Mannequins

Deep breaths. In. Out. Slayden focused on calming himself, his brown eyes staring down the door to Kat's room. He raised his hand to knock, then dropped it. The button up shirts that hung over his arm swung against his leg; he shifted his weight to his left foot, dropping his face down so that his eyes were focused on the floor. He hadn't even told her that she was coming; his mind kept scolding him. She was probably busy, too busy for Slayden's minuscule problem of not being able to decide what to wear. 
Finally, taking one last deep breath, Slayden pounded on the door to her room, then dropped his hand back to his side and waited anxiously for her to answer. As soon as the door swung open, his thoughts tumbled from his lips. "I need your help, it's an emergency."

Kat was seated on her bed, legs crossed as she glared at her cell phone. Jenna would not stop bugging her about the Christmas Ball, and how Jenna had to approve her dress, and how Kat had to make sure that Slayden knew nothing about Jenna and Marco, and she was sick of it. When there was a knock on her door, Kat nearly jumped up to answer it, praying it wasn't Jenna. So when she saw Slayden standing there with different shirts in his hand, she couldn't have been happier to see them. 

"What is it?" Kat asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice as he said it was an emergency. "Here, come on in." Kat said, stepping out of the way so he could enter her dorm.

Slayden walked into the room quickly, brushing past Kat and dumping his pile of button-down shirts onto her bed. He kept his eyes on them for a few seconds, then turned his attention to Kat, a pleading look on his face, "I need your help," he repeated, "I don't know what to wear." As the words came out, Slayden realized how ridiculous he looked and sounded, charging into Kat's room and demanding help over a fashion crisis. 
"I-I don't know what to wear to the Christmas Ball," he started to explain, "And you know how much I like to prepare ahead of time, but nothing looks right and I just..." he let his voice trail off, his mouth hanging open; his eyes begging Kat to help.

Kat almost laughed, but she didnt', because she knew Slayden. "It's alright, I'll help!" Kat said, patting him on the shoulder and then looking at the pile of shirts he'd dumped on her bed. "Well, Jenna's dress is pink. So you probably could rule out the red, you don't need to look like Valentine's Day." She advised, biting her lip and glancing at the other colors. "Um...what do you like?" She asked, pushing back some stray hairs out of her face.

Reaching down for the red shirt, Slayden threw it to the ground, then laid the other shirts out so that Kat could see the varying colors, "I don't think it matter what I like," Slayden admitted, "I just need it to impress Jenna." Slayden smiled slightly, his lips curving upwards to form a goofy grin; he looked up at Kat. "C'mon Kitty Kat. You know I'm not good with colors. What looks good with pink?" he asked, then picked up an aqua blue shirt, holding it up to him.

Kat nodded, biting her lip and looking down at the ground. She didn't want Jenna to hurt Slayden. It wasn't fair, he hadn't done anything to deserve it. "Right. Um..." She looked at the shirts, pushing hair out of her face and thinking about the colors. "Um, what about this?" She asked, holding up a plain white on. "Try it on."

"White wont wash me out?" Slayden questioned. He paused for a moment, then picked up the white shirt. Before he could think about what he was doing, Slayden peeled off the black shirt he was wearing and tossed it aside. He ran his fingers over the stiff white shirt, then slung it around his back, shoving his arms through the sleeves. "What do you think?" He asked, buttoning the shirt up slowly.

Kat shook her head, bending down to pick up the red shirt he'd put on the ground. When she looked up, the girl nearly jumped at seeing a shirtless Slayden in front of her. Sure, they'd been swimming together as kids, but...military academy had really gotten him to look good. Like...wow. Who knew what eight years could do. But Kat stopped herself, remembering that he was Jenna's now. This wasn't right. They were just friends. Even if he was extremely attractive. Feeling her face blush, Kat stopped looking at his chest and looked up to meet his face. "I...yeah. I think that one's good."

Slayden looked down at the shirt, tucking it into the dark jeans he wore and straightening the collar. "You sure this looks okay?" he asked, running his hand down his stomach to smooth the front, "I should probably iron it, I know. And maybe get a tie? Pink and white?" Slayden sighed and sat on top of a green shirt on the edge of Kat's bed, and he rubbed his hand over his mouth, "I don't wanna seem like I didn't try, you know? I want to... impress Jenna. She really likes me, and I... I don't wanna screw that up."

Kat nodded, watching Slayden as he fixed the collar and ran his hand down the front. "Yeah. Um...pink and white would work, yeah. Just not too bright, you don't want to take away from Jenna." She advised, sitting down next to him on her bed. "I...you'll look fine. I promise." Kat reassured, resting her hand on top of his for a moment, before pulling it away and fixing her hair. "As long as you don't make her look bad, she won't mind what you wear." She said. Kat smiled weakly before adding, "I-I hope you two have a good time...together."

When her hand touched his, Slayden shivered, staring at their hands for a moment, a wishful look passing his face. Then, he forced it away, shaking his head. Her hand had moved away from his by the time he forced the fluttering in his stomach to subside, and for a moment, Slayden felt a twang of despair. "I, umm yeah." he said finally, rubbing his hands together. He forced a broad smile onto his face and cocked his head to the side. "What about you? What're you wearing?"

