It had been a week since we had arrived back in New York and Cat was still an emotional ball of anxiety. I could hardly blame her if I was honest, but had to keep reminding her that the stress was no good for the baby. Though she did perk right up when Kenny started coming around.
"Hello Ladies." He grins, this morning, entering our apartment, hobbling on a walking stick.
Despite being unsure about where she wanted her relationship with Kenny to go, Cat couldn't help but smile when she laid eyes on him.
"Oh, Kenny please come sit down." Cat stresses, trying to get up to help him sit down. Kenny wore the same lopsided grin that Cat had.
Although Kenny looked so much better, he was still recovering from being shot three times. It had only been a couple of months, so the walking stick was his new best friend. He was getting better and better everyday, though dad said he had noticed that Kenny had been getting more strength in the last week. I smirk to myself 'I wonder why.'
"Cat, you don't have to get up on my account." He smiles, as he slowly makes his way into the kitchen.
"But you're still hurt, you have to rest." Cat stresses, finally being able to get up and waddles over to help Kenny.
"But you're seven months pregnant, you should be resting too." He says, but a blush fans through his Ivory cheeks as Cat wraps her arm around his waist, giving him some support.
"Don't worry, Jade has been taking care of me." Cat assures him, as she settles him onto a stool.
"Wait! My Jade? This Jade?" He points to me, quietly typing away on my laptop at the kitchen island, pretending to be extremely shocked.
"Of course she has, she's pretty amazing." Cat smiles, completely missing Kenny's sarcasm.
I glance up and shoot an icy glare in Kenny's direction, making him smirk gleefully. As annoying as he is, it was really nice to see him back to his sarcastic self. He wouldn't be my younger brother if he wasn't annoying the shit out of me.
"I think you and Tori are starting to make Jade soft, Cat." He continues smirking, staring at me waiting for me to bite.
I look back down at my laptop, but Cat jumps in, "Oh no, Jade's still scary. The pizza guy asked for more of a tip last night and she pulled out her scissors and threatened to cut off his stupid ponytail."
Kenny lets out a laugh at my scissor antics, but he regrets it immediately, holding his stomach where on of his gun wounds are. Cat pouts in concern, but I smile as I continue typing away.
"Are you ok?" Cat asks, as Kenny clutches his stomach.
"I'm fine. It's just karma for making fun of Jade." He grins at Cat, gingerly removing his hand.
"Damn right it is." I mutter, under my breath not looking up.
Kenny tries not to laugh as he straightens up. He turns to Cat, wanting to talk to her.
"Oh Cat, I wanted to let you know I spoke with our family lawyer." He smiles, nicely.
A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips, I wasn't the only one to notice that Cat was feeling down. I encouraged Cat to talk to Kenny, hoping she might be more willing to accept help from Kenny than continually running to Tori and myself for help. Kenny understood there wasn't much that could be done, but he would do anything for Cat.
"Oh you did?" Cat lights up, "What did he say?"
"Unfortunately, there isn't a case against him as yet. We can't force him to sign the papers." Kenny says, gently, he and I both knew this would be the answer.
Cat's worst fears are confirmed, her hands spring to her belly and her faces falls in defeat. It was hard to see her like this, for Kenny especially.
"However, he did leave me with some advice for you." Kenny continues, trying to bring the silver lining.
"He did?" Cat looks up quickly.
"He said you need to make sure you are financially stable and be able to prove that you can provide a stable home for the baby, if there comes a time that Fluffy-Haired McJerk tries to get custody, you'll have more of a chance despite the fact that he has more money." Kenny explains, reaching out and grabbing Cat's hand, "More money doesn't mean a better parent."
Even though Kenny was being as gentle as he could with Cat, you could see the stress and anxiety pouring out of her. She just moved to a new city with no new business prospects, she shares an apartment with another couple and her name isn't on the apartment as it's technically mine. Knowing Beck, he could turn all of this in his favour. But, we aren't about to let him do that.
"You know, rebranding your business for the east coast is might be a good idea." I suggest as if it had just come to me and I hadn't been thinking about it for the past week.
