Eric, in his haste to go to Spencer’s house, threw nearly every pair of underwear he had into his backpack. He knew that both Spencer’s father and grandfather would be there too, but better safe than sorry.
“And where are you off to?” Martha asked as Eric flew down the stairs. She already had a feeling she knew, but it didn’t hurt to ask. William and Nate were in the kitchen eating their breakfast, Nate’s eyes glued to his cell phone.
“Spencer’s. I’ll call you later!” he said before tearing out the front door. He had enough sense to at least take his bike this time so he wouldn’t be so out of breath by the time he got to the Lawson’s house.
Martha smiled as she watched Eric race down the street, his backpack partially open revealing its content. She would have told him his boxers were on display for everyone to see if Eric had given her the chance.
“What about you Nate? Do you have any plans with Kenya?” William asked. Nate and Kenya spent all of yesterday together, and then Nate came home looking like a dog who’d just been kicked in the face by its master (a very appropriate metaphor).
“I don’t know.” Nate’s gaze was still transfixed on his phone. The way he was watching the thing, you’d think he was staring a viper down, waiting for it to strike at him.
“Nate, is everything alright between you two?” Martha asked. There was only a shrug in response.
“What happened yesterday?” she pressed Nate. Normally she wouldn’t press so much. Now that she knew who this Kenya was, she felt like she had to ask. The large age gape between the two was a surprise to say the least.
But neither Martha nor William had a problem with their son dating Kenya, so long as the two respected each other, and kept in mind Nate’s age. He was still in high school after all, and his parents very well intended for him to go to college.
“Nate…?”
“I don’t know alright? One second everything’s great, the next… I don’t know.” Nate didn’t say anything further. If he did, he might tell his parents about Kenya’s alternate life. And he KNEW they wouldn’t approve of their son dating, let along being engaged to, an “escort”.
“You two had a fight?” William asked.
“No. We didn’t fight.” Nate silently thought “YET”. He planned on confronting Kenya about her whereabouts last night. She wasn’t answering his calls or texts. Something was seriously wrong.
“You’re clearly upset about something. Not Kenya?” William continued.
“Well… no, it is her. Or something she told m, no something she PROMISED me she wasn’t going to do. And now I think she’s doing it again. It’s not drugs or anything like that so don’t worry.” Nate said.
“Well whatever it is, it must be serious enough to make you so distraught.” Martha hated to see Nate so tortured.
“Ya. I don’t know. I really like Kenya. Probably love her. But now I don’t know that I can trust her.”
“You remember what I told you before? You can’t be in a one-sided relationship. If Kenya isn’t putting as much effort into making this work, don’t waste time tearing your fur out.” William said bluntly. Martha on the other hand took a more sensitive tact at the matter.
“Whatever she’s done, or you think she’s done, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hurt you Nate. Just talk things out, this may all just be a misunderstanding. And even if it’s not, at least tell her how you feel.” she instructed her son.
Unlike William (who was always a bit suspicious of new people), Martha knew Kenya wasn’t the kind of person to intentionally hurt someone. Nate cared about her, and Kenya him. Cared, not loved. Martha couldn’t tell if those two were actually in love. Nate couldn’t see it, but the way he looked at Kenya was vastly different from the way the others couples in their circle of friends looked at each other.
Samantha and Frances in particular. Though the two had their little misunderstanding, they still looked at each other, and only saw a future with the other. Martha looked at William, her bonded-mate, and saw the same things. As did Evan and Maggie, and even Spencer and Eric to an extent. Martha was willing to bet Ben and Alex felt the same too.
As for Nate and Kenya, she couldn’t say. For one thing she hadn’t seen the two together at all except for dinner on Thursday. For another, Nate had never been in a serious relationship before. Granted Eric hadn’t either until Julie, but that was more than Nate could say about his love life.
Nate didn’t feel like talking much anymore, emotionally drained of 90% of his energy. He put his dishes in the sink and then went back upstairs, his phone held so tight his parents wondered if he might snap it in two.
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Meanwhile in Seattle….
Kenya told Alfred she didn’t need a ride, and that she had some errands to run in the city. Of course walking up and down the streets dressed like the escort she no longer was was a recipe for disaster. She ducked into a random clothing store to change into something more appropriate. Kenya still drew stares as she walked, but more because of what was under the clothing.
Under normal circumstances, she might have winked at a few of the passersby. Even flirted a little. However, today her mind was stuck on Jack Ashford, and more to a point, on his sudden marriage proposal. Kenya knew what she should have said. No. And yet she didn’t. She told him she had to think about it. And Jack was a perfect gentleman about everything, which didn’t make things easier.
“Why couldn’t he have just been a jerk about it? Why go and be all charming like that?” Kenya thought.
Before she left, Jack asked her to hear him out, and explain his sudden romantic gesture. And she did, seeing as the guy just proposed with what had to be largest diamond Kenya had ever seen on an engagement ring (currently safe inside its box, which was in her inner jacket pocket).
“Actually I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I just couldn’t work up the courage until lI heard you were retiring.” Jack had explained.
“I came up with a million reasons why you might want to call it quits. You already had a good job, you certainly didn’t need the extra money. Maybe you were moving, or someone at work found out what you did. But the only one that took, that was the notion you’d decided to settle down. And that really sent me spiraling.
I know we haven’t spent much time together, aside from out fun nights here. But I truly enjoy your company. And, if you want to, I’d be very happy if you agreed to marry me. Or at the very least let me get to know you better.” Jack said.
Kenya was sitting on a park bench trying to sort out her thoughts. Her phone kept buzzing every other minute. Nate trying to contact her. But Kenya couldn’t deal with him right now. Her head was spinning, and kept drifting to the images of “Mrs. Kenya Ashford” and “Mrs. Kenya Anderson”. And to her surprise, the former stood out more than the latter.