Sober Should Work Better [Finished]

[Kara Eisenheim]

As the days wore on, Kara became less and less worried about meeting Jacob. Whatever she had seen that night was starting to sound more like a daydream, brought on by the smoke and mixture of alcoholic beverage scents. It had been tempting to pass on the whole thing, spare herself potential awkwardness, but her conscience wouldn’t permit her to be a no show, especially since she had been the one to blurt out an invitation when she had meant to say “Hello” instead. As she glided, light on her feet, through the park streets, she thoughts it quite a pleasant day to be out. The sun was shining; kids and their kindly and sometimes grumpy old grannies were everywhere, reminding her of her own childhood.

When she reached the rose bushes she had mentioned she was early. Punctuality was a problem with her, in the sense that she couldn’t help but reach her destinations before the set time. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she set the basket that was on her arm down on the grass. It was Patty. Kara answered. “What?”

“Are you all over him yet?” Kara flushed lightly and frowned. It had been a mistake to tell Patty about her encounter with him that night. “Patty! Would you quit it, I just got here. God.” On the other line the brunette was snickering. “Good. I was checking to see if you’d chickened out.”

Kara sighed, lightly rubbing the side of her forehead. The whole idea of Kara possibly dating an older man was immensely entertaining to Patty and she was determined to make it happen. Trust her best friend not to think of the consequences. Not that she could criticize it, since she was barely thinking herself. Had she actually invested rational thought in all of this she would have never picked up the phone.

“Kara Cunningham. Now doesn’t that sound classy?” Kara’s mouth dropped open in outrage. She really didn’t need Patty to remind her how much she paled at the thought of marriage, or overcomplicate the simple meeting she planned on having, from which they would probably go their own ways and be done with it. “You’re the worst,” she told Patty and hung up on the brunette’s malefic laughter.

Dizzy from the conversation already, Kara shoved the phone in her new jean skirt’s pocket and busied herself setting the scene for a picnic. She covered the grass with a blue and white thin blanket and started decorating it with tea bottles, still warm, and various snacks in plastic containers. She had planned on distracting him with food and giving both of them an excuse not to talk if nothing came to mind by placing something in their mouth.

Between home-made chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, French fries (because she couldn’t live without potatoes) and ham sandwiches she thought she felt safer. She sat down on one side of the blanket after pulling out some napkins and waited.

[Jacob Cunningham]

Between the time that he had made the call to the Kara and now, the time he was supposed to meet her at the park, Jacob had calmed down but was no less nervous, if that made any sense. Right after the call, he had been jittery, anxious, and just about ready to exaserbate the bruise that was on his forehead. But as the days passed, all of the emotions that were eating away at him were sorted out and generally tamed. As he walked down a park pathway, he was still nervous and a little worried, but he was in control of himself.

"Noooo, I didn't get flowers because nothin' was open on a Sunday. I didn't get 'em because this isn't a date, Dee."

A meddling, joking friend was also harassing Jacob on the phone in a moment of coincidence. It was Dimitri, the friend who had brought him out drinking that night he got drunk and kissed Kara. True to his word, he had followed up the morning after to make sure Jacob wasn't too hungover, and Jacob had told him everything he remembered. That was probably a bad idea on Jacob's part.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. All I'm saying is that flowers wouldn't have hurt."

"Hmm. Maybe."

"... Did you remember to bring a condom?"

"DIMITRI, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

The last thing Jacob heard before he slammed hard on the End Call button was Dimitri laughing his ass off. The nerve of Dimitri to insinuate that Jacob was trying to sleep with Kara! Jacob's outburst, however, was actually more because... He did have a single condom in his wallet. But it was only out of habit! Just a habit from his youth! It's not like he was actually expecting it, or going to try...

That little bit of guilty self-loathing was interrupted by the sight of a beautiful little spread on the grass, beside the rose bushes, and Kara was there. As soon as he saw her, those old feelings of intense anxiety started to boil back up. It was one thing to prepare for the situation in his own head, but the actual thing was... different. The anxiety was pushed down as he waved to her with a smile.

Dressed more casually than the night they had first met, jeans and an open collared shirt, he approached the young woman and squated down next to her and blanket. He was genuinely happy to see her, but he hoped his nervousness wasn't showing too much.

"Hello, Kara. This is a very nice spread you got here. I wasn't quite expecting a picnic, but I like it."

