Page 39 of Untouchable

“I don’t like not knowing what you’re saying.”

I sit up in my seat with a smirk creeping across my face. “Sometimes it’s okay not to know everything, Katarina.” I toss a fry in my mouth and she stares at me a moment longer before dropping the conversation.

“Whatever.” I won’t lie, I like knowing what power I hold in terms of a language barrier between Katarina and me. Knowing that I could say anything to her, at any given time, and she would have no idea what to make of it. Though the very fact that she wants to learn, sparks something else inside of me that I can’t quite place.

“Do you guys want to go sightseeing after we eat?” Her attention is only on Mikey and Bodine, so I wait for her to look in my direction for an answer, but she never does.

“Sure. Where are you thinking?” Mikey asks.

“I think there’s a city park not too far from here. I want to grab my camera bag from the motel before we go though.”

“Always with the pictures,” Bodine teases her and she glares at him.

“Well, it is herjob. Besides, she’s excellent at what she does. Have you never seen her work?” I grab my wallet from my back pocket, a little more aggressively than I mean to, I’ll admit, before tossing money down to cover both mine and Katarina’s food. The frustration of being so blatantly left out of the plan making not setting right with me, I decide to let them finish their food while I wait outside.

“I know, dude, I’ve seen her work. She’s brilliant, I was just giving her a hard time,” Bodine says light heartedly. I stand up and head for the exit, not bothering to say anything else. A few minutes later Kat comes outside, leaving Bodine and Mikey inside.

She stops right in front of where I’m leaning on my bike. “You didn’t have to pay for mine too, you know?”

I shrug, turning to face the traffic on the street. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you okay with stopping back by the motel for my camera bag before we go?”

“We?”

“Well, yeah. I mean. I can’t go anywhere without you, right? I didn’t plan onwalkingto the park.”

Hmm, maybe she is learning.

“Yeah, we can stop on the way.” I grab her helmet from the bike, putting it on her head as she watches me with wide eyes.

“Ace?” I stop, my eyes landing on hers. “When haveyouseen my work?”

Fuck.

I wish I knew if she had an online page to reference because myrealanswer is one she’s not going to like. Although, by the shade of red that’s creeping across her cheeks right now, I think she may already know.

Luckily we’re saved by the boys as they come running out to the bikes before I have to answer.

“So, what exactly are we supposed to be seeing at this park?” I finish fastening Katarina’s helmet and turn to put my own on.

“Nature!”

“Oh. That’s it?” Mikey’s face twists and I laugh.

Katarina slides on my bike, molding to my back like a missing puzzle piece. “I have a lot to teach you three, don’t I?”

“We’re not so great at the learnin’. You might be biting off more than you can chew with that task,” Bodine jokes, causing Katarina’s chest to shake with laughter.

We stop back by the motel for Katarina to grab her camera from her bag, securing it as best she can to herself before hopping back on the back of my bike. When we’re almost at the park, she taps the inside of my thigh, sending a shiver up my spine when she does. She points to the right, requesting I pull over, and when we pull off on the side of the road, I barely get the bike stopped before she jumps off.

“Hold this for me, would ya?” She hands me her helmet and winks at me, then practically bounces to the edge of where the gravel meets the grass. Pulling the lens cap off of her camera she begins snapping photos of the sunset behind a single tree in the middle of a field. There’s something so peaceful about watching Katarina in her element. Listening to the camera shutter, watching her long blonde hair blow in the summer breeze, watching the muscles in her legs work as she moves ever so slightly to get just the right angle.

“Smile, boys.” I have no intention of smiling. Posing for pictures makes my skin crawl, but when I see her laughing, morethan likely at whatever Mikey and Bodine are doing behind me, one naturally finds its way onto my face.

“Damn, Hernández. Not bad.” I can’t figure out why, but every time her eyes meet mine, it feels like time just stops—waiting for someone to make a move that’ll never happen.

That is until someone clears their throat obnoxiously loud behind me. “Um, I thought we looked pretty good too.”Bodine. I look over my shoulder at the two of them propped up on their bikes.

---