Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

So Cold	By : willjames52 Category: Singers/Bands/Musicians > Kelly Clarkson Views: 7114 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. I do not profit monetarily from this work. I don't know Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.

Chapter List
- 1-So Cold
- 2-Ch 2
- 3-Ch 3
- 4-Ch 4
- 5-Ch 5
- 6-Ch 6
- 7-Ch 7
- 8-Ch 8
- 9-Ch 9
- 10-Ch 10
- 11-Ch 11
- 12-Ch 12
- 13-Ch 13
- 14-Ch 14
- 15-Ch 15
- 16-Ch 16
- 17-Ch 17
- 18-Ch 18 pt 1
- 19-Ch 18 pt 2
- 20-Ch 19
- 21-Ch 19 pt 2
- 22-Ch 20
- 23-Ch 21
- 24-Ch 22
- 25-Ch 23
- 13
- 14
- 15
It's always great to see what you guys thought of the chapter. Someone hinted at something, and I'll say: next chapter :)
I'm aware that sometimes my humor only appeals to me, so it was good to see that someone liked the paint scene. If there's any questions about this chapter, or the past ones, feel free to ask in the reviews.

Ch 14

Kelly bit her lip as she stared at her phone helplessly. She felt like Carrie was pulling away. The blonde had been quiet each time they got together over the past few days, and now Carrie had just canceled their lunch plans. Kelly didn’t know what had changed, but she couldn’t help but compare the change in Carrie’s behavior to some of her friends who had slowly but readily distanced themselves from her once she had told them that she was a lesbian.

Ashley continued to paint her nails, although she kept an eye on Kelly. A large grin had crossed Kelly’s face when the phone had rung, though over the course of a short conversation with Carrie, the smile had dimmed. Ashley had a feeling that Carrie wouldn’t be at lunch with them. “Are you going to sit there, or are you going to pick a color? You’re going to need time for your nails to dry before we leave to meet Carrie for lunch.” Ashley wouldn’t make Kelly talk, but she could try.

Kelly let her phone drop to her lap, and then she pulled the tray crammed with nail polish closer. “It’s just you, me and Jason. Carrie can’t leave the studio.” She leaned over and studied the names on the bottles so that she didn’t have to look at Ashley. Kelly didn’t want to think about the possibility that Carrie didn’t want to be her friend any longer, and she really couldn’t tell Ashley what she thought after Ashley’s insistence that Carrie was bad news. “One of the producers, I think, has to leave early or go out of town. I don’t know it doesn’t matter.”

Ashley could tell that Kelly had just lied to her. She would have been able to tell even if Kelly hadn’t answered, Kelly’s head was practically right on top of the nail polishes. Kelly rarely cared to read the names of the colors, and the other girl wasn’t blind. “That sucks; I was looking forward to seeing her.” Ashley capped her nail polish and set it aside as she judged her work. She deliberately looked over her nails instead of turning towards Kelly. “She didn’t say anything about the producer last night?”

Kelly grabbed the bottle of nail polish that she had chosen before the phone call while she thought about the night before. Carrie had been quiet all evening; the other girl had hardly started any conversations. When she had asked if there was something wrong, all the response she had gotten was that Carrie was ‘thinking’. “No, I think he must have told her when they got into the studio this morning.” Kelly held up the nail polish to end the line of questioning. “This one?”

Ashley blew on her nails and considered Kelly’s answers about Carrie and lunch. “Yeah, that one goes with your shirt. You know,” She sighed when Jason knocked on the door frame and barged into the room. Jason always had the worst timing when it came to girl talk. “We’re almost ready, though you can dial back the bodyguard attitude to eight. Carrie’s not joining us for lunch.” Ashley smiled when Jason gave her a dirty look for the comment.

Jason didn’t believe Ashley’s claim that Carrie couldn’t make it to lunch, so he looked over at Kelly for confirmation. “Nice, Ash, maybe I’ll just make sure that Kelly is covered at all times. Weren’t you just saying the other day about how much you wanted to go out? I’m sure there will be plenty of guys for you to pick from, and they’ll know how to take your picture.”

