When the Moon Fell in Love with the Sun

It had been a few days since Brendon completely shut down and it was starting to worry Katelyn. All he did was sit around the apartment in his boxers and a dingy white v-neck, eating junk food and drinking capri suns. After two days of letting him wallow in misery, Katelyn decided to take a stand.
"Brendon, this has to stop today." Katelyn pulled the vertical blinds open in the living room and rolled her eyes when he hissed.
"Let me be miserable, Kay. Just one more day." His whining voice only annoyed her more, so she walked over to him and grabbed the 'family size' box of Cheez-Its out of his lap and put them away.
"This is getting ridiculous. I let you have your time, now you need to spill. What's got you so upset? Spencer won't even tell me, so it has to be really serious! I'm worried about you." She sat beside him on the couch, letting her fingers trail along his arm in a soothing manner. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh of contentment before beginning to plan what he was about to say.
"Spencer was the one that texted me. He and Ryan were at lunch and they were talking about the band. Ryan and Jon are leaving the band. We're going our separate ways and even though it's for the best, it still sucks."
Katelyn was at a loss for words. She knew that they had been arguing over what type of music to make, and the only logical thing to do would have been to split up, but she didn't think that that would ever happen.
"I think your friendship is worth more than anything, Bren. I know that you all love making music together, but the way you four were going with your arguments during recording would have ruined your friendship and you would have split anyways. It's good that you're coming away from this mostly unscathed." Katelyn wanted to help him see that it was the right thing to have happened. Brendon said that Spencer and Ryan didn't even argue about anything; it was completely amicable.

"Hey, let's go on a trip. Just you and me, and we can go anywhere you want. How does that sound?" The girl saw Brendon watching her skeptically, as if he thought she figured it would solve his problems.
"I dunno, Kate." He shrugged his shoulders and she laced her fingers with his, letting her thumb graze gently over his skin.
"It's not supposed to try and fix everything, I promise. Where do you want to go more than anything?"
Brendon furrowed his eyebrows as he clearly ran through his entire catalogue of places he'd like to visit. Lake Tahoe is what he finally came up with.
"Really? Lake Tahoe?" Katelyn seemed put off for some reason. It wasn't that Tahoe was a bad place, it just wasn't what she had expected him to say. She had spent a lot of time there during her childhood. Helen was from Reno and basically spent her youth in the casinos up in Lake Tahoe until she met Kevin Tieger.
"I've been to tons and tons of places on tour. I've never been to Tahoe though."
"South Lake it is then. My grandparents have a summer place up there. I can call and see if we can get our hands on a key from my mom."
"Should we fly or drive?" Brendon had definitely perked up, excited to begin planning their getaway.
"Well, it's probably a nine hour drive from here. If we fly, we have to go from LAX to Reno and then drive up from there." She watched him nod thoughtfully, taking everything in to consideration.

The last week of June, Brendon and Katelyn flew up to Lake Tahoe for their week-long stay. Katelyn had procured a key to the house from Helen, who had been a little hesitant at first, but was talked into it eventually. The house was beautiful and overlooked the lake from the Nevada side. Despite her grandparents' lavish taste and the amount of money they had put into the place, they had been to cost-conscious to build the house on the California side due to high property taxes.
"This house is amazing…" Brendon finally declared after having practically run through the entire two-story home like a child.
"That's why I used to love coming here as a kid." She smiled as she hoisted her suitcase up onto the bed in the guest room they had claimed so she could unpack. Although her grandmother insisted that they take the master bedroom, this particular guest room overlooked the lake.
"So after we're done settling in, can we go exploring? I want to check out everything!" Brendon was so enthusiastic that it brought a smile to Katelyn's face. He was so exhilarated to finally be in the one place he had longed to visit
"Bren, we have lots of time. It's only eleven!"
"I know, I know. All the more reason to hurry up." He quickly unpacked his things, setting his clothes in the dresser drawers and his toiletries in the bathroom.
"Come on!" Brendon sat on the bed impatiently, wishing he had his computer with him to fiddle around on. Neither of them had brought their laptops or iPods, and they only brought their phones on the trip in case of an emergency. They had decided that they didn't need distractions on their vacation, and Brendon was feeling a slight twinge of regret.
"Why don't you go see what's in the kitchen so we can go grocery shopping later. We might as well make use of that rental car." They had picked up a Honda Civic from the Reno airport. Brendon was really in to being energy efficient and 'green' so he was relieved when he found out that he was going to be driving a Civic.
He huffed, getting off of the bed and making his way down stairs to the newly re-done kitchen, checking out their situation. Brendon wasn't surprised that there wasn't much in stock; just some peanut butter, honey, and other random things that really didn't have an expiration date.
When Katelyn came down in a pair of cutoff jean shorts and an ethnic patterned tank top, sunglasses perched on top of her head, Brendon forgot why he was even annoyed in the first place. She handed him his Ray Bans with a grin, saying that he'd definitely need them.
"I knew there was a reason why I love you…" He slid the sunglasses in the collar of his dark green shirt, asking if she was ready.
"Yep. The camera's charged, I have the keys, and I'm wearing shoes." She glanced down at her small, leather cross-body bag then to her feet, nodding when she saw her gladiator sandals. Katelyn had a habit of forgetting to put shoes on before going anywhere and Brendon had to constantly remind her to do so.
"Let's go then!"

