Katie's Quest Ch. 04

After Kieran and Katie finished their late afternoon repast, it took the better part of two more hours for him to finish showing her around his father's shop. He talked and talked and talked, answering one question after another and even, on several occasions, letting her hold some of his father's more expensive tools. She seemed to soak up everything he told her like a sponge. Seeing her like that, Kieran saw why Katie consistently earned higher grades than everyone else at school.

Is there anything she isn't good at? The question popped into his brain before he could stop it, and he felt like a jerk for even thinking such a thing. So far, Katie treated him with nothing but respect and kindness, but there was also more to it than that.

The brutal, honest truth was that Kieran was lonely, and it wasn't until meeting Katie that he realized just how lonely he'd truly been. Losing his mom had robbed him of the desire and energy to be as outgoing as he'd once been, and this created a vicious cycle of self-isolation which eventually turned him into a social outcast. Katie was the first person he'd spent any time with outside of school in more than three years, with the obvious exception of his father.

Speaking of which...he'll be expecting me at home by now, he thought. Clearing his throat, he said, "Katie, it's going to start getting dark soon. I've really enjoyed hanging out with you like this, but maybe it's best if I drove you home."

Katie smiled. Kieran felt its impact like a physical blow. Would he ever get used to it? Not likely.

"Actually, I was hoping I could come over to your place and we could watch a movie or something. Is that okay?"

Kieran thought about it. Well...Dad's not expecting company, but on the other hand, he'll probably be happy that I'm not spending another afternoon all by myself. "I think it'll be fine." He gave a rueful chuckle. "I'm afraid our TV isn't very big, though."

Katie waved his words aside with an elegant sweep of her hand. "Don't even worry about it. I'm nothing if not flexible."

The lizard part of Kieran's brain noted that, as captain of the cheer squad, Katie was probably flexible in more ways than one. It also wondered, with vivid mental imagery, how that flexibility might be put to use in...other ways.

Kieran quashed that line of thought, though only with considerable effort. Frustration boiled up inside him. For the last time, stop it, he snarled at himself. Katie isn't a piece of meat, for God's sake. Stop thinking like such a knuckle-dragger, Callaway. You think she'll want to be your friend if she figures out what's going on inside your head?

No. Of course not. If Katie knew, she'd be disgusted, and she'd have every right to feel that way. Hell, she flat-out told me one of the reasons she wants to be friends is because I don't ogle her like most guys do. If I start, I'll be no different from them in her eyes.

Katie cleared her throat, a little impatiently. Kieran realized she was still waiting for him to say something and felt embarrassment warming his cheeks. "Sorry! Yes, of course, Katie. I--I'd really like to hang out a little more before we have to call it a night. My place isn't far at all."

Katie gave that thousand-megawatt smile again. "Sounds like a deal to me."

"Just give me a few minutes to lock up on our way out." Kieran fished the keys from his pocket again. "If I left the place unlocked and something got stolen, Dad would skin me alive."

"Take your time," Katie assured him. "I'm in no hurry, Kieran. We've got, like, pretty much all night."

She waited patiently for him as he locked all the doors and switched the security system on before heading outside. It took several minutes--there were lots of keys to sort through before he found the right ones--but soon they were back in Kieran's refurbished pickup truck. The drive was very short, and in no time at all he was pulling into a gravel driveway next to a small, one-story house that, while not decrepit, had clearly seen better days. The paint on the outside was starting to peel, and at least one of the windows was covered with plywood instead of glass. It never bothered Kieran before, but now, with Katie by his side, he was filled with shame at the way his home looked. "It's not much, I know," he admitted.

"It's your home," Katie replied. "That's more than enough for me to like it."

Her simple, no-nonsense response made his heart swell inside his chest. She really is a good person. "Thank you," was all he could think to say.

"You're welcome," she chirped. "So, do you need to knock, or...?"

"No, Dad leaves it unlocked until I get here. C'mon in."

Without further ado, Kieran opened the front door and stepped inside. Katie followed close at his heels. "Dad! I'm home!" he called.

"About time," an older man's voice replied. There was the sound of someone getting up from a chair--Katie guessed the noise was coming from the living room--and then she got her first real look at Kieran's dad.

