Afflicted

"Yeah." He smirked at me. "Besides, I don't think your quarterback boyfriend liked me too much."

"Right, well I guess I'll see you around." I turned and started to walk away before pausing and looking back at him. "If you're not leaving town yet?"

"Nope not yet Katy, I'm staying with my mom for a few weeks."

"Okay." I turned away again and headed for the street.

"Bye," he called as I stepped off of his drive.

I caught my foot on the curb and almost tripped as I turned to wave goodbye. I ducked my head and jogged away as blood rushed to my cheeks and I just hoped he hadn't noticed.

Chapter Seven

Kaitlyn

"Where have you been?" Lacey asked as she spotted me.

I skirted the edge of the crowd which had gathered around the guys distributing the water and joined her by the children's play area.

"Sorry, I ran into Lincoln," I explained as I whipped a mirror out of my purse to check how my jog over had affected my hair.

"Ooo, you're forgiven so long as you spill." Lacey led the way to the swings and I dropped onto one with a smile.

"Well it turns out I was kinda worrying for nothing for the last six years," I sighed.

"He wasn't mad then?" she asked.

"He didn't even know it was me who phoned the police. And I actually got the impression that he was glad to have gotten out of that house."

"Well you can't blame him for that if his dad was as bad as you said."

"He was," I said with a frown. "I hope he's rotting in hell as we speak."

"So you're friends again now?" Lacey swung herself back and forth a little using her toes to push off the ground.

"Something like that. I don't even know him anymore, I was just a kid when he left and he's been off... I don't even know what he's been off doing since then." I shrugged.

"So what does he look like now? I can hardly remember him. I think he had dark hair?"

"Err yeah, dark hair. He's had it cut short now though."

"He's bald?" Lacey wrinkled her nose and I laughed.

"No not bald, just really short on the sides, a bit longer on top. It used to be a lot longer when I knew him, that's all I meant."

"Like an army cut?"

"Maybe. Why am I describing hair cuts to you again?"

"Because Lincoln Walsh is like a ghost that follows you around - except now he's here in the flesh. Practically back from the dead! And I wanna know if he's hot!" Lacey laughed as she kicked off and swung higher.

I laughed too and pushed myself forward so that I swung a little. "You should have just said that then."

"So...?"

"So what?" I asked innocently.

"Dammit Kaitlyn you're killing me, is he hot?"