"Hey girl," Kevin said forcing a smile as he stood up to greet Shayla with a hug.
"Hi," Shayla said. "What are you doing here alone?"
"I don't know. I was hungry and just needed something to do to take my mind off of things," he said.
"Oh, I know what ya mean. Us too," Shayla said.
"I heard what's going on. Are you and McKenzie ok?" he asked.
"I guess so. We're just not used to this kind of stuff. We were just at the mall and some girl and her mom recognized us and asked for our autographs. It was so weird," Shayla said laughing.
Kevin laughed at her. "So you've been officially initiated then. You might as well get used to it."
"I suppose so. Hey, you look so down. Do you wanna join us? Or are you waiting for someone?" Shayla asked.
"No, I'm here alone. I don't wanna intrude. I'm sure you guys probably wanna have some sister time," he said. Shayla could tell something was troubling him.
"Are you kidding? We can do that anytime. Come on, come sit with us," Shayla said taking his hand and dragging him with her. Kevin motioned to the waiter to bring his food to Shayla's table.
"Hey handsome," McKenzie said as he and Shayla slid into the booth opposite McKenzie.
"Hi how ya doin McKenzie?" he said.
"Much better now that Shay and I just spent a ton of money to forget about our troubles for a while," McKenzie said as she and Shayla giggled.
"That usually does the trick," Kevin said.
"Oh great, food!" Shayla said as their order arrived. "I definitely worked up an appetite with all that shopping."
"Holy cow!" Kevin exclaimed as he saw how much food they had ordered. "You guys sure ordered a lot of food."
"We're not like those girls who pick at their food and eat like birds. We love to eat and we eat a lot," Shayla said as she piled up her plate.
"We're constantly eating and whatever we don't finish will make a great midnight snack, if Nick doesn't get to it first," McKenzie said laughing. Kevin laughed as he watched them both load their plates.
"Well you'd never know it from looking at you two. You're about as tiny as ya can get," Kevin said.
"Help yourself Kev, we like to order lots of different things and we won't finish it all," Shayla said.
"In that case, I won't be shy. Let's pig out," he said. They all laughed as Kevin piled food onto his plate too along with his own order.
They ate, talked and laughed until they couldn't eat another bite. Kevin looked like he'd cheered up and forgotten about whatever was bothering him. He told them all kinds of stories about when he and Brian were growing up and some of the things he used to do to Brian as a kid. He had Shayla crackig up. then he told McKenzie some of the things they had done to Nick over the years because Nick was always pulling pranks on everybody. They were laughing so loud everyone in the restaurant was staring at them.
McKenzie excused herself to go to the restroom and Kevin and Shayla boxed up the leftover food. "Ya know Brian was right about you. You have this incredible way of cheering someone up when they're really down. Now I see what you did for him when he needed someone. Thanks," Kevin said looking at her very seriously, his beautiful green eyes shining.
"Awww, thanks and you're welcome. So what's bugging ya?" Shayla asked.
"Well, I kinda have this dilema on my hands," Kevin told her.
"Why? What's happening?" Shayla asked though she already had a pretty good idea what it was.
"You could probably tell from the other night that I'm kinda interested in your cousin Jen," he said.
"Um, yeah, I'd say that it was a little obvious you were a little infatuated with her," Shayla said smiling big. Kevin suddenly saw what Brian saw in her smile. He thought how unfair and sickening it was that she and Brian had such perfect smiles that make people go all mushy.
"That's an understatement," Kevin said. "I was completely speechless and that never happens," he said. "I'm thinking of calling her and asking her to come to the party with me on Saturday."
"So what's the problem? I happen to know she'd say yes if that's what you're worried about," Shayla hinted.
"No, that's not it. That's good to know but that's not the problem."
"Then what is?" Shayla asked.
"Kristin is the problem," he said. Shayla looked at him with a raised eyebrow wondering why Kristin would be a problem. "She said she wasn't sure now if we should break up for good, yet she still thinks we should stay separated for now. I don't know how I feel about that. It's hard we've been together so long. And then I hinted around with the idea of whether we were going to see other people or not."
