Broken Souls Don't Cry

Chapter 18

Kai

They had finished working on the first part of the project and Sara was packing up to leave. Kai didn't really want her to go but he didn't think she would agree to staying later. AJ had gone into his room an hour ago to watch a movie.

"Well, I think we made some good progress tonight. Think we'll get a good grade with this project?" Sara smiled at Kai and his heart leapt.

"Most definitely"

"So, I'll see you on Tuesday?" Sara asked as she started heading toward the door.

"Do you think you can wait that long to ask me another question?" Kai smirked. He was trying to delay her departure and muster up the courage to ask her to stay a little longer.

"Probably. Can you wait that long to ask me one?" she teased.

"No, actually" He stepped closer to her as she reached the door. "I'd love to ask you one tomorrow. And the day after that." His voice got quieter as he stared into her eyes. "And the day after that" he whispered.

"What are you doing Kai?" She asked searching his face. Her tone was one of concern and alarm. He was coming on too strong and needed to tone it down before he scared her off.

He knew she was afraid of situations like this. One on one in an enclosed space. The foyer wasn't exactly enclosed, but they were standing very close to each other. She hadn't taken a step back, so he took that as a good sign. However, he decided to step back just a little.

"I like hanging out with you. You're funny and smart. Will you stay a little bit longer? Watch a movie with me?"

"I don't know Kai..." she sighed and looked toward the door for a moment before returning his gaze. "I don't... I'm not used to being alone with other's"

"We won't be alone" He assured her, "AJ is up in his room. He would beat the crap out of me if you made so much as one scream. If you'd like him to join us I'm sure he'd do that too, so you are more comfortable. I don't want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable."

That seemed to relax her a little. He'd have to remember to thank AJ for staying in instead of going out with his teammates.

"Okay, let's ask AJ to join us, if you don't mind" she said hesitantly and then walked back to the living room.

"I'll sit here" as he gestured to the end of the couch that was furthest from the armchair, "and then you can choose anywhere you want, be it far away from me or next to me. Your choice" He was trying to make sure she knew that she always had a choice. "I'll go check with AJ"

Returning to the living room, "AJ said to go ahead and pick a movie. He'll be out to join us once the match he's in ends. Ten minutes maybe?" He gave a little smile, pleased to see that she had chosen the opposite end of the couch from him. She was curled up with her feet underneath and to the side of her. He handed her the remote, telling her to pick whatever she wanted. He walked over to the basket to grab her a blanket, just in case she gets cold.

He set the blanket down on the seat between them. "Here's this in case you get cold"

"Thank you, that's perfect." She kept her eyes on the tv scrolling through the Netflix choices. "I'm usually always cold. My dad keeps his apartment around 65 degrees year-round and I'm always freezing when I visit him. If I complain, he'll straight up tell me he doesn't care. Then leaves me to scrounge around for any sort of blanket to keep me warm. I've learned to just bring my own and dress warmly."

She settled on a movie, an action-romance movie. A good compromise for each of them he figured.

"Your parents are divorced?" He asked