Chapter 7 - Troubled Love

CHAPTER 7: Troubled Love		 
	
	It was a typical summer day at Kari's house as she sat on the couch watching television. She sighed, her thoughts were somewhere else besides the television. She heard the doorbell ring and her mom answered it. "Keri someone's here to see you." She heard her mom yell. Kari got up quickly and headed towards the door, hoping it was Evan.
Kari got up to the door and froze. "Hey Kari. It's been a while." The person at the door said. She didn't respond to his comment. At the door stood another cat. His name was Gary, he had gray fur and yellow eyes. He was 5 foot 8 at 140 pounds, quite muscular, and was standing infront of Kari looking at her. "W..what do you want Gary? I told you along time ago I didn't want to see you again." Gary grinned, "Well.. I was just around and figured I'd pop by to see how you were doin'." "I'm fine now leave!" She tried to push him out the door, but he stopped her. "Hey, hey now! I was hoping we could go do some stuff like old times."  "NO!"  "C'mon lets just go grab something to eat." Kari sighed, "Promise you'll stop annoying me after this." "Fine, fine." He grabbed her arm and led her outside to his car. "I hope Evan doesn't see me." She thought as she got into the car. Gary started up the car and they began driving away.

	Evan stepped out of his room, his fur was messed up. He had just woken up and was slowly making his way over to the bathroom and started the shower. He wanted to go back to sleep but knew he had to stay awake. He stepped into the warm shower and began to clean himself up. Afterwards he made his way downstairs with the same question he always had on his mind, "I wonder what Kari is doing.." Evan walked into the kitchen and grabbed some waffles from the freezer. He put them in the toster and got out some syrup and butter, "Man I haven't had these in a while." He chuckled. They were finally done and he quickly devoured them. A burp escaped his lips as he finished and looked around. He spoted his phone on the kitchen counter, "Maybe Kari will want to do something today.." Evan picked up his phone and called Kari, no answer. "I wonder why she has her phone off," Evan thought to himself, "maybe she's still asleep.." He looked over at the clock, 9:26, "Nah. She has to be awake. He looked around at the empty house and sighed. "I really want to be with her.. guess I'll go see if she's at her house. He got into his car and headed towards Kari's house. He made his way over her house but stopped as he saw her leaving with another guy. His eyes widened as he saw them get into a car and begin driving off.  "What is Kari doing..?" He thought as he watched them drive off and began to follow them, wanting to find out. "Kari..."

	Gary kept driving and glanced over at Kari, "So what have you been up to lately?"  "Nothing that you need to concern yourself with."  "Jeesh, so cold. Seriously what's up? You used to be wild and all over me."  "Don't even try anything Gary, I have a boyfriend."  "Oh, really? Well does he treat you like I did before?"  "No, this one is sweet and nice unlike you." She glared at him. "Well why aren't you with him right now?"  "Because..." She tried to think. "Also why are you here with me right now?" "Because you forced me!"
"Whatever. So do you still feel the same way to me like you did before?"  "No," Kari looked away, "I don't." Gary looked over at her, "You sure..?" He grinned. "Yeah." Kari and Gary pulled up to a fast food restaurant and Gary parked the car. "C'mon lets go get somethin." They went inside, the place seemed empty and noone was around. They both walked up to the registers and got some burgers. They sat down at a table in the back of the place and Kari quietly ate her burger, trying to avoid eye contact with Gary. "So c'mon say something," Gary stared at her. "So why did you really want to bring me here?" Kari questioned between her bites of her burger.  "Well I just wanted to see if you still felt the same way about me." Kari looked away, "No I told you I don't." Gary leaned towards her, his face next to her's. "I think you do." Kari blushed, "No Gary, I'm with another guy now."  "Don't try to deny it Kari, you still like me." Kari stood up and headed for the door. "Hey don't go," Gary got up and followed her. She got outside of the door before he grabbed her arm and stopped her. He pulled her to the side next to the door, "Kari c'mon. I still feel the same way towards you and I'm sure you still feel the same to me." Gary leaned towards her and kissed her deeply.. She closed her eyes and felt herself wrap her arms around him as they continued to kiss. They stopped kissing and held on to eachother, staring deeply into eachother's eyes. "Why am I doing this? I thought I loved Evan, but being here with him.."  "Kari!" A voice called out. Her thoughts were interupted as she turned her head to see Evan there, mouth open, and eyes wide and filled with tears. "Why Kari? Why would you do that?!" Evan quickly turned around and ran towards his car, tears flowing from his eyes. "Evan, wait!" She let go of Gary and ran off towards Evan. She stopped infront of his car as he began to drive off. "Evan don't go!" She sat down on the ground and began crying as Evan drove away. "Kari.. was that him?" She looked up at him, "Yes, now just go!"  "But.."  "Just go! I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to hurt his feelings!" Gary got into his car and drove away. Kari sat there infront of the restaurant, sobbing. "How could I do that to him?" She thought to herself, "He must hate me now.." She got up and looked around, realising she had no ride home she began walking, wiping tears from her eyes she made her way home. "I must've broken his heart now.." She hung her head as she slowly made her way home. After a long time of slowly walking she finally reached her house. She stepped inside and walked back to her room and threw herself onto her bed crying.

