Page 14 of Eye of the Hurricane (Weathering Doves Harbor #2)

Ares

For the second time in a week, I’m waking up to harsh beams of sunlight through Katherine’s living room window.

There’s a golden haze over the room and one band of warm honey from the rising sun that lands over her buttery yellow strands of hair.

Her freckles deepen in the sun and the pink of her lips darken.

The way the sun is cast over her is too perfect not to capture. I slip my phone from my pocket and open the camera. I adjust the settings and after about thirty attempts at a good angle, I finally capture the perfect picture.

Maybe I’m biased because it’s Kat but I feel like it’s one of the best pictures I’ve taken, despite being one of the lowest efforts.

I open the settings on the picture and make some minor edits. Lower the brightness, increase the shadow, bump the saturation. When I’m done, I’m so excited I could jump off the couch and run to Vines’ office. I’m so sure of this photo, there’s no doubt it’s going in my portfolio.

A little bell comes jingling my way before fuzzy black paws jump onto my bare chest.

“Hi, Bells,” I whisper.

She brushes her whiskers against my face before curling into a ball on my chest. Considering I’m pinned down by the two most adorable women, I weigh my options. It turns out the only one is going back to sleep.

I wake up an hour and a half later to long, manicured nails drawing soft shapes on my chest. I suspect Kat’s been awake for a while and didn’t want to wake me up.

“Good morning,” I mumble against the top of her head.

She tips her chin up to look at me. Her blue eyes are glittering in the morning sun and she’s got a bright smile on her face.

The grumpy girl I met two years ago is nowhere to be found.

This girl is all sunshine and I know now that it was a mask she wore to be taken seriously.

“Did you sleep okay? I don’t know why we didn’t move to the bed,” she says. I don’t know why we didn’t either, last night wasn’t an accident. We kissed until our lips were numb and then she asked me to stay the night. I’m not in the business of telling beautiful women no, so here I am.

“I’m starting to think you weren’t kidding when you said you wear dresses to bed,” I say, looking down at the dress from last night.

“I do not sleep in dresses, I promise.”

“Mhmm.” I pretend not to believe her. I know she doesn’t, though, because I can feel how uncomfortable this thing is by the way it’s scratching against my bare abdomen. There are little indentations in my skin from the details.

Katherine’s front door swings open and just as I’m ready to jump up and protect her, she groans, dropping her forehead to my chest.

“It’s Luna, we have keys to each others places.” Well, at least it’s not the evil burglar-murderer that I had in my head.

“Kat! I was in the neighborhood and had to piss, so I let myself in,” Luna yells across the house. All we can hear is a sprint to the bathroom, we look at each other and laugh.

“I have company!” Kat calls back out to her. Luna walks in a few moments later, entirely unfazed by my presence.

“I know, I saw Pretty Boy’s car in your driveway,” she says with a shrug. She walks over and sits down on the chair across from us. Katherine and I both sit up.

“Pretty Boy?” I question, pointing to myself.

“Oh, come on. You know you’re pretty,” Luna remarks.

“Hear that, Kat? I’m pretty.” I nudge her with my elbow and she gives me a fake scoff, rolling her eyes.

“So, are you going to make me ask?” Luna asks, pointing first to me, then to Kat. I know how to take a hint.

“I’ll go so you two can hang out and talk.

I want to meet with Professor Vines today, anyways.

” Katherine just gives me an unsure nod.

I feel bad leaving without having a full conversation about last night.

We can’t talk about it in front of Luna, though, and she’s making herself cozy in that corner.

“I’ll call you later, yeah?” Kat nods again, with more conviction this time. I stand up, slip my shirt over my head and without thinking I lean down, dropping a kiss on her lips. To my surprise she kisses me back, despite her best friend being here .

Luna’s eyes are wide and dancing with surprise, but also delight. Katherine is blushing. The sight of her blushing has become one of my favorite things in the world. I like the effect I have on her, I also like the way she looks with pink cheeks.

