Just Catch Me. {Demi Lovato Fanfiction}

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

**Kelsey**



X Factor is over. Alex and Sierra were the season three winners. After-show interviews are finished, the guests and contestants have all left, the stands are totally empty. Crew members are slowly taking down cameras and packing up equipment.  I'm standing center stage, looking around at the empty judges table and missing crowd.

"It feels so strange," a voice from behind me whispers. I recognize Demi's voice and turn towards her. She smiles softly at me. I take her left hand in my right and pull her against my side. Her right arm stretches across her body and she holds onto my forearm.

"I know," I reply, sighing. "We've stood on this stage, together and alone, and now we're watching as its coming down."

"Together..." Demi repeats, staring blankly at her spot at the judge's table. "We've been together the whole season. That's a long time."

"It doesn't feel like a long time," I say. "It still feels like yesterday when I auditioned. But it also feels like lifetimes ago."

"And now everyone is going to know," Demi whispers. She closes her eyes. "I'm so sorry this is happening, Kelsey," she says, squeezing my hand a little tighter.

"Demi," I whisper insistently. "I promise you, it will be okay. We said we would wait until after X Factor, and now X Factor's over."

"I know," Demi sighs, "I just don't want to go to fast into this. I wanted us to be ready, completely ready, for us to come out, and now we have to rush it because I kissed you backstage."

"It's okay, Demi." I turn around and face here, placing my hands on her shoulders. Tears line the corners of her eyes as she looks down at her feet, avoiding my gaze.

"Look at me," I command, tilting her chin up with my finger. "We're ready. We can do it. But we can start slow. Like family and close friends." I lean forward and kiss her forehead. She nods slowly and wraps her arms around my waist. I hug her tightly against my body, wishing for her pain to go away.

"Can we go home?" Demi whispers, and I nod, pulling out of the hug and taking her hand.

"Your place?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."


_______________




**Kelsey**



When we walk into Demi's flat, she automatically kicks off her heels and tells me she's going to change. I nod and walk to the kitchen, setting a pot on the stove. I start making homemade hot chocolate for the two of us, because it always relaxes me.

I hear Demi walk into the kitchen and I feel her arms around my waist. She rests her chin on my shoulder as the pot on the stove slowly heats up.

"Hot chocolate?" Demi murmurs, and I nod.

"Hot chocolate for me is like tea for tea people," I tell her, and I feel her jaw move when she smiles. We stay like this as I make the hot chocolate, not speaking, just standing in comfortable silence.

The hot chocolate finishes and I pour some into two mugs for each of us. We sit on the couch together and Demi leans her head on my shoulder.

"Kelsey?" Demi asks softly. I look at her. "Did you go to prom when you were in high school?"

"Prom?" I repeat, confused. "Yeah, my senior year. Why?"

"'Cause I never got to have a prom." She closes her eyes. "I didn't have a lot of experiences like that, but I think prom would've been a nice memory to have." She smiles gently, as if imagining what it would be like.

"If we were in high school I'd take you to prom," I assure her.

"Who did you go with?" Demi asks quietly. It looks as though she's talking in her sleep with her eyes closed as they are.

"My old girlfriend Tess," I answer. "God, I haven't seen her in years. My parents kicked me out and I couldn't live with her because her parents didn't know about us so we just sorta...fell out."

"I'm sorry," Demi immediately apologizes, "I didn't mean to being back bad memories." I shake my head.

"It was a very long time ago," I tell her. "I probably wouldn't even recognize her if she walked in the door, and she probably wouldn't recognize me."

"Tell me about how you asked to her prom," Demi murmurs, grabbing a blanket off the back of the coach and snuggling into me more. "It'll be my bedtime story."

I kiss the top of her head. "Okay."



Kelsey's POV (flashback/story, in present-tense)




"I kinda need your guys's help picking an outfit," I tell my sister Olivia and her friends Heather and Julia. "I've been searching for hours."

"Well, where are you going?" Heather asks.

"I'm going to ask my girlfriend to prom," I explain. My stomach clenches at the thought of Tess. I want this date to go really well.