As soon as she pulled her hand off, Kat wished she could set it back down on his. No, she reminded herself. Slayden liked Jenna. Not her. "I...um, my dress is a light pink, sort of like a salmon color. Here, I'll show you," Kat stood up, opening the door to her closet and finding the bag with her dress inside. She unzipped the garment bag that it was in, taking it off the hanger. She held it up against her, turning around to face Slayden. "What do you think?" She asked, biting down on her lip as she awaited his response.

For a moment, Slayden was dazed, unable to answer Kat's question as his eyes ran over the flowing pink dress. He opened his mouth when his eyes reached Kat's. "I, umm..." Slayden started, struggling to find the right words. 
 "Exquisite," He finally managed, licking his lips nervously, "You'll look absolutely beautiful, Kat." he continued. Slayden swallowed hard, pulling at an old bracelet on his wrist. He looked down it, smiling. He still remembered when Kat made it for him, all those years ago. It'd been too big for him then, constantly falling from his wrist. He'd panic each time he almost lost it. Now, it fit snugly.
 "You're always beautiful." He finally said, glancing back up at Kat, his fingers still brushing against the bracelet.

Kat tapped her fingers nervously as she waited for Slayden to say something. She really did like the dress, and hoped he did too. When he did respond, her face turned pink and she smiled sheepishly. "Thank you," She thanked, hanging the dress back up. As she turned back around, his words caught her by surprise. "I...um...I..." She stuttered, before muttering a thank you. "Is that the bracelet I made you?" Kat finally said, walking over to him and running her hands along the bracelet. "I can't believe you still have this."

Slayden nodded, staring at the bracelet, "Of course I kept it. It's special to me." Slayden said, turning his hand over so the underside of the bracelet showed. Kat's name stared up at him, in those stupid circular beads they'd both decorated everything with at one point. "You wanted everyone to know that I was your best friend. And that meant a lot to me," Slayden admitted, then pushed on before he could think about what he was saying, "And for a 6 year old who was head over heels for you, that meant a lot."

Kat grinned, looking at the beads that spelled out her name. "I'm glad that it was special to you..." She remembered making it for him, and she hadn't been able to find a 'T' to finish off the bracelet, so she'd made her nanny run to the store and get more beads. Her face turned an even darker shade of pink, and Kat felt her stomach flutter. "Well, I think that six year old meant a lot more to his friend than he realized." She said, not really thinking about what she was saying as the words tumbled out of her mouth.

He looked up, his eyes fluttering as he blinked at Kat, his mouth quirking up at the corner. For a moment he was silent. He could feel Kat's fingers brushing against his arm from where she was touching the bracelet. They were so close... 
He knew he shouldn't be thinking about it, about how easily it would be for him to lean forward and press his lips against Kat's. About tangling his fingers in her fiery hair; Slayden felt his mind stray in that direction, all thoughts of his relationship with Jenna disappearing. 
"Meant?" He asked finally, regretting the word the moment it fell from his lips. He bit his lip, looking down.

Kat felt her stomach flutter, her hand drifting off of his wrist and back to her side. She regretted moving her hand as soon as she had, wishing she could move it back. It took a lot of self control to stop her from kissing Slayden then and there, showing him that she did still care. But...he liked Jenna. And Jenna would kill her, even if she didn't like Slayden the way he thought she did. It just...it wasn't fair.

"I-I...um..." Kat stuttered nervously, tapping her fingers against her leg as she looked at the ground. "Maybe...maybe not in the past tense..."

Slayden kept his eyes to the right of Kat a bit as she sat silently; they flicked back to her as she stumbled out a response. For just second, Slayden thought about getting up and leaving - backing out of this mess before he dug an even deeper hole. 
Finally, before he could think about his options any more, Slayden reached a hand forward and tipped Kat's chin up so that she was looking at him. "Kat," he started, then leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers eagerly.

Kat looked shamefully at the floor, realizing that she shouldn't have said what she said and that she was making this entire thing into a huge mess. "I-" The redhead started before Slayden pressed his lips against hers, kissing her deeply. She hesitated before kissing him back, but it was worth it. God, it felt good. She really, really did like Slayden a lot. Kat continued to kiss him for a moment, before realizing what she was doing. Kat pulled away, stumbling back.

"Oh my god..." She whispered, realizing what had just happened. Her eyes stung with tears, and she couldn't look up to meet Slayden's eyes. "I-I'm so sorry..."

When she kissed him back, Slayden felt his stomach flutter, filled with a mix of relief and anxiety. Somewhere in his mind, a voice was shouting at him, telling him that it was wrong; he couldn't listen to it. All he wanted to do was focus on Kat and the way her lips moved against his. Then, suddenly, she was away from him. Slayden fell away from her, hitting the wall behind him. He stood there, focusing on calming his erratic heart beat as he listened to Kat's soft apology. 
"N-No," Slayden stuttered, "I'm sorry. I should have... I didn't mean..." Slayden struggled to come up with an excuse that somehow explained why he'd kissed Kat.

Kat's heart pounded nervously, and it took a few deep breaths before she could even speak. "I...you're with Jenna...and you like Jenna...a-and I don't want to ruin things between you, I shouldn't have...I'm so sorry..." It hurt a lot to have to apologize for kissing him. Because if Jenna wasn't standing in the way, Kat would have done it all over again in a heartbeat. But Slayden liked Jenna, a lot. Even if she was using him, being with her made him happy. And she didn't want to get in the way of that.