*AN* Author's Notes at the bottom of the chapter instead to avoid spoilers!*
There was an awkward silence in the house before Katie finally said something.
"I can explain!" she said in defense. She expected to be met with hatred and punishment as usual but instead she was met with cheers and a group 'Surprise!'. She met them back with confusion before the crowd started to disperse back into the room, shuffling her with them. She was ushered to the living room to see the congratulations banner, balloons, streamers and all kinds of food and even a high stack of presents. "What's going on?"
"It's a congratulations on your engagement party?"
"Huh? But, how did you know?!"
"Kendall came by a few days ago and told us what his plans were. He wanted to check with us first to make sure it was ok. We've seen how happy he's made you and I love seeing you smile." Her mom said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"He's a good boy, despite his rock star fame. Very level headed, down to earth and respectful and I like that. He's been nothing but helpful and I approve of this marriage." her father said with a smile.
"Oh, I see. He didn't tell me that." she said carefully. She was still upset about the whole day and everything that was going on but she wanted to do her best to sound positive despite her feelings of negativity
"He wanted to leave it as a surprise." her mom explained. "How come you were so late?"
"Huh?" she began glancing at the clock "Oh, there was a bit to do still at the Academy. We spent the whole day partying and I just couldn't let all those classes slide, we're behind as it is so I had to send emails out with homework assignments, plus I wanted to get some grading done. I figure I'm going to be busy for the next few days until this all blows over."
"What do you mean until it blows over?" her mom questioned.
"Nothing, I just meant the excitement."
"Alright. Well let's get this party back up and running! We only have a few hours before we call it a night and there is a lot to do!" her mother said cuing everyone to continue.
Katie was over loaded with conversations and congratulatory remarks as well as people who wanted to see her ring. She had left it in her car after taking it off so she went out to get it. She could see and feel the confused and almost disgusted looks she was getting because she took off the ring. She was well known for not wearing jewelry so she tried to play it off as it being no different than other types of jewelry since she was working with the animals before she came home. She also changed to get more comfortable and to look a bit more presentable than in her academy uniform.
The night went well and was full of excitement but yet strangely it had still only just begun. Though it was the middle of the week, most guests had no plans for the morning either having been retired or in between jobs so the party was expected to go until about 11 or so. Katie didn't have to get up early, since it was her business and it was popular enough that she could hire people to open for her, she could wander in at noon or so. The night was winding down though and the only party goers left were mostly Katie's friends. The party was moved into the basement with the leftover food while Katie's mom and some family members cleaned up upstairs and talked to each other to catch up.
The doorbell rang and one Katie's mom's friends answered it, since the others were busy and had their hands full. She thought it was a party goer who had forgotten his or her stuff since there was a decent pile of belongings waiting to be claimed, although most were probably owned by the pack of young adults in the basement.
"Hello there, did you forget something?" the woman asked.
"Uh.." came the person's response. After a double check of the number of the house the person continued "No, I came to see Katie."
"Oh, come in, come in." she gestured. "A bit late to the party arent you?"
"No, I'm here as a surprise." the person replied
"Kendall!" Katie's mom shouted coming in from the kitchen.
"Hi, Mrs. P." he said giving her a hug.
"So this is the mysterious husband we all wondered about!" the woman who answered the door said.
"That's me." Kendall smiled
"It's great to finally meet you." another woman said.
Soon a small swarm of curious family members surrounded Kendall as they asked him several questions to get to know him quickly. Kendall was on a bit of a time restraint so he wanted to see Katie, before he left for LA in a bit for a few months to film some more episodes for the show. He didn't want to be rude though so he just smiled and answered their questions polity, hoping they would soon let him go.
Downstairs, Katie and her friends, both guys and girls were having a huge party full of music, singing, dancing and various video gaming sessions. There was plenty of room in the house for everyone to stay over if they wanted and most of the girls were up for an old fashion sleep over but the guys weren't so keen. They would keep hanging out for a while but they wanted nothing to do with any of the girly stuff if they did decide to stay over. The girls would be upstairs and the guys downstairs to make things easy on both parties.
Liam went upstairs to fetch more soda for the group. On his way to the kitchen he heard all the adults talking and getting all wound up so he tried to avoid them at all costs. He heard a familiar voice and peeked out to see Kendall amidst all of Katie's family members. Kendall was calm and polite but Liam knew he was probably in a hurry since supposedly he left for a flight hours ago.
"Hey Kendall." Liam said nonchalantly. Kendall's look of relief and gratitude showed prominently at Liam's words and tried to excuse himself from the group to greet him but was pulled back in. Liam couldn't really say anything more to help him but he invited him downstairs to hang with the others but the adults turned Liam away harshly. Liam was a bit hurt and frustrated but he got over it.
He went back downstairs with the soda where it was immediately distributed among the party-goers quickly and tossed in the trash. With the last of the soda gone and food running out, soon most of the guys would be going home after they finished their gaming sessions. The girls were planning a movie and invited the guys but as of yet they couldn't agree on a title.