	Evan watched Kari and the other guy walk out of the restaurant and talk. "Who is this guy, and why is Kari with him?" The thoughts in his head were racing. He wanted to know why she was with another guy right now and why they were together. He got out of his car and slowly began walking up towards them but stopped, frozen as he watched them. Infront of him was Kari kissing another guy. He felt himself tear up and call out, "Kari!" He watched her turn to look at him. "Why Kari? Why would you do that?! He felt himself call out and turned around, he couldn't look at her he was crying and couldn't stop the tears. He ran towards his car, got inside, and began driving away. He saw Kari run up to his car but he didn't care, he couldn't care. He just wanted to get away from this. He couldn't stand the thought of what he saw her doing with him.
He quickly drove home and ran inside his house. He laid down on the couch and cried for a long time. "How could she do that? I thought I was being a good boyfriend.. I guess I was wrong. I guess I wasn't a good enough guy for her." He picked up his phone and called Jaden. "Hey," Jaden said as he answered the phone.  "Jaden! Jaden! I need help!" He began sobbing again. "Woah dude, what's going on? What happened?" "Jaden I saw Kari and some other guy kissing and I don't know what to do!" "What?! Really? Calm down dude. Now just tell me what happened." Evan wiped tears from his eyes and sniffled. "Well I saw Kari and some guy head over to a fast food place and when they came out I saw them kiss. I ran away from them after I saw it, but I don't know what to do now! Jaden please help me!"  "Hmm,' Jaden thought for a second.  "I think you should talk to her, but only when you feel up to it okay? Once you've calmed down enough talk to her and find out everything got it?"  Evan whimpered, "Okay." Evan hung up the phone and looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, but could only see the images of Kari with another guy. He couldn't get it out of his head, he wanted to know why she did it. He felt his phone go off and looked down at the caller I.D. it was Kari. He waited a minute, "Should I do it?" He thought as he felt a knot grow inside of his heart from the pain. He sighed, and answered the call, "Hi."  "Evan..," Kari paused over the phone, "I'm sorry."  "Kari, why?.. Why did you do it?" He could hear Kari begin crying on the phone. "I'm really sorry Evan I didn't mean to do it. It's just he was my boyfriend before and he showed up at my house and.. and," She began crying more, "I didn't mean it Evan, I was just caught up in the moment.. and he.. we.. I'm sorry I know I hurt you and please don't hate me."  "Okay Kari. Can we meet up and talk some more?"  "Yes Evan! Where should we meet?"  "Just come over here okay?"  "Alright Evan I'll be right there." They hung up and Evan put his phone down. "An old boyfriend huh?" He felt his heart tighten up as he thought about the two of them together. He turned on the televison and waited for Kari to arrive.

