Being Jim Ch. 08: Lightning Strikes

"I'd better go before someone has a conniption fit." I grinned. Kathie let both eyebrows ride up and she bit her bottom lip just before shouting to me as I closed the door.

"Call me later!" and she giggled and drove off leaving me standing in front of my pickup as the girl in the next parking space over looked at me through her windshield and raised both hands in askance as if to say "Well? Are you going to move?" I grinned at her and got in my pickup and after she pulled out and drove away in a huff, I headed off to Dom's to work.

It was Friday evening, normally the busiest night of the week for a pizza delivery business but oddly it was a rather slow night for a change. Not that there wasn't a dinner rush, there was, but by normal standards it was not as busy. Since I had an early class on Friday's this semester, I had not been closing Friday nights like I used to with Jules and a few others. Jules herself had been concentrating on other things as well and now with her new job and being sent off for schooling out of state soon she had cut way back on the nights she closed.

This Friday evening, we were two of the first to be checked out and sent home. Well, neither of us were going home, at least right away anyway. I'm not sure what Jules' plans were but I was going to the Library to participate in some studies with one very exciting young lady. My demeanor and the silly smile plastered on my face had not escaped notice by anyone this evening, especially Jules. As I was getting totaled up and checked out, she sat down next to me at the manager's desk and shouldered up to me.

"Hey buddy... You're looking awfully chipper tonight... does she have a name?" She asked conspiratorially and nudged me with an elbow. I just grinned a little sheepishly and shrugged. I knew already that Jules wasn't going to let it go at that. But I wasn't going to tell all, at least not around so many others.

"I'll tell you later maybe... but yeah. I'm feeling pretty good." I all but whispered and I felt my face warm with a slight blush. Of course, Jules couldn't miss that, she leaned back away from me a bit and studied me anew, her eyebrows rising questioningly before her trademark smirk cracked her face and she whistled appreciatively.

"Give me a few minutes to get checked out and I'll catch up with you in the parking lot. I gotta hear this." She said in a low voice and glanced between me and the assistant manager who knew me well enough to know that this was unusual, at least for the past couple of years anyway.

I grabbed a cold bottle of Pepsi out of the cooler and paid for it then borrowed one of the phones up front to call Kathie. One of the other girls working taking order couldn't help but overhear some of my end of the conversation even though I kept my voice down. I Told Kathie I had just gotten off work but would be a few minutes yet before I left. I should make it to the library in under an hour though... it' was only seven thirty in the evening so the night was still young. Kathie told me she would go ahead and look up her research material while she waited, but she might hold her breath so hurry. I had to smile at that and I told her I would.

I was hanging up about the time that Jules came to the front of the store after having been checked out. She paused at the entry door and saw that I was just hanging up the phone and gave me that one raised eyebrow look then pitched her head and shoulder towards the door as if to say "Come on." I took a deep breath and something halfway between a grimace and a smile grew on my face as I grabbed my Pepsi and followed her out to the parking lot.

I opened and lowered my tailgate on my pickup truck and hopped up to take a seat. Jules walked over and stood in front of me and crossed her arms over her flat chest tucking her hands under her armpits. Tilting her head to one side slightly and wearing her trademark smirk she raised one eyebrow and waited for me to begin. This was an old game between the two of us, the little wait and see who will talk first game. Over the last couple of years, I had become quite adept at this and as often as not I would come out the winner as she would break down and start talking or asking questions. Tonight, however I was just too amped up with new or renewed emotions. Feelings I had not experienced in... well... those two long lonely years after Michelle's passing. I had a goofy grin on my face after a few moments and Jules' smirk grew, she knew she had won this time.

"What? I can't smile?" I asked feeling my face warm as the blush set in. Jules' smirk turned into a warm smile for a moment but then returned to her trademark snideness as her eyes sparkled with amusement and... happiness.

"Oh, I don't mind the smiling Jimbo, I'm just curious as to what or rather WHO put it there. Now are you going to share with me or do I have to beat it out of you?" she informed me as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tilted her head to the other shoulder accordingly. That one lone eyebrow still reaching for her scalp. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and smiled again... I seemed to be doing that a lot over the last day or so.

