A/N: This story does not want to finish, even though it's mostly all written up :[ I swear, the ending is already done but I keep tweeking and these final two chaps keep getting a smidge longer and it's all very annoying. Anyway, here! Bah...I've had it with this chapter. (This chapter that I totally thought was the second last grew too much and was chopped in half..there's now 2 remaining chaps. Bright side of me cutting this chap in half? Next'll be up within a couple days.)
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"Ok, I think I've got them sorted!"
Stella finally placed her issue of Vogue down and turned to see how Macy's JONAS poster sorting had gone. Stella had not fully realized how much effort was needed to help her friend with her room. She'd barely been able to convince Macy the best way to sort through the mess was to strip her walls bare.
It was a sad, telling moment when Macy had been shocked by the fact she had orange walls.
Looking down at the three piles, it didn't take Stella long to see exactly how the sorting had played out. "I thought you were just making a 'yay' and 'nay' pile? What's with the third?"
"Well, these are trash."
And despite all the pressure she'd put on her friend and all the comments, spoken and unspoken, Stella still gasped out in shock and reached out to stop Macy as her friend crumpled a large stack of posters.
"Oh...did you...did you want these?" Macy asked, looking down at one crinkled Nick of JONAS eye. "I guess there are the Joe ones."
"No! I just... You're just tossing those ones out? You're not going to save them or anything?"
"For what?"
There were easily twenty things off the top of Stella's head that she could name that Macy had created using posters just like the ones she was tossing. "Never mind." Stella hadn't expect herself to get so caught up in this. This was a big part of her friend that, as much as she teased, Stella kind of enjoyed...expected it even. Crouching down, a slow smile spread over Stella's face as she flipped through the remaining two piles. One was definitely a band pile and the other was solely Kevin. "So, need help putting things up again?"
The large canvas Macy had painted last year, 'inspired by the songs off their new album', was rehung on the wall. Quickly followed by a large poster of JONAS that Macy had gotten the guys to autograph for her.
Stella watched on in interest though as her friend slowed down the redecorating of her walls.
Macy flipped through a stack of photoframes that contained ticket stubs from each JONAS show she'd attended before settling on four different stubs and setting the rest aside. A framed copy of each of their CDs, including the EP that Macy liked reminding her friend she owned before even knowing of Stella's connection to the guys, were returned to the wall. She hung a couple smaller shots of the band before sitting down to flip through her Kevin pile.
Stella kneeled down and looked at the shot of Kevin from Spinning Rock magazine and had to re-congradulate herself on the outfit. "Need some help picking some good Kevin pics out?"
"Eh..." Macy trailed her fingers over the poster. "M-maybe I'll think on these later. I think I'll hang some candid shots of Kevin instead."
Candid shots of Kevin of JONAS, Stella quickly realized, were simply photographs of Kevin Lucas. Stella smiled as she recognized the photos Nick had taken last week for an art project. And because Nick, too, was not oblivious he'd gotten a few nice shots of Kevin and Macy together. "Well, this gives you more room to display your sports trophies and awards!" Stella said, looking at the bared walls. "Still have them tucked away in your closet?"
"Yeah," Macy said distractedly as she sorted through the photographs. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet. "Wait! Don't--"
"Oh!" Stella gasped and quickly took a step back as the closet door swung open. Well, apparently four walls hadn't been enough to contain her friend's obsession. Who needed multiple life-sized cutouts? "Know what? I don't even care! I think you've got a good start on things so I'm going to go home now. I'll see you in the morning after you've finished with Kevin, kay?"
Stella had to leave and try to scrub her brain free from JONAS. Glancing at her watch as she came to the stairs, she groaned. There was no way she'd be able to detox enough before getting to sleep. It was so going to be Macy's fault if she ... suffered ... through an inappropriate dream about a member of JONAS tonight.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Wake up! Wake! UP! There's been an emergency!"
Nick was jarred awake from a perfectly good night's dream free sleep. "What?! What is it? Is the house on fire?" On the other side of the room he heard Joe fall out of bed.
"Is everyone ok?!" Joe yelped from the floor.
