Katie was blowdrying her hair that afternoon when her doorbell rang. "I'll be right there!" she shouted, running into her room to put on some clothes. After a moment, the doorbell rang again. "Just a minute!" she yelled, pulling on her shirt and running down the stairs. She unlocked the front door, and her heart dropped to the ground when she saw A.J. standing there. His face lit up when he saw her.
"Hey, baby," he greeted, moving forward to kiss her.
Katie backed away.
"Is...something wrong?" A.J. asked with concern. "You never called me back."
"That's because we're over," Katie replied.
A.J. stepped back for a minute. "What do you mean?"
"You heard me right, A.J. I'm dumping your sorry ass!" Katie tried to slam the door in his face, but he stopped her.
"Why? What went wrong?" A.J. wondered. "I thought you—"
"What went wrong? I see through you, A.J.!"
"What is there to see through?"
Katie stared at him in disbelief. "'Your eyes look like the stars?' Come on, A.J.! Kevin told me that you say that to every girl!"
A.J. swallowed hard, trying to figure out what to say. Katie didn't give him a chance. "Please do me a favor and get the hell out of here."
"Katie, I might have said that to other people, but with you—"
"Let me guess, you really meant it? Bullshit!"
"Katie, please..." A.J. started to put his arms around her.
"Don't touch me!" Katie commanded, slapping his hands away.
"What can I do to make it better?" A.J. begged.
"Make it better?" Katie echoed. "Alex, you were using me! Nothing can make it better!"
"But—"
"No, there are no buts. Get out of here." Katie turned away, hiding her tears of pain.
A.J. didn't move.
"Get out of here!" Katie shrieked. She pushed him out the door, slammed it shut, and locked it.
"Katie, don't do this!" A.J. pleaded through the closed door. "I love you," he said softly.
Katie leaned up against the door, finally letting the tears fall. She sank down to the floor and buried her head in her hands. Why did she always have to fall in love with the wrong man?
Katie jumped when she felt something move against her hip, and she remembered that she had put her cell phone on vibrate. She sighed and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me." Kevin.
"Hey, Kev," Katie replied gloomily.
"How are ya feeling, sweets?" her brother asked.
"I just dumped A.J.," she groaned.
"Good," Kevin said emphatically.
"But it still hurts a lot, Kev. I really did care about him."
"That will pass. You'll see that it's better in the long run for you to leave him than to stay and keep lying to yourself."
Katie sighed and decided to change the subject. "I know. So how is Linz?"
"Asleep," Kevin said evilly.
"Wow, she must have had a really long flight," Katie replied innocently, cracking a smile.
Kevin laughed. "Very long."
"Tell her I say hi, okay?"
"Here, you can tell her yourself," he offered. He rolled over in bed and gently nudged Linz's sleeping form. "Wake up, baby."
"Hmm?" Linz murmured, opening her eyes and stretching. "Hey there," she said, grinning when she saw Kevin.
"Want to talk to Katie?"
Linz nodded and took the phone. "Hi, sweetie, how are you?"
"Awful," Katie answered honestly.
"Kevin filled me in on what happened."
"I figured that he would."
Linz smiled. "Look, Katie, you can do so much better than A.J. McLean."
"But what if I don't want to do better than A.J. McLean?" Katie returned.
Linz sighed. "I know that you must be in pain right now, but you have to try to stop thinking about it."
"How? Everything I see reminds me of him."
Linz frowned, thinking. Then she got an idea. "Hold on," she told Katie. "Kev, are we doing anything tonight?" she asked, putting her hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver. Kevin shook his head. "Okay, Katie?" she said into the phone.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to come pick you up aruond four, and we can go shopping and find you something to wear, and then tonight Kev and I are going to take you clubbing."
"That does sound like fun...but you and Kevin don't see much of each other as it is. I don't want to get in your way—"
"You wouldn't be in the way, I promise," Linz interrupted. "So I'll see you in...an hour, okay?"
"Okay."
"Here's Kev." Linz handed the phone back to Katie's brother.
"I'll see you tonight, sweets," Kevin said quickly, as Linz was motioning for him to hurry up.
"Well, you're in a rush all of a sudden. I wonder what you and Linz will be doing for the next hour?"
"Gotta-go-love-you-bye!" Kevin replied, hanging up the phone. He turned back towards Linz and pulled her close. She kissed him, but he pulled away and pouted.
"What's wrong, Kev?" Linz asked.
"You're leaving me," Kevin complained.
"Kevin—what's your middle name?"
"Scott," Kevin supplied.
"Kevin Scott Richardson, your sister needs help and all you can think about is the fact that you won't be getting any from your girlfriend for a couple of hours?!" Linz pretended to scold.
"Linz, you know that I would give up the world for that girl," Kevin said seriously.
"I know, I was just kidding," Linz told him.
"Oh...I was gonna say, wow, my girlfriend's a bitch!"
Linz grinned. "What makes you so sure that you aren't right?"
Kevin shrugged. "It doesn't matter though. I would still love her. And now I want her all to myself for the next hour," he added before she could say anything else.
"Your wish is her command," Linz mumbled as
Kevin tightened his arms around her and kissed her neck.
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