“You’re not dressed yet?” Kevin asked, walking back into the bed room from his shower.
“I’m not going.” Katie said, rolling away from him.
“Yeah right.” Kevin said. “You are not skipping out on church and lunch just so you won’t run into Peyton and Beth.”
“Yeah I am.” Katie shot back.
“Kate Lynn, get your cute butt out of bed and dressed.” Kevin said, as she grumbled a little. “Otherwise, lunch will be here and you’ll hate that even more.”
“Fine.” Katie said, tossing the sheets back and walking over to the closet. “You owe me majorly!”
************************************************************************
“You have a thing for Kevin Jonas.” Peyton said, looking over the article Katie had written about the concert.
“What? That’s crazy.” Katie said, cleaning up the pile of dishes in her sink.
“You said that you met your curly headed crush.” Peyton replied.
“I didn’t write that.” Katie said, turning quickly and looking at the eighteen year old.
Peyton cleared her throat. “I honestly can not tell you too much about that night. I had met my curly headed crush. I felt fifteen again.” Peyton read.
“You are just taking that out of context.” Katie defended.
“Do not make me call Elisabeth in New Jersey. Her parents would still kill us even though they love us. But, Elisabeth would take it as you saying you like Kevin. I could call the Jonas Brothers and they’ll even take it as you liking Kevin.” Peyton said, looking back at the article. “I’m surprised you didn’t mention how he smiled at you during ‘Hello, Beautiful.’”
“He wasn’t smiling at me. There were thousands of fans there, and he was more than likely smiling at one of them.” Katie retorted.
“Give me your phone.” Peyton said, holding out her hand. Katie shook her head in response. “If you don’t give me your cell phone, I’ll call from your home phone so they know to come hurt you. You can’t stop me that way.”
Katie sighed and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She handed it over and watched Peyton search through the contacts quickly. “Who are you calling anyways?” Katie asked, watching Peyton dial a number and then put the cell phone on speakerphone.
“Hello?” A masculine voice asked.
“Kevin?” Peyton asked, as Katie’s eyes flew open and her mouth dropped.
“This is he.” The voice said, as Katie dove for the phone.
“This is Peyton Ryan; we met the other night at your concert through Kate Lynn Walsh.” Peyton said as she quickly grabbed the phone out of Katie’s grasp.
“Hey Peyton.” Kevin said.
“Well, Katie and I are here and we were debating something with me. She says no but I say yes. So, to settle the debate, we decided to call you.” Peyton explained.
“Uhm, okay.” Kevin said.
“Did you smile at Katie during ‘Hello, Beautiful’ at the concert?” Peyton asked.
Kevin coughed a little. “Coughing gives it away. You win Peyton.” Katie said, sounding defeated.
“I mean, I did. But uhm…” Kevin stuttered.
“It’s okay Kevin, you settled our debate.” Peyton said. “Oh, Katie finished the article by the way. You should come over and read it.”
“You give him my address and I won’t take you to the Gavin DeGraw show I was supposed to go to.” Katie warned.
Peyton smiled. “You got that? Yep, there’s a hunter green Grand Prix in the driveway and it’s apartment 4.” Peyton hung up the phone and set it back on the counter. “You should see if your boyfriend will be in town and take him to see Gavin with you.” She joked.
“Hateful heffer.” Katie replied.
“That’s my line dear Kate.” Peyton said as she gathered up all of her things. “And you’ll thank me for this one day.”
“I highly doubt that!” Katie replied.
************************************************************************
“You left out a lot.” Kevin said, scooting the paper away from where he leaned on Katie’s island.
“What do you mean?” Katie asked, looking a little confused from where she stood by her sink.
“Well, what songs did we play? What all did Joe and Nick talk about before the show? What did the crowd feel like?” Kevin suggested.
“What did the crowd feel like?” Katie asked, coming over and leaning on the other side of her island. Her hands were clasped together and were close enough to his clasped hands.
“What did the excitement make you feel? What songs affected them? What songs affected you?” Kevin explained, as he leaned a little closer to Katie.
“This article isn’t about me.” Katie replied, inching closer.
“Who ever said that the last question was for the article?” Kevin pointed out, as he inched.
“You’re here to read my article.” Katie reminded him as she kept leaning closer.
“I am reading your article.” Kevin replied, leaning in closer.
They were centimeters away from each other. His cologne and her perfume mixed together to create a scent that was one of their own. “Then we should steer away from questions about me.” Katie forced out. Her voice was cracking and she kept looking into his hazel eyes. “Peyton was right.”
“About?” Kevin asked.
“I was talking about you with the crush comment.” She said, before leaning in and kissing him.
************************************************************************
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Kevin asked as the church started to slowly filter out of the building. Joe, Peyton, Nick and Elisabeth had quickly bolted the moment the service was over.
“I’m not staying long at lunch.” Katie said, carefully setting Isabella into the baby carrier and strapping her in.
“Katie, you’re going to have to deal with them sooner or later.” Kevin reminded her.
“Why can’t it be later?” Kevin asked.
“They’re your best friends since childhood, your business partners and Isabella’s godmothers.” Kevin mentioned. “Plus, they are dating your brother-in-laws.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to regret those set-ups.” Katie replied.
“You guys coming to lunch?” Paul asked as he came over with Denise and Frankie.
“Of course.” Kevin said. “But, why don’t we have it at our house this week?”
