As Kat left the theater, she knew she wouldn’t sleep that night. It had little to do with the encounter she’d just had with the man who’d almost sent her into cardiac arrest with a handshake. She hadn’t been sleeping at all lately and she had no idea how her body still managed to function at the level it did with no rest. The night before she’d managed to get an hour in before tossing and turning the remaining moonlight hours away. As she approached the steps of Ruggles she noticed Dan Murphy outside having a cigarette. His girlfriend, Kara, was also on the soccer team and a friend of Kat’s.

“Hey, Kat, heard you knocked Harvard on its ass tonight,” Dan smiled.

“Heard? You weren’t there?”

“No, I had to work, but I already caught hell from Kara so don’t feel the need,” he laughed.

“I see,” Kat smiled. “Got another one of those?” she asked motioning to the Marlboro Light between the fingers of his left hand.

“You smoke?” he questioned pulling the pack and lighter out of his pocket.

“No, not really. Every once in a while I’ll bum one, though. And tonight I need it,” she sighed.

“One of those, huh?”

“Got that right,” she said capturing the filter tip between her lips and sparking it into life with the blue Bic lighter.

“Well, I’m done here, so unless you want some company, I’m gonna head in,” Dan stated flicking his butt to the curb.

“No, I’m good. Thanks anyway,” Kat sat squatting down to sit on the bottom step.

“Goodnight, Kit-Kat,” Dan smiled as he disappeared behind the door.

“Night,” she called over her shoulder. She was thankful to be alone but she knew it wasn’t exactly the best thing for her at the moment to be left alone with her thoughts.

Everything was so confusing. She’d never had that kind of immediate connection with anyone, not even Gabriel. Gabriel. What the hell was she thinking? How could you do this to him? Her mind scolded. He’s only been gone… gone… he’s been gone a year. A year already and I still can’t let him go. Who are you kidding anyway? If JC knew your dark little secrets he would never be interested. JC. What if it was all just a trick my mind was playing on me? Because of those eyes that look so much like Gabriel’s. I saw something, felt something, that wasn’t really there because of those eyes. That’s it. That must be it. I wasn’t feeling anything for JC; it was Gabriel the whole time. Damn it. I thought maybe this once, that handshake, maybe the ghosts were gone. But it was the ghosts the whole time. Tears overflowed in her eyes and ran in quiet streams down her face. She brushed them away quickly and shivered in the cool night air as she tossed the half-smoked cigarette to the sidewalk. She stood, pulling her bag onto her shoulder in turned to go inside.

Upstairs, Erin was sitting in the hallway outside her room on the phone. Kat ducked into the lounge to check her appearance in the mirror. Judging that she could pass off the puffy eyes as sleepiness, she brushed the stray strands of hair out of her face and walked down the hall towards Erin and her room. Erin looked up and mouthed that it was Kevin on the phone. Kat smirked and rolled her eyes. “I’m not here. Tell me in the morning,” she whispered. Unlocking her door she was greeted by a pajama-clad Jordan hanging upside down off her bed, also on the phone, presumably with Greg. She waved distractedly at Kat as she told Greg every miniscule detail of her entire day without him.

Kat waved back, dumping her bag onto her unmade bed. Yanking the rubber band out of her tousled hair, she made her way to the dresser and pulled out a pair of gray draw-string pants and her over-sized navy Columbia hooded sweatshirt. Kicking her flip-flops under her bed she pulled the sweatshirt over her head and proceeded to pull her hair back into a messy bun on the top of her head. She changed from her boxers to the recently retrieved draw-strings, pulled on an old pair of Adidas Sambas, grabbed her journal, pen, and wallet, and left the room with nothing but an unacknowledged nod in Jordan’s general direction.

Erin had retreated back into her room by the time Kat emerged from her own. She let out a thankful sigh and started for the stairwell. As she flew down the stairs and out the main entrance, she allowed no thought of JC to enter her mind.

Two blocks later, she was nestled in her usual over-stuffed armchair in the back of Beth’s Café. Within five minutes she sat, scribbling away in her journal with a large ginger tea steaming on the table in front of her.

