Thank you, guys <3 :tackle:


Chapter 5: Strange Times

Not really knowing much of Hertford, or London for that matter, Stephen let Aimee guide him to the nearest mall or shopping place. “Hey Stephen, do you ever think about getting married?” Kat grinned, and giggled. Stephen just looked at her from the rear view mirror. “Imagine little Stephens running around! Actually, don’t get married. One Stephen is enough of a hardship,”

Stephen just busted out laughing, not much else he could do. “I can say the same for you. No one wants more Kats running around causing even more trouble,” he answered. Kat huffed, crossing her arms and kicking the back of his hair. Stephen just glared at her and focused back on the road.

“Oh, look! We’re here!” Aimee pointed to a circular building with many windows, which the sun’s rays were glaring off of. Finding a parking spot, Stephen turned off the car and headed out with the girls. Entering the shopping center, Stephen had already lost Kat.

Getting a bit frantic, Stephen yelled in frustration. “Why must this child run off like that?! Now I lost Katlyn Way!” Feeling a nudge on his side, he turned towards Aimee, who was pointing towards a fashion store.

“Look, it’s me!” Kat shrieked and pointed towards a blow up picture of her. Stephen gave her an extremely strange look but nodded.

“You look very beautiful in that picture,” Aimee smiled.

“Are you trying to say that I only look pretty in pictures?!” Kat defended. “Well, I’ve never been so insulted in my life!”

“I didn’t—That’s not what I meant..” Aimee’s voice became fainted as she lowered her head.

“Sure you have! How about the time I told you your hair can be used to block out the sun and save the earth?” Stephen smirked, laughing nonetheless as well.

“I don’t like you anymore, Stephen! I’ll see my way out of the mall!” Kat flipped her hair and walked away. Not even twenty feet away from where she was standing, some guy had approached Kat.

“Hey miss. How are you doing today?” the guy asked. He seemed to be in his late teens, with blonde hair and brown eyes. Stephen and Aimee just stood watch and enjoyed what was happening.

“Well, my day is going pretty bad,” she pouted. “My friend, Stephen, he attacked me this morning and now he’s yelling insults at me. Even after, I helped him sneak his girlfriend out of her house!”

“Someone shouldn’t treat a pretty girl like you that way,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I know. You wanna be my friend?!” Kat asked, excitedly.

“I was thinking of something more than friends,” the guy winked.

“Best friends?!” Kat cheered. Stephen smacked his face and laughed. Was Kat really this clueless? Of course. The guy hitting on Kat would hopefully notice that she had a loose screw somewhere in her head by now.

“Not exactly,” the strange guy sighed. “If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone as beautiful as you, I’d have five cents” he smirked, rubbing Kat’s arm. Kat gave him a questioning look. “Are you a parking ticket, because you got FINE written all over you!”

“Wait, what? What did you just say to me?! I WILL TURN YOU INTO A TURTLE!” Kat yelled, reaching for her wand. Noticing this, Stephen rushed over to Kat and pulled her hand away.

“Okay, she’s not interested. Run along now and go wash your hair or something,” he said, pulling Kat away from the guy and towards another store. Rejoining Aimee, he rushed along with both of them before the guy had a chance to follow behind them. “Okay, so now what?” he asked.

The girls smirked and ran off to different clothing stores, leaving the green-eyed monster by himself. Rolling his eyes, Stephen wandered off, not knowing what other type of shops there were here. About half an hour later, he found a guitar store. Enlightened to have found something he was actually interested in, Stephen walked inside. There wasn’t much he needed anyway, but just to kill some time. After some time, Stephen bought some new picks, a capo, strings for his acoustic and electric and a new strap. Paying and heading out, he spotted Kat and Aimee chatting away.

“About time you got out!” Aimee laughed and grabbed his hand in hers. “Come on. Kat wants to go buy some baby clothes for Tyler’s baby,”

“Maybe then he’ll pay more attention to me again,” Kat sighed and walked towards the baby store.

“But his child is going to be his main priority. He’s not going to love you any less than what he already does. He just has to focus on his family more now,” Stephen explained as him and Aimee followed behind Kat. Saying that, it made him think of the time his brother moved away to another country. No, he moved away to another CONTINENT. Leonard didn’t want to take Stephen, and he thought it was because he stopped loving him and didn’t want to see him anymore. But it was better to leave Stephen in Italy with his parents, for now.