[Kara Eisenheim]

Kara looked left right, center and back as she waited, feeling exposed in the park’s sea of grass, wishing to note his arrival from a distance so that she could pretend not to notice or look in that direction until he reached her position. She wasn’t entirely sure what drove her to do that or what it could accomplish, but she always did it regardless. Thus, the moment his shape formed in one of the directions she became severely engrosses with a blade of grass she quickly plucked from the ground and didn’t look up until he trespassed over that invisible line that marked someone’s private space, especially when they had a blanket set out in the park. Naturally reacting to the invasion of her territory she looked up and waved back with a smile of her own.

She swallowed some anxiety as he greeted her, all the while trying to convince herself that she was calm for there was no reason to be otherwise. They had been in each other’s presence for less than an hour while they were drunk in the club. That didn’t warrant all of this giddiness.

But as it is when you’re trying to push off a feeling – it just intensified. “Ah… hey! Well…” She rubbed the back of her head, looking over the food she had brought along and spread across the cloth. “I felt like baking and by the time the impulse had gone I had, err, made too much, so… so I thought to bring some along and then I made something salty too to balance it out,” she rambled, unable to think about anything else but how lazy she was when it came to cooking.

He was seated so close to her it made her tense, her body recalling the interaction they had had. She felt like she needed to get something out of the way or else she would never calm down. With her eyes on the cookies she thought back on some words. “So you remembered.” The corners of her lips lifted up some. “You weren’t just drunk, right?” She didn’t ask then gathered her legs in her arms, watching him from a side-glance. She wore a moderately low cut blue top with black dots, short sleeved and over the hem of her knee-length skirt. “Sorry for inviting you out like that. I didn’t think, I just… said things.”

Her gaze went away from him and proceeded to study the pie now. “I’ll understand if you’d rather just go by the way. You didn’t have to come.” She glanced his way from the corner of her eye. He appeared rather handsome in the sunlight and she could hardly believe he hadn’t found anyone to replace his lost connection with in such a long time. She must have meant a lot to him. “May I… ask you something?” She looked away as she considered censoring her curiosity, but found it took the better of her.

“What happened?” She paused a little, looking his way fully now. “What happened with that person you cared so much about?”

Well, wasn’t that the worst thing to ask, but she couldn’t bring herself to give it much thought. Maybe she would bother him into leaving and spare herself the complication of his presence, because that was the kind of person she was - one who didn’t invite things that seemed to be able to alter the comfort out of her life.

[Jacob Cunningham]

"If I had known, I would've brought somethin' too."

Seeing how Kara was so welcoming to him, and not scared or too apprehensive of his presence, Jacob felt more relief wash over him. He kept telling himself that this was going to be a pleasant experience, and the evidence for it was quickly gathering. There was going to be some unavoidable awkwardness between them, he was well aware of that fact. After what happened on that night, who could blame them for not being able to hold each other's eye contact for more than a few seconds? For Jacob, just looking at her made his lips tingle again.

He attempted to ignore most of the uncomfortable, but not totally unfamiliar, feelings that were bubbling to the surface and took a more comfy seat next to Kara on the blanket. Looking at the little afternoon spread she had prepared, he was fely strangely grateful. It wouldn't be much, but he could distract and busy himself by helping himself a cookie.

Before he could take a bite, she mentioned something about 'remembering' and how she had made the decision to invite him out there in the first place. The first part made him smile too.

"Yeah. You're hard to forget."

His words were spur-of-the-moment and ones that he, surprisingly, didn't immediately regret saying. No matter how those words could be taken, he couldn't deny that they were true to some degree. Maybe it was his old charm coming back and mixing with his more mature sensibilities, or he was done overthinking his responses.

"Don't apologize, Kara. I didn't have anythin' planned for today so it's not like you're intruding or anything. Besides, it's a lovely day."

"And you're a lovely woman." Is what his gut wanted to finish off with, but his brain kicked-in and cut that out. So maybe he wasn't done overthinking his words. It may have also been the way she was sitting now too, legs pulled-up to her chest and hugged. It was a sitting position Jacob had seen before. She was feeling vulnerable or uneasy with the situation. Saying anything too forward probably wouldn't help her disposition.

He didn't say anything in response to Kara saying that he didn't have to come. To him, everything he could have said sounded too forward or too much like a certain kind of declaration. His reassuring smile, though, told her that he wasn't going anywhere.

Jacob could predict what she was going to ask next judging by how she preceded it. It was only a matter of time before one of things he mentioned the other night would come up again. She was going to ask about his lost love, Cassandra. His smile faded, but he didn't look too sad. Time may not heal all wounds, but it certainly dulls the pain. However, he couldn't look Kara in the eye while he spoke.

