After lunch, Pete takes Kaci to get the tattoo that she mentioned to him that she wanted to get.
“You sure you want to do this?” Pete asks Kaci as they arrive at the tattoo parlor.
“Yup, I’m positive.”
“And what exactly are you going to get?”
“The word ‘love’ on my wrist.”
“Why are you going to get that?”
“Because I want to.”
Kaci gets her “Love” tattoo done and Pete takes her back to his house afterwards.
“I’m going to go lay down, you care to join me?” Kaci asks Pete when they get back to his house.
“Nah, I have a few things I need to take care of.”
“Alright, well, wake me up in a couple hours then.”
Kaci heads to Pete’s bedroom while Pete gets his friend Travis over to his house to help him with a few things.
“Jess, honey,” Pete says walking into his bedroom.
“Yeah?” Kaci says waking up when Pete kisses her forehead.
“I’m going to go to the store with Travis real quick. You okay to stay here by yourself?”
“Yeah, no problem, just shut the door so Hemingway doesn’t bother me.”
“Alright. We’ll be back in a few.”
Pete gets Hemingway and leaves to go pick up some things at the store with Travis.
“Does she have any idea?” Travis asks Pete while they are at the store.
“Not a clue as far as I know. She wanted to get a tattoo, so I took her to get a tattoo. Every time she gets one, she ends up being exhausted afterwards.”
“How many does she have?”
“That was her fourth one.”
“That’s weird that she gets tired after getting a tattoo. Does that ruin your plans?”
“Not at all. It actually gives me a benefit because she will be passed out for a few hours, so I can actually get things together.”
“I see. Do you need me to help or do you have control of the situation?”
“I might need you to help,” Pete says noticing that A.J. is right in front of him at the end of the aisle.
“Hey, ain’t that the dude she came to LA with?” Travis says noticing A.J.
“Yeah, c’mon, let’s go before he notices,” Pete says grabbing Travis by his hoodie sleeve and walking quickly in the opposite direction.
Pete and Travis head towards the back of the store after spotting A.J. by the roses.
“Who do you think those were for?” Travis asks Pete.
“Knowing him, they were for Jess.”
“I smell a love triangle going on.”
“No, not at all. Actually, she just broke up with her boyfriend yesterday. He doesn’t know about that yet, I don’t think.”
“Oh so you are just going to swoop in and take her from him?”
“She was never A.J.’s to begin with!”
“Who was never mine?” A.J. says coming up behind Pete.
“What?” Pete says turning around.
“You heard me, who was never mine to begin with?”
“Who’s to say I was even talking about you?” Pete says trying to play it off.
“Well, let’s see here, you and I know and are apparently after the same girl, so my only guess would be that you were talking about my Jess.”
“Well in that case, like I said, she was never yours to begin with,” Pete says turning around and walking away from A.J. with Travis in tow.
“What the hell is going on?” Travis asks Pete.
“I’ll tell you on the way back to the house.”
Pete and Travis leave the store without buying what Pete went there to buy and head to another store, hoping that A.J. wouldn’t follow them.
“Now seriously, what the hell is going on?”
“He thinks Jess is his, always has since Europe a couple years ago.”
“Well, if you want to get technical, she was yours first, right?”
“Absolutely. She only broke things off with me because she was going over to Europe with Justin. She had no idea that she would end up dating him. She came back from Europe and I tried to win her back, but she insisted on staying with him, so I put everything into my music and after starting the band and getting our music out there, I moved out here with the rest of the group.”
“Does he know that she is staying with you?”
“I have no idea. He saw me when I was walking Hemingway the morning after their fight and asked me if I had seen her. I told him I hadn’t and he apparently believed me. Other than that, I have no idea what he knows.”
“Well, last night, that guy she was talking to, who was that?”
“Oh that was Maksim, who is a friend of his and apparently she has taken up a friendship with him as well. She swore that he wouldn’t say a word though.”
“Well, maybe we should get this stuff and get back. I think you should tell her that you ran into him again.”
“Would that be before or after?”
“That’s up to you. You know the situation, I don’t.”
“Alright, let’s get this stuff and get out of here before he miraculously shows up here.”
Pete and Travis get what they need and leave and head back to his house.
“Thanks for coming with me,” Pete says when they get back to his house.
“Not a problem. Let me know how it goes.”
“Of course. Hey, before you go, can you do me a huge favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Can you take Hemingway out? I meant to do it after I got back from lunch with Jess, but didn’t have time before you got here.”