	Kari eventually stopped crying and she looked around at her room. She saw her phone on her dresser and got up to get it. She picked it up, "I don't know if I should call him," she sighed, "I guess I'll talk to Jasmine." She called Jasmine's phone and after a few rings she picked up, "Hey Kari what's up girl?" Kari's eyes began watering up, "Jasmine I did something terrible to Evan and I don't know what to do! I need someone to talk to right now! Please!"  "Woah girl calm down now what's up?" Jasmine was suprised by Kari's sobs. "Well Gary came over earlier."  "You mean your ex-boyfriend?" Jasmine interupted. "Yeah, and well we just went to get something to eat, but then we kissed and I don't know how but Evan was there and he saw us and drove away crying and I'm so terrible." Kari broke down crying again. "Well Kari, I don't really know what to say," she paused, "seeing how Evan seems to be sensitive I'm sure he's hurting right now. Jaden told me that's what he's like, but listen Kari, you have to go tell him about it. If that happened to me I would be sitting at home crying wondering why the one I love would do that." Kari sniffled, "Yeah I guess I should explain what happened, I just hope he's not too made and upset at me."  "I'm sure you'll be okay now me and Jaden are going to go to a party later, I would invite you but it seem's you'll be busy with this."  "Yeah, thanks Jasmine, I'll talk to Evan right now."  "Alright, hope it all works out." Kari hung up the phone and called Evan. The phone began to ring, "I really hope he's not mad."    ...after talking Kari hung up the phone, "Atleast he wants to talk about it. He can't be that mad then can he?" She stepped out of the house and then ran towards Evan's house. She was breathing heavily by the time she finally reached his house a few minutes later. She knocked on the door and waited for Evan to answer. Evan opened the door, "Hi."  "Hi," Kari quietly replied. Evan noticed she was out of breath, "You need a drink?"  "Yes, please." They walked in and got Kari a drink of water. They both stood in the kitchen quietly neither one looking at the other. "So.. do you like what's his name?" Kari looked down into her cup of water, "His name is Gary. He was my boyfriend a while ago and I like him, but I love you."  "Oh, okay. Umm Kari. Do you think I'm not a good boyfriend or something?" Kari looked up at him,confused, "Why would you say that?" Evan became nervous and began playing with his tail as he talked, "Well I mean you kissed him so I mean does that mean that he's better than me or something like that?" His voice trailed off. "No Evan, it just means I was being stupid and that I wasn't caring enough." Evan was still playing with his tail, "So, why?" Kari sighed, "Evan it's because I got carried away and I thought back about how we were when me and him were together, and I'm really sorry." Evan looked over at her, "So umm how were you back then when you were with him?"  "Well if you really wanna know.. before I met you and when I was with him I was a bit more "wild" let's just say." Evan became confused, "How so?"  "Well when I was with him I would always go out to parties, stay out late, and so many other things." Evan nodded, "So why aren't you like that now?"  "Ehh I just got tired of it and he turned out to be a jerk so I left him, I really am sorry for what happened Evan." Evan sighed, "Well I'm still not over it, and I don't know when I will be over it, but just give me some time okay?." He slowly walked over to her and hugged her. "Alright Evan," She hugged him back, "I'll give you as much time as you need." Evan looked at her, "So did you have any plans for today?" "No, I was planning on staying in my room all day until you invited me over." Evan looked over at the clock, 12:21. "So want to go do something?"  "Sure but what?"  "Well you said before that you used to go to parties and such right?"  "Yeah, you want to go somewhere like that?" Evan nodded, "I've never been to one and I've always wanted to go."  "Hmm, let me see if there's one going on, I'll call Jasmine she always goes to them. Let me step into the other room to call her." Kari walked into another other room and Evan walked into the living room to watch television. Kari walked into the hallway and pulled out her phone and called Jasmine, "Hey Kari you tell him about it?"  "Yeah and hey Jasmine where is that party you said you were going to with Jaden?"  "It's over at Jason's house why? Evan dump you and you lookin' for another?"  "No, but then again Evan might still hate me enough to do such a thing himself if he had it in him."  "Oh c'mon girl, I was just kidding. Anyways the party starts at 7 tonight I guess I'll see ya there." She hung up the phone. Kari walked into the living room and stood over Evan on the couch. "Jasmine said there was a party happening tonight at one of her friend's house if you wana go."  "Sure what time?"  "Start's at 7."  "Is Jasmine going?"  "Yeah, and she said she's taking Jaden with her."  "So what do you want to do until then?" Evan asked. "I'll do anything that you want to do Evan. I want to make sure you know I love you no matter what." Evan looked over at Kari. "Well, I mean could we just cuddle or something?" Kari blushed, "Really? You want to?"  "Maybe I'll help him forgive me by doing that." Kari thought. She sat down next to Evan on the couch and he wrapped his arms around her. He wagged his tail as he rubbed his muzzle against her nose happily. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, "I never knew you liked to cuddle." She giggled. Evan blushed, "Yeah, I love it." He gave her a kiss which she returned. Evan kept cuddling up with her, hugging her, and giving her kisses until he couldn't cuddle her anymore. "I want to take a nap kari," he said as he felt his eyes grow heavy. He had already been through alot today emotionally and he was worn out. "Sure and I'll be right here no matter what," she said as she rested herself on his chest. The two fell asleep, awaiting the party that Evan so baddly wanted to go to and both wondering if it would all turn out alright by the end.

