Chapter Thirteen


Nick and Kaity bounded down the stairs later that day. The two had come to a decision. They would spend every minute they could together for the next two weeks. And after that? Survive the two month tour.

“Nick!” Kaity squealed as Nick grabbed her around the waist and the two flipped over the arm of the couch and landed on the cushions. Nick was laying underneath Kaity and she took this to her advantage and pinned Nick down. “Now I’ve gotcha and I’m never letting you go.”

“You go right ahead and promise me that, because, believe me, I’ll hold you to it.” Nick said looking into her eyes. Kaity blushed slightly as she leaned down to plant a light kiss on his lips.

“I promise that I will never let you go.”

“I hear you loud and clear. Now...kiss me again.” Nick said smiling. She did. “Where are your parents?” Nick asked when Kaity pulled away.

“Not sure. I think my dad went over to his parents house, and my mother? I think she’s either outside doing something in one of her gardens..or she went shopping.”

“So basically...we’re alone?” Nick asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yup. Whatcha wanna do?” Kaity asked excitedly.

“Don’t know...what do you want to do??” Nick asked from his place, still pinned down on the couch by Kaity.

“Hmmm..” Kaity began sitting up on his stomach, straddling Nick with her legs. Nick rested his hands on her thighs as she tapped her chin in thought.

“We can have a tickle war?” Nick asked sweetly as he ran his hands over her legs. “Or we can make out for a while...” He said gliding his hands further up her thighs.

“Nickolas.” Kaity warned. He smiled up at her innocently as he swiftly slid his hands to her waist and under the hem of her shirt. He looked up at her silently as he lightly ran his finger tips over the skin of her stomach. “Nick.” she whispered.

“What?” he whispered back, smiling when she rolled her eyes.

“Nick, stop.”

“What am I doing??” He asked her quietly as his hands traveled to the skin on her back. Kaity closed her eyes briefly. “See...you like it.”

“Nick...” Kaity whined, she was losing control.

“What?” he asked again, his hands stopping to rest on her lower back. She looked down at him, her thoughts again returning to the fact that he would be leaving her for two months.

“I’m gonna miss you so much.”

“You had to remind me..” Nick said shaking his head, a smile playing on his lips.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered placing her hands on Nick’s chest, feeling the warmth radiating off of his body from beneath his shirt.

“Sokay, I just... I wanted the rest of today to be about us. Just you and me, and not the thought of me leaving you.”

“I wanted that too, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I love you, and now you’re leaving me.”

“We can get through this. I’m committed. Are you?” Nick asked sitting up slightly, but the task was made difficult with Kaity on his lap.

“Of course I am.”

“Good. So then we’ll live.”

“That’s the hard part. I don’t want to live without you with me.”

“Baby, I will call you everyday.”

“So we can chat?” Kaity asked smirking down at him. It took a second for Nick to realize she was mocking him.

“I’m gonna miss that.” Nick said absentmindedly playing with the bottom of her shirt.

“What?”

“Your sarcasm.” Nick said flashing her a small grin.

“You mean you won’t miss this?” She asked kissing him again.

“Uh...do that again, and I’ll give you my answer.” Nick said grinning. Kaity complied and kissed him again. Nick tangled his fingers in her hair and flipped them over so he was laying on top of her. Pulling back he looked down at her. She giggled. “Yes, I will definitely miss that.”

“What else are you going to miss??” Kaity asked bringing her hand up to graze Nick’s cheek.

“Your smile.” Nick whispered. Kaity bit her bottom lip. “That.” Nick said running a finger over her chin.

“What?”

“How you always bite your bottom lip whenever anyone says something nice to you.” Nick said smiling.

“I do not.” Kaity said pulling at his ear lightly.

“See, there you go.” Nick said pointing to her mouth. Kaity looked up at him, realizing that he was right. She was chewing her lip.

“Alright. So I do bite my lip...why would you miss it?”

“It’s adorable.”

“It is not...it’s weird.” Kaity said in disgust.

“I think it’s cute. Just like I think this little scar on your neck is cute.” Nick said lowering his head to plan a kiss just above her shirt collar, on the scar left from chicken pox she’d had 7 years earlier.

“That thing?! It’s ugly, I have used tube upon tube on concealer to cover it up!”

“I love it.”

“When did you notice all of these things??” Kaity asked.

“I’ve been crazy about you for the last ten years, I have memorized your entire body, minus the stuff you kept hidden...but I know every mark, scar, and habit you have.”

“And you still love me?”

“I love you with your scar, your habit of chewing your lip, the way that this strand of hair never stays behind your ear..” Nick said twirling the loose piece of her hair.

“Jeez, I never knew I was so...messed up.” Kaity said laughing.

“I’m sure there is stuff about me that I hate, but you love.”

“Sure...the way you always run your right hand through your hair, especially when your nervous, the way that you rub the back of your neck when you’re at a loss for words...”

“I hate that habit. The guys are always bugging me about it.”

“I like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Smile for me.” Kaity demanded, giggling the whole time. Nick grinned down at her and she raised her hand to his cheek. “This.”

“What?” Nick asked.

“Whenever you smile, this side of your face has a little dimple. Right here.” Kaity said pointing to his cheek.

