Girl Time

By: Riley

Summary – Sleepovers had never really been Katie's thing, but now that she has friends to do it with she finds that they're not so bad. Requested by Ethan on Twitter.

a/n: now that my last one-shot request is done, my final BTR story should be up soon.

"So just call me if you need anything."

The words from Mrs. Knight caused Katie to let out a slight huff, rolling her eyes. Sliding out from the passenger seat of the car she suddenly remembered how she had acted when Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were going to house sit for Gustavo while h was in North Carolina.

Of course they deserved that sort of worry from the woman, they had managed to single handedly mess up a lot of things at Rocque Records; nearly destroyed thousands of dollars of recording equipment, tricked Gustavo into making their nasty apartment a full blown crib, destroyed his office, and that only the smaller things they had managed to do. So it wasn't a surprise that she had worried when the boys had convinced the record producer that they could stay at his house and watch it for them.

I mean, they did manage to let a cat loose, get an alligator stuck in the bathroom, set off the fire alarms, break a priceless statue, set a moat on fire…Katie shook her head. They ruined it for me.

"Mom, it's just a sleepover," she said, leaning back into the car. "And I'm one hundred times more responsible than Kendall is, you know that. I even have my own bank account that I constantly put my poker money into for school." She placed a hand on her chest and blinked innocently. "Do you think I'm the one that needs to call my mother every hour to be sure that everything's OK?"

Mrs. Knight smiled, gently shaking her head. "No, I guess you're right." She pointed at her daughter. "But I still want a call if there's an emergency or something along the lines of that. And either me or Kendall will be back in the morning to pick you up."

Katie chewed her lower lip. "Um, why don't you just pick me up at Blazing Phoenix?" She suggested. "Or Rocque Records? I mean, they're always there anyway. It's not a big deal if they take me there first."

Giving her daughter a knowing look, Mrs. Knight turned to look out the front window. "All right, just let me know if something changes," she said. Katie smiled and reached into the car, taking her pillow and sleeping bag. "I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie. Have a good night."

"Bye Mom."

Katie took a step back from her mother's car and waved as she backed out of the driveway and headed down the street to leave the gated community. Taking a deep breath, Katie turned on her heel and walked up the rest of the winding drive to the front door of the large house and reached out, knocking loudly on the door. She took a step back and waited for it to open, enclosing her arm tighter around her sleeping bag.

Was she nervous? A little. Her hands shook so badly that she was in danger of her sleeping bag sliding out of her hands and fallen to the ground. What was she to be nervous about? It was just a stupid sleepover; people had them all the time.

Yet she had never really been invited to one.

Even amongst her friends back home in Minnesota they never really had sleepovers. In fact, her friends didn't quite completely understand her. She liked money, hanging out with her brother and his friends, watching WWE, and reading comic books and her friends wanted to do…anything else. Besides, what was the point of hanging out at someone's house and sleeping on the floor? The girls usually ate a bunch of junk food and watched TV until it was time for them to go home. What could they have missed when they were asleep anyway?

Katie looked up, tightening her grip around the sleeping bag as the front door to the house opened and Ronan McGuire stepped out and smiled at her. It was a bit different to see him out of his normal work attire of a white button shirt, tie, and jeans—though he always had a laid-back style—but seeing him in a pair of reading glasses a black t-shirt and camouflage shorts made her smile in relief.

"Hey Katie," he rubbed his arms. "It's kind of cold out here, come on in. The girls are in the kitchen." He stepped aside so Katie could step into the foyer of the house. Ronan closed the door behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If any of you need anything, I'll be in my office." Giving her another smile, the man walked disappeared around the corner of the adjoining hallway, leaving her alone.

Katie glanced at her reflection in the mirror that sat by the front door and took a deep breath before heading over towards the kitchen. She could hear music from the Top 40s radio station mix with laughter as she headed towards the kitchen. When she stood in the doorway she couldn't help but laugh, seeing her best friend, Lizzie Zevon, flittering around the kitchen like a hyperactive bumble bee. Riley and Rhuben Jackson-McGuire sat on the kitchen counters, watching her.

