Chapter 9 – Philip

Kari POV:

Today, Tom and the boys were doing a photo shoot. Taylor, Julia, Jaymie, and I were shopping at the mall and buying some new dresses for one of the celebrity parties being held here in Germany in a couple of days. Tom had asked me, Bill asked Taylor, Georg asked Jaymie, and Julia insisted that she go with Gustav. There were going to be tons of celebrities there including David Archuleta, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, The Jonas Brothers, Paramore and others as well. We were all really excited.

Right when we walked into the mall, Julia's phone rang.

"Hello?... Philip! Where are you? We haven't talked in ages…Really?" Taylor looked around. "Oh I see you now." And she hung up. She walked forward and we followed her. There was Philip. His hair was light brown and it was a great contrast to his emerald green eyes. He was wearing a dark blue collared t-shirt and some skinny jeans. This look was way different than at the restaurant. He actually looked attractive.

"Oh my gosh! It's you! When was the last time I saw you? Two years ago?" Julia said excitedly. Julia and Philip used to be close to each other. They were best friends before Julia moved to California. I remembered now; the first time I saw Philip. Taylor and I were hanging at Julia's place and Philip came to visit. I only saw him briefly, but Julia introduced us. I thought that it was so awesome that Julia actually had a friend from Germany.

"Yup. It's just the same old me. You've gotten prettier! Do you have a boyfriend yet?" He asked playfully.

"Actually…You know Gustav from Tokio Hotel?"

"You like him don't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"I saw Kari with Tom the other day at the restaurant I work at. I figured if she knew Tom, you would probably be with someone else from Tokio Hotel, since you like them so much."

"Reasonable answer." Julia said. She turned to me. "How come you didn't tell me you saw Philip?"

"Oh! I was, but I sort of forgot. Sorry."

She giggled. "It's okay."

Philip looked at me and gave me a smile. "Hey Kari!" Then he talked to Taylor. "Hey! I remember you too…Taylor. Am I right?"

"Ja." Taylor replied with a smile.

"But I don't remember you being there." Philip said to Jaymie. "I don't believe we've met."

"We haven't. I didn't know Julia and them back then." Jaymie told him.

"Oh. Well I'm Philip. And you are…"

"Jaymie."

"Nice name." Philip complimented. "And nice to meet you." Jaymie nodded with an annoyed look on her face. I could tell she didn't like Philip.

"Can I tag along with you guys?" Philip asked us.

"Yeah, but it might bore you because we're just shopping for dresses. We're all going to that celebrity party in three days." Taylor told him.

"I got a job there. I'm going to be serving drinks and stuff. What a coincidence! Well, I can help you guys pick out the dresses, you know, give you my opinion from a guy's point of view."

"Sure. You can come." Julia said.

…

"What do you think?" I heard Julia ask from my stall in the dressing room.

"You look great!" Philip said.

Jaymie, Taylor, and Julia were all waiting for me to try on my dress and come out so we could take pictures.

"Hurry up Kari!" They told me.

"Okay, okay! I'm almost done!"

My dress was simple. It was black; spaghetti strapped, and had a pale yellow sash just above the stomach of the dress. The dress was no longer than my knees.

I came out of the dressing room and everyone was staring at me.

"What? I look weird don't I?"

"Kari! You're so pretty!" Julia exclaimed.

"Yeah, that dress is so cute on you!" Taylor said.

"You should buy it." Jaymie told me.

"You…you're beautiful." Philip said. I looked at him, and it was a little awkward. He just called me…beautiful.

I think I was blushing because Taylor suddenly asked, "Kari, why are your cheeks all pink?"

"I don't know. Um, let's go change. The guys are probably back by now." I said nervously.

"Okay." Taylor agreed. "Wait pictures first! These are totally going on my myspace."

…

I was flipping through the channels to see if there were any interesting shows in English on when Julia came and sat by me on the couch.

"Hey, I need to tell you something." She said.

"Okay, yeah?"

"I'm not so sure, but I think Philip likes you."

"What?" Philip likes me? No way.

"He told me to ask you if you wanted to hang out with him tomorrow. He wanted to take you out to lunch. As a friend. Though I don't know if that last part was true."

"Oh, uh, I don't know. I don't know if I'll be free. Tom wants to see me."

"You two are bf/gf aren't you? Well, I was thinking that he might be jealous." She giggled. "You know, Philip is an attractive guy."

"You can say that we go out on dates." I said with a smile. "Wait, but did you say Philip wants to take me as a friend only?"

"Well, that's what he said. It's up to you whether you want to go or not. But, he said to call him and let him know."

"Crap. I have to talk to him?"

Julia laughed. "You're the one he's asking."

I laughed too. "Fine. Dial his number then."

She put in his number and the phone was ringing. Shoot! I didn't know what I was going to say! For some reason, I had butterflies in my stomach. If I said yes, maybe he would get the wrong idea and Tom might be mad. If I said no, Philip would be dissapointed.

"Hello?" said a voice from the other end.

"Hey, Philip. It's Kari."

"Kari? Did Julia tell you?"

"Um yeah."

"So do you want to come?"

"Well, uh…"

"I just want to hang out with you, and get to know you better."

Oh, what the heck. It's not like we're dating; just going as friends. "O-okay, then."

"Cool. I'll pick you up tomorrow at two."

…

I didn't see Tom the whole day yesterday so I couldn't tell him that I was having lunch with Philip. He picked me up and took me to a little restaurant not far from our hotel. The tables were outside and the weather was great today. After we got seated and ordered our food, Philip asked me some things like how I was liking my stay in Germany, where we were traveling, and what I was going to do in the U.S. Surprisingly, I found him easy to talk to.

