The Night You Took Away a Little More Than Just My Breath

"It was very nice of you to have us over for dinner." Pat told my dad as we all got up from the table when we finished our meals.

"Anytime, pat." My dad smiled at him.

We all put our dishes in the sink and headed down to the basement to hang out. My basement was painted bright red with black concrete floors. When you first walk down the black carpeted stairs you enter the entertainment room. There's nothing in that room except for a big red couch, a huge big screen TV, and a small stereo.

If you go into the room that's behind the stairs, that's the room that we practice in. Usually it's empty but since all of the guys and I had just practiced, all of their instruments were still in there. Along the wall there are signatures of people that have been to my house and pictures of us playing live. There's also a small black love seat against the red wall just in case anyone's down there to watch us.

The room next to our practice room was the game room. This room still had red walls, but instead of black floors, we had checkered tiles. We had a red pool table, foosball, and a poker table for my dad and all of his friends. There was also a small bar towards the back of the large room and the whole wall was covered with old bottles of alcohol, which actually looked pretty cool.

"Dude, we should all just stay the night since we have to meet up in the morning anyways." Jared said as he flopped on the couch and grabbed the remote. Pat pushed him aside so he could sit down and stole the remote from him.

"We should." Garrett said as he stopped looking through our Cd's and turned to look at me. "Your dad wouldn't mind, would he Johno?"

"Uh, he wouldn't mind but I don't know about Casey." I said as I turned to look back into our practice room. Kennedy was showing Jamie all of our pictures and signatures as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Jamie." I called.

Jamie looked out into the main room at me as I stood behind the couch. "Yeah?"

"Would your mom care if everyone stayed over tonight?" I said as I scratched my head. Kennedy had said something to her that made her laugh and completely ignore the words I were speaking to her. She was no longer looking at me, she was looking at the pictures Kennedy was pointing out instead. "Jamie?"

"Yeah, uh sure." She replied.

"Okay, whatever." I said in an irritated tone as I spun around to talk to the guys. I absolutely hate being ignored. "I'll go talk to my dad," I told them. "I'll come back down with blankets and pillows if you guys can stay."

"Okay." Garrett said as he pushed Pat aside to join him and Jared on the couch. "And get food too."

"Food?" I questioned. "We just ate!"

"I'm still hungry, dude." He replied with eyes fixed on the TV.

"Okay." I sighed as I started to walk up the steps.

My dad was washing the dishes and Casey was still handing him plates. "Hey guys," I said as I grabbed a few dishes from the table and handed them to my dad.

"Thanks." Casey said as she noticed me helping her.

"What's up, son?" My dad asked.

"Well, you know how the guys are going to get fitted with us tomorrow?" I asked as I pulled down my plain white v-neck shirt.

"Yeah?" My dad said as he looked up from the dishes.

"Well, I was wondering if they could just stay the night. Since we have to leave early anyways." I continued. My dad looked over at Casey and she nodded.

"That's actually a good idea." Casey said.

"So yes?" I asked.

"Yes." My dad said. "But don't stay up that late. You guys are leaving around eight so you have to be up at seven."

"Okay, thanks guys." I said and then went up to my room to get blankets and pillows for the guys.

As I was stacking up pillows from my closet and pulling out folded blankets I wondered if Jamie would want to sleep downstairs with the guys. Just in case, I went into her room to get her pillow she aways sleeps with and her tiny blue blanket that she loves. As I walked back out of her room, I noticed her diary sitting on her dresser.

I peered out into the hallway and saw no one. It was quiet and no one was near, so I picked up her diary and tried to open it out of curiosity. There was a lock attached to the plaid tan and brown book but no key. I looked around and lifted stuff up off her dresser and finally found the key. It was under her jewelry box. I peered into the hallway once more and listened closely but saw no one and heard nothing.

I unlocked her diary and sat the lock on her dresser as I began to flip through the pages. Most of her entries were about her ex Eric and their nasty break up. She said she was glad to be moving and getting away from him because he kept 'bugging her'. But really, she still loved him. I flipped to an entry that was written a few weeks after and it was dated March 9, 2006, the day we met. I began to read it to see what her first impression of me was.

Thursday, March 9, 2006.

I know it's wrong to say this but, my step brother is gorgeous.He seemed a little nervous to talk to me though, but it was alright. I was too! He seems really nice, fun, and down to earth. He even has the same taste in music as me, which I think is amazing. All of my old friends hate the music I listen to. Hopefully, I'll gain some more friends from this new school that have the same taste as I do. And hopefully, John and I will become much better friends. I don't really know that much about him yet, but I'm really excited to learn more.

