching, would be completely different. His looked at her with skepticism.
“Um, maybe you should stick to playing center,” Joe said. “You’ve got that squatting thing down nice.”
Kaylie pressed her lips together and crossed her arms. “I can do it!”
“Well… this point was pretty much a fluke—you can run fast,” Joe shrugged indifferently. “None of us expected you to actually score a point.”
“I did, Baby,” Isaiah cooed as he drew her toward him. “Let her play receiver, Joe, it’s all in fun.” He patted Kaylie’s bottom and then headed back toward center field. Fred took her position as center and she took his as receiver. Joe hiked the ball and Kaylie took off running down the field, Marcus right on her heels. She knew nothing about looking over her shoulder for the ball, or anticipating where Joe would throw it. So it was no surprise when Marcus intercepted the ball and raced in the opposite direction. Kaylie pursued him, slipping on the mud. Managing to keep upright, she scrambling after him, and let out a cry of victory when Fred tackled Marcus on the twenty yard line.
Joe, who was unhappy with the turn over, pointed his finger in Kaylie’s and growled, “You’re center from now on… you nearly lost us a point.”
“Calm down! It’s all in fun, Joe,” Fred shouted from where he was picking himself out of the mud. “She’s fast! She would have caught him if the field was dry.” Joe disagreed and rolled his eyes. He was too competitive for Kaylie’s liking. They played for fifteen more minutes, and in the end Marcus and Isaiah won by two points. Joe was more than ready to leave, and voiced his frustration by telling Margaret and Tommy to get a room. He then threw his empty water bottle at them. Kaylie averted her eyes from the romancing couple and took Isaiah’s hand.
They climbed back over the fence, both Marcus and Isaiah helping Kaylie down so she wouldn’t have to jump and land on her ankle. They then separated from Fred, Joe, and Marcus who went off together in Marcus beat-up sedan. Kaylie and Isaiah climbed onto his bike. She glanced up at the bleachers of the school and wondered if Tommy and Margaret would mind if they were left behind. She figured the wouldn’t and since Margaret had driven her care, Kaylie didn’t feel guilty for leaving them alone.
“Home?” Isaiah asked. Kaylie nodded and hugged his middle.
--
After peeling off her grimy clothes and taking a quick shower, Kaylie returned to the living room where Isaiah was sitting on the couch watching TV. She watched Die Hard on TNT for a moment and then headed into the kitchen and made sandwiches for lunch. While she was cutting the ham and cheese sandwiches into triangles, Isaiah tapped her shoulder. She turned around and smiled up at him.
“I saw the mail van come,” he said softly. “So I went out to get the mail.”
“And?” Kaylie whispered. Her heart was racing in her chest; she felt like she had just run up and down the 100-yard field again.
Since the beginning of Spring Break they had been waiting for the mail; for some word from Duke. Isaiah’s acceptance letter had come the first day of vacation. It was now the last day, so surely her letter had come in the mail today and he was holding it behind his back. She set down the butter knife, ignoring the loud clank as it fell of the edge of the plate and clattered onto the counter. Anticipation set in and she began to ring her hands together. Kaylie put her hands on his chest and stared up into his gray eyes, hoping that she could read them. His heart was beating wildly under her palm and his eyes seemed to sparkle. She knew it was good news, it had to be! Yet, he frowned, his eyes growing sad.
“We shouldn’t have slept in the same bed last night,” he whispered. “I don’t know how I’ll ever sleep again without you cuddled up beside me.” He sighed heavily. “This puts me in a really bad place Kaylie, because… Duke doesn’t allow boys and girls to share rooms. So how will I sleep?” The frown on his face disappeared as he revealed a large envelope, which he had torn open and read. “You’re in!”
Screaming, Kaylie jumped into his arms. He dropped the envelope and her acceptance papers scattered all over the floor, but she didn’t care. They would be going to the same school! She had daydreamed about that for months, about them moving to North Carolina, registering for classes, studying together, joining similar organizations. She’d go to every one of his football games and if he walked-on to the basketball team, she’d go to each of those games too.
