Bitter Sweet - Ch 10 - Undiluted.

Kelly rushed back home to shower and change, as she came downstairs with ten minutes to spare she heard the  taxi beeping its horn to let her know it had arrived; Kelly came around the stairs only to find her path block by Kurtis standing in front of the archway to the foyer.

“You can’t go out with him Kelly.’ He spoke coolly but she could hear the threatening tone in his voice.

She felt anger well up inside her and she stood her ground. “Who do you think you are trying to tell me what to do? I’m a grown woman and I can make my own choices, and my ‘choice’ for this evening is to go out for dinner with Reese. We’re, just, having, dinner.”

Kurtis didn’t like what she had to say and seemed to grow even angrier.

He shouted at her “I won’t allow you to go!”

Kelly was confused by Kurtis’s reaction to her going out, she snapped back at him.

“How dare you treat me like a child! You may have been an adult longer than I have, but that doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do, where to go or who I can or cannot go out with. If you want to tell my grandmothers go right ahead! You’re behaving like a spoilt brat. It’s just dinner! Move before I make you!”

Angrily Kelly shoved past Kurtis briskly walking out the front door; she heard his footsteps behind her as he half followed.

“I won’t be telling her anything, not yet anyhow. I want to see this blow up in your face!” He called after her as the front door shut with a heavy ‘thud!’

A nauseous feeling settled in Kelly’s stomach as she got into the taxi, requested to go to the White Lotus restaurant where Reese had suggested they go. She couldn’t understand why Kurtis was even acting lime he was towards her, he’d been so nice before this evening.

Walking in to the elegant dining area of the restaurant Kelly noticed that every table was set up just for ‘two’, the lighting was a soft shade of rose, beautiful flowers where everywhere, pristine linen table clothes with linen wrapped chairs added to the very romantic atmosphere of the place.

Reese was just sitting down at a table, Kelly saw that he noticed her walking in and couldn’t seem to look away from her as she came over and joined him. It only added to the nauseous feeling that she couldn’t seem to shake off.

“Hi, you look really nice.” Reese smiled at her, his eyes seeming to sparkle in the candle light.

“Oh, thank you. So you do, I’m sorry I’m late, Kurtis tried to stop me on my way out the door. He was saying that I couldn’t go out with you tonight and threatening to tell grandmother about it. Why is that such an issue between you two and, what does my grandmother got to do with any of it?” She felt nervous explaining what had happened and asking her questions, but she knew she wouldn’t enjoy the evening if she didn’t know what was going on.

“Ah, right.’ Reese shifted uncomfortably in his chair for a second and cleared his throat slightly. “Well, long story short, your grandmother had a little ‘chat’ with me on the day I yelled at you and she told me I wasn’t to see you under any ‘romantic’ circumstances. Eliza didn’t explain why she just threatened to kick me out if I did.” He laughed nervously. “But, this just being an apology dinner she’s got nothing to get upset over. Kurtis, I can’t help you there. Other than he’s always wanted to be the better of us two and he might feel that somehow me inviting you out like this is somehow being ‘better’ than him, who knows right?””

For a moment Kelly didn’t say anything as she thought over what Reese had said. She gave a sigh knowing that Reese was right, the evening hadn’t even started and she felt like she was letting everyone else who wasn’t there ruin it.

“You’re right, since neither of us are doing anything wrong, we’ll just have a nice dinner and enjoy each others company.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, you hungry?” Reese shifted his chair a bit closer to hers.

Kelly smiled feeling much better. “I am. I could eat a whole lama, wool and all!”

Reese laughed at her remark and she found herself joining in.

Reese let Kelly order for them both. Then they settled down to enjoy the evening and each other’s company.

They talked the entire evening about everything they liked about their hobbies and life. Kelly discovered that Reese loved gardening as much as she did, only he took it one step future with grafting different plants together and taking micro-samples of his creations so that they could be studied at his works laboratory.

At one point Reese was explaining some of his discoveries and he got so excited that he was waving his arms about while detailed how he had discovered a brand new species of lily, Kelly couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm as she could relate from when she had created a new cake recipe when she was just ten.