What the hell is wrong with me? Just yesterday I was sitting in class fantasizing about hooking up with a certain Pennsylvanian Rugby star and now I’m completely freaking out about finding JC attractive. What’s the difference? Why was it ok to think about Matt in that way and not JC? Maybe because I wasn’t thinking about them in the same way. With Matt it was just physical. He’s cute and he thinks I’m cute. We would hook up one night and never think about each other again. But JC… with JC, its not physical. Its something I can’t even describe. The second I saw those eyes… the eyes. They don’t belong to him. They’re the eyes of a ghost that won’t stop haunting me. Its like every time I think of JC, I’m betraying Gabriel. But is that even possible? How do you betray something that doesn’t even exist anymore. Gabriel is dead. He’s dead and I’m alive. Maybe that’s not even the problem. Maybe the problem is that I’m irreversibly fucked up. There are so many questions. Would I be feeling this way about JC even if his eyes weren’t so familiar? Is the fact that I have Gabriel in the back of my head the only reason why JC was able to make me feel what I felt tonight? Would this even be an issue if he knew about my past? What guy in his right mind would want to deal with my level of imperfection? I may have gotten better but those demons are still there. I need medication and therapy just to stay stable. There is no normal for me. Factor in his celebrity, his very lifestyle, and what you get is some freaky kind of Greek Tragedy. Why am I even still thinking about this? How could any of this ever work out? At least Gabriel understood what it was like to be in my head. He knew what it was like to have demons and to want to give in to them. But then again, he did give in and left me to deal with these shit alone. What do I owe him after that? What kind of betrayal could I commit at this point that would ever come close to that? For Christ’s sake, it was only a few years ago that I, myself, had given up on life all together. I know what that’s all about.

Kat leaned her head back against the back of the chair, collecting her thoughts before returning to her writing... She still cringined every time the thought of that day came back to her.

But it didn’t work. She woke up in a hospital room, head stinging, ears ringing, her throat sore from the stomach pump, and her stomach searing with a curious combination of pain and nausea. The tears spilled down her cheeks and sobs racked her body. She couldn’t even control her own death.

JC took a deep breath as he settled back against his pillow. His mind, slightly clouded from exhaustion and a bit of alcohol from the night’s activities, tried to process the events of the day. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as the drifted shut and allowed Kat’s image to flow into his thoughts.

He let a small chuckle escape his lips as he thought of Joey’s description of her as a young girl: “scrawny.” She certainly grew out of that phase. Her beauty wasn’t the kind of beauty augmented by make-up or clothing. She had that legitimate natural beauty that everyone speaks about but rarely sees.

He thought of how she looked the moment before she slipped out of his sight that night. Her long dark hair was pulled backing a sloppy knot at the nape of her neck. She wore no make-up that allowed a natural glow to shine from her creamy skin and bright blue eyes. Her obviously slight frame was somewhat hidden by a T-shirt and a baggy pair of boxers that were rolled up just to keep them from falling off her body. In attempting not to meet her eyes, he’d noticed how she continuously slid her feet in and out of her flip-flops. He wondered if it was a nervous habit. Her fingers had also fidgeted with an unraveling seam at the bottom of her shirt. If she was nervous maybe it was the same reason I was nervous. Maybe she’s been feeling the same kinds of feelings I have. She seemed just as scared to meet my eyes and I was to meet hers.

He shifted his position in bed until he became comfortable and then let his mind drift once more. His thoughts wandered to what Ethan had told him that night. “Kat’s had it rough.” A girl with emotional baggage wasn’t exactly an ideal companion, especially in JC’s case. His life was crazy as it was and the kind of work required to make a relationship work was difficult to commit to, let alone the amount of energy it would take to make something work with a person with serious demons in her past. Normally he would have moved on with no more than a second thought. But after the touch they’d shared, how could her walk away from this girl?

You’ll just have to play this one out, Josh. Keep it together. Don’t let yourself get swept up in something you haven’t even started yet, he lectured himself. He tried to banish thoughts of her from his mind, if only for sleep’s sake.

It was hours before sleep claimed him.

At 4 AM, Kat finally gathered her things and paid the bill. She left a hefty tip, as always, for Caroline, the graveyard shift waitress. Those hours spent in the dimly lit coffee shop served to relieve some of knots that’s had formed everywhere from her stomach to her soul. She’d let every thought, every word that entered her mind, spill onto the pages of her journal- 65 pages to be exact. Maybe fifteen percent was coherent but it didn’t matter. It was what she needed to do in order to keep it together.

