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

Chapter Sixty-Three

SOUNDTRACK: "Smooth Sailin'" - Leon Bridges

Jared tripped over Vedder as he walked through the living room, reading paperwork. He sloshed some coffee over the edges of his mug and cursed loudly as it burned his fingers.

"Son of a bitch!" He glared at Vedder, who rolled onto his back.

In a smaller dog, it would have looked cute. But Vedder was basically a horse, which meant that when he rolled over it looked exactly like what a horse would look like on it's back. He just looked like a lump stuck on his back, thrashing around as he tried to flip over. His foot hit an end table as he stood up, sending the contents clattering to the floor. The noise echoed in the room. Vedder sulked over to Jared and licked his hand in an effort to apologize. Jared later realized it was because coffee was dripping off of his fingers. He snatched his hand away and glared at the dog again, this time less harshly.

"Kate! Come get your dog!" Jared shouted through the house.

Kate's head appeared out of Emma's office. "What's up?" she asked.

"First, your dog needs to find a better place to lounge," he growled, nudging Vedder away from him with his knee. "Second, I wanted to ask you about something. Come here for a second."

She walked into the hallway. "You know he likes to lay in the sun. What did you need?"

Jared cleared his throat. "I wanted to know if you'd be interested in coming with me to the London premiere of Suicide Squad," he asked.

Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. He had never invited her to a formal event like that before. "Are you serious?" she asked apprehensively.

He nodded. "I think it's a perfect chance for you to see how this stuff really works."

"I don't have a passport to get there, for starters," she said.

"I took care of that already." She gave him a questioning look. "You'll need one to come see me in Japan, so I already got one made for you."

"Okay...second, I thought you'd want to keep me out of the public eye," she continued.

"I do. But this is a good opportunity to get a good image of you out to fans and the press. That way they'll be less likely to try anything," he explained. "Plus, you'll get to meet the cast. Hell, so will I, for the most part," he chuckled. "Come on. It'll be fun. Think of it as a little trip before Camp and before school starts back up again. We won't be able to go anywhere for a while since I'll be gone."

Kate tilted her head in thought. "I don't know if they can spare me, though," she replied.

"Dude, I'm the boss. I can take whomever I want, where ever I want, whenever I want. The perks of writing their paychecks," he smiled. "Come on Kate. You'll have fun. I'll show you London."

"What will I wear?" she asked.

"Alessandro has worked something up for me. He can do the same thing for you," Jared said. He could sense her unease so he looked into her eyes. "It will be fine. I've done hundreds of these things. You'll have fun."

Kate nodded reluctantly. "Okay, sure. But I'll be alone most of it, though. You'll be on the carpet doing interviews and all that."

"When I invite you, that means you'll be right next to me," he told her. "On the carpet. In the photos. When I sign, you'll have to stay back with Shayla, but you won't be far away."

This brightened her mood a bit. "Shayla's coming?"

He nodded. "This is too big of an event for Joie to manage on her own yet. And if you're coming, it's even more of a reason to have her there."