Chapter 17

A week later

It was a gorgeous day outside, the kind that made you long to just sit in the grass with friends and reminiscence.  There was a small breeze and it was hot.  The heat warmed the skin, pinkened the nose and cheeks, but this kind of heat never burned—it just encompassed everything, so walking into a well air conditioned building would make your skin feel frozen and sting.

The studio was next to empty.  Everyone had cashed in on the fantastic weather and trekked to the beach for the day.  But not him. 

He had been left behind.  He had planned to go, got himself a towel and a bottle of Banana Boat—the bottle he had bought for Katie (she had yet to use it), and drove to the studio to meet up with everyone else.  He would have liked to go to the beach and relax and let his mind drift into a mush of nothing but sun and waves and seagulls.

But then she called.  An hour and a half later he had missed the ride to the coast, had waved his hand to the final, “Seriously James we’re leaving your ass here.”

He didn’t really mind.

He slid down further against the arm of the couch to where he was completely vertical on the leather surface, just one leg hanging off.  “I’ve always wanted to go there,” he said, leaning forward to sling his arm over towards the brown glass bottle in front of him on the coffee table.  It was only 11.  His mother would smack him, roll her eyes and mumble “a gentleman would at least wait until noon.”  He hooked his fingers around the bottleneck and pulled it up to his lips.

“You should do it, you’ve got the money.”  He rolled his eyes at her tone and rested the beer against his stomach.  “I have to apply for scholarship to do it…”  Her voice paused over the phone and she then grumbled in an adorable way, “ass.”

He smiled and shrugged as if she could really see him through the cell phone. “I’ll take you with me.”

They were talking about Greece.  And of all the places his brother had been able to take him, he had yet to venture to Greece.  Something about the ancient atmosphere, the scenic overviews and hillside beaches, something about grapes and columns and togas really got him thinking how much fun it would be.  He knew little about the place and knew the stereotype in his mind was probably far from the truth, but hearing her talk about it, about the people  and the food and the amazing things she did and the history, it all made him wish he could go there…with her.  Jealousy emerged when she talked of Greece and Paraguay.  She knew about the places and the people and had stories.  All he had were stories of fancy hotels and hot girls and crazy adventures with his brothers and the group in airports in big European cities.  He had pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Coliseum but she had mental pictures of a cafe owner and an old widower and the small farm and large family she lived with in Paraguay

He started to feel shallow, but the guilt was a good thing, and hearing her tell her stories of the people and the places and the damn cow bells in the morning was enrapturing. He wanted to learn so much more about those things from her.  And he wanted to go back and have her show him Nina’s 4 room house in the plains of Paraguay.  He had been to more places than her, but she knew so much more than he ever could.

No woman had ever surprised and amazed him as much as she.  It was scary.

“Ok Rico Suave,” she laughed and he smiled at her voice.  She was so confident and funny and, and…perfect. There hadn’t been a day that had gone by where he hadn’t called her.  And if he missed her she always called him back.  He was getting obsessed with her voice, needing it to get him out of his grumpy moods in the morning.  And yet, his grumpy moods weren’t around as much.

The only thing that really upset him was when he would wake up and she wouldn’t be around, she’d be hours and hours away and all he’d have was his little silver cell phone to connect with her.  He was whipped and they really weren’t even together.

He shook his head.  It shouldn’t be this bad.  But it was so bad.

“You really need to stop being mean.”  He tried to sound pitiful but ended up laughing instead.  “Here I am being all nice and inviting you to travel with me.”

“The James Timberlake scholarship?”  She pondered and then her voice softened to a flirting and delicious tone. “What do I have to do to apply?”

“Oh really?” He bit his lip, took a long swig from his drink and then said in a low, slow voice, “You wanna know?”

“Shut up.” 

