.:Chapter 10:.
"So what are you going to do when you see Patrick today? He's working late at the studio right?"
Katie rolled her eyes as Lizzie crossed her legs, leaning back in her seat. Her green shone with excitement, set off against her bright blonde hair. There was no doubt about it that she was anything but beautiful. Putting her spoon back in her cup of frozen yogurt, she took her time answering, looking at the PalmWoods Pool. Her brother and his friends were all playing volleyball and were yelling loudly when each of them missed the ball or managed to score and amazing shot. Her smile widened, watching as the ball landed a few inches past Carlos's outstretched hands.
The four guys then turned to Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Riley, and Rhuben, who were all standing at referees or score keepers. The five girls were sitting at the side of the pool, their legs dangling in the water as they watched the guys play. Katie was pretty sure that they could care less about what the score was or who was winning, just as long as they had the girls' attention. No matter if their giant group of friends was just hanging out, the guys always seemed to find a way to get into a stupid argument, hoping that they had the girls' attention for even a few minutes. That's what Lizzie had told her anyway, when they had first started the game.
"I don't get it though," Katie had said, the two of them standing in line for smoothies and frozen yogurt. "It's a stupid volleyball game. They have a better chance of impressing them by lifting weights at the gym."
"And this is why you need my expertise around all the time," Lizzie said. She put her arm around Katie's shoulders. "Because no matter what guys are doing, nine times out of ten, if there's a girl around, they want to try and impress her." She grabbed onto Katie's shoulders tightly, the brightest smile ever on her face. "Speaking of how did Kendall's and Riley's date go?"
Katie smirked. She hadn't seen her brother so happy. From what she could tell, they weren't official or anything, and they didn't seem to act any different around each other, but there was definitely something there. She seemed a bit more patient with his antics, but couldn't give up her trait or annoying or teasing him any chance she got. "You're tired of hearing about mine already?"
"I like to hear about everyone's love life," Lizzie reminded her. "I'm a girl! I need the gossip! I live off of gossip."
"And boys and clothes and boys and clothes," Katie replied. "And did I mention boys?"
"Hey!" Lizzie looked offended. "I like a lot of other things too. I like rollerblading, and surfing, and baking, and soccer, and music, and movies." She stopped counting her fingers and threw her hands into the air. "At least I'm not obsessed with money, now that's weird!"
The two girls then laughed and got their drinks and food and reclined in two empty pool chairs to watch the guys' game. They had managed to go while in their conversation without talking about Patrick or Katie's date in general. Of course, Lizzie had to bring it up again. Now she understood why the older girls talked about it a lot, there was always something that you needed to analyze or worry about when it came to dating. She and Patrick had gone out and things didn't really seem to change between them after that. She expected a lot of attention to suddenly be showered upon her, to get a lot of gifts, and have to worry about PDA like movies and TV shows had shown her. But like the rest of the world showed her, TV wasn't real life and real life was unpredictable.
"Yeah, he, Noah, and Patrick are all working late today," Katie replied. "Which is sort of weird since they're taking the year off. But whatever." She shook her head before dropping her hands into her lap. Biting her lower lip, she bent her head, allowing her hair to cover her face. "And I don't know what I'm going to say. What does anyone say after they see someone for the first time after a date?" It was times like these she wished she was a bit closer to her Mom, so she would have someone to talk to about this sort of thing. Lizzie didn't seem to understand her worries about it at all, hell, if Katie could guess, Lizzie's first date probably went so smoothly. It would make sense as to how she was so good at being a flirt most of the time.
"Uh…'hi'?" Lizzie prompted.
Katie wrinkled her nose. "It sounds so lame though.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Lizzie leaned forward and grabbed onto Katie's hands. "You're starting to care about the way you appear around other people!" She wiped away a pretend tear. "I knew this day would come!"
"Oh, knock it off!" Katie laughed.
"But you changed your hair and everything," Lizzie continued. Katie looked down at her outfit. It wasn't that different was it? Just a purple tank-top with a white, billowy vest over it, jean shorts that went to her knees-she still wasn't ready for short shorts yet-and her flip flops. "Are they…" Lizzie hesitated.
Probably so she doesn't sound critical. Katie frowned.
"Your clothes?" Lizzie's eyes narrowed.
"No, they're Rhu's," Katie admitted.
When the girls had arrived at the crib earlier that day, to go to the pool with the guys, Rhuben had brought over a bag of clothes for Katie to wear. They were getting too small for her, as Rhuben had noted, and she thought that Katie would like them because they were purple, their common favorite color. Katie took the bag gleefully, though Kendall looked at his friend and co-worker with a look that a worried brother only could.
