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
- 4
- 5
- 6
:) Of course Carrie's going to fall for Kelly. There's no kissing in this update. There isn't a date in this chapter either, but there are some cute moments between Kelly and Carrie.

Ch 5

Carrie didn’t pay attention as Matt talked them through the schedule for the day. She knew Matt would get her where she needed to be, and because of that she felt free to think about what had happened the night before. She’d had a good time at Kelly’s party, but she felt horrible for unknowingly saying that she wanted to go on a date with Kelly. Carrie didn’t know how she would tell Kelly that she wasn’t a lesbian. The only thing that kept her from calling Kelly was that she didn’t want to hurt the other girl’s feelings again.

Matt could tell that no one in the car was listening to him, so he decided to ask about the party. “Tommy, stop staring at your phone and tell me about the guy you met last night.” Matt turned his attention to Carrie when Tommy looked up at him with a surprised expression. “And you. Don’t tell me you met someone too? You haven’t heard a word I said since we left.”

Tommy tucked his phone back into his pants’ pocket. “I was listening; and it’s not a crime to look at my phone.” He briefly gave Matt an annoyed look as he heard Carrie giggle beside him. “He’s mad that he couldn’t go.”

Carrie would have continued to laugh if Matt hadn’t given them both an exasperated look from the front passenger seat. “Don’t be upset, Matty. You’re still my number one guy friend.” She had to grin when Matt’s cheeks turned a slight red at the personal nickname that she called him by when they were alone. “Besides you wouldn’t have liked the party.”

“Why not? You both met someone, and I would have been left on my own?” Matt thought that there was something to his questions since Carrie hadn’t addressed them. He didn’t know what to think when Carrie looked out the window. He began to wonder if he should have gone to the party. “Did you leave her alone at the party Tommy?”

“No.” Tommy frowned when he saw the unpleased look on Matt’s face. “Yes. But Carrie was fine. She talked to Kelly and some of the other people. Didn’t you?” He brightened when Carrie smiled and patted his hand. “Thanks again for giving me the time with Hector.”

Carrie one-handedly hugged Tommy, though she wished she were closer to Matt so she could smack his head. “Don’t make him feel bad for meeting someone. A hot someone.” Carrie grinned when Tommy blushed and gave her a little shove for the comment. “Has he called you yet?”

Matt sighed as Tommy pouted and pulled out the phone again. “At least Carrie can stop herself from checking her phone. Okay,” Matt drew the syllables of the word out as the pair looked at him. “Tell me about the guys you met last night. I guess I owe you that since you pretended to listen when I went over the schedule and didn’t go to the party with you.”

Tommy heartily laughed at the idea of Carrie meeting a guy at the party from the night before. “Oh my god, that would have been so funny.” He glanced at Carrie and laughed harder when he saw that she was chuckling at the idea. “It was a gay party, Matt.”

“Oh.” Matt was surprised by the announcement. He turned around as far as possible so that he could see Carrie and Tommy better from his seat. He didn’t understand Carrie’s quiet behavior at all because of the new information. “Did you get hit on by any girls?” He grinned at the idea. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have gone if it meant I got to watch you turn down girls.”

Carrie forced herself to laugh along with Matt and Tommy. Things would have been a lot easier this morning if she had turned Kelly down. She thought about talking to Matt once they reached their destination. She didn’t want to bring Tommy down, or have him get the idea that it was his fault for leaving her alone, but she thought she might need his advice too. “I got better than a phone number.” Carrie almost smiled when her friends’ laughter stopped. “I got a date.”

Tommy blinked a few times as he repeated Carrie’s words to himself in his head. “Sweetie, how did you get a date? We were at a gay party.” He turned sideways in his seat so that he faced Carrie, though he quickly reacted when Matt laughed. “Shut up, no comments from the hetero male about her and a girl. Care?”

Carrie shrugged her shoulders because she really didn’t have any clue why Kelly had asked her out on a date. “I thought she was asking me to hang out?” She ignored the smothered chuckles from Matt’s direction. “She asked if wanted to do ‘something’ with her some time. I mean how was I supposed to know she meant a date?” Carrie looked to both her friends to see if she had missed the qualifying factor in Kelly’s words that had signaled that it was a date.

