03: Lucky One

Swirling a makeup brush around her face, eyes closed as she applied foundation, Katy smiled to herself as she heard the front door swing open and then slam shut a moment later.

"I was about to head out," she called, stepping out of the bathroom and into the hallway. "How was last night?"

Jake squinted at Katy as he stepped through the hall, pulling at the tie that was draped over his shoulders. "You stayed here last night?" he asked.

Katy shrugged. "Quieter than the dorms," she replied, "I needed to watch a video lecture for class. I left you a message."

"I thought you were staying just until you got your work done," he replied.

Katy's eyes narrowed as she looked her cousin over. Something was off with him. No matter what, she had always known Jake as the type of person to be a positive person. No one else could be as unlucky as him and still go through the day with a smile on his face. "How was last night?" she repeated, this time with less of a teasing tone to her voice.

"It was great, and then it was ok, and then it was bad."

Katy lowered the brush from her face. "Your meeting with Phillips went great," she said, her voice echoing as she stepped back into the bathroom, "what happened?"

"Ash and I got into a fight," Jake replied. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the doorjamb.

Katy stared wide-eyed at Jake's reflection in the mirror. "What about?" she asked. As she waited for her answer, she busied herself with looking through her makeup bag for an eyeliner pencil and the pencil sharpener. Shavings fell into the sink with the twist of her wrist.

"It wasn't about you," Jake said. "I told you, you didn't have to worry about that."

Katy threw her hands into the air before moving her eyeliner pencil towards her eye. "If I hadn't decided to go into fashion, school wouldn't have been so expensive," she mumbled. "I didn't have to go to college."

"I'm proud of you, dude, you know that," Jake reassured her, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes. His mouth parted, lips pulling back to reveal is teeth in a big yawn. "I'd break my back to get enough money to get you to do whatever it was you wanted to do in this world. You know that."

Katy sighed through her nose. Jake had taken a bunch of odd jobs just to make sure the two of them were ok after their Aunt Martha had died. No, even before that, he was busting his butt to take care of all of them. "Yeah," she agreed, "and you did do that."

"I don't hate that I had to do it," Jake reassured her, "we had to pay for your schooling somehow. Scholarships weren't going to cover all of it. And Ashley helped out. She didn't need to, but she did." He then fixed her with a hard stare. "And you were going to go to college. I was going to make sure of that."

"So, what'd you guys argue about?" Katy asked.

Jake sighed. For a minute, Katy wasn't sure if he was every going to answer. "You know what happened the last time McFly was out here," he said. "With the Hard Rock Café."

"The show at the Hard Rock Café went off without a hitch." Her lips twitched. "For the most part." Even Jake looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"It's not that, I mean what happened afterwards." Katy hummed when Jake started loosening the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt. "There was interest in the band and then it all just went away."

"You and I both know just happens sometimes," Katy replied. "I wouldn't call them one hit wonders, of course, but there has to be something that went right if Mr. Phillips decided that he wants to work with them again."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, that's because Ash did me a solid and drew up a fool proof plan for all of this," he said, "and because I kissed his ass for months on end to stay in his good graces."

Katy's upper lip curled. "I remember you two getting into an argument over that, too," Katy replied. "In fact, you broke up once because of it."

"Exactly," Jake replied, pushing his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. "That's what we fought over last night; how much work I'm putting into this."

Katy turned to face Jake, placing a hand on her hip. "Hmm," she said, eyebrows coming towards each other, "but Ash knows how tough your job is – how much goes into it. It's not exactly a 9 to 5 kind of thing."

"Neither is her job either," Jake replied, his tone taking a sudden higher pitched quality. "Which I, stupidly, thought was a great thing to remind her." Katy made a face. "Yeah, exactly. I was an idiot. She was saying that our jobs weren't the problem, it was how I prioritized my job over everything else."

For a second time, Katy hummed. Jake was a hard worker. He wasn't ever really one to sit still; he thrived in a working environment, but she wouldn't say he was obsessed with this work. Not really. This was a special occasion, though. Not many people got a second shot at trying to put a band through the music industry, especially with how much it had changed over the years. Artists were referred to as "one hit wonders" for a reason. Even if they released another song, it was never bound to be as big of a hit as that first song. Still, they kept going, creating music that they stood behind. Why should that be any different for Jake?

It wasn't much different for Ashley, either. At least, that's how Katy perceived it on the outside looking in. Peggy Braden's company was one that would bend over backwards to keep a client and if that tether was ever broken for whatever reason, it was hard to get She had to keep working to keep her clients. It wasn't out of the ordinary to have Ashley step away from a dinner out to take a phone call or two to smooth things over with a potential client, or whatever trash fire had cropped up in her absence. She was downright good at her job and it showed.