She hugged her journal to her chest as she hurried along the New York streets, which, at 4 AM, were as quiet as New York streets could be. When she got back to the dorm, she ascended the steps, taking two at a time, to the third floor. The halls were absolutely silent as she walked down to number 315. As she slid her key into the lock she studied the bulletin board that was posted on the door. Their RA, Meg, had posted a piece of blue construction paper with “Kathryn” and “Jordan” spelled in calligraphy in the middle of it. Around their names, they’d mounted a collage of pictures of Jordan, Lisa, Erin, and herself from the past year. Erin and Kat in the medieval costumes from “Camelot,” prancing around the floor lounge like idiots, Kat and Jordan the day they moved it freshman year and the day they were initiated into Alpha Chi Omega, the four at Great Adventure posing with Bugs Bunny, all of them jumping up and down on each other’s bed using brushes as microphones as they screamed along to “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling”, and them on random weekend nights looking like “sexy bitches,” were all images that stared back at her.

Kat brushed away a solitary tear that got away from her as she fought to hold back the salty droplets filling her eyes. Every picture except maybe three or four were taken after Gabriel had died. What right had she to be happy all of those times?

She slipped quietly into the room so as not to wake Jordan- a simple task considering that it took an act of Christ to wake her most days. Jordan had fallen asleep reading again and her desk lamp cast a soft glow on the entire room. Kat smirked at her friend whose copy of Pride and Prejudice was slowly rising and falling with the rhythm of her breathing. Kat placed her journal gently next to the laptop on her desk. She grabbed her washcloth and face scrub and padded into the small bathroom the two shared with Erin and Lisa.

She scrubbed her face clean and continuously rinsed it, splashing her face relentlessly with the lukewarm water. She finally stopped her assault when her fingertips pruned up. She stared into her reflection in the mirror, not quite recognizing who she was looking at.

“Get it together, crazy bitch.”

“JC, c’mon, man. We have to get going!” Lance called as JC pulled on his shoes.

“I’m ready, I’m ready,” JC replied, his voice still groggy from sleep. It had taken an extraordinary effort for JC to pull himself from his pleasant sleep, which was saturated with Kat’s image.

“You look like crap, C.,” Joey smirked. “Long night?”

“You were there,” JC replied.

“Well I don’t look like crap. You seem to have been kept up by something. Hmmm… Let’s think,” Joey said slipping into deep thought. “Could it be that visions of a certain very cute Ivy League-er were dancing through your head?”

“I dunno about the rest of you but, though I think he’s a great guy, I’d never really describe Ethan as ‘very cute’,” Justin joked, eliciting some uncomfortable stares from his cohorts. “What?” he asked trying his damnedest to keep a straight face as they walked out of their hotel room.

“I think the constant fan-shrieking has had serious repercussions on the young’un’s brain cells,” Chris said patting Justin on the back.

“Back to what I was saying,” Joey started. “You were thinking about Kat, weren’t you?” he continued, eyebrows raised inquisitively.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” JC smiled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Joey said nudging his friend as they entered the elevator. “So when are you gonna call her?”

“Probably after this first interview. I want to see if she’s free for a late lunch or something since our day is pretty much done by 1:30 today,” JC shrugged nonchalantly as if his stomach wasn’t doing flip-flops at the very thought speaking to Kat.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Romeo,” Justin smirked as they stepped off the elevator. “Who could resist that dreamy Chasez charm?”

“Certainly not me,” Chris kidded, batting his eyelashes dramatically.

“In-coming,” Lance warned as a group of hysterical baby blue-clad pre-teens made their way towards the five, paper and writing implements in hand.

“Here we go,” JC smiled.

“Good luck, lover-boy,” Joe smirked as JC closed the door of his room, shutting out the other four and their sardonic remarks.

He grabbed his cell phone and the cocktail napkin Ethan had scribbled Kat’s number on. He didn’t need it, though. He’d memorized each digit the night before.

He stared at the buttons for a few moments before he started to dial. Three times he got to the last digit before hanging up. “Why is the so difficult?” he muttered out loud to himself. “Ok, get it together. She’s just a girl.”

He dialed the seven numbers quickly, as if he decided that his nerve wouldn’t hold up otherwise. He unconsciously held his breath as the digital rings blared in his ear.

Kat was dead on her feet as she shuffled down the hallway to her room. She let herself in, relieved to find that Jordan had actually gone to class. After her run that morning and a very dull Anthropology class, Kat wanted nothing more then to collapse on her bed and stay there for about a week. She dropped her bag in the middle of the floor, kicked off her sneakers, crawled under her down comforter, and nestled into the five pillows she needed in order to be comfortable. Just when she thought a few hours of sleep were within her grasp, the phone rang.

