28. high sticking

Kitt looked at her computer screen, unable to concentrate. She had spent the morning studying with Trevor, had lunch with some of her teammates, and then the afternoon working with the Athletics Department team.

She tried to force her eyes and brain to prioritize the information on the screen, but her thoughts kept drifting.

It had been five days since she had seen Leo last. She sent texts, but he seemed busy.

He had spent the night in her room but had left early and suddenly the next morning while she was still groggy. He had gotten a text and kissed her head before leaving in a bit of a hurry.

She had messaged him to make sure he was OK, which he said he was, but she could feel that something was off. He wasn't flirting the same way and always cut the conversations short. If she didn't know better, she would be insulted.

Her phone rang, and she jumped. She had been fully disassociated. She fumbled for her phone, hoping it was Leo.

"Hello?" She answered the instant she had the phone in her hand.

"Hey lady! The girls and I are going to grab a drink. Want to come?" Keisha said brightly.

"Nah, I need to study." Kitt couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

"No what you 'need' is to relax." Keisha argued.

"Yeah, but I just can't do the pub tonight." Kitt thought about the noise and people and the fact she might run into Axel and Amber or Dylan and his sweetheart.

"No, we are going to out in that clearing by the stream. Invites only." Keisha assured her.

"Oh, that does sound nice." Kitt finally lamented.

"Perfect, Alex and Lanora will be by to get you in like fifteen." Keisha said, Kitt could picture her nodding with satisfaction.

"Oh, fine. I will see you out there." Kitt closed her laptop. She had been ignoring it for the better half of an hour, so She didn't need to close anything or finish it up. She could stare at it later equally successfully.

Kitt grabbed her windbreaker and Leo's hoodie. It was springtime, but the nights were still chilly.

Seeing her friends instantly lifted her spirits. Many of her teammates sat around a small clearing in the forest out behind her dorm.

A barbecue was going, filling the air with delicious savory smells. A fire was illuminating the small area from the stone lined pit in the center. People sat around it in lawn chairs or on the ground. Tracy had her guitar, and a group of people were singing classic rock songs.

Kitt felt her shoulders drop a little as she relaxed slightly.

"Hey! I wasn't sure you could pull yourself away from your superhero cape." Josie smacked her back.

"What's that?" Kitt asked, turning to see her obviously intoxicated friend standing beside her with a huge grin.

"You know, now that you are busy saving us poor females from the big bad. Is the cape heavy?" She held up her drink and couldn't tell if she was being bitter or if she was making a bad joke.

"Jo, you need food!" Liam appeared next to her.

"Hey wanna take care of that? She needs something in her stomach." Kitt said to Liam.

"For sure, I got her." He nodded. It was clear he had also been drinking, but either he could hold his liquor better than his girlfriend, or he had had about half a bottle less than she had.

"Put something in my mouth!" Josie yelled, laughing.

"Ok, Josie." Kitt half laughed as she watched Liam guide her over towards the picnic table near the barbecue where the food was laid out.

Kitt wandered over to the fire pit. The warm glow was welcoming. The people around the fire greeted Kitt with a warmth equal to that of the flames in the stone pit. She found an empty seat and sat down.

They were talking about exams, but Kitt chose to just sit and look into the fire quietly. It was the break her brain needed.

Hours or maybe just minutes later, her ears perked up as she heard someone mention Leo.

"I called some of the guys to come down, Leo said he might swing by." Kitt overheard a voice say as they passed by.

A weird sensation filled Kitt. On one hand, the thought of sitting cuddled up with Leo around a fire was so nice. On the other hand, they had been in a weird place the last few days, and she was a little uneasy seeing him here since she hadn't been the one to invite him.

Suddenly, she wondered if he had asked if she was going to be there or if he didn't know, and that's why he decided to go. Kit felt a little sick. She wanted to run and hide again but also confront him about his weirdness. It was her team hosting. It would be pretty pretensious of him to assume he wouldn't bump into her there. He was the invited guest of HER team, she BELONGED there, not him. If he was going to be weird, then that was a HIM problem!

She deflated a second later. He was her Leo, he wouldn't be like that, would he?

"I need a drink." She said to no one and got up and went to find the source of the alcohol.

It wasn't hard to find.

Beside the barbecue was a line of coolers filled with ice and drinks, some soft drinks, juice, beer and coolers, and then some bottles of harder stuff. It looked as though her teammates had raided their own personal stashes and then filled in any gaps from the liquor store.

Kitt felt poor again. She would have loved to be able to help out with a contribution to the party. Her bank account was dangerously close to zero, nearing the end of the semester. There was no room for a single extra expense. She helped herself to a ginger ale and filled a small cup with the top of the bottle before replacing it with a healthy amount of gin.

Kitt drank the cup of pop before tossing the cup into the recycling and taking her newly mixed drink to find a snack. She picked at the plastic label until she got it off the bottle. It was something all her teammates did when they mixed their drink directly in the bottle.

In her first semester as a freshman at XOU, one of the girls on the team had made herself a drink and accidentally sat it beside an identical bottle, and another teammate grabbed it. She was unintentionally drunk an hour later. She had planned on staying sober that night. Ever since then, they started peeling their labels.

Kitt walked around the clearing, watching people but not joining any of them. She wasn't in the mood to joke around, or get into the philosophy of anime, or talk about exams, and least of all answer questions about the inquisition.

She found a spot by the fire again and settled in.

"Hey!" A voice interrupted her repreve. She looked up to see Trevor with a paper plate and a drink. She instantly smiled.

