What A Girl Wants

That night I couldn't sleep. I was upset, confused, and just plain angry at Kate's response. What was wrong with this girl? Sure, I didn't expect every female to bow down at my feet, but the least she could give me was a little respect.

I got up and went to the refrigerator to get myself something to drink. I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and went into the lounge only to find Kate there, curled up on one of the couches, watching Enemy of the State. I sat down on the other couch, not speaking to her, and cracked open the soda can. She then turned her head and gave me a disapproving stare.

"Oh, it's you," she said coldly.

"Hello to you too, Katarina," I said, using her full name.

Her eyes met mine. "Do not call me that," she said sharply.

"Look, I want to know-better yet, I demand to know why you hate me so much," I snapped.

"Why do I hate you? You're a liar, that's why I hate you, Justin," Kate said, her eyes averting from the television set. "I hate liars. Especially male liars."

"Then why are you even here?" I yelled.

"I need the money! Hello, I'm in college! I have loans, a car payment, and other things to pay for! I have to find anyway possible to pay for all of those things!" she continued.

"Fine, so you're going through with this for the money. But tell me what you really want out of a guy." I don't know what possesed me to say that.... but I did.

Kate just stared at me, a look of confusion crossing her face. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Tell me what a girl wants," I said through clenched teeth. "Especially a girl like you."

Her lips curled into a smirk, and she flung her long, light brown hair over her shoulder. "What do I want in a man...." she murmured. "Hmm...."

I stared at her, as she pretended to be lost in thought. Finally, she began to answer.

"I want a guy who's intelligent, honest, and loyal. I want someone who's going to know exactly what I want, and he has to treat me with respect and also as an equal. I don't want to be seen as the weaker one. If I'm in a relationship, I want there to be a mutual trust and understanding."

"Is that all?" I asked. "Anything physically?"

"Looks don't matter."

"Please. Everyone knows that on first impressions they do." They definately had with Carmen. On first impressions she had seemed to be a beautiful, intelligent girl, but once I'd gotten to know her she had been someone not even worth losing sleep over.

"You really want to know what physically turns me on?" she said, her voice going low and whispery.

"Yes I do."

"I adore men with deep voices. I don't know what it is, but I love that. And I like green and blue eyes. That's very nice." She paused for a brief moment. "I like rugged men."

"Really."

"Why does it matter to you?" she asked.

"Just curious. Goodnight Kate." I got up and headed back to my bunk.

*********

The next day I was in the dressing room, relaxing when Chris came in. "Hey man, whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"Nothing.... what does it look like?" I asked sarcastically. "Where are you going?"

"Kate and I are going shopping."

"What?" I asked. "Won't that look bad on my part? She's supposed to be my girlfriend."

"I know, Justin, she asked me. So I couldn't turn it down, it would have been wrong," Chris explained. "You can come too...."

"That's alright, I'll just hang here." I propped my feet on the bed. "See ya later, dude."

"'Bye." Chris walked out.

I thought for a minute about the conversation I'd had with Kate the night before. What could I do to get her to be halfway decent to me? I got up and walked down the hallway and into Chris's dressing room. On the couch was a green Army backpack. I picked it up without hesitating and spilled its contents on the floor.

Inside of the bag was a leopard print makeup bag (I had no idea that Kate wore makeup), a bunch of CDs, a Sony CD player, a black t-shirt, a keyring with assorted keychains and keys, a camera, ballpoint pens, the velvet notebook she always wrote in, and a sketchbook. "Hmm.... where to start."

I picked up the sketchbook and flipped through it, amazed at the artwork within it. She's a good artist, I thought as I continued to flip though it. On one page, there was a perfectly done self-portrait.

I flipped to the next page and there was another drawing of Kate, but this time she was with someone. She was sitting on a park bench, with her arms around a dark-haired guy. Jammed between those pages was a color photo of the same scene that was drawn on the pages. I picked it up and looked at it, curious.

The drawing was very simular to the photo: Kate and the guy were sitting on that bench in the park. Kate looked younger than she was now, so I assumed it must have been taken when she was in high school. She looked incredibly happy, a whole lot happier than she had been since I had first met her. She was probably in a relationship with the guy. I flipped the photo over, and on the back "Kate and Rob-October '97" was written in blue ink.

"So she isn't all evil after all," I mumbled. "Kate's got a soft side." I smiled, then continued to go though the rest of the things in the bag, taking mental notes as I went along.

*********

That night after the concert I sat down and began to write everything I had learned from going though Kate's backpack. She apparently liked the color blue, SweetTarts, and sugarless gum, she was an artist, she listened to just about any type of music, she liked to take pictures, and had an ex named Rob. It was only a small bit of information, but I intended to use that knowledge to somehow get Kate to open up to me. My plan would go into action the next day. I rubbed my hands together eagerly, ready to take on the challenge of making her like me.

chapter 5