Time seemed to have stopped as an avalanche of emotions tore threw Kyle.
The most worrisome was the darkness creeping at the edges of his vision. But the shock and the confusion kept it at bey because they outweighed the pain shredding his heart into pieces. There was also a bit of happiness there, because he'd finally found Kay and there was nowhere for her to run this time.
But that didn't change how weird this was.
Jessie grabbed his hand and squeezed, as though sensing his torment.
How could this even be possible? It had to be on purpose. There was no way this was an accident. And yet, Kay! And kissing someone else! Happiness, torment, betrayal. The fucking shock.
So the first thing to come out of his mouth was the all important question. "Jerry?"
His words had them breaking apart at once. Kay's beautiful blue eyes widened as they went from him to his brother. She yelped and hopped back, one hand over her mouth.
"Oh my God," she squeaked. "That's why you looked so familiar!"
"Jerry?" Jessie asked at the same time. "That's Jimmy."
Kay waved her arm at him, apparently unable to produce words. For a moment he was sure she was choking and he wasn't sure just why he was standing there like a moron, not doing anything.
Jerry was an evil, devious bastard.
"Tom," Kay said to Jerry, then looked back at him. "Sam."
"Um, what?" Jerry asked.
Kyle was going to kill him. But first he was going to make Kay feel like shit for making him do it.
"Seriously? I get you're mad, but with my own brother?"
"What the fuck, I'm not your brother," Jerry retorted.
And it was in that moment that Kyle decided to believe him. Because there was no way in hell stiff, prudish Jerry would ever say fuck. They all fell silent, Kay still hyperventilating, Jerry or not glaring at him and Jessie just shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"We're not engaged," she offered. "We're just pretending."
"What?" Not-Jerry-but-apparently-Jimmy asked with a frown.
"That's true," Kyle said, for good measure.
"Oh God." Kay sunk her face in her hands.
"Look, could we just get out of here?" Jessie asked. "I don't think the hotel lobby is the best place to have a meltdown. Our fake engagement has a purpose. Which we will tell you in a moment."
"Yeah, good point. We should get out of here." He stepped back and pressed the button on the elevator. It was fortunately still there from a century ago when they'd headed down and fallen into the twilight zone.
They all stepped in. The doors closed, and the four of them were alone in a small space. Kay's lily scent got to his head much to quickly, bringing with it a desire to damn what just happened and... And what? They weren't alone. They were in a tiny space with two other people, all of them struck dumb, and he wasn't even sure what he was trying to process more. The fact that Kay was kissing someone else or this Jimmy looking exactly like Jerry. Kyle squinted at him, but he couldn't find any difference apart from the way he carried himself. And maybe that he was thinner, but broader somehow.
"What?" he asked, his tone half-hesitant, half-hostile.
"If you're not Jerry, and you're not because he would never curse, how the hell can you look exactly like him?"
"Tom looks like Sam," Kay whispered.
The two of them turned to her. She leaned against the back wall and took a huge breath.
"Who's Sam?" Jimmy asked.
"My other brother," Kyle answered, his eyes still on Kay. "Are you sure?"
She nodded and pushed herself back to her feet. "You'll see him and tell for yourself. You--" Her eyes turned to him, the fear and guilt in them breaking his heart.
And something became clear in that moment. Maybe him and Jessie weren't the only ones lying.
"Are the two of you even--"
"No," she said at once. "It was just for show. Just because..." Her gaze drifted to Jessie. "You know. Because we thought you'd screwed us over. And that Jessie was cheating on you."
"I wasn't cheating on anybody," Jessie interjected. "Which I think it's pretty obvious by now. How do you two even know each other?"
"We went on a date," Jimmy said with a shrug. "In which we mostly talked about you." He nodded towards Kyle.
Seeing Jimmy was so weird. Kyle had never thought Jerry could look cool and collected. Apparently, he'd been wrong. It was also very unsettling not to feel like punching him in the face anymore.
"We're really sorry," Kay whispered the moment the elevator stopped.
Jessie stepped out and made sure the coast was clear before signaling for them to follow her. In a matter of seconds there were all inside the hotel room. Jimmy leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest as if to make sure no one would come in and disturb them. Jessie glanced at him for a few moments, then curled back into her armchair. Only Kyle and Kay remained standing in the middle of the room.
"Let's hear it," Jimmy said. "Why are you pretending to be engaged?"
"Well, actually... Everyone sort of thinks we are," Jessie started. "But we were nerver. We--" She rubbed her hand over her chin ad if trying to determine how go best explain this.
"Look, I know it's a gamble, but we can trust them," Kyle said. "I mean I trust Kay with my life. If you trust Jimmy as well, then we can tell them the truth."
The words were barely out when Kay charged at him and wrapped her arms around him. An electric current went down his spine and seemed to light up his entire body. Without even having to think it, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her against him.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered into his chest. "I just thought you'd gotten over me and it hurt so much that I just needed to... Hurt you back, I guess."
He lifted her chin, the turmoil inside him dimming. Seeing her like this made everything perfect, no matter the weirdness they were facing.
"Play for keeps, remember?" he asked with a smile.