I smiled at what I had just read and continued on. The next few paragraphs were about the house and her old school so I skipped that. I reread the first sentence of the first paragraph again and laughed at the fact we're both attracted towards one another. I don't think I'm that good looking though, but she is.

I skipped through a few more entries that were about our huge school, how she's getting used to the house, and how she's attracted to Kennedy. There were more about how Kennedy had asked her to be his girlfriend and how she wanted Alexis and I to 'hook up'. I honestly think she just invited Alexis over because I told her I was a virgin. But too bad, her plan didn't work out.

I found the day of her photo shoot, and the day she also tried to kiss me. I wanted to find out what she was thinking at that point in time so I began to read the entry quickly.

Friday, March 24, 2006.

Today was the day of my photo shoot. I was a little nervous, hence I haven't done on of those in a while. Johno was driving me there right after school so we met up right after 8th period so he could take me. As we exited the gym building, it was raining cats and dogs! Johno was explaining to me about how we could get to the car as fast as we could. It was either huddling under a small tree for a minute, or going through the school and taking 20 minutes. So of course, Johno being Johno, he chose to run under the tree. I got to the tree before him and then noticed he was walking slowly with his face pointed towards the sky. I laughed at him because he looked funny but then he pulled me out in the rain with him. He picked me up and spun me around as we both got soaking wet. Somehow we got back under the tree, and that's when I made a mistake. I tried to kiss him. At the time, I didn't know the reason. But now I do. The reason was because he was acting like how Eric used to be when Eric and I first met. I guess I do still have feelings for Eric, but at the same time I have feelings for Kennedy, who I didn't think of at all during this incident. And the worst part about it is that Johno is Kennedy's best friend. If Kennedy found out, I'd feel horrible.

I'm attracted to Johno, yes. But it would just be plain weird if we did make out, since he's going to be my step brother and all. Johno and I talked about it in the car, and he said it was okay. Again, he's so down to earth, it's kind of scary. I could never imagine him getting mad.

I skimmed over the last paragraph and that was about her photo shoot, which I didn't really care about. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs so I quickly locked her diary, put it in the same place, and threw the key under her jewelry box. I picked up all the blankets and pillows quickly and rushed out of her room, bumping into the person that came upstairs. "What are you doing?" Jamie asked.

"Uh, um the guys are staying over tonight." I said as I tried to get a better grip on the blankets and pillows. "So I got them pillows and stuff."

"What were you doing in my room?" She asked, laughing at me because I was jumbling pillows and blankets out of nervousness.

"Getting your special pillow and blanket!" I said as I held the pile of pillows and blankets out to her so she could see hers.

"Aw, thanks." She said as she grabbed them off the top of the pile. "But I gotta get something, so I'll be back down in a second."

"Okay." I said and I began walking down the steps. So she didn't want to kiss me, I thought to myself as I still processed the things I just read in my mind. She wanted to kiss Eric, her ex. I was just acting like him at that moment. Note to self: Never act like Eric again. I laughed at myself as I walked down to the basement and threw the blankets and pillows on the guys.

"Where's the food?" Garrett asked.

"Oh, come on." I complained. "Go get it yourself."

"Fine." Garrett said as he got up and threw a pillow at me. I stole his spot on the couch and put a blanket over myself. I stared at the commercials that were on the screen and felt myself doze off. I looked over at the clock on the stereo and it said 9:05. It wasn't late, but it sure did feel like it.

Jamie came back downstairs and sat on the floor in front of the couch with Kennedy. Right after her, Garrett came down with a carton of ice cream and 6 spoons. "Garrett." I sighed, seeing that it was my dads ice cream.

"What?" He asked as he came over and tried to squeeze on the couch. "Your dad said I could." He handed Kennedy and Jamie a spoon, and then gave Jared, Pat, and I a spoon.

"Let's watch a movie." Jared said and he took the remote from Pat. Jared went to On Demand and went through the free movies section. Garrett and Pat were steady eating ice cream and Kennedy and Jamie were feeding each other.

"I think I'm just gonna go to sleep." I said as I put my spoon in the ice cream. "We have to get up at seven and I'm tired anyways."

"Okay." Pat said, seeing that he was the only one paying attention to me. The other guys were too busy eating ice cream and Jamie was too busy cuddling with Kennedy. "Goodnight." Pat told me.

"Night." I said as I got up with my pillow and blanket.

"Dude, where you going?" Kennedy asked me.

"To sleep." I said. "In my bed, cause you guys are going to be too loud."

"Okay," Jared said. "Make sure you wake us up in the morning though."