"Aww!" The girls gush over me. "My baby sister has a date!" Olivia exclaims. My face turns red, and the others laugh at my expression. I bury my face in my hands.

"Will you guys just help me?" I plead, and they nod.



When the girls see my insanely messy room, they all chuckle and shake their heads. "You really like this girl," Olivia teases. I glare at her defensively, and she continues. "Where did you meet her?"

"She works with me at Coffee Bean. Her name's Tess," I explain, my face turning red.

"Alright, well lets get started!" Heather says, picking up a denim colored dress with white birds printed everywhere. I originally bought it for a concert and planned to let Olivia have it, but she insisted it looked better on me. Maybe because she wears fancier outfits than I do, and this dress was more summer-y and casual.

"I always loved this dress on you. C'mon, put it on!" Heather insists, tossing the dress to me. I shrug and walk into the closet, shutting the door behind me. I shed my shorts and t-shirt quickly, pulling the dress over my head. I step out of the closet, not even glancing at the mirror.

Immediately, everyone smiles at my appearance. I look down at my toes, taking note that I desperately need to paint my nails, and click my heels together. Of course, since I'm not wearing shoes, it doesn't make a sound.

"You look perfect, Kelsey. Tess is going to love it," Julia says, nodding in approval. I turn my head sharply to the side as my face heats up, attempting to hide my embarrassment. Heather laughs at my awkwardness and stands up.

"I know you don't like to wear heels," she begins, automatically earning a groan from me. "But these would look so cute with the dress!" she says, holding up a pair of tan wedges. I sigh, realizing that if I want to impress Tess, I should look my best.

I slide into them, trying to adjust the straps without falling over. I finally stand up straight and look over at my friends. They squeal as I smile softly at them.

"Girl, you will be breaking necks and breaking hearts!" Heather declares, which is basically her way of telling me I look alright.

"You really think so?" I ask nervously, brushing off imaginary dust from the skirt of my dress.

"Absolutely. Let us do you hair and makeup!" Julia insists. Olivia agrees. I shrug reluctantly and sit on the bed.

My sister rushes to her room, carrying back a bag full of different products and cosmetics I'll probably never learn the names of. She plugs in the curling iron while Heather starts on my makeup. She explains everything she's putting on my face, as if I'll ever use this stuff again.

"Just keep it light, okay? I want her to be able to at least recognize me!" I tease her as I look at the pile of products she's about to use. She scoffs and pushes a couple things out of the pile.

Olivia says something about the iron being hot enough and starts curling my hair. I have no idea what she's doing with it, and I tense up every time I feel heat close to my head.

"Relax," Olivia says, obviously noticing my nervousness. "I've curled my hair a thousand times. I promise I'm not going to burn you. In fact..." She pauses as she pulls the iron away carefully.

"I'm finished," she says, just as Heather says, "Done!"

"Oh, Kelsey," Julia exclaims. "You look beautiful! Not that you didn't before, I mean you looked great before, you don't even NEED makeup, but I mean, now, with your hair and dress and shoes, you look amazing! Not that you didn't—"

"Julia!" I cut off her rambling. She stops, blushing profusely. "Thank you."

"Go on," Olivia says, making a shooing motion with her hands. "Look in the mirror."

I stand up shakily, taking achingly slow steps in my unfamiliar shoes over to the full-length mirror. I gasp in surprise; I look...pretty.

My makeup is light, thanks to my request and Heather's disappointment. Light foundation covers the just-fading stubburn growth of teenage acne on my forehead. Black liner with a light colored eye-shadow and thick mascara makes my dull brown eyes look slightly less dull. And my hair...

I touch the curls gently to see if they are as soft and bouncy as they appear. Tight curls frame my face, making my face look thinner. My newly dyed purple tips look amazing in the curls. I blink slowly in disbelief.

"I look...amazing. Thank you guys so much," I whisper, still staring at my reflection.

"Thanks, guys, really. It means a lot," I say, hugging them all. "I love you guys."

We walk down the stairs and I grab my phone and purse before heading towards the door.

