Mom and Dad came to fetch me at the station when I arrived. Hugs and kisses in toe, I got into our family car as we made our way home.
"Honey, you seem distracted. You okay?" mom asked.
"Ah! I'm just tired. It was a long trip."
I drifted in and out of my parent's conversation. My mind was a buzz thinking about Katherine. A mere five-hour bus ride and I missed her already. My heart was breaking into millions of pieces. The organ that gave me life was slowly taking it away. It felt heavy.
I was sure that the bus ride's what did it. The confined space and not being able to escape forced me to realise just how much I truly loved her. As I passed golden cornfields, and sinewy roads, I kept thinking back to our departure. Being in that bus with nothing more than my thoughts and looking out onto autumn's changing scenery, I found myself. I found out that Katherine was who I wanted and longed for. Katherine was the reason I was here in this space in time.
"I brought you tea and three sugars just like you like it." Katherine said with a smile, as she handed me the hot drink.
"That's just plain weird. I was going to say that I need tea or something before we go."
She had one of those crock-pot's in her dorm room. Often she would make us tea or coffee with her little kitchen aid. Sometimes creativity got the better of us and we would make KD and tuna casserole with it.
The whole trip to the bus station, I kept stealing glances at her. I wanted a mental picture of how beautiful she was. I didn't want to forget the way her favourite worn-in blue Levi's hugged her shape. She had these cowboy boots. They were positively horrendous, but when they were on her feet they transformed into glass slippers. Of course I never built up the nerve to tell her this. I just kept telling her that: "No righteous women would be caught dead in cowboy boots in this decade." That's just how she was. She could care less about people's opinion, even if it was mine. I loved her confidence. The more I looked at her the more I didn't want to leave.
Everyone told us we were polar opposites. People just couldn't make out, how we managed to become so close. I think most people suspected us of being lovers before we actually were. She was referred to as the snotty-pretentious-wanna-be-model. And me, well, I was the down to earth-party-girl-jock. We made quite a pair.
"So what do you have planned for your week off?" I asked incredulously.
I prepared myself for the onslaught of how her and Hewitt, (I found out the boyfriend's name through our conversations) would spend their time together.
"You remember Roger right?" Katherine asked.
I nodded in acknowledgement.
"We plan on seeing a couple of movies and stuff. Catch up on all the Indie movies out. And, well other than nothing much other than just really missing you."
I choked on my orange juice.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her blue pools for eyes beaming at me.
"Yeah! I'll be okay, I'm sure."
We carried on talking about what we would do with the much-needed time off school. Strangely, the conversation kept gravitating towards what we would do together once I got back. We were and old married couple before we had the honeymoon. Katherine and I had all kinds of plans: to start jogging, and her joining the gym too. Our Friday nights for the next month included: pizza, beer and foreign flicks. A passion we both had. Katherine mentioned coming to the nightclub I worked at on Saturdays to keep me company. I found it strange that she didn't mention time she could or wanted to spend with her boyfriend. I wasn't about to inquire.
After breakfast we made our way back to the station so I could board. We hugged goodbye. I wrote down the number to my parent's house so she could call me if she so pleased. Just as I was getting on the bus, Katherine reached for my hand. Delicately, she intertwined her fingers with mine.
"I'll miss you."
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