"Excuse me," a young girl of probably about ten or eleven tapped Kendall on the shoulder. "Is it true that you and Jo Taylor broke up?"
The look on her face made Kendall want to tell her, but he wasn't so keen on spreading the word and having the media eat it up.
"If I tell you," he whispered, leaning back to get closer to the girl, "do you promise not to tell anyone? This is between you and me."
"I promise." She held her right hand up like a scout.
"I'm leaving you with a pretty big secret, so I'll give you something in return." He pulled a pen out of his carry-on. She handed him the only thing she had for him to sign, her plane ticket.
After agreeing to take a picture, Kendall glanced around. The day after Thanksgiving, the plane wasn't too full and the only person in the row with him was sound asleep (and he knew it was sound because there was a bit of drool coming from his mouth).
"Jo said yes and now I'm heading to her childhood home to give her the ring."
The girl's eyes widened. She smiled and then sat back in her seat staring at the image on her phone.
"Thank you," she mouthed silently.
Kendall smiled back and then turned to look out the window. He put his earphones in, turned on the music from his mp3 player, and watched the clouds in the early morning sky.
After Jo's unexpected acceptance of his proposal yesterday, Kendall went downstairs and told everyone. He had not discussed his earlier proposal with his mom and thus didn't know how she was going to take it, but she was surprisingly happy.
"Congratulations, Big Brother!" Katie stopped messing with her phone and gave Kendall the biggest hug she could manage. His mom wrapped her arms around them and after a few seconds Mrs. Diamond, Mrs. Garcia, and Mrs. Mitchell joined in.
"My little boy's growing up," his mom whispered in his ear.
Kendall smiled at the memory. Later on he had a talk with his mom about the proposal. He needed to know how she truly felt.
"I love Jo, you know that," she said sitting on his bed already dressed in her pajamas. The house was wicked crowded, but there was room for everyone. Katie and Mrs. Knight were taking Kendall's bed and Kendall was taking a cot they found in the closet. "I'm just worried that you're too young for this. Oh my god, she's not pregnant, is she?"
"No, Mom, she's not pregnant. This is all me."
"What? You're pregnant?"
Kendall laughed. After rinsing his toothbrush he came back into the room and sat down next to his mother.
"The proposal was all my idea. I don't think we'll actually be getting married any time too soon."
"Well, I'm proud of you. I just can't believe my little baby boy is all grown up and ready to get married." She squeezed Kendall's shoulder while letting a tear fall.
Kendall squirmed as the guy next to him moved. Honestly, they were the only two in the three seat row so why did that guy have to sit in the middle seat?
"I can't believe she said yes. I mean, I can believe she said it, just not that, I can't believe…" Logan rambled on.
After Kendall received his hugs from the moms he found his best friends to let them know the news. James had been on the phone with Lucy but after Kendall's exclamation from his bedroom he hung up. Carlos had joined the dads and Cris to watch football and Logan had been downstairs in the basement, where they were all gathered now.
"Lucy says congratulations," James relayed clapping Kendall on the back. "How'd you get her to say yes?"
"I—I'm not really sure."
"You finally decided to talk to her," Logan observed.
"Yep. Saw a rumor on one of those gossip sites that we were broken up and I knew I couldn't avoid her any longer."
"Alexa says congratulations and can she be one of the bridesmaids?" Carlos read a text his girlfriend sent.
"Tell her thanks and she'll have to ask Jo."
"But you do get to decide who the best man is." Carlos wagged his eyebrows.
"I room with him," Logan said.
"I've known him longest," James said.
"I'm the…he likes me best," Carlos managed to come up with.
"Hey, we haven't even discussed dates yet. There's plenty of time for me to decide who my best man is."
Kendall laughed silently to himself. That was going to be fun. He loved the guys all the same and couldn't choose just one. Maybe he wouldn't have to. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings and if/when he chose one he knew the other two would be upset.
After everyone went to bed he couldn't stop thinking about Jo. Forgetting about the time difference he called her. She was still awake, fortunately, since she couldn't stop thinking about him. The two of them decided they needed to see each other immediately. Since she saw her family much less than Kendall saw his it was he who would make the trip to North Carolina. And that's how he found himself landing at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport at around 3 PM EST (1 PM his time) on Black Friday. Only two people knew of his plans aside from Jo—his mom and Katie. He left before anyone in the house was up.