"Relax, Kenny," Rhuben said, patting him on the stomach. "It's not any clothes that you have to worry about, just tank tops and shorts and stuff."
"Big Brother much?" Riley added. She tilted her head to the side. "And I'm talking about the entity of the book, not you, though there isn't much of a difference."
"I take pride in that, actually," Kendall said. "Sure, she may hate me later on, but then I know I'm doing a good job." He gave her a peaceful smile. Riley eyed him warily. "What?"
"Trying to figure out if I'm supposed to feel offended, Hockey-Head," Riley said. Her face relaxed and her eyes flashed. "Lucky for you, I don't." She shifted the towel in her arms, quickly smiling at him before addressing everyone. "So are we going to the pool or what?"
"Yeah, I'm ready to get some sun!" Camille added. She stretched her arms over her head. "I've been stuck in New York for the past couple of days for auditions and it did nothing but rain. It's probably the only time that I'm happy that it barely rains here."
Katie smiled and laughed with everyone, but glanced over at Logan. He and Camille had broken up a lot and gotten back together just as many times. It was a bit weird to see that they could act normally around each other and their friends so shortly afterwards. Katie took the bag from Rhuben's hand and went to put it in her room. Rhuben followed her.
"What's up with you?" Rhuben pulled her hair back into a ponytail, sitting down on the end of Katie's bed as she placed the bag in a corner of the room. "You like to go to the pool just as much as the rest of us do and you barely said a word." She raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me that K-Dawg's freakishly overprotective tendencies are finally starting to get to you."
"No." Katie shook her head. She sighed, dropping onto her bed. "Why is dating so weird?"
"What d'you mean?" Rhuben shifted to face her completely. Her eyebrows lowered into a mix of a glare and a suspicious look. "Did Patrick do something stupid? I mean, he usually does, but under stressful situations he gets worse. He can be an asshole sometimes."
"No, he's fine," Katie said. She blushed when the double intender of that reached her brain. "The date was fun. He even remembered my favorite combo at the movies without having to remind him. I just thought that things would be more like a…like a movie I guess."
"Well, you can't base everything off of movies," Rhuben said. She gave Katie a gentle smile. "I get what you mean though; I felt the same way after my first date. Granted, I was younger than you are now, but I understand he sentiment. And the guys are giving you a hard time about it too, right?"
Katie nodded.
"All guys do that to their sisters, they're just showing that they care," Rhuben explained. "Just let them know that if they annoy you too much that they're have to answer to me, alright?" Her eyebrows twitched as she smirked. "They'll stop after that, I promise."
"Thanks, Rhu." Katie smiled.
"No worries, Katie." Her blue eyes moved over to the bag in the corner of the room then shifted back over to Katie. Under her purple shaded lids, her eyes sparkled mischievously. "At the risk of giving Kendall a heart attack, do you want to try something on?"
"Um. Ok."
Katie tried on Rhuben's clothes and nervously left her room, thinking that the guys were going to say something. But they seemed to be preoccupied with going to the pool because they barely glanced at her before they went charging out of the crib. She had been glad that no one said anything, but now that Lizzie did, her anxiety just came back.
"Does it look weird?" Katie started to smooth her hair down. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "I thought it did, but Rhu said it looked good and Riles said she liked it and-"
"Whoa, Katie, relax! It looks fine." Lizzie smiled. "I was just asking because they looked familiar." She pulled her blonde hair behind her ears. "Anyway, let's get out of here, I'm tired of watching and there are no cute boys around here." She smiled sweetly. "Besides you brother of course." At Katie's look of disgust, Lizzie laughed. "So you can crush on my brother but I can't crush on yours."
"No," Katie said flatly. "Besides, Riles already has him and she'd kick your ass if you go anywhere near him. Whether or not they're dating now or are still just best friends or whatever." Lizzie shrugged, not too worried about it.
"Well, let's go to the park or something, or to the movie store or something!" Lizzie turned so that she was sitting on the side of the pool chair. "Let's go wreak some havoc!"
At that, Katie burst out laughing. "You wreak havoc? Yeah, I'd love to see that!" Katie shook her head, still laughing at her friend. That's how they were different, Katie liked to cause mischief and Lizzie liked to look at magazines. Yeah, there were times that Katie got jealous of Lizzie and the way she looked and carried herself, but there were a lot of things that Lizzie couldn't do that Katie could.