It was immediately obvious that Kieran did indeed take after his mother. Where Kieran's hair was dark, his father's was a fiery shade of red, though it was going gray at the temples. His eyes were green instead of the chocolate brown color Kieran sported, and his face was more rough-cut and square-shaped than his son's. Still, there was still a resemblance between the two Callaways. Kieran and his father shared the same nose and slender, lean build, though his father had whipcord muscles from long years in his auto shop.

The moment he saw Katie, Sean Callaway stopped dead in his tracks. "Who's this?" he asked. "A friend of yours, Kieran?"

Kieran nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, she is. Dad, this is Katie Petersen."

"Petersen? Like the mayor?"

"Yup!" Katie nodded. "He's my dad! Nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind that Kieran invited me over."

"Not at all. Better than him just sitting in his room reading or playing video games, the way he usually does." Sean's tone was dry. "You two have fun. There's some food in the fridge and a box of popcorn in the pantry if you get hungry."

"Thank you." Katie inclined her head respectfully.

"Right, well, I think I'll turn in early," Sean said. "Nice to meet you, Katie. You two have a good time."

"We will!" Katie assured him, with her typical exuberance.

Sean smiled and nodded, though as he walked by Kieran, he paused just long enough to mutter "Use a condom" under his breath. Kieran turned positively scarlet with mortification, but by then his father was already disappearing down the hall.

"Kieran?" asked Katie. "You ok?"

"Yeah. My dad was just, um, giving me a hard time. Just some teasing, you know? We do that a lot. It's like a banter thing."

Unbeknownst to him, Katie heard every word of what his father said, and it was all she could do not to bust a gut laughing. Not only because she delighted in his father's dry sense of humor, but also because he wasn't that far off the mark. Katie wanted nothing more than to take Kieran to bed just like Sean implied. The only difference was she had no intention of using protection or birth control of any kind.

Kieran knew none of this, and Katie wasn't about to tip her hand early. Instead, she smiled innocently as she imagined fucking Kieran in a number of different positions, from reverse cowgirl to missionary to doggystyle. She imagined him buried between her thighs, licking her virgin pussy and clit with his tongue, and pictured herself on her knees in front of him, staring up into his eyes while she sucked his cock. Had Kieran known the lewd nature of her thoughts, he probably would have fainted.

But he didn't. Instead, he did his best to brush his father's comment aside and show Katie into the living room, where an old box-like TV and VHS player sat atop an aging wooden stand.

"You have a VHS?" Katie asked.

"Y-yeah. I know it's, um, a really old system, but our DVD player broke a while back and we don't have the money to get a new one right now." He shrugged. "I hope you don't mind an older movie."

"Are you kidding? I think it's cool. I haven't even seen a VHS since I was a little kid," Katie said. "I think it's nostalgic, and I like it."

Kieran laughed and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You're really something else, Petersen."

"I was about to say the same about you, Callaway." Then, seeking another topic to talk about, Katie went over to a framed picture hanging on the living room wall. It was of a smiling, dark-haired woman who seemed to be in her late thirties but retained a striking attractiveness.

But it was the eyes that really gave her identity away. They were a soft warm brown, the same color as Kieran's. Katie recognized them immediately.

"This is your mom, isn't it?" she asked.

Kieran didn't look at the picture very often. For the past three years, he'd trained his eyes to skip over it. Looking at his mother's face hurt too much. Now, though, he had little choice but to do just that. "Yes," he said simply. "That's her."

"She looks beautiful. She must have been a wonderful person."

"She was." Kieran's voice was distant and soft and infinitely sad.

"Do you..." Katie hesitated, clearly unsure whether it was wise to ask the question she was about to ask. "Do you mind if I ask how...?"

"How she died?" Kieran finished. "Honestly, Katie, I kind of do. I don't want...I don't want to think about it right now. Not tonight. I hope you understand."

"Of course." Katie reached over and clasped his hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Of course I understand, Kieran," she went on, her voice full of compassion. "I can't imagine how painful it must be for you, and I'm sorry if I pried. I should have known better. Please forgive me."

She's holding my hand. She's holding my hand. It was all he could do to keep his brain from short-circuiting. "It's...it's okay, Katie. You didn't pry and I'm not angry with you or anything like that. I don't blame you for asking, and one day, I'll probably tell you. Just, um, not tonight."

Katie nodded her understanding. "I wish there was something I could do," she said, taking a step to close the distance between them. Before he could say anything, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in close for a hug.

