Paul Diaz
Chapter 4: Watching You
Saturday morning Kathleen was with Anne in the main gate waiting for Jonathan to arrive.
“Kath, are you sure he is coming? For a guy being late is a big no-no” Anne said.
“Its not like we are dating you know, maybe he has a good reason for being late” Kathleen replied and looks at her watch, it was already eight.
“Hey Kath, since you and him are just friends, could you help me out and find out what are the things he likes or dislikes?” Anne requested.
Kathleen looks at Anne curiously and asked “Why? I mean what for?” Anne shyly smiles and says “I think I like him but I don’t get the chance to be with him often. Since you two are always together and you are close already so could you please find them out for me?”
Kathleen felt uneasy all of a sudden and no matter how hard it was for her to accept what Anne said she just smiled. “Sure I can do that”.
“Hey look it’s him! He looks so cool, look at him!” Anne said ecstatically. Kathleen looks towards the direction Anne was facing and she saw Jonathan walking slowly, he was wearing a pair of shades and the wind blew his curly long hair around. As he approaches them both Anne could not resist saying. “I’m falling in love with him Kathleen” but Kathleen pretends she did not hear it.
“I am really sorry, no excuses.” Jonathan said and he bowed his head in shame. Anne giggles as Kathleen just smiles along. “It’s my fault too I did not give you my cell phone number so you could have just sent me a text message” Kathleen says. Jonathan scratches his head and smiles. “Oh no need for that I don’t have a cell phone, I wanted to get one a long time ago but I only have a handful of friends” he said.
“Now you to go ahead then, I have to meet my partner in the library” Anne said and starts to walk away. “Hey Anne thanks for waiting with me” Kathleen suddenly said. “Oh I should be thanking you” Anne replied and smiled as she hurries towards the library.
“Thank you for what?” Jonathan investigates. “Oh nothing it’s just a girl thing don’t worry” Kathleen replied as the thought of Anne’s request lingered on her mind. “Your bag seems to be full of stuff; do you want me to carry it for you?” Jonathan asked her. “I just bought some snacks; I didn’t know what you would like so I got a lot. I will carry it, it’s a shoulder bag and it won’t look good on men” she answered. “Me? I eat anything don’t you remember? Here let me carry that for you” Jonathan said and Kathleen handed the bag over as her mind suddenly realized what she has said. Flashbacks of the fat Jonathan came to her mind and she felt bad thinking she might have just insulted him.
Jonathan puts the bag on his shoulder and pretends to be gay. He flicked his curly hair and raised his eyebrows and said. “So now how do I look? Come on now let’s get going. I should have worn a dress today my oh my what a wonderful day”. Kathleen suddenly starts laughing seeing him acting like a girl. “Hey Jon stop that people are laughing at you” she whispers but Jonathan continued his act and said “You know what I have had the worst insults thrown at me back then, so I am already used to it, don’t mind them, come along now let’s hail a cab”.
As they were inside the cab Kathleen thought of what Jonathan had just said. She looked at Jonathan and she somehow realized what kind of pain he had to endure daily when he was still fat. Instead of feeling sorry for him, her admiration became stronger for the man beside him.
They finally reach Jonathan’s home, it was situated on a secluded village and there were very few houses there. As they enter the house Jonathan’s mom greets them. “Hello, so finally I meet you, Jonathan has been talking about you ever since…” and Jonathan cuts in “Mom this is Kathleen my classmate, and we are going to do a research paper, Kathleen this is my mom don’t believe everything she says”
Kathleen and his mother trade smiles for a moment then Jonathan asks Kathleen to take a seat. “Please wait here I am going to bring down my laptop and the stuff we need” he said but his mother disagreed. “No need the both of you can work in your room, I will bring you lunch later, now hurry time is gold”.
“Mom! I have not cleaned my room yet!” Jonathan exclaims. “I cleaned it a while ago, so go along now and let me start cooking” she said. Jonathan scratches his head and leads Kathleen towards his room upstairs.
“Your room is nice” Kathleen quipped. “Oh you should have seen it a while ago, you can sit anywhere you want” Jonathan said. Kathleen walked around his room slowly and said “Hey Jon, how come there are no pictures on all the picture frames?” she asked. Jonathan sat down in front of the computer and said “Isn’t it that when you take pictures you do so in order for you to remember good times? I took out all of my pictures and burned them.” Kathleen looked at him and started feeling sorry for him again. She pulled a chair and sat down beside Jonathan who was already starting to work.
“So how would you want to attack this problem?” Jonathan asked her. “You decide, you take the lead and I will follow, anything is fine with me” she answered. Jonathan did not answer back instead he continued to work. She just watched him as he bashed the keyboard, three opened books on both sides of him.
“You know what you can relax in my bed if you want this is going to take long” he said. “No I want to help too” she answered. “Go on relax, when I am tired you can replace me here” he added. “Are you sure you’re fine with that?” Kathleen asked him. “Yup” he said so Kathleen stood up and sat on his bed and looked around the room.
She was trying to look for details about him in his room but she could not find anything of importance. She takes off her shoes and leaned on the head rest as she relaxed her legs on the bed. She just stared at the back of Jonathan’s head trying to see what was going on inside his mind.
“Hey Jon” she suddenly says.
“Yeah?” Jonathan replied without even turning his back.
“Anne likes you” she revealed waiting to see if he would have any reaction.
“Okay” he just answered and continued to work.
“She is pretty. Smart at times. She is kind too you know” Kathleen added.
“So why don’t you court her then?” Jonathan jokingly said.
“Seriously? I am a girl you know that. I am not into that stuff” she implied.
“Well then I am a girl too” he jokingly said and Kathleen started to laugh.
“She is serious about you, she even wanted me to find out more about you. What if she decides to make the first move on you, I mean girls could court men too you know” she added.
“Well I have no experience in courting or love stuff so you will have to help me tell her no in a nice way then” Jonathan said as he continued working.
Kathleen liked what she heard and started to smile. She grabs the pillow and hugs it tightly.
“Uhm what is she is persistent, what if she does not accept no for an answer? Don’t get me wrong but I am just the bridge here” Kathleen utters.
Jonathan suddenly turns around and Kathleen lets go of the pillow. “I read a story once; this guy likes a girl but was too shy so he had to ask his best bud to help him out. The girl eventually fell in love with the guy’s best bud in the end” he said and smiled then turned around and faced the computer.
Kathleen imagine that situation happening and she grabbed the pillow again and hugged it tight. She tried to smell the pillow so as to know what he smells like when he sleeps.
“That pillow has not been washed for a week so don’t sniff it” Jonathan suddenly said.
“I am not sniffing your pillow!” Kathleen shockingly replied.
“Oh okay” he answered. Kathleen continued hugging the pillow and sniffing until she fell asleep.
“Kath a little help” Jonathan said but heard no reply. “Kath?” he repeated and still she did not respond. He turned around and saw her asleep. Jonathan stood up and carried the chair closer to the bed and sad down watching her sleep. The door suddenly opens and his mother stood beside him.
“She is so pretty” he whispered.
“Would you like to eat lunch now?” his mother asked.
“Can I watch her a little bit longer mom?” Jonathan pleaded and his mother tapped him in the back. “You still like don’t you?”
“Very much mom, very much.”