“I’ll show you my collection of Heart Frogs if you like too, there’s only three separate known species in the entire world and I have one of each in my lab workspace back home.”

“I’d love to see them, I know it’s weird but I like frogs and fishing a lot. Fishing is so relaxing and frog catching is really fun, even if you do get muddy and covered in pond scum.” She laughed at a few memories of frog catching with her brothers when she was younger.

Kelly noticed Reese smile at her in a way she hadn’t seen him smile before.

“It’s not weird, and  I bet you look just as good covered in mud and pond scum as you do right now, which is really very beautiful by the way.”

Their meals and drinks had arrived while they had been talking Kelly took a moment from answering Reese’s compliment she grabbed her wine glass and took a large sip.

“Um, thank you, I think? The wine was a good choice.” She felt herself blushing and was glad for the already rosy coloured lighting of the place.

“What? I mean it. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything though.” He seemed concerned with how she was feeling.

“No no, it’s just... I... uh...” Not being able to find the words for what she wanted to say, Kelly started to eat her meal. “This looks good doesn’t it? We should eat before it goes cold.”

Reese cleared his throat being self-conscious and followed her lead; while they ate there was more idle conversation, which slowly made the awkwardness dissipate.

Soon they were laughing again at jokes and friendly banter, neither of them noticing the time of the evening whisk away from them and soon it was coming onto one o’clock in the morning.

Kelly was calming down from laughing heartily at another of Reese’s stories; he’d had some very embarrassing moments at his lab and out doing field work with catching insects for his studies.

As she stopped laughing she saw him looking at her in a strange way again, she felt somewhat uneasy and made a move suggesting it was time for them to go.

The only other people at the restaurant other than the staff were two other couples, and they were defiantly on dates with how they each preoccupied in their own little worlds.

As they stood Reese stopped Kelly from walking off, her stomach instantly filled with a swamp of fluttering butterflies.

“I’ve got something for you, part of my apology this evening for my behaviour the other night. It’s not much but I hope you like it.” Reese was holding something behind his back.

Kelly was sure the butterflies in her stomach would erupt out of her mouth at any moment.

Reese was holding suddenly holding a single red rose out to her, its smell was delicately sweet, he was gazing at her with such softness and compassion Kelly thought she would liquefy into a puddle of primordial goop.

“It’s beautiful, thank you so much. You really didn’t have to though, the dinner was more than enough; we could have just gone fishing or on a picnic which wou...”

Kelly found herself cut off by Reese leaning in and kissing her, Kelly wasn’t sure how to react and her mind screamed.

‘It’s just dinner, not a date, just dinner, NOT, A, DATE...‘

Then something else clicked in Kelly’s mind, another voice entirely spoke to her, it wasn’t herself remarking in her mind, but defiantly ‘something’ else.

Her secondary Cupid instincts had kicked in like a firework going off unexpectedly.

‘THIS is who you are THIS is what you are. THIS, IS, LOVE; your love, Kelly Andrews!’ The voice was gentle and reassuring but sounded as if it were talking to her down a long echoing corridor.

Without another thought, Kelly found herself wrapping her arms around Reese’s shoulders returning the kiss, her very first kiss, and she didn’t him to let her go, nor for the evening to come to an end.

As they released from the kiss, Reese smiled looking somewhat shy.

Gently he took Kelly chin in his hand, his skin was warm and his fingers slightly calloused from no doubt doing the repair work around the house.

“You are funny, smart, and very beautiful. I’d like us to have a few more evenings like this, or we can go catch frogs if you’d prefer?” He smiled giving a slight chuckle.

Kelly couldn’t help but laugh a little herself.

She couldn’t help but let out a sigh with how happy she was feeling, Reese took her hands gently in his.

“I think that would be really nice. But what about my grandmother, what about she said about you not dating me?” Kelly felt a little sad as she didn’t want to be the cause of Reese being kicked out of the only place he’d known as ‘home’.

Reese winked giving her a slightly cheeky smile. “We’re not dating; we’re getting to know each other better, isn’t that what friends do?” Reese gave her hands a gentle but lingering kiss. “Goodnight Kelly, see you in the morning.”

“Night Reese, sleep well.”

