Rice Household
December 12th
"Julian? What are you doing here?" Kaycee asked, opening her front door wider so that he could come in.
"I wanted to come and see how you were doing," he asked, wrapping his younger friend in a hug.
"If you're here on some mission for Sean you can leave right now. I'm not in the mood to hear why this isn't his fault," she said, pulling away from him.
"Believe me, I'm not thrilled with Sean right now either," he said, following her into her kitchen where she took a seat.
"That picture isn't us Jules," Kaycee said, biting her lip at the obvious lie.
"Kayc, you don't have to lie to me, Sean told Josh and I what was going on the whole time," He said, sitting down in the chair next to her, an appropriate amount of distance between them.
"Of course he did," Kaycee said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.
"I'm not going to stand up for him. I think he was being an ass," he said, looking at her next to him. Kaycee just nodded her head. "But I want you to know something so you can at least be mad at him for the things he actually did, not the things that he didn't."
Kaycee's brow knit together, her face contorting in confusion. "What do you mean the things he didn't do?"
"I mean Sean didn't post that picture," he said, looking down at his lap. Kaycee closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"What are you saying, Julian?"
"I mean Josh and I were with Sean and he was showing us that picture and telling us what you two were doing," he said, still not able to look up at her. She sighed and stood up, walking toward the living room. "Kaycee, wait, hear me out."
"I'm listening, I just, I'm listening," she said, pacing around the space between the two rooms.
"We tried to tell him what it would look like if people found out. That he was playing with fire. I wanted him to see what he was doing, how badly he was treating you," Julian said, his eyes pleading.
"What are you saying, Julian?" She asked, unshed tears in her eyes as she looked over at him.
"I mean when Sean showed me that picture, I sent it to myself from his phone and deleted the text," he admitted quietly, his eyes locked on the floor.
"Julian," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Kaycee I am so sorry. I sent it to a small account. I didn't think it would go viral. I was just going to show Sean what he was doing and get him to stop. I didn't mean for any of this to hurt you," he said, standing up. Kaycee backed away from him.
"I know it was stupid and short-sighted but you have to understand. I wanted him to understand how bad what he was doing was."
"Julian, stop."
"Kayc."
"No. Stop saying what he was doing. We were doing it," she said, shaking her head.
"Kaycee. We could see what he was doing to you. We know that you deserve better than how he was treating you."
"You had no right to involve yourself," Kaycee said, sinking down onto the couch behind her.
"I know, and I'd do anything to take it back but I can't. I just wanted you to know so that you knew who to blame," he said, sitting back down in the kitchen chair. Kaycee took a deep breath.
"Does Sean know?" Kaycee asked, calming her breathing.
"No, I haven't told him," he said shaking his head.
"He's going to hate you," she said, biting her lip.
"I know. But he'll get over it. He may never speak to me again but I don't really care. I'm more worried about you," he told her.
"Well I'm not thrilled with you right now, but I'm not mad. I understand where you were coming from," she said, not able to meet his eyes.
"That's not what I mean. I would understand if you hate me but I want to make sure you're okay. I saw the comments on the picture. I am so sorry Kaycee," he said.
"It's okay. I mean, it's not okay, but I'll survive." She kept her gaze on her lap where she was playing with her fingers to distract herself.
"Is there anything I can do?" He asked.
"My mom is going to be home from work soon, I think you should leave before she gets here."
"Okay," he said, standing up. "I really am sorry Kayc."
"I know," she said, looking at him and giving him a small sincere smile.
He nodded his head and slipped out the front door.
-----
"You shouldn't be here," Kaycee said, closing her front door behind her and stepping out onto her porch.
"I know but I needed to talk to you and you weren't answering my calls," he said, stepping closer to her. She backed away.
"My parents are home Sean, and you're not exactly their favorite person right now," she said, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I know but Julian called me and told me what he did," he said, keeping a few feet of space between them.
"Yeah, he came around here earlier," she said, unable to look him in the eyes.
"Yeah, he said," Sean said, willing her to look at him.
"So, what Sean?" She asked, her gaze still locked on the ground.
"So now that you know it wasn't me that posted that picture," he said, not finishing his sentence.
