“Is Kat coming?” Howie yelled into Tia’s ear. Tia shrugged her shoulders “Maybe later, I dunno” Tia was dancing with Kevin, who had accompanied Howie to the club that night. Howie huffed sourly as he turned to find a girl to dance with. ‘I hope she comes’ Howie thought to himself. ‘I need to talk to her again.’ He had seen her last night, just sitting at the bar. He remembered wondering why she wasn’t dancing. She had startled him a little bit. She had seemed ok looking from far away. But then he saw her at the diner today. He thought he knew her at first but then realized she was the girl from the club. She was really pretty when he saw her. She was different from the other girls he’d met though. He realized why he had felt an attraction to her at CUBE. She had these sad green-gray eyes. When he looked into them, he could see something deep, but he could see she had built a wall around her true self. She was much more then she appeared to be. Her eyes drew you in and Howie knew they held so much. He had a desire to figure out what caused the sadness and pain in her eyes. She was different and mysterious, which he really liked. Nick had laughed at her in the diner because she seemed so nervous. ‘She probably knows who are’ he tried to explain but Nick just laughed. ‘Asshole,’ Howie though ‘Nick is too young to know anything anyway.’
“I’m gonna see if Ike is here, so you can meet him” Jose smiled and went off leaving her alone. Kat walked over to the bar, which was set higher then the dance floor and she quickly spotted Zac. She went over to where he was dancing with a short blond, who was quickly shooed away when Zac saw Kats presence.
“How was your date?” Zac asked in her ear.
“He’s agreed to be our drummer.” Kat said in response.
“Well, that’s great, but I could care less about the drumming.” Zac chuckled a little. "I wanna know about the grinding!” Kat playfully hit him
“Get your mind out of the gutter”
“Kat, you used to be Queen Gutter, now you’re all serious. What happened?” Zac asked
“I’ve matured……anyway, I’m not doing anything like that yet with him…..But he is a nice guy.”
“It helps he’s a total stud…”
“Zac! You’re too much!……By the way, where’s Tia?”
“Well, Prince Charming met us here, but he made the mistake of bringing Kevin, Poor guy. She jumped him as soon as she saw him. She dragged him off to dance.”
“I’ll find her in a minute.”
“Oh, well here comes your stud. Better get my hands off your ass……He might hurt me……….no, wait, that might be ok……” Kat laughed and kissed his cheek before turning to Jose.
“Well, Ike was here, but he had to run, but he wants to meet tomorrow…ok?” Kat agreed.
“Let’s dance” she suggested. They went to the middle of the dance floor and Jose’s Latin roots took over, making him a complete natural on the dance floor. Tia appeared out of nowhere, with Kevin in tow. She started dancing by them and soon Howie appeared with some girl.
“You’re here!” Tia exclaimed.
“Yah,” Kat smiled “You remember Jose” Tia introduced Kevin to them and everyone kind of exchanged small hellos. They all stayed dancing for a few hours. Then Kevin and Howie decided to leave. They said their good-byes and left. Tia then left, finding Zac to go home, but not before whispering in Kat’s ear “I’ll be waiting up for the details.”
Kat and Jose stayed dancing for awhile. They then took a cab to Kat’s apartment. Jose wanted to walk so they went for a walk on the beach, each telling the other about themselves. They sat looking at the ocean, their bare feet almost touched by the waves.
“Would it be ok if I kissed you?” Jose asked quietly. Kat turned to him and smiled and shook her head yes. He smiled as he leaned closer to her, letting his lips brush hers gently. Kat smiled and stood up.
“I have to get back.”
Jose shook his head understandingly and took her hand in his. When they reached her apartment, he kissed the back of her hand and said he’d be by at 6:30 the next day. Kat was still smiling as she slid into the apartment. She was just about to her room when T and Zac popped out of the den.
“Ah-ha!” T exclaimed. ‘You though you’d get away without spilling the gory details.” Kat sighed as T and Zac grabbed her hands and sat her down in the den.
“You guys really wanna know?” Kat asked. Both Tia ands Zac just stared at her. “Ok, well, here it goes…..We went to a Mexican restaurant then we went to the club and then we went on a walk.”
“Come on!” Zac urged. “I know there’s more! I can see it in your eyes!”
“I see it too!” Tia greed peering at her. “They’re all sparkly.”
“Shut up!” Kat said
“They are…” Zac singsonged. “Spill the beans.” Kat rubbed her eyes smiling.
“Well, ok, it was so sweet, he asked if he could kiss me. Then it was so soft and sweet. He is bringing a guitarist over tomorrow……I hope you’ll be here Tia.”
“You always get the romantic ones!” Tia pouted. “And I’ll be here.”
“Ok Well, if you’re done 20 questions, I’m going to bed.”
