Kate
"Thank you so much Carl." I expressed my gratitude to the red head as I stepped out of the SUV and walked over to the driver's windows where he sat.
He tipped the hat he was wearing. "No problemo. Sorry you had a bad day, though."
I sighed. I had shared with Carl how sucky my first day rehearsing with the other models had been.
I mean, I didn't fall or trip or anything. In fact, I even surprised myself by walking down the catwalk in such high heels, only managing to stumble once. I guess I remembered all my pageant skills after all.
No, the runway part isn't what made my day hell.
News spread fast that I was Jason Callahan's girlfriend. So as a result, hardly anyone even talked to me. I had to endure lots of nasty glares and deadly looks and at some point, one of the girls even shoved me.
Lisa, who also was ruder than before explained to me that Jason had a history with most of those girls. Some of them had been one night stands and some of them had just been used or rejected by him.
Needless to say, it had been a horrible day.
"It's not your fault." I told Carl. "I'm the one who got myself into this mess."
It also didn't help that Betsy had decided to take a liking to me. She apparently loved how I looked in her headliner and quickly replaced me with the girl who was supposed to model it.
I wondered if it was even possible for me to drop out at this point. Jason had left me with the possibility that the plan might not even be in progress this morning.
Jason...
I was still extremely worried about him. Kiss and awkwardness aside... There was something about him today that really got to me.
His need to face everything alone.
No one deserves that.
Everyone needs someone.
I also couldn't help but think that I was the reason he didn't have anyone to rely on.
Isabella wasn't in the picture anymore and neither was Alex.
I could only hope he could talk to Anthony about all this.
"Are you hungry, Carl? Do you want to come in? I could whip up the best lasagne you've ever had." I told him.
"No thanks, Kate. I would really love to but duty calls. But the chai toast was amazing. I've never had anything like it before."
I smiled at him.
"You're welcome."
I had gotten a lot of time to talk to Carl.
Anthony had given him the wrong time and he ended up coming to my house earlier than expected. So I invited him in and made him breakfast. He was definitely more chatty than Joey or Greg. But that doesn't mean he didn't keep a lot to himself.
He just carefully picked what to tell me. He and Anthony seemed to be extremely good friends judging by the way he talked about him.
Apparently, he had been Anthony's body guard since Anthony was fifteen and he was nineteen.
He told me a bit about some of the shenanigans Anthony had gotten them both into. He also added how it was a miracle that Anthony never got caught with all the mischievous activities he constantly embarked on.
'He might get himself in a lot of crap but you can bet he also knows how to get himself out of it." Carl had said.
I had also learnt that Carl has a girlfriend who he has been with since he was eighteen. And how she's always nagging him to marry her.
He's always telling her that if they are to get married, they won't have a big wedding like the Callahans do.
Another thing... Carl is actually a mechanical engineer. Apparently Mr Callahan is the one who pushed him to study engineering. You'd think all he did was be Anthony's bodyguard but no... He has his own life.
He also talked about how Mr Callahan has been pushing him to start his own company.
He actually had a lot of nice things to say about Mr Callahan.
And here I was only thinking the worst of Mr Callahan.
"Okay, so I gotta reunite with my beloved boss. Are you going to be okay over here?" He asked.
I nodded firmly. "Totally. Have a good day, Carl." I spoke as I backed away from the vehicle.
He started the ignition. "With Anthony's crazy ass leading the way? I doubt it." He spoke.
I giggled and waved as he started to drive away.
"Drive safely!" I yelled at him and he honked in response.
I sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun had already gone down and a couple of stars had started to show themselves in the moonless sky.
I walked up the stairs to the front door and punched in the code.
The apartment was just as I had left it, only Zoila had obviously spruced it up.
I frowned realising I hadn't even had the chance to talk to her all that much.
She was still here when I got back from my jog.
She had wanted to leave but I was so desperate for the company that I had even insisted that I bake her a pie to take home.
But now... I was alone once again.
I headed up the stairs and made my way to my room.
I slipped off my jacket and laid it on the bed.