Kelly watched him walk off and hail a cab; she walked slowly out of the restaurant, and then hailed a cab herself after a few minutes.

Once back at the house Reese headed straight up to his room, he was feeling happy and relaxed.

He had not intended to kiss Kelly when he had given her the rose after dinner; he had just wanted to give her a nice token, the same as the carving of the dragon, tokens of apology.

But all in all, he was relieved that things had developed so naturally between them, after all, even though Kelly had seemed taken aback by him kissing her, when she had kissed him back it felt like she was the only other person he ever wanted to kiss for the rest of his life and he wanted to do it again, sooner rather than later if possible.

Whistling a happily to himself as he opened the door to his bedroom, Reese abruptly stopped as he came face to face with Kurtis who was standing at the foot of his bed waiting for him in the half lit room like some bad movie plot character.

“What are you doing in my room? Still not heard of personal space after all this time I take it?” Reese spoke in a low harsh tone; he knew Eliza would be asleep and he didn’t want to wake her by shouting, as much as he wanted to.

“Oh, my dear brother; I was hoping you would enlighten me of the details of how the ‘non-date’ with Miss Andrews this evening.”

Reese snapped at his brothers’ disrespect. “Nothing happened between us, we had dinner. You know how those go don’t you? A bit of polite conversation, eat some nice food with a glass of wine. Then we parted ways, in separate cabs. That’s all that happened.”

Kurtis smugly laughed shaking his head. “Right, and the glimmer of Kelly’s particular shade of lip-gloss on your mouth and her vanilla perfume still lingering on your clothes is what you consider ‘nothing’ is it? Got another girl hiding off in the wings do we?”

Reese felt like punching the smug look of his brothers’ face, and Kurtis knew it.

“Fine, tell her. What do you think Eliza will say to you admitting by proxy that you peek around every dirty little corner of the house, day in and day out gathering up all her visitors’ secrets? I think she’ll be interested to know just how much of a snoop you really are, brother.” Reese kept his cool as he spoke.

He knew he shut Kurtis up, for the time being anyhow.

Kurtis muttered under his breath as he took his leave, half slamming the door as he left.

The next morning, Reese woke a little earlier than usual so he made his way to Kelly’s room to fix the toilet in her bathroom. It had been leaking a little and he wanted to fix it as soon as possible since he’d been putting it off.

As he casually strode into Kelly’s bathroom he was stopped dead by Kelly letting out a small surprised squeal from the unexpected intrusion. She had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in nothing but blue lace underwear. Kelly was so stunned by Reese walking in on her that for a moment she stood still like a statue as they both looked at each other.

Reese blinked snapping out of his stunned silence first. “Oh Watcher I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t think to...”

Kelly quickly snatched up her dressing gown off the bench putting in it on, she laughed nervously at the situation. ”No no, its fine really... uh, well I mean... uh...” She sharply tied up her dressing gown.

They both avoided eye contact for a brief moment before they both laughed together at the awkwardness of the situation.

“Well, good morning.” Reese piped up doing his best to move the subject along.

Kelly finally gained the courage to look at Reese; she couldn’t help but smile as she recalled their evening together.

“Morning, did you sleep well?”

“Yes thanks. I ah, I just wanted to fix that leak with your toilet before it gets any worse.” Reese nodded then gestured he wanted to get by her.

Kelly obliged moving aside enough for him could get past.

“You don’t have to rush or anything, but thank you. I was going down to get some coffee, I’ll see you later.” Kelly felt herself blushing as she left the room and Reese to fix the toilet.
 

Downstairs, Kelly saw Eliza standing by the espresso machine sipping on a freshly made mocha coffee, her usual morning drink. Grabbing a mug, Kelly decided to make herself one too. She glanced at her grandmother giving her a brief smile then focused on making her coffee, trying to avoid direct eye contact.

“Well, good morning to you as well.” Eliza sounded very pleased with herself. “I thought you’d be sleeping in, considering how late you got home last night, or should I say, this morning.” She gave a small girlish laugh at her remark.

Kelly suddenly felt very uncomfortable as she poured milk into her coffee; she hoped Eliza didn’t see her shaking slightly from her nerves getting the better of her.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I woke you as I came in. I honestly didn’t mean to be so late. Times flies and all that, you know?” She gave a slight smile feeling a tight feeling in her stomach.