Kat didn’t wake up until 11 AM the next morning. By then Zac and Tia had gone to work already. She decided to just sit on the beach and write songs. She got her notebook where she wrote her songs and walked down the beach and sat. She ended up doing more sitting watching the ocean then writing. “Kat” a male voice called. She turned to see Howie walking towards her. “What the hell?” she muttered under her breath.
“Where’s Tia” he asked squinting in the bright sunlight. The bright sun had no effect on his outstanding smile though as he beamed broadly. Kat stood up and brushed her jean shorts off. She was really glad she was wearing a tank top over her bikini or else she’d feel even more uncomfortable. She found it kind of unsettling to have an actual Backstreet Boy standing near her and speaking to her.
“She’s at work.” Kat said walking up the beach a little.
“Oh, ok” Howie said following her. “What’s in the notebook?” Kat noticed Howie looking inquisitively at her songbook.
“Nothing…” Kat said half defensively clutching the notebook closer to her side. “Just a notebook.” She stopped at her door.
“Is this where you live?” Howie asked changing the subject. He had noticed she stopped right in front of a door. Kat nodded her head yes.
“Do you want to come in?” Kat asked slowly. Howie agree and walked into the small shabby apartment. It was decorated brightly with strange cheap looking accessories all over the place. He followed her into the kitchen.
“Do you live here alone?” Howie asked.
“No, Tia lives here too. We also have a guy roommate. You might have met him. His name is Zac” Kat continued to say a few things about Zac and Howie drifted into thought. He remembered how last night Kat had come into CUBE with some long haired guy. He had wanted to talk to her then but didn’t want to interrupt her and the guys business. He had gotten Tias number from Kevin. He then figured out where Tia lived and he figured he could get some information about Kat from her. But then he saw the red hair sitting on the beach.
“Do you want something to drink?” Kat asked loudly. Howie shook himself back to the present and shook his head no.
“Ok…” Kat said lifting her eyebrows. She walked into the den and sat cross-legged on the floor.
“Didn’t T tell you she was working?” Kat asked almost suspiciously. Her eyes took over his for a moment.
“Um, no, if she did, I forgot…” Howie said moving his gaze. “I just wanted to stop by and say hi. You guys are nice and I also wanted to know if you guys were interested incoming to a party at Kevin’s house Saturday night.” Kat shook her head yes. “You can invite whoever.” Howie continued. “There will be lots of people there. You’re new to the area aren’t you?”
“Yes, well, I’m new to Florida. I moved to the Orlando area about 3 weeks ago. I have a long boring story.” Kat smiled.
“Tell me.” Howie insisted.
“Ok, well, Tia and I are best friends from high school. We moved right after graduation, to come here. We met Zac and he joined our trip. We found this dump, got jobs, and that fills you in to about 3 days ago.”
“Graduations are in June………and this is November………”
“Yah, it’s been 6 months…..”
“And you’re how old then?”
“I’m 18 and T is 19.”
“I thought you looked pretty young………..but wait…CUBE is 21 and over……..”
“Well, no one has ever really carded me…….and I have a fake ID” Kat said sheepishly. Howie laughed. He found her innocence refreshing. She was mature for her age, but you could still see her youthful vulnerability.
“Ok, well, I have a business meeting at 2…..I better get going…” Howie remarked looking at his watch. “Will you guys come Saturday?” Kat shook her head yes. Howie wrote down the directions.
“Here’s his address. If I don’t see you at the diner, I’ll see you Saturday.” Kat showed him out and said goodbye. Howie walked down the street slightly elated. He got into his purple Corvette and sped towards Kevin’s house. When he got there, he found AJ, Brian, Nick and Kevin playing pool in Kevin’s extremely large backyard.
“What the hell took you long to get here?” AJ asked Howie, not taking his eyes off the pool table. “You live 2 fucking streets away.”
“I had to run errands.” Howie said smiling.
“Oh, really,” AJ grinned his goofiest smile. “What girl were you macking today player?”
“ You’re the player, not me.”
“He went to see some girl from the diner” Nick interrupted. Howie glared at Nick wondering how he knew.
“A girl from the diner? Is she pretty?” AJ asked now interested.
“You’ll see.” Howie replied sitting down. “I invited her and Tia to your party Kevin.”
“That’s cool. That Tia girl seems nice, a little blunt in wanting me though.” Kevin said.
“Most girls are blunt” Brian interjected.
“I knew you liked her.” Nick laughed.
“No. She’s new. I just thought it would be nice for her to meet some new people.” Howie said defensively.
“Oh, you’re defensive.” AJ joked. “You do like her! Can’t wait to meet her.”
“It takes some girl to get Howie a-going these days…..” Kevin laughed too. “We were sure you were going into the priesthood.” Howie just smirked at him.
“Funny Kev” He said.
“He’s just too nice, aren’t you Howie?” Brian asked. “Inviting new people to big parties. Being everyone’s friend. Being a nice guy to pretty girls.”
“Trying to get into their panties” AJ snickered
“Everyone should just shut up.” Howie said trying not to smile.
