Sequel: Run the Show ›
Somebody Needs You
Chapter 12
A small smile playing on her lips, Katie glanced across the car and couldn’t stop herself from biting slightly on her bottom lip as she watched Luke drive down the – to him at least – familiar roads of Toronto. She as fidgeting and feeling nervous around him, something she really was expecting. They knew each other, very well in fact and she really, honestly didn’t think that she would ever get nervous around him…
And yet here she was, hands shaking and foot bouncing up and down.
He’d asked her out the day before, on a real date, which surprised her a lot. She was a girl, she like being asked out, especially by guys she liked but she’d kind of figured that after their rather heavy make out session on his living room floor things would go one of two way; they would try to forget the whole thing ever happened and go back to being friends, or they would just simply continue to make out like horny teenagers – he still was one.
Going on a date never crossed her mind.
But apparently he wanted to do things the more old-fashioned way and it wasn't that she minded, it was just that… She liked him, a lot and she knew it, and if they were simply friends she could ignore every feeling and thought that wasn't of the friends-only-sort. Going on a date meant that things were leaving the strict friendship-zone and entering uncharted territory which of course sparked several new feelings in her. Feelings that caused her to get nervous…
She really hated being nervous around guys, she always ended up embarrassing herself in some way.
Feeling something brushing against her hand, she glanced down and blushed slightly as he wrapped his fingers around her hand and gently gave it a squeeze before letting them rest on the center consol. She knew that he was a sweet guy, it had been one of the first things she’d picked up on when she first met him, but she had never realized just how sweet he could be…
“So where are you taking me?” she asked curiously, watching him drive from the corner of her eye. She knew absolutely nothing, all he’d told her was to dress up, but not too dressed up…he really had no idea how hard it was to be a girl in those situations.
“I told you it was going to be a surprise,” he smiled slightly, that small smile that almost resembled a smirk more than it did a smile. The same one that had made her weak in the knees the first time he’d sent it her way.
“We’re on our way,” she pointed out. “It’s not like it’ll ruin the surprise or something, trust me,” she said, turning her whole upper body in his direction, trying to read him.
“We’re going to a place I found last year,” he revealed somewhat reluctantly. He’d been on many dates before, but he wanted this one to go without a hitch, and be a hit in the end. It seemed to be important. “I was out with a few of the guys and we literally stumbled upon it,” he continued, turning down yet another street.
If she didn’t know him and hadn’t gotten into the car willingly she might have gotten nervous right about now.
“It’s this family run Greek tavern,” he shrugged slightly, gracefully maneuvering the large car into a spot in the parking lot at the end of the alley that was surprisingly dark for the end of September.
“That one it?” she asked, spotting the hole-in-the-wall restaurant just a few feet down the street. She had never been to Greece but if she ever went, that was what she would expect it to be like, that was for sure.
“Yeah,” he nodded smiling before climbing out of the car and she did the same, barely catching the slightly disappointed look that crossed his features as he made it around the car and she was already in the middle of climbing out from it. She took a mental note of the look and stored it for future reference before closing the door behind herself and letting him take her hand.
Not having a clue as to what he meant by dressed up by not dressy, she’d gone for a pair of skinny jeans and a silky top, with a pair of killer heels that gave her a boost she clearly needed next to him and a jacket warm enough to keep the chilly air away from her bare arms. The sad part about the heels was that the cobble stones they were walking across were not their best friend and she had to really concentrate to not trip, even though that would be right on schedule considering she had yet to embarrass herself.
Reaching the door, Luke pulled it open and let Katie walk in first before following her, his hand resting lightly in the small of her back as they walked further into the restaurant that was decorated like it could have been located in the middle of a small Greek town.
Both of them smiling at the waiter that quickly approached them, they were soon seated in a secluded corner of the small restaurant and were handed their menus. Their decisions didn’t take long and they had soon ordered, just waiting for their drinks to arrive and she took the time to appreciate the place. She would definitely make sure to remember it.
“So what did your mother do when you came home?” Luke asked curiously as they left the restaurant hand-in-hand, slowly walking back up the street to where his car was parked.
