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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
- 1
- 2
- 3
I'm glad that you guys like the story so far. I know the first chapter was a little short, so this chapter is a bit longer :) And about the title, lol, I was just listening to Breaking Benjamin's "So Cold" when I posted the story. It kinda described the first few chapters, so I went with it instead of the working title I had been using.

Ch 2

Kelly buckled her seatbelt and ignored her best friend’s ramblings. She didn’t want to talk about the paparazzi that had waited outside the restaurant to take photos of them. She wasn’t angry about the inconvenience; Nashville had fewer paparazzi than L.A., and she wasn’t angry with Ashley. Kelly just wanted to go back to the house and forget about the occurrence.

Ashley talked as she drove through the parking lot. “Magazine or website?” She glanced at Kelly while she pulled out of the parking lot. She had already said that she thought the pictures would end up on some website somewhere. She was curious if Kelly would give the question any consideration. “You know you want to guess. Maybe there’s some Nashville version of TMZ.”

Kelly chuckled at Ashley’s attempts to talk about the press. “I don’t care where as long as it stays low key.”

"Low key?” Ashley raised her eyebrow at the comment, because they both knew that there wasn’t anything normal about people who followed you around and took your picture.

Kelly watched the scenery pass them as Ashley navigated the car towards the house she had purchased. “You know what I mean. Nashville is not like L.A.” She smiled a little as Ashley agreed with her. “It’s not as intrusive.” Kelly didn’t mind the amount of time she would spend in Nashville since it almost reminded her of home once they were out of the main part of the city.

"You mean yet.” Ashley turned her head towards Kelly and studied her friend’s face now that she didn’t have to worry about too much traffic. Kelly didn’t agree or correct her. “Don’t tell me that you’re optimistic?” Ashley was surprised when Kelly smiled widely at her. “That’s a first.”

Kelly laughed at the comment because it was rare. “Hey, just because I’m trying to be positive about this doesn’t mean that I haven’t thought about what we would do if paparazzi suddenly descended on Tennessee-”

"Descended? Really? What are they going to come down on UFO’s or something?” Ashley laughed at the word choice and looked back at the road.

"You know what I meant.” Kelly folded her arms across her chest while Ashley’s laughter slowed. “Jason thinks that we should go back home if the press gets too bad, and I agree. The promotion is going to be hard enough, but so long as it stays at about this level here, I think it will be fine. Narvel and Reba are here. It’s also a big enough-"

Ashley reached out and held onto Kelly’s hand so that her friend would stop. “You know you don’t have to defend your decision to me, or explain why. I’m just glad that you think so too.” She grinned when Kelly pouted. “Stop being such a baby. It’s okay to not think everything is going to blow up in your face.”

"Why are you calling me a baby if you’re happy that I’m being optimistic?” Kelly lightly knocked Ashley’s hip. “Make up your mind woman. No wonder you don’t have a steady boyfriend. Way to break those indecisive and flighty stereotypes for women.” Kelly shifted towards the door when Ashley blindly hit out at her. “Are you trying to prove them now?” Kelly laughed and blocked her friend’s hand as Ashley called her names.
****

Ashley shut the car door for Kelly since the singer had a bag of lunch that they had brought back for Jason. “I still think she isn’t as goody goody as she seems.”

Kelly rolled her eyes and started the walk up the drive to the house. “Please. You’re just mad because you were wrong about her.” They had begun to talk about the upcoming party, and somehow the conversation had turned to Carrie. “I don’t get why you’re so mad.”

Ashley hurried up the walkway past Kelly before the brunette could decide to try to balance the bag of food and unlock the front door. She didn’t want to hear Jason complain if they dropped his lunch, though it would serve him right for his choice to stay behind. “I’m not mad. I just think that you shouldn’t be so willing to forget what she did to you.”

Kelly didn’t look in Ashley’s direction, she just walked through the doorway and went on to the kitchen so that she could be rid of the bag. She didn’t understand why Ashley had such a problem with Carrie. It wasn’t that Ashley hadn’t explained the feelings well. Ashley had made herself perfectly clear on the Carrie subject a few times. “Weren’t you the one saying that it was a good thing that I was more optimistic? That was you in the car, right?”

Ashley opened her mouth to let Kelly know that she did not think it was fair of Kelly to use her words against her, but she closed her mouth when she saw that Jason was also in the kitchen. “Hey, procrastinator. You missed getting your picture snapped.”

