Kevin sat on the living room couch watching TV. The rain was tapping against the window. He let out a sigh of boredom, clicked off the TV, and walked to garage. He grabbed an ice cream bar from out of the deep freezer. He looked up when he heard the garage door open. Sarah pulled up in his car. A smile spread across his face as she shut off the car and got out.
"Hey," he said as he opened the door for her. "How did it go today?"
"Ugh, terrible. The only thing I got accomplished was my police report on Keith and my change of address at the post office. Then I locked my umbrella in your car, so I winded up getting soaked. Rainy days just totally suck. I hate them," she with tears in her eyes.
Kevin gave her a warm smile and brushed away a wet strand of hair from her face. "Come on, you need to get out of these wet clothes."
Sarah nodded in agreement. She walked to her room and came back to the kitchen wearing some baggy shorts and a gray sweatshirt. She pulled her hair back into a loose bun and sat at the kitchen table, across from Kevin. She sighed and propped her elbows up on the table. Kevin looked at her and moved to the seat beside her.
“I got the restraining order on Keith,” she said as she covered her face.
“Stop stressing about it. Everything’s okay. You’ll be on the road with me.”
“I know, I know,” she said with a sigh. "So, what have you been doing all day?"
"Not a whole lot. I just woke up about an hour ago. This is my breakfast," he said gesturing to the ice cream bar.
Sarah wrinkled her nose. "You're not only a bum but a pig too. I don't know if I can live with this," she joked.
Kevin grinned and threw away his ice cream stick. "What can I say, when I'm on vacation I really live it up."
Sarah let out a snicker. "If you say so. Do you have anything planned for tonight, other than lying around the house?"
"Nope, not a thing."
"Boy, you're such a constructive person. I don't know how you do it."
"Oh, ha, ha. Very funny. What do you want to do, smart ass?"
Sarah thought for a moment. "How about we play a board game. It's the perfect thing to do on a rainy day. Do you have any?"
Kevin thought a moment. "The only game I have is Scrabble. Is that okay?"
"That's perfect."
"Okay, let me go grab it out of my closet."
He went to his room and grabbed the game from his closet. When he returned to the kitchen, Sarah was sitting at the table, wiping the tears off her face. He felt bad that she was going through so much stress. Kevin put the game down on the table and sat back down beside her. He gently placed his hand over hers and waited for her to speak.
“I sort of lost my job today,” she said between sniffles.
“Sarah, it’s okay.”
“I can still pay for myself,” she continued. “I have some money stashed away.”
“Like I said, it’s okay,” he assured.
“My boss wouldn’t let me have any more time off, so he just fired me. God, Keith always messes things up for me. I loved that job too.”
“Well, it’s for the best. This way you can be on the road with me. You’ll be safe and Keith won’t know where you are.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of playing the hero?”
Kevin smiled and shook his head. “Not once.”
“You’re a saint, you know that?” she said while wiping her tears off her face.
Kevin chuckled and stood up. “I don’t know about a saint,” he said as he walked over to the refrigerator. “I think I know what you need.”
“What’s that?”
Kevin pulled out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. “A little self medication.”
Sarah laughed and nodded in agreement. “I like the way you think.”
“In fact,” Kevin said as he picked up the phone. “I’ll order in some Chinese.”
“You read my mind.”
Later that evening, Kevin and Sarah were still in the kitchen playing Scrabble. He poured her a another glass of wine as she placed some of her game pieces onto the board.
"That's a double point word. I'm ahead of you," she said with a giddy smile.
"Remind me again why I agreed to play this with you?"
"Because it's raining and there's nothing else to do. Besides, it's fun."
Kevin scoffed. "For you maybe. You're the one winning."
"Oh, you big baby. It's your turn," she said as she took another drink. “Damn this stuff is really potent.”
Kevin laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I got it when I was in Paris. It’s good stuff,” he said as began picking out his game pieces.
Kevin stared at his slate of letters. He sorely picked up a P and an A then placed them next to a vacant T on the board.
Sarah busted up laughing. "Pat? That the best you can do?"
"Hey, all I have are P's, Q's, and Z's. Of course I can't do any better."
Sarah controlled her laughter. "Okay, okay I'll be nice. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back. Don't you dare think about cheating."
"I won't," Kevin said innocently.
Sarah gave him a playful grin and stumbled to the bathroom. Kevin quickly began to rearrange the letters on the board. He fixed them up the way he wanted them then patiently waited for Sarah to come out of the bathroom. When she finally came out she noticed the change on the board. There on the middle of the board were the words: WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME. Kevin stared up at Sarah. Her face went blank as she stared at the board. Scared to move, he continued to watch her. Her brown eyes narrowed down at Kevin then back at the board.
"I. . .I," she stuttered.
Kevin sighed and took the pieces off the board. “Don’t answer that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it was stupid,” he said as he picked up his wine glass and walked into the living room.
“No, it wasn’t,” she said as she followed him.
“Why don’t we watch a movie?”
“Why don’t we sit and talk?” Sarah said as she took the remote from his hand.
“Alright, what do we talk about?” he asked.
“Us.”
“There is no us,” Kevin said with a chuckle.
“There is an us,” she said as she took another sip of her wine.
“We’re friends,” he stated.
“Mmm, yes, but there’s something else,” she said with a giggle.
“Alright, Miss Smarty Pants. What else is there?”
“You want me,” she replied with a grin.
“I think you’ve had too much wine.”
“Kevin, stop avoiding it.”
“I’m not avoiding anything.”
“You just confessed your love to me on a Scrabble board.”
“That was just a stupid, childish attempt to ask you to be with me.”
“But it meant something.”
Kevin sighed and picked up his wine glass. “Okay, so I like you. You’re smart, beautiful, funny, sweet…I could go on all night. I just don’t want to ruin this by moving too quickly.”
“I think you already crossed that line,” she said with a smirk.
“I know,” he replied softly.
“Kevin, stop beating yourself up.”
“I’m not,” he said as he stood up.
“Hey, we were talking. Where are you going?”
“In here,” he said as he went into another room.
Sarah followed him and looked around. She’d never been in that room before. It was obvious his music room. There was a baby grand piano in the middle of the room along with a couple of microphones and a mixing board. Sarah couldn’t help but look around at all the awards and pictures he had on the walls. She turned around when she heard him playing on the piano. A smile came to her face as he gestured for her to sit down. She sat beside him and watched him as he gracefully glide his fingers across the keys.
“Sing me something,” she said softly.
“What song?”
“Any song,” she said with a smile.
Kevin continued to play the piano and then smoothly switched the key into a familiar BSB song. Sarah admired him as he began to sing.
“Once we were lovers, just lovers we were, oh what a lie. Once we were dreamers, just dreamers we were, oh you and I. Now I see you're just somebody who wastes all my time and money. What a lie…you and I.”
Sarah placed her hands over his and he stopped playing. Their eyes locked for a moment and Sarah brought her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her waste and continued to kiss her. She closed her eyes and linked her arms around his neck. Sarah released the kiss and let the kiss linger between them. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. Kevin watched her as she fiddled with the drawstring of her sweatshirt. She sighed and looked away from him. Kevin grabbed her hand as she stood up. Sarah shook her head and bit her bottom lip.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she left the room.
