Living with Katrina Ch. 10

"Crazy," Katrina finished the sentence out loud. She poured herself a glass and held it up to her eyes. Her wrists tilted and twirled the glass, letting the ochre liquid creep to the rim before falling back. The questions were staggering and she needed time to think. Time she didn't have.

She was broken out of her ruminations by the sound of the door opening. Jake walked in. He made his way to the table. Katrina put the glass down and stood up, her eyes scanning his expression.

"How was it, Jake?"

He looked at her concerned expression and gave a weak smile. The emotions he felt went much deeper, but he was too tired to show them all. Instead, he hugged her tightly and whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, Katrina. I would never have done it without you."

Katrina shed a few tears and held him tightly. When they detached, she saw in his eyes the lightness of an enormous weight lifted. In that moment, she knew he would never again be alone.

"What's wrong?" he said, seeing her perplexed expression.

"Sit down, Jake."

Confused and somewhat worried, he sat down beside her. She took a glass of liquid courage, hoping it would help her with what she had to say.

* *

"This lunch date promises to be much better than the last one," Brittany said with something resembling a smile.

"I guess so," said Jake, sitting down opposite her.

"So... about the job?"

"As I told the old you, I can't leave New York," he said as the waiters moved off, leaving them to themselves.

"You won't have to," smiled Brittany. "I'm shifting my head office here, on the corner of LaSalle and Clairemont."

"Oh God, is that seventy storey monstrosity under construction there your idea?"

"Yes," she said. "I thought it was about time I moved."

"I don't know," Jake persisted, as the entrées arrived. "Feels like you're doing me a favour."

"Jake," she said heavily. "You know how this works. Either you come work for me, or I buy your firm and then make you come work for me. Either way, you will be heading one entire floor out of those seventy where my company's accounts are maintained."

"Doesn't sound like your giving me much of a choice."

"Maybe a signing bonus will entice you," she said, rummaging in her purse for her chequebook. She quickly wrote something and signed it. Tearing it out, she gave it to Jake, whose eyes took the diameter of dinner plates.

"Not enough?" smirked Brittany.

"There's no way I could accept this," he gasped.

"As you so astutely pointed out, Jake," said his sister. "It's not a choice."

"What can I say?" said Jake, throwing up his hands in mock despair. "You drive a hard bargain."

"Glad to see that's settled then," she beamed.

"Guess it is," he said wearily tucking into his lobster. She observed him for a few moments.

"What's wrong, Jake?"

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"You're lying and I know it. What's wrong?" she said, genuinely concerned now. Jake looked up at her from his plate. The façade of casual lunch was clearly too weak for her almost telepathic abilities.

"It's Katrina," he said, putting his fork down. "She's moving to Philadelphia."

"What?" said Brittany, her brow furrowed.

"A big opportunity came up for her and she wants to go. Some critic was really impressed by her work. She's leaving soon."

"You can't let her go," snapped Brittany.

"Why not?" he said.

"Because you love her, remember?"

"Maybe I do, but can I ever love her like she wants me to?" he asked.

"Of course you can, Jake."

"How?"

"I have just climbed out of hate. Love is entirely new. I can calculate hundred digit numbers in my head and tell you the cosine of the result, but I can't tell you how to love. You are going to have to figure that out yourself."

"I don't know how," he said, shaking his head morosely.

"Love made you shelter her all these years, Jake," Brittany said. "It made her stand up to me for your sake and yet you don't know how to love?"

"Katrina... has a certain preference for lovers," he said, wiping his chin. "I don't fit that."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not artistic. I'm not flamboyant. Even normal sex scares me a little," he admitted, surprised at how good it felt talking to his sister about it. "I'm not her type."

"Tell me this," said Brittany, leaning forward. "Have any of her types ever been there for her when no one else would be? Have any of them stayed up at night wiping her tears? Have any of them held her and told her everything was going to be okay even after she beat him bloody? No, but you have."

Jake listened to her, reeling from the barrage of words.

"She loves you, Jake, just like you love her. Show it once, and she will never let you go."