"We seriously shouldn't have let her have that last cookie," Rhuben was saying, her hands resting in her lap. "Especially considering it had all of that frosting on it, yeah?"

Rile laughed. "I was just thinking the exact same thing." She brushed her hair over her ear and spotted Katie in the doorway. "Hey! C'mon in!" She pointed at the sleeping bag. "You can leave that there, don't worry about it."

"Ok!" Katie dropped her things by the doorway of the kitchen and pulled off her shoes, walking inside. A warm wall of vanilla immediately hit her and she felt her stomach growling. Then her eyes moved over to the tray of cupcakes and cookies that had already been made. "Wow. That explains why Lizz is flittering like a hummingbird."

"I prefer graceful swan," Lizzie interrupted, coming to a stop before doing a pirouette.

"Lizz," Rhuben said patiently. "You were a mouse in The Nutcracker."

"And I was one of the cutest mice in the whole play," Lizzie defended herself. She came to a stop once more and hurried over to Katie, giving her best friend a hug. "Finally, you made it! I was starting to think that you wouldn't come."

"Well, I was invited so…" Katie trailed off, smiling a little. Not to mention it being the first time I've been invited to a sleepover, she silently added.

It was always sort of hard for her to watch as the older girls, Riley, Rhuben, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie went off to Jo's apartment for their sleepovers a few times a month. She could've gone it she wanted to, Kendall had pointed out, but Katie would refuse each and every time, choosing instead to hang out with the guys and continue with their Friday traditions. Not only did the Jacksons come over for dinner, but it was always a tradition for the Big Time Rush boys and her to eat fish sticks and tater tots, and have a gaming marathon all night.

Every now and then Patrick, Noah, and Sydney Jackson-McGuire would stay the night at 2J after those nights as their new tradition has changed so that the Jacksons would be there for dinner and then the whole group would do something afterwards before they left for the night. When Riley and Rhuben had asked her and Lizzie if they wanted to sleepover at their house, she immediately—well, sort of played if off—jumped at the chance. Not only were the older teenage girls some of her best friends, but she and Lizzie looked up to them as pseudo-big sisters.

Especially after having been around a bunch of guys for most of their lives.

"Well, don't just stand there," Lizzie said, pushing Katie into the kitchen. "Come! Join the party!" She grabbed onto a tray of cookies and whirled it back around towards the shorter girl. "Here, try this!"

Katie reached out to take a cookie then let out a startled shriek when something heavy landed on her shoulders. She looked up and saw the face of a cat sitting directly in front of her. It meowed quietly and licked the tip of her nose.

Rhuben laughed, jumping down from the counter and plucked the cat off of her shoulders. "Sorry, Kates," she apologized to her. "I should've warned you that Leo likes to climb up on the cabinets all the time." She ran her hand over the back of the tabby cat. "And he likes to sleep in pots and boxes, so don't be surprised if you suddenly find him in a strange place." She smiled as the cat meowed once more and leapt from her arms, slowly walking along the floor.

"Anyway," Riley said. She gracefully jumped down from the counter and reached out to grab a bowl that was sitting the closest to her. "Now that you're here, Kid, you can help me make some brownies." She tilted her head over towards Lizzie, who had put down the tray of cookies and perched herself onto a stool, scrolling through her phone. "She's already had enough sugar since getting here and I don't want her to taste anything else until these are done."

"OK." Katie smiled and moved over to the teenage girl's side. Rhuben took her laptop over from the counter and placed it on the clean edge of the island, changing the music that was coming out from it to an alternative rock station on Pandora. "What do I do?"

Riley grabbed a carton of eggs and pushed it over to her. "First things first, separate the eggs and put the yolks in this bowl." She tapped the edge of the metal bowl with her fingers. Her rings creating a metallic clacking sound as she did so. It must've reminded her to take care of her jewelry for she took a step back and started to slide the rings off her fingers and into the pockets of her basketball shorts.

As Katie carefully cracked the eggs, she watched as the older teenage girl reach behind her to unclasp the two necklaces that rested against her chest. The first being a silver pendant with a ruby on the front, a gift given to her from Kendall on their six-month anniversary, and a guitar pick shaped necklace with flames on it from her parents. Tilting her head to the side, Katie watched as she carefully laid them both on the counter behind her.