Kelly rolled her eyes at the reference to the paparazzi and the time they had joked on Jason that a paparazzo had asked Ashley out on a date. “Let it go. And before you ask, yes, Carrie isn’t coming with us. Apparently some director has to leave or whatever.” Kelly didn’t want the conversation to return to Carrie, so she needed to distract her brother.

Jason was surprised by the news; he would have thought that Carrie would have met with them anyway. “They’re going to work through lunch? That doesn’t make sense if it’s just a director, they could get someone else.” Jason knew that people didn’t just cancel; there had to be more to the story. “She said that she would come this morning.”

Kelly cursed when she got paint on her skin because of Jason’s reminder. “That changed when she got to the studio. Nothing we can do now.” Kelly grabbed a tissue and wiped at the mess she had made as she avoided Ashley’s gaze. She hadn’t realized that she had said director instead of producer until Jason had repeated the word. Kelly continued to curse because Ashley wouldn’t leave the slip up alone. She had to get Jason out of the room before Ashley asked why she had lied. “Go call ahead while we finish. We’ll be down when we’re ready.”

Jason had a feeling that Kelly had heard about his conversation with Carrie. His sister wouldn’t even look at him, and she had pretty much told him to get lost. “All right, you know where I’ll be.” Jason knew something wasn’t right, Kelly rarely had him call ahead, especially for something like lunch. He retreated to the door and waited in case Kelly had something else to say, though he tried to think about if he could be right about the talk with Carrie. Carrie and Kelly had been fine, and now Carrie had canceled after telling the both of them they were on for lunch earlier.

Ashley didn’t know what to think of the way Jason paled, or the way he nearly ran from the doorway. “He’s so strange sometimes.” She shook her head and laughed as she thought about the conversation. She wouldn’t bring up the fact that Kelly had lied again, she couldn’t solve whatever was wrong if she angered Kelly. “You would think the guy would give them more notice, especially with Carrie’s schedule.” Ashley froze when a new thought came to mind. Carrie hadn’t canceled lunch until after Jason had mentioned the plans. “She knew we were going too, right?”

Kelly didn’t see how Ashley’s question related to her lying, but she answered anyway since she needed time to figure out how much she wanted to tell her best friend about Carrie’s recent behavior. If they were going to have a personal talk, then she decided it was best to confide what she could. “I didn’t exactly have a chance to tell her that you two had changed your minds, but yeah, Jason mentioned it when he picked me up this morning. Can you do this? I’m just not in the mood to mess with this.” Kelly held the bottle out for Ashley to take, and then she set her hands on Ashley’s leg so that the other girl could paint her nails easily. She was glad that Jason wouldn’t overhear and somehow turn this into another sign that she and Carrie were dating.

Ashley wasn’t sure how Jason fit into this whole scenario, but he had been disturbed by something before he left; and Kelly had confirmed that Carrie hadn’t been aware that they would be at lunch until Jason had opened his mouth. She wondered if he had said something to Carrie that had upset the country singer. Ashley gingerly held Kelly’s hand with her own as she resumed painting her friend’s nails. She glanced up from her work when Kelly let out a frustrated sigh. “What? I only asked because… why didn’t you tell her we would be at lunch last night?” Ashley couldn’t believe she had glossed over that small fact because of Jason’s reaction.

Kelly licked her lips as she stared down at her nails. She still hadn’t decided how much to tell Ashley, and now she knew that Ashley had at least puzzled out part of the problem. “She’s been busy thinking about something the past few days.” Kelly quickly glanced at Ashley to see her best friend’s reaction. Ashley’s face was expressionless for the most part, maybe a trace of curiosity. “She’s been really quiet about whatever it is. I’m kinda worried. At least before we were still hanging out, but today,” Kelly hoped that Ashley could come up with a better reason for Carrie’s behavior than her own conclusion that it had something to do with the events preceding Carrie’s silence.

Ashley let go of Kelly’s hand and motioned for the other girl to raise the unpainted one. “Today she canceled on you.” She had softly completed the unfinished sentence to try to spur Kelly to speak, though her plan didn’t work. “Maybe she’s worried about the album?” Ashley still didn’t see how Jason fit into the whole scenario. She could ask him later. Right now, she wanted to find out why Kelly was so nervous about their conversation. “She didn’t give any kind of hint?”