"Well... I met her when I was around your age, knew her for a few years. I was a farm boy. Typical wild and horny type. She was a rich city girl."

He chuckled at the thought. It sounded like a bad movie set up. But it happened, and he was one half of it. It loosened him up enough to look at Kara a little.

"Opposites attract and whatnot. Lots of girls came before her, but she was the first that I really loved and... I was her first, uh, guy. It was too bad that her mother hated my ever-lovin' guts... and one day..."

Jacob closed his eyes at the memory and couldn't talk for a moment. But he gestured with his hand. A closed fist that opened up like a magician letting a magically-appearing dove go. It was a memory he had lived and re-lived many times before. But he hardly ever talked about it outloud and it was still painful. It kind of made him wonder why he was telling Kara. It took forever just to tell his own friends about it.

"She just took the whole family and up an went. No number. No nuttin'. I haven't seen or heard from her or her family since then."

There was a period of silence after that while Jacob just looked at the ground. But then he looked up back at Kara, his eyes tinged with the sadness from all those years back, but his tiny smile was back.

"I know it sounds stupid of me to hold onto her memory for so long, but it's... I dunno."

[Kara Eisenheim]

She waved a dismissive hand at his first comment. “Any more and we could start a feast. Don’t make me challenge you to try finishing all this.” For some strange reason an eating competition didn’t sound displeasing. Wouldn’t that be lady-like? She reflected that she should have not said anything and instead accepted his polite intentions with a polite smile of her own but she was the kind of person that skipped over formalities. If that hadn’t been obvious already…

She took some fries and munched them, swallowing quickly to grin in reply to his comment. “Ooh, was it my charming smile or blatant disregard for propriety?” She let out a few chuckles, starting to feel more at ease, sensing her true character breaking through the nervous front, and took more fries. She had eaten through the process of making the servings before them and now she was stuffing herself again. If it weren’t for a fast metabolism and the weekly trip to the gym she should have been on the fat side by now. As it stood, she was no skinny board-like girl, but she wasn’t exactly plump either.

She nodded some to his comment about the day. It really was pleasant outside, quite proper for relaxation. Although she didn’t exactly over-exert herself, Kara though she could do with more of that. Her grip on her legs started loosening, one of them starting to come down and lay on the blanket normally, tucked towards the side.

Accepting the thought that he was going to stay, she quickly entered long term conversation mode. Quietly listening to the story he began to explain, she selected one of the sandwiches and nibbled on its sides. His gaze was lost in space, eyes reviewing events from the past. It sounded like such a Romeo and Juliet experience that it made Kara faintly smile between bites of the sandwich. When he looked her way she had to wonder if it was rude to eat while he spoke, but it was too late to stop now, so she carried on.

She finally stopped chewing when his fingers danced through the air to express a thought you normally didn’t have enough words for. Quietly, she lowered what was left of the sandwich onto a plastic platter from a bundle of such. So his love had turned into a mystery girl - the one that got away. Kara’s own eyes became glossy with thoughts at that point, joining in the nostalgia that oozed from his every word. When he looked back to her she blinked and just stared, understanding but not knowing how to word that out without it being a learned therapeutic response.

“It’s not stupid,” she managed after his final comment. “You shouldn’t forget meaningful people, they end up making you who you are.” She looked away from him then and ran her finger along the edge of the same plate she had used before. After allowing a few moments of silence to pass by she lifted up suddenly, her lips curling into a smile as she came behind him, lowered on her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Close your eyes,” she urged him, “and extend your arms forward.”

If he would do so her voice would have gained a softer note as she next spoke. “Do you feel it?” There was a gentle breeze that rushed through the branches, the grass and everything else, making her own hair sway a little to its touch. “I think we’ve all reached out to people we miss and will always love for the way they moved us,” she shared, “and the wind carries that touch around.” Kara applied a little pressure to his shoulders. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to notice it from time to time and shudder, just knowing that although time and space now separate us from the person, you can still sense their presence in the wind that carries whispers.”

She let go of his shoulders and just sat on her knees behind him, her gaze on nothing special in the grass. “I think it’s okay to occasionally listen to and feel them. Some people could even find that enough to carry on.” And she was one of those people. It hadn’t been that long, she was fine just living off faint emotional interaction with the wind, as psychiatry case as that sounded.

