"Come in!" Katie called as someone knocked on the door to her hotel room around eleven that night.

The door handle jiggled a little. "I can't, it's locked!" her twin's muffled voice came from the other side.

Katie giggled and got up to open the door for him. She was wearing her bathrobe instead of her regular clothes so that it wouldn't be obvious that she wasn't going to be sleeping in her bed that night. Nick smiled when she threw the door open.

"Hey."

"Hey," Katie returned. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really. I just wanted to say goodnight," he said.

"Oh...well...goodnight," Katie replied. That wasn't anything unusual. Nick was always doing sweet little things like that.

"Oh...and I wanted to tell you that, to try and make up for being an idiot today...I got you three auditions for this coming week!" he stated proudly.

Katie's jaw dropped for a moment before she grinned and threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Nicky, thank you so much!" she exclaimed, kissing his cheek.

He laughed and ruffled her hair. "It wasn't a problem. So am I forgiven for earlier today?"

"Yeah, yeah," Katie replied, as if the fight from before had been a mere nothing. "Of course."

"Well, I'm off to bed, but goodnight," Nick said, wrapping his arms around her quickly.

"Goodnight," Katie returned, waving as he grinned at her once more before walking down the hall. She stepped back inside the room, closed the door, and leaned against it, sighing deeply. She had known that Nick would do it if she asked him too. Katie couldn't hold back her huge smile as she walked over to the phone and dialed Kevin's room.

He picked up after the fourth ring. "Hello?" he panted.

She chuckled. "What were you just doing?" she asked, hearing his heavy breathing.

"Showering," Kevin replied, his tone instantly warming up when he heard his girlfriend's voice.

"Oh...so you don't want me to come over now?" she teased.

"Katie, if you don't get your sexy little ass over here right now, there is going to be serious hell to pay in the morning," was Kevin's response.

Katie giggled. "Okay. I'll see you in about thirty seconds," she promised.

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

Katie checked her appearance and ran a brush through her hair once before grabbing her key and slipping out of the room.

Katie sighed as she lay under the blankets in Kevin's warm arms later that night. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him until right now, when he was just lying close to her. She instinctively tightened her arms around him and moved closer as she remembered the loneliness of the past month or so, and how she had longed to see him so terribly. But now I get to be near him for two and a half months straight, she reminded herself. That's the longest we've been together in quite awhile. Still, after that, they would have to part again. And that would just mean more pain, more sleepless nights because she was without him, more rumors of him dating other celebrities... Katie let out another sigh, but this time it was sharper and more pained. Kevin pulled away from her a little and looked to her with concern.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I was just thinking about how much I missed you," she replied, smiling sheepishly.

Kevin sighed too. "I know. I missed you too," he concurred.

"It's so awful, having to be apart all the time," she mused sadly.

Kevin ran his hand through her hair. "But this makes it all worth it...don't you think?"

A smile slowly spread across her face. "Yeah, I do," she replied.

"Good. Me too," he agreed, smiling and kissing her forehead. He remembered something and looked at her with excitement in his eyes. "Hey. I have to get something. Don't move," he ordered, keeping eye contact with her as he rolled off of the bed.

"I won't," she promised, smiling as she watched him go and get something out of his coat pocket. She couldn't see what it was because his back was turned to her. He walked over to her and held the object, whatever it was, behind his back, placing it behind him on the mattress as he wrapped his arms around Katie again. "I know that if I try to say this using regular words, either it's going to come out completely wrong or I'm going to break down crying, so..." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath as Katie frowned at him in confusion. The frown instantly melted into a smile, though, when he started to sing to her in his low, rich voice.

"Strange, dear, but true dear
When I'm close to you, dear
The stars fill the sky
So in love with you am I

"Even without you
My arms fold about you
You know, darling, why
So in love with you am I

"I love with the night mysterious
The night when you first were there
In love with my joy delirious
When I knew that you could care

"So taunt me, and hurt me
Deceive me, desert me
I'm yours till I die
So in love, so in love
So in love with you, my love, am I."

By the time he was finished with the song, tears were rolling down Katie's cheeks, and his own eyes were brimming with tears. "Katie," he said, his voice slightly strangled from trying not to cry, "I know that you're young and still figuring out what you want to do with your life, but I'm not. I already know. Baby, I love you so much, and I want you to be next to me for the rest of my life. Will you please make me the luckiest man in the world?" he asked in almost a whisper.

Another huge lump was forming in Katie's throat as she frowned slightly. "How?" she asked softly.

"Marry me," Kevin whispered, revealing a diamond ring from behind his back and slipping it onto her finger. "Will you? Will you marry me?"

Katie nodded slowly. "Yes," she whispered, hardly able to get the word out. She burst into happy tears once again as Kevin wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close, holding her as tightly as he could. His body started to shake slightly, and Katie knew that he was crying too. "And I love you, too, Kev," she murmured into his chest.

Kevin smiled through his tears and kissed the top of her head before leaning back a little to see her face. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Katie."

She shook her head. "You don't have to thank me," she replied softly, running her fingertips down his chest a little.

Kevin smiled and kissed her forehead.

"That song...what show is it from?" she asked.

Kevin grinned. "Kiss Me, Kate," he replied.

She giggled. "How apropos," she remarked.

He nodded and kissed her. "Very," he agreed. They lay silently in each other's arms for a few minutes, just thinking and dreaming, before Katie pulled away and frowned at him.

"Kev, you know what this means?" she asked worriedly.

"What?"

"We're going to have to tell everyone about us. Tell Nick about us," she realized in a whisper.

He sighed. "I know. But we were going to have to tell them—and him—eventually. Why not now?"

"Well, things were finally starting to go well between us, and...he's going to be so pissed at me," Katie fretted.

"No, no," Kevin assured her, shaking his head. "He's going to see how happy we are together and be happy for us."

Katie laughed wryly. "You're forgetting, Kevin, that this is the same Nick that used to yell at the boys who tried to kiss me on the playground when we were in elementary school. He's not going to be very welcoming to me being engaged to anyone, let alone one of his close friends who's eight years older than me."

"He'll get over it," Kevin reasoned.

Katie laughed. "That's really sensitive."

"No, I'm serious," Kevin replied. "Maybe he'll be mad at us for awhile, but then he'll realize that...well, we're meant to be together, and there's nothing more to say," Kevin said, smiling and kissing her.

"I hope so," Katie mused as she rested her head against Kevin's chest.


Lyrics from "So In Love" from the musical Kiss Me, Kate
Words and Music by Cole Porter


Feedback

More Stories