"I will," I said. "I'll set my alarm clock."

I walked upstairs, leaving everyone behind to sit around and eat ice cream. I would have stayed up later, but I was actually pretty tired. And if I don't get enough sleep, I'm super cranky in the morning. I'm also super cranky in the morning if someone else wakes me up. So I was better off sleeping in my own bed, away from everyone.

- - - - - -

"Come on, Pat." I said as I nudged him on his shoulder. "Wake up."

All of the guys were awake except for Pat. He's always the hardest to wake up. I ran my hand through my wet hair and placed my wet hand on his forehead. He swatted my hand away as his eyes fluttered open. "Ugh, what time is it?" He groaned.

"7:36." I replied after looking at the clock on the stereo. "We're leaving soon so hurry and get ready. Casey made breakfast upstairs too."

"Okay." He said as he rolled over and rubbed his eyes.

I left him there to wake up and I ran upstairs to get some food before the guys ate it all. They were all sitting on stools at the bar and Casey was putting food on their plates. I got a plate and sat beside Kennedy, who was sitting awfully close to Jamie. "Eggs? French toast? Sausage? Bacon?" Casey asked.

"Whoa, you made all of that?" I laughed.

"Of course, you are growing boys." She smiled. "Plus, it's gonna be a long day."

"A long, long day." Jamie sighed as she took a bite of her dark red apple.

"Now, Jamie." Casey complained. "It's not gonna be that bad. We already have all the dresses and tuxedos picked out."

"What color are the tuxedos?" Garrett asked.

"They're white." Casey said as she put some scrambled eggs on my plate. "And you're gonna wear light yellow collard shirts under them, no ties."

"Good." Kennedy said. "Cause I don't know how to tie one."

Jamie laughed at him and kissed his cheek. Casey smiled then gave me a few pieces of bacon and a piece of sausage. "Want any french toast?" She asked.

"Ah, no. I'm fine. But thanks." I said.

"No problem." Casey said as she poured me some orange juice. "Isn't there another one?" She asked.

"Pat?" Jared asked.

"Yeah, that's it." Casey said. "Pat. Where's he?"

"Downstairs, waking up." I said as I put ketchup on my eggs. "I told him to hurry up if he wanted some breakfast."

"Oh, there's plenty." She smiled. Just as Casey said that, Pat came trudging up the steps. "Well, good morning Pat!" She greeted him. Pat smiled and came over to sit next to me.

Casey is such a joy to be around in the morning. She makes everyone happy and lightens up the room with her happy, high energy. Jamie is kind of the same way, but not as loud and a little more shy. She wouldn't talk to someone like they've been best friends for a while when they just met. But her mother would. Her mother treated me like a son the first time I met her. It was pretty heart warming.

Casey makes a mean breakfast, my dad should let her make it more often. My dad wouldn't get any left overs either, he was too busy sleeping in and we were too busy eating every last piece. As pat finished his plate, we all put on our shoes and headed out to the cars. "Who's riding with me?"

"I'm not!" Kennedy said. "I'm riding with Casey and Jamie." He sang Jamie's name. She swooned and wrapped her arms around him.

"Yeah, yeah." I said as I rolled my eyes at them.

"I guess we're riding with you then." Jared said as he ran to the other side of the car. "Shot gun!"

"Oh, come on dude!" Garrett complained.

Pat laughed and pushed Garrett. "Just get in the car."

Garrett and Pat got in the back seat of my car and Jared hopped in the passenger seat. "So, do I just follow you?" I turned to ask Casey as I saw Jamie and Kennedy get in the back seat together.

"Yeah." Casey said. "It'll seem like I'm lost within 20 minutes of the drive but I'm not. I know where I'm going." She said.

"Gotcha." I told her as I nodded.

"Ready?" she said.

"Yep." I told her and she got in her car. I got in mine and Jared had already turned on the music. I looked behind us and Casey was pulling out. I got behind her on the road and headed off to the place where we would get fitted.

It only took us 40 minutes to get there and it was a nice drive because there was barely any traffic. The dress and tuxedo place was called Alfred Angelo Sapphire and the second I stepped in the place I felt extremely under dressed. To the left there were a bunch of mirrors, dressing room and Tuxedos of every style and color hanging on mannequins. To the right, it was the same except for big wedding dresses in many styles and colors.

"Ah, Casey." A tall, slim, brown haired girl greeted Casey as we entered. She must have been the wedding planner. She looked at all of us and smiled, then turned back to Casey. "Which one of these handsome young men is your lucky step-son?"