Fireworks went off inside Kieran's head. His whole body stiffened with shock. He was simply unable to process or accept what was happening. This couldn't be happening, not to him, not with someone like Katie Petersen. This had to be some sort of mistake, some sort of cosmic joke the universe was playing on him--

He made the mistake of inhaling, breathing in Katie's wonderful scent, and promptly lost the ability to form coherent thoughts. She smelled wonderful, like vanilla and wildflowers, and her hair was so soft and silky where it brushed against his chin as she laid her head against his chest. The room spun wildly--

--And Kieran's lizard brain came roaring back with a vengeance. His hormones began to rage, turning his blood white-hot with desire. The part of him that was basically, animalistically male urged him to touch her, to caress her, to take her over to the couch and tear her skirt away and fuck her again and again and again and--

Kieran couldn't think. He could barely breathe. All he could think of, his entire world consisted in that moment only of Katie and how soft and feminine she felt pressed against him. It--no, she--was intoxicating.

His cock strained against the confines of his worn jeans. It was so rampant and so stiff that it poked Katie right in the stomach. That, ultimately, was what cut through his fog of desire. That, and the shame which accompanied it.

Kieran reeled back from her so fast he nearly backed into the wall. His heart was pounding in his chest, but he couldn't meet her eyes. He knew she'd felt the evidence of his arousal, and his body's betrayal shamed him.

"I'm sorry," he rasped. "God, Katie, I didn't mean--"

Katie held up a hand. "Kieran..."

"It's...I mean...I just--"

"Kieran."

"Please forgive me, I'm not a pig or anything, I swear--"

"Kieran!"

He stopped in mid-ramble. "Y-yeah?"

Katie noticed his refusal to look her in the face and lowered her voice. "Look at me."

He didn't. He couldn't.

"Kieran." She reached up and cupped his face in her palms, turning his head ever so gently so he was looking into her impossibly blue eyes.

"You don't need to be ashamed," she said, firmly but gently. "You're not to blame for the way your body reacts to me. I know you're a good guy and I know you're not a pig. If I thought otherwise I wouldn't be here. This whole time you've treated me with nothing but respect. You've shown me what kind of man you are. If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I should have realized that being so close to you like that would make your sex drive kick in. It's not your fault--any guy with a pulse would have reacted the exact same way. I'm really sorry for putting you in a situation where you felt embarrassed." She looked up at him. "Will you forgive me?"

Kieran's jaw dropped. Is...is she for real? A lot of other girls would have reacted differently. But then, he reminded himself once again, Katie Petersen was not like other girls at all.

"I..." He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "O-of course I forgive you, Katie. I--" His face burned red hot for what felt like the millionth time that day. Honesty. She asked for honesty. I have to be honest with her. "I...actually really enjoyed it."

Katie snorted. "Oh, that was obvious. Seriously, though, don't sweat it okay? It's all good, and so are we. I enjoyed it too, actually. I've never hugged a guy before, other than my dad."

She enjoyed it? She enjoyed hugging me? Kieran felt a fresh surge of blood below his belt and was helpless to stop it. To keep her from noticing, he asked, "You've never hugged any guys before? Not even like, a friend or something?"

"Nope. Now..." she gestured at the television. "Would you like to pick a movie to watch, or would you like me to do it?"

"You can pick. Surprise me."

She chuckled. "I intend to," she said, and there was something in the way she said it, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, which hinted that the words might have some sort of deeper meaning. He wanted to ask about it, but by the time he opened his mouth she was already for the kitchen. "Can I have something to drink, please?"

"Sure. Help yourself."

"Thanks!"

Kieran sank into an armchair that looked at least a decade old, running a hand through his hair as he tried to gather himself. He was still trying to do that when Katie returned, bearing two sodas and generously-sized bowls of popcorn. She popped in a movie--Romancing the Stone starring Michael Douglas--and patted a spot next to her on the carpet. "What are you doing all the way over there, silly? Come join me."

Like a deer being lured further and further into a hunter's trap, Kieran did.

(Author's note: Wow! I have to admit that I've been blown away so far by the reception the story has been getting. thank you to everyone who commented and favorites this, and an especially sincere thank you to those who've watched me. I'm so happy you're enjoying my work, and I fully intend on seeing this story through to completion. Stay tuned-- there is much more to come!)