We Could Make It Right

Garrett

It's been approximately a week since Katie's birthday. It couldn't have gone any better, if I do say so myself. Evan's here for another week or so; he's actually a pretty decent guy. By the stories that Katie's told me and through Evan backing them up, he's definitely more lively than their father. He even came to some of our band practices and gave some pretty good advice; at some stage he even partnered with Trey in helping us with some fine-tuning. It's nice seeing Katie genuinely happy - I don't think she's ever shone as bright as she has when Evan wasn't here.

I was over at Vee & Katie's place; something other than hanging around with Trey & our cousins at our place for the 3rd day in a row. I've never been one to complain about Arizona before, but its been too hot for comfort these days, almost to the point where you're sweating like pigs. At some point, Halvo came to the Stephenson residence during Evan's story time. There was a crowd of all us 16-17year olds and that one 23 old and we were surprisingly all listening to him. This is probably one of the only times we've been this quiet at Vee's place.

"You know, I've never had my sister tell me fantastic her friends are until she came here." Evan began. A slight blush appeared on Katie's cheek. There was soon an abundance of 'awwww' filling the small space - I took this opportunity to shove her playfully, luckily no one saw.

"And I can see why she speaks so fondly of you all. I think I can go back to England comfortably knowing that she's in good hands."
*
"Five. Six. Seven. Eight!" John yelled into the mic. We were trialling some of the demo's we were unsure about; and believe me, there was a lot. John keeps saying something about how this isn't what we should sound like, but for the sake of our newly acquainted fans, we're sticking with what we've got.

"Baby my ears are open and I'm watching you. That language you're body's speaking, it makes me sick.."

I stood there with my bass; plucking at the strings with my calloused hands. I scanned the room - Pat seemed to be enjoying himself, Jared was shredding it like no other time he's done before and so was Kenny. John eventually calmed down; I've gotta hand it to him though, he's normally quite jittery and he's been working on it quite well. Band-wise, everything was perfect; but something was up - Katie & Vee weren't there. Trying not to let that affect me in anyway possible, I started to get into it so no one would pick anything up. I can't let this get to me.

Not gonna lie, it did feel a bit lonesome without Katie there, I mean, not a lot has happened since the kiss. It hasn't been awkward or anything but I thought maybe she'd want to keep it on the down-low while her brother was here. Well done Gare, you sure know how to treat the ladies . In retrospect, that was probably the worst thing I've done since the breakup with Rach, sure we've moved on and that, but it could've gone better.

The practice was done before I knew it; everyone decided to grab some pizza and head back to John's so we could work on the rest of the material. Things are really looking up for us, who knew that a bunch of teenagers would be given a shot like this?! I grabbed a slice of the pepperoni pizza and shoved it in my mouth. I didn't think of chewing it, I was starving.

"Garrett, man, you're gonna choke if you don't chew," Kennedy sat next to me on the carpet. We were upstairs with John's siblings while the rest of them were still in the basement. They only needed a few people down there - they were just deciding on what drumming tracks we'd need and which ones to get rid of. They were pretty much like shifts in the way that we'd actually take turns in going downstairs. He patted my back and my attention was undivided. I felt myself choke on a piece of pepperoni. Classy. "You okay dude?" he handed me a paper-cup full of coke.

Yep, I'm totally fine. Just choking on pepperoni, no big deal.

"Thanks" I said once I recovered.

"What's up with you and Miss Katelynn?" said Kennedy. In the corner of my eye, I could see Ross & Shane pretending not to listen on. I paused. Just by hearing her name I was mentally kicking myself. I don't know whether he was stirring up or whether he was genuinely curious. I didn't fully understand Kennedy anymore since he told me about Catalina; he was both for and against Katie & I, but I know it's just his protective instincts - he's like that with Vee too.

"Not a lot." I replied subtly. What kind of response was he expecting anyway?

"Does Evan know or even have a hunch about what you did with his sister?"

"How do you know what we did?" I asked him. I felt my cheeks warm up. Oh fuck no, that's gonna give too much away. It all came down to one thing: Vee and her stupid big gob.

"It doesn't matter how I know what happened Gare. Why did things get x-rated?"