“Heard I owe you a thank you,” I say, addressing Luna. I shoot her a wink and then I walk out the door, letting the girl talk commence.

I’ve been around Audra and Ravyn enough to know what that room sounds like right now. I imagine Luna is demanding details and Katherine is reluctantly giving them, followed by squeals and gasps. Thinking of Katherine that way makes me smile.

I shoot an email to Professor Vines asking if she’s in office and to my luck, she is. I start my car and drive to campus to meet with her. Maybe it’s stupid to run the picture I took just this morning straight to my professor, but I’m so sure of this one.

My walk to her office is quiet and calm, and I let myself savor it a little. Mostly because I know it’s likely the last peaceful walk in I’ll have for a while. Next week, the fall semester starts and these halls will be filled again.

The bright yellows and overall sunshine aesthetic of Vines’ office turns my memory into a flashback of last night. Kisses, giggles, and my personal favorite—Kat.

“I won’t take up a lot of your time, I’m sure you’re busy. I have a photo I’d like to add to my portfolio,” I say as I move to sit across from her at her desk.

“First, what happened to hello?” she jokes. “You know you don’t need my permission to add work to your portfolio, right?”

“I know, but I want to make sure my selections are strong and I know you’ll shoot me straight.” Professor Vines has helped every step of the way. Even if sometimes that means telling me my art is void of emotion. Every problem I’ve had with my art, she’s helped me resolve.

“Okay, let’s see it then,” she says, looking at me expectantly.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and pull up the photo of Kat from this morning.

I look it over for a moment, double checking for anything Vines might have an issue with, but I can’t find anything.

I bite back a smile looking at the picture. It’s art in its purest form.

I turn the phone to my professor and I see a look on her face I haven’t seen in a long time. She’s impressed.

“Yes! This is the kind of emotion I’d like to see behind your work. Something that makes the audience feel something.”

I don’t know what the emotion is. I didn’t even know there was an emotion in it, but I’m happy to see Vines likes it. Now I just have to figure out how I did it, and do it again… about twenty more times.

“Portfolio worthy?” I ask.

“Yes, but I don’t think you want your whole portfolio to be this subtle. You want a good mix of quiet and loud. Does that make sense?” I look back to the picture on my phone. It’s warm and comforting; serene in a way that’s new to me, but feels more right than anything.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How are you feeling about starting your last year of college?” she asks excitedly.

“I feel like it’s flown by.”

“Time just keeps speeding up the older you get,” she tells me. I never really understood the whole time flying thing until college. Until then, it seemed like time was dragging on. Like we’d be stuck in high school forever.

Now it feels like every time I blink, six months have passed and all of the people I love are living new lives.

“If it gets much faster, I think I might get whiplash,” I joke.

“If you figure out how to slow it down, do me a favor and let your favorite art teacher know,” Vines laughs.

“Will do.”

“Go enjoy your last week of summer.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I thank her for her time and head back to my car. I hadn’t considered until this moment that this is my last summer as a student. This is the last summer I’ll have the freedom of no job.

During the school year, I’m a TA for Professor Vines and sell my artwork for extra spending money. When I’m done at DHU, I won’t be keeping my job at the university. Hopefully by next summer, I’ll be selling my work and being hired as a photographer.

After that I make my rounds to see Ravyn then Audra and Roman. By the time I’ve seen them all, it’s 8:18 P.M and the sun is sitting low on the horizon. It paints the sky a hundred shades of pink, orange, and purple as the last moments of sunset pass.

As promised, I pick up my phone and dial Katherine’s number. It hums for a few seconds until the line picks up.

“Is Luna still there?” I ask.

“Nope, just me.”

“I said I’d call, so I’m calling,” I say, stating the obvious. It’s a little awkward because I’m not entirely sure what to say.

“Do you want to stop by?” Her voice is quiet and timid.

I might mess with her if I didn’t know this was uncharted territory for her.

