I am so elated for Kai; Cooper’s Religion is going to take off. My boyfriend the rock star. I smile at him as he and the rest of the band wait for Clive Owens to come talk to them before we check out. I am taking Khloe down to the beach to play one last time so they can have privacy. His mom is staying to make sure everything is legit.
Khloe is burying my feet in the sand. I pull my phone from my bag and mark today’s date as being the day my boyfriend has his dream come true. The date catches my eye. Today is Penny’s birthday. I do the right thing and I send her a text.
Me: Penny I know I am the last person you expected to hear from today, but no matter how you feel about me. I am sorry I didn’t tell you about Aaron. Anyway Happy Birthday. I hope you have an amazing day. Katie <3
My phone rings. Penny is calling me. Despite everything, I miss her. “Hello.”
“Katie!” She starts to cry. “I’m so sorry I was an awful bitch. I shouldn’t have treated you so horrible. I miss you so much.” She starts rambling about how Becks isn’t very good for girl talk and dating advice. I am shocked to hear that she and Aaron broke up. She ended up not going to her grandma’s for spring break. She wanted to surprise Aaron, and well she ended up being the one surprised, when she caught him with a freshman. She says Becks punched Aaron and Aaron kicked his ass. That comes as no surprise.
“Is Beckett okay?”
“Yeah, he totally is milking having gotten a black eye and bloody nose defending my honor though. Where are you? I want to see you. My dad actually caved and bought me a car. It’s for my birthday and graduation,” she squeals.
“Um, I am actually in Myrtle Beach with Kai. We are driving home today though.”
Khloe is getting close to the edge of the water so I hang up with Penny promising she can come see me when I get back. She will flip her shit when she finds out I am living with the Coopers.
I get Khloe and we go for a walk down the beach before heading back to the room. I hope that they have come to some sort of agreement with Clive by now.
I tell Khloe we are getting ready to go home. She flops down in the sand pouting. “Khloe no go. Stay beach,” she says whining.
“What if Katie gets you an ice cream?”
She perks up and gives me her hand.
I take her down the street from the hotel a little way, and get her a vanilla cone covered in sprinkles. I get a text from Kai asking where I am, I tell him Khloe, and I are getting ready to come through the lobby.
Kai is pacing in the hotel lobby when I walk in with Khloe. Jake is sitting in a chair next to where Kai is burning holes in the tile with his feet.
“Jake take Khloe to my mom so I can talk to Katie.”
The way he is shuffling his feet and scratching the back of his neck anxiously is freaking me out. I wait until Jake and Khloe are out of earshot.
“Hey, you okay?” I ask him.
“Promise me you won’t get mad.”
“I promise Kai. You are freaking me out.”
He sits down in the chair Jake was just in and hold his arms open for me. I take a deep breath afraid he is about to breakup with me or something. I sit in his lap and get ready for whatever he is afraid to tell me.
“Clive wants to represent Cooper’s Religion.” I start say something…but he puts his finger to my lips shushing me. “I tried to get him to take you on with us and he said no. I haven’t given him an answer I wanted to talk to you first.” He is still holding his finger over my mouth keeping me silent. “If I say yes, I will have to leave Monday morning for LA. He sent the video to his contacts and they want us. Clive and my mom got into specifics. If I take this chance, I could be away from you for months. I will have to finish school online or something.”
I swat his finger away. “Kai, I love that you wanted me to go with you. I do, but this is it. This is your big chance, it may never come again and if you turn it down, I might kill you! I am so proud of you Kai.”
“Okay, so I am really doing this,” he says.
“Yeah, you are really doing this Kai Cooper.”
“I just don’t want to hurt you Kat.”
“Then don’t.” I nudge his shoulder and get up, pulling him with me. I remember his words, ‘something that will hurt us both.’ My chest aches but Kai deserves this, even if it means letting him go.
Upstairs the band looks nervous when Kai and I walk in. They are waiting for Kai’s answer, on pins and needles, I am sure. He cracks a smile showing off his dimples and I can see the relief wash over their faces. I can understand that they would be afraid that I wouldn’t want Kai to leave me.
I watch excitedly with Kelli as she snaps pictures of the guys signing Clive Owens as their agent. Khloe is on my hip twirling my hair in her fingers and Kai looks at the two of us with this weird expression on his face. I don’t know what to make of it, but it makes my stomach flip flop. He hangs his head rubbing the back of his neck.
It’s Kai’s turn to sign. This is what he wanted isn’t it so why does he look so sad? Kelli and Clive go over more details about Kai since he isn’t eighteen yet. I tune out for most of it trying to figure out what changed in the past five minutes for Kai. They finally reach an understanding and we are all loading into our vehicles to make the drive home.