Just Me (You & Me 1)

He had always been a morning person, even when he was younger. Something about getting up early and seizing the day was appealing to him. Searching Katherine’s eyes, he tried to understand the motive for her question without overthinking it. Was she trying to extend their time together, he wondered.

“Me too! I’ve always been a morning person. Have you ever been to the coffee shop at the end of the block? Talia says they have great breakfast,” Katherine asked, catching Ben by surprise.

The entire morning, he had been stopping himself from asking her out, afraid of further offending her, and now she was the one asking him to breakfast. The irony brought a smile to his face, but Katherine wasn’t sure how to read his delay in responding.

“I’m sorry. That was silly, I shouldn’t have asked you that, Of course you have better things to do. Thanks again for the workout,” Katherine spoke quickly, diverting her eyes to the floor as she tried to turn and walk into the locker room.

There was no way Ben was letting her get away so easily, so he reached for her hand, feeling the electric spark between them as she turned to face him. The way her eyes lit up let him know that she felt it too.

“You can’t offer a man breakfast and then snatch it away. I’m starving, Katherine. Let’s definitely go to breakfast,” Ben kindly commanded, happy to see the smile cover her face.

“Okay, but I’ve never been, so I can’t be sure it’s any good,” she warned him.

“If it’s good, we’ll say it was your idea. If it’s nasty, we’ll blame Talia,” Ben suggested and they both laughed.

“It’s a deal! I’ll get cleaned up and meet you out front, okay?” Katherine said, sliding her hand from Ben’s grasp.

“Perfect,” Ben smiled, watching her walk away before retreating into the men’s locker room.

Feeling like a teenager heading to prom, he had to take a moment to gather himself before he could begin to get ready. After all that had happened, he was finally going to get to take Katherine out. Sure, it wasn’t exactly how he had imagined it, but it was happening nonetheless.

Rachel would be proud of him for how he handled himself, and even more importantly, how he had made himself open to new possibilities. Before their conversation, he would have never considered doing half the things he had done with Katherine—including sending her flowers as an apology, or working out with her for an hour.

But the way he felt, he wondered why he hadn’t been more open in the past. Maybe Rachel was onto something with the personal life talk. Jumping into the shower, he was eager to spend more time with Katherine and learn more about her. She was even more interesting than he had imagined.

When he finished dressing, he looked himself over in the mirror. He was dressed casually in a jogging suit, unlike anything he would ever normally wear on a date. But there was nothing normal about how he had met Katherine, so he figured it was perfect.

Chapter Thirteen

Katherine

WITH HER NERVES GOING wild, Katherine rushed to rinse the shampoo from her hair, not wanting to keep Ben waiting. She’d had so much fun boxing with him and getting to know each other. He was easy to talk to, and she found it hard to say goodbye when it was finally time to go their separate ways

After rejecting him so many times, it was only right that she was the one to initiate their breakfast, but man did it feel weird. For someone who was typically shy and soft spoken, Katherine felt far out of her comfort zone inviting Ben to breakfast.

Thankfully, he didn’t allow her to back out when she got cold feet. It was just so foreign to her to be facing rejection, although Ben happily accepted her invitation.

Soon enough, she was dressed, and after a few minutes in front of the mirror, she decided she was ready to go on what she refused to think of as a date, not wanting to get ahead of herself. Katherine couldn’t plan her life weeks in advance because Tim could show up any time. So there was no way she could consider anything would blossom with Ben.

Still, she was excited as she walked down the long tunnel at the gym, happy to see him waiting at the end. Even more handsome after he’d showered, Ben was smiling, his hair wet and shiny.

“You look nice,” he greeted her.

“Oh stop,” she waived him off.

Having only prepared to shower and walk home, Katherine had only packed a black sweat suit to change into. While it wasn’t the most fashionable outfit, she still felt incredibly beautiful whenever Ben looked at her.

“You’re forgetting I just saw you covered in sweat,” he teased.

“Well, when you put it that way, this is a serious upgrade,” Katherine admitted, and they laughed before leaving the gym.

The sun was just beginning to shine, lighting up the hilled streets of the city, but the wind made it quite breezy.

“I can’t believe it’s already fall,” Ben acknowledged.

“I know. I’m not used to this changing weather, either. I’m going to need winter clothes,” Katherine shook her head.

To most people, it was just a bit chilly outside, but to a native of Los Angeles, it was freezing. One of the great benefits of the ‘City of Angels’ was the consistently warm weather.