"You look nice, Kelsey. Where are you going?" My mother asks from the living room. I wince. I know she'll hate me if I tell her I have a date with a girl.

"I have a date, Mom," I tell her vaguely, my hand on the doorknob.

"With who? Have I met this boy? He's not a college boy, is he? I don't want you dating someone older than you," she presses, and I wince again.

"No, uh, we work together, at the Coffee Bean." True. "His name's Tyler." Lie. "He goes to a different school." True. He's really nice, and I really need to go." True. I rush out the door and slam it quickly behind me.

"Wait! Did he ask you to prom?" My mother yells out the front window but I don't respond.

I pull off my heels and slide into my worn out sneakers I snuck out with me. I snatch my longboard out of the bushes and  skate down the sidewalk towards Tess's house. There's no way I'm riding a skateboard in heels. I grin at the sidewalk. I fooled my parents again.



*later that night*



"I had a really great time, Kelsey," Tess says as she skates beside me. Neither of us have cars, so riding our longboards is the easiest way of traveling to and from dates. And it's much more fun than driving.

"Thanks." I smile at the ground in front of me. "I always have a great time with you."

"Wow, cheesy much?" Tess laughs, and I shrug.

"I never claimed to be clever, Tess."

"Oh believe me, I know you're not clever," Tess teases, speeding up as my house appears in our vision down the street.

"Race ya!" Tess yells as she accelerates. I take her up on that challenge, gathering up speed and leaning forward, cheering as I pass her.



"Do you want to come inside?" I ask, seeing that there are no cars parked in the driveway. "Nobody's home tonight, so it's okay," I add.

Both of our parents are extremely homophobic, but we're out to my sister, and our friends at school and coworkers at the coffee shop. We're always careful around each other's houses.

"Sure, I'd love to." Tess smiles as I lead her inside. I grab the leftover pizza and take her downstairs to the basement.

"Movie?" I ask, pulling a piece of cold pizza from the box. She nods and opens up the box to get a slice for herself only to gasp at the inside of the box.

In big bold letters, I wrote "PROM?" on the inside lid of the box.

Tess grins at me, saying, "You totally got this from the Internet."

I shrug, replying, "I guess I'm feeling really cheesy today." I wink and gesture to the pizza. Tess rolls her eyes.

"Well then," she says, grinning, "I'd love to go to prom with you, you stupid idiot."

"Good, you're the only one who would be able to put up with my puns." I kiss her for a few seconds before turning the DVD player.

"What do you wanna watch?" I ask, crouching in front of the movie case. I glance back at her and grin, and she reads my mind.

"High School Musial Marathon!" we squeal at the same time and burst out laughing. I put the first one in the DVD player and settle on the couch with Tess, skipping the previews and starting the movie right away. She rests her head on my shoulder, and I feel butterflies rising in my stomach. I look down and take her hand, interlacing our fingers together.


"If only high school is actually like that." Tess sighs as Troy and Gabriella sing together at the piano even after Ms. Darbus announced that auditions were over. "Where the only thing you had to worry about was whether or not you got the lead or got the girl."

"High School Musical: giving kids too high of standards since 2005," I reply and she giggles.

"Seriously," says Tess insistently, "They should make a movie that's really about high school, with all of the insecurities and stress and mean teachers and losing friends and getting jobs and getting fired and being gay and not being gay and homework and college applications and bad grades and stupid drama getting to everyone's head and crying yourself to sleep and what do you want to do after high school and is your dream worth chasing and who kissed who and do these shoes match my outfit..."

"I don't think anyone would watch that movie, based solely on the fact that I sure as hell won't want to go through high school after I've left," I tell her, and she shrugs.

"Better than setting my expectations so high that no matter what happens they would always come crashing down." She sighs, dragging her thumb across my hand. I smile softly at her touch.

"Being a teenager isn't so bad," I say, resting my head against hers. "We're here together, yeah? Despite our crazy parents, we're still together. Fuck it, I'm taking you to my prom. And that's insane."