"What did she say?" Shayla asked.
"Basically if we're gonna see other people, or I guess I should say, if I'm gonna see other people, then to her we will should be broken up for good," he said. "So, basically I can either decide to go ahead and break up with Kristin and ask Jen out, or I can just come to the party knowing she'll be there and hang out with her without it being an actual date. Although to me, that's being dishonest because I know what I'm really doing."
"Oh I see," said Shayla. "What are you going to do?"
Kevin sat in silence for a minute then took a deep breath and came out with his decision. He didn't know it himself until then. "I'm gonna ask Jen to the party," he said his face lighting up.
"Are you sure that's what you want to do? Don't feel like you have to do that or say that just because Jen is my cousin," Shayla said.
"Oh I'm not. It's just I really don't wanna do things the way Kristin wants to. I can't keep playing this back and forth game. I really don't see any reason to put off the inevitable. We're going to break up, and why should I prolong it, when I know I want to see Jen. If I do, I'm just going to get myself in a situation of dishonesty with both of them and I don't do that kind of stuff," Kevin said.
"Well, I'm sorry you and Kristin couldn't work it out," Shayla said sincerely.
"So, you mentioned something about knowing for sure that Jen would say yes if I asked her out," Kevin said slyly grinning from ear to ear.
Shayla laughed. "Yes, she'll say yes. Give her a call. It'll be good to see you happy again. I know this has been rough on you trying to end the relationship with Kristin. I mean, I saw how hard it was on Brian when he and Leighanne broke up, so I can imagine what you've been going through. If you need to talk or anything you let us know, we'll be there for you."
Kevin hugged Shayla. "I'm so glad Brian has you. He's right you really are something else. Now I know what he meant when he said he was amazed by you.
Shayla's eyes widened. "What did you say?"
"I said Brian said he was amazed by you," Kevin said.
"When did he say that?" Shayla asked.
"I don't remember exactly when. It was sometime while we were on the road during the tour, before you guys ever got together. You know, when he'd talk to you all the time on the phone. He had this picture of you and him and he'd take it out and look at it all the time and just smile," Kevin said having no clue as to how much what he was telling her meant to her.
*Later That Evening*
After staring at the telephone in one hand and Jen's business card in the other hand for about half an hour Kevin finally dialed the number. It rang about 5 times and he was about to hang up when she answered.
"Goddess Designs, this is Jen," she said answering the phone.
"Jen, hi this is Kevin Richardson."
"Kevin! Hey wassup?" Jen said thrilled to hear from him.
"Not much, are you busy?" he asked.
"No, nothing I can't take a break from," Jen said. "What can I do for ya?" She really was extremely busy trying to get things set up but she wanted to talk to him.
"So were you planning on going to Brian and Shayla's party on Saturday?" Kevin asked beating around the bush.
"Yeah, it sounds like fun. I'd really like to get to know you guys better and some other people since I'm new here," she said.
"It should definitely be fun. All kinds of people will be there. Our whole band and all the dancers are coming and some of the crew. Our friends that live in town and also some other artists," Kevin said. "Listen, I was wondering, if ya wanted to, would you like to go to the party with me?"
"You mean like a date rather than just see each other there?" Jen asked playing with him because she could tell he was nervous.
"Um, well yeah, that's what I was thinking," Kevin said feeling awkward now.
Jen laughed. "I'm just messing with ya. I'd love to, sounds like fun," she said.
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and then laughed. "You sure can tell you're related to Shayla, she's always messing with people to. You should see her and AJ go at it," Kevin laughed feeling more comfortable as Jen laughed with him. "I don't wanna tie you up, I know you're working, so I'll pick you up around 8:00 on Saturday then ok?"
"Ok," Jen said. She gave him the directions to her apartment and he knew right where it was at. "Great I'll see ya then. Bye Kevin."
"Bye," he said hanging up. He jumped up and threw his fist in the air, "YES!"