More than Expected

Part 1

May 7, 2012
It was a typical Monday for the group. Six out of the seven of them sat at a lunch table outside. Katherine Beckett, a 16 year old sophomore, sits with her friends Lanie Parish, Javier Esposito, Kevin Ryan, Jenny O'Malley, and Rick Castle wondering where their friend, Mike Royce, was. They're all sophomores in high school except Rick and Mike who are juniors. "He wasn't in English today. Maybe he decided to skip." Rick says, "It is the end of the year." Lanie points out. Kate bites her lip and nods. In her gut, though, she feels that something is wrong.
Mike, who she often referred to as "Royce", is like a big brother to her. They met on the playground when she was in second grade and he was in third. He'd become protective of her, and throughout the years, their friend group had expanded. Everyone always wondered if her feelings for Royce grew deeper and she often wondered that as well, but then Rick moved to town. They all met Rick when he moved to New York from California at the end of their seventh grade year (Rick and Royce's eight grade year).
No one could deny that the two have had crushes on each other since they met. Well, Rick has had a crush on Kate since they first met. For Kate, however, she could barely stand Rick for the first year and a half that he joined their friend group. But they'd grown closer, especially after her boyfriend of a year, Josh Davidson, dumped her two weeks before homecoming their freshman year. Rick had been there for her and she's pretty sure that's when her feelings for him slowly developed. Neither of them acted on it though. Even through four of their friends are dating each other (Javi and Lanie are in an on-again-off-again relationship cycle while Kevin and Jenny have been together since sixth grade).
The two had an unspoken, mutual understanding, it seemed, that them dating would make things weird for Royce since Kate was basically his little sister and Rick was his best friend. Lunch ends and the friends split apart to go to class. Kate walks into her Biology class and takes her seat next to Maddie, her lab partner. It's halfway through their final exam review that Principal Gates walks in. Their former principal, Principal Montgomery, had retired last year and so far, nobody liked his replacement.
"Ms. Beckett, I need to have a word with you in my office." She says. Everyone's attention turns to the brunette who packs her bag before following the principal to the front of the building where she finds her five other friends standing with their parents, and more importantly, tears in their eyes. Then she sees her parents. It's about Royce. She thinks to herself. She knew something was wrong. "Mom?" She asks, but the tears are already gathering in her eyes, "We're so sorry, baby." Johanna whispers as she wraps her arms around her daughter.
Kate breaks down in her mother's arms. "Given the circumstances, I advise you all to take the week off. I don't want to see any of you back here until Monday." Principal Gates says. They all shuffle out of the school and the six friends huddle together for a moment, "What happened?" Kate finally asks, "Apparently Royce was driving home from a party last night and a drunk driver hit him head-on." Kevin states, "His injuries were so bad that they couldn't identify him right away which is why we just found out." Lanie continues.
"Yeah, apparently his seat was in the back row of his car and the steering wheel-," Javi starts going into detail before Rick cuts in, "That's enough, Jav." He says as a gently rests a hand on Kate's back. He can feel her begin shaking. "Katie, let's go home." Johanna says. Kate nods and follows her parents to their car. The minute they get home, Kate rushes upstairs and immediately isolates herself in her room. She pulls out her phone and calls Royce. This is a mistake. Kevin said it himself. They had trouble identifying the body. She tells herself.
After five rings it goes to voicemail: "Hey this is Mike. Sorry I couldn't make it to the phone right now. Leave your name and number and I'll call you back ASAP." Then there is a beep. And for some reason she speaks, "Royce, I need you. Please come back." She cries. She finally breaks down and hangs the phone up. She lays in bed and cries for hours. Johanna comes to check on her and ends up cradling her to her chest just like when Kate was little and didn't feel good or had a nightmare.
It's 8:30 that night when her phone rings and for a split second she thinks maybe they really did misidentify the body and Royce was alive. But it's only Rick. "Hello." She croaks into the phone, "Kate, how're you holding up?" He asks. She can tell he's been crying, "Probably as great as everyone else. How about you?" She asks, "I-I'm in pain." He chokes out. There is a pang in her chest at his tone. It's killing her to hear him like this, "Rick, do you want to come over?" She asks, "I don't want to upset you." He says.
"You could never upset me. You always make me feel better. You know that." She says. "Okay. I'll be there in fifteen." He answers before hanging up. Kate makes her way to her parent's room, "Hey, Rick is gonna come over for a little bit. He's not doing much better than I am." Kate says, "Okay, Bug, I'm glad you have friends like him. If either of you need anything, come get us." Johanna says. Kate nods before going downstairs and waiting for him. True to his word, it's 8:48 on the dot, fifteen minutes after their phone call, that he shows up at her house.
He all but tumbles into her, wrapping her up in his arms. They hold each other, crying for a few minutes before they migrate upstairs and into her room. "How the hell is this happening?" Rick asks as they sit on the edge of her bed, "I don't know. I keep telling myself that they misidentified the body. He's just sleeping off a hangover and we'll see him tomorrow and give him shit for not answering his phone." Kate explains, "I hope that's true." Rick tells her. A tear slips down her cheek.
"It's not." She whispers, "Kate-," "I called him. I called him and he didn't answer. He always answers my phone calls." She tells him. He knows it's true. No matter how bad of a day or how drunk Royce was, he would always answer the phone if Kate called. "How do we live without him?" Rick asks, "I don't know." Kate answers as more silent tears slip down her cheeks, "If it weren't for Royce, we wouldn't know each other." Rick says. She looks up at him, "Rick." She says. They both fall silent and before either of them realizes it, they're moving towards each other.
"Kate." Rick murmurs. She can feel his breath on her lips and she nods, "It's okay." She whispers before closing her eyes as his lips land on hers in what she could only describe as a fairytale kiss. His hand cups her cheek while both of hers divest themselves in his hair. Their lip lock continues for several minutes until they're both out of breath, "Will you stay?" She asks, "Kate, your parents-," "Will think you were too distraught to drive home. Please, Rick, I don't want to be alone tonight."
He sighs before giving in and nodding before pressing his lips to hers again. They cuddle under her sheets, but it seems clear to both of them that sleep will not be their friend tonight.
Part 1! I'll be switching back and forth between this and my Shefani story titled '2 for 1'.