But just sometimes it was nice to open up to other people.

[Jacob Cunningham]

"Thank you for understanding."

There really was not much else Jacob could say after Kara reassured him that his notalgia for Cassandra wasn't stupid. He meant it though. It didn't change his own mind that he was being foolish for holding onto the memory of a girl from over a decade ago. Jacob was pretty sure people got over deaths faster than he got over the thought of Cassandra.

The only thing he could really muster was to just shove the rest of the cookie into his mouth. He had to admit, it was delicious and he almost regretted eating the whole thing at once. A treat like that deserved to be eaten a bite at a time. Kara really had some baking chops. Maybe that was something they could do together if they found the time. He reached out for another.

"Where ya goin'?"

Jacob paused when Kara got up and got behind him. It was a strange move, and he almost thought that she was so uncomfortable with hearing his story that she was getting up and going. Something like that would have been an irrational move, but it was something he feared anyway. His fears were alleviated when Kara took a seat behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Fear was replaced with anxiety as his thoughts suddenly turned dirty for a moment. Was she going to...? How could she...? From there...? A little slowly, he did as she instructed and waited.

He swallowed nervously when she asked if he felt it.

"Yes(?)"

Spirituality and stuff never really clicked with Jacob, though he never discounted someone for their own beliefs. So it took a little while for Kara's lesson to actually mean something to Jacob. Until she mentioned "the wind" he was totally thinking that she was trying some weird new sex thing that he was too old to recognize. When the realization did set-in, he was both relieved and disappointed. But at least he could settle into the true spirit of whatever she was trying to do.

The experience probably wasn't having the effect on Jacob that she was hoping for, since he wasn't hearing any wind whispers. But he understood the subtext of her words. People, especially people to you, make an impression on your life and personality. That impression is what keeps them close in spirit, no matter how far they may be. It was a beautiful thought. But for Jacob, he could only subsist on memories for so long. He needed the real thing.

His arms lowered and his eyes opened when she let go of him, and his shoulders felt a little cold without her there.

"That's a nice sentiment, Kara..."

But sometimes whispers aren't enough for a person. He turned around and faced Kara, then placed a hand on her's.

"Well, I told you about myself. Tell me about you. I dunno if you have a story quite like mine yet, but I'd love to hear about you."

[Kara Eisenheim]

A nice sentiment, huh? Kara smiled subtly to herself and placed her silliness aside. It was one of those things that made her feel alone in the crowd, always perceiving an invisible strand of meanings people didn’t usually look at, not because they couldn’t find the significance within them but simply because they didn’t experience it the same way. She had deliberately shown Jacob a glimpse of it to see how he’d react and the interpretation she gave his words left some part of her feeling just as alone as before.

However, that side of her that hung to meanings unfelt and whispers unheard was in a slow decline, a gradual descent into the void. The process made her feel hollow and violent, but at the same time renewed and adapted. She was staring blankly at nothing in particular in the grass when Jacob placed a hand on hers and asked to hear something about her. In that one moment she didn’t experience anything in particular. Not anxiety, nor thrill, nor eagerness to project something that defined her on the outside. Like at first back in the bar, she had borderlined into her other side and this aspect didn’t have much sentimentality to impart.

She had stories, but whatever ruled her now didn’t feel like wording any of them. Kara gave him a long side-glance that was both direct and warning. Without intending to, he had poked a side of her that didn’t really care about anything but having fun. In theory, that wasn’t so bad at all, but it came with the side effect of not being consistent and leaving when it didn’t particularly see the usefulness of sticking around. He wasn’t young enough to play around with that and she was sober enough to consider it.

“What if I said that sometimes I don’t want to say anything at all?” She drew her hand from under his and planted it on the ground, supporting herself on both of her hands as she leaned in towards him and tilted her head, her eyes closely looking into his with a casualness and plainness that hadn’t been there during the first part of today’s encounter. “What if I don’t care to remember old stories and all I’d be interested in wondering about is what it would be like to be on you right here in the park?”

There was definitely something double-sided about her and she was consciously aware of it, but so far attempts at suturing the two manifestations hadn’t been perfectly successful. She smiled and advanced a little more with that same wildly confident look in her eyes, crawling along the grass until her lips were somewhere near his ear. “I’m unreliable. You can’t be sure I’ll answer my phone next time.”

It was only fair to warn him that she had issues. At the same time she had honored his request and told him something about herself.