When the plane landed Kendall took his phone off airplane mode and discovered he had 49 messages—all from Carlos.
"Where are you?" the first one read.
"Did you go Black Friday shopping? I thought you hated Black Friday shopping," came the second one.
"Mama Knight told us you're visiting Jo," was the third one.
"Tell Jo hi," the fourth one.
"Why haven't you answered me back?" questioned the fifth one.
"Logan says it's bc your still in the air. Sorry."
"Hey, do you wanna come—oh wait you're with Jo." OK, why'd he send that one? Typical Carlos. Kendall laughed. He scrolled through finding the rest of them pretty much like that.
"Just landed. Haven't seen Jo yet but when I do I'll tell her hey." He sent back. He then sent a text to Jo telling her he'd landed. She sent back a smiley face.
Stepping off the plane with only his duffel bag, Kendall made for the baggage claim when someone called out his name. He ran to her, swung Jo in the air, and gave her the biggest deepest kiss making up for almost four weeks apart. He heard cheering and there might have been the flash of cameras but he didn't care.
"How'd you get here?" He asked when they came up for air.
"Bought a ticket."
"I could kiss you for that." Kendall dropped his bag and reached into his pocket. "But, there's something I need to do first." He knelt to one knee and opened the box. "Will you marry me?"
"No," she smiled.
"What?!" Kendall made to stand up but Jo pushed him back down.
"Just kidding, Kendork. Yes, I will marry you."
To the sound of more cheering he slipped the ring on her finger, swung her in the air, and gave her a tight hug with his chin on her shoulder and tears in his eyes.
"So, this is your home?" Kendall asked when Jo pulled into the driveway of a two story house in a suburb of Charlotte.
"No, I just like parking my car here. Actually, this isn't my car. My mom likes parking her car here."
Kendall softly bopped her on the shoulder. Jo rubbed the shoulder pretending to look hurt.
"Great, now I can tell my parents my fiancé beats me up." She climbed out of the car and ran toward the front door. Kendall ran after her but being a second late and having to deal with his duffel bag he was unable to catch her until she stopped to open the door. Before she could step inside the house he grabbed her and planted a kiss on her lips. He stepped into the house as if he had just won a gold medal. Then he realized he was in his fiancée's parents' house.
"Jo?" Kendall heard a female voice from the kitchen.
"We're back," Jo called out. She put a hand on Kendall's shoulder. "Let's go meet my parents. Well," she smiled, "you already know my father."
"Don't remind me," Kendall grunted recalling the Palm Woods Prom when Jo was supposed to be grounded.
"You must be Kendall," the younger older woman in the kitchen said extending her hand once the two entered.
"Who else would he be?" Jo muttered to herself only loud enough for Kendall to hear.
"I'm Jo's Grandma," the older woman butted in. "You're the young man who wants to marry our little Jo."
Kendall glanced at Jo whose entire face had turned the color of a tomato.
"It seems I've embarrassed her." Her grandmother patted Jo's hand.
"Good afternoon, Kendall."
"Hello, Mr. Taylor," Kendall nervously greeted the man entering the kitchen at that point. "Good to, um, good to see you again."
"I'm sure it is. Why do you want to marry my daughter?"
"I love her."
"And this isn—"
"All right, all right. Let's stop with the interrogation," Mrs. Taylor interrupted. "How was your flight, Dear? Did you eat on the plane? Are you hungry? I could make you a sandwich or soup. Dinner isn't going to be ready for a good while yet, unless you and Jo have other plans. Jo-honey, why don't you show him to the guest room he'll be using for the weekend?"
Kendall followed Jo, his fiancée, he liked thinking, up the stairs and toward the second door on the right.
"The first door is the bathroom," Jo pointed out. "And that door," she pointed to her left, "is my bedroom."
"We should have a look in there." Kendall wagged his eyebrows.
"Later." Jo pulled him to the other room where he would be staying.
"Oh right, cause you want to—"
"Not with my parents in the house!"
"Fine," Kendall pouted pretending to be upset.
"Hey, we got all weekend and the rest of our lives." Jo pecked him on the lips.
"You said yes!"
