Inches Away - Chapter Two

About an hour of taking a nice warm bath, Cathryn drained out the water and took a shower. Afterward she got out and dried herself with a nice white and fluffy towel that was resting by the sink. She started to put on her outfit before leaving the bathroom with her dirty clothes, swimsuit outfit, and wet towel. Cathryn walked back out of the hallway, and notices Bliss wasn’t watching any T.V anymore. She walks back to her room and sees Bliss sprawled out on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

“And what exactly are you doing on my bed Mr. McKay?” she said as she threw her clothes and towel into the laundry basket right next to her small closet.
“Chilling out…and what are you doing in uniform, Ms. Johnson? We got like another hour and a half,”
“These are really comfy,” she walked over to her table and picked up a brush and started to brush through her damp hair.
“Well whatever then, just as long you keep your end of the deal,” he smirked and left the room.

Cathryn soon finished brushing her hair, and left her room. She walked down the hallway and T.V noises filled her ears. She entered the living room to find Bliss lying across their only couch. Cathryn walked over and sat on his legs.
“Anytime now…” she said smiling like a five-year-old.
“Okay fine,” Bliss moved his legs and let her sit down, but then placed his legs on top of her lap.

Soon Bliss left for about ten minutes, and came back to the living room wearing his uniform as well. After watching some more TV, Bliss’ watch started to beep; alerting them that it was finally 6:00pm.
“Well, it’s time for us to get going,” Bliss said as he stood up and stretched his arms.

Cathryn followed his moves and stretched her legs as well. She took a step forward and was about to fall but Bliss reacted in time and caught her.
“Wow careful there,” Bliss said.
“Sorry, my foot is still asleep,” Cathryn, said as she stared into his icy blue eyes.

When the two of them noticed they were in that position a couple of seconds too long, they quickly stepped away from each other. Can you say awkward? Cathryn grabbed her jacket before they started to walk out the door.
About fifteen minutes of walking, they entered Jacob’s Diner. This diner may have a lame title but its in fact one of the popular restaurants in town. This is where Cathryn and Bliss work on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-10pm. A waitress that was on her shift, who was passing by them, greeted them. They walked towards the kitchen, and through the door that said ‘Employees Only.’

“Ah Bliss! Cathryn! Just in time,” a man, who looked like he was in his late 40’s, walked up to them.

He was wearing a chef’s uniform, with a mushroom top-looking hat that you see a lot on T.V.

“Hey Jacob,” Bliss greeted casually as he was fixing his bow of his waiter uniform once more.
“Hello Mr. Quistad,” Cathryn replied as she hung her jacket on a hook to the side of the large kitchen.
“I hear that you two will be getting back to school soon?” Jacob Quistad, owner of the diner, walked over.
“Yeah in about three weeks,” Bliss replied.
“But we’ll still be working here on our usual shifts,” Cathryn added.
“Ah yes, good to hear. That’s what I was wondering about. Start working when it’s 7:00,” Jacob walked away and started to finish off what he was cooking earlier.

Fire blasts appeared every now and then over the stoves, making it look like the food would burn but would appear perfectly fine. There were at least six or seven other workers cooking and running around the kitchen.

“Come on, let’s hurry and eat,” Bliss grabbed her arm before they left the kitchen and walked over to a two-person table.

The waitress that walked by earlier came up to them.
“Hey Beth,” Cathryn said as she skimmed through the menu
“Hello Cathryn…hey Bliss,” Beth answered, ending with a flirty greeting towards Bliss.
“Aloha! Hmm okay I’ll take the Jumbo Deluxe Burger and Coke,” Bliss gave his menu to Beth.
“And I’ll take the Caesar Salad, and water. Thanks,” Cathryn said and gave her menu to Beth too.
“All right cool, I’ll be right back,” Beth left with two menus in her left hand and her notepad in her right with her pen behind her ear.

When she walked through the kitchen doors, Cathryn turned her head towards Bliss.
“Could you not tell that Beth has the hots for you?” Cathryn asked.
“Really? I didn’t notice,” Bliss answered, skimming the area.
“You must be blind then…so anyways, what do you think junior year will be like?” Cathryn laid in the back of her comfy seat.
“Same ole’, same ole’. Becca is probably going to cause all the drama, with her little followers,” Bliss said.
“Probably…I don’t get it. Taryn is smart, why would she lower herself down to…their level?”
“No idea what so ever,”
“Bet you 10 bucks she’ll cling to you the second she sees you,”
“Oh I’m not going against that…”
“You know she’s been after you since like middle school,”
“I know…the girl just doesn’t know that ‘no’ means ‘no!’ Ooh, sweet the food is here!” Bliss straightened himself and saw Beth carrying a circular tray with our two dishes and two drinks.
“Here’s your burger and coke Bliss, and your salad and water Cathryn,” Beth said and walked away.
“Dig in!”

Bliss stuffed as much of his burger into his mouth as possible while Cathryn took small bites of her salad. They talked more about how they think the school year would turn out.
“Ya know, we haven’t hung out with Matty lately,” Cathryn mentioned.
“I thought she was still at camp,” Bliss mumbled with food in his mouth.
“Nope, I saw her dancing in her room just today before I took my shower,” Cathryn said before finishing up her salad.
“Well lets all hang tomorrow then. Pool?” Bliss suggested.
“We went swimming today Bliss,” Cathryn pointed out.
“Movies?”
“What’s on?”
“Uuuh no idea. We’ll check the newspaper when we get home,” Bliss said and finished off his coke.

They finished off their dinner, and because of their deal earlier, Cathryn paid for their dinner that night. The two of them walked over to the kitchen and Cathryn ended up hitting something instead of the empty space on the other side of the flippy door. She almost fell backwards but the person she bumped into caught her wrist.

“Are you always this clumsy?”