"Hey Riles?" Katie asked her. "When did you learn how to cook?"

A slight smile stretching on the girls' face, Riley moved to Katie's side and started to help her with the eggs. "Mum taught me and Rhu how to cook when we were young. Maybe, like six or so. She tried to teach Julius but he couldn't hold still long enough." She rolled her eyes a little, causing Katie to laugh. "But Dad did a lot of cooking as well, especially on the grill. The stereotypes of barbies isn't particularly rare for a reason. He would cook not he weekends, since he made sure he had the weekend off."

"What'd he do?"

"He was a rocket scientist."

Katie's mouth dropped open and Lizzie let out a startled gasp. Rhuben chuckled, her chin resting in her hand. "Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?" She asked. "I mean, Syd ha to have been smart for a reason, there's no way it was a coincidence, it was bound to happen to one of us."

"So your Dad was a genius too?" Lizzie asked.

"Oh, no. He was smart, but not nearly that smart," Rhuben said. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Mum was his assistant for a while, until we started coming along. She took care of until we were old enough to be at school, then she was a math teacher at our school."

"Oh." Lizzie ducked her head. "So…it must've hurt a lot of people when they passed away."

"You're telling me," Riley snorted. Startled, Katie looked up as the Australian teen smashed an egg against the side of the bowl. "Not only were they well known in the science world because of what Dad had done, but they were well known in the city. So it was a big shock to everyone at home that they had passed, let alone those that had known them by reputation." She smashed another egg against the side of the bowl and expertly moved the yolks and whites through her hands, allowing the whites to slip through her fingers into the smaller bowl that was collecting them. She then dropped the yolks into the brownie batter. "Suffice it to say, we were more famous for our parents than we are for our band in the early years. Not that it keeps the photographers out of the way."

Katie chewed her lower lip, exchanging a glance with her blonde best friend. It was one of the few things times that the girls ever spoke about their parents and she wasn't very surprised to see they had become so…angry about it. That was the last thing she wanted. She had seen Riley get angry before, she had been on the receiving end of it once, due to trying to help her with something, and she had been scared so badly that she hadn't wanted to be around the teen for a long time. Which was the hardest part especially as Riley was dating her brother.

Having Riley around as a big sister, in a way, was something she hadn't realized she wanted until it happened. Not that she didn't love Kendall and her mother, but there were so many things that she didn't think she could tell them or come to them for help on. Plus the older girl liked to tease Kendall as much as Katie did and any girl that did that was a winner in Katie's book. Not that hanging around Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James for so long was something she didn't enjoy—she had four brothers instead of the one—but she needed some girl time every now and then.

"Well, let's not talk about that, "Lizzie said quickly. "We don't want to bum this party out, right?" She went over to Katie and put her arm around her shoulders, leaning against her. "We want to learn how you make some really good brownies!" To prove her point she stuck her finger into the batter and pulled out a chunk of an egg shell. "Hopefully they don't crunch, though."

Playfully, Riley scooped out a hunk of brownie batter and tossed it at Lizzie. Katie shrieked at the same time Lizzie did, finding that some of the batter had landed on her face as well. "If I wanted to be slathered in chocolate—"

"Keep it PG," Rhuben warned her with a laugh.

Katie rolled her eyes, feeling her cheeks redden. "I'd pay to have a swimming pool filled with chocolate pudding."

Giving her an incredulous look, Rhuben reached out and shifted her laptop aside. "Out of everything in the world, the thing you want, yeah, is a swimming pool filled with chocolate pudding?" Katie nodded, reaching up to rub the batter off her cheek. Sticking her finger in her mouth she smiled at the taste. Perfect. "That's a beauty idea, but I think you're thinking small. I mean, this is everything in the world you could ever have."

"In that case, I'd buy an afternoon with Colton Haynes," Lizzie said. "He's really cute. I could stare into his blue eyes all day." She then nudged Katie on the arm. "Or Noah's I'm not too choosy."