Katelyn had shown Brendon almost everywhere she could think of. They went to the lake, the shopping plaza that had a movie theatre and an ice rink, and past the casinos. Brendon was absolutely smitten with the entire community. The ski lifts up to Heavenly were in commission for tourists, so naturally Brendon had convinced Katelyn to go with him.
"Hey Kate, smile for a second!" Brendon had taken his phone out of his pocket when they were halfway up the mountain and she shot him a look.
"I thought we weren't bringing our phones…"
"Well I figured one of us should bring a phone just in case." He flashed the girl a bright smile and she shrugged, saying that he was just so thoughtful.
Brendon wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close and holding his iPhone at arm's length and they both smiled as he snapped a picture.
"What's that for?" Katelyn tried to peek at his phone but he kept it out of her sight. Soon after he had finished whatever he was doing and replaced it in the pocket of his plaid shorts, Katelyn felt her own phone vibrate. When she took it out of her purse, Brendon glanced over at her and his jaw dropped.
"I thought we weren't going to bring phones." He mimicked her in a high pitched voice and Katelyn shoved him playfully, using his excuse and saying that it was just in case.
Checking her texts, she tried to hold back a little laugh. It was from Twitter.
@brendonuriesays On vacation with @kayletsgo! Being a tourist, taking the ski lift in June! yfrog.com/...
She knew that the link would lead to the picture he had just taken, but she clicked it anyways.
"Oh Bren. You're too funny." Katelyn shook her head, saving the picture to her phone so she could have it too.
Brendon had bullied her into getting a Twitter after he and the guys had signed up. She rarely used it, but sometimes it came in handy. Brendon liked doing stupid things like tweeting her when she was at work because she would say not to text her. He would always joke and say that it wasn't considered texting, and Katelyn appreciated the gesture despite the fact that she feigned annoyance.

Once they had finished going up and then back down the mountain, Katelyn took him to the Nestlee Tollhouse cookie store for a snack.
Brendon had picked out a few cookies and Katelyn got a couple chocolate chip ones, then went to the counter to pay despite the boy nearly having a fit. Whenever they went anywhere he always tried to beat her when it came to paying. No matter how many times Katelyn told him that they needed to start going fifty-fifty, Brendon thought otherwise.
"Shut up about who paid and eat your cookies!" Katelyn laughed at him as they walked out of the store to sit at a table in the shade.
"So what are we up to tonight?" Brendon managed to ask this question through a mouth full of cookie, which impressed the girl. Either that, or she was getting really good at understanding him with his face stuffed with food.
"Well I talked to my cousin, who still comes up here every summer, before we left. She said that a few of her friends a throwing some huge house party and that we could show up if we felt like it. Terry gave me directions and everything." She shrugged simply, laying the offer on the table for Brendon.
"Yeah, we can do that." He nodded after thinking for a second. Katelyn nodded as well, finalizing their plan before she told Brendon that he had to keep her from drinking too much.
"I've been to my fair share of house parties and I'm not proud to say that I've been out of control at a few." In the girl's defense, it was right after the breakup and her first few times drinking, but it still wasn't an excuse.
Brendon promised that he'd keep an eye on her and in the back of his mind, he wondered why she had let herself get ridiculously drunk in the first place. He wanted to know what could have happened to her that possibly pushed her to try and forget. Then it clicked. Brendon knew that he was the reason for those nights she was ashamed of. He knew that it was probably obvious by the look in his eyes that he felt bad about it; his eyes always gave him away when it came to Katelyn. As if she knew exactly what was going through his head, Katelyn reached out and played with the hair at the back of his neck.
"It's okay, Bren. Don't feel guilty for my mistakes. I don't regret them at all." She sent him a warm smile, making him feel at ease.
They both knew that they were going to be in for an extremely interesting night and were looking forward to the week ahead.