Tommy had quit feeling guilty when Carrie had used her hands to signal air quotes. “Carrie, you just misunderstood. The girl probably wanted to hang out with you.” He thought Carrie might be talking about Kelly, since that was the person he had seen Carrie with the most the night before.

"That’s what I thought!” Carrie was glad that Tommy had the same reaction that she’d had. “But then she grinned when I said yes, and she blushed when she asked if she could call me. I didn’t mean to say yes. I, so, thought she meant hanging out.”

Matt couldn’t hold in his laughter any longer. At first, he had agreed with Tommy’s assessment of the situation, but now, now he thought that Carrie was right. “Y-you have a date with a… girl.” He gave up on speech and let himself laugh.

Tommy just stared at Carrie. He didn’t know if he was thrilled to hear that Kelly was a lesbian, or jealous that one of his best friends was going out with Kelly Clarkson. “I cannot believe it. That’s like… I mean…”

Carrie watched as Tommy’s confusion made his face look cutely scrunched up; if she didn’t feel bad about the whole date thing, she would have laughed at her friends’ reactions. “Great, you two can’t even talk to help me.” Carrie let her head drop back onto the top of seat cushion. “By the way Matt, you owe Tommy fifty dollars.”

"Why?” Matt straightened up because of the reminder. They all had bets going about different things, but he couldn’t think of one that was related to Carrie.

"It was Kelly!” Tommy had decided to be happy about the situation. It also helped that he loved when Matt was wrong. Matt could get a little overbearing when it came to being right about stuff. “What are you going to do? I know you wanted to be friends with her, but still. A date?”

Matt was shocked by Tommy’s statement, but he got his act together when he saw the sad expression on Carrie’s face. He wasn’t sure what advice to give Carrie. If they gave her the wrong advice, then Kelly could get upset with Carrie. They didn’t need any rumors or fights to get media attention. Matt quietly thought to himself as Carrie groaned and grabbed her forehead.

“Up. I’m not going to let you mess up your hair.” Tommy didn’t wait to see if Carrie did as he said; he just leaned over and grabbed Carrie’s bag. He searched through it for a water and some aspirin. He would have a headache too if he were in the same dilemma as Carrie.

Carrie sat up straight, although she really didn’t care about her hair. “I accidentally accept a date with a girl and you’re worried about my hair?” She gave Tommy a ‘what the fuck’ look when he faced her. “How am I going to turn her down? I do want to be friends with her, that’s why this is screwed up so much.”

Matt went over his idea once more in his head as Carrie took the water that Tommy offered her. “Why don’t you just call her? The longer you let her think that you two are going out, the angrier she’ll be when you cancel. It would have been better if you had told her last night, but today’s good too.” Matt smiled confidently at Carrie because he knew that his plan was good. She didn’t handle tears well, so Carrie shouldn’t let Kelly down in person; and it would be best to do it fast.

Tommy returned the aspirin to Carrie’s bag and contemplated if he should hit Matt. “You know nothing about girls.”

“And you do?” Matt snickered at Tommy’s statement. “I have a girlfriend, you don’t.”

“I know better than to turn someone down on the phone.” Tommy wondered how Matt had ever gotten a girlfriend with the kind of advice he was trying to give Carrie.

Carrie rolled her eyes at the little argument between her friends. “I’m not canceling our date over the phone. Oh god, I just said ‘our’ date. I can’t believe this. Why did she even ask me out?” Carrie looked at Matt for some kind of insight, but she glared when he checked her out and raised his eyebrows. “It’s just irritating when you look at me like that because I know you’re not attracted to me, douche.”

Tommy would have laughed at Carrie’s frustration at Matt’s support, but it was obvious that the girl was upset. “You’re right, Care. You shouldn’t cancel the date over the phone. You should ask her if you can meet up some time before the date, that way you can tell her before she starts to think that there is something between you.” Tommy sat back in his chair, glad that he could help.

“Like that’s any better than what I said?” Matt ignored Tommy’s head nod because the stylist was wrong. “You don’t think that calling and asking to see her sooner won’t give her the wrong idea? It’ll be like you can’t wait to see her. It would be good to get this over with sooner, but I think you should wait until you’re supposed to go on your date, and then change the location on her to somewhere private. That way neither of you gets embarrassed.”