Today, Gio hadn't come in but had sent me a recommended picture of the outfit I was to wear. I had followed his instructions but traded in the heels he suggested for flats.
Riley, had however come in, and she demanded silence as she did my hair and makeup.
She definitely wasn't the warmest person around.
She had braided my hair up in a sort of crown around my head which even I admit looks pretty good.
I figured I would text Anthony, seeing as to how he instructed me to text him when I got home.
I picked up my phone. Realising I had turned it off, I pressed the button to turn it on.
The screen lit up and I waited for a few seconds for it to completely power up.
When it finally came to life, I realised the mistake I had made.
This wasn't Katelyn King's phone.
Katelyn King's phone sat untouched on the dresser.
This was my actual phone.
It immediately stated beeping with the numerous messages and missed calls I had gotten.
I gulped. Did I really think I could just forget the life I had before?
Believe it or not but some people actually remembered that I had existed.
I stared at the phone when I saw one name in particular... no. In fact two names following each other.
Dixon and Uncle Gavin.
As if planned, the two names followed each other indicating that I had missed calls and messages from both individuals.
For a minute I actually considered picking the phone up, calling my so called Uncle Gavin and yelling his ear off.
All this time he had been a cause for my family's death. He's the one who got my dad and brother the case in the first place.
He's the one who got them on the Callahan's radar. And he's one of the reasons they're dead.
I wanted so badly to pick up the phone and dial his number all so that I could yell at him for what he did. For being a lousy friend to my parents. And Dixon. My first boyfriend. Did he know about this? About his father's illegal means of business? Had he known the truth and kept it from me?
Yes. I so badly wanted to call them up and find out.
But I knew that that's not what I really wanted.
I so desperately wanted all this to be a lie.
Maybe it was a nightmare that I could wake up from.
Perhaps in my imaginary alternate universe, my parents and my brother were still alive.
Maybe I could introduce them to the boy I was dating and actually introduce him as 'Alex Robinson'. My boyfriend. The boy I hoped to marry one day
Isabella would be there too. My best friend who my mother would absolutely love because she liked all the same shows she did.
But of course that alternate universe would never exist because this is the real world.
And in the real world, we don't always get what we want.
I jumped slightly when I heard the front door slam.
I furrowed my brows. Only two people knew the code besides me and that was Anthony and Jason.
And as far as I knew, I wasn't expecting either of them.
I immediately got off my bed.
I picked up Katelyn King's phone, ready to call Anthony who was on speed dial.
I made my way slowly downstairs trying to locate who had entered the flat.
It's when I got to the bottom of the stairs that I realised who it was.
"Jason." I breathed out.
I watched as the blonde man stumbled in. His eyes locked on me and I immediately became his target. He marched towards me and before I knew what was happening, he had pushed me against the wall with so much force, it's a wonder how I didn't hurt myself.
He cupped my cheeks and smashed his lips onto mine.
I wanted so bad to sink in to the kiss and believe that it was real. But then I tasted the alcohol on his lips and immediately raised my hands to his chest and tried to push him away. He seemed determined though.
"Jason." I spoke in what I hoped was a firm tone. "What are you doing?"
His lips moved to my neck and he started trailing kisses up it.
I wanted to pretend I didn't like it but I immediately had to bite my lip to stifle a moan.
"Jason." I spoke.
"Let this happen." He growled. "It needs to happen." He continued as he continued with the kisses, letting them go down to my chest.
I could feel my resolve faltering but I knew this wasn't right in the least.
I pushed on his chest.
"No it doesn't." I replied. "You're drunk. You're not thinking rationally."
"I know what I'm doing." He muttered roughly.
I grabbed his arms and look into his eyes.
"No you don't. You're just going to regret this tomorrow." I told him.
"You don't get it." He spoke desperately. I now saw the pain in his voice. "This needs to happen."
"Why does it need to happen, Jason?" I asked in exasperation.
"Because Bella and Harry, they..." he clenched his fist.
He was getting angry.
I placed my hand on his clenched fist.
"Whatever it was, I'm sure there is a logical explanation. Please just calm down."