Katie laughed out loud. To say Lizzie was boy crazy was the understatement of the year. As much as Katie could be a tomboy—considering she had grown up around so many guys—Lizzie was a girly girl. She loved shopping, make-up, clothes, and boys, boys, and boys. Though she had moments of being a tomboy herself, Lizzie was the quintessential girl. And that's what Katie liked about her, the two were opposites and that's what had them work as best friends so well.

In effect, in the very beginning they were kind of jealous of each other. Or Katie knew she was. She was very envious of the way the girl was so open and personable with everyone, able to flirt with any boy that came her way and just understand what it mean to be a girl. On the other hand, Lizzie was jealous of how strong Katie was as well as her street smarts and mischievous mind.

"And here I thought we could go one night without a conversation about boys," Katie teased her.

"Please." Lizzie tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I know you're wondering where Patrick is right now." Katie's face reddened even further when her boyfriend was brought up. She couldn't help but be a bit embarrassed only for the fact he was her first boyfriend. Their relationship moved slowly, if she had to compare it to Noah and Lizzie's, but that was because she was Patrick's first girlfriend as well and they weren't really sure how things were supposed to work.

And because Kendall and James keep scaring him off, Katie thought with a slight frown. Still, she couldn't help but wonder. "Um…" she looked at her hands before glancing up at the boys' older sisters, who appeared that they were trying their hardest not to burst out laughing. "…Are they around?"

Eyebrows rising behind her glasses, Rhuben shook her head. "No, they and Julius went to San Fran for the weekend." She brushed her hair behind her ears. "Besides, you don't want to see what they can get up to, to annoy us."

"Those boofheads wouldn't see it coming either, yeah?" Riley added with a low, evil laugh.

Katie laughed along with the other girls, feeling herself loosening up. Riley taught her the rest of the steps to make brownies and helped her write the recipe down so that she could try it at later at home. That would be a great shock for her mother, that she learned how to cook something. Grimacing, she remembered how she had driven her mother to go on strike due to her inconsiderate comments. Hopefully it'd be a start to make up for it.

And she liked being able to see this side of Riley, while it was becoming more of a common thing, it was a nice change from the personal she held on stage or the bad-mannered she could be with those she didn't like or the way she was when she was in a bad mood. Seeing her smile so much and just having a great time was fun to be around.

"Oh! Backstreet boys!" Lizzie cried, hearing the music change to a very pop sound. "Turn it up!" Rhuben did as she was told and while The Call came blaring out of her laptop speakers, she slid off of her stool and started to dance around to the music. Lizzie quickly fell in step beside her and the two laughed as they danced around the kitchen to the song by the popular nineties boy band.

Katie smiled, watching as Rhuben fell into the dance steps that the boy band had used years before, working with the high precision of her many years of dance that had engrained upon her. Lizzie kept up very well, as she took dance classes as well, but not to the same amount of precision and style that the purple loving Australian teen had put into it.

"Here." Rhuben slightly behind Lizzie, but standing off to the side as well so that she could see her movements. "You have the energy for it, of course, but there are a few steps you're missing. The fluid motion from the rock forward and back is throwing you off; you're a half a beat too late."

"Really?" Eyes lighting up, Lizzie turned to the girl and watched as she demonstrated the moves once more. Ever since Rhuben had help her dance class with a hip-hop version of The Nutcracker when Lizzie was eleven, the blonde girl had practically idolized the Australian teen, her being her inspiration of wanting to learn as much about dance as she could, even attending a performing arts school. And, of course, she had been the biggest supporter of Rhuben going out with her brother, Dak, long before the two had started to go out.

She was as sneaky as Katie was in that aspect, and now that the girl was like her big sister as well, Lizzie was excited at everything that Rhuben could show her.

Katie continued to watch, slightly envious that the performance gene seemed to skip her, as Rhuben directed the dance moves to Lizzie. The two continued to dance along to the song until it got towards the end, the chorus coming up one more time.

Riley joined into the dance, grabbing onto her sister's hand, and the two spun each other around the kitchen floor, laughing breathlessly as they changed from the Backstreet Boys' moves into a more professional style of salsa dancing that seemed to go along with the flow of music, Rhuben being the lead but Riley keeping up with her sister with little effort.