“She…well, she took one look at me and then grounded me for a month,” Katie admitted sheepishly, subconsciously leaning slightly closer to him. They’d had an amazing time during dinner, getting to know each other on a whole new level and she’d just told him about the first time when she’d snuck out to go to a party when she was back in high school. “Kristen was always the good girl, the goody-two shoes and every parent’s perfect daughter,” she explained, referring to her sister who was five years older than her. “Till she came home pregnant at 16 anyway,” she shrugged slightly. “And I of course got to feel the brunt of that,” she rolled her eyes slightly.
With Kristen what was done was done and they couldn’t turn the clock back, but it meant that she was the one who’d gotten more rules to follow and less time to just be an irresponsible teenager, they didn’t want the same for her. Which she now, at 22 could understand but she’d often been close to resenting her own parents when she felt they interfered with her life, her social life when she was growing up.
“But aren’t you happy about that now?” he asked softly.
“In a way,” she agreed slowly. “But nothing in my behavior said that I was going to be another teen-mom, that I would end up in the statistics and sure, nothing of that was present with Kris either but I saw how hard it was,” she remembered. “I saw how she struggled to even get a degree from high school, I saw how hard it was for her to study and take care of a baby at the same time and I wouldn’t have wanted that anyway, I would have used protection to the point that the guy would have labeled me crazy or at least paranoid.”
“Then I'm definitely glad that I didn’t meet you back then,” he joked, smiling widely as she elbowed him in the side.
“You wouldn’t have stood a chance if you met me back then,” she smirked slightly, glancing up at him.
“Oh?” he asked surprised, he wouldn’t have taken her for having been an over-confident high school student. “I wouldn’t?”
“No,” she shook her head slightly. “First of all, you would have been a baby,” she pointed out frankly, “and it actually would have been illegal for me to even look at you that way,” she smiled at the look of annoyance that passed over his features. “And second, we had a lot of cute guys in our school including that most of my friends and I was totally hung up on the Knights,” she reminded him. “When I was in junior and senior year, Corey Perry was God’s gift to women,” she smiled slightly.
“He played there?” his eyebrows rose in surprise. “Did you ever meet him?” he asked, feeling strangely jealous.
“Once,” she nodded slowly. “I was waiting for my dad outside the arena with a friend of mine after a game and long story short, it was cold, it was icy and I slipped…somewhere along the line I met him and he helped me up,” she blushed slightly. “Ever since I first moved to LA I promised myself to never be close to the arena when the Ducks were in town cause it would be totally like me to run in to him, do something else embarrassing and have him remember me as the girl that can never be normal in his vicinity,” she sulked slightly. “With my luck he would actually remember me as the dorky blonde who practically caused him to run her down back in Canada,” she added darkly under her breath.
“He’d wouldn’t,” he assured her, pulling her slightly closer.
“And you know that how?” she asked skeptically.
“Cause he would have remembered you as the beautiful girl he never got the chance to talk to,” he stated, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as they crossed the street and he unlocked the car, successfully having stunned her to silence. She’d dated a few guys during the years, but none had been as sweet and romantic as Luke was at the moment…
Reaching the car, she remembered the look on his face as she’d beat him to opening her own door so she moved slowly and no surprise he opened the door for her, helping to climb inside with her high heeled shoes. Watching him as he rounded the front of the car, she nibbled slightly on her lower lip, there had to be something about him that wasn't perfect. After all, no one was completely perfect.
Pulling up outside the apartment building he had never seen before the summer began; Luke put the car in park and quickly got out. Rounding the front, he ‘helped’ Katie out and to him it really looked like she needed it, he had no idea how she even managed to stand straight in those shoes… And he still didn’t think of them as shoes.
Closing the door behind her he gently placed his hand in her lower back and led her towards the front door of the three story building.
They climbed the stairs under silence and he followed a step behind as she walked up to the door, fishing up the keys from her small clutch.
“I had a great time tonight,” she ducked her head slightly, suddenly feeling very shy around him, though she couldn’t keep a smile from her lips.
“I did too,” he replied, traces of a smile across his lips as he reached out and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as he took a step closer to her. Looking at her for a moment, he cupped her check and leaned down slightly, despite the added height of her heels she was still shorter than him, and he slowly brushed his lips against hers.
