... not in love with Kale Eddison (12 page)

Yours, (why do
I agree to do these things?) Izzie

After she had
sent it, Izzie waited a few minutes for a reply, instead she
received a text message from an unknown number.

‘I agree.
Thanks. U won’t regret it. Promise. K’

Izzie rolled
her eyes but she saved his number in her phonebook and replied.

‘U owe me!
Iz’

She smiled
despite herself and went to bed a little later and found herself
feeling a lot happier.

Chapter
Nine

Saturday
morning started off rather well, Izzie found she had slept very
well the night before and woke up feeling fresh and energised. She
didn’t have to work - her father had taken pity on her and let her
have a break – and she smiled to herself at the day of freedom that
awaited her. She whipped back her duvet cover and made her way down
to the kitchen where she found her grandmother reading the paper
intently.

“Morning Gran,
please tell me there’s nothing in there today, is there?”

Izzie watched
as her grandmother glanced up, “No dear, you’re safe … for
now.”

Izzie was
relieved as she happily set about making a cup of coffee but there
was also something nagging her at the back of her mind; she had
been pretty sure that there would be a picture of some sort in
today’s paper but why on earth did the reporters keep quiet about
her argument with Kale in her car yesterday? She shrugged to
herself and decided not to dwell on it too much.

After Izzie had
gotten showered and dressed, she wondered what to do with her
Saturday of freedom … she grabbed her bag along with her car keys
and decided she would just see where she ended up. As she was about
to pull away from the house, her phone bleeped. She rummaged in her
handbag and managed to extract it from the depths within.

‘Just wanted 2
let u know I made deal with paps. No pics in paper today. K’

Izzie rubbed
her eyes and reread the text message again; yep, it was indeed from
Kale. She couldn’t quite believe it but she figured it was the
least he owed her considering his actions yesterday. She smiled and
hit ‘reply’.

‘Thanks. Have a
nice day. Iz’

She hit ‘send’
and instantly cringed at herself; ‘Have a nice day’? Was that the
best she could come up with? Izzie shook her head to clear her
thoughts and was about to pull away again when her phone bleeped
again. She sighed, slightly irritated at the disruption, and read
the message … it was definitely intriguing.

“So,” Izzie
began, “what was with the cryptic message? You said to meet you,
here I am.” She looked at Kale curiously, waiting for him to
answer.

Kale smiled, “I
just wanted to see you again … and to apologise in person.”

Izzie raised an
eyebrow, “Really? And you just
had
to interrupt my free
time?”

Kale smirked,
“Yes I did,” he turned suddenly serious, “Izzie, I really am sorry
about yesterday, I acted like a complete ass and I figured the
least I could do was apologise to you … and pay off the papers to
make sure they didn’t print the pictures from yesterday.” He looked
at Izzie hopefully.

Izzie looked at
him curiously; she had to admit that it was rather sweet of him to
go to all that trouble. “Well thanks; that was the last thing I
would’ve needed so I appreciate it. Now, if that’s all, can I go
now?”

Kale looked
slightly disappointed, “Um, yeah, that’s pretty much it. Sorry for
dragging you away from your free time.” He began to turn away but,
against her better judgement, Izzie stopped him.

“Wait,” Izzie
said, “do you want to do something?” She shrugged when Kale turned
around and looked at her with curiosity.

“Ok, if you
don’t mind.” He was very confused by the girl standing in front of
him; Izzie was a very complex person to work out, nevertheless, if
she was agreeing to spend time with him … well he wasn’t going to
pass that opportunity up.

“Where do you
want to go?” asked Izzie.

Kale thought
for a moment, “I dunno … is there somewhere you want to go?”

Izzie smiled,
“I know a park not far from here … there’s a trail through the
woods that’s nice to walk around. Are you up for it?”

Kale nodded,
“Sure, I’ll drive and you direct the way.”

They both
climbed into Kale’s car and headed towards the Curtis Nature Park.
They both talked easily; yesterday’s events were now forgotten.
Izzie fiddled with the buttons on the radio to find a decent
station; she flicked through them until she settled on the only one
that wasn’t crackling. She turned the volume up and listened for
the next song, after a few seconds, she recognised the song.