“What?” Jason set down the morning paper and looked at the two girls that had just walked into the kitchen. “What’s she talking about, Kel?” He had gotten in late the night before because he had gone back to the house in Texas to check on everything.

Kelly sat down in the seat next to Jason, and then she handed him the lunch that they had brought back. “Forget about it. There were a couple paparazzi outside after we finished lunch. It was no big though, they were nice.”

Jason frowned because of Kelly’s nice comment. Kelly was the one who was too nice for her own good. “Did you guys have any problems handling them?” He pulled the to go box out of the bag and opened it up, so that he could center his attention on his meal and not on something that he couldn’t change.

“No problems, though it would have been nice to have you along.” Kelly patted her brother’s arm and smiled before she propped her feet up on the chair next to her. “They weren’t mean or anything. They just took some photos and video, asked how we were doing.” Kelly wanted to talk about something other than how Ashley felt about Carrie’s maybe appearance at her upcoming party. “Though I think one hit on Ashley.”

Ashley silently laughed as she sat down in a chair across from the brother and sister. No one had talked to her; the paparazzi had focused on Kelly. “Yeah, thanks for the protection, Jase. Now I’ve got a date with some hillbilly wannabe photographer.” Ashley struggled to keep her irritated expression while she watched Jason sputter. “Hope the sleep was worth it.”

Jason blinked a couple times, his plastic fork poised above the stack of pancakes the girls had brought back for them, as he tried to convince himself that it was a joke. He set his fork down and stood. “Who was it? I’ll go straighten him out.” Jason looked at Kelly when Ashley sighed disgustedly. “Tell me. I don’t want them thinking that it’s okay to come up-"

Kelly took a deep breath, but her laughter escaped anyway. She held her stomach and tried to tell her brother that it was a joke, though she couldn’t get more than the first syllable out.

Jason stared at Kelly in confusion until Ashley laughed at him too. “You two!” He went back to his lunch and packed it up; he ignored that they laughed harder at him for his reaction. “The two of you are just wrong.” Jason picked his food up and looked at Ashley. “Next time you get through the crowds on your own. And you,” He smiled at Kelly because he knew just how to get back at his sister for her laughter. “I’m coming to your next party. I want to see you pick someone up while I’m around.”

Ashley hadn’t stopped when Jason had said he would leave her to the crowds, in fact, her laughter grew louder when she saw Kelly’s priceless expression to Jason’s announcement. “Oh, I wish I had my camera right now.”

“It was a joke!” Kelly didn’t even want to think about how overbearing Jason could be at the party if he kept his word. She turned to Ashley, so that her friend would do something, but Jason left the room. “That’s not funny! I will so tell you the wrong time!” Kelly slouched down in her seat and mumbled to herself about how wrong Jason was. “I blame you if he does it.”

Ashley bit her lip so that she couldn’t laugh any more, but Kelly’s posture made it difficult at first. Since they had known each other, her best friend had always mumbled and pulled the crossed arms attitude when perturbed. “And I’ll kiss him if he does.” Ashley’s struggle to contain her laughter when Kelly’s expression turned to one of disgust. She wouldn’t kiss Jason. It had been years since she had considered Jason to be one of her friends, if not more of a brother, than a guy.

Kelly reflexively swallowed a few times when her brain accidentally imagined the scenario of her brother and Ashley. “Way to make me lose my lunch. I’m leaving before you can say something even grosser than,” Kelly stood up as her head accidentally pictured it again. “I can’t even say it.” She made her way to the door, but she heard Ashley’s laughter follow. “No! You stay there! I don’t need any more ideas about the two of you!”

Ashley caught Kelly by the hand and dragged her reluctant friend back to the table. “I’ll stop. You know I was teasing you.” She chuckled quietly when Kelly stared at her and took a seat. “It could have been worse. I could have said-"

“Stop it now!” Kelly covered her ears before she could hear whatever had been about to come out of Ashley’s mouth. “I’m never getting you anything with sugar in it ever again.” Kelly cautiously placed her hands down on the table when Ashley stared at her without so much as a laugh. “Thank you. Let’s talk about something else. Anything that doesn’t involve you and,”

Ashley chuckled when Kelly shuddered, although she shut up when Kelly glared at her. Now was the perfect time to go back to their previous topic. “So… are you still going to invite your new bitchtastic friend? I mean Carrie?” She smiled because she knew Kelly wouldn’t not say something because of her words; and that meant Kelly couldn’t try to change the subject.

Kelly warily glanced at Ashley as she considered her response. She had thought the topic had been successfully avoided because of Jason’s presence, but apparently that wasn’t the case. “I wouldn’t have guessed that would be your choice. I mean you were only talking badly about her as soon as I brought up the party.”

