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
- 7
- 8
- 9
Ashley was kind of a bitch, wasn't she? lol There's no fights in this chapter really. :)

Ch 8

Carrie shut and then locked the door again while she muttered about forgetting her bag the first time she had left the house. She had accidentally left her bag behind in her rush to get to the studio on time. As she walked to her car, she got her phone out and called Kelly. Carrie had said she would call, and she figured that she had better call before she accidentally left behind anything else she might need for the day. Although, she wasn’t thrilled that she might find out if Ashley was right.

Kelly groaned and opened her eyes when a hand hit her in the face and her phone rang loudly next to her ear. She could only think of a few people who would call her so early. If it wasn’t someone in her family, whoever it was needed to start running. Kelly shut her eyes and groped around on the floor for the phone as the ringing sound continued. “This had better be important.”

Carrie had made it back to her car and started it by the time Kelly answered the phone. A lazily mumbled hello from Kelly made her check the dash clock to see if Matt had changed the time on the clocks in her house, but he hadn’t. “Hey.” Carrie once more wondered if she had made the right decision to call, she didn’t want to anger Kelly twice in the space of a minute. “Long night?” She switched hands with her phone and began her drive to the studio as she waited for a reply.

It took Kelly a few moments to realize that Carrie was the person interrupting her sleep. She quickly opened her eyes and tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t sound dumb. “Jason and I fell asleep playing video games.” Kelly silently sighed at the fact that she had told Carrie the truth. She didn’t need Ashley to call and say personal things to Carrie, she embarrassed herself just fine on her own. Kelly propped herself up against the coffee table and checked the time while Carrie laughed. “What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in the studio?”

Carrie felt a little more confident since Kelly had answered the phone and hadn’t accused her of not getting Ashley’s point. “I’m planning the great escape. Want to come with?” Carrie smiled when Kelly laughed at her joke. She wasn’t going to bring up Ashley’s call since Kelly didn’t seem to know about it and was talking to her like the other girl normally would.

Kelly looked over at Jason and considered hitting him because of the hand to the face that she had gotten as the other half of her wake up call. “Where would we be running off to?” Between Jason’s need to find out about who her date was and Ashley’s desire to kick Carrie out of her life, Kelly might have considered the offer under different circumstances.

“I don’t know, that’s why I said planning.” Carrie snickered at Kelly’s exaggerated sigh. “Hey, I came up with the idea, isn’t that enough? You pick the place, and I’ll make sure I get us to wherever you choose.” Carrie wondered how long Kelly would keep the joke going. The whole conversation was funny since Kelly had just woken up and had a thicker accent than usual.

Kelly playfully scoffed at Carrie’s words as she held in her laughter. “Are you saying I can’t navigate? The directions I gave you for the party were perfectly fine.” She wasn’t about to mention how Carrie had thought she couldn’t find the restaurant the night they had gone out; that would have been worse than the admission about hanging out with Jason the night before.

Carrie thought about ending the silly conversation so that she could ask if Kelly wanted to hang out, but she knew she still had time until she reached the studio. She also knew that once she got to the studio the first thing Matt would do would be to ask her if she had called Kelly. She didn’t plan on letting that happen. “You said it not me.”

Kelly preferred their current conversation to one about what was wrong with Ashley, so it wasn’t much of a choice for her to decide to tease Carrie. “Well, I’m not going then. How do I know that you won’t get us lost? You couldn’t even come up with a destination. Technically, we’re already lost because of that.” Kelly stopped kidding around when she noticed Jason’s shoulders shake.

Carrie sighed dramatically; otherwise she would laugh at Kelly’s not so logical argument. “Okay, no great escape. Ashley would have accused me of kidnapping you anyway.” Carrie hadn’t meant to bring up Ashley. She silently waited and paid closer attention to the road as the silence on the other end of the line grew.

Kelly belatedly laughed at Carrie’s joke. She had been watching Jason closely since she had seen his shoulders sake in what she had decided to be silent laughter. She didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to her that Jason would have been awake because of Carrie’s call too. “Look, about Ashley, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that she had-"

Carrie cut Kelly off because Kelly shouldn’t have to apologize for things Ashley had said. “No excuses or explanations needed, Kelly. I’m willing to forget about it if you are.” Carrie focused on the traffic around her, and not on how nervous she had gotten from the silence after her stupid joke. She grinned a little when Kelly agreed with her about forgetting about Ashley. “I’m coming by your house after I get out of the studio, so tell everyone you gotta tell by seven.”