Carrie didn’t know what to do with the two different ideas. Tommy’s idea sounded much more considerate, but Matt had a point about Kelly maybe reading something into them meeting before their date. “We’re both too busy, so I can’t meet up with her before, the, date.” Carrie gave Matt a pointed look since he had said ‘your’ again. “I think Tommy’s right about it being in person. I should just like,” Carrie looked at both of her friends to gauge their reactions so far. “Where should I change it to? I mean what about like one your guy’s places? I can’t ask her to mine, or go to her’s. That would definitely give her the wrong impression.”

Tommy sighed at how difficult this had become. “It’s a good thing that you aren’t really trying to date her, it would be hell to work out dates with your schedules.” Tommy started to pull out his phone, but he left it in his pocket when he saw the matching looks of disbelief from Carrie and Matt. “What? I agreed!”

Matt shook his head. “I think their difficulty in scheduling a date would be trumped by Carrie’s sexuality.” He smiled at the momentary break in the tense mood because of Tommy.

“I think we all get the point, Matt.” Carrie patted Tommy’s hand, although she let go when the driver said that they had reached their destination. As they gathered their belongings, Carrie tried to get her friends’ reactions again. She would feel better if she had a plan. “So I can’t bring her to either of your places?”

Tommy bit his lip; he didn’t want to discourage Carrie since she wanted to do the best that she could in a hard situation. “I don’t think that asking her to either of our places would be a good idea.”

Matt quickly got out of the car and opened the door for Carrie and Tommy. Once they were out, he looked around and put his arm around Carrie’s shoulders. “He’s right. It’ll seem like you’re trying to show her off to your friends.”

Tommy nodded as he shut the door and moved to Carrie’s other side. “And it would be really embarrassing if you dumped her and she still had to talk to us.” He ran ahead and grabbed the door to the radio studio where Carrie had an interview to give.

"I’m not dumping her. You can’t break up with someone if you haven’t gone out with them.” Carrie wanted to pout because her friends could apparently find something wrong with all of her ideas. “What am I supposed to do? Go on the date and break up with her after it?” Carrie didn’t pull away from Matt’s hold as they walked into the building. She smiled when Tommy caught up with them and walked next to her. “Seriously. Help me out.”

Matt didn’t want to talk about the problem now that they were inside the building, but he knew that the conversation couldn’t last much longer anyway because of Carrie’s interview. “Yes. Go on the date, and then tell her that you just don’t see it working out between the two of you. With any luck, she’ll think the same, and that way you don’t even have to tell her that you’re not, you know.”

“How did you ever get a girlfriend?” Tommy reached out and held onto Carrie’s arms, so that both Carrie and Matt had to stop. “You can’t lie to Kelly. What if she does end up having a good time on the date? What are you going to do then? You’d be hurting her feelings either way.”

Carrie looked back and forth between her friends, but neither of them had a better idea. “Let’s just…” She shook her head and walked away from Matt and Tommy. “Let’s just go do this interview.” She would have to figure it out on her own. She didn’t want to lie and she didn’t want to hurt Kelly’s feelings, so Matt’s idea was not an option. Carrie knew she would come up with an idea that wouldn’t lead Kelly on; well, she hoped that she could since her friends hadn’t helped.
****

Kelly locked the front door and tried to compose herself. All throughout dinner, she had anxiously waited for the moment when they could say goodbye to Narvel and Reba. She had planned to speak to Jason about her free time on the drive back to the house, but her brother and Ashley’s conversation had taken the entire drive home. “Jase?”

Jason looked in his sister’s direction as he sat down on the couch. “Yeah, Kel?” He enjoyed the fact that Kelly had been in such a good mood lately, so he didn’t mind if she wanted to stay and watch some TV with him as he prepared to go to bed. “Do you want to watch the sports highlights with me?” They’d had a full day with a promo spot on TV, and then a meeting with Narvel in the evening, but he wasn’t tired of Kelly’s company by any means.