"Katie, I think you need to go upstairs and rescue your fiancé from the mob of your mom's friends."
"Fiancé!?" the girls screamed in unison.
"Oh my god, Kendall Knight is here?! AHHHH!" Elizabeth screamed
"I want to meet him!" Isabelle called out
"Me too!" Leslie chimed in
"Wait a minute!" Katie tried to pipe in but half of the group was already out of their seats and up the stairs. The rest of the girls followed suit, as did some of her close guy friends who wanted to meet this mystery man. They knew he was some kind of celebrity but didn't bother reading any teen magazines or look up that kind of stuff on their computers or phones in fear of someone catching their search history. The stampede of young adults was stopped short by Katie's mom who chastised the group.
"Enough! Mr. Pryszweic is sleeping, he has to go to work tomorrow! Kendall is not here for everyone's enjoyment, he's here to see his wife to be and that's it."
"That's ok, I don't mind saying hello to everyone. Take some pictures, sign some autographs, give some hugs, then I can see my girl."
"Sounds fine to me!" Katie smiled behind the group. Kendall pushed past the group lightly to give his fiance a hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to the others and started signing away. It took only 5 minutes and everyone was satisfied and they all went downstairs. Kendall got to spend a few minutes alone with Katie to talk about things like how she was feeling, noticing that she was missing that spark in her eye. She told him that she said yes to him to make the scene look good but she wasn't sure if she was truly ready or if this was real.
"It's hard to explain, I love you, don't get me wrong, it's just that…I'm scared I guess. I'm still unsure of everything. This is a hard habit to break when you've had to rely on yourself for so long…"
"I understand. You can take all the time you need. I'm sure it'll be another year or so before we actually tie the knot. With our busy schedules we need a lot of time to prepare and stuff but my offer will always stand true. And in the event that you do decide to say no, I'll understand; but I'm not going to give up easily. I meant it when I said that I love you an that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." he said moving in to kiss her. She met his lips as they softly kissed hers before he started getting heavier. She accepted his movements and soon fell backwards in his light pushing and he was on top.
Kendall broke away after about a minute or 2 and helped her back up once he got off of her. They were still in the kitchen although far from the view of the adults but they had been quiet. Katie's dad was a stickler for space between couples until marriage although her mom was more relaxed. But it didn't stop her from being nosy and with her mom's friends around she would be all the nosier. The two headed downstairs quietly to pretend like they had been there for a while and joined the festivities for an hour before turning in for the night. Kendall stayed in the basement with the guys, unable and unwilling to sneak upstairs due to his personal morals and because of Katie's friends and parents. For the most part it was because he respected her and although it wouldn't have been the first time they slept together in the actual sense: sleeping; they had never engaged in anything sexual other than a joke and he wasn't about to start now.
It was quiet the next morning as all the young adults were still asleep. Katie's mom prepared a breakfast for all of Katie's friends but wasn't sure if she should wake them all. She went upstairs to check if any of the girls were awake, including her daughter but found everyone to be sleeping still. It was only just after 9am and Katie was known to sleep until at least 10. After about 20 minutes, she heard some noises from downstairs and slowly checked to see a few of the guys awake.
"Breakfast time if anyone is interested!" She called down the rest of the flight.
Liam, Greg and Hank got right up and headed up the stairs in a hurry, waking up Isaac, and Keith on the way. The two of them were groggy and tired and just rolled back over to go to sleep for a few minutes more. The girls had started to make their way down stairs and fought the guys over hogging the food, although Mrs. P had prepared plenty of food in her deluxe kitchen. Once everyone was done eating, the girls helped Katie's mom clean up while the guys went to wake up, Keith, Isaac, Jake and Rocko who were still sound asleep in the basement.
Kendall was nowhere to be seen, he most likely left early in the morning to grab his things before catching his flight back to LA. While his band mates left last night just before dinner time, Kendall volunteered to move to a later flight when the flight had been overbooked. His flight left at 5am and he left shortly after everyone had fallen asleep. He waited upstairs in the foyer for an hour until his ride showed up. He had only his two carry on bags, the rest of his luggage was already in LA with his band mates, or at least he hoped that they didn't forget about it.
Kendall went to leave a note upstairs but Shadow laid at the top of the stairs and refused to let him pass, growling lightly at him. Kendall could see vaguely, the outlines of some of the girls laying in the spacious hallway, while most of them were sleeping in the large storage room on the other side of the hall. Kendall tried to give Shadow the note to deliver but Shadow was unsure of his surroundings in the dark and stumbled a few times before Kendall called him off. He sealed the note with tape and left it on the counter in hopes only Katie would read it. He wanted to be sure that she was ready to marry him when she felt it was right and not a moment before. He was willing to wait as long as it took for her to feel safe and trust him but he didn't want her to feel cornered or rushed in anyway so he wanted to keep this whole ordeal under wraps for now. With the note set and his ride waiting, Kendall set the door lock to lock securely behind him and he walked quickly to the cab before turning around at the house one more time and take a deep breath. He looked up to where Katie's window might be and smiled.