Kelly had only agreed to the easy resolution because she was pretty sure Jason was listening to her conversation. She was willing to give her brother a pass though since he hadn’t tried to tease her; it wasn’t like she couldn’t have left the living room once she had answered the phone. “What are we going to do? Your brilliantly thought out plan has been put on hold.” Kelly thought that at least Carrie’s visit would give her a chance to talk about the incident with Ashley.

Carrie sarcastically laughed at Kelly’s last little dig. She wasn’t upset, though she wasn’t going to stay on the line and figure out what they would do later. “I’m sorry.” Carrie spoke in her sweetest voice so Kelly would get that she was about to enjoy her next words. “I’m pulling up to the studio, Kel. I’ve got to run if I’m going to get in on time. Guess you’ll just have to wait.”

Kelly didn’t want to hang up, but she didn’t want to keep Carrie from the studio; and she did need to get up anyway. “You probably don’t have a plan still, that’s why you don’t want to say. I’ll talk to you when you come up with an idea.” Kelly said bye once Carrie quit laughing at her and said the same. She hung up the phone and looked at Jason. “Are you going to keep pretending to be asleep?”

Jason rolled over and grinned since there was no use in pretending that he was still asleep. He knew that Kelly would only ask the question one time before she hit his shoulder or something. “That was her wasn’t it?” He laughed when Kelly stood up to walk away, although he tried to stop when Kelly tripped over one of the controllers on the floor and fell.

“You’re so lame.” Kelly said it as convincingly as she could while she stood, like she hadn’t just tripped because she wasn’t awake enough. “What are you five? Get your own girlfriend to listen to on the phone.” She lightly kicked the controllers out of her path, and then just for the hell of it, she nudged Jason’s ankle with her foot when he laughed again.

Jason knew he didn’t have to say anything to irritate Kelly. All he had to do was smile, that alone would get Kelly back for her comments. It didn’t bother him if Kelly didn’t tell him that it was the girl that she had gone out with; Kelly had tried to apologize for Ashley, so he knew he was right. Jason snickered when Kelly shook her head at him and walked off. “She said seven, right?”

Kelly seriously considered going back and hitting her brother, but she continued to walk away. “You’re nuts if you think I’m not kicking you out before then!” She yelled back at Jason as she headed to the bathroom. Usually, Kelly wouldn’t have shouted since she didn’t know if Ashley was awake or not, but she didn’t particularly care if she woke the other girl at the moment.
****

Kelly had spent the day trying to avoid Ashley and her brother for two completely different reasons. She had told Jason over breakfast that the girl coming over wasn’t a date, but he hadn’t believed her. Kelly was avoiding Ashley because she thought it was a good idea if she didn’t mention that she and Carrie were going to hang out. She was over their fight, though that didn’t mean that she wanted to spend the first few days of promo hearing Ashley complain.

Jason was no longer amused switching the channels to things that he knew Kelly didn’t like to watch, although it had provided some funny moments after lunch. He knew he shouldn’t tease Kelly, but she was going out of her way to convince him that the girl coming over wasn’t anyone special, which he knew wasn’t the case. “You can still run upstairs and find something to wear before she gets here.” Jason smiled genially, through at the moment with tormenting his sister.

"Why would I do that?” Kelly glanced at the TV and wondered when Jason had changed it to a fishing show. “It’s not like I’m going out on a date. It would be weird if I changed.” Kelly briefly looked over her clothes before she went back to watching the television screen. She had picked out casual clothes after they had eaten breakfast, mostly because she had wanted to avoid Ashley trying to help if Jason opened his mouth and said that there was a girl coming over.

Jason was starting to feel bad for the teasing now that Kelly didn’t even want to go get ready for her date. He had just enjoyed their night out, hanging like brother and sister. He wouldn’t admit it, but it had been nice that they had been able to spend the day without Ashley. “You don’t even want to go and put some perfume on or something? I know we weren’t out running the fifty yard dash, but-”

Kelly smiled as the pillow hit Jason in the face, effectively silencing him. “I do not smell.” She looked at the clock and thought about going upstairs and giving herself a once over. It couldn’t hurt if she put on perfume. She did that even when she went out with friends. Kelly sat quietly as she tried to think of an excuse to go upstairs, but the sound of the doorbell brought her out of her thoughts. Kelly got up from her chair and frowned when she noticed her brother stand as well. She briefly entertained the notion of hip checking Jason, but she let him pass her.