Nick squinted across the room and caught sight of his eldest brother pacing. Reaching out, he snagged his alarm clock. "Nothing's even wrong, is it?"
"Macy is not here!" Kevin declared far too loudly, far too early in the morning, as he spun towards Nick. "I think she was attacked!"
"Kevin. She's just running a little late. Now, go away. We're trying to sleep."
"I think it was bears," Kevin continued on in a panic, completely ignoring Nick. "I don't want to think poorly of them but I was on the internet and...and the things I saw. And now Macy isn't here!"
Nick groaned, dropping his face into his hands. "Do you know what the worst part is?"
"I didn't even get to tell her goodbye or about my feelings!"
"The worst part," Nick said, ignoring Kevin, "is that you're completely serious. Kevin, Macy was not eaten by bears. I'm going to go out on a limb and say she wasn't even eaten by...cougars. It is 5:30--"
"5:18!" Joe wailed.
"--in the morning. She's probably sleeping like most sane people are. Especially people who stayed up late last night studying for the big test they have in their chemistry class today!"
"Macy doesn't have chemistry this semester, Nick."
"No but I do! I have to be up in two hours!" Nick said, shaking the clock in front of Kevin.
"Have you no heart at all, Nicholas?" Kevin asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Know who else doesn't have a heart? Macy. It's probably the first thing those furry savages ate."
"Joe, deal with him!"
"Ok!" Joe jumped up and grabbed onto his older brother's shoulders. "Know what, Kev? You're right. The bears did get Macy." Kevin gasped and slapped his hands over his mouth. "But! Macy is a quick little thing, so she's not dead. Yet! So, you better run over to the Misa house and save your little not-girlfriend before it's too late." Joe was impressed by the speed Kevin disappeared from the room. Macy's training was clearly working. "Done and done. Not our problem now."
"You two can mock me all you want but Kevin is clearly the worst when he falls in love. Joe? Joe!" Nick scowled when he saw his older brother sprawled across the end of his bed. "How can you be back asleep already?"
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Kevin arrived at the Misa house in a surprisingly short amount of time. Probably not quick enough though. Getting to the front door he contemplated the logistics at ringing the doorbell. Would the furry savages pay any mind to the doorbell? Kicking in the door, mind you, would create an awesome element of surprise and then--
The front door suddenly swung open and before Kevin could fully panic that the bears had scented him from the inside he was instead treated to a rumbled vision.
"Oh, Kevin! I'm so sorry!" Macy apologized as she stumbled out the door, "Getting up so early has been zapping me. I swear I set my alarm clock but I slept through it. I was up late last night trying to fix my room and--"
"You're alive!" Kevin declared and was about to swoop in to hug her when her elbows came out.
"Barely!" Macy tried to comb her fingers through her still sleep ravaged hair before finally giving up and pulling it into a messy bun. She finally took in Kevin's sweaty face. "What happened to you?"
"I ran here. I thought you were eaten by bears." He thought she was eaten by bears? Kevin sucked in another deep breath. Between the earlier freak out and the insane sprint to Macy's house he was finally fully awake and the more oxygen he sucked in as he stared at Macy the more he realized that the bear attack was maybe a little off base. Because really, a bear probably wouldn't even come this far into a busy city. A wolf on the other hand...
"Of course not! But it's weird you should mention bears because I had this bear dream last night. We were barbequing! The bears had these berry burgers and instead of ketchup we used chocolate syrup and," Macy laughed, "You probably don't want to hear about it. Sorry, I'm just..."
"No. I absolutely want to hear about it." Ooh, perhaps he'd since formed some odd sort of ESP with Macy and had sensed and misinterpreted her dream. Her dream...his dream. Kevin's eyes widened. He really hoped the dream ESP thing only went one way.
"Heh, right. Well, I guess we should be heading out now."
"We don't have to go this morning. I mean, you're clearly not ready," Kevin said as he motioned down to Macy's blue toenails.
Macy blinked down at her bare feet. "Oops. A-are you sure you don't mind missing a day?" Macy asked, even as she was opening her door and motioning Kevin inside.
"It's no problem..." Kevin trailed off as he looked around the front hall. He was IN Macy's house! This...this wasn't planned at all.