Ashley laughed at Jason’s question since Kelly didn’t watch sports. She had thought that she and Kelly would go upstairs and talk. Ashley hung out at the edge of the room while Jason turned on the TV with the remote; she was curious to see what Kelly wanted from Jason. “The day Kelly willingly watches sports with you when she’s this awake, is the day I dye my hair blue.”

Kelly gave Ashley a dirty look for the remark and purposefully walked over to the couch and sat down with Jason. “I just wanted to know if you had looked at the schedule for me?” She hadn’t cleaned out her own pda or email, so Jason had the most up to date version of her schedule. “Remember I had mentioned that I was trying to plan something for this week?”

Jason thought about the day’s events as he changed the channel to ESPN for the highlights. “I forgot, but I’ll do it tomorrow.” He grabbed the pillow next to him and offered it to Kelly. “I think we’ve all had enough business for one day. If it hadn’t of been for Reba inviting us to dinner we would have had to pick something up after the meeting with Narvel.”

Kelly took the pillow from Jason, but she was not happy with her brother. She didn’t want to tell him why she wanted him to look at the schedule for her, although she really didn’t want to wait until morning. She wanted to call Carrie before the younger girl got scared that she hadn’t called. “I’m going to steal your phone if you wait until tomorrow.”

Jason thought over his options and ignored Ashley’s laughter. He put the remote down and pulled out his pda. It wasn’t worth it to have Kelly angry with him. “I would like to know where the sweet little sister from five minutes ago went?” Jason smiled as he searched through the schedule. “Don’t tell me you can’t wait a few hours to see if we can go home this weekend?”

Kelly fluffed the pillow Jason had given her, and then she put it behind her head as she pretended to concentrate on the TV. “I don’t need the whole weekend, Jase. I just need one night.”

Ashley took a seat on the edge of the couch when she realized why Kelly had been so insistent. “Yeah, she’s only going to need whole weekends after she gets past what?” Ashley smiled at Kelly. “The sixth date? Tenth?” She had reservations about Kelly’s date with Carrie, but she wanted to be positive about the date for Kelly’s sake; that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t tease her best friend if she had the chance. “Though that’s months off with the way your life goes.”

"Hey! No comments, you’ve slept with people on the first date.” Kelly wasn’t angry, but she wasn’t happy that Ashley had told Jason that she had a date. She wasn’t ready for the questions her brother would ask; it kind of grossed her out when Jason asked if her dates were cute.

Jason set his pda down and grinned at Kelly. “That’s so cute, you’ve been happy because you got a date.” He laughed when Kelly blushed at the teasing. “So who is this girl? You don’t usually date people that come to your parties. You did meet her at the party right?” He was happy for Kelly, though if she hadn’t met the girl at the party, then he would want to know more about this girl.

Ashley grinned at Kelly as she let herself fall down onto the cushions of the couch next to Jason. “Nope.” She didn’t like that Carrie had gone off on Kelly when her friend had first asked the country singer to one of their parties, but Kelly’s explanation that Carrie was only newly out sort of explained the overreaction. Ashley didn’t like the way Carrie had treated Kelly, but if the blonde had come to accept her sexuality enough that it wouldn’t hurt Kelly again, she would do her part and be a good best friend. “She did come to the party though. You’ve met her Jason.”

Kelly glared at Ashley so that her friend would shut up about Carrie. It was one thing for Carrie to come to the party, but it was another thing entirely when Carrie wouldn’t even know that Jason knew. “What have I told you about telling other people’s business?” Kelly got up to her knees and grabbed the pda. She put it back in Jason’s hands and looked at her brother hopefully. “You like her, Jase, and if it was up to me, I would tell you, but she’s only recently come out. I wouldn’t feel right telling you without asking her first. Please?”

Jason had to smile at Kelly’s behavior; the date obviously meant a lot to his sister. “Okay, I won’t ask, but I want to know who it is before you go out? I’m not trusting my baby sister to just anyone.” Jason laughed when Kelly hugged him tightly.

Ashley chuckled when Kelly flipped her off behind Jason’s back, and then she returned the gesture as she stood. She called out a goodnight to Jason before she left the room. She knew Kelly would come to her room sooner or later to talk about the date and time Jason had found or managed to rearrange. “You have two hours before I fall asleep!”

