Chapter 3Work was simple enough; it was almost fun. Kat caught a robber, and for that she was awarded 500 simoleons. But that was all simple. And for some reason picking up a phone and dialing was much harder.
Kat's heart beast frantically as she reached for the phone. She liked Henry. She wanted to call him, hear his voice. She
really wanted to call him. So why was it so hard?
Just as she heard the first ring, Kat hung up. That was the fourth time! She could not keep doing this. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.
Henry answered on the third ring. "Hello?"
"It's me, Kat."
"Hey. Was that you calling me all those times?"
"Um..."
Busted! "My phone was acting strange. It couldn't get a connection or something," she fibbed. She bit her lip. Would he buy it?
"Oh," he said, without a hint of suspicion. "Well, in that case, what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you would like to come by here before I left for work?" The words escaped from Kat's mouth before she could think about them.
"Sure, it'll be a pleasure to see you. I'll head right over."
"Okay," she nearly whispered. She felt like she might faint.
Hanging up the phone, she looked around her little home. Counters and the sink and dishes all needed to be cleaned. Frantically, she dumped the dirty dishes in the sink and tried to scrub the counter simultaneously.
Just as she was draining the bubbles from the sink and considering taking a shower, Kat heard a voice behind her.
"Hey, Kat."
She spun around, holding her breath. There was Henry.
He gave her a warm smile, his green eyes sparkling and his golden hair catching the sunlight. Kat remembered how he had called her own eyes- her
purple eyes- beautiful. Yet, they seemed to pale in comparison to his.
Realizing that she was staring, Kat turned away and blushed. "Hey," she finally replied.
"You look great," Henry complimented. Kat blushed even more. "And you're doing great. You said you got a job?"
"I'm only a security guard at some...um..." She paused. What was the word they had used? "
Corporation."
"That's certainly nothing to sneeze at." Kat giggled at the expression. She was starting to understand what was literal and what was not.
"I guess not." She shrugged. "Well, what do
you do, Mr. Hotshot?"
He shifted from foot to foot and said breezily, "I'm between jobs at the moment." Kat nodded and turned away.
“Still, I bet you have a nice house to live in,” Kat murmured wistfully. Henry walked over to her bed and picked up a pillow.
“I don’t care what you say, this is still best done outside.”
She furrowed her brow. “What-“ Before she could finish, Henry whacked her with the pillow. She started laughing. “No fair! I’m unarmed!” she screamed, running to her bed to fetch the other pillow.
Henry came up to her. “Are you ready yet?” he questioned.
“No.” As soon as she said it, she smacked him with her pillow. “Now I am!” she announced gleefully. Their pillow fight commenced in a flurry of feathers and laughter.
Afterwards, the two collapsed on the ground.
“I haven’t had a pillow fight in years,” Kat commented, breathing heavily.
“Me neither… Wait!” Henry shot up from where he lay. “How do you know that?”
“Know what?”
“How do you know that you haven’t had a pillow fight in years?” Kat scrunched up her nose.
“I don’t know… I just do.” She looked over at him. “Is that weird?”
Henry settled back down. “Well, yes and no. Mostly no, I guess.” They lay in silence for awhile.
Suddenly, Henry shot up again. “I didn’t notice you got a stereo!” He looked down at her, smiling crazily. “I know a joke about a stereo.” Kat smiled, glad they were on another topic.
“Sure, let me hear it.” It continued with them telling each other corny jokes and playing games. When it started to get dark, Henry suddenly said, “Let’s dance.”
“Oh no!” Kat planted her feet in the ground. “I am a
terrible dancer!”
“How do you know?” he asked again.
“I’ve tried!”
“You haven’t tried with me,” he pointed out, a mischievous smile growing across his lips.
“I don’t think it’ll make a difference, but fine,” she complied. He switched on the stereo and pulled her toward him.
Kat awkwardly tried to dance with Henry to a song she vaguely recognized. She stumbled a few time, achingly aware of how close he was.
“Hey you’re not so bad,” he claimed.
Kat snorted in disbelief, but left it at that.
Looking away from her feet for a moment, Kat saw her carpool to work drive up. “Oh,” she said, stepping away from Henry. “My carpool is here.” She almost felt relieved. “Good-bye.”
As she started to walk away, Henry stepped in front of her. He had a slight smile on his face as he murmured in her, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do.” She opened her mouth to ask what, but he pulled her to him and kissed her.
“Have fun at work. I expect to hear all about it,” he whispered as he pulled away.
Kat stared after him as he walked away, too stunned to do anything but put a hand to her lips.
