An even longer pause came from Kellan. "Evan, it's not like that. I wouldn't..." He didn't finish that thought, and I was really curious where it had been going. "Don't worry. Yeah, maybe I'll drop in later."
"Alright, see ya." The door closed softly.
Kellan sighed deeply and then drove the car out of the parking lot. I faded in and out of consciousness as we drove home. I really wanted to lie down in his lap, but thought that might be pushing the limits of our friendship. Feeling like we had only driven for a few seconds, the car stopped again.
He waited in the dark, silent car for a moment, and I could feel his eyes on me. I wondered if I should get up now and go inside, so he could leave for Pete's, but I was really curious as to what he would do, and honestly, quite relaxed. The silence grew while we sat in the car. It started to make my heart beat faster, which started to make me uncomfortable, so I yawned and stretched a little.
I lifted my head to find his beautiful blue eyes watching me. "Hey, sleepy," he whispered. "I was beginning to think I'd have to carry you."
"Oh...sorry." I blushed at the thought.
He laughed a little. "It's alright. I wouldn't have minded." He paused for a second. "Did you have fun?"
I thought back over the day and realized that I had. "Yes, a lot. Thank you for inviting me."
He half-smiled and looked away, almost shyly. "You're welcome."
"Sorry you had to hang back with me and miss all the moshing," I laughed.
He laughed once and then looked back over at me. "Don't be. I'd rather hold a beautiful girl than be all bruised tomorrow." He smiled, looking a little embarrassed. I blushed and looked down. Someone as good-looking as him calling me beautiful, was beyond ridiculous, but, sweet anyway. "Well, come on. I'll get you inside."
I shook my head at him. "No, you don't have to do that. I can manage. You can go on to Pete's."
He looked over at me, suddenly alarmed. I realized then, that he'd assumed I was sleeping through that whole conversation with Evan. I tried to cover with, "I'm guessing that's where the other D-Bags went off to?"
He visibly relaxed. "Yeah, I don't have to go though. I mean, if you don't want to be alone. We could order pizza, watch a movie or something."
Suddenly starving, that sounded like a great idea. My stomach noisily agreed. I laughed, slightly embarrassed. "Okay, apparently my stomach votes for option two."
"All right then." He smiled.
We ordered our large, pepperoni pizza and ate it standing in the kitchen, laughing over some of the absurdly goofy things Griffin and the guys had done throughout the day. Afterwards, I snuggled up on the chair while he sprawled across the couch and turned on 'The Princess Bride'. I vaguely remembered the little boy talking to his grandfather, before I was sound asleep. I woke up when Kellan laid me down on my bed and started pulling the covers over me.
"Kellan..." I whispered.
His hands stopped moving. "Yeah?"
I looked over to what little of him I could see in the darkness. "We forgot the Space Needle."
He smiled at me and finished tucking me in. "Next time."
When he was done he paused, still leaning over me. His eyes were unreadable in the darkness, but, weirdly enough, he was giving me butterflies, looking at me like he was. After another second, he smiled, then whispered good night and left. My stomach settling, I smiled at remembering the day and how, for almost the entirety of it, I hadn't missed Denny...too much.
Chapter 6
Coming Together, Breaking Apart
After that day, I was more aware of Kellan. I couldn't help but notice how sweet he was. His cute little nods "hello" when he entered the bar, how he would look at me and smile sometimes when he sang, how we chatted every morning over our coffees, how much I loved it when he would sing just for me at home. Every day I felt closer to him, which delighted me and worried me. But, wrong as it may be, noticing him distracted me from missing Denny. I still craved his phone calls, but if we went a day or two without one, I could satisfy my loneliness by spending time with Kellan. Kellan never seemed to mind me hanging around him. In fact, he seemed to encourage it.
We continued our friendly flirting that had started at Bumbershoot. On nice days, we would sit outside in his backyard and lay down on the grass to read and enjoy the sunshine. He would usually take his shirt off to sunbathe and lying close beside him, my heartbeat usually spiked a bit. He would eventually fall asleep and I'd roll on my side to watch his perfect face in slumber. Once, when I'd been doing that, he hadn't been asleep yet, and he'd smiled and cracked an eye open, making me blush furiously and roll onto my stomach to hide my head while he softly laughed at me.
On nights that I had off, he would sometimes come back home after rehearsal instead of going to Pete's with the guys, and we'd have dinner together and then snuggle close to watch a movie. Sometimes he'd put his arm around me and lightly rub mine with his fingertips. Sometimes he would hold my hand, playing with my fingers and smiling that amazingly sexy half-smile.
We'd sit together and cuddle on the couch, reading or watching TV before work, on the nights I did have to go in. He would always let me relax into him and put my head on his shoulder. Once, when I'd been exhausted after a sleepless night of missing Denny, we'd snuggled on the couch and he'd pulled me gently down, to rest my head on his lap. I had fallen asleep that way, turned slightly into him, with his arm over me protectively and his other hand running through my hair. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew it was probably more than Denny would be okay with, but it was comforting, it was nice. It concerned me a little, how much I enjoyed being close to him...and yet, I couldn't seem to stop doing it.
One weeknight, someone put a particularly dancey song on the jukebox and Griffin (proudly wearing his Douchebags t-shirt) felt the need to grab every available girl, at every nearby table and pull her to the dance floor. Of course, they all went willingly. But then he spotted me and started moving suggestively in my direction. Not relishing his roaming hands anywhere near my body, I put my hands out in front of me and started backing up. Evan laughed and grabbed Jenny for a quick dip, making her giggle. Matt sat on the table, chuckling at everyone.
Griffin was almost within my reach, when I was suddenly pulled away and twirled a few times on the floor. Laughing at Griffin's disappointed face, Kellan spun me a few more times to the other side of the room. I smiled at him as he twirled me out and, kissing my hand, released me. Within seconds he was surrounded by a half-dozen women wanting to dance with their rock-god. He spent the remainder of the night dancing rather sexily with a rotating group of females. He moved effortlessly to the music and was exceedingly enticing to watch. I found my eyes roaming to him more than a few times during my shift.