"No defense of her this time.” Ashley smiled when Kelly gave her an eye roll. “Maybe you’re finally getting that I’m right about her. It only took what? A week of me saying that she’s no good?”

Kelly held in her first reaction to Ashley’s remarks, but she couldn’t let it go that her friend had insulted Carrie again. “She’s not a bitch. You’re wrong about her, Ash. She apologized-"

"She said she wanted to come to your party.” Ashley was the one to roll her eyes this time. “She’s nice and good, blah, blah, blah." Ashley had to bite her lip when Kelly glowered but didn’t speak. She didn’t want to laugh, she just wanted to help Kelly. “Maybe she really is nice, maybe you did catch her on a bad day.” Ashley shrugged her shoulders diplomatically when Kelly looked at her expectantly. She wouldn’t lie. “But she’s still a bitch to me because of how she treated you.”

Kelly sighed because of Ashley’s obstinate attitude. She knew her friend only had her best interested in mind; though that didn’t make it any easier to talk with Ashley about Carrie. “You’re being stubborn. How many times would our friendship have been over if either one of us hadn’t let go of our big fights? I just want to give Carrie the same chance I give everybody.”

Ashley pretended not to see it when Kelly looked at her hopefully. She really didn’t like that Kelly had tried to use their friendship as a comparison, to invoke memories of their friendship for the sake of Carrie; it seemed wrong somehow. “You’re too nice, Kel.” Ashley didn’t want to point out a few of Kelly’s past choices to believe someone over their actions, even though she knew she probably should. “Just think about what she said to you before you decide if you want to call her.”

Kelly smiled a little when Ashley didn’t add some smartass comment on to the advice. “I will.” Her smile grew larger when Ashley scoffed at her. Kelly already knew that she would call Carrie, although she was glad that it was possible for Ashley to get past the call. She would probably only have to listen to Ashley complain for three days this time. Kelly fought back a grin when she thought of a way to get her friend back. “So… do you want to hug it out now, or would you rather go make out with Jason?” Kelly’s grossed out feeling at the mention of the pairing was outweighed by her entertainment of Ashley’s reaction to throw a nearby magazine at her.
****

Carrie sat completely still in her chair as the makeup artist worked on her face. She was not about to move and have the process begin again; no matter how hard Tommy tried to get her attention. Her stylist held up another dress, a daring and revealing red dress that he knew she would never wear, and called out her name. He had already shown her at least five other dresses, despite the fact that they had already picked out her clothes for her interview.

Tommy snickered when he saw Carrie’s jaw twitch. “See, you know you want to wear it.” He put the dress back on the rack of clothes they had brought along when Carrie giggled at him. He had brought the extra clothes with them so that he could joke around with Carrie since she had wanted to stay with the writers to work on some new songs. The in-person interview had been setup for months though, so there had been no way to reschedule it so late.

“Only if you wear it first.” Carrie took a deep breath and calmed herself when the makeup artist told her to hold still. She looked at Tommy through the mirror; he never failed to get her to laugh, not even when she moped around because things went awry. She closed her eyes and went back to her thoughts about the music she had worked on earlier. Carrie wished she weren’t about to go in an interview, she would rather collaborate with other writers on songs like she had been.

Tommy sat down in one of the free chairs as he waited for the makeup artist to finish. He had Carrie’s outfit ready. He wasn’t the type to be unprepared, but he really wasn’t about to delay the schedule since Carrie wanted to finish the interview as quickly as possible. “Do you want to go out tonight? You need some fun time out with some friends, missy.”

Carrie chuckled for a split second, but a look from the makeup artist and she was silent. She hadn’t been out with friends for weeks. She would like to hang out with some friends, although she honestly had just as much fun when she got to work with the writers for her album. They were comfortable with her after the previous albums, and that made it easier for her to share her ideas. Carrie looked at Tommy when the makeup artist turned away to grab some lip liner. “You mean you want to go out. I’ll see what I can do.”

Tommy laughed quietly as the woman in charge of Carrie’s makeup asked her to be quiet again. He considered how much it would embarrass Carrie if he called the makeup artist ‘The Lipstick Librarian’. He thought it was possible Carrie would find it funny once she got over her embarrassment. Tommy opened his mouth to try the nickname for the makeup artist, but Carrie’s phone rang, so he answered it instead. “Hey, Carrie’s a little busy. Who’s calling?”