Kelly shook her head and tried not to think about how it could be her fault for Carrie’s behavior. She didn’t think she had done anything to make Carrie uncomfortable. “She could be upset about the thing with Hayden.” Kelly didn’t believe her excuse though; something would have come up in the media by now. “Or Carrie could be upset because of me.” She had to phrase everything carefully so Ashley wouldn’t get angry with Carrie. Kelly didn’t want to have Ashley quit being friends with Carrie. It would be so much worse if she lost Carrie as a friend and had to listen to Ashley trash the blonde again. “I might have maybe checked her out a few times?”

“You might have checked her out a few times?” Ashley snickered at Kelly’s reticence although she quickly adopted a somber expression. “Kelly, she went on a date with you. I think you checking her out wouldn’t register really. I’m sure it’s something with her album.” Ashley’s opinion of Carrie had increased each time she spoke with the blonde. Moreover, after hearing the details from Jason about how Carrie had handled Hayden, Ashley had a certain respect for Carrie, though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone. She could have tried harder to convince Kelly that Carrie wasn’t bothered by occasional glances, but she knew Kelly would end the talk if she was too serious.

Kelly might have been able to accept Ashley’s suggestion if it hadn’t been for a few events recently. She bit her lip and debated on if she should just forget about her thoughts. “She- I think she knew I wanted to kiss her when we were out at the bar.” Kelly checked her friend’s face again, but it was as impassive as ever. “She got really embarrassed when she realized how her dancing affected me. I thought we had gotten over that though, but then the stuff with Hayden came up and she got so angry. It was confusing. Carrie’s been really quiet since the meeting. It’s like…”

Ashley slowly drew out her task as Kelly sighed deeply. If Kelly wanted to talk about Carrie, then she would listen; although she thought Kelly was wrong about Carrie. She was certainly around Carrie less than Kelly was, but Ashley hadn’t seen any changes in the way Carrie treated Kelly. Ashley capped the nail polish for a moment and stared at the nails she had painted. She didn’t know how many delays she could come up with before she had to finish. “Has it crossed your mind that she might not have wanted to go out to lunch with Jason and me?” If Kelly wouldn’t talk about whatever was so confusing, Ashley could reassure her about lunch at least.

Kelly stared at Ashley stupidly for a few moments as she considered the possibility, ultimately though she looked down at her hands to hide her renewed sadness. A problem with Jason and Ashley didn’t explain Carrie’s behavior for the last four days. “No, because she’s been thinking about whatever has been bothering her ever since the thing with Hayden. I just don’t get it, Ash. Carrie was really angry over what he said about me, and then the next day it was like wham, silence girl had taken over. The only thing that makes sense is that I did something.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow at Kelly’s interpretation of the events. “I don’t think Hayden has anything to do with how you think Carrie’s acting.” Ashley held onto Kelly’s hand a bit more tightly when her friend started to pull away, and then she went back to painting Kelly’s nails. “You said it yourself, you’re confused. Carrie’s not confused. She’s probably thinking about directions for the album, or stuff that happened in the studio.” Ashley wouldn’t say that she had told Kelly this would happen, but she had said that it would be difficult for Kelly to be friends with Carrie.

“I’m not making up her silence, Ashley.” Kelly really wanted to jerk her hand away from her friend. She wanted to get up and leave the room so that she didn’t have to think about Carrie’s behavior. At the same time though, Kelly needed someone to talk to, even if Ashley thought she was making things up in her head. “It’s not normal for her to be so quiet around me. She’s trying to decide something. I’ve seen her do it before, she’s got this whole process. First, there’s the knee jerk reaction, then she gets quiet while she works the problem out in her head, taking everything into consideration, and then she comes to a conclusion. She was quiet around me, so I’m involved somehow. It’s not that hard to figure out that her canceling lunch was the conclusion part.”

