Zac knew he wanted to help Katie, but he really wasn't quite sure how. She had told him how scared she was, and who she thought it might be, but nothing was definite. As Zac walked into his drivway half an hour later, he saw an unfamilliar car. He smiled, knowing it was his older brother, Isaac.
He put Winston in his pen and walked into the house. He spotted Isaac sitting at the kitchen counter, flipping through a magazine while his father cooked dinner.
"Hey Zac." Issaac greeted him. Isaac was twenty, and he no longer lived at home.
"Hey." Zac said. He looked at his father as he sat down at the counter. "Whatcha cookin?" He asked with interest.
"Alfredo sauce." His father answered, stirring the creamy mix over the stove. Zac nodded in approval. "Cool."
"Dinner is in half an hour." He told him.
"Okay." Zac said. He turned to his brother. "Hey Ike, sometime before you go, I need to talk to you."
"What about?" Issaac asked, looking up from his magazine.
Zac glanced at his father. "Oh...girls." Isaac said knowingly.
Zac let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah." he replied.
After dinner, Zac cornered Isaac in the familiy room for a brotherly chat. After telling him all about Katie, he told him about the phone calls.
"So, you have no idea who would be calling her?"
"Nope." Zac said.
"I wonder why..."
Zac shrugged. "I dunno. That's what I've been trying to figure out that last two months." He said sarcastically.
"Ah." Isaac said.
"It was terrible. I still like her, and for like, a month, she wouldn't even look at me."
"So what's your relationship status now?' Isaac asked.
"Still broken up."
"Oh."
"She's friends with you?"
"Yeah, I guess. We talk all the time now, and we ocacasionally hang out."
"That's good."
"Yeah....I really missed her. She wouldn't even look at me."
"Maybe she was embarassed." Isaac said. Zac gave his older brother a thoughful look. He hadn't thought of it that way. Katie probabally was embarassed to look at him, much less speak to him.
"Yeah, maybe she was."
"So, you're friends now?"
"Yeah." Zac said. "Her sister told me that she still likes me."
"That's a plus."
"Yeah, and I know she was telling the truth."
"That's definitely good. Did she say anything to you?"
"Katie?"
"yeah."
"No, I haven't brought it up."
"Oh."
"That was before we were friends again." Zac said.
"So, you still like her?"
Zac nodded. "Yeah."
"So..."
"She just wants to be friends."
Isaac nodded. "Ah, one of those."
"Yeah." Zac said. "But I think she may change her mind."
"Well that's good." Isaac said.
"I want to know how I can help her." Zac replied.
"Well, you could help catch this person." Isaac said.
"Yeah."
"And if she's an emotional mess, just be there for her."
Zac nodded. "Like how?"
Isaac sighed. "Well, just be there to talk. She's prolly feeling really vulnerable, and there's not better time for you to do this. Constantly appear ready and willing to talk or whatever, and eventually she'll come around." Isaac said.
"Oh."
"And be patient. You never know."
Zac nodded. "Thanks Ike." he said.
"No problem." Isaac said, standing up. He left Zac alone with his thoughts in the TV room. Zac moved to his favorite armchair and flipped on the TV, but as the time slipped by, his thoughts slowly drifted away from TV.
He found himself thinking about Katie, and how great things had been before they broke up. He missed being able to kiss her whenever he wanted. He missed calling her on the phone, and he even missed hearing her whine during their geometry study sessions. He even missed her house, and Judy.
Things had been going so well. That brought him to the L-word. He admitted to himself that he did love her, and he had been thisclose to telling her just days before their breakup. However, he hadn't said it, and things had changed drastically since then.