After groaning loudly, Kat flipping the covers off her body and padded over to Jordan’s side of the room where the phone resided.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Can I speak with Kat, please?” a familiar, yet shaky, voice requested.

“This is Kat.”

“Hi, Kat. I wasn’t sure it was your voice. This is JC. We met yesterday.”

Kat’s heart caught in her throat as the voice spoke the words she’d been dreading. I’m going to kill Ethan.

“Hello?” JC said, not sure she was still on the line.

“I’m sorry,” Kat stuttered. “How did you get this number?”

“I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

“Ethan.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“You don’t have to. Unless you hacked your way into the campus telephone system, Ethan is the most likely culprit.”

“Well considering that I know just about as much about computers as I need to know in order to check email, I guess there is no use denying your reasoning. But you didn’t hear it from me.” JC’s voice was clearly relaxing.

“I suppose I could blame it on a little birdie and forget about the whole thing,” Kat smiled. What am I doing?

“Fair enough.”

“So is there something I can help you with, JC? Are you calling in your favor so soon?”

“Well, since you put it that way, yes. I wanted to ask you if you’d like to get some lunch with me this afternoon.”

“Uh, I don’t think… I mean its just that… um… I have a thing, I think.” She slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand at the sheer idiocy of her response.

“A thing, you think…” JC mumbled, his heart sinking. Maybe I was way off base here. “Listen, Kat, I’m sorry--”

“No don’t be sorry,” Kat cut in, not believing she was about to do what she was about to do. “That was incredibly rude of me. Its just that we just met and I’m not very good with this sort of thing.”

JC’s hopes began to rise a bit, not knowing if she was building up to an acceptance or the polite brush-off. “The last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable,” JC started. “Would it help if we were in a group?” He anxiously awaited her answer, not sure if he wanted a yes or a no.

Kat’s mind raced. She hadn’t been sure if she could allow herself to accept his invitation before he had spoke but now that he was offering to accommodate for what he thought she needed, she didn’t know if she could say no. The thought of seeing him again sent an inexplicable sensation throughout her mind and body. His very voice made her head swim- a voice nothing like Gabriel’s. It made her think that maybe the feelings from the night before weren’t meant for Gabriel, after all.

“Kat?”

“I’d love to go to lunch with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’ll tell the guys and you can invite whomever you’d like, although I think your roommate kinda scares the hell out of Joey- but it’s up to you,” JC chuckled.

“How about just us,” Kat blurted out, not even allowing herself to think about what the words meant before they left her mouth. “I mean, that is, if that offer still stands.”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” he said trying not altogether unsuccessfully to curb his excitement. “To tell you the truth, I was kind of dreading letting them tag along. We as a group are kind of hard to deal with without some kind of prepping first, you know what I mean?”

“Kind of… not really,” Kat laughed. “But you can explain it to me later.”

“Deal,” JC smiled. “Two o’clock ok?”

“Perfect. I’m free ‘till four.”

“Great. Where can I pick you up?”

“Well I live in Ruggles Dorm which is right by-”

“Yeah, I know where your talking about. It was our landmark in finding the theater last night ‘cus Joey’s mind is like a sieve.”

“Ok,” Kat giggled. “I’ll be out front at two.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

“Ok, bye.”

“Bye.”

“I have a date,” JC smiled, falling backward onto his bed.

What the hell are you doing! Kat’s mind screamed as she hung up the phone.

“Going out on a date,” she answered aloud. The last thing she wanted to do was to start thinking about what was to come. It could only lead to over-thinking, and, inevitably, doubt. She didn’t want to second-guess herself now. Just find out its real or if it’s a ghost and worry about the rest from there.

“She actually said yes?” Justin asked incredulously.

“You were the one who told me not to worry about it,” JC said as he pulled on his jacket. “‘Who could resist the dreamy Chasez charm,’ I believe were your exact words.”

“I know but I didn’t mean it,” Justin smirked.

“Funny,” JC retorted tersely as he checked his image in the mirror once more.

“You know I’m just playin’,” Justin said plopping down on JC’s bed. “Its good to see you interested in someone. For a while there I thought Jaclyn had ruined you for all womankind.”

“I’d really rather not talk about her right now,” JC stated, emotionless.

“Whatever you say, C. We were all worried about you, though. I’m just saying,” Justin paused as if he was choosing his words wisely. “It’s a relief, is all.”