Ashley finished Kelly’s last nail and reluctantly released her friend’s hand. “Don’t move, they need to dry.” She eyed Kelly for a moment, and then she allowed herself to concentrate on the best way to get Kelly to see that Carrie wasn’t upset by Kelly’s sexuality. Ashley wasn’t surprised that Kelly had noticed the way Carrie dealt with matters; the singers spent most of their free time together. It would be strange if Kelly and Carrie hadn’t picked up on each other’s traits. However, she thought Kelly had misconstrued Carrie’s feelings after the encounter with Hayden because Kelly was having trouble with her own feelings the deeper the friendship became. Ashley started to organize the tray of nail polishes as lackadaisically as she could to keep Kelly calm. “She doesn’t have a problem with your sexuality. It’s your feelings for her that are changing, that is what’s confusing you. The more time you spend with her, the more you want to be more than friends.“

Kelly opened her mouth to object, but she knew anything she said would be a lie. “So why are you denying that she’s pulling away? If my feelings are so obvious to you, they’re obvious to her, and now she’s pulling away.” Kelly looked up at her friend; she wanted to dare Ashley to say otherwise, but she didn’t think it could be done. She just looked at Ashley sadly. Kelly knew it shouldn’t matter if she lost Carrie as a friend, not after the way her life had gone. She had been through enough difficult phases of her life to know it was useless to be concerned with people who negatively affected her, but Carrie was different. “I don’t want to lose her friendship.”

Ashley carefully leaned over and hugged Kelly when she saw the fear and uncertainty in the other girl’s eyes. “I know you like her. Hell, you liked her when you barely knew her, of course your feelings changed once you guys started spending so much time together.” She pulled back from the hug when Kelly didn’t respond. “But I really don’t think that Carrie knows, and I’m positive that she isn’t upset with you.” One look at Kelly’s tearful eyes was more than she needed to see that Kelly didn’t believe her. She had hoped she wouldn’t have to tell Kelly about the things Hayden had said, but she thought should. If Kelly knew what she assumed to be part of the reason for Carrie’s silence, then Kelly could accept that the rest of the behavior was most likely about the album. The topic wouldn’t help with Kelly’s feelings for Carrie, but it could help Kelly see that Carrie wasn’t pulling away. “I need to tell you some things that Hayden said, Kel.”
****

Carrie made sure she had the dessert dish firmly in one hand, and then she closed the door to her car and locked the vehicle. She could hear shouts from Kelly’s backyard and she momentarily wondered if she should just go to the fence instead of to the front door. Carrie headed to the front of the house since she had to put the dessert in the fridge soon. She, Kelly, Jason and Ashley were having dinner together to make up for the canceled lunch the day before. Carrie let her hand fall back down to her side as the front door to Kelly’s house suddenly swung back to reveal Ashley. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure that anyone was inside.”

Ashley stepped aside as Carrie walked into the house. “I thought I heard a car pull up while I was out back.” She closed the door and locked it once more while she thought of how Carrie would have been left out on the front step for quite awhile if she hadn’t heard the other girl over Kelly and Jason’s juvenile argument. “Jason and Kelly are outside, as I’m sure you and the rest of the neighborhood has heard.” Ashley grinned and thought about how she would have to tease Kelly for being anxious that Carrie might back out of their dinner plans, despite the fact that Kelly had been the one to call Carrie and ask the blonde to come over.

Carrie was glad to see that Ashley hadn’t gone back to hating her because of the canceled plans. She hadn’t been sure how Ashley would react exactly, but there had been a tiny part of her that thought Ashley would dislike her again. Carrie smiled and joined in on the gentle teasing of the siblings. “Should I put dessert in the fridge, or just go out back hand it over to them now?”

The joke, along with Carrie’s general bearing, sufficiently reassured Ashley that she had done the right thing the previous day when she had stuck up for Carrie against Kelly’s insecurities. Ashley took the covered dish from Carrie and headed back to the kitchen. “Are you kidding? I’m going to hide it before that damn Clarkson gene kicks in that lets them know there’s sugar in the house.”

