Katie
We stood there staring at each other for a few minutes. I can't even begin to explain what was going through my mind. It amazed me how he looked so good with the water dripping down his abs, how the towel hung so low on his hips, and how he stood there staring right back at me.
He walked up to me and grabbed my face. He pulled me in for a hot, passionate kiss that literally took my breath away. I dropped the clothes I was holding and wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands went down my back and stopped on my butt. He pushed me against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his body so I wouldn't slip. His towel fell to the floor. We stood like that for a while, making out, hands all over each other, until he unclasped my bra.
"Katie." He whispered. I moaned.
"Katie." He said it a little louder this time with a deeper voice. I loved how his voice sounded.
"KATIE!" He yelled this time.
I snapped out of out.
"What?" He was back to where he was before.
"I said 'can you put some clothes on?'"
"Oh sure. Sorry." I went to the bathroom with my clothes still in my hands. Why would I daydream about James?
It's just the lack of sleep.
Of course it is. Why else would I daydream about him?
Well, maybe you like him.
What? I don't like him!
Why else would you be dreaming about making out with James in just your undies? Plus, you totally wanted to kiss him the other day.
SHUT UP!
I'm in your head! You control what I say. I'm just saying what you're really thinking.
Go away! Finally some peace and quite. There was a knock on the door.
"Katie? Can we talk?" It was James. Why did he want to talk about this? This was his idea. He's the one who doesn't like me.
"Sure. One sec." I finished changing and went back to his room. "Yeah?"
He looked at me.
"Can you not tell Kendall about this? He already thinks I have a thing for you. This would just make things worse. Plus you're his little sister." I didn't know what to say. What could I say?
"Oh. Sure, I won't tell Kendall I was in his best friends room in just my underwear when he walked in, in only a towel. It's okay, he doesn't need to THINK you have a thing for me because, lets face it, you never will. I'm just 'Kendall's little sister' to you. God forbid you like Kendall's little sister. Cause he's never going to get over it, right?" I wish I had the guts to say that to him. But I just couldn't.
"Sure." Is what I really said.
"Okay then." He left the room, leaving me alone. I really wish I had a best friend that I could talk to right now. Wait. We're back in Minnesota. I could just visit one of my old friends. I think Justina lives near here.
I got dressed and left to walk to where Justina lives, or I think she lives. I don't think she moved. Oh well I'll just have to see when I get there. I found the brick house that was two blocks away from James' house. It still had the nasty bright blue shutters. I looked up to the second story and saw I room painted purple. Same color it always was. I knocked on the door and a boy around my age answered.
"Can I help you?"
"Hi, do the Taylor's still live here?"
"Yeah, I'm Joshua Taylor. Who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for Justina. Is she here?"
"Yeah, who should I tell her it is?"
"Tell her its Katie, Katie Knight." He looked at me. Then he smiled.
"Katie Knight? I thought you moved to L.A." I smiled back. He brother was so much smaller when we left.
"I did. I'm only back for a few days. James' father died. We're here for the funeral."
"Oh, well its really nice to see you again."
"Same." He went to get Justina. I heard her scream and she ran to the door. She pulled me in for a hug.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BACK! I MISSED YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!"
"I missed you to."
"Come in." I looked around. Nothing changed since the last time I was here.
"I came here cause I needed a friend to talk to." I explained to her everything that was happening between James and I. She listened without interrupting. When I was done she spoke.
"Wow. You really dreamt that?" I nodded. "Damn. You really like him. But you don't think he likes you?"
"He might but if he does, he has a weird way of showing it."
"He's a guy Katie. When they're young, they make fun of you if they like you. When they're older, they keep a distance. Guys don't know how to express their feelings. That's why they're into sports. They take out their anger, or any other feelings, out on their opponent. I think he might like you but you have to give him time. He needs to feel like he can trust you. And having Kendall as a brother isn't really helping you. James needs to know Kendall is okay with this. Other wise, he won't betray his best friend. Bro Code."
She really understood guys. She does have 5 younger brothers and an older one too. Justin, 18, Joshua, 14, Jacob, 12, Jason, 10, Jesse, 8, and Jeramy, 6. Her parents really wanted another girl. They gave up after Jeremy. I saw a little girl crawl by. I guess they didn't stop.
