Chapter 2: A New Day

Beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep!

Kaitlyn opened her eyes and rolled over to reach for her alarm clock. She slammed her hand down onto it; luckily she managed to hit the "off" button. At the sound of the alarm clock Peanut came bounding into the room and leapt onto the bed.

"Oooof, mutt!" Kaitlyn muttered as Peanut landed on her. "You need to go on a diet!" Peanut just started barking at her, jumped off the bed, and ran out of the room. When Kaitlyn didn't immediately follow Peanut darted back into the room and started barking again.

"Ok, ok! I am up and getting out of bed! It is not like you're starving mutt; you CAN wait a few minutes." Kaitlyn climbed out of bed and threw on the first thing she grabbed. She put on the robe and paused. She didn't own a robe like this; then the last evening rushed back to her. She remembered walking Peanut and the storm, Dylan and his house. How did she end up at home? The last thing she recalled was curling up in Dylan's bed and dozing off. How did she get home? And why did she still have Dylan's robe?

She looked around; yep, she was at home. This was her bed, her room, her house. Kaitlyn wandered out of the room and into the kitchen to feed Peanut. She went through her normal morning routine in a fog. What happened last night? Her data points were not adding up again and it frustrated her. Kaitlyn headed for class still confused about what had happened. Maybe if she talked with Tessa she could make some sense of what had occurred.

When Kaitlyn got out of her car at school she was hit by a wave of heat; the day was going to be just as bad as yesterday was. It was 9 AM and it was already 95 out; at least it was not as humid as it had been yesterday, the storm had taken care of that.

"Whoever thought that I would miss California?" Kaitlyn grumbled to herself as she let herself into the building.

Kaitlyn opened the door to the building and stepped into the cool dimness of the air conditioned building and collided with someone. "Oh, I am sorry! I didn't see you there; my eyes have not adjusted yet from being outside." Kaitlyn apologized to whoever she ran into.

"Kaitlyn! How are you feeling? I hope that you're doing better today. And don't worry about running into me; I shouldn't have been standing in the doorway." A male voice answered her.

As Kaitlyn's eyes started to adjust to the darker interior she saw that the guy she bumped into was Chad! Of all the people she could crash into, it would have to be him.

"Kait!" You could hear Tessa's voice from a mile away it seemed. She came up and hugged Kaitlyn and proceeded to bombard her with questions. "How are you feeling? Any better? Did you do what the nurse told you to do and start drinking more water?"

"Hello to you too Tes!" Kaitlyn grinned at her friend. Tessa could always bring a smile to Kaitlyn's face; Tessa was just so exuberant! She reminded Kaitlyn of Peanut at times; always bouncing around. Kaitlyn saw a flash of rose pink as Tessa came over to her; when Kaitlyn blinked it was gone.

"Oh, hi Chad! Don't you think Kaitlyn is looking better today? I think so!"

"Uhh, yeah, she looks great," Chad stammered and looked away.

"Tes!"

"What? He is here; it is only fair that I bring him into the conversation right?" Tessa tried to look innocent and failed.

"You are impossible Tes. Don't you know anything about subtly?" Kaitlyn asked Tessa. Kaitlyn turned towards Chad, "Thanks for your help yesterday. I hear that you were the one to find me in the hall and got me over to the health clinic."

Chad cleared his throat "Ah, it was nothing. Glad I could help you."

"Awww, isn't he cute?"

"Tes! Please!"

Chad blushed and mumbled something neither girl could hear and bolted down the hallway.

"Way to go Tes; I thought that you wanted to have him spend more time around me. Now I doubt that he is going to want to get within 10 feet of me." Kaitlyn said.

"No worries, I will just go and invite him out with us for Friday night. And apologize, I suppose. Maybe." Tessa grinned at Kaitlyn.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Weeeeell ... There are a few things that you could do with me; I am sure that some of them would be very fun." Tessa winked at Kaitlyn.

"Oh get your mind out of the gutter hun. You know I am not bi; otherwise I probably would have tried to seduce you by now." Kaitlyn bantered back at Tessa.

"You wish! You could never touch this!" Tessa twirled around, showing off her body to Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn loved what Tessa was wearing today; it was a strappy teal silk tank top, black dress pants, and black sandals.

"You know that you want it!"

Tessa survived Kaitlyn from head to toe critically taking in Kaitlyn's faded blue jeans, forest green tank top and brown sandals. "You don't look half bad; maybe. But we need to do something about your fashion sense sweetie!"

"Nah, I don't need to have fashionable clothes, just something comfortable. C'mon, let's get to class; I can't afford to miss another day of class."

"Everyone needs some fashion sense. And you have to have some; at least your clothes go together." Tessa rolled her eyes "And you can afford to miss class every once in a while. You're way too uptight! You need to relax and have fun now and again."

"And what do you call going out with you on the weekends? Is that not fun?" Kaitlyn responded as they entered the classroom. Kaitlyn saw Chad sitting in the back of the room like usual and she nudged Tessa. "Go and apologize. I'll grab us some seats."

Kaitlyn shook her head as Tessa went over to Chad; she really hoped that Tessa didn't embarrass the poor guy even more. Kaitlyn grabbed a couple of desks near the middle of the room and placed her backpack on one of the seats. A few minutes later Tessa came over looking like the cat that just ate the cream.

"Well? Did you apologize?"

"Yep! And to make it up to him I invited him along this Friday night when we go out."