“Not a problem, but you owe me.”
“Thanks. Oh and be on the lookout for A.J., he has been driving by trying to see if Jess is with me.”
“Wow, okay, thanks for the heads up.”
Travis takes Hemingway out for a walk while Pete gets to work on his little project for Kaci. To be sure that Kaci doesn’t find him he locks the door to the room that he is in.
“Now to get started on this,” Pete says to himself, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen.
Jess -- You are such an amazing person! I fell in love with you back in high school and my feelings for you have never changed. Every time I am with you, I feel like the world stops because I always have a smile on my face. You are beautiful inside and out. Jess, Babycakes, I love you with all my heart, and then some. Let’s make it official -- Babycakes, will you be my girl? I love you! Love, PeterPandah
“Alright, now to get the room set up. Shit, I need Travis to help!”
Pete goes downstairs to wait for Travis to bring Hemingway back.
“Whatcha doing?” Kaci asks walking out of Pete’s bedroom.
“Just waiting for Travis to get here,” Pete says.
“Where’s Hem?” Kaci asks sitting down on the couch next to Pete.
“Travis took him out for a walk. You all rested up?”
“Kinda. I’m still a little tired. I just couldn’t sleep. Alex keeps calling me.”
“Oh. Well, I guess you should know this,” Pete starts to say.
“Did you run into him again?”
“Yup, at the store with Travis. I feel like I’m being stalked babe, I’m not liking this at all.”
“Alright, I’m going to call Maks and let him know.”
“Why are you going through someone when you can go right to the problem?”
“I don’t want to talk to him, that’s why. Do you want me to call Maks or not?”
“If you think it will help, then go ahead. But I don’t think it will.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he’s been sitting outside my house every morning. He’s fucking crazy Jess!”
“Oh lord. Alright, I’ll call Maks and then I will give him a call because this is ridiculous.”
Kaci goes back to Pete’s bedroom to call both Maksim and A.J. regarding the situation with A.J.
“Hey Jess,” Maksim says answering his phone.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About Alex. This is getting really ridiculous!”
“What is going on?”
“He is stalking me, I swear it!”
“What do you mean?”
“I just talked to Pete. He went to the store and ran into Alex.”
“How is that stalking you?”
“It’s stalking me because Pete also told me that he has been sitting outside Pete’s house in the morning. You need to do something before I end up losing it with him.”
“Alright, I will give him a call.”
“Please do. Call me back when you get done talking to him so that I can call him and discuss this shit with him, but don’t say anything to him, okay?”
“Yeah, definitely. I will call you back later.”
“Later?”
“Well, after I talk to him.”
“Alright, but please do it immediately. This situation at the store just happened, so it needs to be taken care of immediately.”
Kaci hangs up with Maksim and goes back out to the living room.
“Well?”
“Maks is going to call him and call me back when he gets off the phone with him.”
“And then what?”
“And then I am going to make a phone call to him. I guess I will tell him that I will see him Sunday. Maybe that will stop him from doing what he is doing.”
“Or it will make it worse since he knows you will be with me.”
“Who ever said he would find out that I was with you?”
“Because of what happened at the store.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Travis and I were talking and he overheard us because we didn’t know he was right behind us.”
“What the hell did you say?”
“We were talking about you and how he is acting and I just said that you weren’t his to begin with, and he heard me say that.”
“Well that is just great.”
“Why do you say that? Were you his to begin with?”
“No, but still. He has it in his head that I am going to break up with Jose to be with him.”
“But you already broke up with Jose.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that! Or does he?”
“No, I haven’t said a word about that until I knew he wasn’t around.”
“Um, Pete,” Travis says walking into Pete’s house.
“Yeah, I’m in the living room with Jess.”
“Oh well, maybe she should go outside.”
“Is he out there?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s him.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Kaci asks.
“He just asked me if I knew who you were and if I had seen you.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said I had no idea who he was talking about and came inside.”
“Alright, hold on, this is getting really ridiculous,” Kaci says getting up.
Kaci goes upstairs and grabs her cell phone and calls Maksim back.
“Did you call him yet?”
“No.”
“Well call him now with me on the line with you!”
“Why?”
“Because I think he is sitting outside Pete’s house. Call him and ask him where he is and that you need him to come to your place to help you with something important.”
“And when he shows up at my house, then what?”
“He won’t get that far because you will call him back and tell him to forget it.”