He smiled at her bashful tone through the phone.  She wasn’t a bashful girl at all, but she played it up in the right way to make his skin feel hot and prickly and his muscles tight.  It was quiet for a moment, but not awkward.  He was thinking about her, thinking about the curve of her hip and how soft her hair was.  It had only been a few hours he had spent with her. Just a few pitiful hours: a trip to his house, an afternoon at the bait shop, a drive around town, and an invitation to get breakfast with him. But the conversations on the phone and that one moment he was hanging on to—that moment after his breakfast when he rushed back home to meet his mother and Katherine impatiently waiting for him, mad that he forgot to bring them biscuits—it was that moment he was hanging on to dearly.

“I want to fly back home,” he sighed to her.

“Why?”

“I told you before,” he said in a lower voice and moved his hips slightly to relax more, feeling his body still tight but his brain ease at the thought.  “That kiss.  Fucking blew my socks off girl.”

He felt like telling her more, about telling how her voice late at night on the phone was making him want her.  How he still thought about the way her hair fell against her eyes when she smiled happily after their kiss, looking down as if she didn’t want him to see.  He could see it—he made her happy, too.  And he felt like telling her that even though it was soon and even though they were still getting to know each other, he fucking wanted her.  But he didn’t.  He kept it to himself and remembered and dreamt about her in his truck outside of Biscuit House.

They were just talking, he was just telling her about his grandparents.  She had said his name so simply, and when he turned to her, before he could mumbled a “huh?” she had kissed him, full, open, and wanting.  She tasted like a weird mix of Orange Juice and strawberry jelly.

Then she had said, pulling back, her hand against his jaw, “I’m really glad I met you.”

And on the phone with her now, he almost spoke too much.  He opened his mouth and almost told her that he was glad they had met, too and almost told her that he wanted her, really wanted her as his girl, as his lover, as so much more.  He wanted her desperately in his bed, but everywhere else, too.

But before he could speak a word, someone was leaning over him, goofily smiling and poking him in the chest, teasing him, saying “ooh” in a childish manner.

Katie had heard everything. 

He could tell by the mischievous twitch in her smile.  He narrowed his eyes and immediately sat up and sat his beer on the table in front of him, hating that she overhead his conversation.  “Oh, shut up!”

“Excuse me?” He heard over the phone.

“Not you,” he said, watching Katie saunter around the coffee table and plop on the other side of the couch, moving her bare feet over close to where he was sitting.  “Katie.  She’s eavesdropping.”  She then moved to hit him in the leg with her foot and gave him a look of shock, before curling up on her end.

He wished she had gone to the beach with the rest of the group.  But when Justin said he was going to stay and work on some stuff at the studio, he knew she would stay as well.  He was thankful for the phone call with Jenn, it was something to keep him distracted from whatever it was the two of them were doing.

“Let me talk to her.” 

James eyes widened and said incredulously in the phone to Jenn, “Uh, yeah…No!”

“Put her on the phone James,” she demanded.  “I need to meet this girl since you talk about her so much.”

“You guys are going to just talk about me,” Jenn was silent on the other end.  He knew she really wanted to speak to Katherine and she was determined to get her way.  So, he looked cautiously at Katie who was staring at him with her eyebrows raised.  He then handed her the phone and said, “Be nice.”

Katie’s expression was one of surprise and pure delight.  She immediately leaned forward and snatched up the phone, “Hey.  Yup, that is me…Oh my god, he’s such a nerd.  Seriously, don’t let him fool you…So when can we hang out?... You know I gotta do the semi –big sister scoop, though probably we’ll end up teaming up against him.  He has an attitude problem, grumpiness if you haven’t noticed.”

“Stop it,” James glared at her and then took another sip of beer.

She just rolled her eyes and said back into the phone, “Anyway, so how do you like Millington?.. .Yeah, I know….What?... What do you mean?”  James eyed her and could see Katie’s cheeks redden with anger, and then she sat completely up and her eyes were widened, her eyebrows furrowed.  She turned, smacked her hand down with the phone in between them on the couch and said, “JAMES! What did you tell her about me?”

“Nothing, all good stuff.”  He tried to remember. “ I think.”

“About Justin,” she whispered harshly staring straight at him.  She looked like she was going to cry, but James knew her watery eyes were because she was mad, not because she was upset.  “Why are you saying shit?”