Carrie quietly chuckled at the joke while they made their way to the kitchen. “Quick, there’s still hope since they’re outside.” She waited at the entrance to the kitchen while Ashley stored the dessert for later. Carrie wasn’t in a rush to run outside and talk to Jason, even though she had gotten over her shock at Jason’s belief that she and Kelly were dating. If Kelly couldn’t convince Jason that he was mistaken, then she knew that she couldn’t either; it was best to just forget.

Ashley asked Carrie what the girl wanted to drink, and then she grabbed a bottle of water before she closed the door to the fridge. As she handed the drink over, she noticed that Carrie hadn’t tried to go out to the backyard or asked if they should go out back. She watched Carrie for a few moments and determined that it was probably the best time to talk to Carrie without Kelly or Jason overhearing. “I wasn’t sure that you would be able to make it since you had to cancel lunch yesterday. Kelly said something about your producer leaving early?”

Carrie leaned against the wall at the reminder of her producer. “Yeah, he had a family emergency and had to leave the state. We had a working lunch to make sure everyone was on the same page before he left; what with me almost being done with my vocals.” Carrie sipped her water and tried not to think about how her producer had practically told her how to sing the remaining songs because of the way he wanted to mix them. She had helped write the songs; they were more her vision than his, so she had been chafed at the man’s need to leave her directions in his absence.

Ashley had to bite her lip so that she didn’t grin at the confirmation of her thoughts. “I’m sorry to hear about you losing him for awhile, but I guess it’s good that it happened now when your part is mostly done.” She smiled when Carrie nodded again, although she really wanted to laugh because she could see how Kelly had gotten the wrong idea about Carrie’s silence. “Before you get into how much you want to strangle your producer, could I talk to you for a few minutes about Kelly?”

Carrie straightened and motioned for Ashley to go on with her conversation. She wondered if Jason had told Ashley about their talk, though she knew it could be a number of things that the other girl had to tell her. She tried to hide her curious looks as Ashley seemed to hesitate. Carrie capped her water and tried to steel herself for whatever Ashley was about to say. With the way her week had started off, she could only hope that maybe Ashley wanted to talk one on one about something inconsequential.

Ashley rolled her eyes when she saw the way Carrie tensed up; if she didn’t like Carrie as much as she did, she would laugh. “Chill, silent one. I’m not about to go off on you. I want to talk about how quiet you’ve been actually.” Ashley giggled at the perplexed expression on Carrie’s face. “Not with me, with Kelly. She’s been confused by the way you have been acting lately, and I thought I would bring it up to you so that you can make it right with her.”

Carrie had no idea what Ashley was talking about, and she had to wonder if Jason and Ashley had contrived some plot to drive her insane by confusing the shit out of her. “What are you talking about? I haven’t been acting any particular way. How did I confuse her?” Carrie stared when it crossed her mind that Ashley might be trying to help her out, though that was almost as startling as her first thought. “Is this about us dancing, because I thought we had cleared that up?”

Ashley gave Carrie an annoyed look because the blonde had missed the ‘silent’ part of her words. “No, it’s not about the thing at the bar. Kelly’s confused because of the way you went off on Hayden and then the next day clamed up on her.” Ashley was relieved to see that Carrie understood her this time. She didn’t know how she could have explained Kelly’s confusion another way without revealing Kelly’s feelings. She also didn’t plan to tell Carrie that she had told Kelly the things Hayden had said; if she did, then Ashley didn’t think Carrie would talk to Kelly.

Carrie let out a short laugh because at the start of the conversation Ashley had seemed semi grave. “Why? I told her about the producer; and she knows how the end of recording is. Does she want me to hang out with her more?” Carrie tried not to laugh as she thought about how Jason would probably think she was trying to get Kelly to move in with her if they spent any more time together. It had also occurred to her that Jason must have thought Ashley and Kelly had been together at some point if he thought she was dating Kelly. Carrie smirked when her mind conjured up an image of Ashley laughing her ass off at Jason’s incorrect assumption.

Ashley resisted the urge to shout out that she had been right. If she weren’t concerned about Kelly’s feelings, she would have the same smirk on her face that Carrie had at the moment. “It’s not about how much time you spend with her, Carrie. She is worried because you were quiet.” Ashley opened the fridge up and grabbed a bottle of water for herself while Carrie thought about her words. “Kelly kept talking about how you have this process, and she thought you were upset by the thing with Hayden. It didn’t occur to her that it was music keeping you preoccupied.”

