Katherine

“Let’s get this over with,” her dad said. “I don’t have all day.”

Katherine got down from her stool. God, she hated these things, she always felt like she was climbing a tree. “Dad,” she said, trying to get his attention.

“No, I’m not doing this with you,” he said tersely.

Her heart sank. All the progress they’d made had gone right down the drain.

She followed him to over to table where James stood, still holding his menu in front of his crotch. She was in a lot of trouble, and this was going to be painfully uncomfortable, but that still made her smile internally.

“John,” he greeted her father.

“James, I can’t tell you how grateful I am,” he said. “You remember my daughter?”

James cleared his trough. “Of course.”

Liar!

He held his hand out to her, “Kitty.”

No one had called her Kitty in years. For some reason, it made her feel all weird and tingly inside. Also, a little naughty, if she was being honest.

“James,” she said slipping her hand into his, their eyes met and it was as if time stopped and everyone else vanished. There were only him, her…and fireworks.

He looked at her with such heat, she felt her whole body ignite.

His gaze dropped to her lips and for a second she thought he might pull her in for a kiss, but before she recalled who and where they were, his expression turned cold and he pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned.

And as if to stress his rejection, swiftly turned and faced her father

She often hadn’t feel like much of a priority to her parents. A while back she had finally accepted that that was just the way things were. She had given up on getting their attention, although her recent adventure didn’t suggest that. She couldn’t make sense of it herself.

Having spent the better part of two days sick in her bed, she hadn’t had a chance to figure out what exactly happened before her dad had swooped in.

Something she had mixed feelings about. It was either letting him fix things, which required her to swallow some pride or risk losing his financial support and possibly getting expelled. Yes, kind of a cynical way of looking at it. The truth was, what she really needed was some support from her family. And even though his method could stand some improvement, he was there.  She didn’t expect her mom to come running.

But she understood why her mom kept her distance during a crisis, her dad had a way of steamrolling anyone who disagreed with him. It was his way or no way at all.

That wasn’t at all how her dad viewed these situations…or her mother. Katherine was never in doubt that whenever he told her, ‘you’re acting like your mother,’ it wasn’t a compliment.

According to him, the reason why her mom avoided these kinds of situation was that they weren’t about her, and she avoided anything where she wasn’t the center of attention.

There might be some truth to that, but in her defense, past experience showed, if her mom tried to get involved, things usually got worse.

Would have been nice if she called though, but right now, she was too busy with her own scandal.

Katherine had been lost in her own thoughts for a while as the two men talked amongst themselves. She only tuned in again when her dad started rattling off instructions, as if she were a disobedient child…or pet.

“…she is not to go out on her own, she is not to have any friends over, she should not be allowed on campus, and under no circumstances is she to

Katherine had been standing there gawking at her dad as he ranted on, but finally, couldn’t help herself and blurted out, “Are you seriously telling him what to feed me and when to put me to bed? Jesus Christ, dad, why don’t’ you tell him to regularly bathe me too? And maybe…” She trailed off. Shit, she should have kept her mouth shut. From the look on the two men’s faces her input wasn’t appreciated. Her dad was just about ready to explode, and James? Well, he looked like he was in pain.

“Do you not understand the gravity of the situation?” Her dad bit out through clenched teeth.

I do, and I do appreciate James’ hospitality, but I am an adult. I can structure my own sleep schedule, thank you very much.” Why had she even opened her mouth? She really wasn’t in any position to argue.

“If you did, maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess,” her dad retorted.

Katherine noticed they were getting an audience. People at the surrounding tables were beginning to send them glances, and conversation had stopped in favor of eavesdropping.

Oh, how she would have loved this, back in the day. Would have played it up as much as she could and reveled in it.

Her dad still thought that was her. She could see it in the way he narrowed his eyes on her, challenging her to cause a scene and prove him right, that she hadn’t changed one bit over the last couple of years. To be fair, she almost had with that little outburst. Bottle it up, she told herself, bottle it up.

“Honestly Katherine…” her father said sharply, “do you ever think of the consequences of your actions?” It was a rhetorical question. “And after the streaking incident last month…” a loud gasp came from behind her at the word ‘streaking’, and she had to suppress an eyeroll. Her father was shaking his head. “You really managed to screw things up this time.”

She kept her mouth shut.

“And what did Paul have to say about this huh?” her dad stared at her.

Dear Lord, how was that even a little bit relevant?

“Paul?” James asked.

Her father wasn’t done. “Can’t imagine he would approve of such juvenile antics”

Katherine sucked in a deep breath. No, she wasn’t going there, but decided to address the other issue. “We weren’t streaking, it was a protest,” she said as calmly as possible.

“pfff…and what is your excuse this time? The vandalism, trespassing, being found passed out, drunk as a skunk, barely dress, right under the nose of campus security?”

Katherine sighed. The thing was, she couldn’t remember.

Not a great defense, obviously.

Looking at James, her dad said, “I swear to God, man, it’s like she wanted to get caught.”

James shrugged, almost imperceptibly, but she could practically hear his thought; Well, isn’t that the typical MO for an attention-seeker?

Her dad huffed in exasperation as he turned to Katherine. “I’ve had enough of your shenanigans.”

Yes, she had fucked up, and she was already paying for it. Because of this, she had no chance of getting that internship she’d been working so hard for.

It was at a reputable PR firm, and she had been close, really close. She had one final presentation left, and if she did a decent job, it was as good as hers. She had been thoroughly prepared, and was sure she would have nailed it…if she’d shown up that day.

Yeah, she had definitely fucked up, but it had been a mistake. She’d hoped her dad would see that, but of course he didn’t. In his book, there were no mistakes, at least not when it came to her. And he didn’t even want to hear her out, not that she expected him to. After all, he was a lawyer, the truth didn’t matter to him.

James tried again. “And this Paul person, how–”

This time, Katherine cut him off. “Well, since it is my mess as you said, maybe you should stay out of it and let me take care of it by myself.”

“Oh, that I’d like to see…and are you going pay your own way too, huh? Maybe try working as a stripper again?”

“Sheesh, you will not let that go,” Katherine snapped at her dad.

He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath through his nose before he turned to James, effectively dismissing her.

“James, I’m sorry to abandon you with her. I honestly thought she would behave after the stunt she just pulled, but clearly my expectations were too high.” He shook his head. “Man, I don’t want to put you out. Really, I don’t want you to bend over backwards for her. Frankly, if you manage to make her keep her clothes on, I’ll consider it a success,” he said, completely missing how flushed James’ cheeks suddenly looked.