I've never been broken up with... I suppose, because of that, there is going to be really unrealistic, but oh well. I needed words. This gave me like 3529 words. I'm happy. XD Yes, so, here it is. I type in Courier font at 13pt, and I'm really not in the mood to change it and then find out that Blogger ruined all my lovely italics... so enjoy as is. ^_^
Sunshine filtered through the living room. It highlighted the fern's leaves and danced across Kathy's pen, bounced up to her face, and reflected the window in her eyes.
Kathy, however, was not paying any attention to the sunshine. In fact, she was frowning because of it. You see, Kathy had a problem, and it wasn't one of the kinds of problems one can solve easily.
She muttered as she scanned the seating for the wedding, frowning as she realized that there was no way she would ever manage to do this and stay sane at the same time. She almost wished that she and Robert had decided to elope— but then again, Lucinda would never forgive her had she decided to do so. And Allegra… but Kathy tried not to think of Allegra's reaction to an elopement.
"I can't sit Daddy next to Dr. Lime. They'd drive everyone else batty. And Mother has to be next to… no, not him. Mother HATES him. And… Cecile…" Kathy sighed and shouted toward Lucinda.
"Luce, does Cecile have a boyfriend?" Kathy asked, head in hands as she stared at the seating arrangements.
"Bryan Cummings, 23, born December 15th, 1988, dark brown hair, six feet, three and three quarter inches, weight one hundred ninety eight pounds. Been dating since August 13th of last year. Get along well— he's likeable and so is she. Both Usuals, in case you'd forgotten— I recommend leaving them with your mother or another— OH, and Bryan has connections to a billionaire, who you'll want to invite because he's highly influential." Lucinda drew a breath for the first time and continued. "Daniel Burroughby, lives just down the street."
"You're JOKING! We have a billionaire on Prescott Drive?” Kathy asked raising her head and looking ecstatic.
"Of course we do!" Lucinda said. "Now keep quiet, Rico and I are watching 'Kim Possible'."
"What, no physical police description?" Kathy asked.
"Of course not. You met him at the party." Lucinda said, rolling her eyes at Dr. Drakken's newest plan. If one could call struggling to open a pickle jar as a plan.
Kathy frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Allegra's new friend." Lucinda said. "You mean you didn't meet him?"
Kathy blanched. "You… you mean Allegra's being stalked by a billionaire?"
"Of COURSE!" Lucinda said. "Otherwise I wouldn't allow it. But he's the kind of man that will help Allegra with her temper, and in my opinion, that's wonderful."
Kathy nodded and twirled her red hair as she stared up at the ceiling. Then she scanned the finances. "Do you think we can get the billionaire to pay for the wedding?" she joked. "There's so many people I'm afraid Daddy will go broke."
Lucinda snorted haughtily. "I doubt that, Katherine. Your father is rich enough to pay for the wedding."
Kathy thought she was wise in dropping the subject of the wedding, and moved the seating arrangements to the other end of the desk, where she could easily ignore them. She drew her master plot towards her and opened All About Force Fields, trying to find something that she could possibly use in the plot.
She heard Lucinda going up the stairs to feed the upstairs fish, but didn't pay much attention because, after all, she was reading about force fields. What else could possibly be more interesting?
She didn't surface until later, when the well-known foot steps of the mail man sounded from outside.
"I'm getting it!" Lucinda said, clomping down the stairs. Kathy merely nodded.
"It's muggy outside," Lucinda said, "and it makes me feel baked and itchy and icky all at the same time." She came into the living room and handed Kathy an envelope. "From the fiancé. And… here's another one from my admirer! I hope this is a good one. The last letter, all he could talk about was how his glasses fogged up from the last time he saw me— do you think that's entirely sane, Katherine? And…" Lucinda scanned her letter quickly as she walked out of the living room.
"TICKLING!" she screeched. "He says he'd like to tickle me just to hear me laugh… again… and he's remembering all the jokes he told…" Lucinda suddenly went silent, and Kathy slowly closed her book, frowning as she tried to contemplate creating a force field as large as she'd need. She opened the envelope absent-mindedly and almost forgot she held it in her hand before shaking her head to clear it. She drew the letter out of the envelope and snuggled down to read what she was sure was going to be one of the sentimental, sweet letters Robert sent her every once in a while when he had too many things to say and not enough words on the tip of his tongue to say them with.
"You know," said Lucinda, "I'm not sure I like this admirer any more— I think I actually am getting a good idea of who it is… and I don't want to do that. He might become like Allegra's friend— Daniel."