Wrapping her arms around his neck and gently pulling him closer to her, she returned the kiss without a seconds’ thought, not caring that her nosy neighbor was most likely spying on them. The only thing that mattered in that moment was the feeling of his lips against hers.
And yet here she was, hands shaking and foot bouncing up and down.
He’d asked her out the day before, on a real date, which surprised her a lot. She was a girl, she like being asked out, especially by guys she liked but she’d kind of figured that after their rather heavy make out session on his living room floor things would go one of two way; they would try to forget the whole thing ever happened and go back to being friends, or they would just simply continue to make out like horny teenagers – he still was one.
Going on a date never crossed her mind.
But apparently he wanted to do things the more old-fashioned way and it wasn't that she minded, it was just that… She liked him, a lot and she knew it, and if they were simply friends she could ignore every feeling and thought that wasn't of the friends-only-sort. Going on a date meant that things were leaving the strict friendship-zone and entering uncharted territory which of course sparked several new feelings in her. Feelings that caused her to get nervous…
She really hated being nervous around guys, she always ended up embarrassing herself in some way.
Feeling something brushing against her hand, she glanced down and blushed slightly as he wrapped his fingers around her hand and gently gave it a squeeze before letting them rest on the center consol. She knew that he was a sweet guy, it had been one of the first things she’d picked up on when she first met him, but she had never realized just how sweet he could be…
“So where are you taking me?” she asked curiously, watching him drive from the corner of her eye. She knew absolutely nothing, all he’d told her was to dress up, but not too dressed up…he really had no idea how hard it was to be a girl in those situations.
“I told you it was going to be a surprise,” he smiled slightly, that small smile that almost resembled a smirk more than it did a smile. The same one that had made her weak in the knees the first time he’d sent it her way.
“We’re on our way,” she pointed out. “It’s not like it’ll ruin the surprise or something, trust me,” she said, turning her whole upper body in his direction, trying to read him.
“We’re going to a place I found last year,” he revealed somewhat reluctantly. He’d been on many dates before, but he wanted this one to go without a hitch, and be a hit in the end. It seemed to be important. “I was out with a few of the guys and we literally stumbled upon it,” he continued, turning down yet another street.
If she didn’t know him and hadn’t gotten into the car willingly she might have gotten nervous right about now.
“It’s this family run Greek tavern,” he shrugged slightly, gracefully maneuvering the large car into a spot in the parking lot at the end of the alley that was surprisingly dark for the end of September.
“That one it?” she asked, spotting the hole-in-the-wall restaurant just a few feet down the street. She had never been to Greece but if she ever went, that was what she would expect it to be like, that was for sure.
“Yeah,” he nodded smiling before climbing out of the car and she did the same, barely catching the slightly disappointed look that crossed his features as he made it around the car and she was already in the middle of climbing out from it. She took a mental note of the look and stored it for future reference before closing the door behind herself and letting him take her hand.
Not having a clue as to what he meant by dressed up by not dressy, she’d gone for a pair of skinny jeans and a silky top, with a pair of killer heels that gave her a boost she clearly needed next to him and a jacket warm enough to keep the chilly air away from her bare arms. The sad part about the heels was that the cobble stones they were walking across were not their best friend and she had to really concentrate to not trip, even though that would be right on schedule considering she had yet to embarrass herself.
Reaching the door, Luke pulled it open and let Katie walk in first before following her, his hand resting lightly in the small of her back as they walked further into the restaurant that was decorated like it could have been located in the middle of a small Greek town.
Both of them smiling at the waiter that quickly approached them, they were soon seated in a secluded corner of the small restaurant and were handed their menus. Their decisions didn’t take long and they had soon ordered, just waiting for their drinks to arrive and she took the time to appreciate the place. She would definitely make sure to remember it.
“So what did your mother do when you came home?” Luke asked curiously as they left the restaurant hand-in-hand, slowly walking back up the street to where his car was parked.
“She…well, she took one look at me and then grounded me for a month,” Katie admitted sheepishly, subconsciously leaning slightly closer to him. They’d had an amazing time during dinner, getting to know each other on a whole new level and she’d just told him about the first time when she’d snuck out to go to a party when she was back in high school. “Kristen was always the good girl, the goody-two shoes and every parent’s perfect daughter,” she explained, referring to her sister who was five years older than her. “Till she came home pregnant at 16 anyway,” she shrugged slightly. “And I of course got to feel the brunt of that,” she rolled her eyes slightly.