"Kathie, her name is Kathie with..." I began.

"With an eye ee..." Jules finished nodding her head as she shuffled over slowly and turned before hopping up and landing her scrawny backside on the tailgate next to me, her arms still crossed and her hands still tucked under her armpits. She then kind of shimmied and scooted over closer to me until her elbow nudged me to continue.

"Yeah, I already told you a little about her. Well... she's kind of grown on me. I think she likes me... and I..." I paused as my head dipped and I swallowed a bit of a lump in my throat and took a deep breath. "I think I like her too." I finished and shrugged my shoulders a bit sheepishly.

"Farm boy... judging by that goofy grin of yours I'd say you got it worse than just liking this girl." Jules said softly but still in a teasing confidential voice.

"It's not like that Jules... there's just something about this girl that... I can't really explain it, she just feels... right." I said ending with a sigh of defeat. Jules leaned back away from me for a moment and studied me anew.

"Not like what? You're not interested in her? Is she ugly or something?" She peppered me with questions. I knew full well that this was not about the answers I might give but to keep me talking and to open up a little more.

"Oh, I'm interested in her, sure, she's adorable. But it's something else about her that just feels right. We don't even have to touch or really even talk much at all and I feel better just being with her, next to her. She tells me she feels it too, and neither one of us can explain it." I gushed detailing some of my amazement and wonder. Jules smiled, really smiled, not her usual sarcastic smirk or a grin. She leaned back over closer to me and bumped my shoulder with her shoulder.

"Well, I know you got her phone number, what else has she shared with you?" Jules said in a mock whisper.

"She told me about herself, her life for the past few years and her mom being sick." I offered up but even as I said it, I realized that that's not what Jules was asking about. I did however understand that it was important to me for some reason.

"And..." Jules prodded verbally for me to go on.

"And she hugged me." I sated softly and smiled a bit more.

"And..." Jules prodded again just knowing there was more somehow.

"And she kissed me..." I said with a dreamy sigh and again I felt my face warm with a blush. "Twice now..." I added and Jules nodded her head but kept quiet this time. We both sat in silence for a minute or two. I replayed the events over the past few days with Kathie in my mind and I could find no fault in anything she or I had done. I guess my quiet pensive mood worried Jules a little bit as she had to check on me a bit more. She nudged me with her elbow gently.

"Jim... did you tell her about... about Michelle?" She asked in a quiet somber voice. Again, the lump rose in my throat and I merely nodded. Jules sat quietly for a few moments longer. "How did she react to that?" Jules asked almost reverently, completely out of character for her.

"Very understanding actually. She liked what you told me... or asked me... by the way. She says you are a very wise friend and someone who must care for me very much to say something like that." I told Jules. This time it was Jules who shrugged. If I had been paying closer attention, I probably would have noticed a blush creeping up her neck and warming her face, but I was pretty much wrapped up in my own little bundle of questions and worries in my mind. I continued.

"She said that I would always love Michelle and that she would never try to change my mind or heart about that... but that she said she thought that I could... maybe... have room for another." I all but whispered. Jules leaned over and actually leaned her head on my left shoulder. I was startled for a moment but then I marveled at the silent affirmation and support she was giving me.

"This Kathie sounds like she's pretty smart Jimbo... she might be a keeper. I know it all comes down to what you think and feel buddy, but if it helps... ask yourself this question. Do you think Michelle would have been friends with her, with Kathie?" Jules queried and then sat back up straight again giving me a little room.

I sat silently again for a moment or two as I pondered that question in my mind. I smiled, slowly at first and then it grew as I realized that yes, yes, I think Michelle would have been friends with Kathie. For some reason that made me feel lighter. But damn it! Why were my eyes tearing up? I half chuckled and half choked before I took another long pull of my all but forgotten Pepsi.

"You know, Jules, you can be such a pain in the ass sometimes... but I love you all the same. Thanks." I said as I nudged her with my right elbow. Jules unfolded her arms and placed her hands on the tailgate to push off and hop back down to the ground.