Carrie waited patiently for someone to answer the door. She had left the studio an hour before she was supposed to meet Kelly, but she had gone home to check on Ace so she was a few minutes late. Matt had checked on Ace when they took a lunch break, although only after she had told him about her phone call with Kelly. She hated to leave the dog locked in the house for so long. Carrie smiled when Jason opened the door and greeted her. “Hey yourself.”

Jason laughed and stepped aside so the country singer could come into the house. He was very surprised that Carrie was Kelly’s date. They had talked a couple times, with Kelly around, at music functions; knowing Carrie a little helped him recover. “How are you doing? It’s been months since I’ve talked to you.” Jason shut the front door once Carrie had walked further into the house.

Carrie couldn’t really think of anything that she had done that would interest Jason, so she shrugged her shoulders and smiled brightly. “Just the usual. Wrapped up the tour and had some time off. I’m in the studio now. You?” Carrie was a little surprised when Jason laughed and motioned for her to follow him. She was glad that Jason wasn’t upset with her about the date fiasco, but she figured that there was just as good a chance that Kelly hadn’t told Jason.

“Kelly!” Jason yelled when he didn’t find his sister where he had left her in the living room. He turned towards Carrie and shrugged. “She probably went upstairs for her jacket or something. You know how she is, always forgetting little stuff.” Jason walked over to the couch and sat down when Carrie chuckled and nodded at him. “So, uh, what did you ask me again?”

Carrie honestly couldn’t remember what she had asked Jason. She had no idea what she had agreed with Jason about, but she thought it was best to get along with Kelly’s brother in case he ever found out about the date. Carrie looked around the room as she tried to think of something to say; then she remembered the party. “I wish I had known you were going to be home, I would have brought the beer with me. I was even at my house for a few minutes after I left the studio.”

Jason stared at Carrie for the strange comment. “What?” He didn’t know why Carrie would have brought beer on a date, then it occurred to him that maybe Carrie wanted to drink with Kelly at the house. He stood up and walked over to Carrie; he didn’t know if he liked that idea. “Why are you talking about beer?” Jason took a step back when Carrie blushed and looked at him in an embarrassed manner. He hadn’t even realized that he was out of his chair until he saw the look on the blonde’s face, though he knew his face looked the same as Carrie’s now because Kelly had just stepped off the staircase and was looking at him with one of her dark expressions.

Carrie shoved her hands in her pockets and looked anywhere else in the room other than at Jason. She tried to tell herself that it didn’t matter that she had just embarrassed herself, at least she knew that Jason didn’t know about the party, which meant that he didn’t know about the non-date with Kelly. “I had some of your beer the last time I was here, and I’d promised to bring my favorite kind the next time I came over, that’s all.”

Kelly had gone upstairs to check her hair and put on some perfume, though now she wished that she hadn’t. She had smiled when she saw Jason try to step up to Carrie, though the visual hadn’t been funny once she remembered that Jason seemed confused. Kelly stepped into the room and walked over to Carrie before the other girl could tell Jason about the party. If she was going to keep Jason from thinking that Carrie was the girl she had gone out with, then she couldn’t let the conversation go on any more. “Carrie, hey. You’re here earlier than I thought you’d be.”

Carrie smiled gratefully at Kelly for the interruption. “You ready to go?” She wanted to leave before she embarrassed herself further in front of Kelly’s brother.

Kelly took hold of Carrie’s arm and led her friend towards the door so Jason couldn’t ask any more questions. “Yeah, I just had to get something from upstairs.”

Jason felt silly for assuming that Carrie had wanted to get Kelly drunk, especially once he heard that Carrie had wanted to replace his beer. He smiled as he followed the couple to the door. At least now he knew why Kelly hadn’t dressed up, Carrie wasn’t dressed up either. Jason hurried and opened the door, partially to make up for his teasing of Kelly. “Bring her back before it gets too late. We’ve got a plane to catch in the morning.”

Carrie laughed at Jason’s joke and playfully promised that they wouldn’t stay out too late as she and Kelly walked out of the house. She thought it was nice that Jason was cool enough, and felt comfortable enough, to make jokes about the gay thing. She turned and waved goodbye to him, although she stopped when Kelly sighed.

Kelly rolled her eyes when Jason mouthed ‘good job’ to her about Carrie. She really hoped Carrie hadn’t seen her brother’s dumb remark. “I’ll be back in a bit, definitely before our flight tomorrow.” Kelly took Carrie by the hand and resumed their path to the other girl’s car. “Please, don’t look back or he might ask to come with us.”