“Well, thanks a lot Curly, but really you don’t have to worry,” JC said, not letting his irritability at the subject enter into his tone. “I’m a big boy.”

“I know, I know,” Justin said. “Consider the subject dropped.”

“Thank you. Now, do I look ok? Does it say ‘casual day out with a friend’ or ‘you are so clearly infatuated that your scaring me’?”

“So you are infatuated!?”

“I’m serious.”

“Ok, ok. I think it’s a healthy balance between the two… without the scary part.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“No problem. Now go it her,” Justin grinned.

JC regarded the younger man ruefully as he left the room. “Later, man.”

“See ya.”

Kat sat on the steps in front of her dorm, waiting for some sign of JC. She nervously fidgeted with her hair, continuously tucking the dark strands behind her ears. She wore dark jeans and a white boat-neck shirt with her tailored black leather jacket, which gave the outfit a somewhat ‘more than casual’ touch. She wondered if he had a place to eat in mind or if he was going to make her choose since knew New York better. She hated making decisions like that. She was never the one to make plans out of her friends. It was discovered quickly that if the decision were left up to Kat, they’d be staying in.

He was almost five minutes late. Despite the fact that Kat knew that the city’s traffic was absolutely horrendous, she still let those few minutes make her worry. She bowed her head to check her watch again and when she looked up, he was there. She hadn’t allowed herself to notice before but he truly was beautiful. His eyes shined as he smiled at her.

When he spoke, his voice sent chills down her spine. “Your chariot awaits,” he grinned, but silently scolded himself for how corny he sounded.

“Thank you,” she smiled sweetly as she rose from the steps, thinking the comment was corny but completely endearing coming from him. She slipped into the car and he shut the door behind her. I love it when guys do that, she caught herself thinking.

“So do you have anywhere in particular you’d like to go?” JC said, making a conscious effort no to let his voice betray his nervousness as he pulled out into the traffic. “I mean, we could just head back to the Hard Rock but I thought you might think it a bit prosaic.”

“Ooo, SAT word,” Kat giggled, becoming comfortable. “Seriously though, I don’t know if the scene of the crime is the best place to return to.”

He chuckled a bit as he gave her a sideways glance. She seemed to be a lot more comfortable in his presence than she did the night before. He didn’t know what had brought the shift around but he was thankful for it. Her ease made his nerves calm down considerably. “So do you anywhere else in mind?”

“I knew you were going to make me choose,” she laughed. “I hate making decisions.”

“Well the outcome won’t effect world peace or the state of the union.”

“True but it will effect your opinion of me. What a girl likes to eat says a lot about her to a guy. That’s why girls will usually eat like sparrows in front of boys.”

“I see,” he chuckled. She cares about my opinion of her. It could be nothing but then again…

“Well, I guess since I’m a native to the city, its only fair that I clue you in to the best pizza in Manhattan. But it is downtown a bit if you don’t mind trekking down to 37th street.”

“I’m game,” JC smiled. Deep down he really thought that from Kat’s initial reaction that morning that this date would be like pulling teeth. But she seemed to be warming up to him or at least the situation. “So what's the name of this great pizzeria, anyway?”

“Mondello’s.”

“I have to admit that this is one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever had,” JC said reaching for his soda.

“One of?” Kat said, pretending to be put off and then relaxing into an air of understanding. “I guess I should take into account that your extraordinarily more traveled than I am. You’re bound to come across some pretty good food elsewhere in the world.”

“Yeah well, that’s one of the best things about getting to do what we do: the food,” he chuckled. As her face broke into a laugh at his comment he couldn’t take his eyes away from her smile. She smiled with her whole face making her features dance. “Ok, so you were born and raised here in New York, correct?”

“You are correct. I lived in SoHo with my mom until a few years ago when she got a grant to open her own art gallery in London, which is where she was born and raised. She decided that I should stay here. I like to think it was so I could finish high school in the same place but I think deep down she was just sick and tired of dealing with me.” She realized what she said a split second after the words left her mouth. She was, of course referring to her manic-depression but there was no way she wanted JC to find out about that, at least not so soon.

“Why would you think that?” JC questioned.

“Uh, I just wasn’t exactly the poster child for the Good Little Girls’ Association. I think it just took a lot out of her,” Kat stuttered trying to cover up her slip. “So that’s when I moved in with my father uptown.”