Kelly wondered who the voice was on the other end of the line. She decided to forget it and just speak, or Ashley would find her with a seriously confused expression on her face and tease her. “This is Kelly Clarkson, who am I talking to?” Kelly cleared her throat but didn’t apologize. She did want to know who the other person was; it would be weird to talk to someone she didn’t even know.

Carrie steeled herself so that she didn’t turn or ask Tommy who was on the phone. She hoped it wasn’t one of the writers; it would disappoint her if she missed out. She had recorded a few songs from the ones chosen a while ago; she liked the songs, she had helped with some of them. However, two of her favorite writers had called the night before and told her that they were free to work with her. Carrie had jumped at the chance, and that’s where she had been when Matt had called to remind her about the interview. She wanted to get back more than ever now.

“Tommy.” Tommy waited expectantly for a reply. He didn’t know if Carrie had arranged a prank of some kind, because Carrie knew he had a thing for Kelly Clarkson, and it would be like her to get someone to call and pretend. Tommy walked over to Carrie and bumped the makeup artist out of the way when the girl on the other end of the phone cracked a joke and apologized for wanting to know his name. He stomped his foot to get Carrie’s attention and covered the phone. “Is this a joke? Did you have Kelly Clarkson call to punk me?”

Carrie had winced and immediately started to apologize when Tommy had practically shoved the makeup artist out of the way to reach her, though she grabbed the phone from her stylist. “Again, I am so, sorry. He didn’t mean it, he’s,” Carrie glared at Tommy before she looked back at the slightly angry woman. “Can you give us a few minutes?” Carrie continued with her remorseful looks as the woman muttered and left the room, and then she turned around and hit Tommy’s shoulder. “I’m not punking you, dip. She’s calling me. I didn’t get your gay idol to call you.”

Kelly snickered at the parts of conversation she could hear. She didn’t know why Carrie had apologized to someone, or why Tommy had sounded so happy to hear her, but she did think it was funny. Kelly laid out on her couch as she waited for Carrie to get on the line. She was lucky Ashley had decided to help Jason with some shopping, otherwise her friend’s presence would have had her too nervous to enjoy whatever her call had caused.

Tommy sat down in Carrie’s chair when the blonde rolled her eyes at him. “Excuse me for thinking that you had done something nice for me. And don’t even mockingly say that other thing again.” He put his feet up on the counter as he settled in for a longer wait to get his friend ready for the interview. “You could let me talk to her. You have to get ready for your interview anyway.”

Carrie playfully hit the back of Tommy’s head since he had stolen her seat. “Be quiet and I might.” She shook her head and then brought the phone up to her ear. “Kelly? You still there?” She was happy that the other singer had called her. She had wanted to call Kelly, but she had thought that it would be best if she waited and let Kelly call first.

Kelly sat up properly on the couch when she realized that Carrie was free to talk now. “So you’re the bitchy Carrie today from what I heard?” She couldn’t resist a joke after all the commotion she had heard take place. “What’d you do this time? Wait let me guess, you were apologizing to the woman whose boyfriend you stole. I saw the pictures of you and that guy.”

Carrie shut her eyes at the reminder of the pictures, but Kelly’s laughter warded off any annoyance. “You got me. She tracked me down to my interview and gave me what for.” Carrie giggled when Kelly laughed at her joke. A week ago, pictures of her and a friend had been printed in a few magazines, so of course the captions had been all about how she had a new boyfriend. “What’s up? Did you finally decide I had paid enough for my mistakes?”

Kelly settled down because of Carrie’s last words, although they did make her smile. “Girl, apparently you have more than that to worry about. Tommy, that guy from the magazine, you have more guys to juggle than most men have women.” She chuckled because it was untrue. She felt comfortable enough to joke about Carrie’s invented personal life because the other singer knew she understood about the media.

Carrie glanced in her stylist’s direction to see that he looked like he was occupied. She didn’t mind if Tommy hung out while she spoke on the phone. “Kelly just mentioned you, Tommy.” Carrie snickered when her friend rapidly turned his head towards her. She would make it up to him. “Tommy shoved the makeup lady out of the way, so that’s why you heard me apologizing. I would say more, but I think he’d kill me, so you better save our conversation from me spilling some of his secrets.” Carrie resisted her urge to laugh when Tommy gaped at her.

Kelly could piece together what had happened from Carrie’s description, and the idea made her want to laugh. “I don’t want you to get hurt or anything… I was calling about the party I mentioned. Do you still want to come? You can bring your new boytoy if you want.”