“Alright, hold on, let me call him,” Maksim says flipping through his phone book to find A.J.’s phone number.
Kaci walks back downstairs to the living room to rejoin Pete and Travis.
“Go look out the window and tell me if he leaves, I’m on the phone with Maks and he is calling him.”
“Jess?”
“Yeah, I’m here."
“Alright, don’t say anything.”
“I won’t.”
Kaci mutes her end of the call and puts her phone on speaker so that she and Pete can listen to the conversation while Travis keeps watch at the window.
“Hey,” A.J. says when he answers his phone.
“Hey, I need a favor, are you busy?”
“Kinda.”
“What exactly are you doing?”
“I’m looking for Jess, like I have been ever since you let her out of your sight.”
“That’s funny because I’ve talked to and seen her since then. I need your help Alex, can you come over to the house?”
“Will you tell me where she is if I come over?”
“You gotta show up here first.”
“Alright, alright, I will be there as soon as I can.”
“Make it quick, I gotta do this before Karina gets back!”
“Alright, I’m leaving right now,” A.J. says hanging up with Maksim and starting his Range Rover.
“Jess you there?” Maksim asks.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Kaci says after taking her phone off mute.
“So, now I need to come up with some elaborate plan.”
“Like I said, no you don’t. Call him back in like five minutes and say that Karina came back and you don’t need him to come over any more.”
“Alright, do you want me to keep you updated if I talk to him?”
“Yes, please.” Kaci says to Maksim. “Hey Trav, did he leave?”
“Nope, the car is still there.”
“Wait, he hasn’t left yet.”
“You sure it’s him?” Maksim asks.
“That’s what Travis said.”
Pete gets up from his couch and walks over to the front window.
“Dude, that’s not him, that’s some damn paparazzi!” Pete says when he looks outside.
“Are you serious?” Kaci says. “Hey, keep me updated, Pete just said it was some paparazzi and not Alex!”
“Alright. If he shows up, just talk to him though.”
Kaci and Maksim hang up with each other and Pete walks outside to confront the paparazzi.
“Can I help you?” Pete asks after the paparazzi rolls down his window.
“I’m just looking to get a shot man.”
“Well, there is no shot to get, so I’m asking you to leave or I will have you arrested for trespassing on my property. It’s your choice.”
“Alright man, I’ll leave, but there are others that are looking to get the first picture too.”
“First picture of what?”
“You and A.J. McLean’s girlfriend!”
Pete leaves and heads back inside his house.
“Give me your phone!” Pete demands when he gets back inside.
“Why?” Kaci questions.
“Give me your phone!”
Kaci hands Pete her phone and Pete takes it with him upstairs to the room he was in earlier when he was working on his surprise for Kaci.
“Hey Jess,” Maksim says answering his phone.
“No, big mistake, it’s not Jess.”
“Oh sorry.”
“I want to know what the hell is going on! There are paparazzi outside my house and they’re waiting for Jess and I to come out.”
“I have no idea man! Is this Pete?”
“Yeah, it’s Pete. So you have no idea what is going on?”
“No, not at all! I can try and find out and call Jess back.”
“You do that. Better yet, call me.”
“What’s your number?”
“310-573-4881.”
“Alright, I will call you back later.”
Pete and Maksim hang up and Pete goes back downstairs.
“Here,” Pete says handing Kaci her phone back.
“What’s going on?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out myself.”
“Who did you call?”
“Your boy Maksim. He’s supposed to find out what is going on and call me back.”
“Why? What made you call Maks?”
“Because the paparazzi that were sitting outside my house said that he was waiting to get a shot of me and A.J. McLean’s GIRLFRIEND!”
“What the hell? Since when am I his girlfriend?”
“I have no idea, but I have a feeling he is behind it.”
“I don’t know. I know that they were saying I was his girlfriend when they took pictures of us at Ed Hardy.”
“So it’s their assumption? It has nothing to do with him?”
“Yeah it’s their assumption. I don’t know why they would be in front of your house though.”
“It has Alex written all over it if you ask me.”
“But wait, we went out last night and there were paparazzi and they took pictures! What happened to those pictures?”
“That’s what I’m saying! This guy sitting outside my house has Alex written all over it. He has no idea we went out and were photographed together!”
Chapter 52/Story Index/Chapter 54/E-mail Brittany
Kaci and Pete work on a plan to fool the paparazzi while Travis works on Pete’s plan to surprise Kaci.