Even though what we’re doing is just for fun, I still want to be careful with her.

I know this is all new to her and I want to give her a safe place to test the waters.

“Do you want me to stop by?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?” she asks. I don’t know what on earth has made her think she can’t ask me for things.

“I’ll be there in ten to fifteen.” As I’m going to hit the end call button, she speaks again.

“Wait, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m still here.”

“Will you spend the night?” There’s that nervousness again, like she’s bracing for being told no. We’ll have to work on that.

“Yeah, honey, I’ll spend the night. Let me stop at home and grab a couple things real quick.”

“I’ll unlock the door for you, you can just come in.” We say our goodbye’s and get off of the phone.

I drive to my house, letting my mom know I won’t be home tonight on my way up to my room. I change into sweats and a T-shirt, toss my toothbrush and deodorant into a tote bag I have for overnight trips and head to Kat’s house. I pull into the driveway twenty minutes later and park behind her car.

When I walk in the door, she’s in an orange sundress, pulling cookies out of the oven. The whole house smells like vanilla and she looks like sunshine.

“You made cookies?” I ask.

“All the best sleepovers have cookies.”

“That’s what this is? A sleepover?” I test. She sets the tray on the counter top and turns to face me.

“What else would you call it? ”

“Guess it depends on what we do,” I say with a smirk. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, fighting a smile.

“You rushed out on me this morning.” Her smile vanishes. I can see different questions and scenarios swimming in her head.

I shut it down in the quickest way I know how. I saunter right on over to her and grab her jaw with my hand, tipping her mouth up to mine before claiming it.

Kissing Katherine is like drinking a glass full of summer sun. It burns down my spine and lights me from within. When my lips touch hers, her entire body softens and she melts into me.

I pull away from the kiss, my hand still holding her jaw, and drop my lips to the shell of her ear.

“I left so you could talk to your friend, not because I didn’t want to be here.” I can feel her smile against my cheek. I drop my hand and pull away to look at her.

“I was afraid the whole inexperienced thing freaked you out. I’ve always had a thought in the back of my head that when I finally did find someone to do all these things with, it might be a turn off to them that I never had before.”

“I don’t care about that, Kat. I pumped the breaks because I don’t want to rush anything. I want you to have the chance to take things at your pace and get comfortable with each step before rushing the next.”

“Why do you have to be such a good guy?” She groans.

“All part of the charm,” I joke and she rolls her eyes.

We satiate our late night munchies and when the night finally winds down, we head to her bedroom. This is my first time seeing her bedroom. The second I walk in, I know I’ll never see Professor Vines’ office the same again.

Her bedroom is all pale yellows and whites, with small golden accents. It’s like I’m swimming in her presence and frankly, I wouldn’t mind drowning in it. She climbs into the butter colored blankets on her bed.

“You’re sleeping in a sundress again?” I laugh. She just nods. At first, it was a joke but I’m actually getting concerned that she sleeps in these things.

“Are you getting in?” Kat asks, patting the bed next to her. I nod, pulling my shirt up over my head and tossing it on the floor. I consider leaving the sweats on but the way she’s gawking at me, I’m going to give her a show.

I slide my sweats down my thighs and step out of them when they hit the floor.

Her eyes drag down my chest and across my stomach, then drop to my boxers before snapping back up to my eyes.

Her stare is wide and anxious, filled with a nervousness that I don’t like on her. I like her smiling and relaxed.

I climb in the bed next to her and lay back on her overly high stack of pillows. She’s still just watching me nervously. I don’t know where these nerves are coming from, but I have a suspicion they’re related to something she thinks we have to do.

“You know we aren’t doing anything tonight, right?” I ask and it’s like it all magically washes away.

“Really?” Her voice is lighter.

“Yes, really. We’re just sleeping,” I assure her. She crawls up next to me and lays her head on my chest, wrapping an arm around my abdomen. She lets out a sigh of relief, like the stress of the day has fallen away the second her head touches my chest.