	Evan woke up and looked over at the clock, 6:44. He looked down at Kari who was still asleep. He nudged her, "Hey Kari c'mon get up we need to go soon." She yawned, and looked around and then at him and she smiled. She slowly sat up,"Alright I'm getting up." She stretched her arms and then wrapped them around his waist, "I love you Evan."  "I love you too Kari." Evan got up off the couch with Kari still holding on to his waist. She looked up at him, "I don't wanna let you go now." Evan smiled, "Well you have too if we're going to go." She groaned, "Fine," and let go of him and slipped down onto the sofa again. Evan headed for the stairs, "I'm gonna' head upstairs to put some better clothes on. I'll be right back." Kari looked up and watched him as he disapeared into his room and sighed, "I hope he'll forgive me for what I did to him." She sat up and looked over at the clock, "Guess we'll just meet Jasmine there." she thought. Evan walked down stairs a minute later with fresh clothes on, "There, all good now." He smiled at her. "So where is the party anyways?"  "It's over at Jason's house. Don't worry you probably don't know him, he's cool about having lots of people at his parties so your okay." Evan nodded, "So we are we going to go now?"  "Yeah, We'll just take my car since I'll be driving us there." They both headed out the door and got into Kari's car. They began driving to Jason's house, "So how far away is it?" Evan asked. "Just a few minute drive don't worry." Evan looked over at Kari as she focused on the road and smiled, "I hope this party goes over well," he thought. They arrived at Jason's house and cars were already parked in the driveway and partly down the street. Kari parked a few houses down, parked, and turned off the car. "Alright ready to party?" Kari asked. Evan nodded back at her and they both got out and headed to the front door which many people were crowding around. They managed to squeeze their way into the crammed two-story house. Evan looked around the place with amazement. Everywhere there were tons of people of all diffrent species. Kari looked over at him and smiled, "How about you just walk around and get comfortable while I find Jasmine, okay?"  "Sure, and I'll look out for Jaden too." They both went their seperate ways, Kari pushed through the crowd of people looking around for Jasmine, while Evan went to search for Evan and to enjoy the moment. Kari walked around the whole house, "Where could she be?" Then it hit her. She found the backdoor, walked outside, and instantly saw Jasmine. "Hey Jasmine."  "Hey, so I take it you and Evan made up?"  "Yeah I guess, though I still feel bad." Kari looked down. "Hey, atleast you told him about it and I'd be willing to bet money that he still loves you."  "Yeah he said he does, but I wonder if I should just leave him so he never has to deal with me and what I did again..."  "Hey Kari," a voice called out. It was Gary. "Listen Gary I really don't want to talk right now."  "Hey listen I'm sorry about all that, but I want you to know I really do feel the same way that I did before about you."  "How did you feel about her before?" Evan's voice came from behind him. Evan was standing behind him listening with Jaden right next to him. Kari felt a knot in her heart again, "Evan this is Gary." Evan looked at him. "Hi."  "Hey." Gary sharply responded.  "So Gary, how did you feel about Kari?"  "Well I really care about her and she was so great when we were wild and just partied all the time and I really want to be with her again."  "Oh, okay I see, I'm sorry, but I'm with her now and I love her."  "Really? Do you know how she feels though?" They both faced Kari who instantly became nervous from their stare, "I just.. I really.. well you both are special to me in your own ways. "Well Kari, just tell us how you really feel." Gary looked sternly at her. She sighed, "Let me make this clear to you both." 
        She slowly walked up to the two of them next to eachother and looked at both of them. She moved her lips and placed them on his cheek giving him a kiss. The other one looked at her, a stunned look came across his face. He looked down at her, "Thanks for letting me know you feel the same way Kari." She paused with her lips still on his cheek, "I love you so much, I can't begin to tell you how I feel when I'm without you.. Evan." Evan looked deeply into her eyes, "and I don't know what I would do without you Kari." Evan looked at Gary, "Alright Gary, I think she's chosen who she wants to be with." Gary took a long look at him, and then at Kari. He turned around and quietly sulked away. Evan looked back at her, "Well, let's all get back in there in party." He looked over at Jasmine and Jaden then smiled. "Yeah," Kari nodded and held on to Evan. The four of them walked inside to the party each with their lover in their arms.