She snuck upstairs and changed into some other clothes and climbed into bed. Within minutes, she was asleep. Howie woke her up at 8:00.
“Where were you last night?” he damanded.
“What?”
“I got home at 2:30 and you weren’t here.”
“I got in late, big deal.”
“Kayla, you always leave a note or something. It’s not like you to be irresponsible like that. You’re acting like your brother.”
“And you’re acting like Kevin. Get over it,” she said, rolling back over.
“Where were you?”
“I slept over at Kevin’s. We watched movies and ate pizza. I came home at 6:45 and went to bed, is that okay with you?”
“Whatever. I’m going back to bed. Please don’t scare me like that ever again.”
“Night Howie.”
“Whatever.”
Howie closed the door and Kayla rolled over again, thinking about the previous “non-existent” night. She thought about how different A.J. and Kevin were sexually speaking. She then snapped back to reality. No one could ever know about Kevin and her. After all, the whole world still thought that she was dating A.J. McLean, not sleeping with Kevin Richardson.
She closed her eyes and immediately began to dream about Kevin’s arms around her again. She sighed with contentment and slept deeply until about 9:00 when A.J. knocked on her door.
“Hi A.J., what’s up?”
“Kayla, I was thinking, and maybe we should re-think our breakup. I miss you.”
“A.J., we agreed to give each other some space.”
“I know, but I tossed and turned all last night because you weren’t with me.”
“I’m sorry A.J., but we need time apart. Maybe one day we’ll get back together, but today isn’t that day.”
“But Kayla-“
“No buts A.J. We need this.”
“But I don’t want this.”
“There are times in life that you get things you don’t want. You just have to deal with it.”
A.J. looked at her with his best puppy dog expression.
“That’s not going to work this time A.J. Please go now.”
A.J. looked down at the carpet and then back up to her, “I’ll see you later then, okay?”
“Later.”
A.J. walked out of the house dejectedly and got into his car. She closed the door before he could give her the puppy dog stare again and immediately felt worse about her night with Kevin. A.J. wanted her back, and if he had said something before Kevin, she would have gladly come back. But now, all she could think about was something they both were going to deny.
A few days passed and her meeting at Jive had come and gone. They’d scheduled a press conference for that Friday. She would then announce that she was going to take some time off. At the conference, the subject of her relationship with A.J. was brought up.
“A.J. and I are no longer seeing each other. We’re still very good friends, but we decided that it was best for both of us if we didn’t date anymore,” she said.
“Why did you break up?”
“There was just too much going on in both our lives. Like I said, we’re still friends and that’s all that matters.”
“Kayla, what are your plans for New Year’s?”
Kayla smiled at the reporter, “Thank you for changing the subject first of all. I’m going to be performing at the MTV studios and then I’m going to take some time off.”
“How long?”
“I’ll be taking about a year off from recording and touring.”
“So you’re going on an extended vacation basically.”
“Basically. I need to sort out my life and I can’t do that in the spotlight. As you all know, my father died recently and I’m having some trouble getting through this. I was very close to my dad and I miss him a lot.”
“Are there any other questions before Miss Swanson has to go?” Kayla’s publicist asked.
“Do you have anything to say to your fans?”
“Don’t forget me, I’ll be back soon. Follow your dreams.”
“That’s all the time Miss Swanson has for today, thank you all for coming on such short notice.”
Kayla walked out of the room and bumped into someone.
“I’m sorry."
“It’s okay,” a familiar voice said.
“Kevin, what are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d come support my friend, is that okay?”
“Yeah, it’s cool. I just thought that you’d want to keep away for a while.”
“Why?”
“For things that didn’t happen.”
“I’d never stay away from you Kayla. No matter what didn’t happen, you’re still one of my best friends. Nothing will change that, ever.”
She smiled at him, “I just hope A.J.’s not watching MTV today. I still haven’t talked to him about me taking a break and I want to be the one to tell him.”
“Well, in a sense, you will be.”
She smiled, “You’re right. Come on, I want to get home.”
They went to A.J.’s house and told him about the news conference. While he was happy that she came over to tell him about it, he wished that she had told him beforehand. Kevin and Kayla refused to look at each other while they were at A.J.’s house for fear that they would give away their secret.
Back at Kayla’s Kevin stood around uncomfortably.
“What’s wrong Kev?”
“I don’t know how to deal with this. I know we said it didn’t happen, but I can’t pretend that it didn’t. You’re one of my best friends.”
“I realize that and if we could take it back we would, but we both know that we can’t.”
Kevin’s face fell for a split second, but he quickly regained his composure before she could see it, “Kayla, I don’t think that we should be around each other for a while, at least until we can get used to this.”
“Kevin-“
“I think it’s best for both of us. I gotta go, I’ll see you around, okay?”
“Okay.”
Kevin walked out of the house with Kayla watching him, confused. She didn’t seem him again for a few weeks, when they were at a release party for the new 98* CD, “This is Christmas.”