Eliza shook her head making a tutting sound. “Nonsense dear, there’s nothing to be sorry for in the slightest. I can’t expect you to say cooped up in this mansion all the time, day in day out. Besides, I know you’ll bring home that lucky young man to introduce to me when you’re ready. I hope he’s a gentleman and treats you like the lady you are.”

Kelly smiled looking at her grandmother. “He’s defiantly a gentleman, and when I’m ready you’ll meet him, I think you’ll like him.” Kelly desperately wanted to stop the conversation before more personal questions were asked, such as names. “I’ll just take my coffee upstairs and get ready for work.”

Eliza stopped her in her tracks by laughing abruptly.

“It’s Saturday dear. Remember, we decided not to have the bakery open on Saturday’s. But why don’t you go visit the spa in town, you are looking a little peaky today. Some relaxation might do you good.”

“Right, Saturday. How could I forget? I think I’ll go do that. See you later grandma.” Kelly felt as though she might be sick if she didn’t leave her grandmothers company soon.

“Have a nice time dear. Oh, I’m having a small party later this evening around six, so be back by five and wear something nice.”

Kelly nodded, as much as she wanted to run at full speed back to her room, she forced herself to walk back up the stairs to her room.

To Kelly’s relief Reese had finished fixing her toilet; she really felt as though needed a breather for a while from everyone and quickly dressed to go out to the spa Eliza had suggested she go visit.

Back downstairs Kurtis got himself a coffee and joined Eliza in the dining room; she had gotten herself some breakfast having finished her coffee.

“Morning Ms Eliza, I trust you slept well last night?” He made sure that he was always polite and cautious around his guardian. He had studied over his time with her what she liked and disliked, as well as how she preferred to be spoken to at certain times and situations..

“Morning Kurtis, yes, I slept fine thank you. I’m so happy my friends have come down to stay for a while, I’ve decided tonight I’m going to throw a party for them, so I’ll be needing you to set up a few things for me by five, can you do that?” She tucked into her steak and egg breakfast, she’d given an order rather than actually asking.

For Kurtis, it was the final thing that made him decide to say what he did next.

“Of course, I’ll get Reese to help me. Of course, that is if he’s not too preoccupied helping Kelly with anything in particular.” If he couldn’t get what he wanted and wasn’t happy, than why should his brother.

Eliza shook her head. “No no, he’s just fixing Kelly’s toilet this morning, he told me he was doing that just before Kelly came down and got herself a coffee. He’s upgrading the guest toilet in the gym for the party tonight, so you should be able to get him for a few hours this afternoon.”

Feeling frustrated, Kurtis went straight for a direct approach. “Do you think he’s had a lot to do with Kelly of late? I’ve noticed they’ve gone fishing together most afternoons and have late night chats by the pool.”

Eliza burst out laughing at Kurtis clapping her hands.

“Oh, oh... that’s good Kurtis! I’ve need a laugh, thank you.” She had another mouthful of food, then when she was done eat it, she shook her head. “But no dear, after my little chat I had with Reese the other day, I hardly doubt he’ll go against my word. Both of you are wonderful boys and as always, you’ve got the most vivid imagination Kurtis.” She gave a small chuckle shaking her head slightly again. “Now, let’s finish up here and we can get started on preparing for the party, what say you?”

Eliza tucked into the rest of her breakfast again while Kurtis said nothing more and sipped at his coffee.

But Kurtis knew, he had planted the seed of doubt in Eliza’s mind.

The same as when he had persuaded Eliza to let Reese do all of the ‘hard and dirty’ jobs around the house when they were teenagers. Reese had gotten B+ for his final school project and he had gotten a B, Eliza had promised them that whoever got the best grades would take pride is restoring the decor and art of the mansion. Kurtis had convinced her that Reese’s ‘art deco’ style was dull and boring and that their teacher had favoured his work because he was bias towards they style. She’d mentioned that she would think it over, but within a week, Reese was fixing fences and cleaning the pools filter.

Now he knew that Eliza would be watching Reese closely and not watching him.