~Chapter 3~

Katherine was almost finished curling her hair when the hairstyle she thought about came to her. She knew exactly where that black bobby pin was going to be pressed in harshly to keep her braid on the top of her head. As she was about to place the 6th and final bobby pin, there was a knock at the apartment door.

"I'm coming, I promise, just gotta put this.." she separated the bobby pin using her teeth and shoved it at the end of the braid. Then, she snatched the hair spray and scattered it towards the top of her head, intending to keep the fly-away hairs down. Katherine took the few steps from the bathroom to the door and opened it. Colton turned around from looking at the view from the small balcony and was stunned by how she was dressed. He was wearing black ripped jeans with a jean jacket over a white shirt with white Vans. After a few moments, he finally found words and spoke.

"Wow, you look..gorgeous," he started as he seemed to correct himself, "excuse me, you are gorgeous." Colton initiated a smile that Katherine couldn't help but copy. "I've always known you're the only woman that can pull off dark red." By now, Katherine realized that she didn't need the blush she put on with the makeup.

"Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself. Last time I saw you in a jean jacket, you were nine years old and you really pulled off that look!" The two shared a sudden laugh. Formerly, Colton cleared his voice and motioned his open elbow for Katherine to grasp.

"Shall we?" He specified.

"We shall." They made their way around the corner to one of the best restaurants in town, Oskar's Pizza and Pasta. Little did Colton know, Katherine and her family were best friends with Oskar and every employee who worked there. Granted, it has been a few summers since she's seen them, but it was a good decision on Katherine's behalf for a first date. When they approached the greeting desk, the employee looked up from marking the last table she just sat and almost lost her mind when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"SHE'S BACK!" Nora exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Katherine to give her the biggest hug. "Oskar, look who finally returned!!" Nora hinted at Oskar who stood in the kitchen to come over. Colton must have known the people who worked there too because he hugged Nora right after.

"Well my goodness, is it really her?" Oskar called out. When he reached Katherine, he too wrapped his arms around her and held her close for a moment. Then, he separated from her. "What a blast from the past! How long has it been?"

"A very long seven years." Katherine complained.

"Ugh! Way too long for you to be away!"

"I couldn't agree more! I'm glad I'm here now though. Do you mind if Colton and I grab a bite while we're here? Do you have room?"

"Are you kidding? We always have room for you two! Hey Colton, what's new man?" Oskar gave Colton a hug and they patted each other on the back twice before they let go. Katherine once again realized that Colton lived here for most of his life before he moved to Rhode Island. "Nora, mark these two down for table nine please." Oskar guided Katherine and Colton over to their table. Like a gentleman, Colton went behind Katherine's chair and pushed it in for her as she sat down. She thanked him. "What can I bring you two to drink?"

"I'll have a lemonade please and thank you."

"Make that two lemonades please Oskar."

"Alrighty, I'll be right back." Oskar winked at them. Katherine got nervous and put her arms in her lap while remaining sitting up straight.

"Sooo, are you and Oskar close?" She asked Colton.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I haven't seen him in about three years, but we're pretty close. How about you?"

"That's awesome! Yeah, my family and I would come here just about every week every time we took a trip out here. Gosh I can't believe it's been seven years for me. I've really missed this place. I think about it everyday. Now that I'm here for the whole summer, I need to make up for the time I've missed. Did anything big happen?"

"No, not really. Unless you consider that one snowfall a few years back. And I'm sure you already know Parga rarely gets any snow. I think they only got a few inches, but I'm sure less than Colorado gets, huh?" Colton asked.

"Oh gosh, yes. Colorado winters are so cold and most of the snow doesn't come around until around March."

"Wow, that's when Spring is supposed to start."

"I know, it's crazy!" After a few moments of silence, Katherine spoke up again. "I bet my family is so jealous that I'm sitting at Oskar's." Just then, Colton slid his hand over to Katherine's side of the table gesturing for her hand to hold his.

When their hands met and were together, Colton revealed, "Thank you for joining me." They shared a profound smile before Oskar brought their lemonades over and they ordered their respective foods. They talked about almost anything and everything you could imagine before their food came.

After they finished their dinner, Oskar walked from the kitchen once again to come over and clear their plates for them. "I'll get these out of your guys' way, be right back." Colton and Katherine synchronized an "okay". After they looked from each other and back to the kitchen where Oskar took their dishes, he was on his way over. He went from a smile to a serious look which created nerves between the three of them. "Now I want you to listen to me, because what I'm about to say isn't something I do for everyone, or anyone ever. Oskar took a short pause making it seem like they did something wrong. "Your bill is on me." Just when Colton and Katherine began to gripe and protest, Oskar continued his argument. "Oh, that is enough. I just want to do something nice for the two people I look forward to seeing every year and you both haven't been here in a while, so it is my treat!"

"Oskar, thank you so much, but at least allow me to leave a tip!" Colton refuted.

"Yes, I agree. I think that we both should leave a tip to make it even." Katherine complied.

"If you two leave a tip, I'm sending the money right to Francy to distribute it back amongst yourselves. Now, no deals, no money, my treat."

"Thank you Oskar. Is there anything we can do to repay you?" Colton requested.

"The only thing you can both do for me is enjoy your stay while it lasts, please. I don't know if you're going to return next summer or the summer after that, so make the most of it."

"You know I will, for sure." Katherine stood up and gave Oskar another hug. She thanked him just as Colton followed suit.