Kelly half-heartedly watched the TV as Jason checked her schedule. She hadn’t told Ashley that she was nervous about the date with Carrie. She had given Ashley a reason about why she wanted to confirm the date so soon, but she wasn’t eager to tell Ashley too many of her thoughts since her friend had only just started to like Carrie.

Jason tried not to listen to the recaps he heard, even though he really wanted to see what the sportscasters had mentioned. “So you asked her out already? Or was the party your first date?”

"Yes and no.” Kelly didn’t think that it would be too much if she told Jason about the party. “I asked her to come to the party because like I said, she’s not out to many people. I didn’t invite her with the idea to ask her out in the back of my mind. She’s pretty, but I really just wanted her to have somewhere to go.” Kelly cringed at how lame she sounded. “She’s hot.”

Jason laughed loudly at Kelly’s defensive statement. “I wouldn’t expect anything else. You are a Clarkson after all.” He smiled when Kelly beamed at him and called him an ass. “You only invited her to get her on your territory. She probably loved the whole cool, more experienced girl, who throws parties thing. I always thought you played hostess too much to meet and ask someone out, but I’m glad it worked for you this time.”

It wasn’t the first time that Jason, or Ashley, had said that she played hostess more than she should, though usually Ashley said she only helped with the food and drinks because she was too afraid to talk to girls. Kelly usually told Ashley to go jump off a bridge when her friend made those kind of comments. “I know that you and Ash think it’s just to get out of talking to people, but I talked to Ca- this girl while I did it. She even helped me with the food. I think it gave us some common ground.” Kelly loved Jason and Ashley, but it irritated her sometimes that they thought she should just be instantly okay with asking girls out. She had figured out that she was gay a year ago, but there were still things that she felt like she was playing catch up to; and she liked that Carrie could understand those feelings… and Carrie was hot.

Jason didn’t speak until he finished up a few notes that he was making to himself. He had heard what Kelly said, and he also knew that his sister was lying. He wouldn’t push Kelly or mock her, not after the way she had cried in relief because he hadn’t been mad at her or yelled at her when she had told him about thinking that she was a lesbian. “I hope that she cooks better than you.” Jason laughed when Kelly sat back down and called him an ass. “Your ass of a brother just made it so that you can take your girl out this week.”

Kelly had hugged Jason before the thought had even left her head. “Are you serious? When? What did you have to move? You said ‘made’ so that means you changed something, are you sure that it can be changed?” She didn’t want to call Carrie and then have to call back and cancel. It would be bad for her schedule, but Kelly would feel worse if she inadvertently messed up Carrie’s schedule too if they had to reschedule.

Jason pulled back from the hug and slipped his pda back into his pocket. “It doesn’t matter what I rescheduled. Sunday afternoon and night is all yours. I’m sure that you’ll need some time with Ashley to get ready for the date, right? With the way you two fight over clothes, I’m sure you’ll need the whole afternoon.” Jason hugged Kelly tightly when she hugged him again. He hadn’t seen Kelly this happy for a date in months, he was glad that he had been able to help.

"You rock.” Kelly sat back down and grabbed the pillow from the back of the couch. She fluffed the pillow again as Jason denied her words, and then she put it back behind her head. “I’m going to watch whatever this is with you because you do rock.”

Jason smiled and picked the remote back up; it was more than a fair trade in Jason’s opinion. “Yeah, I do. Don’t I?” He waited a few moments to see if Kelly would tease him, but she didn’t. “So be honest… she’s like real hot? You were just being modest before because you wanted me to check your schedule and didn’t want me jealous?”

Kelly thought about what she would normally say, usually a joke about how gross it was that Jason wanted to know if her date was hot, but she wanted to relax. “Very. Music video level sexy.”

Jason was jealous now because of the description of this girl of Kelly’s. The girl that he had gone out with the night of the party had been hot, but she surely didn’t rate that kind of description. "Does she have a sister?”
****

Carrie listened as her manager talked about a call from some of the label executives and their thoughts on the songs that they had recorded so far. She was glad that the tracks had gone over well, but she hoped that the consensus didn’t mean that they would be predisposed to not listen the new songs as closely that she and the writers had worked on recently. She was glad that they would be back in the studio next week to record more of the new songs. Carrie’s thoughts were disrupted when she felt her phone vibrate.