Lizzie gave her a peaceful smile. "You know, I like that about you, Katie."
"What?" Katie looked at her warily.
"Your street smarts," Lizzie said matter of fact. "What other girl knows how to swindle everyone out of their money? Who else knows how to con almost everyone she meets to get things to go the way she wants? Who else knows how to defend herself or who to trust just by looking at them? Who else can call someone out on their crap just like you did to me?" She shrugged. "I wish that I could do that."
Katie was silent for a moment. And here she thought Lizzie had everything she wanted. She didn't think that she was jealous of her too. Not in a million years. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything. Katie got to her feet and kicked off her sandals. Lizzie followed her lead and the two stripped down to their bathing suits and went over to the pool.
"Nice bathing suit." Katie turned to see Victoria standing behind her, a large pair of sunglasses over her eyes and a towel draped over her shoulder. Her hair was wet and hanging in stringy strands around her face, though her makeup was perfect. "It looks like the one that I wore two years ago." She looked Katie up and down. "It doesn't surprise me that you're behind the times."
"Isn't it great?" Lizzie jumped in. "It's retro-chic, don't you think? Katie's always been quick to pick up on the latest trends." Lizzie hooked her arm through Katie's and led her away from Victoria, who was left speechless. "You're welcome."
"Thank you."
"So, can we play?" Katie asked, bending down to grab onto the pool's edge before jumping in. "This is way too boring, just watching you guys." She swam over to her brother. "What do you say, Big Brother? Team Knight going for the win?"
"You know it!" Kendall agreed, giving her a high-five. Katie grinned back at her brother as the others were split into the teams. It was Kendall, Katie, Riley, Stephanie, and Rhuben against Jo, Camille, Lizzie, Logan, Carlos, and James.
As they played the game, amongst screams of frustration and bursts of laughter, Katie could see Victoria watching her, a burning intensity in her eyes. Katie ignored her the best she could, it was the most amount of fun that she's had in a while and she didn't want anything to spoil it. She didn't notice that Patrick, Noah, and Sydney had arrived until Kendall lifted her up to score a spike over the net. Amongst the cries of outrage from James, Logan, and Carlos, she could hear clapping from the three guys.
"Hey, Kates, can I talk to you for a minute?" Patrick waved her over.
"Sure." Katie felt her face enflame when she heard the teasing calls that Carlos sent her way. Kendall quickly shut him with a wave of water in his face. Patrick held out his hand and Katie grabbed onto it, allowing the help to be pulled out of the pool. He handed over her towel with a warm smile, causing her face to turn even redder. "What's up?"
"I have a…strange question to ask," Patrick said slowly. He ran a hand through his hair then crossed his arms over his chest, looking at her intently. "I have a therapy session that's coming up soon and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me." He rolled his eyes. "Ronan thinks I should make one sooner, but whatever."
"Really?" Katie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. He wanted her to go with him to a therapy session. Not even the guys went to their therapy session, they had never been asked as far as she knew. Why did he want her to go now? There had been so many other times that he could have asked, so what was so different this time? "Why me? Why not one of the other guys?"
Patrick smirked, looking her up and down. "I figured that was obvious." When Katie looked away from him, he chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you that you blush too easily?" She scowled. "I mean, it's cute, but still. I'd probably have to only say something like I creamed myself and you'd blush."
Katie's eyebrows lowered and she looked at him. "What?"
Patrick's eyes widened. "You don't know what that means?" When Katie shook her head, he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. "That's priceless. But don't tell Kendall I said that or he and James would have a bounty over my head." He suddenly snapped, pointing at her. "And don't ask me what it means either, because I think you'd need to clean your brain with bleach if I ever told you."
"Why is everyone treating me like a little kid lately?" Katie pulled her towel closer around her body.
Patrick reached out and wiped a drop of water off of her cheek. "Because you're cute, sweetheart, I didn't think it was that hard to find out," he said, matter-of-fact. Katie opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the sound of his phone letting out its text tone. He pulled his cell phone and glanced at the text. His face immediately darkened.
Katie recognized the face. "Do you want me to come with you?"
"Please." He went over to Noah, who was talking to Stephanie and Carlos. "Cover for me?" Noah looked like he wasn't about to answer, wanting him to come up with something himself, but then nodded. "Thanks, I owe you one, Buddy." He slapped Noah on the shoulder and waited for Katie to slip on her clothes before leading her outside.
