Sophomore Year || Parenthood Series, Book One || WATTYS 2018

Chapter Nine

SOUNDTRACK: "Rock the Casbah" - The Clash

"I love you Dubai!" Jared shouted to the audience as Tomo played the last riff on his guitar. "Thanks so much for coming out to see us tonight. Be safe getting home!"

He put the microphone back on its stand and waved as he walked off the stage. Within moments, stage hands were all over him, taking off wires and handing him water and towels. Tomo appeared next to him a second later and got the same treatment.

"Alright!" their tour manager shouted over the din. "Let's get this stuff packed and shipped to the airport!"

"Kate called," Shayla said, handing him his phone. "I didn't answer it though."

He nodded, still breathing heavily from the performance. "What's the damage for Shannon's absence?" he asked, wiping sweat from his face.

She shrugged. "No worse than we expected. A few people asked for refunds but most still came," she said. "But there is one thing the Hive has told me about." He looked at her expectantly. "Some people are saying Shannon should be replaced."

"What?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.

"It's only a few people at the moment, and Nate's keeping an eye on it, but they're anticipating it being a lot worse when Shannon's not at any of the other shows though," she explained.

He sighed and walked to the dressing room. "Alright," he said. "Just let it simmer for now. We'll see how bad it gets before responding." He opened the bathroom door. "Oh - did you book my flight to Paris yet?" he called, getting undressed.

"Yes. You're all set," she said. "You should probably call Kate back, though," she added over the noise of the shower.

"I will," he assured her. "I think she's in school there right now. I'll call her before we leave for Getafe."

He shut the door and climbed into the shower, letting the water rush over his body. Kate had, in fact, started texting him more. Most of what she sent was just her talking about the houses Ryan was looking at or a school assignment. It was never very meaningful and Jared liked it that way. He kept things light and tried to remember as much information as he could. The more he talked with Kate, the better he felt about coming to a decision.

He knew that his life was too busy and complicated to have Kate in it full time, so he figured he could have her one weekend a month in L.A. and the rest of the time she could stay with Ryan. That way she could stay at the same school with her friends and he could continue his life like he usually did. The rare down time he allowed himself to have was often spent with friends or going on spontaneous trips; he didn't want to change that for Kate, as selfish as that sounded. It wasn't that he didn't want her in his life; it was more that he didn't really know what to do with her and he figured the less time she spent with him, the less attention she'd get from his fans.

So far, no one was aware of Kate. And Jared had made it his new mission to keep it that way for as long as possible. He figured people were unaware because the case was centered in San Diego and not L.A. He didn't know how he would handle things when people did finally figure it out, though.

"Ready to leave?" Shayla asked as he emerged from the bathroom, clean and freshly dressed.

He nodded and put his dirty clothes into his suitcase before slipping on his shoes and walking ahead of her, his bag trailing behind him. They got into one of the waiting cars and left for the airport. Tomo was in the car behind them. Jared pulled his phone from his jacket and checked the time in California. Still too early to call. But he could still send her a text to let her know he saw she had called. She would still be in class at school.

Sorry I missed you, he texted. I was on stage.

He sent it and settled in for the drive. He jumped slightly when the phone rang in his hand.

"Hello?" he asked. "Kate?"

"Jared, hi," she said softly.

"Shouldn't you be in school or class or something?" he asked.

"It's lunchtime," she explained. "We're allowed to use our phones now."

"Oh - okay," he replied. Several seconds passed. "So how is school going?" he asked awkwardly. Their conversations always seemed to flow better over text message.

"It's good," she answered. "I have a soccer game tomorrow. State qualifiers."

"Really?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me?" He felt like a qualifying game for state championships was something a father shouldn't miss.

"You couldn't have come even if I had told you before," Kate responded glumly. "You have a show."

He sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "Look, when I get back, I'll take you out to celebrate. Anywhere you want to go."

"We haven't even won," she replied.

"But making it to that point is still a big deal," he reasoned. "You should celebrate that. And who knows, maybe when I get back you'll be state champions."

"Yeah, maybe," she said. "How was the show?"

"It was great," Jared told her. "We're on our way to Spain now."

"Ryan put an offer in on a townhouse," she said randomly.

"He did?" he asked. For some reason the information rubbed him the wrong way. "That's good, I guess. Do you like the house?" He had to remind himself that his opinion didn't matter in the situation.

"It's okay," she replied. "It's not where I grew up, though."

"Moving can be tough," he offered. "I moved a lot as a kid. At least you get to stay in your school district and stay with your friends," he pointed out.

"Yeah," she said reluctantly. "We haven't gotten it yet, though."

The car pulled up to the airport and Shayla got out to get his luggage from the driver. "Kate, listen. We just got to the airport. I have to go. But I promise - when I get back, we'll do something, okay?"

"Sure," she said. "I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Good luck in your game," he said. "I really hope it goes well."

She ended the call and he was left on the phone awkwardly. It could have gone worse, he thought. He got out of the car and took a bag from Shayla.

"Everything okay?" she asked, shutting his door and walking up behind him.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm just a little distracted by this Kate business." They walked through the sliding doors. "And this thing with Shannon," he added. "I want to distract from it, but I'm not sure how."

They stopped at the ticketing agent to check in. "Well," Shayla started. "I'm not sure Robin would approve, but there's always the romantic angle." He picked up their tickets and they walked away. "You're going to Paris for a fashion show. You could let the press catch you with one of the models. I think Irina is going to be there."

"That's diabolical," he grinned at his assistant.

"No, it's just called being observant," she replied over her shoulder. "I've been following some of the chatter online from fans. They think you and Irina are something after all the time you spent together in New York over the summer. So, why not use that as a distraction from Shannon? Plus, they'll be too focused on those two things to pay any attention to the Kate situation."

He stared at Shayla in amazement as they waited for an elevator. "You'd make a pretty decent publicist on day, know that?"

She just smiled as they got on the elevator. "I'll call Irina and make sure she's going to the after party."