"You were on the phone earlier... you seeing this Kathie tonight?" Jules asked with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to one shoulder standing in front of me once more.

"Actually, yes. We both have some research to do in the library tonight so we thought we might get together for a bit too." I said a little sheepishly while I idly twirled the half empty bottle of Pepsi around in my hand.

"Good. It's about time you lightened up. 'Study hard...' Jimbo." Jules chided me with a grin and swatted my left leg at the knee with her right hand as she turned to go to her car and leave.

I watched her drive off with a wave and then I emptied my Pepsi and put the empty bottle in my garbage basket then hopped down and closed my tailgate. It was only minutes later that I was pulling up behind the Library looking for an after-hours parking space. I found one without too much trouble and was soon inside.

With my book bag slung over my shoulder I was only half paying attention to looking up my research material in the index catalogue as I kept looking around for Kathie. I found my material location and was soon lost in the stacks where the floors of the stacks split the floors of the building by almost half so the third level of the stacks was only the second floor of the library.

I could understand how some people could get confused or even lost in there. I got lost many times but not out of misdirection but lost out of time and touch with the outside world I loved books, all kinds of books, old books especially. What might seem like dust and musty old smells to some was a heady perfume to this bookworm, second only to the heady mind-altering smell of a woman's... uh... never mind. That just sounds creepy. Anyway, it was in the stacks while tracking down my research material that I literally ran into Kathie. She too was tracking down some research material.

Working together we located the two books she was looking for and then found two of the three that I was looking for. Apparently, the book had been checked out or moved by someone else already, I'd have to check back for it another time. Books in hand we took one of the mid-floor exits and found a couple of open study carrels side by side.

After depositing our book bags, books and taking our seats we went through the motions of turning on the little lamps and pulling out our writing pads and pens, flipping through our reference books... to all the world looking like we were actually studying. In all honesty however, I might as well have been trying to read Greek or write in Japanese. My mind was less than three feet away on the girl in the carrel next to mine.

It might have been the third... maybe the fourth heavy sigh I heard from the carrel next door that I finally got the hint. Kathie was just as distracted as I was but was playing along in case I was actually able to study. When I leaned back far enough to poke my head around the divider wall to check on her, I saw that she had her head propped up on her right hand, her chin resting in her open palm. Her body was turned halfway in her chair so that her right leg was crossed over her left at the knee and her right foot was twitching idly as her left hand tapped her pen unconsciously on her shoe.

She appeared to be day dreaming until her gaze caught my eyes watching her. She grinned sheepishly for a moment then her smile brightened and she winked at me. I smiled in return and then made a show of looking both ways before scooting my chair farther back and turning towards her. Kathie must have read my mind as she straightened up and scooted her chair to one side of her carrel and I pulled my chair into and beside her. Sitting back down we were side by side and only inches apart.

"Hi... mind a little company?" I said with a shy grin. She just smiled in return and that bottom lip got drawn into her teeth again. "I was wondering how your research was going." I added coyly.

"Well, I have come to a stop. It seems that I need a live subject for further study..." Kathie said with one of her eyebrows climbing her forehead.

"I can volunteer... if you think I might be able to... help..." I offered, mirroring her lone eyebrow arching. Kathie's smile grew a bit bigger and she leaned a little closer to me.

"hmmm, I might have to... test you... first." She murmured as her face edged closer to mine and we both tilted our heads slightly in anticipation. Our noses just skimming one another as our lips met in a soft delicate collision. The tender tentative play of lips was sweet and electric at the same instant. I hadn't even realized that my eyes had closed until I opened them again as we drew back to breath. I noted that Kathie's eyes were just fluttering open again as well. Clearing my throat before I had to ask.

"So, do you think I qualify... for further testing that is?" I grinned.

"I think... I think the test was inconclusive... I'll have to do further... study perhaps." Kathie said with a sly grin as she brought her right hand up to the side of my face and gently eased back close to me and we kissed once again.