"They slept together!" Jason finally burst.
It felt like time had stood still at that moment.
All my fears seemed to come together in this moment right now. I leaned my back on the wall and tried to even my shaky breath.
It was almost comical actually.
All those times I feared that Alex might have been cheating on me with Isa and now...
I tried to install a way to justify his actions. I mean, did it really count as cheating?
Had we broken up?
Well I told him to leave me alone but...
It was my fault. I pushed him away.
I pretty much gave him the go ahead to move on.
I just wished I had gotten the hint myself.
I just wish I had known that we were actually over.
Maybe it would have hurt a lot less. Though I doubted it.
No matter what, I loved Alex so hearing once and for all that we were over hurt more than I would have liked it.
But it truly was my fault. I'm the one who told him to leave. I'm the one who refused to talk to him.
It was probably for the best. I told myself.
I didn't want to believe it but I knew it was true.
I would never be able to look at Alex the same way again. We could never go back to the way things were.
"You understand why we need to do this right?" Jason spoke as he took a step towards me.
I bit my lip and shook my head. "It won't change things, Jason."
"It will make them hurt just as much as we are." He spoke in determination.
I shook my head again. "It still won't change anything, Jason?"
I took a step closer to him and took his hands in mine. "Hurting them will not make our pain go away."
The pain on his face was evident and it crushed my heart.
"I just want it to stop." He whispered.
I frowned not liking the to be of his voice.
"If there's something that I've learnt, it's that pain never lasts. You live through it. You learn and you grow."
He chuckled weakly. "You make it sounds so easy."
I shook my head. "It's not. But It gets better. Trust me." I squeezed his hand.
He looked at my hands which still held his then he looked up at me. For a minute he just studied my face
He then awkwardly took his hands away and stepped back.
"I should go."
I bit my lip.
I really didn't want him going anywhere in this state. He was obviously still worked up.
He had gotten to the door when I quickly called him back.
"Hey!" I yelled.
He turned around.
"Wanna help me bake some cupcakes?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind.
"I've never baked anything in my life." He spoke with a shrug.
I smiled at him. "Well I guess today you're going to learn."
Jason
I couldn't help but smile as I looked down at her.
She laid down on the sofa, fast asleep.
She was still covered in flour from the little flour fight we had.
She had accidentally spilt some flour all over my shirt so in turn I flicked some at her and before I knew it we engaged in a little food fight consisting of us attacking each other with flour and we ended up both looking like snow men.
I couldn't remember the last time I actually had some good and innocent fun like that.
Fun that didn't involve me getting drunk or going home with some random girl.
Fun that made me feel like a child and like I wasn't a Callahan.
I almost chuckled at her 'No Callahan zone' policy and how true it actually was.
I suddenly frowned.
Something had changed and I knew it.
I leaned forward and placed my hands underneath her legs and arms and lifted her up bridal style.
She shifted a little but didn't wake.
I recalled the memories of hearing her squeal and laugh out loud as I chased her around the island.
The ache in my chest became stronger.
Something truly had changed and I'm not sure how I felt about it.
I headed up the stairs and made my way to her room. I kicked open the door with my foot and carefully made my way through the doorway making sure I wouldn't hit her head or legs.
I carried her to her bed and gently set her down.
I studied her face in the dark room. I couldn't see her features but I could make out her silhouette.
I wanted to trace them with my hands but I knew that would be a bad idea so I just stepped back before I almost did something else I would regret today.
I needed to accept the truth. Guys like me just didn't get girls like her. Innocent and nice girls.
I sighed and turned around but I hardly went far when I heard her mumble my name.
"Jason?"
I turned around.
She reached out her hand. "Don't go." She whispered.
I could tell that she was still half asleep but her words were as clear as day and they were all I wanted to hear.
I stood frozen for a while wondering if I should feel guilty about wanting to crawl into bed with her.
"Please." She whispered.
That broke everything.
I walked towards the bed and sat on it.
I slipped off my shoes and laid down beside her.
I was surprised when she scooted closer to me and placed her head on my chest.
This was nice. This was really nice.