Cat turns to me, "You think I can do that? The only reason I did so well in LA was because of Tori and Beck knows that."
"Come on Cat, your make up skills are better than anyone. If I remember, didn't you once give Tori a zombie make over?" I remind her of her impressive skills.
"Yes, but I accidentally used grizzly glue and nearly damaged Tori's face." Cat cries, covering her face, "I'm terrible at everything!"
"Ok Cat, you were 15 when you did that. Beside the mistake with the glue, I saw the make up you did. It was better than anything we ever did at our school." I assure her, "Not to mention, you have improved so much since then. I'm sure there is a huge market for your skills out here too."
"But I'm already seven months pregnant, I can't stand for long periods of time anymore." Cat cries, thinking of the negatives, which is usually what I do, "How am I meant to work?"
"Cat, we have time. Your business hasn't gone under, you're on maternity leave. Now's the time to revamp everything." Kenny says, soothingly.
"Guys, I don't have that kind of money. Not with a baby on the way." Cat argues, seriously, subtly pointing out she would not be borrowing money from us.
We all fall silent for a moment. I already knew how I wanted to help Cat, but I didn't want it to seem like I'm was just taking over. Cat had come along way in the past seven months, she was becoming more confident in her own choices and was wanting to prove she could be a fit mother. But as they say, sometimes it takes a village. I wish Cat could see it wasn't shameful to ask for help.
"Oh I know!" I say suddenly, as if an idea struck me, "What about a new website? The one you have is good, but it's a little basic. We could give it a makeover."
I let the idea wash over Cat, I could see her cogs and wheels moving as she thinks it over. I knew it would be an excellent start to rebranding her business.
"I suppose my website is a little old, do you think that would help?" Cat asks, uncertain, but sounding open to the idea.
"I do, we could update your portfolio, have a whole section on tips and tricks…" I begin, before Kenny jumps in.
"OH! While you're off with the baby, you could do tutorial videos. Like a video blog!" He exclaims excitedly, "What girl wouldn't want tips from a celebrity makeup artist?"
I let a huge grin form on my face, even I didn't think of that. It was brilliant, Cat could be at home, but still promoting herself and if it goes well, she would more than likely have a lot of clients lined up for when she returned back to work. I could see the excitement returning into Cat's eyes, like suddenly she knew what she was to do.
"OMG! Yes! And we could make the website super interactive and I could give reviews on products! *GASPS* Maybe I could even try and get some product sponsors!" She exclaims very loudly and excitedly, I could finally see some of the old Cat returning.
"But.." She stops suddenly, "I don't know much about computers and websites. I had my old roommates boyfriend, Freddie, make mine back in LA."
"Don't worry about that Cat, I think I know a few people that can help us out." I grin, happily.
…
At the prospect of revamping her business and keeping it on track for when she returns back to work, Cat had been in a fairly good mood the past day or so. Even her humongous appetite had returned, which was the best sign I could have asked for. Mum had been over all day cooking up a storm and teaching Cat all her new favourite recipes. All that could be heard in the lower level kitchen was Cat's moans of enjoyment and shrieks of excitement as she figured out how to make the food herself. I never thought someone else's happiness could make me feel amazing, but here I was watching my mum and friend dancing around the kitchen and I was wearing a huge smile.
But there was extra excitement in the house this evening, as Tori had decided to come home early from her movie shoot. She wasn't really needed for the last week and managed to convince her produces to let her leave early. Not to mention, she was helping me with my plan to help Cat. She had made a few phones calls and was on her way with some surprise help.
"Do you think Tori will like this?" Mum asks, offering a spoon of food to taste.
The smell of blended spices fills my nose as I inhale deeply, I lean forward and taste the food and instantly feel the spices dance on my tongue.
"Mmmmm!" I moan in delight, "Mum that's fantastic, what is that?"
"Chilli-Rubbed Pan-Roasted Chicken with fresh tomato salsa." Mum says, happily.