Carrie chuckled at the comment and let go of Kelly’s hand once they reached her car. “Aw, come on! That was funny. I think it’s nice that you guys can joke around about the gay thing. Tommy, Matt and I do it all the time.” She unlocked the car and walked around to the driver’s side while Kelly got in the car. Carrie hadn’t actually thought of anything for them to do, so she didn’t mind talking about Jason. They might even come up with something to do if they were just talking.

Kelly buckled her seatbelt as Carrie got in and started the car. It was almost cute that Carrie thought that Jason was teasing them about going out on a date. “Where are we going?” She assumed she was dressed for whatever Carrie had come up with since the blonde hadn’t told her that she needed anything, or maybe Carrie had brought extra coats or whatever they'd need.

Carrie didn’t know how Kelly liked to pass time. She remembered the way Kelly had described her clothes on her date, and a quick glance at the other girl kind of confirmed her thoughts as she drove with no particular destination in mind. “I’m taking you shopping? I usually go home and hang out with friends or shop when I have free time. Unless you want to do something else?”

Kelly relaxed the farther away they got from the house, although she laughed when Carrie apologized for not coming up with an idea. “It’s cool. I had a few things I wanted to get before I left town. While we’re out we can look for decorations or paint for your writing room since you have it picked out already.” Kelly didn’t really feel like shopping, but it wasn’t like she wanted to stay home and watch some boring fishing show with Jason either.

Carrie snickered at Kelly’s suggestion, not because it was a bad, but because she had to laugh at how panicked she had been during the call Kelly referenced. “Actually, I just said I had a room picked because I was nervous on the phone. I haven’t really thought about it because of work.” She glanced over at Kelly; the girl was still smiling so she went back to watching the road.

“We totally need a night off. You’ve been in the studio, and I’ve been running around because of my schedule. We should go out to a bar or something, or just stay in and hang out at your place. Have some drinks while we laugh at bad TV.” Kelly thought that either of the options would give them plenty of opportunities to talk and become better friends, and be more fun than shopping.

Carrie couldn’t think of anything that would be better than hanging out at her house, especially if she didn’t have to worry about strangers watching her. “All right. We’ll make a couple stops to pick up supplies, and then we can order pizza or something when we get back to my place.” Carrie had to smile when Kelly gave a tiny enthusiastic shout for ice cream with their pizza.
****

Kelly smiled as the movie credits began to roll across the screen. She turned towards Carrie to ask the blonde’s opinion about the end of the movie, but she couldn’t not notice the way Carrie was oblivious that it was over. “Wow. I thought you were lying when you said you weren’t that into love stories. Did you even like the movie?” Kelly had laughed when Carrie had claimed not to be into ‘chick flicks’; she had thought the other girl was just pretending.

Carrie shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of her pizza as she turned off the DVD player. “It wasn’t bad, but it’s not exactly riveting, ya know? Boy meets girl, then loses girl, and then they find each other and live happily ever after.” Carrie looked over at her friend when Kelly didn’t say anything. Kelly was just staring at her incredulously. “I liked the fight scenes?”

Kelly grabbed her glass and got up from the couch before she could make a joke about Carrie’s guy-ish answer. “You’re weird.” She walked to the kitchen to pour herself another drink as Carrie laughed. Kelly cautiously opened the fridge when she saw that Ace had followed her. Ace had scared the crap out of her when he had nearly run out the front door when they first arrived at Carrie’s. Kelly took the pitcher from the fridge and then laughed when Ace ran away because the door slammed shut. The dog was cute. “You pick one now since you were in the studio all day.”

At Kelly’s shouted request, Carrie set her food down and looked over the movies Kelly had selected earlier. She really wasn’t in the mood to watch a romantic comedy. She had wanted to watch movies that Kelly would enjoy though, so she hadn’t said much about Kelly’s choices earlier; just like she hadn’t minded going out and picking up alcohol she knew she didn’t have at her house since Kelly wanted mixed drinks. “How about I turn the TV on instead?” Carrie went over to the cabinet where she kept her DVDs and searched for one she hadn’t seen in case Kelly didn’t want to watch TV. “Or I have some scary movies and thrillers.”

