The next week was a pretty stable one. Lance and Brittny were doing great, as were Danielle and Justin. Joey had begun going back to his normal dating habits, Chris was still in his own world, JC, despite everything he'd said to Katie had been avoiding her, and Katie had slowly began returning to her normal self. Or so everyone thought.
It was also 4:30 in the morning, and Katie was still awake. Suddenly, everything that had happened in the past three weeks was running through her mind, and she couldn't stand to be in the house another minute.
She crawled out of bed, and without changing out of her pajamas, walked outside, and began walking.
For half an hour, she walked the empty streets, trying to clear her head, when a car pulled up beside her, and the window rolled down.
"Katie?"
Katie peered inside the window. "JC? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." JC nodded his head to the other side of the car. "Hop in. I'll take you home."
Katie walked around the front, and climbed in. "Don't take me home. I can't stand to be there right now. Why are you out so late, or, should I said, so early?"
"I just got out of the studio for the night, and I drive down this road to get home." he replied. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?"
Katie nodded. "I'll go anywhere but there."
JC pulled back out into the road. "I'll park somewhere and we'll just talk, ok?"
Katie nodded.
He drove just a little bit down the road to a deserted parking lot, and turned the engine off. "So, what's going on? Why don't you want to go home."
She shrugged. "Have you ever been somewhere, and wanted to leave because it just didn't feel like home?"
JC nodded. "All the time. But never at Danielle and Brittny's place. Your place now, too. There are two places in the world that feel like home to me. My folks place, and that house."
"I don't know why, but, I always feel so out of place there. It's not home. And I was thinking about the past three weeks. . . I felt suffocated, and had to leave. So, I did."
"I can understand that. Where do you feel at home?"
Katie turned to face him, and looked into his eyes. They were filled with love and concern. "Right here." she whispered.
"What?"
"Right here, right now. You make me feel at home. You are home."
JC looked away.
"JC. . .I think I am ready to have a relationship with you again."
"No, your not." JC said, still facing the other direction.
"What?"
"I know your not ready yet. Your just caught up in the moment."
"But-"
"I don't want us to end up hating eachother. So, please. . . let's take everything slow, and just be friends right now, ok?"
"No. It's not." Katie threw open her door, and got out.
"Katie!" JC jumped out of his car, and followed her. "Come on, get back in th-"
"I don't understand you!" Katie yelled. "You say you love me, and you'll be there for me, and then for a week-a week!-you avoid me. Then I say I want you back, and you say let's just be friends!"
"It's not that I don't love you. I do! It's just we're both dealing with stuff right now. We can't be in a healthy relationship. Do you-"
Katie silenced him by pulling him into a long, hard kiss. "Tell me you didn't feel anything." she demanded.
"I can't. Because I did. That's not the point."
"Then what does love really have to do with anything? Obviously it means nothing to you!"
JC narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "I could say the same to you."
Katie's mouth dropped open. "You know I was going through a lot of shit!"
"And you still are! It's been a week, Katie. No matter what kind of front you put on, I know your not over this."
Katie fell silent.
"Katie?"
"Take me home."
"I-"
"Take me home!" she stormed to the car, and climbed in.
JC sighed, and got into the drivers side. "I thought you didn't want to be anywhere near that house."
"Yeah, well. . .right now I don't want to be anywhere near you."