"Wow, that's a mouthful!" I laugh, "But it's so good, Tori will love it."
"Good! Because Cat and I have made a lot." Mum says, trotting off back to the stove, where Cat was cooking.
"Cat, you are picking this up so well!" Mum comments, happily, "Between you and Tori, I may never have to cook again."
"Oh no! Maggie, you're the best cook I've ever met." Cat gasps, grabbing mum's hands, "I want to eat your food every day!"
As the words exit Cat's mouth, her stomach gave a very loud familiar growl. Mum looks down at her belly, before snorting.
"Well, how can I say no to that?" Mum laughs, rubbing Cat's belly.
"Watch out mum, she'll eat you out of house and home. I never had food back in my apartment back in LA." I warn, smirking.
"And whose fault is that?" Cat scolds, putting her hands on her hips, glaring at me.
"Yours! You ate everything!" I fight back, though smiling at her attempt at a glare.
"Don't be so dramatic, Jade!" Cat rolls her eyes, with mum watches on with glee at someone actually not scared to fight with me, "You're clearly overreacting."
"Overreacting?" I snort, shaking my head, "Cat, I once came home to find you in my living room dipping salt and vinegar chips in vanilla ice cream and covering it in melted chocolate."
"Yeah and? It was delicious." Cat shrugs, smugly, "Besides, I could have come up with better combinations if you went shopping more often."
"What was the point? I never got to eat anything of the food that I bought." I argue, standing up from the stool I was sitting on.
"And whose fault is that?" Cat questions, sassily.
"Yours! We just established that!" I shout, shaking my hands exasperatedly.
Cat shrugs, "Eh. Potato-Potato." As she turns back to the stove and continues cooking.
Mum muffles her laughter as I realise there was just no point arguing with Cat. When it came to food, there was no reasoning with her. I sit back down, shaking my head. Sometimes it's better not to fight, but it's not normally the advice I'd follow. I let out a breath, wondering how on earth did I manage to lose that fight, when I hear the elevator doors open. Knowing it must be Tori, I get up to go see her.
"Oh that must be Tori!" Mum shouts, pushing past me to go greet her.
"That's fine mum, you kiss Tori hello for me." I frown, sassily, as I watch her run out into the apartment, "Tell her I've missed her the past three weeks." I shout after her.
Cat dishes out all the food which consisted of more than just the chilli chicken. I can hear mum chatting with Tori animatedly down the hall. I guess now that we live here, I'm going to have to get used to sharing Tori. They enter the kitchen, but they weren't alone. Our surprise help had come with her.
"Full disclosure, I don't know a lot about make up." He says, nervously.
Cat's head shoots up, "Wait…Clarkson? What are you doing here?"
The blonde man grins sheepishly as he stands behind a beaming Tori.
"Well, you wanted to revamp your website. So I brought in the best tech expert we know in New York." Tori pats Clarkson on the back, as he blushes.
Cat looks so surprised that all she could do is stare at Clarkson. I make my way over and greet Tori, kissing her and pulling her into my arms.
"Ugh! Get a room you two! Seriously! You're going to turn me off of my food." Cat says in disgust, clearly snapping out of her shocked state by our display of affection, "Clarkson, come sit down. We have a lot to talk about."
"Thanks Cat, but call me Luke, I'm not on duty at the moment." He smiles, sitting down at the island.
As the two begin to talk, I feel one of Tori's hands slip into mine and the other gently run up my back, causing Goosebumps to erupt all over my body.
"It's nice to see the old Cat coming back." She whispers, gleefully.
"Yep, and I'm betting her rubbish timing will be back any day now." I grumble, jokingly, giving her hand a little squeeze.
"In that case, we should get all of our lady loving done quickly before it returns." Tori whispers huskily, nuzzling her face into my neck.
"You're going to take all the fun out of it if we have to do it quickly." I groan, disappointedly, while Tori giggles into the crook of my neck.
"Do what quickly?" Cat asks, interrupting us, looking up from the food.
"And she's back!" Tori says, with half a groan and half a chuckle.