“Katie, I’m just talking with her.”  He groaned inwardly, knowing this was bad.  Knowing maybe he should have kept his opinions to himself, kept his mouth shut.  He couldn’t help it.  Jenn made him talk about stuff going on in his life and in his mind.  He could hear her saying “hello?” through the phone that was still lying in Katie’s hand.

James wanted to take it from her and go somewhere else away from the small fiery ball of rage that was staring at him.

“She asked me if we had made it official!”  She looked away for a moment and slowed and calmed her voice, though the calm, purposeful tone of it just made her seem angrier.  “You know it’s not like that.  I can’t believe you….”  She then stood up, shook her head and pulled the phone back up between them.  “Sorry Jenn, I had to talk some sense into him.  You can have the moron back.”  She threw the phone back at him.

“Katie...” he said pulling the phone up to his ear, trying to get her to stop as she was walking out of the room.  She slammed the door shut so hard it didn’t latch and bounced back open.  “Katherine!”

“Did I say something wrong?”  He heard Jenn say through the receiver.

“No, I just probably should have told you to keep all that stuff I told you about her and my brother under wraps.”

“Shit,” she said.  “You said you were hoping for it and knew she was too, and she seemed like a bubbly girl I could talk about stuff with.”

“She is…”  He rubbed his forehead, knowing now any chance of Jenn and Katie being close would be difficult and that he probably had another earful from her waiting to come.  “She’s just really fucking sensitive about certain stuff.”  He grumbled, “Like a child.”

“I’m really sorry James.”  He heard her say so sincerely.  “I didn’t realize. I thought it was something a little more casual.  Apparently it’s not.

“It’s alright.  She’ll get over it, she always does.  I’ll go into details about their drama later.” 

“There’s more details?”

“It’s a whole pitiful saga.” He sighed and figured he would go after her in an hour or so.  It’d give her time to cool off.  She would be better and they could talk about it.  He’d apologize and she’d forgive.  Plus, he had more important things to talk about at the time, or at least things that would get his mind off the slammed door, “So back to kisses.”

“You need to just calm down.”  She laughed. “It was one kiss”

“It was one really long kiss.  A biscuit flavored kiss,” He teased.  “And I’m coming back to get more in 2 days.”

She wasn’t flirting, and was dead serious when she asked, “I thought you said you would be gone 10 days.”

“Yeah, well tomorrow makes it 5 days, so I’m just coming back a little early.”  He felt uneasy, like there was some secret she was hiding.

But when she sighed and said, “James you should hang out with your family and friends.”  He knew she was just concerned about him, concerned he was going too fast with her.  It was true though, he was, and he hoped he wasn’t scaring her.

He was bored of Virginia Beach already and he wanted to be home, he wanted to be with her.  He tried to stop himself to enjoy the time with his brother and his friends but every time he just wanted to be with her.

“He’ll give me the green light.”  James thought to himself, but said out loud.  He knew his brother would be ok with it if he knew a girl was the reason.  At least he was pretty sure of it.  The whole adventure of coming out here and being brothers and helping him get over Britney wasn’t really working too well.  Justin didn’t want to talk, didn’t bring it up, just laughed and drank and smoked and flirted with Katie and joked with Trace and talked about stupid shit.  Justin was handling this in whatever way he wanted and James couldn’t change that.  They were grown, and even though only a few minutes separated them, James was tired of playing big brother all the time.

“Look, I’m gonna go,” she sounded annoyed slightly, and he shifted uncomfortably on the couch, moving the phone from one ear to the other, afraid he really just pissed her off somehow, or freaked her out.  Slow down, he told himself.  He was getting too excited about this girl.  “Go do damage control with your friend and spend some time with your brother, ok?”

He teased her, hoping to cut the tension on the phone. “Yes, mother.”

“Bye James.”  Her slight laugh made him feel a little better about the situation, made his heart ease and his muscles relax.

“Bye Jenn.”