"Who's that?" I pointed to the girl stumbling while she was walking.
"Oh, that is Jaclyn. She's turning 1 in a few weeks."
"Your parents had another kid?"
"Yeah, another boy too. His name is Jermaine, he's 3."
"Aww, she looks just like you."
"Thanks." We talked until about 2 when I got a call.
"Hello."
"Hey where are you?" It was Kendall.
"I'm at Justina's house. Why?"
"Wait, the girl with like 10 brothers?"
"7, and yes. Why?"
"Oh okay. Mom just wanted to know. You should come back though. We're heading over to the cemetery in a half hour."
"Okay see you soon. Bye." I hung up with him.
"I have to go. They're heading over to the cemetery soon. It was so nice to see you. I'm gonna miss you."
"Me too. Bye." She hugged me and then I left. Wow, 9 kids. Their names all starting with the letter J. I got back to James' house. We left 10 minutes after I got there.
James
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The priest said the last words before dad was buried. We all put a rose on top of the grave. I looked to the right and saw someone standing behind a tree, wearing all black, and sunglasses. Could it be? Everyone started to walk to the cars but I walked to the girl who was crying beside a tree.
"Emma?" She looked up.
"James?" She gave me a hug. Emma was really back. I knew she would be back. She cared about dad too much to not show up for the funeral.
"You came? You really came back? Emma I've missed you so much." I was still hugging her.
"We have to go to mom. She'll be so happy you're back." I pulled her a little but she didn't move.
"I can't. I can't hurt her when I tell her I'm not staying."
"You have to. It'll hurt more is she thinks you never showed up. Ems this is something you have to do." Ems was our nickname for her. We walk to the car. When we got there my mom started to cry. She ran over to Emma and hugged her.
"Emma, your back Emma. Oh my God Emma. Is it really you?" She nodded.
I saw Katie's jaw drop when she heard my mom say Emma's name.
"I'm so sorry mom. I just had to come back when I heard what happened. I'm so sorry that I left." She was crying now too.
"Shh. It's okay. You're home now, even if you leave again. You came home, and that is all that matters. I love you so much."
"I love you too mom." We were all crying, even Katie was crying. The guys weren't crying though. They knew about Emma, the probably forgot about her though.
We went out to eat and then went home. Ems told us she left because she got pregnant and she didn't want to embarrass mom and dad. She told me I have a 10year old niece named Delfina. She showed us a picture of her and a boy who was about 5. She said she had a son a few years ago with her husband. She named the boy Damon.
We went to sleep and Emma slept in mom and dad's bed with mom. Katie and I slept together again. She was quiet and seemed distant.
"Katie, what's wrong?" She turned around in the bed and faced me.
"Nothing."
"Katie, I've known you since before you were born. I know when you're lying." She sighed.
"You know before, when you asked me not to tell Kendall?" I nodded.
"You didn't tell him right?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why shouldn't I tell Kendall? I tell him everything else. Why does it matter if he thinks you have a thing for me? Why does it matter if I'm his little sister? I obviously like you. Why does it matter is you like me?"
Katie
It took everything I had to tell him that and all he did was look at me.
"You shouldn't tell him because he'll get mad at me. It matters if he thinks I have a thing for you because then he'll be mad at me. I only see you as Kendall's little sister because, even if I wanted to see you as something more, he would be mad at me. And-" I cut him off. This was hurting too much.
"And it matters if you like me because Kendall would be mad at you if you did. Wow James. You could have just said you don't like me. That would have hurt a hell of a lot less."
"How am I hurting you?" Is he serious?
"You're hurting me by telling me Kendall is stopping you from liking me. I know you're lying because I know you James. I know that nothing stops you from getting the girl you want. You fought Logan, Carlos, AND Kendall for Jo. He didn't stop you from fighting there. So don't lie to me and tell me it's Kendall's fault, because if you really did like me, you wouldn't let Kendall stop you." I turned my back to him and let the tears fall down my cheeks without making a sound.
James
I didn't know what to tell her. She was right though, Kendall never stopped be from getting a girl before. So what's the point of even bringing up Kendall in all of this? I knew Katie wouldn't want Kendall to hate her boyfriend. I thought that if I said Kendall would hate me if I liked her, she would give up.
I heard her cry after a few minutes of just lying there. Wow, I really did hurt her.