"Very true. And I wouldn't change anything," she says, looking up at me.

A soft smile appears on my face at her words and I feel myself blush. We stare at each other for a few moments, and my blush grows deeper. 

"Your cute when you blush," Tess murmurs, cupping my cheek with one hand. I blush even more and look away as she giggles. I look into her eyes, and she stops giggling and leans forward slowly.

"Kelsey," she breathes.

She sounds hesitant, uncertain, but there is nothing I want more at the moment. I close my eyes, exhaling slowly against her lips, whispering back, "Please."

I don't see her lean in, but I feel her soft lips against mine for a second before she pulls away. I open my eyes to see her blushing hard. I place my hand against her cheek and pull her back to me. The kiss is just like I imagined it would be, soft and slow. She runs her fingers through my hair, tugging softly through tangles.

Suddenly, light floods the room and I hear Olivia's frantic whisper from the stairs. "Mom and dad are home," she hisses. "Sit up and watch the movie like nothing happened."

Immediately Tess and I jolt away from each other. I run my fingers through my hair, hoping it doesn't look too messy. I grab two slices of pizza and hand one to Tess.

"Kelsey?" A voice calls down the stairs. "You down there?" It's my mother.

"Yeah mom!" I yell. "I have a friend over."

"Okay!" She calls. "Don't stay up too late, you have a morning shift tomorrow."

"I know!" I reply, rolling my eyes. She doesn't reply, and I hear her shut the door to the basement. I let out a sigh of relief.

"I think we're okay," I whisper. Tess grins at me.

"So where were we in the movie?" Tess teases, leaning close to me.

"Right about here," I reply, closing the distance between us in a playful kiss. I smile against her lips and she giggles. I vaguely hear Ryan and Sharpay singing Bop to the Top and I giggle again at the song, remembering without even turning my head what ridiculous faces the characters are making.

"Stop laughing and let me kiss you," Tess scolds. She cups my cheeks in her hands, holding me in place as she kisses me. I place my hands at her hips, pulling her closer to me.

Then I hear a gasp and shattering glass. I shoot away from Tess like she's on fire and Tess does the same, but it's too late.

"Oh my god," my mom says. I avoid her gaze, instead looking at the glass of wine she just dropped on the steps, staining the wood red and shattering the wine glass.

"You said," my mother accuses angrily, "that you had a friend over. Do you always make out with your friends, Kelsey?" She storms down the stairs, leaving the mess of wine and glass behind. Lucky for her she still has her heels on, otherwise she would have avoided even coming near the carnage.

"No, she does not 'make out' with her friends," Tess fires at my mother, adding air quotes around 'make out.' Tess continues, "She does kiss her girlfriend."

And there it is. The G-word.

Tess and I use it all the time, sure, but the only way my mother wants me to use it is when a boy asks me to be his G-word.

"Hey I heard a crash and yelling and... Oh no." Olivia's distraught voice carries down the stairs.

I see that she's barefoot and immediately yell in reply, "Do not go near the stairs, Liv. There's glass." Her gaze flickers between Tess and me and our mother, who has crossed her arms in authorization and is glaring at me.

"Olivia," my mother says. "Go to your room please. Now."

Olivia looks absolutely distraught, her terrified gaze darting between mother and daughter. I shake my head at her and she slowly, without saying a word, walks out the door.

My mother turns to me again. "You are a disgrace!" she hisses. "Girls are not supposed to hold hands with other girls or kiss other girls!"

"And why not!" I yell back. "What is so bad about me being with Tess?"

"It's wrong!" she screams and I find myself taking a step back. "It's wrong and you're wrong and your relationship is wrong."

Thats crossing the line.

I calmly walk towards her, my face blank and free of any emotion, but Tess gets there before me. Tess steps in front of me and slaps my mother in the face. The loud smack echoes around the room, and I take a step back.

"You listen very closely, Mrs. Wright, because I am NOT going to repeat myself," Tess seethes. "That girl right there," she points to me, "aka your daughter, is very important to me. That girl may be wrong in your eyes, and our relationship may be wrong in your eyes, but in my eyes, she is as far from wrong as the east is from the west. I'm sorry that you are shoulder-deep in old ways that you can't see the way that Kelsey feels about me. And the way that I feel about her."