Carrie was surprised to hear that Kelly had taken so much from her silence, though she was more disturbed by Ashley talking about her behavior than the fact that Kelly had picked up on what her silence meant. “My silence confused her.” Carrie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do to correct Kelly’s opinion, or at least, what Ashley wanted her to do to fix the problem. “I’ll talk to her. I mean now that I know I could just talk more, but that would probably confuse her worse.” Carrie had a feeling that there was more to the conversation, to Kelly’s confusion, and Ashley’s cautious questions made her feel even more defensive than if Ashley had just yelled at her again.

Ashley nearly choked on her water when she turned away from the fridge to see the way Carrie was staring at her. The blonde’s face was neutral, it was the wary look in Carrie’s eyes that surprised her. She had thought the conversation would be easy to direct with the way Carrie had been so slow to understand her at first. Ashley wondered if Carrie hadn’t already known that Kelly was confused. Carrie had pointed out that the singers had still spent time together, so how could Carrie be blind to Kelly’s feelings. “I just thought you would want to know that Kelly’s been confused, that's all.”

Carrie didn’t let herself react when Ashley mentioned Kelly’s confusion again since the other girl was agreeing with her. Still, Carrie felt as if Ashley had purposely lulled her into a false sense of security. It seemed like Ashley was talking about Kelly having feelings for her, and Carrie felt her anger level rise that yet another person was trying to imply something about Kelly. Jason obviously wanted his sister to be happy. Hayden was a jerk. Carrie didn’t get why Ashley was doing this to her again, although she calmed down a little when she realized that Ashley wasn’t blaming her this time. “I’ll talk with Kelly about what’s been going on.”

Ashley hadn’t expected an answer really; she simply wanted Carrie to talk to Kelly. However, Carrie’s response was just cold and indifferent enough to make her think about how Carrie had probably noticed that something was going on with Kelly. She wanted to talk around the subject,and see what Carrie would say if she asked enough questions, but she didn’t think Carrie would indulge her curiosity for long. “Great.” Ashley smiled and waited to see if Carrie would say anything else, to see if the blonde wanted to talk to her, but Carrie didn’t speak.

Carrie remained quiet as she thought about their conversation. She didn’t have to do anything, because Ashley didn’t stay in the kitchen but for another moment. Carrie assumed that Ashley’s words were a friendly warning; there hadn’t been any shouting anyway. She watched as Ashley left her behind to go join Kelly and Jason outside, and Carrie couldn’t help but wonder if it was too late to go back to her house. She shook her head and mumbled to herself as she made her way to the backyard. “Wasn’t this supposed to be the relaxing part of my day?”
****

Kelly looked at the store with a small smile on her face while Carrie locked the car. “I thought you were lying when you said we were shopping for the dogs.” Kelly chuckled to herself; she really should have known that Carrie wouldn’t lie, not after the hockey game outing anyway. Kelly glanced at Carrie and reminded herself that the blonde wasn’t pulling away; it was just her imagination. They hadn’t been able to spend time together since the dinner, but Carrie had called her everyday to talk, which had been a relief and let Kelly believe Ashley’s claim that Carrie was just busy.

Carrie couldn’t think of a retort to the comment because of Kelly’s demeanor. On the ride over, Kelly had been quiet; it was disconcerting given Kelly’s talkative nature, so she walked over and confidently took the other girl by the hand. Carrie didn’t feel very confident, but she knew Kelly would like the contact. “I want to get Ace some things, and I thought you’d have fun too. God knows you’re always joking on me for the stuff I buy him, this ought to entertain you for a week.”

Kelly felt her smile waver for a brief moment before she got herself together and smiled largely. She couldn’t believe that she had let herself get so discouraged over Carrie’s silence. She knew how much stuff Carrie had to do while recording, and still she had let her insecurities get the best of her. Kelly tightened her grip on Carrie’s hand as the blonde led them to the store. “You only brought me because you think I might buy more stuff than you since I have more dogs.”

