Uncovering Kaitlyn (11 page)

“So you must
have gossip on a person or two.” She hinted at me.

“I do, but I
don’t spill secrets.”

“Really? You
must know loads though.”

“I’ll trade
occasionally but it’s costly.”

“How much?
Some stuff would be worth buying.”

“Well
usually equally good gossip, but I take cash and bribes too.”

“I could
trade Howard Collins’ secret but you know that.” She winked at me.

“You’re
never going to let me forget that are you?”

“Nope. Does
Ryan know?”

“You
wouldn’t dare.”

“Are you
sure about that? What good is it if only I’m teasing you; I think Ryan seems
like the kind of guy who would know what to do with that.”

“That would
be mean.”

I guided her
into the café and a waitress took us to my favourite table near the back.

“I don’t
need to trade anymore though.”

“Blackmail?
I thought you were supposed to be all sweet and innocent.”

“You
shouldn’t believe everything you read.”

“Fine, but I
can’t say it out aloud.”

I sent a
quick text and grabbed the menu. Kaitlyn’s phone bleeped on the table.

“TJ Smith?
Have I been replaced?”

“I’m afraid
so. TJ happens to be much better than you.”

“Is that so?
So what does TJ stand for?”

“Thomas
Jamie. Not very imaginative but Jake won’t question it as much.”

“Thomas
James” I corrected with a chuckle. “Better than mine, Foxy Jones.”

“Foxy Jones,
I like it. So Mr Smith, what do you think you’ll have?”

Miss Jones,
I think I may have my usual”

I called the
waitress over and ordered a bacon omelette and Kaitlyn ordered pancakes.

“I’d feel
bad if I want home without an American pancake.”

“I don’t
think you can take them through customs.”

“You’re
hilarious.”

“So I’ve
been told.”

Chapter Six

Kaitlyn

I had a
really good morning with Jamie. After breakfast we went down to the beach and
were immature enough to play in the sand. I made sand angles while Jamie
disappeared. He came back with a bucket and spade.

“You can’t
visit the beach without building a sandcastle.”

“I haven’t
built one, since I was little.”

“You still
are little.” He nudged me onto the sand.

“I’m taller
than I was. I’m like 5’3 now. That’s rollercoaster height.”

“You must be
proud.”

I started to
build a castle, and was nearly finished when Jamie grabbed me, and hoisted me
over his shoulder.

“What are
you doing?”

“The beach
will busy soon and you won’t want pictures of this everywhere.”

“Don’t you
dare! I’ll tell Ryan!” I threatened.

“It’s LA.
Have you been in the sea yet?”

“I get the
impression it doesn’t matter how I answer.”

“You’ll be
fine. You won’t melt.”

As I heard
him splash in the shallow water, the enormity of what he was doing hit me.

“Please
don’t Jamie, you don’t understand.”

I fell into
the water. I squealed and turned back from Jamie. I pulled my scarf back up and
rearranged my hair.

“Kaitlyn?”

“Do you have
a towel?”

“No, I’ve
got one in the car though.”

“Could you
get it, please?”

“Sure.
Aren’t you going to get out? I’ll be about twenty minutes.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? What’s
going on Kaitlyn?”

“Just leave
me alone Jamie. Go get the towel.” I was trying not to cry.

“Please
Kaitlyn. I don’t like to leave you in the water like this. I feel bad. I only
meant it as a joke.” He seemed upset with himself. It wasn’t his fault but I
couldn’t tell him that without showing him me.

“I’ll be
fine Jamie. It doesn’t matter, I just need a towel.”

“Why? What’s
wrong?”

“Please
Jamie.” My voice cracked and tears slid down my face, dripping more salt into
the ocean.

“Look, I’ll
go get a towel as soon as you’re out of the water.”

Reluctantly,
I walked back to the beach. Jamie started to walk back towards the town. I
relaxed slightly and watched the waves. I closed my eyes and breathed in the
salty air. I jumped at the feel of a hand on my shoulder. Jamie stood not even
a foot away from me. I stopped myself from pushing him away. I knew Jamie’s
type. He wouldn’t give up until he knew. He gently pushed back my hair and
removed my scarf.

“What
happened?”

“I was
mugged when I was fifteen.”

“And they
did this to you?”

“I fell onto
broken glass when they pulled at my bag. I got cut up pretty badly.”

“Looks like
you were lucky.”

“You think
this is lucky?” I snapped at him.

“You got
broken glass in your neck, and you survived. I’d say it’s lucky.”

“I suppose
it might be, but look at me. I have scars across my neck, part of my stomach
and most my right side. That’s not lucky. It won’t fade. The cuts were too
messed up. My dad looked into laser treatment but that’s not 100% either.”

“It doesn’t
matter Kaitlyn. You’re beautiful as it is.” Jamie leant in and kissed me
lightly.

I looked him
in the eye. I didn’t see pity or disgust. He looked at me like he could
actually bring himself to love me. He looked like he was telling the truth. I
pulled him back to me and kissed him back, hard.

Jamie
               

I told
Kaitlyn she was beautiful and I meant every word. I didn’t know if she believed
me or not but she really was. It pisses me off when chicks think they have to
hide because they’re not ‘perfect’. Having scars means that you’ve lived, you
know what the world is really like and you fought back. The right side of
Kaitlyn’s neck was covered in jagged scars. It looked like she’d been in an
explosion or something. The worst thing was that if people had photos of her
scars, they wouldn’t want her music, they would pity her and feel sorry for
her. I felt sorry that she felt the need to hide it, but I wouldn’t change her
a bit. Kaitlyn was who she was because of everything she’d been through. If she
hadn’t been mugged, then she probably wouldn’t be as down to earth as she was
now. I hated people who demanded stuff because they were rich or famous.
Kaitlyn was so genuine that I knew she wouldn’t ever become like that.

