Chp 3
The apartment was cold and dark as Kat felt for the hall light. She flicked it on and almost instantly regretted doing so. She had forgotten how trashed her apartment was. Tears of anger and frustration filled her eyes. ‘Why does Jose have to make my life hell again?’ Kat asked herself. Kat realized she couldn’t let Jose care her away from her home, her life. She sighed and went and got a broom to start cleaning.
Howie came into his house sulking. The meeting he had attended had not ended very well, and he was upset because of the outburst with Kat. Howie couldn’t understand why she wanted to go to her apartment by herself. Dusk had started to fall, so Howie flipped on a light. ‘Its awfully quiet’ Howie thought to himself. He began to get angry as he searched the house and found Kat wasn't there. He called all the guys frantically, asking if they had seen her. Howie’s anger built up as he realized she went to her apartment alone.
Kat lay down on her bed, exhausted. She had spent the entire day cleaning. Her apartment was back to its clean state; the broken pieces of her books in the trash. Kat went and got her script to look over her lines, when there was a hurried knock on her door. Instant fear came over her. She grabbed her mace as she crept slowly to the door. She looked through the peephole timidly to find only a very angry looking Howie on the front step. She dropped the mace and opened the door slowly, almost prepared for the verbal fight that was sure to follow.
“Oh, thank god.. there you are......” Howie said almost sarcastically.
“I figured this would be the first place you’d look.” Kat responded sourly.
“I told you not to come here!” Howie said sourly.
“I’ll go where I damn well please” Kat said, anger building up inside of her.
“But you could get hurt!”
“I can take care of myself. I’m in control of my own life, and if you think for one minute you can control my actions, you’re wrong. How dare you think you can order me around, tell me where I can go and where I cant. Just leave. I’m in no mood to see you now.” Kat said angrily. She slammed the door on him before he could even open his mouth to speak. He began banging on the door, yelling her name.
“Kat, baby, listen to me.” She heard him say quietly. “I’m sorry. I wasn't trying to tell you where you could and couldn’t go. I just care about you so much. I figured if you were here alone, Jose would know, and hurt you. If anything would happen to you, it would kill me. I’m so sorry. Please, please let me in.” He pleaded. Kat sighed and slowly undid the deadbolt. The door opened and she looked at him still angry.
“I’m so sorry” Howie said walking in. He closed the door after him and deadbolted it again. Kat turned around and walked into her kitchen to get a soda. She turned around and looked at Howie, who was standing in the doorway, looking sadly at her.
“Howie, I’m very pissed right now.” Kat stated. His soulful eyes got even more downcast.
“I’m sorry.” Howie said. He went and sat on a chair by her counter. “I have never felt this way about someone before. I love you so much, more so every second we spend together. I feel like I have to protect you.”
“Howie, you can’t protect me from everything. When I do something, I realize the consequences. I take responsibilities for my own actions.” Kat sighed. She wasn’t angry anymore, it was hard to hold a grudge.
"I’m sorry. I’ll never be like that again.”
“I’m sorry too.” Kat said, “I’m so stressed and, I don’t want to sit around your house like a little mouse.”
Howie walked over to her and hugged her.
“Can we make up now?” Howie asked kissing her. Kat smiled and shook her head yes.
Kat woke up with a start. Shed been having a nightmare, and was about to die when she awoke. Howie was still asleep, the cover just covering his feet. She looked at the clock which read 730. Kat sighed. She didn’t think she'd be able to fall back asleep. Kat got up slowly,trying not to wake Howie. She walked out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen. She poured herself some milk, and went and sat down in her armchair. She pulled out the one journal that shed had in LA with her and started writing. After awhile Howie came out of the bedroom. He came over and rapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
“Hey sweetie. I didn’t hear you come in.” Kat said, coming out of her writing trance.
“I noticed. I was waiting for you to notice me.” Howie replied. Kat looked at him; he was standing there with her comforter wrapped around him. He smiled broadly., realizing shed finally noticed him.
“I woke up, and you were gone. Then I got lonely, I was thinking about how beautiful you look in the morning, and you weren’t there to express those feelings to.” He smiled. Kat laughed, knowing exactly what Howie had planned for the morning. She stood up and kissed him.
“If I had known you were going to get lonely, I never would have left.” Kat smiled as Howie grabbed her.
“I need to go see if my cell is in my car, ok?” Howie said he pulled on his pants and shirt. Kat nodded sitting up.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes...wait there.” Howie winked and left. Kat smiled and laid back down. All of a sudden, the phone rang.
“Hello?” Kat said. All she got was silence.
“Um, hello?” she repeated. She could hear heavy breathing, then a sort of half laugh.
“Kat.” Came a soft, coarse voice.
“Who....who is this” Kat asked getting a little worried.
“You don’t remember me? I figured you’d never forget” the voice came again. Kats voice got caught in her throat. She realized it was Jose.
“What do you want?” she asked. Jose laughed.
“So, did he spend the night? Isn’t that a little slutty?” Jose said. Kat stood up and ran to her door, just as Howie was coming in. He automatically saw her scared expression. She grabbed him and slammed the door shut, locking it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked holding her. Kat tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t come.
