I had gone down the hallway to Kris's bedroom and knocked.
"Go away!" She called out.
"Oh come on Kris, open up. What are you so upset about? What did I do?" I asked through the door. Long moments went by without her responding, as I stood there knocking once again. "Kris?"
"Please Rob, go away, leave me alone." There was another brief pause as I stood there unmoving, which I am sure she was listening for. "I said things. I didn't think you were here. I didn't see your car," she finished as I waited for more, sobbing through her clipped short responses.
"So? I didn't hear you say anything that upset me," I responded back though I was now wondering if she was upset because I'd actually seen her and Michelle fooling around. At the moment, I was more confused by her desire to be left alone since I'd thought I'd been given an open invitation to having spied on her in the first place. And though she had confidentially revealed the fact I was still a virgin, and had even confessed to Michelle a few things I hadn't known about her either, I was still in the dark as to why she seemed to be so upset.
"Please Rob, I need to be alone for a while," she said with a measure of finality, and hearing that, I finally turned and headed back upstairs to my room.
**
By the time I had showered, dressed, and come down to the kitchen expecting mom and dad's arrival home any minute now, I spotted a note she had left on the refrigerator for them.
"Had plans for the evening, be home late. Love Kris."
It was obvious to me, she had gone out in order to avoid me, at least for the night anyway. Whatever it was that was bugging her, I'd have to let it come around in its own time knowing Kris the way that I did. I decided then to call Steve, one of the guys I hung around with to see what he was up to on a Friday night. We decided to head to the Mall, scope out the babes, grab a bite to eat and then later head over to a party that he'd been invited to. When he told me that it was Kathy who was having it, I half wondered if Kris might in fact show up to it. I had misgivings about going initially. I knew that if she did, most likely several others, if not all of their squad would also be there, including Luke and Andrew, two guys on the squad as well, one of which, Luke, Kris had actually been going out with on occasion.
We arrived at the party around 8:15, and though Kathy was a little surprised to see me arrive with Steve, we'd gotten along well enough in the past that one more uninvited guest wasn't any big deal. But when I spotted Michelle along with Susan there, they were surprised, and I caught Michelle leaning over to say something to Susan, seeing the two of them looking up and smiling at me as they did. I hadn't intended to approach either of them, and didn't, heading over to the makeshift bar that had been set up, grabbing myself a beer. As I stood there surveying the rather large crowd that had gathered, I saw Michelle heading over towards me. The fact that she was, was totally out of character. Having had my own suspicions about her confirmed by Kris, I realized why she hadn't really had all that much to do with me whenever she'd come over to the house in the past. She'd always been cordial towards me yes, but never overly friendly. Now...as she approached, she was grinning, though as she spoke, I also realized she was already feeling whatever it was she'd been drinking all night.
"Hi Robbie," she half purred grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Surprised to see you here," she said then adding. "You come...with anyone?" She asked emphasizing the word, making me wonder if she'd done so on purpose for one as she continued to smile showing her teeth. I felt like I was being sized up for dinner or something.
"Just Steve," I admitted, and then asked. "Kris here too?" I saw a knowing look in her eyes, or thought I did, though it could have easily been my own over active imagination.
"Not yet, " she informed me. "But then Luke hasn't arrived yet either, so it's possible they'll be showing up together a bit later," she offered. "I think it's sweet that you're always looking out after her the way that you do," Michelle told me as I felt her hand reach out running a finger down my arm as she said it. "By the way, did you bring a suit?" she asked.
"A suit?"
"Yeah, you know, something to go swimming in later on," she asked inquisitively. I knew Kathy's parents had a very large swimming pool in the back yard, but I hadn't considered the fact it might be part of the festivities, especially as Steve hadn't mentioned anything about it to me earlier.
"No, I didn't."
Once again Michelle smiled at that. "Well that's ok, it's very possible that once this party gets going, you might not even need one!" With that, she turned heading back over to where Susan was standing, though I noticed that she had been looking over in our direction the entire time. Once again they seemed to whisper back and forth with one another, Michelle laughing, as then did Susan. I began wondering if coming here was such a good idea after all when I heard commotion at the door, saw Kathy greeting the new arrivals, two of which were indeed Kris and Luke as they came in together, hand in hand.
When she saw me, she immediately dropped Luke's hand, her face screwed up in real surprise though we locked eyes for only a moment. I watched her immediately scan the room, quickly locating Michelle and Susan, speaking a word at Luke, and then heading towards them. Once again I told myself that being here wasn't probably a very wise choice on my part, especially as I hadn't been exactly invited. I looked around intending to tell Steve that I'd probably leave, even though that meant a long walk home for me, saw him chatting it up with Kathy down the hall. I knew Steve had a bit of a thing for her ever since she'd broken things off with her ex-boyfriend a few weeks ago. And by the looks of it as they appeared to get a little affectionate in the hallway, it appeared to me that things were proceeding in a good direction for them. I waited, intending to let them have a moment or two more when Kris suddenly stood at my side, grabbing my arm.