Kathy grunted a response and skimmed the letter quickly— it was best to skim Robert's long letters— and this one was already filled with what looked like hundreds of lines with hundreds of words, all crammed together on a single page. She frowned as she caught the words "wedding", "can't", and "I'm sorry".
She skimmed again. Now she could decipher a couple of sentences, "the wedding's off", "I called the caterer", "I'm sorry."
What was he sorry about? Kathy couldn't understand it, though she'd read it twice already.
She started reading from the beginning, but her mind was racing, and it didn't seem to want to let her understand what she was reading.
"Dear Kathy," the letter started.
Okay, that was normal. That was like Robert. It was, wasn't it?
No, it wasn't. She realized with a sinking heart. He called her Kat when he wrote letters like this.
Or did he? She couldn't remember, couldn't remember anything, though memories and thoughts were racing past her brain so fast she couldn't catch them and find out what was going on.
She shook her head again and started from the beginning.
"Dear Kathy,
"I'm writing you a letter. I tried to tell you at the restaurant, at The Villain, but I couldn't tell you there.
"Knowing you, you'll understand, I hope, but I couldn't tell you face to face.
"I hope you don't think me a coward…
"… The wedding. I can't go through with it. You won't have to worry about that insane caterer— I called him and recompensed him for all his trouble so far. In fact, I went to everyone and told them the wedding's off.
"There's nothing you can do, Kat—" the Kat was crossed off and replaced with a Katherine, what was he saying? She had to keep reading, but she had a sinking feeling that nothing was going to get clearer. Nothing.
"There's nothing you can do, Katherine. It's not you— it's me. I can't get married to you with what's going on at my end."
What? What was going on at 'his end'? Why wasn't he telling her? Kathy felt in the dark. This wasn't making sense! Kathy shook her head rapidly. Lucinda would know. Lucinda always knew. But where was she?
"LUCINDA!" she shouted. "Come here!"
"What is it?" Lucinad asked, coming in grumpily.
"Tell me what this says—" Kathy said, thrusting the letter to Lucinda and putting her head in her hands. "I can't figure it out— he's— he's not making any sense. It's like he's saying the wedding's off— but that doesn't make any sense." She said, laughing shakily. "It doesn't actually say that, does it, Lucinda?" she asked, looking up at the old woman.
"Please tell me it doesn't." She whispered as she watched Lucinda's eyes scanning the letter rapidly, a frown growing more and more pronounced on her face.
"Lucinda…" Kathy ventured again…
Lucinda's face was mutinous now, and Kathy was becoming scared.
Was that actually what he'd written? Why? What was wrong with her? What had made him change his mind?
My god, is this about the high heels and the driving? She wondered. No, that's not like Robert. Is it?
"That…" Lucinda sputtered, her usually pale face now nearly purple. "That…" Lucinda, usually so calm, now spouted off a couple of words that made Kathy wonder if she was supposed to blush or not.
"What? It's… it IS true, isn't it? Please don't tell me it is… Lucinda!"
Lucinda turned towards Kathy and started as if she'd only just now noticed that she was there.
"Lucinda… it's not true, is it?"
Lucinda sat down in a huff. "That… that— I told you he was no good, but I held my tongue when I saw how smitten you were with him. I tell you, Kathy, he's having an affair, and he's just decided that he likes his—"
"Don't say that, Lucinda. I have to find him and—"
"No, here's the postscript." Lucinda said, her face still red. "Please don't look for me, Kat— you can't change my mind."
"This is crazy." Kathy said, her shoulders slumping and her eyes filling with tears. "This is a bad dream. I'll wake up and find out I've been dreaming. That's all." And she pinched herself, hard, then examined a bruise that was now forming.
"That hurt…" she said absently.
"Katherine, I'm going to make you a nice cup of tea." Lucinda said, standing up and patting Kathy's hand sympathetically. "And then I'll call Allegra over— we can all abuse the male species together."
Kathy shook her head absently. "No, thank you, Lucinda. I'll be fine. Don't bother Allegra— she has her own problems right now."
Lucinda tutted impatiently and went to the kitchen. "Nevertheless…"
"I don't want tea!" Kathy called, suddenly desperate, after her.
"I know!" Lucinda said. "I'm making some for myself!"
"Oh." Kathy said, slumping. She found she suddenly did want tea. Never mind. She wanted Allegra's entire teapot of tea, and then— but Kathy couldn't figure out what she wanted to do with Allegra's teapot.
There was something people used things like teapots for.
It definitely wasn't for making tea… but it would have come in handy now.
