Everlasting Bond (26 page)

“How’s your brother doing?”

“He’s getting better.” Katrina occasionally shifted side to side to avoid being trampled by the crowd of people.

“Oh g
ood. Tell him I said, ‘hello’ would you?”

“Sure. And I’m really sorry about your shop.”

“Thanks, but it was for the best really,” Trudy smiled, revealing deep laugh lines. “That building was old and drafty. When the insurance comes through I should have a bigger and more hip one.”

“I’m just glad no one was hurt.”

“Same here. It would not be good for business.”

“I guess eve
rything happens for a reason.”

Trudy opened her mouth to speak when Donovan caught up to them and she turned her attention towards him. She was smiling at him so big Katrina knew it was one of her wait-till-I-tell-everyone-about-this kind.

“You must be Stella’s nephew.”

“That obvious?” Donovan gave her one of his charming grins.

“A bit. You have her eyes.” Trudy giggled like a school girl.

Katrina tried to hide her laughter as she realized what Trudy was doing. It was an eerie reflection of the scene
between her mother and Alaric, except Trudy was hitting on someone young enough to be her son.

“Hey guys! Over here!” Stacy shouted, waving her arms back and forth.

“See you kids later.” Trudy winked at Donovan before going back to her seat.

Katrina had to turn her head, before she lost it and burst into hysterical laughter. Trudy couldn’t have been more obvious if she gave Donovan her phone number. Sometimes she really wondered about the sin
gle women in this town.

With Donovan right behind her, Katrina led the way towards Stacy. It took a few minutes for them to shuffle through the seated crowd to reach her. Sometimes it was really annoying that Stacy liked to sit right in the center by the band. After they scooted past the last person they
were finally able to sit down.

Katrina was trying not to think about what just happened, but it was all she could think about. She was dying to tell Stacy what Trudy was up to now. That would be difficult though, because Donovan had taken the seat between them. She looked up at him and bit the top corner of her lip to suppress a smile. He must have picked up on it anyways because his face had the same look hers did.

“She’s not my type.” Donovan gave her a huge grin. And at that Katrina burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Stacy asked.

Katrina was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat and pulled it together just enough to answer Stacy. “Trudy.”

“Did she try
to hit on the football team again?”

“Not them.” Katrina looked back at Donovan and started to giggle all over again.

It took Stacy a second to put all of the pieces together. “Wow! That woman will hit on any guy she can find.”

“Thanks,” Donovan said.

“No. Just the ones under twenty-five,” Katrina teased.

“And with nice bodies,” Stacy added
, giving Donovan a big smile.

“I’m starting
to feel like a piece of meat just used for my good looks.” Donovan joined in the laughter at his expense.

At that moment Katrina was really glad Stacy had dragged her out. Being with friends and enjoying life was something she needed more than ever. It provided her with just enough escape to forget about her troubles until later.

“Game time.” Stacy wriggled excitedly in her seat.

Donovan rolled his eyes and gave Katrina one last smile before he also turned his attention to the game. Katrina followed their lead and turned to face the field. The only problem was she didn’t really understand much about football. Besides knowing what a touchdown was or when it was halftime, she would just watch the band.

For the first part of the game, she tried to figure out who ran where and why. She was about to give up and just watch the cheerleaders because they at least made her laugh when Donovan’s voice shouted over the band’s noise, “You have no idea what’s going on, do you?”

“Is—” She turned to face him and tried to answer when the tuba player hit an even louder note, cutting her off. Really! That annoyed her more, so she shouted back over it. “IS IT THAT OBVIOUS?”

“ONLY TO SOMEONE WHO’S PAYING ATTENTION.” Halfway through his response the band quit playing and Donovan's voice was loud enough that the people around them gave him irritated stares.

Katrina couldn’t hold in her laughter. The moment was both comical and awkward. Donovan chuckled along with her. His smile lit up his whole face.

Katrina blushed in embarrassment. “I try, but it’s just too confusing for me.”

“It’s pretty easy. I’ve been to enough games to understand what’s going on. I can explain it to you, if you would like?”

“Sure.”

Donovan spent the next quarter of the game explaining each play and other terminology to her. He would also throw in his two cents on whatever bonehead play he thought they were doing. Stacy would also sporadically join their conversation to prove she knew just as much as Donovan about football.

During the game, Katrina's eyes wandered onto Mason and Robby. They were on the sidelines and looked pissed about something. Katrina barely had enough time to see Robby waving his fists at Mason before throwing his helmet to the ground and walking off the field. As he disappeared around the corner into the locker room, the timer went off signaling half-time.

Stacy started stretching and Katrina followed her lead. After all, sitting in those rock hard seats would make anyone’s butt sore after awhile.

Donovan jerked out of his seat and stood. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Stacy asked.

“To the snack bar.”

“Want me to come with?”

“No!” he said, a little too forceful and shocked both of the girls. He must have picked up on it because his demeanor quickly changed. “Sorry. I just didn’t think you wanted to leave Katrina all alone.”

“I guess you’re right,” Stacy nodded.

“Don’t worry I’ll be back before you miss me.” He kissed her cheek. “Can I get you guys anything?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine,” Katrina smiled.

“I’ll take a water.” Stacy tried to contain her excitement.

“Be right back.” He scooted to the end of their row and
disappeared amongst the crowd.

“Did you see that?” Stacy was bursting at the seams.

“I did.”

“He kissed me! He kissed me!” Stacy shook Katrina as she bounced up and down in her seat.