Macy ushered him to the living room before quickly ducking out with a promise of a quick return. Kevin was instantly drawn to the pictures that seemed to cover ever available surface. It didn't take long before it became quite clear that Macy was an only child and her parents were ridiculously proud of her. Smiling, he picked up a frame of a wee little Macy sitting atop a pony bawling her eyes out.
"Kevin! You weren't supposed to look at them! Maybe a passing glance..." Macy's face reddened as she fussed with the glasses of juice and fruit she'd returned with. "Grab a seat and we can zone out before we leave for class."
Kevin glanced at the empty armchairs and the large couch before biting the bullet and sitting right next to Macy. Getting close to Macy was the main goal of these morning meetings after all and Macy had -- Kevin was 98.3% positive -- asked him out on a lunch date for today.
Macy didn't get much further in describing her dream than the undercooked french fries before the pair fell asleep on the couch.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Macy Misa, what is going on?"
Macy frowned and blinked her eyes open. "Mom?" Huh, the last thing she remembered was running late this morning to meet Kevin and now she was sprawled on the couch.
"Macy, who is that boy?"
Macy turned and gave a startled 'meep' when she realized Kevin had an arm curled around her. "Kevin, get up!" she hissed
"Don't wanna," Kevin mumbled into her hair, "S'comfy."
Her mom repeated her name again and gave her a very pointed look.
"Yeah," Macy said, blushing as she sat up and pushed away from Kevin. "Kevin, my mom--!"
"Wha--" The shove finally jarred Kevin fully awake and he stared up at the woman standing over them. "Uh, hi Mrs Misa! I don't normally sleep with your daughter."
Macy let out a surprised bark of laughter before she could stop herself. "Or ever! Ha! K-Kevin is a joker, mom! I mean, not that we'd ever joke about--"
"Just...up and at 'em, kids." Walking across the room, she picked up her bag before letting her gaze rove over to the slowly moving teens. "You look very familiar," Macy's mom trailed off before her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, you're--"
"Mama, if you love me you will not finish that sentence."
Kevin frowned at Macy as he stood to straighten his clothes. Thankfully tracksuits were hard to rumple. "Oh crap, is that the time?"
"Grab your things up, kids. I'll give you a drive to school." Grabbing her car keys, the woman eyed the teens one last time. "Sweetie, don't forget that lunch you made last night."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
The drive to school wasn't as tense as Macy was worried about as she spent most of the time with her clipboard out going over the various areas that Kevin had improved on in the last two weeks. He'd shaved over 5 seconds off his 200 meter dash!
"Is there a reason he doesn't have a book bag or a uniform?" Macy's mom asked as she pulled up out front of her daughter's school.
Macy huffed and got out of the car. "Mom... Later, kay?"
"It was, um, lovely to meet you, Mrs Misa," Kevin said, crawling from the car. "You, uh, have a lovely, well I didn't see much of the house, but it was a lovely livingroom! And your store is lovely! And your daughter is lovely!"
Macy gave a nervous laugh as she noticed her mother's eyes start to narrow again. "Hahaha, everything is lovely!" Macy tugged Kevin away from the car. "Bye mom! Thanks for the drive! I'll see you at the shop after school." Macy waved as the car finally pulled away from the curb.
"I made a really bad first impression, didn't I?" Kevin asked, fiddling with his t-shirt hem. "I never do that. I'm normally the brother the mothers like!"
Macy just patted Kevin's arm and decided to not comment. After school she'd talk with her mom. "So, maybe we could meet at 6am instead from now on?" Macy asked, walking towards Horace Mantis' front doors.
Kevin rubbed his chin. "An extra hour of sleep would be nice..." But an extra hour of sleep meant one less hour of completely uninterrupted one-on-one Macy time. Glancing over at Macy he noted she seemed excited about the extra hour of sleep and Kevin couldn't make himself further deprive her of it. He'd just have to make up for the extra hour during the rest of the day. He'd be able to make full use of the timetable he'd weaseled out of secretary pool.
Which, all in all, wasn't a bad compromise.
xox_TBC_xox
A/N: It wasn't too horrible...right?! :/
Must go to work but they're so many new fics posted...pout!