“Does it now?” Nick asked raising and eyebrow.

“Yes it does.”

“I still love this.” Nick said kissing Kaity’s neck again. He purposely darted his tongue out to tease her. She squirmed beneath him before she laughed. Nick blew lightly on the wet spot his tongue had left, making Kaity wiggle around giggling even more.

“Nick!” She squealed when he moved his mouth to the skin below her ear and licked. Nick laughed at her reaction.

“Kaity--oh!” Mrs. McKenzie said as she entered the living room, seeing her daughter pinned on the couch with Nick on top of her. She realized, suddenly, that the two had no idea she was in the room. She watched silently as Nick teased Kaity, and laughed with her. Nick pulled away to look down at Kaity, and the look plastered on their faces was remarkable. Full of love and trust. Mrs. McKenzie’s face softened as she watched Nick lower his face to kiss her daughter softly. The scene broke her heart. She was ripping this apart...love... just because she was restraining her daughter from growing up. Wordlessly she backed out of the room, avoiding being seen. Seating herself at the kitchen table, she dropped her head into her hands. What was she going to do??

Kaity and Nick entered the kitchen laughing, and clinging to each other, but stopped when they saw Mrs. McKenzie, head down on the table.

“Mom?” Kaity asked. Her mother raised her head to look at Kaity.

“Hello, you two.” She said.

“Are you okay, Mrs. McKenzie? You look a little out of it.” Nick asked making his way towards her.

“No, Nick, I’m fine. Thank you for asking. You are such a caring young man.” Mrs. McKenzie said smiling weakly at Nick. He nodded his head shyly before taking a seat at the table.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“Nothing dear, I’m just having a rough day.” her mother answered. Standing, she silently left the room.

“What do you think that was?” Kaity asked Nick.

“I don’t know. She looked upset. Are you sure we shouldn’t go make sure she’s okay?” Nick asked, looking up worriedly at Kaity.

“She’s fine. We’re all having a pretty rough day.” Kaity answered moving behind him to massage his neck. Nick closed his eyes and leaned his head back against Kaity’s stomach.

“You’re telling me.” Nick said as his cell phone rang in his jeans pocket. “Hello?” he answered.

“Dude, where the hell have you been?” AJ McLean’s raspy voice sounded over the phone.

“Bone, hey. I’ve been busy.” Nick said smiling up at Kaity.

“Yo, Rok told me I had to call you to see what you’ve been up to. So..spill, man.”

“Ah, well, Kaity and I are together now, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with her.” Nick informed AJ.

“Dude, you and Kaity are together?! As in, you finally pulled your head out of your ass and asked her out?!”

“Yeah man, something like that.” Nick said laughing.

“Finally!”

“Was this something you knew would happen?” Nick asked.

“Sure, sure. I knew it from the day you introduced us to her, man. You two are perfect for each other.”

“Really? Thanks J.”

“No prob. So is she coming on tour with us?”

“Unfortunately, no. Her parents aren’t too keen on the idea.” Nick said sadly. Kaity pulled the chair out next to him and sat down to listen to Nick’s side of the conversation.

“That bites. What? Do they think you’re gonna jump her the first night you guys have a hotel room together or something?”

“Not sure, it seems that way though. You know I wouldn’t though.” Nick answered.

“Dude, of course not. Why wait till you have a hotel room, you guys could have gotten jiggy anytime, especially since you guys have those sleep-over thingys where you share a bed.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t understand it either.”

“Have you..uh..” AJ began hesitantly.

“Nope.”

“Were you planning to on tour?”

“I guess. But I wasn’t writing out an attack strategy or anything.” Nick said shaking his head. Kaity laced her fingers with his while he was talking and was now rubbing his palm slowly.

“So, basically, her parents are right to worry?”

“No, not necessarily. Like I said, I wasn’t planning on just doing it, we were gonna go with the flow. Who knows.” Nick said reasonably. “But, hey, I’m gonna have to call you later. We can talk about this more.”

“Is Kaity there?” AJ asked suddenly.

“Yeah.”

“Dude! What the fuck have you been doing talking to me. Get your ass off the phone!” AJ said hanging up. Nick laughed as he turned his phone off.

“What do you want to do now?” Nick asked, turning to Kaity.

“What was AJ asking about?” Kaity asked clutching and unclutching Nick’s hand.

“Us.” Nick said carefully.

“What about us?” Kaity asked raising her eyes to meet Nick’s.

“What do you mean? You heard what I said.” Nick said.

“I know I heard what you said but I didn’t hear what he said.”

“He wanted to know how far we’ve gone.” Nick said casually, hoping the topic of conversation between he and AJ wouldn’t upset Kaity.

“And you told him we hadn’t gone anywhere.” Kaity stated. Nick nodded. “And then he asked you...?”

“If we were planning to on tour.” Nick said quietly as not to let Kaity’s mother hear.

“And you told him no, right?” Kaity asked.

“Well...I..”

“Nick?” Kaity asked.

“You’re not gonna get pissed at me are you?” Nick asked, panic rising. Was he walking himself into their first fight as a couple?

“I’m not sure..am I?” Kaity asked him.

“I don’t know.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Yes.” Nick said quietly. Kaity pulled her hand away from him and glared.

Chapter Fourteen
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