He sat on the bed, and to his surprise, he wasn't wearing anything at all. "Oh no", he thought, presuming what might had happened the night before. Took a deep breath, breathing a scent, which reminded him of his past. "Am I turning back time or what?". Luke couldn't be more confused. While he was sitting there trying to figure out, by the sounds from the outside, what time it was (if the buses and cars sounds were closer, that was probably time to get up and run away from there). The girl by his side woke up and slowly crept to him. Chills ran from Luke's spine when he felt her kissing his neck, from behind and whispering "Good morning" on his ear. He knew Kathie quite well, but not even in his wildest dreams he'd picture himself in the situation he was right now. With her.

"Good morning, Kathie. What did we do, huh?"

Kathie smiled and held him. "You slept 8 hours straight. Like a baby."

"Guess we need to do this more times then."

Luke didn't really know what to say to the girl. All he wanted now was run away from there. He was way embarrassed and confused. Kathie kissed Luke's mouth sweetly and got up. Luke continued, "I'll take this kiss as a yes", and smiled.

"Take this as you want, Luke… We've known each other for …"

"8 years", interrupted Luke.

"Exactly. And I still don't understand everything about you."

"What do you mean, Kathie? "

The girl sat again on the bed, taking Luke's hands on hers.

"Baby, please, don't go to that house."

"Why not? It's going to be fun, and plus, I'll get some money to do… nothing at all." He answered smiling.

Kathie had a worried look in her eyes. Luke and her knew each other since high school; they were close friends, though they hadn't seen each other for about 9 months. Luke called Kathie to tell her about the adventure he was about to take; spend weeks in a house as an object of a study involving insomnia. He wanted to meet her to say goodbye and well… see her. They had a secret crush on each other for years, but they never talked about it and never even kissed... until last night.

"I don't know, Luke… I don't have a good feeling towards this adventure of yours", said Kathie.

Luke held her, kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear:

"I'll miss you, girl."

"I'll miss you too, do you know it?"

"I do. And I can't believe we didn't do this before. But now let me go, or I'll be late. "

Luke was still confused about this new situation involving Kathie. He needed some fresh air, plus he needed to pack. He'd leave for the house that night, 8pm. So, he needed to hurry up.

He got up, took a bath at Kathie's bathroom (10 minutes after he woke he realized he was actually at her place. That was a funny thing about him, he could be so distractive sometimes) and kissed her goodbye.

"Bye, girl. You take care," he said while holding her tight, by the door.

"You too. As soon as you get back, call me, email me, send me a message anyway you can."

"It's a promise." He smiled. Kathie always loved that smile.

As soon as he left, she closed the door and had to concentrate not to break down. When she told him she didn't have a good feeling about the situation Luke was about to face, she was being serious, very serious. The girl had this strange sensation they wouldn't see each other again, and that was scaring her. She tried not to think about it all and went to take a shower.

When it was about 4pm, Kathie was so involved in bad feelings and thoughts; she couldn't stop thinking about Luke. She needed to talk to him.

"Hello." The phone rang 8 times before he picked it up.

"Luke, are you busy?" Kathie asked on the other side of the line.

"No, no, well, kind of, but…"

"Can we see each other? Please?"

"Kathie, you have a worried voice, did anything happen to you? "

"No, I'm ok. Can I come to you house or something? I won't stay long, I promise.

"Sure, come on over, you may help me with the bags. But don't forget I must leave at 8pm."

"That's fine, I'll be at your house in 20 minutes."

While saying that, Kathie was already taking her purse and looking for the car keys.

Kathie was knocking at Luke's door house at 4:30pm sharp. He opened the door and immediately she jumped on him and kissed him like she had never kissed anyone before. They stayed there kissing non-stop for about 5 minutes. When they separated, both were breathless and Luke said laughing:

"Kathie, if I knew you were that… how can I put into words… energetic… I…" he didn't complete the statement, as Kathie kissed him again as she started taking of his jacket.

They started taking off their clothes while kissing and trying to get to the next sofa. Once reaching the big blue sofa Luke had in his room, they made love and both agreed this time was ten times better than the night before. They stood there laying and holding each other, it seemed the time had stopped for them. Luke was the first to break the silence:

"Why you do this to me? If you're trying to convince me not to go to the house, I shall say you're reaching your goal." he whispered.

"I may sound selfish, but it's true. I don't want you to go."

"Oh, Kathie, even if I gave up on the idea, it's too late, they're counting on me there. "

He kissed her and noticed there were tears in her eyes.

"Oh, baby, don't cry. Why are you crying?"

"I don't know, that bad feeling… " she was drying her tears now.

"Forget it, I'll be fine, everything will end up ok."

Still holding each other, they spent the next hour. No words at all. They just heard each other's breath and kissed. And kissed.

Kathie left Luke's house at 7pm. They held each other, again, and Luke said:

"Do you think I'm falling in love with you?"

The girl was surprised by the question and smiled.

"I don't know, you tell me."

"I can't fall in love with the girl whom I used to share my admiration for at high school…

"… Not only high school, I must add."

"Yeah, ok. Right." Luke laughed.

"I don't care, you can continue sharing this appreciation, nothing will change."

"You're one of a kind. Now go. Or we'll be here forever."

Saying this, Luke kissed Kathie. For the last time forever.




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