Kathy frowned and realized that she didn't want to be alone. She followed Lucinda to the kitchen, where she sat down heavily in one of the wooden, straightbacked chairs that Lucinda adored in her kitchen, and tried to find a comfortable.
Lucinda shot her a passing glance as she busied herself with the teapot.
Kathy stared, then realized that making tea in a teapot made complete and total sense.
Or did it? Her mind was racing one moment, then blissfully blank the next, and all the while, nothing made sense.
She tried to piece things together.
Robert had called the wedding off.
She immediately negated that as being untrue. Robert had said he loved her, in so many words. She could distinctly even remember the dinner date at The Villain. Had he been trying to tell her then?
And then on the phone, when he'd called to say he had an assignment and might miss the party.
He'd said it, twice, in less than a week.
Oh my god, was he lying to me? Kathy wondered.
"I called Allegra." Lucinda announced. "She's coming over in two minutes, just as soon as she gets rid of the billionaire."
"I told you not to bother her, Luce." Kathy said, pressing the palms of her hands to her temples and shaking her head to somehow clear her mind. It only made her head hurt.
“Doesn’t matter. She asked if she could come over the second she picked up the phone.”
Kathy groaned as a deafening knock sounded at the door.
“You really need to give me a key, one of these days, Kat.” Allegra said as she bounded into the kitchen. She stopped as soon as she saw the look on her face, and frowned. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“That idiot.” Lucinda said vehemently.
“Yes?” Allegra asked.
“Has called. Off. The. Wedding.” Lucinda said, clenching her teeth.
“NO!”
Lucinda nodded grimly.
“Why? Should I kill him? Never mind, I am going to kill him! What does he think he’s doing?!” Allegra exclaimed. She BANGED her hand on the table. “How dare he? We’re not going to stand for this, Kathy, are we?”
“CALM DOWN, Allegra. Katherine is still in shock, as you see. She hasn’t accepted it yet. I maintain the man was an idiot to begin with, but…” Lucinda trailed off.
The teapot shrilled and Allegra snatched it off the stove, pouring a cup of tea for Kathy so hastily that she burned herself.
A shriek resounded through the kitchen and tea slopped over the beige walls.
“For God’s sake, Allegra, if you can’t do something properly, let me do it!” Lucinda snapped, fluttering her hands at Allegra and pouring the tea properly. She set it down in front of Kathy, who frowned and shook her head.
“I’m fine, Luce.” Kathy said irritably, even as she drained a cup of strong ginger tea.
“Where’s that letter?” Allegra asked suddenly.
Lucinda pointed wordlessly with one long finger towards the living room, and Allegra bounced up.
A roar of rage came from the living room a minute later, and Kathy winced. Lucinda stood up and closed the door to the rest of the house with a squeak and a SMACK!
“You really should practice closing that door more often, Luce.” Kathy said, pouring herself another cup of tea.
“Hmmph!” Lucinda said. “I have a premonition I’ll be SLAMMING it!” She sat down with a huff and poured herself a cup of tea as well.
“Can’t you just… leave me alone?” Kathy asked slowly. “I really just want to be alone right now.”
“Of course, dear.” Lucinda said, standing up and walking out of the kitchen.
Kathy suddenly felt very alone indeed. She felt as if something was seriously wrong.
The wedding wasn’t off— it couldn’t be.
She suddenly felt bewildered and small and childish— she felt as if something had happened and she knew she was supposed to be aware of it, but suddenly she couldn’t be, not when everything was already so uncertain for her. She just wanted to sleep.
But she couldn’t sleep, because she still needed to figure out the seating arrangements— because Robert couldn’t have called off the wedding. More importantly, he wouldn’t.
If anyone did, it would be her. And she most certainly had not called it off. He had.
But he hadn’t. Had he?
She stared wordlessly out the window. The sun seemed to be setting, faster and faster until she was in a dark kitchen with a cup of ice cold tea.
Lucinda tiptoed in at one point to check on Rico— she turned on the lights when she came on— and she closed the light again as she left.
Kathy didn’t notice. She was much too preoccupied with what was going on in her head.
She was reliving the restaurant date, and wondering what in the world had gone wrong. Because Robert most definitely had not called off the wedding.
He hadn’t. He just hadn’t. She was sure of it… so why was there this sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach?
Kathy stood up and grabbed the phone, dialling her mother’s number.
Agnes Summers answered the phone on the first ring.
“‘ello?” she asked crisply in her French accent.
“Mother?” Kathy said.
“Ah, chéri! ‘Ow are you?” Agnes asked, smiling broadly on the other end of the line.
“I-I’m not sure.”