Patrick's fingers twitched at his sides and he clenched his hands into fists. He always got a bit of an adrenaline rush when it came to things like this. Anything that could prove that he wasn't so much of a goofball like people thought he was. He could be serious and driven when he wanted to be. His music showed that despite what his image showed. His image portrayed him as a bad boy and he was treated that way most of the time, other times he was treated like he couldn't ever be serious.
I try my hardest to prove them wrong on all accounts. Patrick slowed his walk as they approached the playground. But maybe they're right. What I'm doing isn't very smart and it does play into the bad boy factor. What if I really am like this? What if Robert made me this way?
Once they arrived at the park, Patrick immediately walked over to the dome jungle gym. Jared was inside with a guy that he knew by the name of Andy. Derrick was standing off to the side; he nodded over at Patrick and Katie as they approached the jungle gym. Patrick nodded back. Reaching up, he pulled his lip rings out and handed them over to Katie before taking off his rings and doing the same thing.
"Are you sure about this?" Katie's question caused him to pause for a moment as he prepared. She asked the same thing each time they went to the park, but this time it sounded different. He risked a glance at her face, then immediately regretted it, seeing the anxiety.
He tried to calm her down with a one-armed hug. "I'm sure. No worries." He winked at her. "I don't lose, remember?" He pulled off his shirt and handed it over to her before ducking into the dome. "So what's going on this time?"
"Got another guy that wants to challenge you." Jared tilted his head over to Andy.
What guy wouldn't want to have the chance to beat up a rock star? Patrick nodded and reached out, shaking Andy's hand. Andy's grip was firm, crushing Patrick's fingers together. Taking a step back, Patrick's eyes narrowed in a glare. Something was off here.
"What d'you want to bet?' Jared prompted.
Patrick lifted his lightning bolt necklace off of his neck and slapped it into Jared's hand, his eyes locked onto Andy's. Andy took out of cell phone and ipod and put them into Jared's other hand. Jared looked at them both studying them, and then nodded. He backed up to a safe corner of the dome. Patrick rolled his shoulders in a circle and turned around to face Katie. Grabbing a rung of the dome he leaned towards her.
"I hope you're not doing this to impress me," she said.
Patrick held an apathetic on his normally sunny face. Then he slowly smiled. "You'll never know," he said mysteriously. Then his smile faded and he looked concerned. "Do you think my mum and dad would be proud of me?" Katie gaped at him. He knew why. It was the first time that he had mentioned his parents to her apart from the offhand comment here and there. Otherwise, he never talked about them or about whether or not they were proud of him. At all. If it wasn't for looking them up on the internet (who said that she couldn't research them after they researched her brother and his friends when they first met) she wouldn't even know what their names were. He lowered his gaze. "Never mind."
"Pat, you don't have to-"
Patrick turned and walked away from her, back over to Andy who watched his every move, with a calculated stare. Patrick smirked at Andy and brought his hands up beside his face, falling into the boxing stance that he was used to. It was his favorite form of being able to work out, being able to build his strength up and get some of his pent up frustration out. He was the one that always tried to make his brothers and sisters happy, to laugh, and to forget their problems. Sometimes they forgot that he had problems too.
"Ok, we got the normal rules for this fight!" Jared called. "When you're ready?" Both boys nodded.
This one's for you, Dad.
"Go!"
Patrick tuned out the screaming and cheering behind him and waited for Andy to make the first move. You had the advantage if the other person made the first move, that way you could see what was coming. It was better than doing it yourself and having him block you, which would set the mood for the rest of the fight. Patrick jumped as Andy aimed a kick at his legs. Landing back on his feet, Patrick shifted his weight forward and slammed into Andy's chest. Andy grabbed his chest and backed away a few spaces. Patrick took the opportunity to jump up and wrap his legs around Andy's neck in a scissor kick, twisting his body and using his momentum to twist them to the ground.
He was glad at the gymnastics training that he used for his band or else it wouldn't have ended as well. The training that we had to go through when Robert pushed us so hard. Once the two were on the ground, fists were flying. Patrick felt a few blows land on his back; otherwise his didn't feel a thing. He never felt anything until hours later. He was in the zone. Don't back down now. Patrick leaned back smashed his fist into the side of Andy's face three, four, five times before backing away from him. He waited to see if Andy was going to fight back. His bare chest heaved up and down with effort as he waited. Andy rolled over until he was sitting and then shook his head, holding up his hands.
Game Over.