Kelly grabbed the pitcher she had just set down and brought it with her as she returned to the living room. She was going to need more alcohol if they were going to watch a scary movie. “And you said my movie didn’t have a plot?” Kelly chuckled while she set the pitcher down on the coffee table and sat on the couch. She frowned when she noticed something move under the table, but then Ace popped out from underneath it and looked at her. Kelly looked around to see if Carrie was watching, and then she tore off a piece of tomato and held it out to the dog.

“I remember saying riveting, that was a keyword in my sentence.” Carrie smiled when she found a couple movies she hadn’t seen, though she had heard good things about them. She started to unwrap them both as she walked over to her DVD player. “And I’m sorry but that movie could have been a book. They literally had that old guy reading it as a book. Why not just read the book?” Carrie turned around and held the movies up for Kelly to see. “Which one- Kelly, don’t try to give that to him. He won’t eat it anyway.”

Kelly tried to hide the vegetable by holding it in her palm as she innocently looked up at Carrie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She straightened up and used her hand not holding the piece of tomato to sip her drink. Her cover was blown though when Ace stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on her knee. She frowned at the dog when he nudged her hand with his nose. “You hid when you thought she caught you trying to eat pizza from the box, but when she catches me trying to feed you, you point out that I have the food? You’re a weird dog.”

Carrie snickered as Kelly tossed the tomato onto the pizza box. “He’s weird, but you’re the one talking to him. Besides, like I said, he wouldn’t have eaten it. Ace doesn’t like vegetables.” She held the movies up again and wiggled them in her hands to capture Kelly’s attention. “Stop sulking about him ratting you out, and pick.” Carrie was glad that Kelly had suggested they stay in; she was enjoying herself. Kelly had been right about needing a break.

Kelly looked at the pizza again and tore off a section of cheese. She didn’t know of any dog that didn’t like cheese. “It might not have been a vegetable, how would you know?” Kelly looked at her choices; both looked like something she wouldn’t enjoy, but she didn’t want to leave yet. “Let’s watch TV. I’m sure there’s some crazy show on we can watch.” When Carrie turned around to put the movies away, Kelly held the piece of cheese out where Ace could see it; she didn’t think it was fair that they got pizza and the dog didn’t.

"Don’t give that to him.” Carrie didn’t bother to turn around as she put the movies back where she had gotten them from. “Tommy gives the same little grin when he tries to feed Ace.”

"I’m not trying to give him anything.” Kelly tossed the food back in the pizza box and pouted that Carrie had caught her. “I’m going to go get the ice cream while you find something.”

Carrie just laughed as she listened to Kelly grumble and walk away. She took her seat on the couch and grabbed the remote and the drink that Kelly had made earlier. The drink was good, definitely better once she had started on her third glass. Carrie smiled and sipped her drink when Ace jumped up on the couch at the opening credits of SportsCenter and sat down next to her.

Kelly returned to the living room to find Carrie watching sports. She struggled to keep a straight face as she sat down next to Carrie. She wasn’t going to say anything about Carrie’s choice in programs since she had said the country singer could pick, but she was amused. Kelly ate a spoonful of her ice cream and held out the beer she had grabbed from the fridge.

Carrie silently took the bottle from Kelly and set the mixed drink down on the table since she would rather have the beer. “Thanks.” She looked away from the screen as the show went to a commercial. “I know you like dessert and all, but did you forget mine?” Carrie smiled so Kelly would get that she was just teasing.

Kelly shook her head and ate some more of her ice cream. “Nope, just figured you wouldn’t want any because you just had some pizza.” Kelly chuckled when Carrie pouted. “Hey, I brought you beer, even though the drinks I made are awesome.” She had noticed that Carrie had been reluctant to try the drinks at first.

“You did.” Carrie nodded as she propped her feet up on the table and settled down further into the couch. She didn’t mind that Kelly hadn’t brought her any ice cream. “I’ll just get some during the next commercial break, it’s too late now. Do you like the show?”

Kelly put some more ice cream in her mouth so that she didn’t say that she did not like watching Sports Center at all. “I like watching sports, but more if I’m at the event.” She giggled at how if she had been at home, Jason would have the same thing on TV. “You’re the weirdest girl I’ve ever met. You prefer beer over good drinks, and you watch Sports Center. You’re so gay.”

Carrie laughed at Kelly’s joke; it wasn’t like she hadn’t heard the same thing from other friends. “Whatever, I’m not the one bringing me the beer.” She smiled and turned her attention back to the TV, though she started to search through the stations for a channel with a game on for Kelly. She liked that they could joke, that there weren’t any residual negative feelings about her misunderstanding. “I’m not the one who writes all those hardcore anthems, but cried when the guy in the movie kept secretly saying he loved the girl. Who makes up code to say ‘I love you’?”

