Torn

As Scott listens to Katie, his heart goes out to her. His face remains one of compassion. Though an element of slight disappointment naturally lingers, he tries not to let it show.

He gives a long sigh, seeing that right now all Katie needs a friend. She needed a shoulder. Not another boyfriend.

Katie’s approach and hand to his face drives him to the longing to relive what had happened an hour prior, but he resists out of respect for her feelings. Her words bring a crooked grin to his face, though he doesn’t want humor to take over just yet. “I’m sorry, Katie,” he apologizes. “I probably shouldn’t have kissed you, even if we both enjoyed it. It just complicates things for you, and like I said, I don’t want that.”

He pauses for just a moment. “I understand and…I’ll back off. I know you love Jason, and I don’t want to be the one to get in the way of that – I don’t like thinking that I’d be the cause of breaking up you two. I know things between you are rough now, but…maybe there’s still a chance. So…it’s okay.” He nods decisively before looking her square in the eye. “As far as I’m concerned, this changes nothing between us, alright? I don’t want you walking on eggshells around me at the office, and I’m not going to either.”

Scott searches Katie’s face again, seeing a lonely little girl, lost and frightened. He reaches out to pull her into a gentle hug. “It’ll be okay, Katie,” he tries to comfort. Holding her for just a moment, he then pulls away, running his hand one last time across her face. “Thanks for a fun evening anyway.” He gives her a wink. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work, alright?”


Con swings Jamie’s hand a little as they walk up out of the sandy beach to arrive at the little ice cream place. It looked like it was a fairly popular place tonight, though it was getting late enough, that most people were beginning to disperse.

As they head up to place their order, Con stops and nods to a far bench. “Hey, isn’t that Laura and Nate?” He grins. ‘We should go say hi, just for a minute.” He aims in the new direction with Jamie still beside him.


Laura’s face grows hot as Nate comes closer. His words that bring such a feeling of comfort and protection seem to mush together, and her breathing comes faster as his face moves towards hers.

She feels stiff and motionless as Nate’s lips brush hers, and her breath catches in her throat as her feet scream to run away. She wasn’t scared of him…she was just….scared to death.

Laura wants to back away, but Nate’s persistence somehow keeps her there and she feels his lips again, this time he’s not leaving…but lingering…

Her heart beats so hard within her chest, that it echoes in her ears. She can feel herself start to shake as Nate’s arms wrap around her.

His lips pressed on hers feel warm and taste sweet. Laura can feel herself slipping into a state of foggy emotions.

Tears stream down her face as she fights the fear with all her might. Her trembling hand makes its way to the back of Nate’s head, her other tucked comfortably about his waist.

She returns the kiss, tasting her own salty tears that mingle in the exchange.

Finally though, she can’t take the battle anymore. Now trembling all over, she suddenly breaks the kiss, bringing her hands to Nate’s chest as a reflex to push herself away from him. She feels dizzy, confused, her head feels like it will burst, her stomach is in knots. She wants more, she doesn’t want more. She wants to feel Nate again, she doesn’t want to feel him again. Her eyes dart to the ground and she backs up another step, swallowing hard and trying to calm her racing pulse. What was…she had to….how was she….

“Laura?”

Laura snaps to attention her eyes raising to meet her brother’s stare. Her own face was pale and wet from tears. She tried to hide her trembling hands by putting them behind her back. “Con.. what…what are you doing here?”

Con furrows his brow and looks between Nate and Laura. “Jamie and I were just…going for a walk….is everything okay?”

Laura can feel her lower lip starting to quiver again. “I…yes…yes, it’s fine, Con.”

“Are you sure?” Con’s grip around Jamie’s hand tightens without him even realizing it, and his gaze become harsher. He looks to Nate, a glare waiting in the wings.

Laura looks down again, not even wanting to look over to Nate. She felt sick and just wanted the earth to swallow her up right there. “I just…I…I want to go home.”

Con gives Jamie’s hand an apologetic squeeze as he knows the rest of their evening has been interrupted. But he’ll not leave his sister stranded. “We’ll have to walk back to the car,” he informs. “But it’s not all that far. Come on.” He holds out his arm.

Laura ducks under his arm to lean against him, her head on his chest as more tears come.

Con steers her back around, but pauses for just a moment as he faces Nate once more. “You and I will talk later,” he hisses. He turns to the beach again, guiding his sister away from the public scene.


Wyatt can’t help the pangs of sympathy towards Aerith as she explains a little more about her past. He’d been blessed with a good homelife…parents who loved him….but so many, many people never knew what it was like, and simply lived a daily struggle. There was as much to Aerith as Wyatt had suspected.

As she moves to pay, Wyatt stops her hand with his own. “Uh-uh. This one’s on me. Let’s just say it’s a ‘welcome to Nevada’ coffee.” He leaves the money on the table and nods to the door. “Alright, let’s get out of here. I should get home myself.”

It doesn’t take long to get back to Aerith’s grandmother’s house, and Wyatt once again pulls up to the curb. “Well, Aerith, it was nice meeting you. I hope everything goes well for you. Maybe I’ll see you around town sometime.”