Are you proud of me now? I can take care of everyone. You don't have to worry about us. "Cake," Patrick muttered. He smiled to himself and turned, grabbing his winnings from Jared's hands. He pulled the necklace back over his neck. The little lightning bolt charms rested against his chest, the metal cool against his burning skin. It glinted in the sunlight. Wiping sweat off of his forehead, he started to pace the dome like a restless lion.
"Does anyone else want a go against our undefeated champ?" Jared called after escorting Andy out of the ring. His back turned to them; Patrick missed the looks they gave each other. Shouts of encouragement rose above the crowd. As Patrick continued to pace, he caught Katie's eye again.
"You don't have to do this," Katie tried. Her hands were gripping the metal bars so hard that her knuckles and fingers were white. Her hazel eyes were wide, but her lower lip was trembling. Though she was shaking, and her face showed the epitome of fear, she held a strong tone to her voice. Something else that she could do but Lizzie couldn't. It was the same tone of voice she generally used with Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James; strong and a bit condescending at the same time. "All they want to do is-"
Suddenly, Patrick snapped. "SHUT UP!" He hollered at her.
All the fight went out of him when he saw the shocked look on Katie's face. She took a step back. Away from him. He didn't want that. He just…wanted to prove that he was strong. That he was good enough. He needed to be good enough. He needed to prove that he could take care of his siblings. Patrick's shoulders slumped and he looked at his feet in shock. That was it. As usual, everything stemmed back to what happened with Robert. He didn't think that it would have gotten that bad. He didn't realize how selfish he had been until that moment. How much danger he was putting her in. Kendall would probably never forgive her if he found out about it. Now he understood the disappointment that Ronan felt, instead of using his brothers and sisters to help him deal with his problems…with Robert's abuse on them, he made them keep everything a secret if anyone ever asked.
Patrick sucked in a deep breath. He walked over to the edge of the dome. Slipping out, he turned and meekly walked over to Katie. She gazed at him, a questioning look in her eyes. He smiled and reached out, grabbing onto her hand, squeezing it tightly in his. Katie continued to look at him, only relaxing when he gave her his famous lopsided smile. Katie smiled back and Patrick wedged his fingers in between hers, gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Let's go," he said.
"Ok." Now there was a sweet edge to her tone, something that the guys or her friends didn't hear very often. James swore he heard it when Katie admitted that she thought of him as a brother (after he ruined her date to the 'make out movie') and when she was helping him out when he was trying to get the job of the Barracuda spokes model. It was something that was usually reserved for Kendall or her Mom, no one else.
"I don't think so." Derrick's voice caused Patrick to freeze. There was something sinister under his tone. Patrick finally took his gaze away from Katie's face and his eyes slowly went from face to face. Everyone that had waited for a fight grinned back at him.
He remembered it now, the unspoken rule of fighting. He had reminded Sydney of it many times when he was trying to teach him how to defend himself, something that Riley and Rhuben had been against from the beginning. It was a bit ironic though, they didn't want their brothers to do the same things that they did when they were back in Australia, but he fell into it anyway. That was something that he did share with Riley, though he showed it in a different way. He was a bit overly aggressive when it came to sports, almost continuously getting kicked out of soccer games that he would participate in. He rarely ever showed it when he was angry, and regretted it each time he did.
Never turn your back on a fight unless you know for sure that you can get away. Either that or don't get into it in the first place.
Those words were coming back to haunt him now.
He started to sniff, as if trying to keep his nose from running. His nervous habit. "Shit!" Patrick held out his arm in front of Katie, backing up a couple of steps. His dark blue eyes darted around, dread causing his heart to sink.
They were surrounded with no way out.
A/N: I had to get back to the point of the story some time. I purposefully switched from Katie's POV to Patrick's as the chapter went you guys liked the chapter. The chapters will focus more on Patrick as they go on, since I haven't really shown a lot of him or the Jacksons, but I'll try to keep it balanced. Let me know if you were confused with what I had going on with Patrick.
I was thinking of re-writing Do It All Again one more time as a sequel to this story, but also bringing in the idea I had for Big Sister as well. But if I do that, some of what I had planned for this story would have to change as well as it showing more of the older kids rather than this one being completely focused on Katie. If I don't do Big Sister in it, then I'll either make it a sequel to Do It All Again or just leave it as its own story.
Also, recently we got the comment that we don't show how the Jacksons really are close, I didn't show it in this story either since it was brought up before I could finish. The rest of this story doesn't do it a lot, but it'll happen more with Memories and Melodies, It's Times Like These and all of my future stories. So, sorry about that.
I'll update again soon.
Cheers,
-Riles