Kaitlyn just gaped at her friend. She opened her mouth to say something but Tessa just kept talking. "You need someone to keep you company while I am out talking to people. You're too quiet and need to talk more. But since I know that you won't I invited Chad to keep you company. I am sure that he will be more than happy to sit and talk with you while I smooze with the people there."

"Tes."

"Besides, he was thrilled that we wanted to invite him out with us on Friday." Tessa continued blithely.

"Tes."

"It sounds like he gets out less then you do. So I think it will be good for him to get out and have some fun." Tessa smiled at Kaitlyn. "Happy now?"

"Well, I am happy that you apologized but maybe I am interested in someone else? Did that occur to you?" Kaitlyn responded before she thought about what she was saying.

"WHAT?!?!?! Really? Who? Tell me!"

Kaitlyn blushed and got out her notes as the teacher started lecturing. 'Saved by the teacher!' Kaitlyn thought. Why did she always seem to blurt out answers without thinking them through; she had wanted to talk with Tessa about what happened, not that she was interested in him!

Tessa whispered to Kaitlyn "This doesn't get you off the hook or not; I want answers at lunch!"

Friendship

Lunch came far too quickly for Kaitlyn; not that she had spent much time listen to the professor even if she appeared to be paying attention. She had spent most of the morning thinking of Dylan. The way that his eyes looked in the different light, how he held himself as if he commanded everything. All the things that she wanted him to do to her...

Tessa practically dragged Kaitlyn out of class, barely letting Kaitlyn put her stuff away. Chad tried to catch up with them as they left the class but Tessa waved him off and mouthed "later" at him. As Tessa and Kaitlyn got to Tessa's car Tessa said "Ok, tell! I demand to know all the details!"

Kaitlyn sighed. "There isn't much to tell. I was out walking Peanut and we got caught in the storm. This guy who lives a few streets over from me helped me out and let me stay over at his place until the storm blew out."

"Well, it would have to be more than that if you Ms.' No Time For Fun', was impressed enough to be interested in him. So, spill." Tessa had a mulish look on her face; Kaitlyn knew that Tessa was very stubborn.

Kaitlyn caught a flash of rose pink out of the corner of her. When she turned her head only thing she saw was Tessa driving. First black sparkles and now flashes of rosy pink! What would see start seeing next? Silver? Turquoise?

"Well the guy was pleasant and he didn't have to let me stay at his place while the storm blew itself out. He was attractive and interesting, so I guess that I could say that I am interested in him."

"Oh sweetie, you need to work on your poker face! Anyone with half a brain could tell that you were not pay attention in class this morning; something else was occupying your thoughts. For someone to distract to you like that, he has got to be more than merely interesting."

"Ok, ok! Fine, I give! Yes I find him attractive but I think he was just being neighborly. But I can't stop thinking about him" Kaitlyn admitted sheepishly to Tessa.

"I knew it! I knew that you were smitten! So, looks, attitude, tell me!"

"Very light coffee colored skin, black hair, and depending on the light his eyes can look golden but they are really hazel. He has something about him, maybe it is the way that he carries himself, but he has an aura or some unidentifiable presence that just commands attention." Kaitlyn stared off into space, a silly grin on her face as she remembered parts of last night; parts she wished had continued.

Tessa reached over and poked Kaitlyn to get her attention again. Tessa laughed as Kaitlyn jumped in her seat. "Lunch time sweetie. You can tell me more, inside."

Kaitlyn and Tessa walked into Moira, their favorite sushi place and got a table near the bar so that they could watch the sushi being made. They ordered drinks and some gyoza while they tried to decide what rolls they wanted to try this time.

"We had the Sunshine and the Kimono last time; go with something not spicy this time?" Tessa asked.

"Sure; what about the Neo Tokyo and the Jiko?"

"Haven't tried those ones yet, why not?"

They placed their order with the waitress and as soon as she was out of earshot Tessa started grilling Kaitlyn about last night again. "So, did you guys DO anything? Share the dirty details with me!"

"There is nothing to share; nothing happened," Kaitlyn said as she watched the sushi chef start working on some rolls for a couple of guys over at another table. If she looked closely she thought she could see a faint blue glow around the chef's fingertips. But he was moving his hands so fast that she wasn't sure.

"You can't hide those lying eyes! C'mon, don't leave me in suspense!" Tessa cried.

"Look, nothing really happened, well, I don't think it did anyway. It's kinda hard to tell." Kaitlyn wasn't sure how much she should tell her friend. After all, who would believe the random colors that were appearing everywhere? The time lapses where something happened but nothing did? The way she felt when she thought that she was going to be forced by Dylan?

"What d'you mean by that? Did he drug you? Is that why you can't remember?" Tessa sounded outraged and her voice started rising.

"Tes, calm down! No, he didn't drug me. He gave me a sealed bottle of water and sealed blister packs of Tylenol. He didn't tamper with them; he even said something along those lines so that I didn't have to worry about it."

"Then explain." Tessa crossed her arms in front of her and glared at Kaitlyn.

"Well it kinda started with yesterday morning..." Kaitlyn proceeded to tell Tessa about all of the weird things that had been happening, including the colors that she had been seeing. Tessa was gaping by the time that Kaitlyn was finished.

"You've got to be joking!"

"Why would I be joking? It doesn't make any sense!" Kaitlyn paused as their sushi rolls were brought out to them, grabbed her chopsticks and took a few pieces of the Jiko roll. Tessa got her pair of chopsticks and started in on the Neo Tokyo roll.