“I only teared up once.” Kelly rolled her eyes when Carrie started to laugh at her again. “And she was playing hard to get, I know you had to have picked up on that. It was the only way he could say it to her, and then it became their thing once she fell in love with him. It was totally romantic, weirdo.” Kelly stuck her spoon in her mouth so that Carrie couldn’t see that she was smiling. She was having a good time with Carrie, it made her wish that she had called Carrie after their date so that they could have hung out more before she had to leave town.

Carrie bit her lip so she didn’t laugh that Kelly kept calling her a weirdo. “What’s so romantic about him not saying the words. Just means that,” Carrie stopped before she insulted the movie that Kelly liked. “Look, softball.” She set the remote down on her legs and turned her head towards Kelly. “Softball is good, right?” Carrie turned her head back to the screen when Kelly stared at her expectantly.

Kelly set her ice cream down and took the remote when Carrie didn’t finish the sentence. “Softball is fine. Go back to what you were saying though. It means what?” Kelly wanted to know what Carrie thought because the other girl seemed so sure. She thought it was sweet and romantic how the characters could say they loved each other whenever they wanted, like it was something just for them. Kelly poked Carrie with the remote when the girl remained silent. “Come on answer or I start asking questions about how the game is played.”

Carrie grinned and straightened up so that she could point out stuff on the screen to Kelly. It definitely seemed less complicated to explain softball than to try not to insult Kelly’s feelings. “Okay, I’m sure you know the different positions, it’s the same as baseball. Do you know how baseball works?” Carrie sighed when Kelly poked her with the remote again and gave her a no-nonsense look. “Fine, you win.” She took a drink of her beer and settled back against the couch. “I just think that if he really loved her, then he should have said the words. Like when he started saying the code to say he loved her, it was because she didn’t know, she was some thing he couldn’t have because the feelings weren’t there on her part. Then he kept doing it even after she loved him back, well… it’s like it’s not real. It’s like she’s still some thing he’s hoping for, so it’s like the idea of her and not her. If he loved her, then he would hold her hand and say ‘I love you’.” Carrie stared at her beer and willed herself not to blush. She was sure that Kelly was seconds away from laughing at her.

Kelly frowned as she thought about Carrie’s explanation. There had been plenty of things the male lead had done in the movie to prove his love, but she really couldn’t deny that the couple had been together only long enough to fall for each other, so in a way Carrie was right. “Let’s pretend you’re right. She’s his ideal, and they end up together,” Kelly paused for a moment as Carrie gave her a little nod but refused to look at her. “You’re saying he can’t love her because he doesn’t know her really, so he just thinks he loves her?” Kelly slouched back on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest when Carrie nodded once more. “That’s depressing. He could totally end up falling for her though. I mean okay so he’s sort of in love, he could love her once he gets to know her more. They have the rest of their lives to spend together.” Kelly was not about to let Carrie convince her that one of her favorite movies wasn’t really a love story.

“Were we watching the same movie? He totally let the bad guy go!” Carrie let her arm fall down onto her body to accent her point. She did subconsciously reach over with her free hand and pet Ace though because she had felt him jerk in surprise at her movement. “That dude is coming after them, so either they’re gonna die, or your “hero”,” Carrie sarcastically said the word as she used air quotes to emphasis the term for the male lead. “Will finally kill the bad guy, and then what? He’s going to take her on the run? Like people aren’t going to come after them for the bad guy’s death?” Carrie really wished that she could remember the evil guy’s name, it would help out her creditability. “They die, or they live on the run, never really getting a chance to know each other, or he goes to jail and they never see each other again. That’s not romantic, just like his idea of her isn’t.”

"It was a fantasy?” Kelly had to laugh at how literal Carrie was about the plot of the movie. “I see what you’re saying, but it was just a movie. It was supposed to be like that. You’re supposed to believe that they’ll stay together and be happy.” Kelly got her chuckling under control since Carrie was bright red, but she smiled because of the thought Carrie had put into the movie. “You were thinking of all that the entire time, weren’t you?” Kelly let go of her arms and briefly leaned over and hugged Carrie, even though she did not agree with the blonde. “You’re too cute. I’ll just have to warn any future boyfriends that they need to actually say I love you when the time comes.”