When the song ended the two high-fived before Lizzie jumped onto Rhuben's computer and changed it to the song (Everybody) Backstreet's Back, and started to lip-sync into her fist. When the singer of the song changed, Lizzie held her fist out to Katie, who quickly pushed her hand away. Undeterred, Lizzie put the microphone back into her face and Katie rolled her eyes once more, before taking the bait and starting to sing along to the song as well,, joining the girls in their festivities.

Did anyone else need to know that the times that she and Lizzie would hang out it usually entailed them watching movies, laughing at funny videos on SchnoopTube, and singing old nineties songs, recording them on Lizzie's computer? No. And she hadn't intended anyone else to know that she and Lizzie had come up with an elaborate routine for the song but she was having some of the most fun in her life.

If this is what I've been missing the whole time, I would've had sleepovers of my own. Katie thought as she laughed, collapsing onto a stool. Lizzie grabbed at her arms. "Don't sit down yet! We still have Shape of My Heart to go through!"

"Seriously, Liz, you have too much energy," Rhuben said breathlessly, wiping sweat off her forehead. She glanced down at her phone as it buzzed. "Tell No, good luck the next time you guys go out." She laughed at her own joke, Riley bursting out into laughter as well, sliding oven mitts onto her hands.

Lizzie perked up when she heard the phone go off and noticed the smile on her friend's face. "Who is it? Is it Dak?" Her feet practically growing wings, she slid across the kitchen over to her. She leaned on the Australian girl's shoulder and peered at the phone. "What'd he say? Let me see! I bet it was something stupid, he is kind of a loser." She reached for the phone.

Batting her hands away, Rhuben leaned over, bending at the waist as she did so, threatening to fall over onto the floor.

"Well that's something else you two have in common, yeah?" Riley remarked, taking the tray of brownies out of the oven. She expertly slid them off of the pan and onto a plate to cool. "You both think that your brothers are the biggest losers on the face of the planet."

"Uh, you're dating them; doesn't that say something for your taste in guys?" Katie pointed out to her.

Riley flashed a wicked smile, eyes flashing. "No, that says something for their taste in girls. Katie laughed and Riley leaned over, giving her a high-five. "C'mon, Sis, let's go upstairs. Ronan's probably grinding his teeth at the noise by now." She shrugged. "Or ripping out his hair, which is a shame because it's not going to help cover up that bald spot."

"He has a bald spot?" Katie asked.

"No, but he says that with us around he's going to bypass the stage of his hair turning gray and just start going bald."

Katie and Lizzie giggled and left the kitchen along with the girls. She picked up her things as they laid by the kitchen doorway and the girls trooped up to the girls' bedroom. She watched, eyebrows furrowing together as Rhuben and Lizzie walked into her bedroom and Riley continued to hers. Katie followed Riley and dropped her things to the floor, starting to unravel her sleeping bag.

"I should've told you not to bring that," Riley said to her. "The bed's big enough to share." She jumped onto the end of her bed and pulled out her sketchpad from underneath. "Only if you don't mind the fact that it takes me forever to fall asleep." She avoided Katie's glance. "Just let me know if you want me to turn off the light or something." Pulling up the portion of her blankets that reached the floor, a white maltipoo puppy made its way out. "I was looking for you, Spencer."

Katie smiled and walked over to the dog, running her hands along its back.

"You didn't start eating my shoes again did you?" Riley continued. She lifted her head and spoke to Katie in a stage-whisper, "Reminds me of Pat when he was little, he put practically everything in his mouth. It's a habit he still hasn't broken, yeah?"

Katie laughed again, her stomach muscles now starting to hurt. If she liked working out—anything more than boxing anyway—she probably wouldn't have been so insecure about her stomach. Or about anything really; being best friends with a girl that was so beautiful as well as the twin girls that had guys falling at their feet due to their fame she thought about it a lot.

Hearing a door open, she turned her head to see the side door that connected Riley's room to Rhuben's open and Lizzie poked her head through. "Who wants to have their makeup done?" She asked. Getting up from the floor, Katie carried Spencer into the purple room and found crossing her legs as she sat on the floor. Rhuben dragged a couple of pillows off her bed and dropped them to the floor. Riley took pillows from her room and brought them in as well. "Katie! You first!"

