Patrick Six: Getting Closer

Mild Nudity, FYI - LateKnightSimmer

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I woke up with Katya in my bed, scrunched up in a ball with one hand under the pillow and one hand under her head. She still had her blue sundress on, and she looked very peaceful laying there with her lips slightly parted. This was the first time I'd experienced a girl staying the night without the feeling of wanting to be rid of her in the morning, and it was nice. I found that my eyes gravitated towards her full lips, and I really wanted to kiss her. I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head because the last thing I wanted was to act like a creep towards Katya.

Deciding against disturbing the serenity of Katya's slumber, I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower instead. I turned on the water and stripped, stepping into the shower and shutting the door behind me. As the warmth of the water flowed over me, I felt instantly refreshed. I thought back to last night and how Katya seemed to be at ease during dinner, making small talk with Emmanuel, yet as soon as he had left, she had tensed up a little, like when I was on the phone with her and she sounded as if she was afraid of intruding in my life.

I was happy that she wanted to get to know my best friend, but I was a little annoyed and sad about all of the awkwardness and tension surrounding her. She said she liked me, and that she felt safe with me, yet why did she feel the need to have her guard up around me? Did I do something that she didn't like? Say something she didn't like? She was a new experience for me, and I was curious. After finishing my shower, I shut the water off and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around my waist after tousling my hair, and entered the bedroom again.

"OH!"

Katya looked down at the floor, shielding her eyes with her hand, embarrassed that she had seen me in my towel. I laughed a little to myself, but not loud enough for her to think I was laughing at her expense. I found it funny that she was acting like we were teenagers who might get caught doing inappropriate things. I walked over to her, standing in front of her.

"Good morning, Katya. You don't have to be shy. I'm not going to bite."

"Good morning. I just- I wasn't expecting you to be... naked when I got up."

"I'm not. I have a towel on."

I smiled at her, knowing what she meant, but tried to joke around with her, wanting her to be less jumpy. I put my arm around her and gave her a kiss. She hung her arms behind her back as if she was scared to touch my bare skin. I let her go and walked into my closet to put on some clothes. When I went back into the bedroom, Katya was sitting on my bed looking like she needed to get something off her chest. I was a little scared, questioning whether I'd done something wrong or not.

"Patrick, I want to tell you something. I know I haven't known you for very long, but I feel like I've been pretty awkward so far in my interactions with you, and with questions that I may have asked you. I'm sorry about that, and I want to tell you why."

I was relieved to hear that Katya wasn't upset with me, and that I hadn't been doing something to make her uncomfortable. I remained standing in front of her until she was done talking.

"I'm really bad at relationships. When I was seventeen, I went to prom with my boyfriend. After prom was over, he took me to a motel, which I thought was what I wanted. It turned out it wasn't, but he ended up date raping me. I've had trouble trusting people since then. My girlfriends weren't supportive when I told them what happened, and people just called me a whore. I spent the rest of my time in high school alone and miserable. It's been a few years now, but that night still haunts me, and any time I start a relationship, I'm always weary. That's why I asked you if you'd had a lot of girlfriends, I just didn't want to date you if you were one of those guys who goes through girlfriends like they go through beer, dumping them once they get what they want out of them."

I stood there, stunned, listening carefully to every piece of information Katya revealed to me. She had been through so much and she looked like she was barely twenty years old. I remained silent, unable to figure out what to say to her, since she had left me speechless. My heart went out to her and I found myself crouching down on the floor for some reason. All the stuff had happened to her, not me, so why was I the one who felt like I couldn't stand? Finally, I felt like my brain could focus, and I managed to say a few words.

"Katya, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."

"It's okay. I've been seeing a therapist since I graduated high school, so I've been getting better slowly."

"I want you to know, I would never force myself on you."

Katya jumped off my bed and came to sit with me. She seemed a lot more comfortable with me now after she told me all of that stuff about her past. She put her hand around the back of my neck, snuggling her small body in between my legs. I touched her hair and she let out a soft sigh of contentment.

"Katya, I feel like I should tell you something about me since you shared all of that."

"Mm, okay."

"I have trust issues too. I was playing in the playground when I was four years old, and my aunt was supposed to be watching me. The next thing I knew, I was being kidnapped. I stayed in this crazy lady's house, and she kept telling me that I was supposed to stay with her because she was going to bring my father back with her so we could be a happy family. I was there for about a week before the police found me and brought me home. I had a problem with going outside for a little while when I was still a child, but I've gradually gotten over that fear."

"Oh my god, you were kidnapped? That's horrible. I'm glad you are okay."

"Thank you."

Katya turned around and hugged me, smiling up at me. I was happy that we had cleared the air between us, and maybe we would be able to get to know each other even better after this.

Later that day, Katya left and went back to her house. I went over to Emmanuel's house to hang out with him. It was a cool yet comfortable night, as was the norm for Silicon Shores. We sat out on his front porch chit chatting like we often did, about our personal lives, or work.

"Did we get the theater show, Emmanuel?"

"Yes, this Friday at 8pm. You'll never guess who I ran into when I was trying to go home though... Jaxson."

"Uh oh. The Great Santorini. How'd that go?"

Emmanuel's ex-boyfriend, better known in the magic world as The Great Santorini, was a celebrity who I did not want to ever become like. He acted like he owned the town just because he was the most famous magician around right now. Any time I saw him he was always trying to make himself look like a big deal, expecting people to bend over backwards for him. Thinking that you're too big to fall is a grave mistake lots of people make, and the long fall to the bottom is an unpleasant jolt back to reality.

"Strangely, to be honest. At first of course, he insulted me, which I was fully expecting, but then he got all sentimental. It was wierd. I was just about to leave, but Jaxson followed me, and said he missed me. If he had left it at that, I would have just thought he was bluffing cause he wanted a one night stand, but he also apologized. I don't even know what to make of that. Then he kissed me. I did kiss him back, and I took him home with me. In the morning, he was gone, but he left a note."

"Dude, you slept with him again?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, honestly, I just wanted some, and he was there. If it hadn't been him, it would have been a random guy from a bar."

"Okay as long as you're not getting back with him, I know how much he hurt you."

"Yeah, I remember why I broke up with him, I'm just confused of why he apologized. He always had to be right, about everything, he always had to win every argument when we were together."

"I don't know. Maybe he feels guilty or something, or he's jealous that you're working with me."

I happened to look out towards the street, when I saw a blonde girl out for an evening jog. She looked familiar, and as she got closer to where we were, I saw that it was Ephemera. I wanted to wave at her, but she ran up to the house with purpose so I didn't need to.

"Hi guys. I didn't know you lived on my jogging route."

"Ephemera, did you still want the assistant job?"

"Yeah, I'd love to work for you, Hunter."

"Oh, about that, if we're not at work, I'd actually prefer you call me Patrick. The Hunter's just my stage name. I know it sounds cool, but I'm not going to go by that unless I'm performing."

I waited patiently to see what Ephemera would say or do. This was a small test I was giving her to see if she was capable of taking instruction well. She looked at me and smiled.

"Sounds good, Patrick. I'm sorry, I didn't know. The other magicians I've worked for preferred me to call them by their stage names."

"That's okay, thanks for understanding. Let's meet here later and we can do a practice run of a typical show."

Ephemera agreed, and the three of us exchanged numbers, planning to meet the next night to practice. After making our plans, Ephemera left, leaving Emmanuel and I to ourselves.