"How do you know that?" asked Jake, wondering what became of the emotionless robot he had known all his life.

"Because," she started. "Love is something that makes people go to extraordinary lengths."

He looked unconvinced, clearly nervous about expressing his true feelings. Brittany sensed that.

"I realize I have been your big sister for all of ten hours, but you have to trust me on this one. She stood up to me for your sake. That says a lot."

Jake looked at the earnest expression in her eyes. She was inching closer and closer to emotion. The effort galvanized him into action. He stood up purposefully.

"Tell the chauffeur to drop you off. Now hurry," said Brittany, rising and planting a peck on his cheek.

"What if I'm not ready?" said Jake, a fresh wave of panic surfacing.

"Jake, I'll tell you what Katrina told me yesterday," said Brittany. "You have nothing to lose and a wonderful human being to gain. You'll know what to say."

* *

It was harder than she thought. It really was.

Packing six years of her life into boxes was difficult. Each thing Katrina picked up reminded her of something. Something funny, something silly, something sad -- but always something. It was all going into little boxes.

Breaking the news to him and the aftermath was heartbreaking. It was hard, but she knew in her heart it was for the best. They had both changed profoundly since first meeting and needed fresh starts.

She held a photo frame with Jake and herself in it and looked at it longingly. It was taken on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. It was amazing how two smiles could mask the damaged souls behind them. The truth was, they weren't as damaged any more.

"I love you."

If the voice echoed back from the wall, she could almost imagine Jake standing there and saying it. Unrequited love seared through her, but the time for idle regret had passed. It was time to move on.

She stood in the living room, holding a box when the door slammed open. She turned and looked in amazement to see Jake standing, breathless and gasping.

"Jake, what happened?" she asked. "Aren't you supposed to be at lunch with Brittany?"

Blood pounded in his ears as he stood still. He saw Katrina's mouth open and close, but heard nothing over the rush of blood.

"Jake, are you okay?"

Now was the moment. Now was the time to sweep her off her feet with a grand romantic statement. It was the culmination of years of love and it begged for something magnificent.

Jake had no idea what to say. His throat was dry and his vision was blurry around the edges. There was a multitude of thoughts in his head, but none of them were good enough.

"Jake?"

His brain faded, his instincts took over. For the first time in his life, his instincts spurred him into hitherto unimaginable action. He walked to the rooted figure of Katrina and placed his palms on her cheeks. Her eyes shimmered and her lips trembled with uncertainty. He pressed his lips to hers and let his tongue inside her mouth. A torrent of suppressed desires unleashed themselves in that kiss. Jake was tender, there was a profound love in every movement of his tongue inside her mouth.

But Katrina did not reciprocate.

Something was wrong. Katrina's tongue was paralysed and her arms hung passively at her sides. She simply stood there and let her mouth be invaded by her roommate's tongue. Jake realized this a minute later and hurriedly stepped back and watched her fearfully.

Katrina's eyes were closed and her lips were still partially open, frozen from the kiss. She stood in that pose for several seconds, each of them a small eternity for Jake. He grew increasingly worried he had overestimated her feelings. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at the floor.

"That is not how you kiss a girl, Jake," she said in a voice, struggling to contain emotion. In two quick strides, she bridged the gap between them. She grabbed Jake by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Her eyes were bursting to the seams with tears.

"This is how you kiss a girl."

She mashed her lips against his forcefully and thrust her tongue into his mouth. There was no delicacy or holding back. Katrina frothed and churned his mouth, her tongue plunging back and forth, sweeping from side to side. Jake tried to reciprocate, but could not come close. He gave up and let himself be orally assaulted. She mauled his face with a raging passion unlike anything he had ever imagined.

Katrina drew her face back for an instant, letting him breathe. He looked at her and saw she had lost her battle to tears which were streaming down her face. It was the first time in his life he had seen her smile with tears. Happy tears looked so much better on her face.

She smiled and kissed him again, slightly gentler this time. Their lips locked, sealing within them the promise that nothing would ever be the same again.

* *