Carrie laughed at the playful tone of Kelly’s voice. The phone call made up a little for the fact that she had to be away from the writers for hours still. Her friends, even Tommy and Matt, didn’t fully get what it was like for her day in and day out, but Kelly did. “Yeah, right.” Carrie looked over when Tommy waved one of his hands to grab her attention. She frowned when she saw Matt in the doorway to the makeup room.

Kelly had nearly snorted at how hard she had laughed at Carrie’s sarcastic comment. When she didn’t hear any response or amusement from Carrie’s side of the line, Kelly stopped completely. “You can bring someone if you want.” She didn’t think she had said anything that could have upset the blonde, but she wasn’t sure. If Ashley could hear her now, her best friend would so make fun of her. “It’s mostly people like us, so no one will say anything. It’s totally cool.”

Carrie motioned for Matt to take a seat and signaled that she would be off the phone in a minute. She had only heard half of Kelly’s words, but she had gotten the gist of it; though she didn’t have a date to bring. “That’s good to know. I hate to end our call…” Carrie giggled when Kelly sulkily asked why. “I have an interview in like five minutes. I’m sorry, but I’m really glad you called.”

“You just keep apologizing all over the place, don’t ya. I’m reconsidering my invitation to you now.” Kelly grinned that she had managed to make Carrie chuckle since she knew the other was most likely already back in a professional mindset because of the interview. She waited until Carrie was ready, and then she gave the other singer the party details and directions to her house. As Carrie repeated her words back to her, to make sure the blonde had heard right, Kelly smiled to herself. “I’ll see you at the party, Carrie.”

Carrie quickly spoke before Kelly could hang up the phone. “Unless I get lost on the way there, then you’ll definitely hear from me because I’ll be calling you to come and get me.” Carrie cleared her throat when she saw the look on Matt’s face. “I gotta go now. Hope everything goes well schedule-wise because I’m really looking forwards to this party of yours.” She repeated her goodbye when Kelly did the same, and then she hung up. “Wow, Tommy. I didn’t think you’d actually sit quietly through the call.”

Matt looked at the other occupants of the room, although he was sure he didn’t want to know what he had missed. “We’ve got to get you out there. You can talk with Tommy later.” He sat down on the counter as Tommy hopped up from the chair and rushed over to the rack of clothes near Carrie. “Do you remember the answers we came up with for your new ‘boyfriend’?”

Tommy grabbed Carrie’s outfit and handed it over to the singer. When he turned away from his friend, he saw the smile on Matt’s face before the assistant turned away to give Carrie some privacy also. Since Matt wasn’t angry, he went ahead and asked the question that had been on his mind while Carrie had been on the phone. “I thought you insulted Kelly Clarkson, why did she call and invite you to a party?”

Carrie hurriedly slipped out of her clothes and hung them on a free hanger as she thought. “Well, I did. But,” She pulled her outfit off the hanger and started to dress once she had her clothes up on her rack of outfits. “I talked to her at that awards show and it’s fine now. And I know what you’re about to ask next, and the answer is yes, I’m going to her party.”

Matt was glad to hear that Carrie had made up with the other singer. “That’s great, Care. Give me the information and I’ll make sure you’re free the night of the party.” He would make it happen because his friend deserved some fun.

”Good, because you should get a nice night before I hurt you for talking about me to Kelly like that.” Tommy turned to face Carrie when the blonde slapped his arm and told him she was finished. “If I were any less of a friend, I would have-"

Carrie cut Tommy off as she walked over to the counter full of makeup and looked herself over. “Finish that sentence and you can’t come with me to her party.” She was grateful that Kelly hadn’t called earlier, her makeup was mostly done. Carrie picked up the lipstick that went with the liner she had on, and then started to apply it, so she missed it when Tommy yelled and ran over to her. She briefly saw her friend in the mirror, and just barely had time to drop the lipstick before he picked her up in a huge hug.

Matt laughed at Tommy’s behavior, and Carrie’s, though he stood up after a few seconds. “Come on guys, you can plan your outfits later, we’ve got to go.” Matt chuckled under his breath as Carrie playfully pushed Tommy towards the door and followed. He opened the door for them, and as Carrie walked past, he spoke. “Thanks for inviting me; I’m only your best friend.”

Carrie knew Matt wasn’t serious; he would rather be at home with his girlfriend than out at a party with her. “Yeah, yeah, I’m a bad best friend. Let’s go before the next news piece on me is that I’m too stuck up to arrive on time for my interviews.”
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So Cold