May 2001
“Kate! Have you seen my cap and gown anywhere?” Brooke cried as she came running down the stairs. I laughed as I watch her frantically search while I stood there holding what she was looking for:
“If you slowed down for one second, you’d notice that I was holding it.” She stuck her tongue out at me as she grabbed it and disappeared up the stairs:
“I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE GRADUATING!!!” Just then the front door of our house opened and I felt two hands cover my eyes:
“Guess who?” I turned and threw my hands around my boyfriend’s neck:
“NICK!!!” He kissed me gently:
“I’ve missed you.” I moaned against his lips:
“Mmmm….me too.”
I hadn’t seen him in four months. They had been touring for their latest album and he hadn’t gotten the time to visit me and I was busy finishing up school. He finally was able to get some time off so he could come to my college graduation.
While we waited for the rest of my roommates and all of our families to get there, we sat down and ate some breakfast. Nick cleared his throat:
“So, have you decided what you’re going to do yet?” I avoided his glance:
“Umm…I don’t know yet. There’s so much stuff to consider.” He frowned. See, after I worked as Denise’s assistant on the “Millenium” tour, she had recommended me to Jive and they had offered me a job down in Orlando. Sounds perfect, huh? Well, the thing is, I've always wanted to go to law school. I had applied and gotten into several but they were all up north. Then this job opportunity came along and now I’m so confused.
“What’s there to consider?” I looked up at him and started rattling off different things:
“Do I put off law school? Is there one down there I can maybe go to? How am I going to afford a place to live? Do I live in Orlando, closer to my job? Or Tampa, near you? What are my parents going to think? Would you like me to keep going?” Nick glanced down at his hands and mumbled something:
“Katelin, you could live with me.” My head shot up:
“What did you just say?” He looked at me straight in the eye:
“You could move in with me.” My mouth dropped open:
“Are you serious?” He grabbed my hands:
“Why not, Kate? I live in that big house, all by myself. I could use a roomy. All the better if it was you.”
“I don’t know, Nick. Even if my parents are okay with the whole moving to Florida thing, I don’t think they’d really go for me moving in with you.” Nick frowned a little:
“Kate, you’re 22 years old. It’s your life. You can’t let them make decisions for you for the rest of your life.” I sighed:
“I know that, Nick. But they’re really against the whole living-together-before-you’re-married thing. I just don’t want them to be disappointed in me.” He kissed my forehead:
“They don’t have to know that you’re sleeping in the same bed as me. We could say that you have your own room.” I rolled my eyes at him:
“You’re going to be a father one day. Would you believe your daughter if she told you that?” He shrugged:
“I guess not. But just think about it, Kate. It would be so much more practical. No worries about rent or anything like that. It’d be all taken care of. And you’ll be with me.” I stood up and kissed his nose just as my family all walked in the door:
“When I decide, you’ll be the first to know.”