[Jacob Cunningham]

Honestly, Jacob wasn't too thrilled about the sudden change in demeanor from Kara. He thought by asking her about her own life, and her own stories, that they could obviously get to know each other better. Then they could perhaps receive a deeper understanding of each other, and make a more informed decision on where they were headed. But he didn't expect her to becomes someone else, a different girl. A moment ago, she was a girl whom had just heard of his oldest emotional wound and tried to assauge it with whispers on the wind. Now she looked like she couldn't have cared about getting to know him.

"K-Kara?"

A little concerned with her posture and words, Jacob leaned back away from her slightly, eyebrow raised in question. The situation was starting to feel like the night they met in the bar, except neither of them was drunk and they were pretty much alone with each other. There was no outside influence that he could think of, so this was just Kara acting on her own.

Her sudden forwardness caught him off-guard, causing him to blush and swallow a lump in his throat. The proposition got an instant... reaction out of his body, to say the least, but his mind was still in control and alcohol wasn't around to mess with his sense of judgement.

"I-I-I... Uh..."

She spoke into his ear, a move that was certainly supposed to scare him off or make him reconsider his position on her. But instead it actually galvanized his desire to connect with this girl. The way she worded her statement and the way she was acting reminded him not only of some girls he had "dated" in his youth, but also of himself on occason when he was young. She was purposely trying to make their meeting superficial, and she would only do that if there was something else going on.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in your proposition, but..."

His voice was stern and serious as he put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back into a seated position in front of him. He held her there and looked her straight on into her eyes.

"... I'm not some wild, young playboy anymore. I can't just be... physically intimate with you and just leave it at that. I know it may sound strange to you now, but I'd rather be emotionally intimate with you first."

In his opinion, it made the sex better too. But that was beside the point. He had had his fill of anonymous and purely-for-fun sex when he was younger. Now he wanted something more.

"I've heard those words before. Hell, I think I've said them myself. You're scared, aren't you? You're scared that I'm going to hurt you, and not with my hands."

Jacob was talking from his heart and gut now. He was speaking only what he felt, straight to a girl that he thought really needed to hear something like that. He pulled closer and wrapped his arms around Kara, comforting her.

"I'm not some young guy ruled by his libido anymore. I know how much cheating can hurt a girl like you. I've grown and I've learned. I'll never just run-off on you. You can count on that."

[Kara Eisenheim]

She was pushed back and returned to the seated position she had been in before, her eyebrows raised during the gesture before settling into a focused little frown. Apparently, he had something to say and her current disposition and sort of decision wasn’t looking forward to what it could be.

Jacob started talking and she stared, losing the frown and instead looking at him in a progressively more wide-eyed way. Her back was impossibly straight and her hands were in her lap, fists clenched. When he suggested that fear was driving her actions one of her eyes twitched and she blushed, annoyed and embarrassed he had managed to notice the sentiment she tried so hard not to acknowledge and hide.

When he advanced towards her it was her turn to draw back slightly before she was caught in a hug, her body tense as a board. Words continued spilling from his mouth, banging on her defenses. He was spot on. The last person she had been with and was unable to forget had left from her side, gone to pursue his grandiose dreams of achievement. It had been a shock when it had happened and it had left her struggling with feelings of worthlessness. The worst thing had been that he had not thought her appropriate to bring along. Her trust had been so shattered something else inside her had cracked as well.

She could barely hear her own thoughts over her heartbeat pound. Opposing forces inside her struggled to manifest on the outside. While one side of her felt comforted and interested in what he proposed, the other held on to what she had come to actually like about the lack of what he spoke of. When Caleb had left something had changed drastically inside her. Although she wanted to remember how to love and trust again, she found herself impossibly against it at this moment. That something borderline manic and instinctual inside her wanted to hold on to the state where she could be hurt by no one.

Although she could feel the comfort and safety of his embrace she stared blankly at the food scattered on the blanket. Her heartbeat started quieting down. By exposing her weaknesses so he had managed to make her shell up even further. The thought that she was some weak girl who couldn’t go through another deception and come out intact made her angry with herself.

Kara withdrew from his arms, got up and started picking up things. “I can’t do this,” she told him, gesturing vaguely as she drew up the basket. “I don’t want this. I don’t want to depend on anyone. I don’t want to tell anything to anyone.” She left the blanket where it was, also most of the food. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come today. I shouldn’t have picked up that call. I’m sorry.” People constantly discredited her fear of commitment, thinking they could change her mind, but frankness like this only made it intensify.