This time I watched as those smokey grey brown eyes converged into one and then closed just as our lips met. I relished the warm moist feel of her lips delicately dancing with my own and I took a chance and let my tongue slip along the surface of her lips. It was a bit of a shock, no not a shock perhaps but a wonderful surprise when I felt Kathie's tongue doing the same thing and our tongues stroked one another tentatively at first. Again, we parted and both opened our eyes to study the other. Kathie's reflexive draw of her bottom lip into her teeth belied the growing hunger I saw in her beautiful eyes.

"Jim, I must confess, I haven't kissed many guys but... wow!" Kathie murmured as she leaned in closer once more, her head tilting to the other side, her right hand sliding down to my neck to rest at the top of my left shoulder at the crook of my neck. As our lips resumed their dance, our tongues joined once more and waltzed with a slow seductive hesitancy. I think I would have happily passed out from lack of oxygen at this point but we did in fact pull apart again to breathe... and to look deeply into one another's eyes. Oh yes, I was under this girl's spell... whether she knew she had bound me or not.

"... for someone... who claims not to have a lot of experience... you are very good at it..." I managed to all but whisper as I fell deeper and deeper into those big beautiful eyes. The look of wonder on her face was priceless, as was the lightness she brought to my soul. Kathie grinned demurely and blushed slightly and gave the barest of shrugs.

"I know what I like... and you seem to like the same." She said softy as the fingers of her right hand toyed with the hair at the back of my head.

"I was told long ago that some people are just naturals... at things... others have to learn and practice." I hung my head dropping my gaze for a moment as I flashed back for a heartbeat to one afternoon, sitting on a couch kissing Michelle for the first time. I had to stop her and tell her to relax and just do what felt right... to kiss someone how you would like to be kissed in return. Honestly, I don't know where that came from, it just popped into my head at that moment... but it was a simple truth and a good rule of thumb. Michelle took to it like a duck to water, she turned into the most awesome kisser I had known up to that time and... well... I'd not found another like her or even close...until now. In the heartbeat or two of time it took me to think this and look back up into Kathie's slightly puzzled expression, my heart swelled yet again. It was something of an epiphany... this was right. This was special. This was a blessing from above. And I fell deeper and deeper still.

"Oh! I didn't mean that you needed to learn anything!" I said hastily as my last words registered in my brain and the puzzled expression on Kathie's face made me think that she had misinterpreted what I had just said. I blushed.

"Far from it! I just... well... I'm kind of rusty... and I'd love... to practice more if you would like that too." I tilted my head down a little and to one side meekly giving Kathie a sidelong questioning look. Her puzzled expression relaxed, then her mouth formed that little "oh" before she smiled brightly and giggled quietly.

"I think I could use some... practice... too. I'll practice with you if you like." She all but whispered as she leaned forward and rested her forehead to my own.

"I would like... very much I would like." I smiled in return as our heads rotated and our lips met once again.

I could probably go on and on about how soft and sensual and somewhat provocatively daring our tongues grew during this kiss and several more that followed but they all start to sound alike after a while. I will say however that each and every kiss got better than the ones before them. It wasn't until the lights blinked on an off several times in rapid succession that we snapped out of our little lip bound bubble.

We had lost all track of time as we had practiced, the library was getting ready to close up. The blinking lights were to let anyone inside know that it was time to exit unless they planned on being locked in for the night. Yes, that happens, it happened to me on at least two occasions prior to this evening, for one reason or another. Flushed and hearts racing but smiling like a couple of love-struck teenagers, Kathie and I hurriedly packed up our pads and pens and gathered our reference books to put back on the returns cart.

We walked hand in hand... when did that happen? We walked hand in hand to the stacks and wound our way around and down to the ground floor to exit into the main library and then exit the building. Standing outside we turned once more to face one another. Standing toe to toe, Kathie had to tilt her head slightly up to look me in the face, but not by much, I was not that much taller than she was. Our book bags over our shoulders made hugging a bit challenging but we overcame it, one arm each wrapped around the other, chest to chest, forehead to forehead.