James

Finally, things were about to fall into place, James thought to himself as he got home. He should have set this in motion right from the start, but at least the ball was rolling now. “Hello Thomas,” he said as the man opened the door for him.

“Sir,” Thomas replied, his usual cheeriness absent. “May I take your coat, sir?”

“Thank you.” He handed him his coat,

Thomas only grunted in response.

Frowning he asked, “Are you all right, Thomas?”

Thomas looked at him, and held his breath for a moment, before it all came pouring out of him. “Am I all right? Oh, I’m fine, but maybe it’s not me you should be worried about…but I would just like to say, for the record, that she is absolutely lovely, and you…well, quite frankly, you’re a damn fool if you can’t see that.”

“I can see that,” he told him. What was going on here?

“Then you might want to let her know,” he said pointedly.

“I will do just that,” James told him, but didn’t feel the need to tell him that he had rushed home for exactly that reason. He was done fighting his feelings.

 “Well good…um…I better go then. Good night, Sir.”

“Good night,” he said absentmindedly.

He had a really bad feeling, but didn’t want to ask Thomas. He needed to talk to Katherine, and just then she came down the stairs, stopping in mid-step when she saw him.

He’d gotten used to her beautiful smile greeting when he got home, but she wasn’t smiling.  “James, your home,” she said in a flat tone, and continued down the stairs, stopping by a stack of packed bags by the foot of the stairs.

“The fuck is this?” James pointed at the bags, feeling his insides twisting.

“I’m leaving. Please tell the guards to let me pass,” she said, hugging her arms around herself.

“No,” he said stubbornly.

“This is imprisonment, I’ll call the cops if I have to,” she threatened.

“Kitty—”

“No, don’t call me that.”

He tried again, “Kitty, please…can’t we talk about this?”

“Nothing to talk about. I’m going home,” she said, avoiding eye contact.

“To the sorority house? How are you going to get there?”

“Someone will pick me up.”

“Someone like Paul?” He growled.

“Maybe, it’s none of your concern.” She turned to leave.

“The hell it is.” He grabbed her arm, spun her around, and pulled her against him. She wouldn’t look at him, so he put his finger under her chin and made her.

Her eyes were shiny. She was fighting the tears, and he felt like he’d been punched in the gut. This was his fault. “Kitty,” he whispered, “I didn’t—”

“No,” she cut him off and pulled out of his embrace. “You don’t need to explain anything to me, but I really need to leave now. I’m grateful, I really am, for all you done for me, for your hospitality—”

“Hospitality? Kitty, come on, talk to me.”

She sighed. “Look, I know it wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but it did to me. It still does, and I don’t know how to turn it off. The only thing I can do is leave. So please, let me go.”

“No.”

“James…please,” she begged.

“No, you are not going anywhere.” She pursed her lips, getting angry with him. He didn’t care, there was no way he was letting her go, especially after what she just admitted.

“Please James, can’t you understand it hurts? Jesus, you just got back from a date with other woman.”

“No, I didn’t. I told her there wasn’t going to be a date,” he explained.

Katherine rolled her eyes. “And that took this long?”

“No, I had something else I needed to do.” Something he didn’t want to go into details about just yet.

“Sure.” She turned away from him, clearly not believing him.

He wasn’t about to give up so easy though. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him. She tried to fight him “I wasn’t with her just now. I didn’t even mean to agree to go out with her in the first place. It was only because I was distracted by you,” he said, but Katherine still struggled to get away from him. “I told her days ago, it wasn’t going to happen,”

“That makes no sense. Why would you do that?” She pushed against his chest.

“Because I’m in love with someone else.”

Katherine stopped fighting, and finally, her gaze met his. She stared into his eyes searching. But, but…she was perfect for you,” she said, her tone barely above a whisper.

He smiled and shook his head. “No, you’re perfect for me,” he said, cupping her face with his hands. “You were right, I was afraid. So afraid of taking a risk, I wasn’t really living. But you…you changed all that. You make me feel more alive than I ever knew I could. And I love you. I love you so much, and I don’t ever want to be without you.” He took her hands in his. “I know I was a jerk, and I’m so sorry for that. Please forgive me”