Katie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Uhm, okay.” Denise agreed. “We’ll go by the house and change.”
“We’ll call the boys and tell them.” Kevin suggested.
“See you guys in a few minutes.’ Paul said as he led Denise and Frankie out of the church.
“So, it’s official. I’m divorcing you.” Katie said, picking up the baby carrier.
“It’ll just be lunch. It will be fine.” Kevin replied.
“Yeah, you keep saying that.” Katie said, reaching into her vibrating purse. She pulled out her phone and took a quick look. She quickly hit the button to ignore the call and tossed the phone back into her purse.
“Who was that?” Kevin asked, sliding the baby bag over his shoulder.
“Just a wrong number.” Katie quickly replied, looking around the church before leaving.
************************************************************************
“Left foot one stomp.” The song played. The entire group was on the dance floor, trying to forget the excitement from earlier. Katie was smiling and trying to teach Joe and Nick how to cha cha. Elisabeth and Peyton stood off to the side, watching them while giggling when they messed up.
“How can you guys be so musically talented but not be able to cha cha? Your brother can do it! I mean, watch his hips.” Katie said, causing all three guys to stop dancing all together.
“Please tell me you really do not want us to watch our brother’s hips.” Nick said.
“The cha cha is all in the hips.” Katie replied, looking around the club for a better example.
She spotted Reggie making out with some blonde dressed in a barely there outfit. His hands were at the girl’s waist but under her shirt. When he noticed Katie looking, he smiled and moved his hands up higher. He smirked at her and then mouthed “What goes around, baby.”
Katie shook her head and shivered when “What Goes Around…” by Justin Timberlake came on. “I’ll be right back.” She said, stopping by the bar and grabbing the first full bottle of vodka she saw.
The group exchanged glances. “I’ll go see what’s up.” Kevin said, quickly following her.
Katie grimaced as the vodka burned a trail down her throat. She leaned along the rooftop as the alcohol hit some spot in her body.
“I thought you were over this.” Kevin’s voices made her jump and quickly turn to see him closing the rooftop entrance.
“I thought I was too.” Katie said, taking another swig.
“Reggie got to you, didn’t he?” Kevin asked. The swig Katie downed became his answer. “You know the vodka won’t solve anything.”
“It’ll make me feel better for right now.” Katie shot back.
“Kate, I’m sorry that what happened with you and Reggie happened. And, I’m sorry that he still thinks you cheated with me. But, you don’t have to worry about him.” Kevin said.
“You don’t know that!” Katie said, he voice getting loud and tears springing to her eyes. “The only time I’ve ever felt safe was when I was on tour with you. I dreaded leaving so much that I spent that last night crying myself to sleep.” Katie said, as Kevin pulled her to him and held her close for the second time that night.
“Katie, I hate that you are so scared. I want to protect you from all this so much.” He whispered into her hair as he placed a kiss on the top of her head.
“Really? And how do you plan to do that? You’re going to be going back on tour soon. It’s not like I can just drop everything and join you guys again.” Katie said.
“And why not? You’ll be there every night with me. And, the guys and I can stay at your place with you and Peyton until we go on tour.” Kevin started.
“I can’t let you do that.” Katie replied, pulling away and drinking down more vodka. Her head was starting to feel a little fuzzy and it felt better to her. “If the press were to find out about you staying at my house, the rumors would be a thousand times worse than Niley and Nelena.”
“So what? I want you to sleep easy and not have to drink again to deal with things.” Kevin said. “If the press starting rumors about what happens at night is what it takes to make you feel protected, then we’ll just deal with it.” He said, pulling her close and grabbing the bottle away from her. “I love you Katie.”
“I love you too Kevin.” Katie said, smiling.
Her hands slowly untucked the white shirt he wore under his vest. She leaned forward and kissed him. Kevin tried to fight it but slowly felt himself pulled in.
Katie kept hearing a clinking sound, causing her to pull away from the kiss. Her left hand was messing with his belt buckle while his left hand was still trying to stop it. Her purity ring was hitting against his. Katie pulled away, feeling tears well up in her eyes. “Damn it!” She yelled. “I was supposed to be too drunk that care about this ring.” She said, as she started to try and pull it off.
“Marry me.” Kevin interrupted, causing Katie to stop in mid pull.
“Cute guitar playing boyfriend say what?” Katie asked.
Kevin stepped closer. He looked at her and took a deep breath. “Marry me.” He said.
“I….I…” Katie couldn’t think of anything to say. She kept trying to come up with reason to say no, to say that they were too young. But only one thing kept coming into her head. “Yes.”
************************************************************************
Katie leaded up against her kitchen counter, looking at the Jonas family spread around the table. Denise had Isabella in her lap at that moment, feeding her some of the baby food. Kevin, Nick and Joe were playing more with their food at that point, instead of eating it. Frankie was joining in, while trying to help with Isabella. And, even with all of the excitement going around, they were still chatting about anything and everything.
“Katie, we just want you to know, if you ever want to talk about anything….” Peyton started, coming up to her.
“There’s nothing wrong. Why does everyone keep thinking something is wrong?” Katie replied.
“Hey Kate, your phone is going off again.” Kevin said, picking it up and answering it. “Hello? Hello? Guess they hung up.” Kevin said, as Katie quickly came over and grabbed the phone.
Katie muttered an explicative under her breath as she looked at the number. She walked past the fridge, grabbed a half empty bottle of vodka and left the room.