Carrie did her best to hide her pout. She still thought she was right. “Whatever, you agreed that I was right about the code.” She started to drink her beer again and turned her attention back to the game on the screen. Carrie tried not to think about how Kelly was still smiling; it made her think about something Ashley had said, something she had noticed on her own anyway. Kelly was too nice. It was no wonder the other girl had apologized for assuming she was gay. Kelly had thought there was something about her, something that had made Kelly like her. Tommy was the same as Kelly; he was able to see the good in people, even if he didn’t know them. Carrie thought it was good that both could still try to hope for love so faithfully, but it made sense that Kelly’s songs were so strong about when she was wronged; Kelly wouldn’t say it to the person for real because Kelly couldn’t give up that idea of hope.

Kelly snuck glances at Carrie when a whole five minutes went by and the blonde didn’t say a word. When some girl hit a homerun, Carrie didn’t cheer, and when the other team made a good play and tagged someone out, still Carrie said nothing. She was sure that she hadn’t hurt Carrie’s feelings, so she assumed Carrie was thinking about something. “Do you not like softball? We can change it, these girls aren’t very cute.” Kelly hoped the joke would give her some clue as to how Carrie felt, or at least, get Carrie to speak.

Carrie looked at Kelly, though she was still thinking about their conversation. “I like softball. I played it before Idol. I guess we could change it though, I only put it on because it was the first game I found and well…” Carrie shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the screen. She wouldn’t say that she thought Kelly would like that it was a girl game instead of guys. Tommy liked it when they watched hot guy athletes.

Kelly picked up her ice cream bowl and grinned as she swirled her spoon around the bowl. “Because you thought I’d like watching the girls?” Ashley had done the same thing when she had first told her best friend about her feelings for girls. Well, Ashley hadn’t tried to make her watch sports, that had been Jason, Ashley had been the one who had tried to get out of it by saying that it wasn’t fair to her because Ashley could watch the guys. “The whole softball thing explains a lot actually.” Kelly ate some of her ice cream and tried not to smile because she knew her comment would get Carrie to talk. “You were a tomboy, I guess.”

Carrie couldn’t really change the channel since Kelly still had the remote, so she decided to pay attention to the game this time when she looked at the TV. “Sort of. I was a surprise. When my parents had me, my sisters were already in middle school. My dad and mom were around more because of them, but I got a lot of attention because I needed them. Then my sisters started to do the whole teenage rebellion thing, and I got more attention, unless something really bad happened with my sisters.” Carrie smiled as she thought about her childhood. “Dad had more time for me I guess, so I did stuff with him. I did stuff with my mom though, trust me, you haven’t been shopping unless you’ve been shopping with me.”

Kelly shifted so that her whole body was facing Carrie; she was mainly happy that she had gotten Carrie to talk and smile again. “You were a daddy’s girl, weren’t you? I bet he came to your games.” She smiled when Carrie nodded and sat up a little. “So… what’d you play? Because I seriously can’t picture you playing softball. I try, but it’s funny ‘cuz I imagine you trying to run the bases in high heels.” Kelly laughed and tried to dodge when Carrie hit out at her for the remark. “Kidding! I’m kidding.” Kelly had another spoonful of ice cream and eyed Carrie.

“No you weren’t, but that’s okay.” Carrie finished off her beer and held onto the bottle as she remembered the time before her life had turned into what it was currently. “I played catcher. I wasn’t great or anything, but it was fun. And I was in a sorority, so don’t try to say I’m some tomboy. I’m just really good at everything.” Carrie smiled and looked at Kelly, visually daring the other girl to make some kind of joke out of her words. She was tired of serious discussion; they were supposed to be having fun.

Kelly looked down at her ice cream and pretended to concentrate on the somewhat soup-y mixture as she spoke. “That makes sense, too. Only the cute girls get the facemask.” When Carrie laughed, Kelly turned her head to watch the TV, though she reclined so that her body was resting against the couch and still facing Carrie. “I think that girl is shorter than me. Why is she playing? Isn’t there like a height requirement? It would help if she was taller than the bat she’s holding.” Kelly ate some more of her ice cream before she could speak and embarrass herself again. She hadn’t really meant to call Carrie cute this time.

Carrie chuckled at Kelly’s ramble as she set her bottle down between the cushions of the couch, and then she picked up Ace and let him rest on her. “She’s not that short. She just looks smaller because of the helmet.” Carrie turned her head a little when Kelly scoffed at her answer. “The helmet is big, and of course she’s going to look short compared to the other girls.” Carrie looked back at the game and scowled at the TV. “The giant ref doesn’t help either. I bet you she’s my height at least; she just looks little because she’s slim.”