It took a moment before he was able to slide the phone back in his pocket and finish his beer.  He dreaded what he was going to have to do.  Leave it alone, is what he knew he should do, but it was pulling at him like a leash.  Finally, he couldn’t stand it, his knee was bobbing up and down and he felt anxious, a feeling that was rare for him, a feeling he hated.  He didn’t know if it was because of Katie or Jenn, or a mix of both of them with maybe a bit of his brother tied in.  But he wasn’t going to sit there and be the bad guy anymore. 

It had been 2 minutes, but he was ready to fix everything that just suddenly seemed to screw up.  He stood up and walked out of the den area and towards where the kitchen was. 

She was sitting there alone, arms across her chest, legs crossed, glaring at him as he entered.  At first he was sure she was going to give him the silent treatment but then she barked out, “What did you say about me?”

“Katie, you know I don’t talk shit about you, don’t be ridiculous.”  The worry he had by himself wasn’t apparent, he seemed annoyed more than anxious as he went toward the fridge to grab another beer.

“What did you say about me and…” She stopped and widened her eyes slightly.

“I was just telling her about how you have been hooking up.”

She scoffed like she was shocked he would assume that.  “First of all you shouldn’t be telling someone you barely know things like that and second of all we are not hookin’…”

“Don’t even start to lie.” He laughed and pulled out his keys from his pocket to use his keychain bottle opener to take off the beer cap.  “It’s obvious and you can’t hide shit from me.  God, Katie, last night you were drunk with him and making out on the loveseat in front of everyone.  Trace had to yell at you guys to get you up and get a room.”

She stared at him for a moment before uncrossing her legs and putting her head in her hands, as if she didn’t realize.  He knew she wasn’t ashamed, but Katie could get embarrassed easily. “Shit.”

It wasn’t like anyone cared.  No one questioned it, except a few of the girls, but they always got brushed aside.  It was like this natural, normal thing, Justin and Katie making out in corners at the studio and house.  No one cared.

And for some reason, James realized, he didn’t really care anymore either.

“Just be careful, we don’t want any Timberbabies.”

“James, eww!” She sat up again and he knew if there was a pillow to throw on the stool she was sitting, she would have thrown it.  “It’s like you’re a dad or something to me.”

“Just don’t be mad at me for talking, ok?” he said, coming over and sitting on the stool beside of her. “I just, I like this girl and she gets me to talk about stuff and cares about what I have to say.”

“I care about what you have to say.”

“Yeah,” he laughed.  “But it’s different.   I’m not very interested in seeing your tits, Katie.”

She smacked him on the back of his head, making him to cough his beer a little.

“Who’s showing tits?”  They heard a moment later.

They turned to look at who was coming in from the screened door from outside. “Your cousin’s,” James said.

“Whoa, yikes.”  Trace animatedly and quickly walked through the room.

“Buzz, don’t go…”  Katie called after him.  “Why aren’t you at the beach?  Wait! I wanna talk to you…”

“About?”  He stopped and turned.

“About this morning’s Maury episode.”

Trace walked through the doorway but James could hear him call out. “That girl was NOT a dude.  I swear!”

James laughed and then he watched as Katie walked after her cousin.  Justin came through the door way from the studio as she was leaving.  He smiled at her softly and touched the side of her hip. “Hey...”

“Well hi,”  she said back, smiling.  He just grinned at her and James stared at his brother, trying to read if this was becoming an actual serious thing between them.  Katie left and Justin took the space where she had been sitting.

“What’s up?”

“Chillin’, you done?”

“Nah,” Justin leaned his head down on the counter like he was tired.  “Breaking.”  It was quiet for a long time until Justin finally asked, “You seen Pop?” Pop was one of the sound techs.

“He went out with Tasha.”

“Thank god,” Justin pulled back and rolled his neck making it crack.  “Bitch is all over me. Time for her to move it on…”  Justin laughed a little, it was clear he was a little high as he moved his hand and arm in a wave in front of James.

“Tell her you got a girl.”

“Yeah…”  James was trying to get something out of Justin, but clearly, he wasn’t getting anything when Justin expertly changed the subject. “Hey, so you should stay this summer, too.”

