Fishin' In The Dark

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“Hey, Cat, are you doing anything tonight?” Chad asked, leaning against the locker next to Caitlin’s.

Cat looked up apologetically, balancing her Algebra II book on a raised knee while she tried to open her locker. “Well, I was going to go out with Zach, but . . .” she let her sentence trail off and shrugged awkwardly.

“Never mind, then,” Chad said quickly, turning his head so Cat wouldn’t see the hurt on his face. He hoisted his baseball bag over his shoulder and began the long walk to his truck.

“Wait!” Caitlin yelled, dumping her books in her locker and hurrying after Chad. “We haven’t seen each other in a long while. It’s about time we did something together. I’ll just tell Zach that something came up and I can’t make it,” she offered.

Chad’s face lit up. “Great!” He exclaimed, making no effort to shield his excitement. “Is seven okay?”

Cat nodded. “Sure. I’ll be out on the front porch waiting,” she promised, giving Chad’s hand a squeeze.

“Caitlin!” A deep voice boomed from behind them. “Babe, wait up.”

Cat dropped Chad’s hand quickly, and Chad rolled his eyes as Zach the Great came jogging over. “See you later, Cat,” Chad said abruptly, leaving the couple alone. Catalin didn’t respond, but then again, he hadn’t expected her to.

Chad and Cat used to be best friends. All through elementary school and junior high, they were inseparable. In high school, though, they’d both discovered that their interests weren’t at all alike. Caitlin dove into the popularity contest at Davies High, while Chad preferred to read or hunt. However, they shared a common love for fishing. Chad was pretty sure that interest had worked its way off Cat’s list, but when he told her to be ready at seven, he saw the glimmer of recognition that flittered across her face. When they were children, seven ‘o’ clock meant be on your porch with a fishing pole, a tackle box, and a sack dinner.

And that was exactly how Chad found Cat when he pulled up into her driveway. She placed the tackle box and the fishing pole in the truck bed, and then climbed into the passenger seat of Chad’s blue pickup Buffy. Chad cranked the music up as they started for Castaway Cove, Cat’s cue to began belting out Martina McBride.

She hasn’t forgotten, Chad reassured himself. She’s still my Kitty-Cat. He parked the truck by the side of the road and pulled the fishing stuff out of the back while Cat grabbed their dinner and tried to find the path to the old fishing hole. It was almost completely hidden by weeds and fallen limbs, but after clearing the first few feet of brush, the going became easier.

“Has it really been that long since we’ve been here?” Caitlin asked as they came to the edge of the pond.

“Yep, guess so,” Chad replied, sitting down and pulling his pole out. Caitlin pulled hers out and baited it also.

As they waited for an unsuspecting fish to happen upon their hooks, Cat talked about everything. Unfortunately, ‘everything’ for her was Zach.

“He’s a really wonderful guy,” she said happily. “Every morning he calls and tells me I’m beautiful. Then he picks me up, takes me to his house, and we eat pancakes before finishing our homework and going to school.”

Chad tried to be patient. He really did. After all, this was the girl he loved. He tried to be a good friend and listen, and he refrained from reminding her about the time that she had walked to school because Zach had forgotten to pick her up.

“Then, when he could sit with anyone he wants to at lunch,” Caitlin went on, “he waits for me to get out of Spanish III and carries my tray through the lunch line to that itty-bitty table for two in the corner of the cafeteria!” she squealed.

Chad bit his tongue, and then to distract Cat, pretended to get a bite. “Wow, that was a whopper!” He exclaimed.

“Huh? Where?” Caitlin gasped, jumping up and reeling her line in. Seeing nothing on the end of her pole, she sank back down into the grass. “If Zach was here, he would have waded in and caught it with his hands!”

Chad highly doubted this, but didn’t say so. Instead, he racked his brains trying to think of something he could say that was not related in any way to Zach. “How’s Flip doing?” Chad finally asked, referring to Cat’s puppy.

Her face lit up. “He’s doing great! We always know when it’s Zach at the door because Flip jumps up and down and barks and scratches whatever’s near him,” Cat said excitedly.