With Kristen what was done was done and they couldn’t turn the clock back, but it meant that she was the one who’d gotten more rules to follow and less time to just be an irresponsible teenager, they didn’t want the same for her. Which she now, at 22 could understand but she’d often been close to resenting her own parents when she felt they interfered with her life, her social life when she was growing up.
“But aren’t you happy about that now?” he asked softly.
“In a way,” she agreed slowly. “But nothing in my behavior said that I was going to be another teen-mom, that I would end up in the statistics and sure, nothing of that was present with Kris either but I saw how hard it was,” she remembered. “I saw how she struggled to even get a degree from high school, I saw how hard it was for her to study and take care of a baby at the same time and I wouldn’t have wanted that anyway, I would have used protection to the point that the guy would have labeled me crazy or at least paranoid.”
“Then I'm definitely glad that I didn’t meet you back then,” he joked, smiling widely as she elbowed him in the side.
“You wouldn’t have stood a chance if you met me back then,” she smirked slightly, glancing up at him.
“Oh?” he asked surprised, he wouldn’t have taken her for having been an over-confident high school student. “I wouldn’t?”
“No,” she shook her head slightly. “First of all, you would have been a baby,” she pointed out frankly, “and it actually would have been illegal for me to even look at you that way,” she smiled at the look of annoyance that passed over his features. “And second, we had a lot of cute guys in our school including that most of my friends and I was totally hung up on the Knights,” she reminded him. “When I was in junior and senior year, Corey Perry was God’s gift to women,” she smiled slightly.
“He played there?” his eyebrows rose in surprise. “Did you ever meet him?” he asked, feeling strangely jealous.
“Once,” she nodded slowly. “I was waiting for my dad outside the arena with a friend of mine after a game and long story short, it was cold, it was icy and I slipped…somewhere along the line I met him and he helped me up,” she blushed slightly. “Ever since I first moved to LA I promised myself to never be close to the arena when the Ducks were in town cause it would be totally like me to run in to him, do something else embarrassing and have him remember me as the girl that can never be normal in his vicinity,” she sulked slightly. “With my luck he would actually remember me as the dorky blonde who practically caused him to run her down back in Canada,” she added darkly under her breath.
“He’d wouldn’t,” he assured her, pulling her slightly closer.
“And you know that how?” she asked skeptically.
“Cause he would have remembered you as the beautiful girl he never got the chance to talk to,” he stated, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as they crossed the street and he unlocked the car, successfully having stunned her to silence. She’d dated a few guys during the years, but none had been as sweet and romantic as Luke was at the moment…
Reaching the car, she remembered the look on his face as she’d beat him to opening her own door so she moved slowly and no surprise he opened the door for her, helping to climb inside with her high heeled shoes. Watching him as he rounded the front of the car, she nibbled slightly on her lower lip, there had to be something about him that wasn't perfect. After all, no one was completely perfect.
Pulling up outside the apartment building he had never seen before the summer began; Luke put the car in park and quickly got out. Rounding the front, he ‘helped’ Katie out and to him it really looked like she needed it, he had no idea how she even managed to stand straight in those shoes… And he still didn’t think of them as shoes.
Closing the door behind her he gently placed his hand in her lower back and led her towards the front door of the three story building.
They climbed the stairs under silence and he followed a step behind as she walked up to the door, fishing up the keys from her small clutch.
“I had a great time tonight,” she ducked her head slightly, suddenly feeling very shy around him, though she couldn’t keep a smile from her lips.
“I did too,” he replied, traces of a smile across his lips as he reached out and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as he took a step closer to her. Looking at her for a moment, he cupped her check and leaned down slightly, despite the added height of her heels she was still shorter than him, and he slowly brushed his lips against hers.
Wrapping her arms around his neck and gently pulling him closer to her, she returned the kiss without a seconds’ thought, not caring that her nosy neighbor was most likely spying on them. The only thing that mattered in that moment was the feeling of his lips against hers.
♠ ♠ ♠
Katie's outfit