“Too?”

“Yeah…”  Justin looked away and then yawned.

“Oh…”  James then realized what Justin had asked and realized how Katie had replied.  James kind of smiled, maybe it was finally become official.  Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about broken messed up hearts and hormones anymore.  “She agreed?”

“Well no, but she hasn’t talked about leaving.  She went shopping with Kelsey and Rach the other day and came back with a shit load.  I’m assuming she’s staying.”

“You should get a flat out answer before you get excited.”

“I’m not excited,” Justin said smiling.

“Yeah you are…”  James laughed and then said quietly, “and I’m not staying.”

“Come on it’ll be fun.”

“Dude I’ve had a blast here, but I don’t want to just party all summer, I want to get back and buy that house.”

“And fuck that girl.”  Justin laughed.

“Get to know that girl.”

“Invite her out.” Justin shrugged.

James sighed and it was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out the right way to say this.  His brother was laughing, but there was something in his expression that seemed to worry James.  “I think I just want to get away for a while.  Get away from your crazy ass and have someone else take care of Katie for a while.”

Justin’s eye brows bunched and he asked, “Take care?”

“Well I mean, Charlie took care of her and then after that busted up I kind of felt like I needed to keep her company, ya know?  She’s a sensitive girl.  And now you can take care of her.”

“She’s stronger than you think.  You don’t give her enough credit.” Justin shook his head and slid off the stool before walked to the fridge to grab a beer himself.  “So only another week then?”

“Actually, I might leave the day after tomorrow.”

“Dude seriously!”  Justin said letting the refrigerator door shut.  “What is the girl telling you on the phone?”  Justin took James’ keys from the counter and unlatched the beer cap. “You’re going to leave the beach and the party and your friends to go buy a house and hang out with some girl you don’t know.  You are getting too damn old.”

“Don’t you want to be settled at some point?”

“Yeah, when I’m old.”  Justin laughed.  “We’re 21, not 50!”

James rolled his eyes.  “Six months ago you were talking about buying a new house and hanging out with some girl all the time. You were planning on being settled by now.  Hell, Justin you were talking to me about wedding rings.”

The lighthearted, laughing Justin vanished with a snap and a bitter, cold Justin appeared.  “Well things fucking change, don’t they?”

“Have you at least talked to anyone about it?”  James asked, unphased. “Momma’s fucking worried.”

“She thinks I need a shrink or something!” Justin leaned against the counter and chugged half of his beer.

“No, just a friend.”

“I got Kate,” he replied thoughtfully.  “I guess I’ve talked a little bit with her.”  Out of nowhere the anger came back. “I just don’t see why everyone is always ‘let’s talk about Britney.’  If I want to fucking talk about her I god damn will.”

“Chill out”  

“Ya know what? I was fucking chilled until you had to start saying shit.  You wanna leave today?  Then fucking leave today!  I don’t care.”  He turned to leave the room.

James knew Justin was acting like a child, but at the same time he felt bad for his brother.  This was still eating him up inside months after the fact.  He wasn’t getting over Britney, he was just pretending.  And James worried about that, worried about his brother.

And worried about Katie getting mixed up in this.

“Justin…seriously…”  James followed him out through the hallway back into the den where Trace and Katie and a couple other people were watching TV, they looked tired from being on the beach all morning, but knew they’d probably go back out that afternoon.

“Come here.”  Justin demanded, once Katie’s eyes locked with his.

“Hmm?”  She asked sauntering over to him.   He took her hand and led her down the hallway past him towards the studio.  Katie stared at James and shrugged as they passed.

“Justin…”  James called.

Justin just looked down at Katie and smiled as he opened the studio door and gently pushed her inside and completely ignoring his brother.  “Come on…”

“James wants-“ James could hear her plead but then the door slammed.  It was like a snap, Justin had changed as soon as he had Katherine by him.  But James knew he was pretending and just hoped to hell that Justin was talking to Katie about stuff and not just letting their sex life be the medicine for his heart ache.