Katie put her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Yes." Lizzie didn't bat an eye. "That you need to wear more makeup and this pink lip-gloss will be perfect for you."

"I don't like pink, I like purple."

"And as much as I agree with you that it's the superior color,"—Rhuben flashed Katie a smile to show their camaraderie—"I don't think that'd be a good color for your lips."

"Nah, you're more of a coral or a dark red," Riley agreed, dropping her sketch book into her lap. Glancing at it, Katie could see scribbles of what appeared to be song lyrics around the corners of the page.

"Yeah, when Mom will let me wear it," Katie pouted. "She still thinks that I can only wear it for special occasions until I turn eighteen."

"That's what Dak says too, but I don't listen to him." Lizzie continued to dig around in her make-up case, looking for something. She then huffed and lifted her head. "I can't find the lip-gloss I wanted to show you. But that's OK." She patted her knees. "C'mon, I want to do someone's make up!"

"Why don't I just do yours?" Rhuben suggested.

"Because your taste in makeup sucks, Sis," Riley teased. She leaned out of the way, laughing, as Rhuben reached over and punched her on the thigh.

"Excuse me for not wanting to look like I've got punched in the eye, Sis," Rhuben shot back. She punched Riley again and stuck out her tongue. "And my makeup taste is loads better, so ha!" Blowing a raspberry, Rhuben turned back to Lizzie and looked through the bag for a mascara wand.

Katie grabbed a pillow that was close to her and lay down on top of it. Reaching out, she picked up a brownie and bit into it, glad to know that it actually tasted like something considering her limited cooking skills—she still didn't know much more than making mustard sandwiches.

"Yum!" She raved.

"Good, yeah?" Riley asked and Katie nodded. "Ace! Now that you know how to cook you should learn how to iron, too. My Mum always said that it was a good way to be a good girlfriend for someone." She smirked. "Which apparently worked considering how many children she had."

Rhuben chuckled. "I know, right?"

Katie smiled, taking another brownie.

The rest of the night went by in a blur of festivities. Once Rhuben had finished putting makeup on Lizzie, Riley took her turn with Katie, and the girls continued to eat the rest of the brownies that they had made. Later, Ronan had brought up a pizza for the girls and had quickly backed out, a strange expression on his face when he saw that they had taken one of Riley's bras and was using it to sling-shot balled p socks across the room—which had only come around from Katie's offhand comment of the things that she and the boys had done when they were younger.

Music blasted, laughter rang throughout the house—turning into teasing sounds when Kendall had FaceTimed Riley to say goodnight to her—and more and more food was eaten as they watched funny videos and movies on the computer until they had started to fall asleep. Lizzie and Rhuben slept in Rhuben's room while Katie went back to Riley's room to go to sleep.

She watched as Riley pulled out her contacts and replaced them with her glasses before picking up a large book and crawling into the bed next to her. Katie pulled back the covers and sunk down into the bed. Riley propped herself up, opening her book from where she had last stopped and smiled over at her.

"D'you have fun?"

Katie nodded. "Though I think I'd be happier if I didn't feel like I was going to puke." She placed a hand on her stomach as it cramped in pain once more.

"I told you having all of those brownies, pizza, cookies, popcorn, and soda wasn't a beauty idea."

"I know, I couldn't help it!" Katie kicked her legs.

"Well, the bathroom is down the hall if you need it. If you don't make it, that's fine, just don't puke in my bed. I'm still pissed about Carlos doing that last time," Riley said. She shrugged. "Who would've thought that our parents' warning about jumping on the bed would've actually been right?"

Katie smiled, remembering how she, her brother, and his friends had helped the Jacksons moved in. Carlos had been so fascinated that they used a memory foam mattress that he continued to jump along the beds to try and prove that anyone would be able to feel it. His excitement had really gotten the best of him that time.

She rolled the other way and tucked her head into the pillow, stomach cramping again.

She was so going to regret having let loose so much, but it was fun all the same.

THE END