Supernatural Memories

Chapter 5 - Best Mate

The band marched off to put all their equipment away and Kara walked quickly after them. She got to the band room and was surprised by the craziness in the room. Everyone was running around doing things. Kara thought it might be best if she waited outside. A few moments later, Shannon came walking out by herself.

“Hey!” Kara called out to her and jogged up to her, “you’re Shannon right?” Shannon raised her eyebrow and put her backpack over her shoulder.

“Aye. And you are?” Shannon looked Kara up and down.

“Uh, my name’s Kara. I met your brother, Connor, tonight.” She looked at Shannon, expecting a response, but getting none she continued on, “well, he said you were new to town and I thought if you wanted to hang out with my friends and I, we’re headed out to celebrate.” Kara gestured over to her friends. By now the boys had changed and were back in their dress pants and jerseys. To Kara’s surprise, the response she got was a scoff from Shannon.

“Ah, so Connor thinks I canna make friends myself, is that it?” She crossed her arms.

Kara stared at her for a second, and finally found her words, “no no, that’s not it at all! I just thought-”

“You thought incorrectly.” Shannon interrupted, “I don’t need friends, I have friends back home. Thanks for the offer, mate, but no.” Then she started to walk away.

Kara ran and caught up with her, “excuse me! You know, you can have friends here and in Ireland. But suit yourself. If you change your mind, we will be at the Silver Fox Diner. And if you want to be my friend, I’m here.” Then Kara walked past her and caught up with the group.

Finn picked her up and kissed her hard, “I missed you.”

“Aww, I missed you too.” Kara smiled as they walked to the parking lot.

The girls piled in Kara’s Jeep and the boys got in Finn’s car, then they headed to the diner. They arrived and were seated right away. As the boys were busy talking with people walking by congratulating them on the win, Dani leaned into Kara, gesturing for Laurie to listen in.

“So what happened with Shannon?” Dani said.

“Who’s Shannon?” Laurie asked.

“We met her brother earlier tonight and he sort of suggested she could use some friends so I tried to talk with her before we left.” Kara replied.

“Yeah, and what happened? She didn’t look particularly happy and she’s obviously not with us.” Dani said.

“Yeah, she didn’t really want friends here. She said she already had friends and didn’t need more here,” she looked at the girls who looked very taken aback, “I know! I told her it’s okay to have friends in both places. Then I told her we’d be here and if she changed her mind about it, we would be here.”

“Well, it was still nice of you to ask,” Laurie said. Kara just nodded. The night went well, with lots of laughs. Every now and then Kara would look up to check and see if Shannon had shown up, but unsurprisingly, she never did. At the end of the night, Kara drove Laurie and Dani home and promised they’d all hang out on Sunday morning.

As Kara was driving home, she got this strange feeling as she drove toward her favorite lookout point. It was a beautiful night- the wind was lightly blowing and it was a warm breeze, pulling the smell of the ocean towards her. She decided to take a moment to stop and unwind. She pulled in and parked the Jeep, then got out and sat on the hood. There was a full moon that was dimly lighting the water and the land around her. Feeling so at peace with the world, Kara shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then suddenly she heard a gentle voice and her eyes opened, turning her head to see Connor.

“Ahh there you are! I was afraid you’d fallen asleep, I didna want ye to...y’know, catch cold or something.” Conner said. She could see his charming grin in the moonlight.

“Well, uh...thanks for that. What are you doing here?” She was happy to at least see someone she knew, or rather, was acquainted with, but it was still a bit weird. She had just met him that same night and he was somehow at the same lookout point, less than 10 minutes from her house.

“My house is just down the way,” he pointed to a small community, maybe a mile or two away, “I’ve been comin’ here nearly every night since we arrived. There’s just something so...” he paused, thinking.

“Soothing?” Kara asked.

“Aye. Soothing. Bout this place.” He jumped up on the hood of the Jeep and sat next to her, looking out to the ocean. She looked at him for a moment, the moonlight seemed to reflect off his black hair. He looked so happy and calm. “I was hoping I might run into you again, actually.” He said without looking at her.

“Oh? Well it’s a pretty small town, I think you were bound to run into me eventually.” Kara replied.

“Oh aye. I reckon I would have at some point regardless. I spoke to Shannon.” He lowered his head and glanced at Kara out of the corner of his eye, “I canna believe she would behave like that. I wanted to apologize to you. Shannon’s been having a rough go out of movin’ here. She’ll come ‘round eventually. I hope.”

“She will get used to it, and like I told her, however long it takes, if she comes around I’m here for her.” Kara reassured him, and put her hand on his arm. She second she touched him, she got chills. It was the strangest thing, she didn’t even know what compelled her to touch him and when she did, she just wanted to hug him.

Connor looked over at her and smiled, then gently patted her hand. Finally, he took a deep breath, “I think it may ha’ been unfair of me to expect you two to be friends,” he paused, it looked like he was trying to carefully choose his words, “I think maybe I wanted to be your friend. But, I don’t want to be some weird older lad trying to befriend some little lassie.”