Chad inhaled and exhaled very slowly, trying to keep his breath even. If he heard the name Zach one more time, he just might throw himself into the pond.

“Is something wrong?” Caitlin asked, looking sideways at Chad and catching his exhausted look.

When he started to open his mouth hesitantly, Caitlin reached over and touched his arm softly. “You don’t have to tell me,” she reassured him quickly. “I’ll just sit here and we can fish quietly like good old times.”

“You’ve changed a lot, you know,” Cat spoke up a few minutes and no fish later.

“So have you,” Chad said gruffly, still angry that all Cat could talk about was Zach the Great. “Ever since -” He stopped suddenly, realizing what he’d almost said.

“Ever since what?” Cat pressed, a worried expression on her face.

“Nothing,” Chad put in hurriedly, and Cat removed her hand from his arm awkwardly. They sat in silence once more, neither moving.

Finally Cat spoke up. “I miss confiding in you,” she said out of the blue, and waited until Chad looked at her before continuing. “And I miss you confiding in me.”

“You do?” Chad asked, a half-smile forming on his face.

Caitlin nodded and smiled firmly. “Of course I do.”

“So we’re still friends?” Chad questioned warily, images of heartthrob Zach dancing in his mind.

“Yes,” Caitlin answered, grabbing his hand for the second time that day. “Just friends.”

At hearing ‘just friends’, Chad’s heart fell and his smile vanished. But it came back as a look of contentment when Cat didn’t let go of his hand, just closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest.

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The next time Chad saw Caitlin was prom, but she wasn’t nestled in Zach’s arms. In fact, she wasn’t nestled in anybody’s arms. She was standing alone in the doorway of the gymnasium with a hurt expression on her face, watching all of her friends dance. She looked beautiful in her flowing periwinkle dress with her hair done up in gorgeous curls. But her lovely smile that outshone the dress and the hair was missing.

Chad went to stand next to her. He had been doing more or less the same thing from the other side of the gym. After finding that Cat was going to prom with Zach, he had been too depressed to even try to find a date.

“Where’s Zach?” He couldn’t resist asking as he reached her.

“Out there,” she said in a muffled voice, hiding her face with her hands.

Chad searched the floor for Zach. He caught sight of him in the corner of the room with a blonde-headed girl in his arms. He didn’t need Cat to say any more.

Chad turned back to Caitlin. “Look at me,” he ordered, but Cat shook her head.

Chad grabbed her arm. “Fine. Now I have no choice but to take you outside.”

He picked up Cat and half-dragged, half-carried her to his truck.

The transition momentarily tripped Cat up and she asked incredulously, “What are you doing?”

“Well, I’m going fishing. How about you?” Chad questioned, wondering how Cat would react.

Her surprise showed. “Don’t you have a prom date or some girl you like back inside?” Caitlin asked coolly.

“Well, she was inside, but I brought her out to go fishin’ in the dark like old times,” Chad asked, smiling widely.

Caitlin gasped. “Chad! Why didn’t you say something?”

Chad shrugged sheepishly. “You were into the jocks and the popular girls. I just wanted to hang back and relax. Then you met Zach, and it seemed obvious what you wanted,” Chad explained.

“I always thought you didn’t like me anymore!” Cat exclaimed, and realizing their mistake made her pause. “The truth was, though, that thinking that hurt me a lot. I really like you too, Chad. I was afraid that you didn’t feel the same way.”

“Really?” Chad asked unbelievingly. All the hurt and wasted time could have been prevented, and it just pained him more to think it wasn’t.

“I guess we both should have said something,” Caitlin pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Chad said, opening his truck door.

Cat just stood there. “I still don’t know what to say.”

“How about, ‘yes, I’ll go fishing’?” Chad suggested, a boyish grin on his face.

“But this dress . . .” Cat said slowly, hesitating.

“What about it?” Chad asked. “It’s just a dress.”

Caitlin paused, then climbed into the truck. “I guess you’re right. After all, how many juniors can say they spent prom night fishing in the dark with a guy they loved wearing a three-hundred dollar dress?”