Sarah and Kevin 7

At about 4:30, Kevin was in the blue bedroom that he and Tom were sharing, sorting out his possessions when he heard Sarah's door open and close quietly. Scott, Tom and Peter were downstairs, setting up the equipment so that they could practice. Kevin waited for a moment and then walked out into the kitchen.

Sarah looked up from the cookbook that she was leafing through. She smiled at him.

"Hi," she said.

Kevin's mouth became a little dryer. "Hey," he said.

She found the recipe that she was looking for, set down the book and began pulling ingredients from the cabinets.

"I forgot to ask if you had any trouble finding the house. Were my directions OK?"

Kevin walked over and leaned on the counter where she was working.

"Yeah, they were fine. But we got stopped by the cops about a half mile from here."

Sarah turned toward him and put her hand on her hip. "Really." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"One of them was a big guy with red hair?"

"Yeah."

She turned back to her work with a sigh. "Sorry about that. Mark thinks it's his job to protect me." She smiled, but it was cheerless. She began mixing dough in a large bowl. After dumping it on the counter, she began to knead it. Kevin watched her hands massage the dough. She had strong, soft looking hands. He looked down at her feet, they were bare beneath her skirt. Her toenails were painted red. Her fine, chestnut hair was wound into a bun, but it looked like it was about to mutiny at any moment. Kevin wondered how long it was.

"I'm making pizza. I figured that was a pretty safe food." Kevin was jerked out of his scrutiny.

"Oh, yeah. Pizza's good." I sound like a complete moron, he thought.

"Hey. I thought I heard voices up here." Peter walked into the kitchen and positioned himself on the other side of Sarah, so close that he was nearly breathing in her ear. Kevin's heart began to thud in his chest and he felt the heat rising in his face.

"I heard that you got pulled over this morning." Sarah said by way of greeting Peter.

"Yeah. I hate cops."

"The redhead thinks it's his job to watch over me. I'm sorry if he gave you a hard time." Sarah did not look at Peter as she spoke, keeping her eyes on the pizza dough.

"That's OK. You can make it up to me sometime." Peter was practically purring. Sarah smiled and shook her head a little. Kevin gritted his teeth.

"I have a question for you." said Peter. "Why the 'no women' rule?"

Sarah took a deep breath and turned to look at him. "Because I don't want to be embarrassed walking through my own house."

Peter leaned forward as if to kiss her. Sarah stood her ground. Peter smiled and said, "I thought that you just wanted me all to yourself."

Sarah turned back to her dough. "Oh, boy. You're going to be trouble, aren't you?" Kevin could not tell if she was flattered or exasperated. She put the dough back into the bowl, covered it with a towel and put it into the oven. Kevin saw Peter's eyes rove over Sarah's body as she bent over. He clenched his fist and tried to take deep breath. Getting in a fight with Peter on their first day here would probably end in their eviction. She turned back toward them and went to the sink to wash her hands.

"I'll be anything you want." said Peter.

A grin split her face. Kevin frowned.

"Anything?" she asked, still washing her hands.

Peter leaned forward. "Anything," he promised.

"How about 'silent'?" she asked, still smiling, but not looking at him. Kevin laughed.