Kelly propped her arm against the contracts that she had begun to read through for some kind of product. She wasn’t concerned about the contracts at the moment, and her lawyers had looked at the documents for her, so she wasn’t worried about missing an important detail. Kelly tried not to look at her phone as she waited for Carrie to text or call her. The contracts weren’t a good distraction from her thoughts about her date with Carrie, though she was kind of proud that she had managed to hold out for so long before she texted.

Carrie stared at the message on her phone as she panicked. She still hadn’t thought of a solution to her problem. Carrie glanced at the time and saw that they had been in the meeting for over an hour, and it was after one in the afternoon; at least she couldn’t call because of the meeting, that gave her some time. She texted Kelly that she was in a meeting, but that she would call when it was over. Carrie took a deep breath and reminded herself that Kelly only wanted her to call to set up their date. It wasn’t like the girl wanted a bootycall. Carrie shook her head at the thought and blamed Matt for his effusive use of the term because now it was stuck in her head.

Kelly tried not to smile after she read Carrie’s text because she didn’t need for Ashley to wander in and tease her. She set her phone to the side and went back to the contracts that she needed to read. The day wasn’t a free day, they all had stuff to catch up on; though she could take a break when Carrie called. Ashley didn’t have much of anything to catch up on, but her friend had been talking with family the last time Kelly had seen her. Jason was on the phone with Narvel to make sure that his changes to the schedule were manageable.

Carrie gathered her belongings and exchanged a few quick goodbyes with her management as she and Matt left the boardroom. She didn’t retrieve her phone from her pocket until they were in the lobby of the building; she didn’t want to imagine what her management would think if they overheard her conversation with Kelly. “Matt, go get the car. I have a call I need to make.”

"Want me to take your things to the car?” Matt only offered because he had seen the change in Carrie’s demeanor after looking at her phone. He wanted to ask Carrie what had happened, but he knew she would tell him eventually. Once he had Carrie’s bag, but not her purse, he smiled and headed for the doors. “Don’t forget you said I could pick where I wanted to go for lunch.”

Carrie gave Matt a distracted affirmative reply, although she didn’t open her phone and call Kelly until her friend had exited the building. Matt would try to ease her nerves by making jokes while she was on the phone, and it would have the opposite effect on her. If she had already known what she would say to Kelly, she wouldn’t have made Matt go get the car, but even the extra time after Kelly’s text hadn’t helped; and she was usually good under pressure.

Kelly nearly jumped out of her chair when her phone rang, because she had managed to get into one of the contracts, but she hastily grabbed her phone. She grinned when she saw that Carrie was the one calling her. She took a moment or two for a couple of calming breaths, and then she answered her phone. “Hey.” Kelly was relieved to hear that she didn’t sound like a five year old on a sugar high.

Carrie brushed her bangs back as she looked around for a place to sit. “Hey, Kelly.” She decided not to sit down when she saw that the only chairs were by the lobby receptionist. “Sorry I couldn’t call you right away. How’s your day going?”

Kelly looked at the contract in her hand. “It’s cool. I was reading over sponsor stuff, so it’s the bad kind of work day. What about you, fun meeting or the boring kind?” Kelly set the papers down and shifted around until she was comfortable in her chair.

“It was a mix of things actually.” Carrie had relaxed at Kelly’s calm answer, so she answered like she normally would; without any of the thoughts that had bothered her for the past few days. “The label likes the set of songs we sent in, which is good, but I’m hoping that they’ll like the songs we’ve been working on better.”

Kelly remembered the way Carrie had spoken about the songs the blonde had been working on; that Carrie was more invested in the songs because she had helped write the songs more than on the first set. “I’m sure the new ones are great. Your music is good because of the way that you connect to the songs on the record. If you’ve got that, then you’re set.”

Carrie smiled at the compliment that she would only have good songs on her record, whether they were her own or not. Usually, Matt just told her if he thought a song was radio worthy or not. “You haven’t heard any of them. They could all suck.”