“‘Ow is the wedding planning coming along?” Agnes asked. “Eef you want me to contribute my lace veil, you are welcome to eet. Your father, of course, will protest, but since when has—“
“The wedding’s off.” Kathy said in a small voice.
Agnes paused. Then she laughed a little laugh. “Eemposseeble. Robert would not allow it. You ‘ave seen the way ‘e acts.”
“He called it off.” Kathy said, in an even smaller voice.
“Nonsense!” Agnes said, after an even longer pause. “Nonsense!” she repeated.
“Yes, Mother… Nonsense!” Kathy said, her voice cracking. “But it’s all a dream, Mother, just tell me that it’s all a dream.”
“I am coming over.” Said Agnes. “Don’t you worry, ch´ri, we will figure out all thees, thees nonsense.”
And Agnes Summers hung up.
Kathy slumped in her chair, trying to make sense of the day.
She’d woken up. That was normal. That was what she did every day.
She’d eaten. Kathy frowned as she tried to remember, then gave up entirely. This was insane. Why… what… where— she needed Robert, Robert would help. Robert would help her make sense of all this.
She picked up the phone to call him and ask him— what was so wrong with her that she couldn’t form a coherent thought.
She’d dialed the number and even let the phone ring for a while before remembering that Robert was the reason she couldn’t think straight.
This was all Robert’s fault, this strange stomach churning, lead intestine feeling. Not to mention she felt empty at the same time.
Kathy frowned. It was all Robert’s fault. She struggled to remember why it was, and then she remembered the letter, and everything came crashing down all at once.
“THIS IS TERRIBLE!” she shouted, so loud that Allegra screamed from the next room.
And suddenly everything was flooding over her and everything just seemed so close and so real and Kathy broke down completely.
Water overflowed from her eyes and she gasped for air as she realized that Robert was gone— he’d called off the wedding, and, and — and she wasn’t going to see him, ever again. This was all ROBERT’S fault— he was the one who had made this happen. And here she was, paying for it.
“L-Lucindaaaaaa!” she shrieked, rushing into the living room. “I need the letter. Give me the letter. I need to see the letter.”
Lucinda handed it to her and Kathy snatched it so fast that she crumpled it. She sat down on the floor and smoothed it out on her thigh, trying to decipher the words that were starting to be dotted with tears.
“Dear Kathy,” it said.
She faintly remembered this bit.
"I'm writing you a letter. I tried to tell you at the restaurant, at The Villain, but I couldn't tell you there.
"Knowing you, you'll understand, I hope, but I couldn't tell you face to face.
"I hope you don't think me a coward; I should be telling this to your face, but I can’t stand to see you when you start crying— you know that.”
She could actually feel him smiling faintly— wanting to tell her something he felt was best for her, while at the same time dashing all her hopes to the ground… tears trickled down her cheeks and she wiped them away impatiently. Didn’t want to see her cry… of COURSE he was a coward… of COURSE he was!
“It’s about the wedding. I can't go through with it. Don’t worry about calling all the services— I took care of it. You won't have to worry about that insane caterer— I called him and recompensed him for all his trouble so far. In fact, I went to everyone and told them the wedding's off.”
Yes, the caterer was insane, Kathy thought. Absolutely insane. He wanted triple the pay for something not even worth half. She wouldn’t have used him at all, in fact, if he hadn’t been the only one available— but…
"There's nothing you can do, Katherine. Not about any of this. Don’t worry about what started this entire fiasco.”
Was he saying their entire RELATIONSHIP was a fiasco?
“It’s not you— it's me. I can't get married to you with what's going on at my end. I wish I could, but I can’t, and that’s the end of it.
“I’m not expecting you to forgive me, and I’m not expecting you to understand. But this is what’s best, unfortunately, and this is what we have to do. Alright? I want you to smile, every day, and try not to get your heart broken over me. Okay?”
It was signed ROBERT, with a postscript that said:
“Don’t try to contact me. I won’t answer. Please don’t look for me, Kat— you can’t change my mind.”
She flung the letter down and burst into hot, angry, bewildered tears. This wasn’t right! This wasn’t right at all! What WAS with him? This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Not here. Not now.
The doorbell rang and Allegra got up, subdued, to answer it.
“Where eez she?” Agnes asked. “And more eemportantly, where eez that… that… that ‘ooligan? I shall keel eem when I see eem!”
“She’s in the living room.” Allegra said.
Kathy didn’t pay attention to them. She even did not realize when her mother came in and drew her in a close embrace. Kathy cried and cried and cried, and she didn’t stop until she just couldn’t cry any more.
Now she just felt empty.