“Well staying in the same city must have made the transition a little bit easier,” JC commented allowing her to move the conversation. He could tell she’d just held something back. It was written all over her face. but he knew to call her on it at this point would be the stupidest thing he could do after what Ethan had told him.

“Not really,” Kat laughed. “SoHo and the Upper East Side are like two different worlds. Not to mention that I was never very well liked among my father’s family. Throw in an evil step-mother and you’ve got a fairytale waiting very impatiently for a happy ending.”

“Why wouldn’t your dad’s family like you?” JC asked a little shocked by the statement. Her family life was so different from anything he’d ever known.

“Well I’m kind of the dirty little skeleton in the Da Nate’s closet.” She paused to take a sip of her Snapple before blurting out, nonchalantly, “You see, I’m a bastard. My father’s family is not only very wealthy and snobbish as compared to mother’s working-class upbringing but they are also very Catholic and a baby out of wedlock is a big no-no. So not only do they turn their noses up at me but they are also intent on saving my ill-fated devil soul.”

“I’m sorry,” JC said, his tone expressing genuine concern.

“Its alright,” she smiled. “I’ve had quite a while to get used to the dysfunction. The only thing I really regret is the healthy contempt it’s given me for organized religion. It just seems like it gives people a lot of comfort but I can’t bring myself to participate after having fire and brimstone thrown at me since I was born. Jeeze, listen to me. All we keep talking about is me and I hate talking about myself! I don’t know how you did it.”

“Did what?”

“I never talk about this stuff… with anyone. I just don’t know how you got me to tell you.”

“Well I’m not too sure either but I’m glad I did whatever it was,” he smiled. “Plus I had about three interviews this morning and I guess I just wanted to hear about someone else besides me for a change.”

“I see. But your not going to get off that easy,” she grinned. “You are way behind on the sharing tip, so tell me something about yourself that you think I’d like to know. Something I wouldn’t learn by reading Tiger Beat”

“Jeeze, going for the tough, and not to mention vague, questions I see. I’m glad you weren’t interviewing us this morning,” he chuckled. He thought for a moment before speaking again, looking back at her as she waited patiently for an answer. “Well here’s something that you won’t get from Tiger Beat but I’m not sure you want to know it.”

“Try me.”

“Ok, well… here it goes. There is this girl that I can’t seem to stop thinking about. She’s beautiful and funny and smart and when she looks at me, my pulse starts to race. I even dreamt about her last night. What do you think about that?”

You’re right, she thought. I didn’t want to know that. “I think you should probably be eating Manhattan’s best pizza with her,” Kat played dumb, knowing exactly what he was saying.

JC stretched his arm across the table and placed her hand on his wrist. Kat could feel his pulse pounding rapidly against his skin.

“I am with her.”

JC walked her the ten feet from the car to the main entrance of Ruggles.

“Do you have plans for tonight?” he asked hopefully.

“No but I really have to get up early tomorrow. I have work.” Kat avoided his eyes as she spoke, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on her deliberate effort not to look at him directly. Her face was flushed from their conversation at Mondello’s and she didn’t know exactly how to respond to any of it yet.

“I see. Where do you work?”

“I volunteer at the Babies and Children’s Hospital up on 165th street on Fridays.”

“Oh wow,” JC said surprised that she’d found one more way to impress him with out even trying. “Is medicine something that you want to do?”

“Not really. I think I lack the math and science gene or something. But I love working with all the babies and it’s part of the Columbia Medical Center so it was easy to get involved with it through school.”

“I see,” was all he could muster.

“Well, JC,” Kat smiled. “Thanks very much for lunch. I’d love to talk some more but I have class in about twenty minutes,”

“No, that’s ok. I’m sure we’ll get together again soon. We’re leaving on Tuesday, I think, so I hope to see a lot of you this weekend, if that’s ok with you,” he smiled.

“Well I’m going to visit a friend from high school for her birthday this weekend,” she stated softly. She could see the disappointment on his face as clear as if he weren’t desperately trying to hide it. “But I’ll be back on Sunday if you still would like to get together.”

JC’s face softened as he nodded his head. “I’d love that.” Before she could turn to go inside he caught her hand with his own and brought it up to his lips. As his soft lips brushed against her skin she could feel her heart beat quicken. She thought that what she’d felt the night before was intense but it was nothing compared to this. He could feel her pulse, as she had felt his before, beating just as wildly. As he pulled away he looked up into her eyes and spoke.

“I’ll see you Sunday.”

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