Damn the Day I Met You

Once school and graduation finished up I gave into my temptation of knowing my mom’s new business. Tristan was still in school, finishing up a couple of finals, and I wanted to surprise him with lunch. To do so I needed the name of location of the one place everyone seemed to keep a secret from me. Why? I had no clue. But luckily it wasn’t too hard to track down a new catering company in New York.

Katers Catering.

Oh. My. God. The only thing okay about this whole thing is that no one knows that’s a nickname for me. Katers. My mother and Max have called me that since I was like eight. I don’t know where they came up with the idea but it stuck ever since.

And now I have a restaurant named after me. Well fan-fucking-tastic.

Taking a deep breath I look up the address and start walking to its location. I can’t let the name of the place keep me from surprising Tristan—especially when it means so much to him. The location was good. It was nestled in a high-traffic modern neighborhood. Small and charming, yet very rich and…busy. I could tell instantly that it was a kitchen ran by Tristan. There was a large garage door currently opened all the way to provide a bigger feeling. Inside there were large working tables along with counters, sinks, and fridges. You could peek around and see the small tasting room they had set up next to the offices. It was a perfect mix of my mom and Tristan.

Tristan rounds the corner and my heart instantly speeds up. He looked 100% in his zone, covered in flour and carrying a ball of dough. The sound of the dough slapping against the wood counter makes me jump and realize I was gawking at him in public. To my relief he doesn’t notice me and continues to knead the substance.

As I step further into the space I’m quickly cut off. I froze in place, staring at what could only be a dream. A young brunette woman skipped right in front of me and didn’t seem to notice my existence. She went straight up to Tristan, said something, screamed, and then threw her arms around him. He caught her swiftly and spun her around, a grin plastered on his face. Something churned in my gut and in that instant I did what I do best: I dropped everything and ran.

This time though, I guess I didn’t run fast enough. Before I got even a block I felt a hand grab at mine and pulling me to him. “Katie?” Tristan asks, looking down at me in confusion.

I glanced down and noticed that he wasn’t going to let up on his grip on me anytime soon. This is understandable. He knows by now how good of a runner I am. But this also means that I have to face the situation, something I really didn’t want to do.

“Katie?” Tristan asks again, “What are you doing here?”

I shrug, “I don’t know.”

He gives me a weary look, knowing that was a lie, and glances behind him. I follow his eyes and notice that the woman is still standing there, watching us with a grin on her face as if we were reality TV. Tristan pulls me to the side, against the wall, hiding from her eyes. “How did you find the place?”

“My phone. It wasn’t too hard to find the shop my mom owns.” He never did tell me the name of the company, nobody did. And for good reason too. Who wanted a catering company named after them?

“What are you doing here?”

“I said I don’t know!” I wanted to cry. I wanted to hit him, to stomp my foot, to yell at him for lying. But mostly I just wanted to get away from him.

“We planned on meeting for dinner.”

“I know.”

“So you wanted to spy on me?”

“No! I was surprising you. You’ve been so stressed lately and I thought I’d make lunch and you could take a break. I know you skip meals when you’re focused on something. I wasn’t busy so I just thought—I don’t know. And then I saw you with—” my voice cracks, cutting off my sentence.

“With Dana?”

I nod, assuming that’s the name of the woman not too far from us. “You lied to me.” I whisper, not allowing myself to meet his eyes. “You said you weren’t involved with anyone, that you didn’t find anyone else, you hadn’t moved on yet. You lied.”

Tristan pulled me closer, grinning from ear to ear. “Dana? You think—God Katie, no. Dana isn’t anything to me.”

“Hey!” we hear from behind us and I hold back a laugh. She wasn’t even trying to hide the fact she was listening.

“Stop eavesdropping!” Tristan yells back and then looks at me again, “Her husband would get a kick out of you thinking so though.”

“Husband?”

“Yes, she’s married. Has a two year old daughter. She was having trouble on some things so I started tutoring her. She just passed the final she was worried about. That’s what the hug was about.”

I blush, embarrassed by my outburst now. “Oh.”

“I love that you still care though. That means a lot. And when you get jealous…let’s just say it’s a nice reassurance.”

“I wasn’t jealous.” I state confidently.

“No? Could have fooled me.” He smirks the smirk he gave me the first day, his eyes twinkling just the same.

“Me too!” Dana shouts from inside the shop.

Tristan rolls his eyes at her remark, “So?”

“So what?” I ask, playing dumb.

“Are you admitting you were jealous? It’s okay. I’ll even let you in on a secret—I wanted to push Toby away from you every time he touched you.”

I laugh, “But Toby is gay. Sexual preference and all.”

“My point exactly.” I laugh even harder. Tristan jealous of Toby? That had to have been a joke. “I’m sorry for not being around much lately. But I officially took my last final this morning. I got the time of it changed and took it early. So, if you want, I’m all yours for the rest of the day and evening.”

“I wasn’t jealous.” I blurt out, answering his previous question. “I was mad that you lied, hurt even. And I was mad at myself for not giving into my feelings before, for pushing you away. Sad, I wanted to get away and cry. But not jealous. Never jealous. I just wanted away. I want you to be happy and if that’s with someone else—I just needed to get away. And probably stay away. I don’t know. God I don’t know.”

Suddenly Tristan pushes me up against the wall in one swift movement, cutting off any more rambling I could do. At first I thought it was a move on me but then I noticed a group of cyclists speeding by and realized he just didn’t want us to get hit. “What feelings?” his breath tickling my skin.

“What?”

“Feelings. You said you were mad about not giving into feelings. What feelings?”

“Nothing.”

“Katie.”

“It’s nothing! I’m not going to tell you.”

“Then show me. I don’t care.”

“No. It will only hurt us both.”

“Really? How so? Because if I remember that last night together—and I remember it quite clearly—I don’t think giving in to our feelings would hurt.”

“You don’t know what my feelings are.”

“I have a pretty good guess.”

“How?”

“Because,” Tristan pauses and leans in, making my heart beat significantly increase, “I love you too.”

I turn my head and press my lips against his. It had been a year since I got to feel his body pressed against mine and I wasn’t about to put it to waste.

“What did you say?! Do I have to come put Jesus between you two?!” I pulled back and burst out laughing. I’m pretty sure Dana and I are going to become great friends.

“Damn it Dana!” his response made me laugh even more.

“Come on, let’s at least go inside.” I grab his hand and start to pull him towards the shop. But he stops me, pulling me back against him.

“Wait. I need an answer to something.” I give him a confused look. What was he planning? He smiles and grabs both of my hands “I don’t have my posse to back me up this time…Will you go out with me?”

I grin from ear to ear, “I don’t know Tristan. I don’t want to complicate this friendship we have.”

“Uh-huh, right.”

“No kids? No house? Whatever will our daily routine be?”

“Sane.”

I laugh again. Sane would be nice. Sane would be simple. “Then yes. Sane works. For now at least.”