Although she wouldn’t admit it, her readiness to go wasn’t entirely motivated by her irrational side. She was very sure of what she saw in others and whatever she had seen in Jacob in a moment of experiment on two occasions today made her draw back. Trying to explain it felt pointless even in her own mind.

[Jacob Cunningham]

Jacob was so hoping that what he said had gotten to Kara, the inner Kara, and really touched something deep inside of her. Her heartbeat was hammering so hard that he could almost feel it in his own chest, or that may have been his own heart. What he was doing was risky and blunt, stabbing right to the heart of the moment, through all the layers of protection and all the facades. By the way she stiffened-up, he was hitting the bullseye.

In his own mind, he thought that coming out and telling her that he knew what was in her heart would help bring the walls down, and they could connect better. His grip on her tightened as he hoped that that would be the outcome. Jacob wasn't expecting her to break down and weep or something, but he crossed his fingers and hoped that she would soften-up on him or something.

However, the possible worst of all outcomes was what he received. She yanked herself away from him, leaving him shocked and dumbfounded for a moment as she picked up the blanket, ending their meeting. He had definitely hit the nail on the head, but she either wasn't ready or just didn't like it. It was... disheartening.

While he was still on the ground, he picked up some of the containers into his own arms before standing up. He kept his ground, and didn't approach Kara, giving her the space she probably wanted.

"I'll just take these home. I'd rather they not go to waste."

When a long string of negatives came from Kara, saying that she didn't want this or shouldn't have done that, Jacob flinched slightly like she was throwing fists at him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a slip of paper with his number on it. He figured he could try and complete the loop of communication. He held it out to her, straight-faced but a little saddened.

"Kara... Y'know... I'm not gonna try and change you. Any way you want to be, want to live, I'm gonna judge and I'm gonna say you're wrong. So if you want to leave and let this be our last meeting, you can do so.

But if you ever, I dunno, wanna talk or somethin', you can call me here."

As much as it hurt him to say that, it was still the truth. As much as he wanted Kara to stay with him, and how much he felt that there was some potential for them, some times things just don't work out. It would hurt for a while, but they would get over it. At least he would know that he tried.

[Kara Eisenheim]

The way he had acted like he knew her, listing such private fears and expecting her to melt into his arms for it, was still bubbling through her system. It would have been fine, maybe, if he wasn’t who he was – an almost forty year old man, probably looking to settle down and have a family. Although she wasn’t completely averse to trying to invest herself into a stable relationship, she was entirely against the thought of everything she saw in him right after that forward display. She could already see him thinking about kids in a week if he was willing to say he wouldn’t be going anywhere even though they barely knew anything about each other!

And she couldn’t have that. Emotionally, he was chasing a mouse with a big metal hammer, so the mouse scurried into the wall hole, never to be seen for again. She had so much to do, so much to see and experience. It frightened her terribly that she would become one of those simple people, with an already established direction, living in some regularly cleaned home, paying the same bills and walking the same streets every day. That’s what she saw in him. He seemed so gruesomely normal and open, so visibly aging and cutting through all the bullshit that made relationships so complicated but actually fun, now that she thought about it. The idea of returning to the safety of those arms, to start down an arguably doubtless path promised so much predictability and quick family that it inspired her to run for the hills.

It was like she loved him so she couldn’t change her mind. She barely knew a thing about him! He extended a phone number her way and she took it with a quick nod, sparing him only a fleeting glance, stuffing it in her pocket and not really intending to use it any time soon. His offer of talking was noted, but somehow she doubted they had very much in common to talk about. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

Kara packed the cookies and the pie and the untouched sandwiches, lidding them all and staking them into his arms. “I hope the sandwiches aren’t too salty,” she said awkwardly, fluttering away from him in her vaporous knee length skirt and apparently scooping up the fries for herself. She gathered up the blanket, bunched it into a few folds and stuffed it into the basket before picking it up.

“Well.” She raised a hand. “This is goodbye then. Sorry again. I hope you'll find what you're looking for.” She felt like they were such different people on such different tracks that it really was best if they went their separate ways.

With that, she was walking, disappearing from his presence. She didn’t look back and when she watched the road ahead she felt free again, free from an, albeit comfortable, cage where everything was nice and simple and cotton socks. Right at that moment, Kara felt she would rather try to cross the dessert than willingly slip into a certain role she was completely unfit to adopt. What else had she been expecting?

Kara concluded she was a fool as she munched fries and went back home. Patty would be disappointed.