“Yes, I saw,” Katrina laughed.

“I think I’m getting lucky later,” Stacy winked.

“I don’t want to know.” Katrina wrinkled her nose at the thought.

“You know you’ll get details anyways.”

Stacy kept their conversation going for most of halftime. She gushed about every cute thing Donovan did and would occasionally jump off topic to random school gossip.

Minutes passed and Donovan still hadn’t returned. Katrina wondered what was keeping him.

The sudden roaring of the crowd diverted Katrina’s attention to the field in time to see the players running back on. “Game’s starting,” Katrina said.

“Where’s Donovan?” Stacy looked around.

“No idea,” Katrina shrugged. “But if he doesn’t hurry he’s going to miss it.”

Stacy crinkled her eyebrows. “That’s odd.”

“What?”

“They’re short a player.”

“Who?”

“Robby.”

“Robby? But, I saw him storm off into the locker room after he got into it with Mason.”

“Maybe he got pissed and went home?”

“Maybe.” Katrina hoped she was right.

“What did I miss?” Donovan stood holding a large popcorn and Stacy’s bottle of water.

“Robby’s missing.” Stacy took her water so Donovan could sit down.

Katrina’s eyes never left the field. She kept hoping he would turn up. It wasn't like him to leave his team hanging. And her wish was soon granted.

“There he is!” Katrina heard a guy behind her shout.

Katrina looked up and was relieved. Robby was sprinting from the locker room in full attire. He bumped helmets with Mason in an awkward apology and they made their way onto the filed.

Other than Robby showing up late, the last half of the game flew by. Katrina followed it a little bit better since she could understand some of what was going on. The coldness of her butt still took most of her attention. She was ecstatic when the game was finally over and it was time to go.

Stacy and the rest of the crowd were very happy, too. According to Donovan, their school had won and by the skin of their teeth. Katrina was just thankful to be inside Donovan’s warm car and out of the cold.

Stacy and Donovan recapped the entire last half of the game the whole way home. Katrina tried to follow as best she could, but quickly lost interest. She was just happy that they were finding a common ground and hoped it brought them closer together.

When they reached her house she had defrosted enough to get out and not stumble. She was half way up the steps when she heard Stacy shut the car door and follow her up the rest of them. Both girls stood on the po
rch and waved as Donovan left.

Katrina opened the front door and went up stairs. She grabbed her pajamas from her room and went into the bathroom to change, while Stacy sat on her bed a
nd called her mom to check in.

Katrina unwrapped
the scarf from around her neck when her finger got caught on something. She pulled her hand out and looked closer. Her mouth dropped.

“Oh no!” The hole went all the way through. It was exactly where the amulet had been.

Katrina was staring in disbelief when Stacy’s voice startled her. “Kat! You fall in?”

“No. I’m coming.” Katrina threw off the rest of her clothes and tossed her pajamas on. She bunched up her clothes and buried the scarf deep in the middle. It wasn’t something she could deal with at the moment. When Andrew called, he would have some serious explaining to do and she wouldn’t accept vague answers any more.

She walked quickly into her room. Stacy was lying on the bed with her head propped against her hand and a big smile on her face. Katrina knew exactly where her head was. Tossing her clothes into a corner, she climbed into her bed.

“Still thinking about Donovan?” Katrina teased.

“Yup.” Stacy turned towards Katrina and wriggled her eyebrows. “And what I want to do to him!”

“I’ll bet.” Both girls giggled.

“Did you have fun tonight?” Stacy asked.

“I did,” Katrina smiled. “It was nice to get out.”

“Good. You needed it. And tomorrow night will be even better.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“The dance!”

“Oh, about that. I don’t think I—”

“You’re not getting out of going,” Stacy scolded and gave Katrina her best don’t-think-so look. “So, don’t even try.”

“But—”

“No buts about it. Like it or not, you’re going.”

“I just don’t want to be a third wheel.”

“What kind of friend would I be if I let you stay here and sulk? And besides you’re more like a spare tire,” Stacy teased.

“Gee thanks,” Katrina laughed.

Stacy always did have an odd way of making her feel better. She really didn’t know what she would do without her sometimes.

“Anytime. Now let’s go to bed. I need my beauty sleep,” Stacy winked. “Can you get the light?”

“Ugh, I guess,” Katrina protested, as she maneuvered out of the bed and shut off the light.

On her way back, she couldn’t see. Everything was pitch black and her eyes hadn’t adjusted. She walked slow and steady. Each time hoping she wouldn’t step on or run into anything. She thought she felt the end of her bed and was about to lay down when she looked up and stopped. Just off in the distance two ye
llow dots caught her attention.

“What the hell?” She ran over to the window.

“What is it?”

Katrina didn’t answer Stacy right away. She was focusing all her attention out the window. With her face pressed against the cold glass, she strained to make out what it was. She steadied her breathing to avoid fogging up the glass again and focused all her energy on those two little specks. She was so entranced she never realized she put her hand up to the glass until she heard it crack.

“Kat!” Stacy’s voice interrupted.

Startled by the sharpness in her voice , Katrina turned.  “I just thought I saw—” Her voice trailed off, as she looked back out the wind
ow. The two specks disappeared.

“Thought you saw what?”

“I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind.” Katrina shook her head. She was tired and frustrated.

“I think you’ve been home alone too long. You’re letting your imagination get the best of you.” Stacy yawned and turned over to go to sleep.