Unexpected Timing

"Jake? Jake wake up." Andrea said while knocking on the door to Jake's room the next morning.

"Dad, what is it?" Jake groaned getting out of bed to open the door.

"There's a friend of yours here to see you."

"What? Who?" Jake asked.

"Said her name's Catherine and she's here to tutor you or something."

"Seriously?" Jake asked shocked. Running to the railing of the stairs, he peered down and saw Cat with a backpack on her back standing in the dining looking at a painting on the wall. "I can't believe this." Jake complained. "I haven't even showered and I look like a mess."

"Don't worry about that." Cat said as she came up the stairs. "Sorry for the intrusion Mr Dipson."

"By all means come in. I'll go prepare something for everyone to eat. Jake why don't you entertain our guest in the meantime." Walking away, Andrea headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Sorry about how I look." Jake apologised. "I kinda just got up from bed."

"Like I said, it's really no problem." Cat assured him.

"Let me take that for you." Taking the bag from her back, Jake led her down the corridor which had rooms on both sides. Reaching his room, Jake opened the door for her to go in.

Looking around, Cat went to sit on a chair at the corner of the room which was close to the window where one could see the backyard of the house. "You guys have a nice house." she said to Jake.

"Thanks." Jake replied. "Why'd you come so early?"

"Well I woke up and I was feeling restless so I decided to come to your house." Cat answered. "Don't worry I'll wait for you to have your bath before we start studying. Where's Sky? I haven't seen him."

"He's probably still in his room. So what are we studying today?" Jake asked sitting on the chair that is with the table, still a little bit uncomfortable with the way he looked.

"I brought Outer Space principles and Study of Nuclear Particles. Is your hair always this tousled when you wake up?" Cat asked.

"Yeah. Is it that bad?"

"No. I think you look cute with it." Cat said while looking out the window.

"Hmm. Is that a compliment?" Jake asked smiling mischievously.

"What if it is?" Cat said now looking at him.

"Well," moving towards her, Jake put his hands on the armrests of the chair and stared at her eyes.

"Did you find anything in there?" Cat asked him after a while of maintaining eye contact with him.

"Actually I..."

"Breakfast is ready." Andrea said while entering the room with a tray containing the food. "Oh sorry. Hope I didn't interrupt anything?" Andrea asked after seeing how close Jake and Cat's faces were to each other.

"What? No. We weren't doing anything." Jake said awkwardly. Moving away he asked, "Right Cat?"

"Yes Mr Dipson. Nothing happened." Cat answered.

"Just saying." Andrea said. "I know you teenagers need your space and privacy."

"Dad please stop." Jake said awkwardly again. "I'm so sorry about him." Jake apologised to Cat.

"It's okay. I don't think there's anything wrong with what he said." Cat said reassuringly to Jake.

Behind Andrea Sky had entered as well. "Hey Cat." he said.

"Hi Sky. Did you just wake up?" Cat asked him.

"No."

"What is this a family reunion?" Jake asked. "Why's everyone in my room?"

"Relax." Sky said. "I only came to say hi to Cat. You two can spend the whole day together if you want. See you later Cat." Leaving the room, Sky went downstairs to have his breakfast.

"I'll leave you guys to it then." Andrea said as he was leaving the room. "And please leave the door open. I'm sure you can understand why." he said just before he left the room without shutting the door.

Going to shut the door, Jake turned back to Cat. "Don't mind them. Let's eat?"

"Sure." Eating the food, Cat was surprised by how good it was. "Wow. Is that how your dad cooks all the time?" she asked.

"Not all the time. Only when he feels like but he loves cooking. He basically does all the cooking around here." Jake answered her.

"It's really nice. So do you cook?" she asked.

"Not really. I cook a little bit but it's nowhere near as good as this." Jake said pointing to his mouth which was close to being filled with spicy chicken sandwich. "Though the pepper's a bit much." Jake said while grabbing a glass of milk from the tray and gulping half of it.

"Seriously?" Cat asked surprised. "I think it's perfect. You don't like your food spicy?"

"I do but not this spicy. How about you, do you cook?"

"Yes. Cassie hates cooking and I can't let aunt Maggie cook all the time. So I cook sometimes while Cassie does the dishes most of the time."

"Well now you're making me feel bad for letting dad do all the cooking." Jake said with a fake sad face.

Cat laughed a bit. "You better don't burn down the house in your attempt to cook."

"What?" Jake said. "I'm not that bad."

"No worries, I'm here today. I'll teach you how to cook. Why don't both of us prepare lunch today?" Cat suggested.

"Really? I mean I don't want to stress you. You're already here to help me study and I don't want to drop another burden on you." Jake said solemnly.

"I told you, that's nonsense." Cat said leaning forward. "I'm here because I want to be here."

Gazing into each other's eyes again, Jake moved a little bit closer to her before regaining his composure and stopping himself.

"I'm gonna uh, take this down to the kitchen." Jake said to Cat. Carrying the now empty tray and going downstairs, Jake went to the kitchen and washed off the plates.

Going back to his room after washing the plates, Jake saw Cat lying on his bed reading a novel he had kept on his table. "Are you comfortable there?" Jake asked.

Looking up, Cat saw Jake at the foot of the bed. "Yeah, this seems like a pretty good novel." she said shaking the book in her hand.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't read it yet. I'm going to take a shower, so, you can touch whatever you want, do anything, no one's going to stop you. I'll be back." Jake told her already heading towards the door.

"Need any help?" Cat asked him.

Turning around, Jake looked at her confused. "Do I need any help in the bathroom?" Jake asked still confused.

"Yeah. Do you?"

"You know, now that you mention it, I do need help. Are you offering?" Jake asked her, the confusion gone.

"Sure let's go." Cat said dropping the book and almost getting off the bed.

"Wait, you're serious?" Jake asked now shocked.

"Of course not." Cat said laughing. "I was just kidding. Go have your bath. I'll be here waiting for you."

"Phew." Jake breathed a sigh of relief. "For a second there I thought you were serious." He left the room and went to the bathroom.

Getting back on the bed, Cat laughed some more and picked the book again.