He nudged my shoulder; making me feel like there was going to be a sequel to choking on the pizza slice. I didn't look at him, but I knew what type of smirk was on his face; only he could master that stupid look. I leaned my back against one of the walls by the archway, wiping my hands on my skinnys. I looked at him emotionless - he pretty much stopped his suggestive accusations after that.

"Even if it did, I wouldn't be gloating around to the guys that I got some" Ross and Shane looked at each other in awe. They probably think I'm some horn-dog now. I turned to the O'Callaghan brothers and assured them that I wasn't; but I'm sure that Kennedy doesn't and probably wouldn't believe me anyway.

Kenny looked to the ground and let out an exasperated laugh. He clearly wasn't taking my truth.

"Whether you hooked up with her or not, she's still pretty pissed off about something you would've done or even would've caused,"

"C'mon man, I'm not as bad as you think when it comes to girls. Katie's just paranoid because she lives with Vee." I said as confidently as I could.

I couldn't even believe myself.

Katie

It's quite possible I'm being paranoid about this; if I'm being honest, the old me more than likely wouldn't give the two cents about boy problems and would just let things play out the way fate wanted it to. "Arizona Katelynn"was revamped and a whole new person; if I was 13 years old again and someone told me I'd turn out this way, I probably wouldn't believe them. Garrett and I really haven't really acknowledged the fact we kissed; it was back to normal routine, but a part of me wants to believe it's only because Evan's here. And even though my brother's here and save for the fact to the rest of the world, we're just Katie & Garrett - the friends who love to hate each other, I would've thought that we would've snuck around and have one of those relationships that no one expects.

I'll admit that I've changed. Did Vee somehow brainwash me? Probably. Did Garrett giving me my first kiss on my birthday have something to do with it? Quite possibly yes.

Because this was the first time Aunt Madelynn & Craig saw Evan as a fully grown adult, they wanted to treat Evan and I to dinner since they probably wouldn't see him much again. We narrowed out the seafood place she took me to on my first day here and we ended up going to this Chinese restaurant that Craig apparently proposed to Aunt Madelynn at. Vee and Andy stayed home even though countless times Vee tried to persuade her mother to let her go, but they ended up ordering in and Craig bribed them with being able to buy one of the movies off their satellite box. In the end everybody won.

"It's such a shame that you two don't eat seafood. Your mother absolutely loved the stuff" said Aunt Madelynn whilst en-route to the restaurant applying an extra coat of velvet lipstick.

"It's not that we don't hate the stuff…it's just that our step-dad had this awful dish he made when he used to use the fish eyes as relish and it was truly just a tad awkward" Evan said. He was partially pre-occupied with the street signs and the lights out on the boulevard. Much like me, he was always fascinated about the places we were at; whether it was on the way to Brighton (of which he generally frequented) or whether it was here on the way to the Scottsdale Promenade.

"Oh yes, how is Kevin?" she spoke. She didn't know a whole lot about what happened back home, but she knew a lot about mum's horrible divorce and the lovely man who replaced him.

"Kev's wonderful. He's gone back to teaching."

Evan went into detail about how he's scored a full time-lecturing job at Oxford University - his dream position. Apparently he's been asking about me, which I adored about him. In all my years of existence, Kev's been the only one who's been a better father figure. We soon arrived at the Scottsdale Promenade and Craig spotted the restaurant. It was a bit of a walk towards the restaurant, but it was nothing with my brother by my side.
We walked past a water fountain as we passed through a small crowd. There was a strong urge just to run through it; the look on his face told me the same. When we were little, we often ran through as many as we saw; especially when we went on holiday - mum & Kevin really couldn't do much about it. Aunt Madelynn and Craig walked with linked arms in front of us, leaving us with some privacy.

"I bet you $10 American, by the end of the night, we'll have run through that a couple times" Evan laughed lightly. He stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets and sighed.
I tucked a strand of hair behind my hair. He's probably right, but I wouldn't give him that satisfaction.
"Is this the part where I'm meant to agree?" I said.

"There's no point denying that we'll run through it, Katelynn. Just accept it!" he wrapped his arm around my shoulder instantaneously pushing me into him.