Sometimes that meant sacrifices had to be made, and compromises had to be reached. For both of them, it usually meant not being able to see each other as much as they might have liked. But it was something they had both agreed to. Maybe it wasn't enough anymore.

There had been moments where they both had giant spaces free in their schedules to meet up. Then a sudden meeting would arise. Or Jake would decide he'd work late into the night just to scrape together some extra spending money for Katy, or to work off as much of a project as possible to have a lighter workload later on.

"Over her," Katy corrected him. Jake blinked in surprise. "Jake, you two have been together for years." She used her hand to indicate the apartment around them. "You don't even live with each other."

Jake snorted. "Could you imagine her in a place like this?" he asked.

Katy lifted her chin, looking him in the eye. "I think it's a great place to live," she said, lifting an eyebrow "for anybody."

Still, she understood what it was he trying to get at. He only got the penthouse because of his work with Mr. Philipps. If not, they would probably still be back in their old apartment building. The water didn't run all the time. The stairs broke constantly. Their HVAC couldn't even decide on what season it was half of the time. She missed it in a way, just how simple things were. In a situation like that, you just felt closer to people, more understanding.

Ashley could empathize to some degree. She had to move into her friends' already too small apartment when she was on her streak of bad luck. But she knew what it was there were others she knew absolutely nothing about. Because she knew what it was like to have a lot of money. Katy and Jake only knew what it was like to be around a lot of money.

"You're right, you're right," Jake said. His cheeks puffed out as he let out a breath of air. "I'm just not saying the right things today, it seems." He watched her carefully as Katy turned back to the mirror doing one last check of her styling for the day. "You believe me, don't you? Whatever problems Ash and I have had, it's always been about us. How we chose to handle, or not handle situations. It was never about you, ok?"

"Mm-hmm." Katy nodded. "I'm just saying, you can only date someone for so long. Sooner or later, someone wants more."

"Or they don't," Jake replied. Katy wrinkled her nose. He clearly didn't understand women. Whether or not a marriage was in their future, a clear-cut definition of what they were as a couple was something that was needed. "There are plenty of couples you live out long lives that don't get married."

"You don't want to get married?"

"I didn't say that."

"So, you do want to get married?"

"I didn't say that, either."

"Ashley isn't just going to keep waiting for you," Katy replied, "that's all I'm saying." She clicked her tongue, shaking her head back and forth. "Look at the example you're setting me, coming in at all hours of the morning. Not anywhere closer to getting engaged. What would Aunt Martha say?" Katy didn't really care how Jake was handling his love life as long as he was happy. While not so experienced in the romance department, she was smart enough to know that It wasn't like everything in the movies.

"We got into one fight," Jake said, "that's all. We're still good. It's still me and Ash." Katy lifted an eyebrow in the mirror. "And you."

"Thanks," Katy said with a snort. "It's not like I'm an important part of your life or anything like that. I'm only just your cousin."

Jake laughed. "You're more important to me than anybody else, you know that," he said. "You jump, I jump, right?" He then stepped forward and kissed the top of her head. "Now hurry up and get to class."

Katy rolled her eyes but smiled at the comment. For the longest time, it was the two of them facing everything together. As childish as it sounded now, it still brought a bit of comfort to her. Jake had always been there for her, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"How do I look?" she asked, turning to face him.

Jake looked her up and down. "Have you gotten taller?" he asked.

"Jake."

"You look great," he said, backing out of the room. "You always do. You only have two classes today, right?"

"Yeah," Katy agreed, "but I have work tonight. So, I'll see you later."

"Do you have your books? You go bag?"

"Backpack by the door, and my go bag is in my dorm." Katy shuffled past Jake, making a beeline for the front door.

Truth be told, she didn't need the go bag anymore (to anyone else it looked like an overstuffed backpack that had been stretched and ripped and put back together multiple times); luck was always on her side. In fact, she could feel it flowing through her fingertips right now – which made her wonder how Jake and Ashley could have gotten into a fight if he had the luck - but it didn't hurt to be prepared. She grabbed her backpack, sliding her arms through the straps. Reaching back behind her, she freed her hair from between her shoulders and the backpack.

"Just so you know," she called to him from the front door, "whenever you do get married—"

"You want to be the maid of honor?" Jake shouted back, sounding distant as he was in his room.

"Best man," Katy replied. "I think I'd look pretty good in a tux, don't you?" Jake laughed in response. Katy checked she had her keys and headed out the door. "Bye. I'll see you later."