"Absolutely Oskar, I promise." Oskar began to tear up a bit as they stood there. He laughed at himself.

"Now you two scamper, I have people that need to be seated." The three giggled and Colton and Katherine made their way out.

When they reached the end of the last row of tables, Colton spoke up, "Hey, do you have to be anywhere anytime soon?"

Katherine made it look like she had to think about if she needed to be summoned. "Nope! My schedule happens to be clear for the rest of the night. Why?"

"Oh nothing important, really. I was just wondering if you would like to walk around town for awhile and talk."

"I would love to accompany you, let's do it." After a few steps, Katherine started, "So, anything been on your mind lately?"

"Just a few things, really. One being the fact that I don't want to go back home."

"You don't consider Parga home?"

"It was my home for a while, and then I moved to Rhode Island and I believed that it's been my home for the longest time, but now I'm confused about which it is."

"Well, if it helps with the confusion, I watched a movie the other day and one of the characters said 'A house is a building, but home is a feeling.' Colton looked at Katherine as she talked while she was glancing around the shops they passed. His chest was pounding and he felt like he was going to start sweating. "I think about that quote to this day." He looked out to the church on the small island in the distance and smiled.

"I really like that quote."

"Right?! So do I." Katherine agreed as she looked to her right to see him.

"Yeah." There was an awkward silence for a few moments. "Has there been anything on that pretty mind of yours lately that you're comfortable sharing with the class?" Katherine laughed.

"I mean, there's things constantly crossing my mind. One sticks out from the rest though." Just then, Katherine stopped at the brick wall in front of the rocks and she leaned over the ledge enough to where she was slightly slouching, but it wasn't too noticeable. Colton got comfortable and did the same thing. "I had a really good friend that died around this time last year and I've been sort of lost since I found out a few months ago. The last time I saw her, we were saying our 'goodbye for now' and I told her that I'd come out and see her once I got my license. But that whole plan fell apart around the time when I found out she died and I had just gotten my driver's permit." Katherine began to tear up a little. "I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself." Once Colton looked over and noticed, he took his hand and stopped the tear in its tracks that was coming down ever-so-gracefully. "Sorry." Colton felt horrible about what he heard and thought about something to put her beautiful smile back on her face. He reached over and took her hand.

"I'm not a big quote guy, but if I may, 'Sometimes really terrible things happen to really amazing people', and 'I think you found a way to get out of that bed this morning, and that makes you the strongest person I know'." She sniffled quietly and looked up at him.

"Those are two of my favorite quotes from The Vampire Diaries. Do you watch that show often?"

"No not really, I just saw a video while scrolling through Instagram."

"Oh, okay that's okay." She sniffled once more.

"Hey, you know what would cheer you up? Some good ol' ice cream. My treat tonight." Colton declared.

"Oh, I could definitely go for some delicious cherry amaretto ice cream. Yes please." They walked side by side through the surprisingly small crowd that was usually bigger at the corner of the ice cream shop. They took the two steps up to get inside and when they were ready, Colton allowed Katherine to order first.

Minutes later, they stepped down and walked up the rocky path towards the main road continuing their extended night together.

"Ever since that happened, I have refused to let anything get taken away from me so quickly. I hold the important things close, and I don't let go unless I approach another issue that seeks more attention."

"There you have it, that's the best way to live." He commented.

"Don't you miss being here every summer and being a little kid and not having to worry about the things we do now. It was simply worrying if the rain storm approaching was going to make your friends split up for a few hours." Katherine asked.

"Yeah, all the time. The thought of not being here every summer like I used to haunts me. Especially when I picture visiting and you're not there with me having a sword fight with those foam swords." He chuckled a bit and then glanced over to give Katherine a slight smolder. Katherine looked up from her ice cream to smile at him as she realized that he had been thinking about her through the years they had been separated.

"Well lucky for you, you don't need to worry about that anymore because you can find me here every summer from now on. I'm not going anywhere."

"I will definitely keep that in mind." Colton took her empty ice cream cup and threw it away in the nearby trash. Then, he walked Katherine up the stairs to her apartment door. "I had fun catching up with you tonight. It's really nice to see you back here again."

"Well, if it's all the same to you. I'm glad you enjoyed tonight as much as I did."

"Yeah, for sure. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah. This face isn't going anywhere for a few months." That's when Katherine realized,"But you already knew that didn't you?"

"Yeah. I just needed to be reminded how long I have left to make you fall in love with me." Colton eased with another drop-dead, handsome smolder coming to the surface. Katherine's heart was glistening and she began to blush.

"Do you have any plans tomorrow night around 5?"

"Why?" Colton knew where this conversation was going. He gracefully put his hands in his jean jacket pockets.

"Well, I just so happen to have nothing going on tomorrow and I was curious if you would like to join me on my walk on the beach?"

"Katherine, of course I will join you. It would be an honor to take a beach walk with you."

"Great! I guess I'll see you then!" Katherine removed her apartment key from her pocket and put the key in the lock. She turned the handle and opened her door. When she turned around to shut it, Colton wished her goodnight. "Goodnight." She was smiling so hard as she closed the door, her jaw began to hurt.

"Tomorrow night!" Katherine overheard Colton say loudly to himself as he made his way down her steps. Just then, the sound of Skylar's voice made her jump and reach for her chest. She turned back around towards the apartment to see Skylar and Francy sitting on the couch hanging out.

"I want to hear everything!" Katherine laughed at Skylar's comment and then made herself comfortable on her couch next to the two of them.