Since the assembly before Christmas, Kaylie had hoped for such an ending. They were happy together, and no matter how many times her dad told her to guard her heart—that young love may not last—Kaylie couldn’t imagine being with anyone other than Isaiah.
“I would have followed you anywhere,” he whispered against her lips before he sank against them fully, touching his tongue against her teeth until she opened her jaw and let him in. After a moment he drew back and held up something for her to see. “Here,” he said.
Kaylie blinked, wiped away her tears, and then looked at what he was holding in his hand. It was a small white triangle, with doodles and her name scrawled across the top.
A note… he hadn’t given her a note in months!
“I’m sure Duke doesn’t have hall lockers for me to slip this into.” He grinned as she took it. “It’s the note I told for you a while back—do you remember?”
Kaylie thought a moment, and then nodded, confused, “You said you lost it.”
“Yeah, I lied,” Isaiah chuckled. “I kept it. I was… scared of what you’d think. I mean, there was so much that I was keeping from you, I didn’t want to give you this and then drop a bomb shell. ‘Cause then you wouldn’t have believed what the note says. I forgot all about it until last night.”
Kaylie smiled and carefully broke away the yellowed scotch tape that held the seams of the letter together. She unfolded the paper slowly smiling at his doodles and drawings along the margins. As she unfolded the letter completely, she was startled to find six little words at the center of the page, written in his tiny, crisp handwriting, and nothing else. A smiled slowly crept to the corners of her mouth as she read the words over and over again. Finally, she looked up into his eyes.
“Isaiah—”
He was blushing, he gave an indifferent shrug, and then laughed, “See… it’s… so personal.”
Kaylie looked back at his message and bit the inside of her lip. She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She squeezed him close and blinked away her tears. As she stepped back from him, she looked at the paper again and laughed. If she had read this that day, she would have been floored, completely amazed, and perhaps a little scared. She wasn’t scared or wary of the words now. She felt the same way.
“It’s not very poetic either.” He murmured as he hugged her from behind and rested his chin against her shoulder. She leaned back against him, her hands trembling as she held the page up for him to see. “I guess I could have thought of something more Shakespearean or something…”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said after a moment. Her eyes moved from word to word slowly and then took them all it. “I think they’re very poetic.” He squeezed her tightly from behind and then drew back and picked up the plate of sandwich triangles. He popped one into his mouth and then pulled open the refrigerator where he grabbed two Cokes. Kaylie watched him leave the kitchen, gesturing for her to follow him with a coy little smile that made her blush. She bit her lower lip and smiled saying that she’d be right there. When he was gone, she looked back down at the note in her hands. Kaylie sighed as she reread the words he had written months ago:
I am in love with you.
Kaylie smiled as her stomach and heart fluttered simultaneously.
Very poetic indeed, she thought. Moving out of the kitchen she watched Isaiah as he leaned over and snapped open the tab on her Coke can. He then sprinkled a handful of Doritos on her plate and licked his fingers.
“Kaylie, are you comin’?”
“I’m here,” she murmured softly as she sank down beside him. He pecked her forehead in a light kiss and then shoveled and sandwich into his mouth. She watched as he chewed a few times and then added a few chips to the mix. Settling back, she watched him eat with a dopey smile, and thought, I love this man.
The End
I'm glad that you readers enjoyed this and let me know how much you enjoyed it. It helped me fuel along these chapters! I sorta neglected my other story! But now I can focus on that too... I hope to write many more stories that you all will enjoy! Thanks so much for being supportive! Many thanks.
To touch base on a few issues raised in that last chapter... thanks for the SAT correction... it's been a while since I've taken that test--will change Isaiah's score to 1580. Also, thanks for the comments about "binding" schools and early acceptance. When I edit or redo this story, I will definitely keep those things in mind! To comments about stereotypical characters... good points... will make the nerds less pimply in the future :c). Ummm... I think that's all for now... again, thanks for reading! I didn't want to finish. Maybe one day I'll write about Kaylie and Isaiah in college... we shall see (it will be a while before this happens, I have a lot of stories planned).
Many thanks!