Katy made it through the city to NYU's campus to arrive to her first class of the day with five minutes to spare. The hour-long class went by uneventfully. She stopped by her dorm to exchange book and double check that she had everything ready for work that evening. Cutting through the Student Lice Center, she got a quick snack in lieu of lunch and then rushed off to her next class. Luckily, her best friend Jane, had arrived early enough in the auditorium style room to save her a seat. Lowering her backpack to the floor, Katy carefully slid into the seat.

"You ok?" Jane asked, eyebrows pulling towards each other.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Katy replied. Jane continued to stare at her, and Katy said with a sigh, "Jake and Ashley got into a fight last night. Sounds like it was a pretty big one."

"They've gotten into fights before," Jane said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Right? Not to downplay it or anything."

"They have, but…" Katy chewed on her bottom lip as she started looking through her backpack for the right textbook and notebook. "They were fighting about their jobs, I guess. She feels like he prioritizes his work over her. He pointed out that she has a job, too. It's weird."

"How so?"

Katy looked up from her belongings, staring into the space in front of her. Jane's parents were divorced, fighting wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her to witness, whether or not Jane knew at the time what was going on. Katy didn't want fighting to become normal for Jake and Ashley.

"He had my luck all day," Katy said. "It should have been a perfect for him. I hoped it would all be perfect for him. I haven't had a luck flub in a while."

"Maybe that's something luck can't change?" Jane suggested. "Fighting is inevitable. Even the closest people do it."

"I guess." Katy flipped open her notebook, pushing past pages filled with her small, loopy handwriting. "I don't know. It was just weird. Oh, gross!" She had just reached under her seat to grab a hold of it, giving her support as she shifted to sit up straight and her fingers pushed into something cold, but slightly wet, hard, but kind of soft. Pulling her hand back, gum stretched from her fingers to the seat. "Great."

"Ew." Jane's nose wrinkled as Katy dragged her finger on the side of the seat, scraping the gum off.

"How long would you stay with someone if they haven't asked you to marry them?" Katy asked, crossing a leg over her knee.

Jane's eyebrows lifted. "Depends I guess," she said. "If we already talked about getting married, I probably would pop the question myself after a while."

"You wouldn't break things off?" Katy asked.

"It's always an option," Jane replied, pulling her mouth to the side. "If it's never been talked about, but was still expected, then the lack of communication was a problem in the relationship in the first place." She shook her head back and forth. "I don't know. Depends on the circumstances, I guess. Some people just aren't the type to be married."

Katy settled back in her seat as the teacher took their position at the start of the class. She didn't know a lot of people that were at the stage to be married. What were her parents like? Did they wait a long time to be married? Did they always know that they were meant to be together? Here she was 21 years old, and she hadn't had much luck with relationships compared to other people her age. Was there something wrong with her?

She started tapping her pen repeatedly against her notebook, leaning forward to rest her chin in the palm of her hand. Aunt Martha had taken care of Katy on her own apart from Jake. Always mentioning that Katy didn't need to be in a relationship to live a satisfied life. But it must be nice to go through life with someone. Katy looked down at her black and white striped crop shirt, dark wash blue skinny jeans, and boots – a far cry from her tomboy days. Though, she didn't feel much different on the inside, maybe people didn't see much of a change on the outside, either.

"If you're not in the position to hire those to select your fragrances for you - starting from the scents and how they mix together, the bottle, and the packaging – you need to understand the market research. You may like vanilla and jasmine, but someone else might think it's too sweet. It could bring a warm memory for you, but a bad one for them."

Katy paused in the middle of her margin doodles to quickly jot down notes.

"Miss Hardin? Do you have an answer?"

"Ummm." Katy tapped her pen against her notebook. Think, think. Think, Katy, think. What was she just talking about? "Getting an understanding…of what smells are currently on trend…gives you an idea of where to start. Otherwise, you'll have a bit of a harder time finding your niche."

"Good." Katy settled back in her chair, sighing in relief as the teacher turned away from her to the podium holding up a Mac laptop. "That's a very good observation."

BUSTED!

Katy grinned down at the note in the top corner of her notebook. She looked over at Jane who wiggled her eyebrows mischievously. Katy stuck her tongue out in response.

Yes, in that moment, she was definitely lucky. Thankfully, it decided to kick in at the right moment. Ashely and Jake had transferred "the luck power" to her in a kissing frenzy…after their own kissing frenzy, so were they transferring the bad luck, too? It was all too complicated to think about so Katy enjoyed her luck while she had it.

The bell rang, and she dropped her pen, slapping the cover of her notebook shut.

"For next class," the teacher called over the shuffling papers, screeching chairs, and chatter, "have ready a list of pros and cons you see for your pitched fragrances. Good work today. We're one step closer to exams, don't slack off now. See you next class."