I can't hold back the smile on my face, but it disappears when my mother catches me.

"Shut your damn mouth Kelsey, there isn't anything here to be smiling about," my mother says, crossing her arms in disgust.

I look her dead in the eyes and say, "Fuck you." She gasps and so does Tess. "The whole 'your relationship is wrong' thing is total bullshit. Why is it wrong for me to kiss the girl that I love? To hug and hold the girl I love? To watch movies and eat cold pizza with the girl I love?"

"This is not how it's supposed to be!"

"Supposed to be my ass! I love that girl and she loves me and we're together so what the hell are you gonna do about it?" My voice cracks from screaming so loud.

"Out!" My mother screams. "You are out! Pack up and find somewhere to stay. As soon as you graduate, I don't want you here anymore. Take your 'girlfriend', pack up your stuff and get the hell out of my house."

And I slap her. Hard. The same side of her face that Tess hit her. So hard that my hand tingles and the smack echoes around the room.

"I hate you!" I scream at her. "You've always liked Liv more than me and you've just been waiting for an actual reason to hate me. You're relishing in this opportunity, because now you don't have to deal with me anymore. Well you know what?"

I step back to where Tess is standing and crash my lips onto hers. She's shocked for a moment before kissing back with the same ferocity. My mother gasps but I don't turn to look at her.

Suddenly I hear something being thrown in the air and Tess pulls away from me, gasping in pain. I look down to see a thick Harry Potter book lying on the ground. Tess is holding the side of her head and holding back tears.

"YOU THREW A FUCKING BOOK AT MY GIRLFRIEND!" I scream at her, grabbing a fistful of her shirt. "You better listen to me, 'mom'. You can do whatever the hell you want with me, but you will never, ever, touch my girlfriend again. Got it?" She nods, clearly terrified.

"Good." I push her shoulders and she stumbles backward. I look at Tess, who is kneeling on the ground, blood trickling from her head. I kneel beside her and kiss the top of her head. "We're leaving, okay?" I whisper. She nods. I take her hand and help her up, glaring at my mother.

"Get on my back," I tell Tess. "There's still glass on the steps." She nods and I give her a slow piggy-back ride up the stairs, glad that I still have on my sneakers. I struggle up the steps with her weight on me, but I don't look back. I'll never look back again.



"Oh my god," Demi whispers, interrupting her 'bed-time story'. "That's horrible. I only met your mom for, what, five minutes? And she was awful."

"You're blessed," I deadpan.

"What happened after that?"

I close my eyes. "I cried. For a very long time. I went to my room with Tess and Olivia and just sobbed on the bed. They helped me pack me stuff, and Tess and I left. I stayed at her house for one night before I left and stayed with Julia. Tess and I made it work for another month before my mom told her parents about us. They sent her to boarding school in Alabama. We tried to keep in contact, but I never saw her in person again." Demi squeezes my hand and I exhale slowly.

"When we tell my family," Demi whispers, "I promise they won't throw a book at you." I let out a giggle and kiss her forehead.

"Thanks Demi," I tell her. "You always know how to make me feel better." She smiles at me.

"And as much as I love my couch, I'm not a fan of sleeping on it," Demi says, standing up slowly. She holds out her hand and pulls me up. "Let's go to bed."

"Okay."



A/N: How did you like exploring Kelsey's past? But if only Demi would open up about hers, right? Maybe later ;).    (Theres a chapter i have started for later that might make you guys hate me lmao i can't wait until i can post it)

Today's song is This is Gospel by Panic! At the Disco. I'm OBSESSED with P!ATD so you should definately look up this song, or MIss Jackson, or There's a Reason Why These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven't Figured it Out Yet. All great songs.

Have a good day, a great week, and wa onderful life. Love you all! Don't forget to vote and comment!! And follow me on twitter and say Wattpad sent you @lightlylxvato.

:)