"That'd be me." I stepped forward and smiled at her. "Johno." I told her as I shook her hand.

"Sam." She said to me. "So, who's getting fitted first?"

"You can start on the boys." Casey said. "Because I know we'll take a little longer."

"Okay." Sam said. "Boys, come with me and I'll get you fitted. Then when you're done you can watch the girls or just hang out. Okay?"

"Okay, Sam." Garrett winked at her. Sam laughed and motioned for us to follow her to the left of the store. Kennedy kissed Jamie and walked off with us. We walked down a long hall with a long white bench along the wall to the left, and a couple doors to the right. Sam sat us down on the bench and looked at her clip board.

"Are you buying or renting?" She asked us.

"Renting, I guess." Kennedy said.

"Yeah, renting." Jared said.

"I don't think I'm renting." I said. "I'm probably buying, right?"

"Right, right." Sam said as she checked something off on her clip board. "We got you covered. Let us get you fitted first and then we'll just go down the line, sound good?"

"Sounds good." We all said.

"Okay, I'll go get some people to help and bring out the tuxedos and fit you guys." She said. "I'll be with the girls, so if you have any questions just come get me."

"Okay, thanks." I said. She nodded and walked off.

"Man, she's cute." Garrett announced.

"Yeah, she is." Pat agreed.

"Go for it, Pat." I winked at him and patted his back.

"Nah, she's probably like 20 something." He said.

"What's wrong with that?" Jared laughed.

"Yeah, nothing wrong with that." Kennedy smirked.

The guys shut their mouths as two women came back into the dressing room area with tuxedos and pins. "Who's up first?" The pretty, short, blonde one asked.

"Uh, I am." I said as I stood up.

"Okay, just put this on and then come on back out so I can put the pins in." She said as she handed me a white tuxedo and a light yellow collard shirt.

"Kay, thanks." I said and headed into a dressing room.

"Who's next?" I heard the other woman ask as I kicked off my shoes and unbuttoned my pants.

"Me." Pat said softly. After Pat it would be Garrett, then Jared and Kennedy last.

I peeled off my skin tight black jeans and hopped into the baggy white dress pants that went along with the suit. I took of my plain white v-neck shirt and put on the button up light yellow collard shirt. After that, I threw on the white jacket that went along with the tux.

I exited the dressing room as I held up my pants to keep them from falling. It felt like I was swimming in them. The young woman laughed at the site and I chuckled. "Yellows not my color, huh?" I joked.

She laughed and got on her knees with a bag of pins. "I'm gonna pin these up so they'll fit perfectly. Just when you take them off, be careful and make sure they don't fall out. Okay?"

"Okay." I said. "And can you make the pants tighter than they would usually be?"

"Of course." She said as she pinned up the bottom of the pants. "Just not as tight as those other pants you had on."

"Yeah, I know." I laughed. The woman kept pinning the pants in numerous places as I stood there and the guys watched. The woman went onto the jacket and under shirt and she finally finished after what it felt like 10 minutes.

I took off the clothes carefully and made sure none of the pins would stick me or fall out. I changed into my regular clothes and exited the dressing room. I handed the woman my tux carefully and she hung it up. "What's your name?" She asked me.

"Johno." I said. She wrote my name down on the tag that hung from the suit and then nodded to me.

"You're free to go now." She smiled.

"Okay, thanks." I said.

"Yup, it's my job." She laughed. I chuckled and walked out of the dressing room area towards the voices of Jamie and Casey.

"Is it okay if I come back?" I asked.

"Ah! Just one second!" I heard Casey panic. I laughed and waited outside of the entrance for a second until she said it was okay for me to come back. Jamie was sitting on the bench in the same clothes with a few of the same dresses in her hands. Casey was coming out of the dressing room in a big, pretty, light yellow dress."Is it okay if he sees me?" Casey asked.

"Yeah." Sam laughed. "Just not his father. He has to wait until the wedding day."

I sat beside Jamie and took one of the small dresses from her and held it up. It was a light yellow with a light orange bow hanging off the side. "Cute." I smirked at her. "You'll look good in it."

"Hopefully these fit and I don't have to get fitted." She laughed. "Whenever I get fitted the pins always find a way to stab me."

"Ow," I laughed. "You gotta be more careful."

"Yeah, well." She sighed. "How did your fitting go?"

"It was fast." I said. "And I didn't get stabbed."

"Ha ha, shut up." Jamie said.

"How's this?" Casey asked as she turned to us in her big yellow dress.

"Perfect." Jamie said.

"Yeah, you look beautiful." I said, truthfully.