“I’m not a little girl!” Kara couldn’t stop the words, she instantly wanted to run away but instead she tried again, “I mean... you can’t be that much older than me.”

“Well no, I think not. But I would place ye at no more than 18. It’s still a bit weird to befriend a 20 year old lad, no?”

“I mean, I’m almost 18. And 20 is barely two years older than me. It’s not that bad!”

Connor laughed, “I suppose not. Well then,” he turned so he was sitting facing Kara’s direction, rather than the ocean, “I guess that makes you my new best mate!”

Kara smiled and giggled, “I guess so! Well, why don’t you tell me something about yourself?”

“Okay...me favorite color is green, I have a golden retriever pup named Bella, I am an airplane mechanic,” he paused, thinking, “and I love boating. And what about yourself?”

Kara smiled, “very nice! My favorite color is blue, I love dogs but I haven’t ever been able to have one, I love traveling and,” Kara paused to think, she thought about telling him about her past, being abandoned and not knowing who her family was, but she decided it was nice to have at least one person in that town who didn’t look at her differently because of it. “And I think that’s about it.” She added a smile.

“Well if ye love traveling, I have a wee plane and a boat too. We should go out sometime!” Suddenly his eyes went wide and he quickly met Kara’s eyes, “oh no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean like go out, I meant like go out, on the ocean or to the sky...not like,” he was rambling. Kara laughed and cut in.

“Hey, it’s okay! I understood you.” She smiled and him and he smiled warmly back. “And that sounds like fun! I’m always really busy, between school and work but I’d like that. We’ll find time.”

“Excellent.” He replied.

They sat in a comfortable silence for quite a while. Just listening to the sound of the ocean and enjoying the calm, blue moonlight. Finally Kara looked at her phone and saw a missed call from Saline and several texts from Finn - and also that it was well past midnight.

“Oh wow, time flies! I gotta get home, I have to work tomorrow.” Kara carefully slides off the Jeep, mindful of the short dress she still is wearing.

“That’s fair, I enjoyed your company though, lass.” Conner slid off after her, and landed right in front of her. Now that they were alone, Kara could see he was about an inch taller than her, and his green eyes seemed more brilliant in the soft moonlight. “I hope to see you again soon.”

“Me too,” Kara looked at her phone and then unlocked it, “here, why don’t you give me your number?” She opened a new contact and handed him her phone. He smiled as he took it, then put his information in and handed it back.

“I’ll be seein’ ye, lass.” He smiled and walked away towards his car, parked at the other end of the lookout. She couldn’t tell what it was put it seemed like some kind of sport car.

“Bye, Connor.” She got in her Jeep and opened her phone again. When she saw his contact, she started laughing.

Name: Conner McKenzie

Nickname: Best mate

She sent him a text. “Hey ‘best mate’! It’s Kara. Just wanted you to have my number.”

She put her phone in the seat next to her and finished the drive home. When she pulled into the driveway, Connor had replied.

Connor: Heyo best mate! Lovely seeing you tonight. I’ll see you soon.

She smiled and then looked at the texts from Finn.

Finn: Hey beautiful. Let me know when you’re home safe.

Finn: Are you home yet? I know you haven’t been sleeping well, I’m just concerned.

Finn: Kara? I’m starting to worry. Thinking about just coming over.

“s**t,” Kara thought. She hadn’t even thought about texting Finn. Suddenly her brain went into full panic mode, she had just gotten together with Finn and literally the next night she spent hours with some other guy. It was totally platonic between her and Connor but that didn’t make it feel any less weird. She calmed herself down and texted Finn back.

Kara: Hi! I’m so sorry! I stopped at that lookout point by my house on the way home and I didn’t even think about my phone. I’m home safe now.

Then she went inside to deal with whatever Saline had called her for. “At this point, it could be anything.” Kara thought.

She walked inside and walked to the kitchen, since the light was on. Saline was sitting at the kitchen table, staring into a glass of wine.

“Hey momma.” Kara said quietly.

“Oh thank god. I was so worried about you! You need to call me if you’re going to be late!” Saline jumped up and hugged her.

“I didn’t realize I was going to be so late. I just stopped at the lookout point down the road.” Kara said, hugging her back.

“Well. Call me next time.” Saline smiled.

“I will. Well, I’m gonna head to bed.” Kara pulled away said goodnight, and went upstairs. She got to her room and started to undress when her phone went off.

Finn: It’s okay, as long as you’re okay. I miss you.

Kara: I miss you too! I have to work tomorrow morning so I’m gonna get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow!

Finn: Okay, goodnight.

She closed her phone and set it on her nightstand then finished getting into a nightshirt, took off all the makeup, and put her hair in a bun. She laid down and got comfy, then drifted to sleep.