Izzie turned to
Kale, “Am I so sad as to like this song?”

Kale glanced at
her, “No, I like it too.”

Izzie tutted
and rolled her eyes, “You don’t know even know who it is!”

Kale shrugged,
“Oh really, I think it is Paul Weller at his best.”

Izzie laughed,
“Ok, you know who it is but do you know the song title?”

Kale chuckled,
“Come on … we both know it’s ‘You Do Something To Me’”

Izzie sighed,
“Ok Mr Know-it-all.”

Kale frowned,
“What?”

Izzie sighed
and rolled her eyes again, “Nothing, just who knew we both like the
same song?”

Kale nodded and
smiled, “Well, statistically that was bound to happen.”

Izzie laughed
and decided to change the subject, “So, how exactly did you get the
reporters to not print the pictures from yesterday?”

Kale shrugged,
“I’m not saying; I dealt with it. I made an arrangement.”

He seemed
awfully adamant not to explain further but Izzie persisted, “Come
on, you paid them – that’s what you said in your message – what did
it cost?”

Kale sighed,
“Enough to get them off our backs for a while, ok?”

Izzie admitted
defeat, “Ok, I forfeit. Hey, take the next right and that’s the
park.”

Kale followed
Izzie’s instruction, parked in an empty space and they both got
out.

“Ok,” Izzie
began, “I know a great little trail, follow me.”

As they walked
along the route that Izzie had picked out, they talked about lots
of things. Kale was particularly interested in finding out all
about the different school events; he had never been to a school
dance or taken part in anything that could be classified as a
‘normal high school experience’ and was very curious.

Izzie rolled
her eyes when he quizzed her as to what the next event would
be.

“Oh just the
Halloween Dance … it’s not that exciting really. It’s the Saturday
before Halloween and is just an excuse for some people to dress
like – well never mind.” Izzie finished lamely, changing her mind
about what she was going to say.

Kale raised his
eyebrows at her curiously but didn’t pursue it further, “So, you
going to this dance then? That’s next Saturday then, yeah?”

Izzie nodded,
“Yeah, it’s next Saturday and yeah, I’ll probably go but I don’t
know what I’ll dress up as yet.”

Kale nodded,
“Guess I’ll have to find a costume then. Anyway, you want to go
together?” He looked at Izzie hopefully and when he saw her look a
little peeved, he hastily added, “Just as friends, I mean.”

Izzie had been
a little wary of Kale’s suggestion and could tell that he added the
last part as an afterthought when she had looked alarmed. However,
Izzie had clearly warned him of the boundaries and it seemed he was
going to stick to them.

“Ok, sure, as
long as it’s as friends. So, do you have any idea what you’re going
to go as?” Izzie smiled at him and Kale thought for a moment.

“Does it have
to be something scary? Or can it be something relatively normal?
Oh, maybe we should go as a couple, you know like, Morticia and
Gomez?” He laughed at her expression and then Izzie realised he was
joking.

She felt
relieved, “Oh I dunno, whatever you want. You could go as Prince
Charming and you wouldn’t even have to wear a costume!” She smirked
at him and he laughed at her sarcasm.

“Well, if I’m
Prince Charming then you’re the Queen of Darkness.” Kale laughed as
Izzie pretended to look outraged and hit him a shove on the
arm.

“Hey, not fair
… besides my dark side only seems to rear its head when you’re
around … funny, don’t you think?” She smirked at Kale again and he
smiled.

“Ok, ok, I
walked into that. So, seriously, what are you going as?” Kale
looked directly into Izzie’s eyes.

Izzie felt
suddenly weak all over but just about managed to keep her train of
thought on track; what the hell was wrong with her? She cleared her
throat to cover the awkward pause that had passed between them.
“Um, truth is, it’s a secret but it’s nothing scary. You’ll just
have to wait and see.”

Kale accepted
this, “Ok, I look forward to it then.” He smiled at her and she
returned it with a grin of her own but it was slightly forced;
Izzie had other things on her mind – other things involving Kale …
and the way he made her feel sometimes. Izzie mentally shook
herself from these thoughts that were swirling around; did she like
Kale? Why did he infuriate her one minute and make her go all
jelly-legged the next? She forced herself to push these confusing
questions into the back of her head – way in the back – and paid
attention to what Kale was talking about now.