"You don't have to suck up to her." Jamie laughed. "She's only gonna be your step-mom and all." She said sarcastically.

"I wasn't sucking up." I said. "I was just telling the truth." I said lightly. I heard a laugh come from behind me and I saw Pat standing in the door way. "What?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He shrugged and sat next to me. "I'll tell you later."

"Jamie, you ready?" Sam asked her as Casey handed her a bunch of dresses she didn't like.

"Yeah." Jamie said as she stood up with all her dresses and went into a dressing room.

"Make sure you try on the smallest size first!" Casey called out too her.

"I know, mom." Jamie said in an annoyed tone.

"If you need any help Jamie, I'll be out in the front showing your mom the 360 mirror!" Sam said.

"Okay." Jamie said as I saw her shirt fall to the floor from under the dressing room door. I saw her pants fall to the floor after and her feet slip into the dress. Seconds later, I heard her struggling.

"You okay?" I asked.

"No, uh." Jamie said as she opened the door with her hand on her chest so her dress wouldn't fall. "Can you help me zip this up?"

"Yeah, sure." I said as I got up and went into the dressing room with her. The heavy door shut behind us and made a loud noise, which made me jump. "Oh, shit." I said. Jamie laughed and I heard Pat laugh from outside too. I chuckled. "Shut up." I smiled and Jamie turned around so I could zip up her dress.

It zipped up half way up her back and it wouldn't go any further. "Can you pull it up harder?" She asked as she sucked her stomach in.

"No, it'll break." I laughed as my trembling hands fumbled around the zipper.

"Ugh." She groaned. "I'm fat!"

"You are not fat." I said as I kept trying to zip it up. "Stop arching your back." I told her.

"I shouldn't have ate that apple this morning." She said.

"Jamie, that was an apple." I said.

"Yeah, an apple I shouldn't have ate."

I just sighed and rolled my eyes. "Stop arching your back and it might work." I told her, irritated by the things she was saying.

"Okay." She sighed, annoyed. She pushed out her chest and and dress zipped right up.

"See." I said.

She turned around to look at me. "Thanks." She said.

"Mmhmm." I said, just as another door from outside slammed, causing me to jump again. Jamie laughed at me again and stepped closer. "You know, you're not fat." I said. Jamie looked down at herself and shrugged. "You're a model." I whispered, "And models aren't fat."

Jamie looked up at me and placed her left hand on my cheek. She leaned up and kissed my jaw line and I turned my head. "What?" I whispered quietly so Pat couldn't hear and stepped back from her a little. "Was I acting like Eric again?"

Jamie's eyes widened and I realized what I had just said. I basically just confessed I read her diary. "What else did you read?" She said in a cold tone.

I smirked at her cold reaction and told her what I read. "You think I'm gorgeous." I whispered as I put a hand against the wall, with Jamie in between. She was standing against the wall and our bodies were almost pressed together. "I am so down to earth, it's scary." I whispered slyly as our lips were getting closer and closer.

Jamie turned her head quickly and swallowed hard, looking towards the floor. "We can't-we can't do this." She whispered.

"I know." I smirked, and took my hand away from the wall. I wasn't going to kiss her anyways, I just wanted to tease her.

She stepped away from me and moved towards the mirror. She acted like she was fixing her hair as I exited the dressing room. I sat back down next to Pat and he gave me the biggest confused look. "What?" I asked.

"I'll tell you later." He said.

- - - - -

"See ya, dude." Garrett said to Pat and I as he got out of my car.

"Bye!" We both said and watched him walk into his house. I pulled out of his drive way and headed towards my last stop, Pats house.

"So, uh." I said awkwardly. "You know, you know it's later."

"Yeah." Pat laughed. "It's later."

"What do you have to tell me?" I asked.

Pat was silent for a while until I looked at him as he twiddled his thumbs around in his lap. He looked up at me. "You like Jamie." He said.

I nearly wrecked the car in shock. "What?" I laughed. "No, I definitely don't."

"Okaaay." Pat said in an unbelieving tone.

I sighed and gripped the steering wheel harder. "Why do you think that?" I asked as I repositioned myself.

Pat chuckled. "It's so obvious." He said. "You guys flirt, non stop. Worse than her and Kennedy."

"No we don't." I laughed at him. "She's my sister."

"Step." He added in. "And you like her, there's no denying it."

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to be in the conversation anymore. What sucked was that it took someone else to make me see the true feelings I had for Jamie. And what also sucked was that I didn't want to have those feelings for Jamie. But it'll be hard to shake them away, since she lives with me. I'll just need to spend more time with her and Kennedy.