After dinner, Kendall and the Taylors gathered around the couch in the den. Jo and Kendall snuggled together on the loveseat opposite the TV.
"Let's watch a movie!" Mrs. Taylor suggested. "You're the guest, Kendall, why don't you pick?" She pointed to the cabinet the TV sat on where the DVDs were stored.
Kendall reluctantly left his spot next to Jo and searched through the movie collection.
"What's this?" He held up a white DVD box.
"No!" Jo exclaimed. "We can watch anything but that!"
"What is it? Now you've got me interested!" Kendall put the DVD in the player and pressed play.
Jo's little five year old face filled the screen. Jo in the den hid her face in her hands.
"My first commercial," she mumbled. "For a local ice cream place."
"Aw, you're so cute," Kendall cooed.
"No, I'm five and I just lost a tooth and oh, this is so embarrassing."
"No, it's cute." Kendall went back to the couch and wrapped his arms around her. "Do you have anymore?"
"There's a few of some plays I did for the Children's Theater, but we're not watching them."
"Fine." He went to the cabinet and pulled out another DVD. "We'll watch Les Mis." After putting in the disc he rejoined Jo on the loveseat and started the musical.
.O.
"Welcome to The Van Landingham Estates," a young woman greeted the couple as they entered the hotel restaurant for their date the next afternoon.
"Reservations under Jo Taylor for the indoor picnic."
"Right this way."
The Van Landingham Estates was known for its outdoor picnics, but with it being winter and even in Charlotte, NC winter is not fun, so they moved their picnics indoor.
"Wow," Kendall said looking around the foyer with the picture windows where the picnic would be held. "This place is—"
"Amazing?" Jo supplied.
"More, I think."
"It is a beautiful place and they even do weddings."
"Weddi—oh, you want to get married here?"
"I don't know, but it is tradition to have the wedding near the bride's family."
"LA seems more convenient." Kendall thought for a minute. "But, I'm sure we can afford to fly everyone here."
"It's okay. We don't have to figure everything out today."
The couple sat themselves on a large picnic blanket covered with an assortment of rich food including sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, tea, and tiramisu for desert.
"If we did have the wedding here, they'd take care of everything. Well, we'd still pick out our clothes and the preacher, but other than that, they'd do it all," Jo said taking the last bite of desert and snuggling into Kendall.
"You really want to get married here?"
"It's just a thought. There are other places we can look at. If you'd rather have something smaller we can do that, too."
"Whatever you want, I'm happy. All I want is to marry you." He kissed her on the lips licking off a bit of tiramisu that lingered. "And no paparazzi," he whispered.
After the picnic, Jo took Kendall to see the Charlotte Checkers take on the Milwaukee Admirals at the Time Warner Cable Arena. It wasn't an NHL game like what she was sure Kendall would have preferred (or college, but this was the south so they couldn't even dream about that), but it was just as much fun in the AHL, the top minor league for the NHL. They were the AHL team for the Carolina Hurricanes located in Raleigh. It was a good game with the Checkers winning 4-1.
"Thank you for the wonderful time today," Kendall said as the cuddled together on the couch. Everyone else had gone to bed leaving the couple alone. He looked down at Jo, her head against his side, lying in the crook of his arm. He couldn't believe how lucky he was that this girl was his. Well, he didn't own her, but she wasn't anyone else's fiancé. He was hers. She was his. And that's the way it would be.
All week (July 7-13) we are working to trend #MaslowHotBodyYHA on Twitter. We want to get together every night at 6PM EDT to get him trending. James has been nominated for a Young Hollywood Award in the category of Hottest Body (of Work) and has asked us to get this trending for him. You do want to do this for James, don't you? Please spread the word!
I picked Charlotte for Jo to live because it's the one place in NC I know so well since I lived there for eight years. They never named a city she was from so I went with what I knew (I originally thought of her being from Wilmington for some reason, but decided in this chapter to go with Charlotte because I wanted Kendall to land at CLT).
So, who's getting engaged now? When I came up with the idea for Kendall to propose to Jo Carlos got engaged. When I had him propose the first time Katelyn got engaged. Now, I had Kendall ask her again. So, who is it? Kendall? James? Logan? Erin? Malese? David? Ciara who is too young, imo? You?
(the name Jean-Luc Varn Darn as seen in Big Time Bloggers just cracks me up)