Carrie shook her head at the gentle teasing; she was glad that whatever had affected Kelly on the ride had ended. “Even if you did, I know it won’t stop you from joking on me.” She smiled and moved ahead of Kelly so that she could go into the store first. Carrie was excited to get the chance to shop for Ace, she felt bad for the amount of time he’d had to spend stuck in the house the past week. “Come on, I’ve been looking forward to this since we decided to come here.”

When Kelly saw the look of happiness in Carrie’s eyes as her friend took in all the different items in the store, she stopped herself from making another joke. She was just happy that Carrie had wanted to spend the time with her since it was Carrie’s first whole day off in a week. Kelly glanced around the store as Carrie started to babble about something or other; she had thought they were going to a pet store, but the place they were in could be considered a mall for dogs since it had every imaginable accessory. Kelly shuddered when she noticed a whole section of clothing.

Carrie quit talking about seeing the toy that she had been waiting on to come in, when she saw the owner of the store come over to them. She grinned at the man, and then gave him a quick hug when greeted them. Before Charlie could ask them if they needed help, Carrie spoke up; otherwise she and Charlie could end up in a very long conversation which would have defeated the purpose of bringing Kelly with her. “We’re gonna look around for a bit. She needs to shop too.”

Kelly reluctantly gave the man a tiny wave when Carrie mentioned her to the guy her friend had called Charlie. She kept her smile on her face until Carrie led her away from the man, only then did she let her incredulous expression show. “He called you by your name. You’re on a first name basis with the staff?” She couldn’t imagine how long Carrie would have to spend in the store for the people to know her so well, especially since she knew Carrie probably couldn’t come in too often because of touring and promoting. “You probably know the owner too.”

Carrie blushed heavily at Kelly’s amazed tone because the look on the other girl’s face conveyed how ridiculous Kelly thought she was. “Whatever, Ace is my baby. He should get to be spoiled.” Carrie turned away and wandered off so that Kelly couldn’t see her red cheeks, though she still heard it when Kelly laughed and called her a dork. She decided to change the topic before Kelly could tease her some more. “So my producer called last night. He said he probably won’t be back in town for another week, and then he spent twenty minutes telling me how to sing. I feel sorry for his uncle.”

Kelly made her way over to Carrie and looked at the outfit in front of the other girl. “His uncle is sick?” Kelly congratulated herself for not commenting on the outfit that had apparently grabbed Carrie’s attention. Somehow, she didn’t think Ace would want to run around in a mini jogging suit.

“Yeah he’s sick, but I feel sorry for the guy because Mark didn’t bother to leave the hospital room during the call.” Carrie snickered even though she wasn’t happy that the producer had managed her over the phone for no real reason. “That’s Mark though; always doing what he thinks is best. He’s driving everyone nuts, wanting us to get everything perfect and then send him the tracks.” Carrie only talked about the man so that she could subtly bring the conversation around to the things Ashley had brought to her attention.

Kelly thought over the information as Carrie moved down the aisle and perused other outfits. She almost wanted to get her phone out and call Ashley, to tell her best friend that Carrie had been busy with work like Ashley had thought. Instead, Kelly followed Carrie and smiled as the blonde continued to talk about how annoying Mark was and all the extra work and time everyone went through because of the man. She didn’t want Carrie to be overworked, but it did make her feel better. “You’re going to be exhausted by the time he gets back.”

Carrie shrugged her shoulders, and then she randomly grabbed one of the outfits. “I’ll have plenty of time off after the album is finished. I do want to thank you though.” She held up the outfit for Kelly’s opinion, and it was only then that she saw that she had picked up a dog version of a baseball jersey. Carrie quickly put the outfit back before Kelly could make some wisecrack. “What I was saying was that I know I’ve been out of sorts because of this thing with Mark leaving, and I’m sure I’ve been lacking in the friend department with you. Is there a way I can make it up to you?”

Kelly would have joked on Carrie for the baseball outfit if the girl hadn’t just expressed concern for her feelings. She felt guilty that she had ever thought Carrie had been pulling away when it was clear that Carrie had been worried about her feelings. She knew better than to assume, and she had gone and done it anyway. “You don’t have to worry about making it up to me, I know you’re busy.” Kelly looked away from Carrie before she could do something completely girl-y, like cry or something else just as preposterous and non-friend like. “Things like this are good.”

