“So, Joe proposed?” Katie asked, looking from a six month old Isabella on her lap to Peyton sitting next to her in their store.
“Joe proposed.” Peyton replied, flipping the page in her People magazine.
“You said yes?” Katie prodded, nodding her head towards the diamond ring on Peyton’s ring finger.
“I said yes.” Peyton replied, turning another page and still not looking up.
“You told your parents?” Katie asked, helping Isabella stand up on Katie’s knees.
“I told my parents.” Peyton replied.
“They excited that their youngest daughter will be becoming Mrs. Joseph Adam Jonas?” Katie asked.
“Excited, thrilled, can’t wait.” Peyton replied, turning another page and still not looking up from her magazine.
“You didn’t tell your parents, did you?” Katie asked, as the front door to the store opened. Katie’s attention staid on Peyton as Peyton staid staring at the magazine.
“Nope.” Peyton replied, as a handbag dropped onto the counter.
“Nick and I almost had sex last night.” Elisabeth said, causing the two girls to jump out of surprise and their mouths to drop open at their best friend.
The freckles that went across Elisabeth’s nose were standing out heavily against her flushed skin. Her blonde hair had been hurriedly pulled back from her face. “Since when did you have freckles?” Peyton asked, holding up a finger and acting like she was counting them or playing connect the dots.
“They usually don’t stand out this much.” Elisabeth quickly replied.
“Do you have a camera?” Katie asked. “I want a picture of this because no one will believe that I saw Elisabeth with freckles.”
“Back to the subject.” Elisabeth quickly said as her hands hit the counter and made the girls jump again.
“So, you guys were just doing what? Making out, watching porn, playing strip poker?” Katie asked, before smiling. “Which by the way, strip poker is fun!” She added.
“I so know way too much about my future brother-in-law now.” Peyton replied.
“It rained one night on our honeymoon and there was nothing else to do. I had a deck of cards….” Katie started to explain.
“We were watching a movie.” Elisabeth cut in. “Finding Neverland.”
“That’s where you messed up first. You watched his favorite movie.” Peyton said.
“We were saying something that I don’t even remember right now and I tossed some popcorn at him and he laughed. Then, he tossed some back and I laughed. And then, we started this popcorn fight and it all went downhill from there.” Elisabeth said, adding to the story. Her hands started flying around as she became more worked up as the story went on.
“And it’s freaked you out ever since?” Katie asked.
“A little.” Elisabeth replied.
“All because of something he wears on his ring finger.” Peyton said.
“Just a little.” Elisabeth replied.
“As weird as it might be for me to be saying this to you and mostly because it’s not what you really want to hear, but it will all be okay.” Katie said. “The fact that you both stopped says a lot honestly.”
“But we didn’t want to at the same time.” Elisabeth said, sounding a little like a kid pouting because she wasn’t about to get her way. Katie and Peyton both smiled.
“You never want to.” Peyton said. “But, after a major freak-out session, you feel better because you guys didn’t do anything to ruin something he’s been working on for years.”
“And you find ways around it.” Katie added randomly, watching Isabella look around the store with interest.
“Yet again, I will not be able to ever look at Kevin the same.” Peyton said.
“It’ll be okay?” Elisabeth asked.
“It’ll be okay.” Peyton said.
“Kate, how did you deal with it? I mean, you guys were dating while they were still famous and in LA.” Elisabeth asked.
“Yeah, but he was on tour for three-fourths of the time. I got to see him between interviews, concerts, and while living on a bus and in hotel rooms. We had a weird kind of relationship.” Katie replied.
“Did you even know that it was Kevin you were dating? I mean, between his work and your work…” Peyton joked.
“Wait, that guy who I married, he’s the same guy I was dating? Are you sure?” Katie jokingly replied before turning her attention back to the 18 year old in front of them. “Beth, you’re going to have to talk it over with Nick. We can give you all the advice in the world, but a lot of it depends on what he wants to do.”
“What did Kevin want?” Elisabeth asked, leaning onto the counter with interest.
Katie sighed. “He wanted to keep with the promise. So, I actually made my own vow, got a matching ring and supported him. When we got married, we swapped purity rings and actually started wearing them on chains, just to remind us of it.” Katie said.
“What about Joe? What did he want?” Elisabeth asked, turning to face her other best friend.
“It’s honestly a daily debate. He’s sticking with it but he questions it every day.” Peyton said. “And I told him that whatever he chooses, I’ll support one hundred percent.”
“So, it’ll be hard?” Elisabeth asked.
“But it will be SO worth it.” Both Katie and Peyton said at the same time.
“Thanks guys.” Elisabeth said, smiling and looking at the watch on her wrist. “I’ve got to go to class but I’ll be back here around noon.”
“You know, you could always just drop out of college and just be a silly co-owner of this party planning business us with us instead of being a student also.” Katie suggested as Isabella gurgled in agreement.
“Says the girl who convinced her then-boyfriend and his brother to do online classes so they both had something to fall back on when they stopped touring and making music?” Elisabeth asked.
“I know. My brain’s been frazzled since having this cute little kid.” Katie joked.
“I’ll see you guys later. Bye Bella.” Elisabeth said, as she walked out.
Once Elisabeth was gone, Peyton turned to Katie. “And all this time I thought you and he….”
“No.” Katie quickly replied.
“But that night….” Peyton tried by starting a new sentence.
“Nope.” Katie said, picking up Isabella and walking around the store.
“Joe and Nick said….” Peyton called to her.
“Joe and Nick don’t know.” Katie replied.