This was going to turn into a huge mess, a mess he didn’t want to deal with.  Part of him needed to stay, talk sense into Katie, remind her that this isn’t ever just having fun for her, that this is serious.  She would lie and say otherwise but James knew that it was always serious for Katie.

He just wished Justin would take it a little more seriously as well and realize he was about to ruin one of his closest relationships just to get off every day and not be alone.

But James wouldn’t play father anymore to both of them.  He was determined to go home and deal with his own life.  He couldn’t prevent mistakes any more with the two of them and he wasn’t going to just sit there and watch them make them.  And he damn well hoped they didn’t expect him to be there when it was over to make it all better again.

Cause he wasn’t going to be there anymore and he wasn’t going to care about their little trysts.

He sat down on the couch beside Trace and watched some crap TV show about animal rescues.  He didn’t know how long he sat there.  At one point a couple people came in with sandwiches and they all ate.  James just sat there and stared at the TV.  After a while he found himself alone.  They had all returned to the beach and he was just lying on the couch again, staring at the ceiling, thinking about too many things that made his head swim and the ceiling rotate above him.

He didn’t even know what time it was but when he sat up and looked at the clock it read 1:49 pm.

He wandered through the studio and it was eerily quiet, except for the sound of whining dogs in the background from the TV, echoing through the halls.

He found himself in front of one of the studio doors, the door Justin and Katie had retreated into.  It was still closed and James stood before the door, waiting to enter.  Finally he knocked softly and heard just as softly back, “come in.”

“Hey…” He cracked the door, not wanting to see anything inappropriate.  It was one thing to have to watch them make out in the corners when they were drunk, it would be another to see…something.

But Justin was at the controls in the studio with some headphones hanging around his neck.  The t-shirt he had been wearing was gone and he was left in an undershirt. There was a half eaten Quizno’s sub beside him as well as a cup. “Hey,” he nodded over to the back of the studio where a couch was.  “She’s asleep.”  Katie was lying there, curled up, fast asleep, with Justin’s t shirt over her shoulders and arms, trying to provide her with a little warmth.  

“Oh ok.”  James came in and sat in a swivel chair beside Justin as he took off his head phones and laid them on the controls.  He sighed and then rubbed his face roughly with his hands. He looked tired, emotionally and physically, and James could tell he was trying hard to get over his buzz—it was lingering hard.  His eyes were dark and his face looked pale.

“Look, I’m sorry ok? I didn’t mean to snap, I just…”  He paused and breathed out deeply.  “I’m still dealing with it.”

“I know.  I know it sucks and I don’t expect you to want to say everything to me or be ok with it.”  James put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “I just want you to know if you need to talk, I’m here.”

“God James, I know that.”  Justin turned in his chair and faced him.  “You’re my fucking brother.  I know that.”  He shook his head and looked off to the side, staring in the distance.  “I guess I just….”  James followed his gaze and saw him staring at Katie.

James looked in between them and asked, “What?”

“I don’t know.”   Justin broke his stare and swiveled back, messing with some buttons on the controls. “I’m just still really heartbroken still, like some fucking pussy.  It’s getting better, though.  My summer’s a lot better now and I’m gonna be fine.  I just gotta push through this and I’ll be alright.”

“If you want me to stay longer, I will.”

Justin grinned at James and waved him off. “Go back home, see that girl that’s got you messed up.”

“You’ll like her.”  James smiled.  “Maybe once I kind of get to know her better I can bring her out, like in a month or so.”

“That’d be the shit.”  Justin laughed.  “I need a picture.  Need to judge her for myself.”

“I got good taste.”

Justin smirked. “Ha.” 

“And you do? I saw those girls the first day here.  I know the ones, I’ve heard them talk about you all clingy and gossip like.  I thought you only liked high-class girls.”

“I’m heartbroken, remember?”  Justin laughed a little loudly and quieted his laughter quickly when he remembered Katie.  “Nah, that’s all over now.  No need to be a slut.”

It was quiet and Justin continued to mess with the controls.  “Hey, remember what I said earlier.”