"Goodnight, Katie. I love you." he whispered into the dark night. He put his bags in the backseat with him and told the driver to go on.
The next morning Katie woke up feeling oddly refreshed instead of groggy. She was warm and felt at peace despite it being a cool fall morning. She looked around her room as she stretched in bed to see she was alone, door shut tight. Her window blinds were open and it was very bright outside. She remembered about all her guests and looked at the clock to see it was almost 11am. The house was fairly quiet though so she got up to look out her many windows to see if anything was going on outside. Most of her friends were hanging out on the back deck, some were in the pool, others were going in and out of the house through the basement hangout.
She smiled at her friends although they didn't see her and she got ready for her day. She grabbed her swimsuit to join them and put other clothes on over it to romp around the house in for a while. She opened her bedroom door to see a piece of paper fall to the ground. It was taped up and covered in Kendall's messy handwriting. She picked it up and tried to open it but he used so much tape that it wasn't an easy task. Katie went over to her desk to grab some scissors then sat on her bench in front of the front window of her room to work on gently opening it up.
She finally managed to get it open and read the contents. He went on to say how he had to catch his flight after volunteering to be booted on his over booked flight. He was glad he saw her one last time before flying out. He wanted to be part of the wedding plans but he didn't want to make her wait while he was in LA for the show and for a tour. They'd see each other in a few months. Katie was all smiles as she read his simple note. There was nothing in it that made it super special or romantic, it just outlined his plans for the next few months and explained why he was able to hang around.
Katie couldn't understand her emotions either, she didn't get it why she was so happy, so calm, so at peace with everything going on. She didn't mind the questions, she wasn't scared and she didn't hide the fact that she was engaged from herself. She put the note down to look out the window of her room at the front yard where Kendall had stood mere hours before. She could almost see and feel his presence staring back at her, smiling as he waved goodbye. She placed a hand on the glass to reciprocate his farewell as she stared out the pane at nothing.
"Katie? Katie are ready?" she heard someone say as she stared out the window. She turned to look and saw her mom.
"What?" she replied
"I said are you ready?" she repeated.
"Oh." she replied. She paused for a moment as she looked out the window again. She took a deep breath and sighed before turning to her mother with a smile on her face. "Yes, I am." she continued. She got up from the bench and let her self get accustomed to the long and cumbersome wedding gown that was now flowing around her. Her mom quickly went around to make sure the gown flowed freely around her daughter and then attached the veil to the tiara and unraveled the train for the bride's maids to carry.
"I've been waiting for a long time for this day and I cant believe it's finally here."
"I know, I know but keep in mind that you need to keep it together to help me. My friends are bawling their eyes out and I need at least one dry eyed person to rely on!"
"This is a happy occasion! I cant help but cry seeing you all dressed up for your own wedding. Your father is going to be in tears too, he hasn't seen you yet and I have a feeling he's going to be having a hard time keeping it together."
"You better hope that he does keep it together, not to be self centered or anything but I don't need him falling down the aisle because he gets too emotional. I am not dressed to pick him up off the floor."
"Don't you worry about that, he'll be just fine. He's not about to ruin a day that he's been waiting for just as long as we have. You know as well as I do that that man is stubborn, if he wasn't feeling well, he's going to hide it for as long as possible, especially when it comes to protecting you." she said as she adjusted a few of Katie's accessories and touching up her make-up one last time. " Don't worry about it too much, he's a strong man and he's been preparing for this day. We've all rehearsed numerous times to make sure everything will go exactly the right way. Now then, chin up, take a deep breath, shake it all out of your mind, relax and here we go!"
*AN* OK The last part where my OC is staring out the window after reading Kendall's note is in her bedroom however the dialogue acts as a kind of switch to go back to the beginning of the story. My OC's mom was coming in to check on her and see if she was awake but at the same time she was checking in to see if my character was ready to get married. Remember at the beginning of the story, my OC was in a room all to herself and then sat down on a bench to look out a window as she recalled how she almost let this moment slip by her/how everything came to fruition. So now we head back to that moment and continue the story at the beginning. Its a bit confusing and makes more sense in a movie or TV show where it can be seen but I tried to explain it as best I could. For the most part this story is finished, I'm just going to wrap up a few loose ends, describe the wedding and stuff like that. If you have any questions or comments leave them below but remember that I cannot answer you if you do not use your profile name! If you find a loose end that you want me to cover then by all means through it my way. This story took longer than it usually takes me so no doubt I've missed a few things. Stay tuned for the wrap up chapter/epilogue and more stories! Thanks for sticking with me through this one as I tried something a little different.*