Plan B

34

KRISTIE'S POV

An evening with Charlie.
One out of the many we've spent together, maybe even more than Dale. Dale is probably too busy with football, but Charlie also has football practice to go to right? Wait, Dale has the university to go to. Yeah, that's it. I shouldn't even be comparing them anyway.

I went back to the house psyched up because I had something to look forward to; Lindsey the dog and baby Keshun. He just lit up my world like nobody else. He was always cheerful. I always smile when I see him even on the gloomiest days.

I happily tried to open the door but it was stuck. The door was locked. That was odd since we hardly ever locked the door. I rang the door and guess who opened it... KELSIE!

"Finally, you're here, get inside." I quickly got inside and she locked the door as if to block someone from coming inside.

"Why are you locking the door?" I asked.

"Because your dad told me to," she said.

"What?" I was confused.

"Have a seat," she said. I slowly sat on the sofa waiting for an explanation of what was going on.

"What do you mean my dad? Most importantly, what are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to visit remember? I came to see baby Keshun. Where were you?"

"I was with Charlie. He sort of made things right between us. I completely forgot you were coming today."

"Girl, the next time a guy makes you forget about me, we're done... and this isn't even Dale."

"Must it be?" I asked Kelsie. She seemed surprised at my question.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask that." I then realized that the house was unusually silent.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Kelsie who was still not amused by my previous question.

"They are at the hospital."

"Hospital?" That was definitely not the answer I was expecting.

"Yes. They left about an hour ago. Keshun was very ill."

"Which hospital? We must head there right away!" I said, panicking. The air in the room suddenly felt insufficient.

"Your dad told me to stay here with you. Don't worry, I know everything will be fine." I was quiet for sometime, trying to suppress my worries about the baby.

"Look. Just try to calm down," Kelsie said when she noticed my hyperventilation, "Let's watch some movies, eat popcorn and have your best ice cream for dessert; I put it in the freezer."

I tried to calm down and I trusted Kelsie when she said that everything would be alright.

"Which movie should we start with?" I asked her trying to lighten up.

"Aliens of Caucasus," she said pulling the movie out of her bag.

"I'll get the popcorn from the kitchen." I opened the top most cabinet which was so high that some popcorns fell on my hair. I ate them one by one as I joined Kelsie on the sofa.

"This is Kelly's latest movie. It's not even out yet."

"Question is, why don't you ever act or even appear in any of them?"

"I don't know how to act. I've never acted before. I'll never qualify for any role."

"Your family owns The Starks' Alley! You don't even need qualifications. You being born is already a qualification!"

"You're actually right. I have never thought about it that way. It's a great idea but I don't want to seem as if I'm there just because it's a family business."

"It works for Kelly doesn't it. In fact the next time Kelly is in a movie I want you to be beside him."

"No way! I can't stand Kelly. We can never work together."

"Come on. How unbearable can he be?"

"I'd rather jump off a cliff than work with him. That's how unbearable he is. You'll meet him one day and you'll know what I mean."

We watched the movie and at the end Kelly was officially my celebrity crush.

"The role he played was meant for him and no one else could have played it like he did, "I even cried.

"Since when did you get this emotional?" Kelsie asked me.

"Since the moment Kelly sacrificed himself for Kendra in the end. How did that not get to you?"

"I told you, he's annoying!"

"I still love him no matter what you say," I said going to get some dog food for Lindsey and she arrived almost immediately. "You get extra biscuits for good timing!" I said patting her head as I added more biscuits in her dog bowl. She wiggled her tail as she barked in excitement.

"After this you're taking a bath," I said looking at her muddy self. This made her tail and her perky ears drop because she hated bath time. Lindsey had gotten bigger compared to when Lindsey gave her to me.

"Those puppy eyes won't work on me," I told Lindsey as she looked at me innocently.

The doorbell rang and I rushed to open the door. My parents were back... but where was the baby?

"Where is baby Keshun?"

"We had to leave him at the hospital," my mom said before going upstairs.

"Your mom is just tired. The doctor said Keshun doesn't have enough blood in his system and someone needs to donate blood. We left our blood samples to be screened and undergo a few tests but I, of course, will be the donor. Keshun will be fine," my dad assured me.

On the bright side I was aware of what was going on. For the rest of the night Kelsie and I chased Lindsey around the house before we were finally able to catch her to give her a bath. She's so fast!