“What?”  He said mindlessly.

“Take care of her.”James smacked him on the shoulder and waited until Justin looked at him.  They locked eyes for only a second before Justin shrugged him off and broke the stare. 

“We’re just having fun, man.  You know what it is.  Just fun.”

“Yeah, but you both are dealing with shit.  Don’t let it turn into more for you guys if you aren’t ready.”

“You act like we just fuck.”  Justin stood up and turned around and stared at Katie, shrugging as he talked.  “We talk about this shit, too.  It’s not just about getting off. You just don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“I don’t really know how to!”  He got loud and James had to shush him.  “And plus, you’ll probably just get mad like you always do when I start talking about her.”

James rolled his eyes. 

“Come on James, you know I care about her. I’m not going to hurt her.  Back when we were teenagers I fucked up, and I got scared cause I was an idiot.  I’m not like that now, she’s knows that.  She’s one of my best friends; it not like it’s some horrible thing.”

“Then you understand why I gotta go home—to see how good of a friend this girl could become.”

“Yeah.  I get it.  Plus, maybe with you gone, she’ll stop being so weird and shy.”

“Huh?”

Justin rolled his eyes again and plopped down in the chair, letting the force of his movement rotate the chair slowly as he kept his feet off the ground. “She wants to pretend like we’re not doing shit when you’re around.  I would think she’d be more concerned with her cousin finding out shit, but…”

“Stop talking about me.”  Justin put his feet down to stop and James stared at her.

“Shit.”  Justin whispered and then got up and went to loom over her on the couch.   Her eyes were still closed and she looked like she was still asleep.

“How long you been awake?”  Justin said scolding.

“Stop talking about me and Trace,” she said and then groaned and turned on her back and squinted her eyes up at Justin.  “And I am not weird or shy!”  She tucked his shirt around her tighter, stretching it.

“Go back to sleep, silly,” Justin leaned down and said close to her.  She whined for a moment and then was quiet.  Justin smiled up at James and walked back to the controls.

 “I’m asleep if you want to keep talking about me,”  Katie mumbled.   Justin turned and threw a pencil at her. 

She immediately sat up and hollered, “Don’t throw stuff at me, butt face!” 

“Why not?” Justin sat down in his chair and ignored her.

James smiled at her as she balled up his shirt, threw it at them and stomped over to where they were sitting. She stared at the back of his head before flicking his ear.  He held it in his hand and turned to look at her. 

“I can’t believe—“  He then shook his head and said randomly,  “I feel like singing.” Justin then laughed and waved her off.  “Find ‘Rell.”

“Oh yes master, he’s probably at the beach with the rest of the world,” she mocked and rolled her eyes.  But she turned and when she did Justin smacked her ass.

“Please and thank you,” Justin yelled after her.

 She just kept walking.

 “Gotta love her.”  Justin grinned and pulled the headphones back around his neck.  James let the comment his brother made roll off his shoulders and cleared his throat.

“We’re good?”  James asked, knowing he should give Justin some space to do his work.

“Always. Call her up and tell her.  I expect sexing by the weekend.”

James laughed in the middle of a stretch and then shook his head. “You’re a dick.”

“Yes, yes I am.”  Justin put the headphones over his ears and James fished for his phone in his pocket as he left the room. 

He walked through the hallway, winding back through the kitchen and then outside, breathing in the fresh air.  He brought the phone up to his ear after he dialed and smiled when he heard her voice, bored and flat over the line, “I’m in the middle of some show about remodeling old houses.”

“And I got the green light…” he said, trying to hold back his smile but unable, knowing if anyone saw him right then he’d be mortified.  It was one of the reasons he slipped outside.

“Really?”  Her voice was so filled with excitement it was quiet.

“Yes ma’am.”

It was quiet for a few seconds and then he heard her say, filled with smile, “Awesome.”

It was awesome, she was awesome.  And in a few days he would be back with her, making this little thing they had going on, more awesome than either of them realized.  So awesome, in fact, it would take him deep into a place he wasn’t prepared to go.