Kelly briefly laughed at the joke since they both knew that there would be at least a couple tracks that the label thought would do well on the radio. “I doubt that.” Kelly was about to offer some advice when Jason walked into the room and grinned at her. She had no doubt that her brother wanted to go get lunch. Kelly shook her head and pointed to the door so that Jason wouldn’t talk.

Carrie waited for Kelly to say something, though after a bit of silence she spoke since she didn’t want to become nervous again. “I think I decided which room I want to redecorate to be my writing room.” She had given the project some thought, but not as much as her words had implied. Carrie liked talking with Kelly; she hoped that they could still be friends once the brunette knew the truth.

Kelly silently laughed as Jason tried to mouth a question to her; she had caught most of what her brother had asked. Jason wanted to know if she had asked the girl if he could know about her. Kelly shook her head. “That’s great that you decided. As long as you like it, then that’s all that matters.” Kelly mouthed back to Jason that she would ask, and then pointed to the door once again. “Hey, can I ask you something personal?”

Carrie remained calm since Kelly wouldn’t have brought up the date in such a strange manner. “Yeah, I can’t guarantee an answer since I don’t know what you’re about to ask. And I am in the lobby of my management’s building, but if it’s not too personal, yeah.” Carrie tried to think about what Kelly might ask her, but she didn’t have any ideas. “If you’re wondering if I wrote about any exes, then you’re out of luck ‘cuz I’m not going to answer that question.”

Kelly giggled at the unexpected joke. “Kinda more personal than that.” She checked the doorway to make sure Jason wasn’t outside of it, and then she smiled when Carrie made a ‘hmm’ noise and pretended to reconsider her question. “It’s not bad. I just wanted to know if it was okay to tell Jason that we’re going out on a date. He has this weird big brother complex and I thought I’d get around it by telling him that he had met you, but that just made him even more curious because he can’t figure it out.” Kelly held the phone away from her head for a second so that she would stop saying stupid things. “You can say no. I would understand.”

Carrie wasn’t sure if she should be worried that Kelly wanted to tell her brother about their date. The other girl had tried to play it off as something that Jason wanted, but she thought it was clear that Kelly wanted to tell her brother. Carrie felt her doubts and guilty feelings begin to return as she tried to decide. Part of her wanted to tell Kelly no because of the obvious reasons, though a little part of her didn’t want Kelly to tell Jason and then be embarrassed when she told Kelly that she wasn’t a lesbian. “Uh, I,” Carrie sighed and wished that she hadn’t sent Matt to the car, even bad advice would be better that her dumb stutter at the moment. “It’s, uh,”

Kelly was disappointed with Carrie’s hesitancy to tell Jason. She did get why Carrie wouldn’t want to tell a lot of people, and she even understood how it might make the blonde feel pressured on their date if Jason knew, but it did disappoint her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to think of an excuse. I get it, and I’m not upset. I just told him I would ask you, so I asked.” Kelly tried to laugh off the uneasy silence that had settled over their conversation. “I’ll make sure he understands too.”

Carrie shut her eyes at the change in Kelly’s tone. She wanted to believe that she had imagined that Kelly sounded saddened by her refusal, though she knew that was a lie. “I’m sorry.” She was sorry, sorrier than Kelly could imagine. Carrie told herself that Kelly would feel a lot worse if Jason knew who she was, so she had better keep her mouth closed about the subject. If Jason was anything like Matt when they were on their own, then Jason would probably tease the hell out of Kelly for trying to pick up a straight girl. “Did I tell you I’m in the studio next week? So, any night you want to go out, I’ll be able to get off. I’m usually done by early evening anyway.” Carrie didn’t care what her words implied, she wanted to move past their awkward silence.

Kelly was happy to hear that Carrie’s nights were free for the next week, that would be nice if they decided to go on another date while she was in town. “Cool. I’m more often than not at the studio until all hours since I stay up late at night.” Kelly cleared her throat and pushed aside her thoughts about not telling Jason. “What about this Sunday? Would you like to go out to dinner then?”

Carrie wondered what the hell had happened to next week, but she decided to also keep that thought to herself. She brushed back her bangs again as she quickly walked over to the lobby doors to check if Matt was outside with the car. “I am free Sunday. That shouldn’t be a problem at all. Where were you, uh, I’m not being bitchy or anything, but can we go somewhere that has a vegetarian menu?” Carrie didn’t know where the thought had come from, but at least it was the truth.