“So, is the end
of this trail much further?” Kale glanced at her and then at the
sky.

Izzie shrugged,
“Another five minutes walk, why?” She looked up at the sky also and
found her question answered when a huge raindrop fell on her
cheek.

Kale laughed,
“That’s why,” he pointed to a particularly dark cloud that Izzie
hadn’t noticed yet and the rain that was getting heavier by every
second. Izzie saw the huge rain cloud making its way towards them;
it looked like it was going to be a very heavy downpour.

“Shit!” Izzie
yelled and grabbed Kale’s hand, “Come on, if we run now, we can
make it back to the car before it gets any worse.”

Kale did as he
was told and let Izzie lead him back to the car park; he wasn’t
going to argue with her, not when she was holding his hand –
willingly, he was pleased to notice - and causing him to feel those
pleasant little shooting sparks again.

They made it
back to Kale’s car and quickly jumped inside but they were both
quite soaked anyway. Kale noticed that Izzie was shivering and he
lifted the blanket he kept under the seat and handed it to her.
Izzie was quite touched at this gesture and gratefully wrapped it
around her while Kale started the car and turned up the heater.

“Well,” Kale
began, still waiting for the car to heat up before he drove off,
“that was going quite nicely until the rain showed up. Are you
still cold?” He looked over at Izzie who nodded. Kale was quite
concerned by this so he removed his own jacket and handed it to
her. Izzie shook her head but her teeth chattered as she protested,
“No Kale, you’re bound to be cold too. Take it back.” She thought
it was sweet of him to offer her his jacket but she was also
uncomfortable looking at him now; the rain had soaked his shirt
through and she could see, even more clearly, the outline of his
toned chest. Izzie quickly averted her gaze incase Kale caught her
staring and refused to take the jacket. Kale smirked at her
stubbornness and threw it over her anyway while he fiddled with the
blowers on the dashboard. Izzie couldn’t help but smile when he
gave her the jacket anyway; she could smell a lovely aroma off it –
not aftershave but a clean, woodsy type scent – and it was just the
way she imagined it would be – not that she dwelled on thinking
about how nice Kale Eddison smelled!

Izzie cleared
her throat awkwardly in an attempt to block out her own thoughts
and saw Kale glance at her curiously and then turn his attention
back to clearing the steamed up windows of the car.

“It’ll just
take a few minutes for the windscreen to clear and then we’re good
to go,” Kale told Izzie unnecessarily but he needed to say
something to distract himself from thinking about her and how he
had felt when she had held his hand as they fled to his car and how
adorable she looked with her coppery hair all wet as she huddled up
in the blanket.

“That’s ok,”
Izzie told him, “I’m in no rush, though I think the first thing we
should do when we get out of here, is get something to eat … I’m
bloody starving.” She laughed and he agreed as he turned to look
into her face briefly again. Izzie felt that butterfly sensation in
her stomach again as his baby blue eyes pierced her own green ones
and then something else happened …

Izzie didn’t
know how it had happened or who had moved first but all she knew
now was that Kale was kissing her again – no, wait a minute, maybe
she was the one who had instigated it this time – well, whoever had
made the first move didn’t matter because Izzie found herself
enjoying kissing him – who cared about her ban on him trying
anything like this again? Not her, that was for sure. Izzie really
couldn’t comprehend anything right now, her lips were tingling and
she really wondered why she had pushed Kale away last time and yet
… at the same time, she wondered why she
wasn’t
pushing him
away now? She despised him, or so she thought but this – this right
here – this was not how you acted towards somebody you hated. Izzie
felt light-headed, but in a good way, and was a little glad when
the kiss broke off. She really needed to catch her breath. Kale
studied her eyes when he pulled back and saw something there – was
that a look of uncertainty she was giving him or a look of
surprise? He really couldn’t tell but he was sure that her verbal
attack was about to come shortly or maybe this time he had earned a
physical attack too – although, this time she hadn’t pushed him
away …