"Kari, there's been something on my mind…" Philip said all of a sudden.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I think you have a great personality, and you're pretty too. I uh…took you here to say…" his voice trailed off. What was he going to say?

"Huh?"

"N-never mind."

Okay? "I think we should get back." He said.

"Sure."

So Philip took me to the hotel and offered to take me to my room. "It's okay. I can go by myself." I told him.

"I insist." He persisted.

"Fine." Philip smiled triumphantly.

When we were in the elevator, Jay began to say something again. "Okay, I have to get this out. I can't hold it in anymore."

I waited for him to continue. "So uh, you remember that day when we saw each other at Julia's house for the first time?" I nodded. "Well, something strange happened to me. I had this feeling…I don't know, but I couldn't forget your face, the way you smiled, the way you looked at me. It was like I was star-struck. I didn't think I would see you again after I left, but here you are."

I bit my lip. I couldn't face him. My stomach was really tingling this time. "So…" I began before he interrupted.

"So, I'm saying that I like you. A lot. And I want you to be my girlfriend." Omg, Julia was right. Philip did have a crush on me; and for two years!

The elevator opened and I didn't know what to say so I just started walking to my suite. Philip trailed behind me.

"Wait, Kari. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no. It's just…"

"I'll give you time to think about it. How about that?"

"I…I uh…I already-"

"Let me know at the party. I have to go." With that, he leaned down and pecked me on my cheeks, then left.

I took a deep breath. Okay. I just found out that Philip likes me, he wants me to be his girlfriend, and I was stupid because I should've told him that I was already taken before he left! I turned around and saw Tom walking over to me from the elevator.

"Kari? What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, I was going to go inside right now."

"I just saw that waiter again. Did he visit Julia or something?"

"Actually, um…how do I say this? The waiter―I mean Philip, he sorta kinda…likes me." I blurted out.

"What? He likes you? I knew it!"

I could tell from the sound of Tom's voice that he was pretty pissed off. "Tom. You know you're the only one for me right?" I said in attempt to lighten the mood. He suddenly changed the subject.

"Here. This is for you." He handed me a little box that was wrapped neatly with a pretty silver bow on top.

"What is it? Can I open it?" I asked eagerly. I wanted to know what was in there. How sweet of him to make time to bring me a gift. I had to give him something in return at least.

Tom POV:

"Open it when you go inside. Well, I have to go; Tokio Hotel has to do a rehearsal for our concert after the celeb party."

"Oh. Okay." She said. I was a little disappointed because this was the only time that I got to see Kari and the waiter guy ruined it.

"Wait." Kari said as she began to hug me.

"I missed you." I said this from the bottom of my heart.

"I thought I was the only one who was missing someone." She confessed.

"As long as we're apart, that will never be true." I didn't know that I could come up with a phrase like this. What Kari does to me. I felt like a changed man ever since I met her. "I got to go." I said hesitantly.

Kari POV:

I let go and gave him a smile. "Thanks. For the present."

Tom totally changed. He wasn't that playboy anymore. He was a sweet, caring Tom now.

"Alright. See you later mein liebe." Mein liebe. My love. My eyes followed him as he went back to the elevator. I mouthed the words 'I love you' to him before the doors closed. I truly loved Tom.

Knock, knock. Jaymie opened the door.

"How was your date with Philip?" She asked me out of curiosity.

"It wasn't a date. It's called 'having lunch with a friend'."

"Sure, let's called it that then. Hey what's that present? Is it from Philip?"

"No! It's from my boyfriend." I added emphasis to the word 'boyfriend'.

"Boyfriend?" Her eyes grew wide. "Tom?"

I nodded. I guess it would be okay to tell this to my friends. "OMG! You're seriously going out with him?" It was rare that Jaymie would be this interested in a topic. "But you know, that Philip dude? I don't like him at all."

"Why not? He's a nice guy." I told her.

"He looks exactly like Jason! God! I hate Jason. Freaken jerk!" She spilled. It all came out at once.

Jason was a guy that Jaymie used to like. He pretended to like her for a bet. Ever since she found out, she's been pissed at him.

"Forget Jason. He's stupid for not really being in love with you. It's his loss. You can do better."

"But every time I see Philip, I think of Jason."

"Don't worry. Philip is a really cool person. Get to know him more." I didn't know how to comfort her.

Jaymie suppressed her feelings, and told me where the other girls were.

"Taylor and Julia went out to buy some shoes. I didn't feel like going out today and since you were going to be back soon, I decided to stay. Anyways, open the box. I wonder what it is."

"Okay." I began unwrapping the paper wrapped around the box, and then neatly took off the bow. I took the lid off and revealed a silver necklace with a heart charm. On the heart was a very small writing: T K

"That's sweet of Tom." Jaymie said.

"Wait, there's some paper in the box." I took the paper out and four tickets fell out. They were backstage/VIP tickets for Tokio Hotel's concert in four days. I handed them to Jaymie who was scanning the tickets.

"Cool. We get to go backstage to hang out with the guys. Does that mean that Taylor will get a refund for the tickets she bought?"

I laughed. "I don't know. Okay, okay. Let me read this letter."

I opened the letter, and read it to myself.

Enclosed are four tickets for our concert and a necklace. Sorry, it might be kind of corny because it was Bill's idea. I'm not the type of girly guy who does this kind of thing, but I'm hoping you like it.

Something occurred to me. "Jaymie? When are we leaving Germany?"

"Well, we're leaving the morning after the concert to Paris, then Milan, then Rome, following Madrid and Libson, then we're returning to the U.S. Taylor said that we'll probably spend about three days at each place. It's about fifteen days all together. We've been in Berlin for a while now."

No…Tom and I only had four more days together. How was I going to tell him?