Kelly laughed at the slight trepidation evident in Carrie’s voice, but she quickly reassured the blonde. “You’re not a bitch to want to go somewhere where you can eat.” Kelly felt free to enjoy Carrie’s nervous moments now that they had set a day for their evening out. “I’m a vegetarian too, so we were going somewhere like that anyway. But I have a better idea now.” She had tried a few different places when Jason and Ashley were willing, though she wanted to go somewhere that was strictly vegetarian, and she thought Carrie would be up for that.

Carrie listened to Kelly talk about possible places that served vegetarian and vegan as she left the office building and walked to the car. She had seen Matt drive to the curb while she wondered how she could come up with a new location for the date. She would have panicked since it was Wednesday and their date was set for Sunday, but the places that Kelly suggested were all small. “Any of those places are great. I like the last and the third ones the best, though the first restaurant is the most formal.” Carrie rolled her eyes when Matt looked at her questioningly.

Kelly excitedly got up from the table and went to the kitchen to get a drink. “Cool, I don’t know if I want formal though. I like talking to you and I’d feel weird wondering if I was doing something wrong-" Kelly didn’t finish her sentence when Carrie gave a short laugh and said that it was fine if they didn’t go to the fancier restaurant. “Hey, you totally feel the same way. I’ve seen the way you act at parties.” Kelly grinned when Carrie agreed. “You totally liked how I kept talking too.”

Carrie was aware of the way that Matt watched her as she buckled her seatbelt, but Kelly was too funny and she laughed despite her intention to remain quiet. “I did, it’s nice to hear someone that’s not me embarrassed for a change.” She stared out the window until Matt pulled the car away from the curb. She had to smile to herself because she had known that Matt’s stomach would win out over his curiosity. He still looked at her occasionally, so Carrie’s kept her answers short and agreed with Kelly’s suggestions of a time to meet and which restaurant.

Kelly still hadn’t opened her drink by the time they had the details of their date decided. She opened her drink and had a few sips as Carrie told someone named Matt to pay attention to the road. “Ah, the best friend slash assistant, right?” Kelly didn’t want to hang up, though she knew she had to read the contracts and Carrie most likely had business also. “Tell him I’ll be upset if he gets y’all into an accident before our date.”

Carrie smiled at the joke even though the mention of their date made her feel guilty. Now that they had picked a time and a place, just the mention of the word made her feel badly. “The only thing in danger is Matt’s butt if he doesn’t stop trying to listen in on our conversation.” Carrie gave her best friend a pointed look as he chuckled at her.

Kelly laughed at the idea, but then it occurred to her that maybe Matt didn’t know about Carrie. “Hey, do you need to go? I mean he knows right? I wasn’t going on when I really shouldn’t have, was I?” Kelly held her drink close and tilted her head down as she leaned against the refrigerator. A movement she saw from the corner of her vision had her standing up straight and walking to the person to find out which of the idiots that she lived with was eavesdropping.

“No, no, it’s fine. Matt knows.” Carrie was starting to feel like a very good liar, either that, or she considered that she should possibly become a politician because she was good with doublespeak. “We were about to get some lunch though, but I can stay on the phone with you until we get to the place.” Carrie hoped that maybe they could go back to their topic before their date talk since it seemed like Kelly didn’t want to hang up either.

Kelly had to bite her lip so that she didn’t let out a yell when she saw who was listening to her conversation with Carrie. Instead, she walked back into the kitchen and set her drink down. “I’d love that, but I need to go kill Jason. Apparently, Matt wasn’t the only one trying to hear about our date.”

Carrie looked over at Matt and shook her head. It seemed like the two were alike more than she thought. “Go kick his butt, and don’t let him tease you. I’ll call you later, Kel.”

Kelly smiled at the cute goodbye, though she quickly headed for the hallway. “I’d say bye to you, but it would really bother Jason more if I didn’t say your name, so bye until you call me.” Kelly barely processed Carrie’s increased laughter as she hung up the phone, she just ran when she saw her brother trying to get back to the living room. “You’re so dead, Jase!”
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So Cold