"Do you ever think about coming back home?" he asked out of the blue. I won't lie, it did frequent my thoughts, but I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to return…now at least. If I didn't realise how much it'd affect my final years of high school, I'd probably go. That and the people I've met here. I really wanted to say yes and thankfully I did. I think if I didn't say yes, I'd have a lot of explaining to do. This was Evan - the one person on the planet who despite the distance and time zones accepted my phone calls at midnight UK time. If I lied to him, I'd be lying to myself.

"I can't just leave what I've got here Ev,"

"So if I asked you say a couple months ago, you would've packed your bags faster than I could say go?,"

"Probably," I laughed nervously. As a reflex, I learned to tug at the pick Garrett gave me. The only problem with that was I morphed from human being to tomato.

"Y'know sis? it never fails to amuse me how much you've grown…emotionally that is, I mean, you're still a little on the short side but that's just because you're 16. And another thing.." said Evan. Was the height thing not enough for him?

"Shoot?" I motioned for him to continue.

"I was 16 once and I too wooed girls with fancy jewellery…when I was dating them." he winked. I felt my cheeks flush. Shit. What does he know?

"That Garrett boy, he seems pretty decent"

Are we seriously having this conversation?

"Yeah..he's pretty nice," I said. I couldn't hide the little smile that appeared on my face. There was a line as to what I was actually going to tell my brother. Surely he could see right through me, but until I really have to, I won't be telling him about the kiss. I did tell him how we initially hated each other; he laughed in disbelief seeing as he saw that push Garrett gave me the other day that was a little too close for comfort.

When we got to the restaurant we were seated immediately. It was divided into three parts this restaurant: the basement, the main dining area and alfresco. Craig let Evan choose where we sat and in his words we 'sat where we can appreciate Arizona in all its' beauty'. If by all it's beauty he meant the heat that caused people to sweat copiously, then great…alfresco it was.

**

I don't know if its because I was brought up being close to whatever family I had, but when Evan brought up the mere subject of our step-siblings, it felt like someone punched me in the gut. India & Cassie were my 'dad's wonder daughters. Karissa is an angel, so it was only fitting her daughters inherit that trait and not turnout like their father. I know I should I hate my stepmum, but I don't and I've yet to find a reason to.

They were brought into topic when Evan was talking about how Karissa was saying that she'd love to have "Evan Sr.'s eldest children involved in their lives more". Completely disregarding the fact that my dad left my mum for her, I have to put my hands together for her...hospitality?

"Ironic right?!" Evan laughed when we arrived home. We sat at the dining table with a pint of Ben & Jerry's strawberry cheesecake ice cream that I think I'd probably marry if it wasn't an inanimate object. Taking turns, we continued to dig into the tub of heaven.

"Extremely," I chewed. Classy Katelynn, so full of class. "I mean, no offence Ev, but dad loves you so much and you're the freaking heir to his estate, I'd understand him wanting you there,but me?"

"We're you not listening you daft one?! Karissa wants us there, meaning dad had no say and will continue to have no say! You know what this means?"

"I can join the family tree again?" I replied daftly. I span the spoon around the tub while I waited eagerly for Evans reply.

"In a way, yes, but think of it in the bigger picture. The reason why I was asking you if you ever thought of coming back was because of this.."

"You want me to come back to the UK, don't you?"

The lights reflected in the eyes that were an exact replica of my own. He rubbed the back of his neck and his facial expression changed from confused to embarrassed.

"I've been speaking to a few lawyers, Katelynn,"

Emancipation or custody via Kevin?

"Um...I've been working on getting custody of you, for a while now actually. There's no actual proof of mistreatment so it's taking a bit longer." I didn't know what to do. I wanted to scream at him and with him. I looked over to the left and saw the Stephenson's watching a Fraiser marathon. They weren't paying attention, well much, at one stage Andy joined us but got bored. They loved their Fraiser, so there was no way we'd be interrupted.

"Is there anything else as major as this that you need to tell me?" I felt myself fuming inside. I love him with all my heart but this was huge and he was keeping this away from me? The fucking nerve.

"There was also another set back.."

He went into detail about how he had a run-in with the law about drug possession. I knew that he's been doing weed for a long time; it just never really affected me because the way I saw it, it was his life. Basically he failed the drug test and custody was, shock horror, not granted.

Just when I think Evan was my saving grace, I just found another reason why the men in my family are hopeless.

Evan was hopeless, but at least he tried.