"And what? We go back to what we were doing before?" She asked, finally looking up at him.
"Well," he said, now the one unable to look at her.
"People are still talking about it, Sean. I knew this was a bad idea. Have you seen the things that people are saying about me?" She asked, trying her best not to raise her voice.
"I know. I saw it all and it makes me sick. I understand," he said inching closer to her.
"Don't you dare say that you understand what I'm going through," she said, stepping back from him.
"Kaycee people are talking about me too," he said, staying where he was.
"Are you joking?" she asked, uncrossing her arms and balling her fists in anger. "Every comment about me includes the word whore or slut. Every comment about you calls you lucky. You have no idea what I'm going through."
"Kayc, come on, we knew that people wouldn't approve. It sucks that they know now but that doesn't mean we have to act any differently," he said.
"Sean, I trusted you. I took you at your word. None of this would be happening if we hadn't made this agreement in the first place," she said, her voice resigned.
"Please don't shut me out just because of this. People will find something new to talk about in a week and we can just move on," he said, pleading with her. She took a deep breath and looked at him, the vulnerability in her eyes scaring him.
"You know me better than anyone Sean. Just give me some time okay. Everything's happening all at once and I just need some time to process everything," she said.
"Kaycee I can help you through all this," he said, stepping closer to her once again. She put her hand up to his chest to keep him away. He gave up and stayed where he was.
"Just give me some time," she said, all anger gone from her tone. When he didn't step away, she spoke again, "Please."
"Okay, but if you need to talk, I'm always here for you," he said, trying to cheer her up with a smile, a smile that she didn't return.
-----
Sean threw his phone in his bed in frustration, tired of listening to Julian's excuses. Despite Kaycee's acceptance of his actions, Sean was still annoyed with his friend. It felt like a betrayal. Julian had no right to do that and he had hurt Kaycee in the process. Sean couldn't see his own fault in the situation. Julian was easy to blame given the circumstances.
She was ignoring all of his calls and texts. It was uncharted territory for him. When anything was wrong, he was always able to go to her. Now he didn't know what to do. His phone screen lit up with a notification. When he saw what it was, he lunged for the device and opened Instagram.
Kayceericeofficial
127,410 likes
Kayceericeofficial I'm not usually one to address rumors publically, but I feel like you all deserve the truth from a reliable source. Sean and I are not dating. We are friends and dance partners and that is all. Any claim of having a compromising picture of the two of us is false. While I appreciate the constant love and support from fans and accounts, the speculation and accusations that I have received over the past few days have made it difficult to ignore the situation so I just want to clear things up for everyone. Be kind to everyone.
Sean wanted to comment on the picture. His anger got the best of him and he wanted to call her out. It hurt to read that about him. The rational side of his brain wasn't working. Even though his head knew that was a bad idea, his heart wanted nothing more than for them to be able to be public. His inner debate was unnecessary though. She had disabled the comments. He understood but it didn't help his frustration at the whole situation.
He opened his contacts and clicked on her name, not surprised when it went to her voicemail again. He racked his brain for how to fix this. Being regretful and sincere obviously wasn't working. Even with Julain's confession, she was still mad at Sean.
He needed a new plan. A way for her to come back to him. Something clicked in his head and he came up with an idea. He picked up his phone again and scrolled through his contacts until he came across the name he was searching for. He clicked on it and the call was answered after two rings.
"Hey Tate, are you doing anything on Friday?"
-----
A/N: I am so sorry that this has taken so long and that its awful but this is just a filler. Next chapter should be interesting and then it really picks up after that. My weekend was insanely busy last week and if I was smart I would have planned in advance but of course, I didn't and now here we are. I'm working on some things that are really special and close to me and I want to give them the time that they deserve. I'm in kind of a strange headspace right now and I want to be very careful with what I post because I don't want to look back and regret it. I know that doesn't make sense and I hope this is just a phase but I don't know, we'll see.
Okay, I'm done rambling. Let me know your thoughts on this one. Comments definitely help since this is the first genuine continuous book I've released, it's nice to know what you guys are thinking. It's been a rough couple of weeks and I'm trying to get back to normal and hearing from you guys always seems to help :) xo