“I need to
head back soon. I’m getting a new car.”

“That’s
fine.”

“Can we do
this again? I can’t remember having this much fun.”

“I’d like
that, but I can’t go back right now.”

“What do you
mean?”

“I haven’t
got a towel or anything. I can’t go back like this.”

I’d actually
forgotten how we ended up arguing. Kaitlyn was soaked head to toe and her scarf
was un-wearable. Her hair straggled down her face and her clothes were ruined.

“Wait here.
If you get bothered go in the water, but only as a last resort. I don’t want to
fish a shrivelled prune to hand back to Jake. He’ll kick my arse.”

I jogged to
a nearby shop and grabbed some clothes that I guessed would fit Kaitlyn. I
reached the register and paid for an LA shirt and hoodie. I couldn’t find
another scarf, so I figured this would do. When I went back down to Kaitlyn,
she was on the phone telling someone she was at the beach writing music. I had
to laugh, it was like we were sixteen and sneaking out to party. Not that I
ever snuck out, or went to a party without my parents knowing, but that’s what
it was like. Seeing Kaitlyn was exciting knowing that not one other person
other than the two of us knew.

“Here, it’s
the best I could come up with. Sorry, you’re going to be baking in that.” I
actually winced at the thought when she put on the hoodie.

“So how’s
the music going? I’d love to hear what you wrote this morning” I winked and
took her hand in mine.

“I’ll
probably end up writing something about this morning at some point, so be nice.
You wouldn’t want a hit single about how mean you are. It’d suck to be you if
anyone found out.”

“But then
Kaitlyn Fox would have written a song for me so it wouldn’t really matter
anyway. Did you really write that song by yourself?”

“I always
write my own songs. It’s like therapy, writing about your own life. A few songs
on my album are things from years ago but the rest are stuff that’s happening
now. Watch out TJ Smith, you might just be on the list.”

I knew
Kaitlyn was just joking, but it was hot to think she’d write a whole song about
me. I grinned at the thought.

“So what’s
the prize if I make it onto the list?”

“I’m not
entirely sure. I can think of a few things.” She teased.

As we
reached my car, I opened her door and helped her in. I found a towel and handed
it to her.

“So I’ll
text you later Miss Jones.” I sat down in the driving seat and started the
engine. I had to laugh when I turned on the radio and Kaitlyn’s song was
playing. She couldn’t stop grinning like all her Christmases had come at once.

“I didn’t
know this was playing out here. This is amazing.”

I pulled
Kaitlyn into a kiss before I pulled out of the car park.

“Sorry, I
had to do that before I took you back. In case there are reporters or
something.”

I dropped
Kaitlyn a few streets away and sped home to shower before Ryan got up.

“You’re all
wet” Ryan observed.

“No shit,
Sherlock.”

“Sarcasm.
Nice. So where’ve you been?”

“Out.”

“No shit,
Sherlock” he mocked.

“I’ve got a
private project. I can’t talk about it, but I’ll tell you when I can.”

“That’s it?
You’re not going to tell me?”

“Yeah,
that’s it. Now as you kindly observed, I’m wet, so I’m going to take a shower.”

“If you’re
wet then why are you taking a shower?”

“Very funny”

I had a
quick shower and called Graham to organise a car. I found that salesmen were
always judgemental when you brought a new car.

“Fancy our usual
game?” I asked Ryan.

“I wouldn’t
miss it for the world.”

When I got
famous, everyone used to blank Ryan and focus on me. We were used to it for the
most part but it got annoying if we needed buy something, like for his mums
birthday, so we decided to mess with salesmen. I would dress down and chav up,
and Ryan would be normal. We’d both go in together and see how they jumped from
me to Ryan or separately to see who they went to first. If I was buying then
Ryan would make strange requests or vice versa if Ryan was. If I didn’t like
the man selling I’d wind them up for hours.

The garage
we went to was flash and expensive. They had a lot of fancy cars and I’d
already heard people badmouth them for their snotty service.

I watched
Ryan walk in and eye up a Lamborghini. He walked around a few times until he
caught the attention of a middle aged man in a suit. I saw him acknowledge Ryan
and talk to him with a look of pure annoyance on his face. I counted to ten and
went in with my baseball cap on and hoodie up. I looked at the first car I saw,
which happened to be the boring type a business exec would buy. It was black
and shiny, but other than that it didn’t have much going for it. After about
twenty seconds I heard a cough behind me.

“Excuse me,
may we see some identification.”

“No” I
retorted rudely, carrying on looking at the car.

“Sir, it is
our policy. If not I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Fine.” I
pulled my hoodie down and walked to the door.

“Jamie
Stark. Oh my God, you have to meet my girlfriend. We’re such big fans. I saw
you in Rising Christ. You were so cute!” Ryan squealed.

I glared at
Ryan for calling me cute, but quickly put on a smile.

“Thank you.
I’m not sure about visiting your girlfriend, I’m trying to buy a car.”

“Mr Stark, I
would be happy to show you our finest. What were you looking for?” The salesmen
asked eagerly.

“I didn’t
bring any form of identification.”

“I’m sure we
can get around that, the manager shouldn’t have a problem.”

“I wouldn’t
expect you to break your policy.”

Ryan gave me
a look. I nodded slightly and he leapt into action.