"Hey! Here, pass me that and pull up a chair!" She offered to take his burden so he could use both hands.

"Thanks, how is it going?" He settled in next to her, putting his cup un the holder in the arm of the camp chair and putting his plate in his lap.

"It's alright." She shrugged and took a sip of her drink.

"You look..." He trailed off.

"Like a bitch?" She filled in taking another swig of her drink.

"Intense somehow." He corrected.

"I have no idea if that is good or bad." She said bluntly.

"I don't either. What's up?" He asked softer this time. While he waited for her to answer, he popped a jalapeño popper into his mouth.

"Ugh, I'm just..." She took a long swig of her drink.

"Just?" He prompted softly.

"Do you really want to listen to my boy problems?" She asked dryly, continually sipping her drink.

"Boy problems? Boy problems are my favorite!" He perked up.

"Why are one liter bottles cheaper than the small bottles?" She asked, looking at her drink. It was too big for the cup holder, so she kept it between her thighs.

"I don't know, but you promised Boy talk!" He grinned.

"Leo and I have been dating a few weeks, yeah?" She checked to make sure he knew that.

"Yeah." He nodded before filling his mouth.

"Well, things have been good. I didn't want to give him a chance at first, ya know. But he was everywhere, and eventually, I guess it just happened." She tipped the end of her bottle into her mouth and then pouted.

"Ok?" He encouraged.

"So he comes up the back steps at night, and spends the night in my room. And he was there last week. We usually get breakfast and like, you know, like, just hang out, or at the very least cuddle a bit before we have to go do other stuff. Right?" Kitt could feel the effects of her drink.

"Ok?" He sounded excited and turned to her, moving over a little to better hear the story.

"So the other day he stayed over, and then just left in the morning with like no real good bye. He just said like 'go back to sleep' and kissed my head."

"Are you guys having sex?" He asked openly.

"Remember, when you were nervous around me? I never knew why, but THAT guy, he was a prince." Kitt leaned to put her head on his shoulder and look up at him with a smile. He laughed.

"I used to find you very intimidating." He admitted.

"Me? What? Why?" She said, wrinkling her nose.

"Have you met you?" He asked.

"I don't even know, to be honest." She said, thinking about it way too hard.

"Well, you should. This girl is a bad ass." He dropped an arm around her shoulders.

".maybe one day I will get some time to get to know her. For now I need to get another drink." She said lifting her empty bottle again.

"Nah, I will get one delivered! What were you having?" He asked. He picked up his phone and pulled his arm back to send a message.

"This much ginger ale and THIIISSS much gin." She said, holding up her bottle to show him her measurements.

"Ok, sure." He laughed, patting her knee.

"Thanks, Trevor." She said, resting her cheek on his arm.

"So?" He prompted.

"Soooo?" She repeated.

"So, he just left?" He asked, reminding her where she was in her story.

"Yeah, he said he got a call or text or somethin', and he just left. Which, like whatever, he had to go, right? But he has been weird since!" She said.

"Weird how?" He asked, finishing his snack and tossing the paper plate into the fire.

"Like his availability went from some times to never. His messages used to be flirty and sweet, are now just, like, dismissive. He hasn't come over. He used to be everywhere, right? Well, now he is nowhere!" She sighed.

"Oh no! Why do you think that is?" Treavor asked.

"I have no clue. Maybe I did something or said something?" She shrugged.

"What did you do?" He asked

"That's the problem, I have no idea. I mean, everything was normal until it wasn't?" She said.

"Well, something had to have happened." He said.

"But I have no idea what!" She said, dropping her shoulders.

"Are you bad in bed? I mean, I could probably teach you a thing or two." He joked, dropping his arm around her shoulders again.

"Shut up!" She laughed, and poked him in the ribs.

"I hear I have a new job as errand boy?" Vin appeared with his hands full.

"Um, I believe it was 'sexy errand boy.'" Trevor grinned. He helped Vin unload their drink.

"Thanks!" Kitt said, accepting the drink and taking a long pull.

"Woah, slow down." Trevor laughed.

"Thirsty." She said after pulling her drink away.

"Apparently!" Vin laughed.

"Then you need to be looking for that super hot, fridge sized boyfriend of yours." Trevor wiggled his eyebrows.

"The one who is freezing me out?" Kitt asked. She took another long drink.

"If it wasn't sad, that would be funny." Trevor said with a grin. Kitt elbowed him in the arm.

"Ok, I'm going to go. You two have fun." Vin said looking back and forth between them.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Trevor said, grinning up at his boyfriend.

"That doesn't leave many options." Vin winked.

"That's what keeps this interesting." Trevor's grin widened.

"Aww, you two are so cute." Kitt patted her friend's knee.

"Yes, yes we are." He nodded, and took a sip of the beer Vin had brought him.

"I'm jealous. I had one boyfriend in high school. He was sweet but that's it. I really thought college would be different." Kitt admitted.

"Didn't you just say your smole show of a boyfriend spends the night? That has to be different than high school." Trevor said with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, like, why am I still sitting here talking to friends, wondering what he is thinking and feeling and doing? Shouldn't we be talking to each other?" She let out a burp.

"With a man? No, never. Boys and men are taught how NOT to communicate effectively. You need to get close to his face." Trevor said and pointed at her.

"But when I get close to his face, I just want to kiss him." She said, shaking his knee for emphasis.

"You might have to show some restraint. Can you do that?" He patted her shoulder.

"I mean, I guess I could try." She said with a shrug.

"Good girl. I promise it will be ok." He leaned over and hugged her.