Kelly raised her eyebrow as she reconsidered Carrie’s words. Kelly looked back and forth between the hitter and Carrie. Then she thought about how the rest of the girls were taller and larger in stature. “You were the short girl on your team, weren’t you?”

"Was not.” Carrie cuddled Ace and smiled as the girl Kelly had called short got a base hit.

Kelly wanted to laugh at Carrie’s adorable petulant behavior, but she held her laughter in for Carrie’s sake. She liked the idea of Carrie acting tough to make up for being the shortest person on a team. “This would be a lot more interesting if-”

Carrie glanced sideways at Kelly so that she didn’t have to miss any of the game. “If what?”

Kelly inwardly giggled because Carrie was giving her a wary look. She could picture the blonde giving the look to a bunch of teammates, which just made her think about the thing she had stopped herself from saying. “Umm, if more women’s sports was televised? Because then there would be more of a choice, and that might make this more interesting, you know? Like if we saw all the other games that it took to get to this point.” Kelly spooned some ice cream in her mouth and stared at the TV while she promised herself not to drink anything else.

The answer didn’t make any sense to Carrie. The games prior to the one they were watching had been shown on television, so either Kelly didn’t know, or Kelly just meant sports in general. The second possibility made even less sense to Carrie, so she decided to forget about the random comment. “We can try to find some other game with girls if you want?” She turned on her side to grab the remote, belatedly grabbing Ace as he fell onto the couch and Kelly. “I’m sorry, baby.” Carrie cuddled Ace, the remote forgotten, until she heard the doorbell. “I’ll be right back.”

Kelly cleared her throat as Carrie pushed Ace into her arms and walked away. She unthinkingly held the dog as she tried not to think about how close Carrie had been to her. She had been confused momentarily when Carrie had called Ace baby, she had thought the blonde was talking about her since Carrie hadn’t said anything that affection about the dog all night. “Definitely got to stop drinking now.” Kelly held Ace closer and smiled at him. “She called you baby, I bet that goes over well with the other boy dogs, doesn’t it?”

Carrie leaned against her doorway when Matt waved at her. “You got in trouble didn’t you?” Matt should have been at home with his girlfriend. He came over sometimes, but she had told him that she would be spending time with Kelly. Carrie stood when Matt resignedly said yeah. “Come on.”

Matt followed Carrie into the living room, although he didn’t sit down when Carrie sat back down on the couch with Kelly and Ace. “I forgot, I can go.”

Kelly chuckled as Carrie jumped up and practically dragged Matt to a chair. “Do you think more women’s sports should be televised?” She wasn’t sure where the question had come from, she just knew that she felt uncomfortable at Matt’s unexpected presence.

Carrie rolled her eyes and gave Matt a light push so that he would sit down in his favorite chair. “You sit and talk with her while I get you a beer, Matty.” Carrie sympathetically patted his shoulder before she left the room to go get Matt’s beer and her ice cream. A thought occurred to her though, and Carrie turned back and looked at Kelly and Matt. “Kel? Could you maybe forget I just called him Matty?”

Matt sighed and slouched down in his chair that Carrie had said the nickname twice in front of someone else. “Thanks, Care. This is such a great comfort after the fight. Knew I came to the right place.” He smiled when Carrie yelled back ‘welcome’ to him. Matt turned his attention to Kelly when she laughed at the interaction. “Word of advice? Don’t let her give you nickname.”

Kelly did her best to nod and hold in her giggles, but she failed. As Matt helped himself to a slice of pizza, Kelly smiled because of his advice; it meant that Matt didn’t mind that she was around. It was the complete opposite of how Ashley had treated Carrie. “I’ll just make up one that’s really embarrassing for her if she tries.” Kelly continued to smile when Matt looked at her for a moment before he grinned.

"I like you.” Matt took a bite of the pizza he had picked up, and then he looked at the pitcher on the table. “What is that? You guys make some drinks?” He leaned over and smelled the contents of the pitcher because it looked fruity; he didn’t do fruity drinks. “I can smell the alcohol from here. What’s in it?” Matt looked closely at the pitcher as Kelly rattled off quite a few different kinds of alcohol. “Care, forget the beer. Bring me a cup.” He took another bit of his pizza and grinned at Kelly. She was okay by him so long as she didn’t bring that crazy Ashley girl around Carrie.
****
- 7
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

So Cold