.:Chapter Three:.


Arriving back at the crib that night, Kendall went to his room and stared at his phone. Still no texts from Jo. No emails, no social media statuses, nothing. But for the first time in a while it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. It didn't make his heart hurt, make regret flow through him like a cold wave dragging him down. Didn't make him see blood red that'd black him out for minutes at a time, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf, waiting for a house to blow down.

Nothing.

Maybe there was truth in what Riley had said, "It's always hard to love someone and have them leave, for any reason at all. If you didn't love that person you wouldn't have held onto it. But the thing is…sometimes a sure thing's not the best thing."

The funny thing was, he'd always thought of Jo as a sure thing. Their relationship progressed smoothly when they weren't arguing over Jordan Sparks or Jett Stetson. So much so that they became comfortable and Kendall knew fairly soon they'd go to prom together then graduation and maybe college. It was a sure thing. Just as sure of a thing it was that they'd win Prom King and Prom Queen together.

He'd convinced Jo to sneak out to go to prom to have a wonderful night together, even to her father's detriment and anger. Prom was their night and they would have an amazing time. And he did plan to have an amazing time until the Jacksons had arrived to fulfill their duties as performing the music for the dance. It was good exposure to fans they may not have already had, were able to play some of their more upbeat and poppy songs, and would experience a prom for the first time as Australian schools didn't have them.

And he'd seen Riley in her dress and tied up hair with a light makeup look that was much warmer than the darker style for her band and felt every muscle in his body stop working as he froze in place. Stunned. It had struck him them, after their friendship for the last two years how much he liked her. Really liked her. And how much guilt it had brought him was a plague while he'd hung out with Jo for the entire night, ending up giving her the day he promised. They were voted Prom King and Queen and she'd thanked him profusely for how much fun they had, even going so far to say they'd be going straight to the after prom party in the Palm Woods Pool and 2J rather than facing her father's wrath.

And Kendall had managed to act normally the rest of his night but had no choice but admit to himself how he felt and hoped and feared no one else knew. How he didn't want to hurt Jo in any way, and how confused and utterly alone it made him fell. Now that Jo was gone, maybe he had her permission to move on.

Or, maybe, he had been moving on long before she'd even left.