“What the hell happened?” Howie asked becoming more concerned. He pulled her off of him and looked at her. He noticed the phone in her hand. He took it from her and listened, only hearing a dial tone. “Did someone call here?” he asked. Kat managed to shake her head yes.
“Who called here? Who?” he asked, practically yelling.
“It....it....” Kat stuttered, starting to shake.
“Was it him?” Howie asked, obviously meaning Jose. Kat started to cry hard.
“It was?” he asked. She shook her head yes. “We need to call the police.” Kat shook her head again.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he called here.” Howie said. He hugged her tightly, and took her and sat her down. Howie called the police, while Kat got dressed.
“The police are going to try and trace the call. The officer said that meanwhile we should just try and stay calm. If anything else happens, we need to call them again.” Howie said, trying to soothe her. Kat mumbled yes numbly.
“Sweetie........what did he say?”
“He asked if you had slept over. Then he said I was a slut.” Kat whimpered. “He’s probably outside......that’s why I ran to get you.”
“Ok, well, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t want to be here. But I don’t want him driving me away from my home!” Kat exclaimed, not sure of what to do. “He knows where you live, too. If he sees there is no one here, he’ll look there.” Howie put his arms around her.
“I have an idea.” Howie finally said. “I want you to take a shower, and then pack a few things.” He helped her up and led her to the bathroom. “I’ll be right here in your bedroom, I just need to make a call, ok?” Kat shook her head, and got into the shower.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Nick. Its Howie.”
“Hey, what’s up.”
“I have a slight situation. You heard about the break in at Kats apartment, right?”
“Yeah, is she ok?”
“Yes, she’s fine. But, the guy who did it called her house today, and knew I was there. I have a feeling he’s staking out the place.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I know......I need to ask a huge favor of you Nick....”
Kat came out of the shower, as Howie was clicking off his phone.
“So, who’d you call?”
“We’ll talk about it in the car. Did you pack a few things?”
“Not yet.....let me throw my nightgown and an outfit in my bag...” Kat responded. She went back into her bathroom, then went to her closet, and returned to Howie’s side.
“Lets go.” Howie said. They left her apartment quickly, and Howie got onto the freeway.
“Where are we going?” Kat asked confused.
“Well, we are going to stay at Nicks house tonight......”
“Nicks house?” Kat asked slightly stunned. Shed never been to Nicks house, since it was in Tampa.
“Yeah, that’s who I was talking to. I figure, Jose will never find us there.” Howie responded.
“Ok.......” Kat said skeptically.
After a long drive, Howie finally got of the freeway, and pulled into an upscale neighborhood. They pulled into the driveway of a huge white and blue house. Howie helped her out of the car, and took her hand as they went around the back. They found Nick and Michelle in the pool in the backyard.
“Hey guys!” Nick exclaimed upon seeing them. He got out of the pool, and grabbed a towel.
“Are you ok, Kat?” Nick inquired.
“Yes. Thank you for letting us stay here.”
“Not a problem. I have more then enough room, and I don’t need any of my friends in danger.” Nick responded, smiling. He then started talking to Howie, as Kat went over by the pool to talk to Michelle.
“Hey. Are you gonna be alright?” Michelle asked, swimming around in circles by the side of the pool.
“Yeah, I should be ok.” Kat responded.
“That’s like, totally scary that he was, like, watching you and stuff.” Michelle said dizzily.
“Yeah, I know. I was really frightened.” Kat said.
“Well, you’ll be ok here! We can catch up on girl talk!” Michelle giggled. “Do you want to swim?”
“I didn’t bring a suit, and I’m not really in the mood.” Kat said. She walked back to where Howie and Nick were standing. “Nick, can I lay down?”
“Sure. I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping tonight. There’s a TV in there, and I’ll show you the kitchen, in case you get hungry” Nick said. He started walking in his house, and Howie put his arm around her waist, as they followed him. Nick had a huge house, which was impeccably decorated. Kat hadn’t realized Nick had so much taste. He showed them into a big room, which had a king size bed, and was decorated in blue.
“Thank you.” Kat said politely as Nick left. She sat on the bed and started rubbing her temples. Howie sat next to her.
“Is this going to be ok?” Howie asked. Kat nodded.
“Yes. I can’t believe Nick was nice enough to let us stay here. I feel like such an intruder.”
“He doesn’t care! Now, what do you want to do?” Howie asked.
“I don’t know. I think I just want to lay down for awhile.”
“Ok, I’m going to go downstairs to talk to Nick, ok?”
“Sure” Kat laid back on the bed.
“Ok.” Howie patted her leg. “Ill be right downstairs if you need me.”
Kat nodded and let him leave. She lay there thinking about everything. She really wished she wasn’t there, even though Nick was nice. She had come back to Florida to spend time with Howie, not run from her house. She definitely wasn’t in the mood for “girl talk” with Michelle. She could be in LA girl talking with Gabby, who wasn’t as dumb as a doorknob. She soon fell into light sleep.
Chp 4
Chp 2
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