“I’ll just make sure we always go shopping for Ace on the weekends then.” Carrie smiled and patiently waited for Kelly to continue with the topic or her joke. She bit her lip when Kelly weakly chuckled and avoided looking her general direction. She wouldn’t want to get into a serious conversation in public either, but she didn’t think she should hastily switch topics without doing something to reassure Kelly. Carrie ignored her usual disdain for public affection and hugged Kelly. After a few moments, she grinned and pulled away, determined to make light of the situation. “Now, where’s the smile that makes mine and everyone else’s day?”

Kelly had to laugh at Carrie exaggeration; there was no way she could feel despondent when Carrie tried so hard to make her feel better. “You’re crazy.” She hit Carrie’s shoulder as she continued to laugh, though she immediately made up for her comment with a hug.

Carrie wasn’t prepared for the second hug, so it took her a couple moments to return the embrace. She was relieved that none of her friends were around to joke on her; they definitely wouldn’t have let her live down her corny joke to make Kelly smile. Carrie patted Kelly’s back since the girl hadn’t let go. “The point was to get you to smile, not hug me.”

Kelly shyly smiled and ended the hug before Carrie could complain again. She didn’t apologize, because she had needed the extra hug, though she knew Carrie was too much of a tomboy to tolerate the display of emotion for long. “Shut up. One hug isn’t going to ruin your cool reputation. You can be bitchy Carrie tomorrow, okay?” Kelly had to laugh when Carrie just stared at her.

Carrie had a smartass comment ready, but she forgot it when she noticed the look in Kelly’s eyes. She really hadn’t noticed that something had been off in the other singer’s smile, though now she saw the gleam of happiness in Kelly’s eyes and recognized that it was because of her. She automatically smiled back. In the next instant though, she placed her own feelings inspired by Kelly’s smile, accomplishment and happiness; feelings she got after cheering up her past boyfriends, and Carrie froze. She rubbed her neck self-consciously as she tried to ignore the terrified feeling that swept over her. She didn’t like women; she was attracted to men. Carrie could feel herself begin to panic, which she absolutely could not let happen in public.

Kelly didn’t know what to think when Carrie grabbed her by the hand and dragged her halfway across the store. She had to walk quickly to keep up with Carrie’s longer strides. "You better not be dragging me across the store for some outfit. I don’t care how much you love Ace, there’s hardly anyone else in here to pick up whatever has you freaking running across the store.” Kelly shook her head when Carrie finally stopped and stared at her before pointing out some kind of stuffed toy. If she didn’t like Carrie so much, she would so make fun of the blonde.

Carrie stupidly stared at the toy in front of her as she tried to make sense of her chaotic thoughts. She had never looked at a girl in a lustful manner, and she had never thought of Kelly in a romantic sense. Carrie wondered what the hell had happened that had made her think of Kelly in the same context as her exes. “It’s a toy; he’s supposed to chew on it.” Carrie had no idea what was coming out of her mouth. She just needed to talk and focus on something familiar.

Kelly started to say that Carrie didn’t have to sell her on the toy, but Carrie wouldn’t stop long enough for her to add anything to the conversation. For a split second, she wondered if maybe she had made one joke too many about Ace and the way Carrie babied him, though she thought it was more likely that Carrie just needed to vent after a long week in the studio. Kelly thought about interrupting her friend, in the end though, she remained quiet and let Carrie babble.

Carrie knew she was close freaking out, and that couldn’t happen. The thing that nearly made her throw up wasn’t her fear, or the million questions in her head at the moment, but that she didn’t want to freak out because it would hurt Kelly. Carrie swayed in place at the realization. She couldn’t deny that it would hurt her to hurt Kelly. She was brought out of her thoughts when Kelly’s grip on her hand tightened. Carrie took a deep breath and looked at the other singer as she talked herself down. Carrie didn’t let herself think, she just focused on Kelly and hoped that she could get through with the rest of the shopping without saying something she would regret.
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So Cold