When she raised her face to look at him, he just knew. That through all the pain and the time spent apart, his feelings for her hadn't dimmed at all. He loved her, now maybe more than ever, and he'd missed her so much. So he leaned over and traced his lips over hers.
She shuddered at the touch and tightened her hold on him. It felt amazing to taste her lips again, to feel her body molding into his. He kissed her carefully, wanting to get reacquainted with the shape of her lips, the warmth and softness of them... She let out a low moan and it was the end of him. He deepened the kiss and held her against him, and it was like they were back at prom, kissing for the first time under the starry skye.
Honey filled his veins and he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so at peace, so happy. He had her back, and nothing could tear them apart ever again. When they broke apart, he felt like he couldn't breathe.
"I can't believe it," she whispered.
"What part?"
"That you're really here, that I can hold and kiss you again." She raised on the tips of her toes and kissed him again.
He kissed her back, grateful that they were no loner talking. It felt even better than before if possible. His hands moved to her thighs and he hoisted her up against her. In a moment, he pressed her with her back against the wall. Her hands roamed from his face, down her shoulders and his back. He wanted to touch more of her too, maybe even--
His thoughts screeched to a halt and he pulled away from her. "Shit."
"What happened?" she asked, her voice so breathy he just wanted to kiss her again.
"We're not alone, we can't just--" He glanced towards the door, but Jimmy was gone. Jessie's armchair was also empty. "Guys?"
"We're in here," Jessie called from the bedroom of the suite. "Wanted to give you guys a little privacy."
"I think I'm starting to like her," Kay muttered.
Kyle smiled and nuzzled her cheek. "I think you will. But they do have a point. We need to talk and clear things." He gave her another short kiss before putting her down.
She took his hand and squeezed, then the two of them headed for the bedroom. His entire body seemed to hum with life and everything felt so much easier now.
Jessie sat on the bed while Jimmy was leaning against the desk.
"Don't you guys need a little privacy, too?" Kay asked.
"Not yet," Jimmy said, then looked to Jessie. "Explain."
"I think I should start," Kyle said. He turned to Kay and took her hands. "When Max showed up at prom, he told me my mother was ill and that I had to get home right away. So I headed for Chicago immediately. By the time I landed, you weren't answering your phone. I'm going to guess that it was Donnie somehow?"
Anger flashed in Kay's eyes and it was very attractive. "That idiot called my parents over. A few moments after you left, they showed up together to take me home. The first thing they did was take my phone. Then they asked me to pack because we were moving here."
"Wow," Jessie whispered. "That's so fucked."
"We left that very evening and I still don't have a phone."
The darkness seemed to rumble inside Kyle, but he fought to keep his cool. The beacon that was Kay helped with that.
"Instead, I got home to find my mother perfectly fine. Max just lied to me. My father claimed I was home for college, to be with my real family after all that time. I bailed on them and got back to Texas, but you were gone."
"I'm so sorry," Kay said, tears filling her eyes.
The memory still hurt, but he had to get it all out. "I went back after that. Mostly for my mother and for Sam. But it was so hard. At one point, I'd had enough and decided to try finding you again. And that's when they dropped the bomb on me. The real reason they'd brought me home. I was apparently engaged to Jessie."
"How the hell were you engaged to Jessie without knowing it?" Jimmy asked a very normal question.
"Our parents set it up," Jessie said. "They each thought that they were marrying us into money, because it turns out that both our families are actually broke."
Jimmy and Kay both stared, probably to take in all the idiocy involved in that plan as well as the perfect karmic payoff.
"I didn't fight it because I wanted to get away from my parents. Drag it out somehow until I turned eighteen and could outright leave home. So I asked Kyle to help me. If we pretended to like each other and be engaged for real, maybe they'd let us go on tour together. Without them. I was going to help him find you and, in exchange, he'd stick with me until I could run away without it being considered running away."
"Of course, we needed money to pull off the great escape," Kyle said, picking up the story. "So we decided to do the touring thing properly. Unfortunately, fans are all about drama and relationships so Macy, our tour organizer, capitalized on our supposed relationship as much as possible. Hence the annoying banners."
"But you didn't have these in Phoenix," Jimmy said.
"The banner people lost them," Jessie said. "And we did our best to keep them off the walls here as well, because..." Her voice faded as she looked at him. "I didn't want to hurt you."
Jimmy didn't answer, but Kyle could tell it wasn't a huffy silence, so he decided to let him live.
"This is all so much," Kay said.
"Yeah, especially since we don't have your side of the story."
"There's not much to say." Kay shrugged. "My parents kept pushing Donnie on me but he wants nothing to do with me once I kicked him in the balls very hard."
It was so unexpected, Kyle couldn't help laughing. "I love you."
Kay's smile could light up the world. "I love you, too."
He squeezed her against him. He would've kissed her, but they were in the middle of a story and not alone, so he'd save it for later. "So what about Jimmy?"
"I reconnected with my old friend Angie who happens to be dating Tom who's Jimmy's brother and since we were both down in the dumps, they tried to set us up. We became friends instead and Jimmy then got hired by your Macy person."
"Which leads us here." Jimmy pushed himself off the desk. "So now what?"
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Good question. What now? Some plans are in order to sort out all this mess.
Stick around for the conclusion. And maybe a bit more fluff because you need it.