Shoving her belongings into her backpack, Katy zipped it up and pushed back from the table, waiting for other students to file out of the room and followed them. Jane bumped Katy's shoulder with her own, laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face," she said. "I thought for sure you had zoned out."

Katy glanced over her shoulder to make sure their teacher wasn't right behind them. "To be honest, I had," she replied. "I've got just enough time to do my homework before work."

"At least you're done," Jane said with a sigh. "My business group rescheduled for this afternoon." She sighed through her nose. "You going to be back in your dorm after work or will you stay with your cousin?"

"Probably stay with Jake," Katy replied with a shrug, "I'll let you know. But, if you've got some time for five-dollar games, I could use the company."

"I'll let you know," Jane said, moving to give her a one-armed hug as soon as they stepped outside of the education building. "Have a great shift."

"Thanks. I'll see you later." A grunt expelled from her when the strap of her backpack got caught on the door handle to the building. She tried to step forward but didn't go far. Instead, her back slammed against the door. Tensing, she let out a sigh through her nose. "If I can make it back to the dorm in one piece."

"Good luck," Jane said with a laugh, helping her remove her backpack strap.

Katy let out a humorless laugh. "Thanks, I'll need it," she replied. Waving, she headed back towards her dorm building, whistling to herself.

Rock-N-Bowl wasn't the most glamorous job in the world, both Jake and Ashley could attest to that, but she didn't really mind it. There were a few regulars she could talk to, bowling parties brought in a lot of traffic, and overall, it wasn't anything too demanding. Rock-N-Bowl was a sort of hole in the wall but was a great place for fun that wasn't too expensive. It, in fact, had in the past few years been renovated to keep up with the times. And, on occasion, some high-profile people could walk in through the front doors.

Just knowing McFly was now in New York, she was just waiting for them to come in one day. After all, Rock-and-Bowl was where they got their start. And how cool was it that she was friends with a well-known band?

Following them on social media, and occasional video chats squeezed into busy schedules were nothing compared to seeing them in person. She never thought people like Tom, Danny, Dougie, and Harry would ever want to try and keep in touch with someone like her. Someone so…plain. But their names would appear on her cell phone occasionally. It was still strange, and it still made her heart pump a little (especially in Danny's case), but nice. Occasionally, if any of them would come to New York on their own on vacation (or "on holiday" as they put it), she would try and find time to go with Jake to meet up with them.

Busted, she hadn't met yet. If they were as crazy as McFly could be, she knew she was in for a good time.

The strangest part of it all was seeing the two sides of her friends, and the media following their lives. Their public personas were completely different (for the most part) than how they were when hanging around family and friends. The rest of the world thought it was their true selves, and practically fell over each other trying to get a snapshot of it. It was pretty funny to watch. Every once in a while, her popularity online would spike whenever she was seen in a picture with them. Not even just them, but Jake, too. While his career wasn't as big as he had hoped, people in the business still knew his name to some degree.

It was just strange.

Danny, Dougie, Tom, and Danny were just as crazy in front of the cameras and behind closed doors, but they were also more self-aware. They had their insecurities and worries, too. The stories that would come out about their lives, social, or romantic were downright hilarious. Whether it was online or published in magazines, she would snap a picture of it to send to them to laugh about it. And, maybe, to see if any of the news is true. She was a fan, and just like other entertainers, she wanted to know the juicy gossip.

After completing her homework, Katy quickly took a shower, and changed into her work uniform. Making sure she had her go bag (a "survival kit" as Jane called it), she hurried out of the building and took the bus across the city. Pushing through the front doors, loud pounding music, the staccato of pins falling over, and excited chatter reached her ears.

"Looks like a great turn out tonight," Katy said, stepping over to the shoe counter. The young man standing by the register chuckled, tucking a golf pencil behind his ear.

"So good in fact, someone excitedly expressed themselves all over the bathroom," he replied. He angled his head towards the other side of the room. "Might want to get to it before Mac finds it."

"Right, right," Katy said with a sigh. Stepping around the front of the counter, she pushed open the counter swing door and stumbled over the raised step. "Ahhh!" Pitching forward, she grabbed onto the counter and fell to her knees. The bag on her back shifted, pulling her sideways. She huffed in annoyance. "Damn it."

"So," her co-worker commented, staring down at her, "How's that supposed luck working out?"

"Oh, be quiet."

A/N: Writing an older Katy is really fun. I always saw her as someone who was confident in herself, but just like everybody had her insecurities and worries that she only showed a small amount of people. And, of course, I like writing her and Jake together as well.

-Rhuben