“Whatever,” she mumbled and entered the shop. Stephen would probably have to get something too, just to be nice. Plus, it was to their house where he went after his brother left. Lucy was kind enough to make him feel better and let him stay for a bit.

“This is so cute! Look, Stephen! Do you think they’ll like it?” Aimee asked, holding up a blue pajama with a tree on it, saying “I’m wild like nature” on it. Wait, how would they know if their baby were a boy or girl?

“How would we know if the baby’s a girl or boy?” Stephen asked, seeing Kat joining them.

“It’s a girl, duh! She’s going to have Lucy’s pretty blonde hair and green eyes! She’ll look nothing like my uncle or else I wouldn’t talk to her,” Kat piped, giggling nonetheless. Stephen shrugged, going ahead and buying some baby girl clothes for, well, the baby. Though, she’d be born in December most likely. Picking out about 3 outfits, Stephen walked over to the register to pay. But then a shriek, which sounded like someone had screamed bloody murder, pierced his ears.

“KAT!” a girl yelled. After paying for the clothes, Stephen turned around to see none other than Lexi Denver talking with Aimee and Kat. Of course, who else would shriek Kat’s name to a point where someone’s ears were bleeding.
“Hi Stephen, I didn’t know you were here too,” Lexi smiled, greeting him with a hug.

“Yeah, I’m looking for my birth parents and we ended up in London. So I’m staying with Tyler for a bit, then we came out here to visit Aimee,” Stephen explained. But why was Lexi in a baby store? “So why are you here?”

“I was shopping for a bit with some friends and decided to buy some baby clothes for Lucy’s child. But I’m going with a neutral color, just in case,” she nodded, holding up a white pajama with teal edges. “But I have to go soon, or else I have no ride home,” Lexi added, hugging everyone once more before heading to the register. “Oh, and Kat,” she started up, “I’m looking forward to the tour!”

“OH YAY!” Kat cheered and waved goodbye. “Okay, it’s an hour back to London so maybe we should eat something quick and go, go, go!” she added and quickly bought her items, along with Aimee. After the purchase, the trio headed towards the food court, were most of the food was candy. Seeing as there wasn’t really anything vegetarian for Stephen to eat, he decided to skip lunch. This meant he was probably going to pig out back in London.

“Oh, oh! No matter where I go! Oh, oh my unpredictable girl!” Aimee and Kat sang along loudly to the song playing on the radio. Yeah, these two girls couldn’t have too much sugar. Especially if they were together with Stephen. The ride back to Aimee’s place consisted of singing, candy eating, trivia, Hogwarts, and more candy eating.

“Okay, we’re here,” Stephen sighed, knowing he’d have to say goodbye again.

“Thanks for an awesome day, guys! Don’t forget to owl me whenever you can so we can hang out again,” Aimee smiled, hugging Kat and the back seat and saying goodbye. “And don’t YOU lose touch with me or else,” she added, giggled and hugging Stephen.

“I won’t,” he chuckled hugging her back and kissing her.

“Umm, awkward! Okay, guys, let’s go before we miss dinner and feel the wrath of a pregnant lady!” Kat said, quite loudly that both Stephen and Aimee jumped. Nodding, Stephen smirked and waved goodbye as Aimee got out of the car and into her house. “Stephen, what if there’s no veghead food at my uncle’s place? What are you going to eat?! OMJ! YOU’RE GOING TO STARVE AND DIE! DON’T WORRY! I’LL FEED YOU GRASS SINCE THAT HAS NO MEAT!”

“Did you just--? Never mind,” he grumbled and began driving back to London. Thankfully, Kat fell asleep after the sugar rush had crashed. Traffic was light, which made the drive smoother than arriving to Hertford. Driving into the Way driveway, Stephen turned off the car and shook Kat awake. “Wake up, Kitty! We’re here,”

Mumbling something and turning around, Kat fell to the car floor. “Such a rude awakening,” she hissed, getting up and out the car. Stephen laughed, following behind the deranged Way with the big hair and heading inside. “We’re back!”

Heading into the kitchen, Stephen saw Lucy struggling with making pasta. “Stephen, you’re Italian! Come help me with making pasta!” she chimed, pulling the dinosaur towards the stove.

“That’s such a stereotype! But since I’m hoping it’s my food, I’ll help,” he smirked, turning the fire down.

“Well, it is. So how was the trip and surprise of finding Kat in the trunk of the car,” the red head laughed, knowing Kat was there since Tyler came back from the airport with them.

“It was fun, seeing Aimee and Kat driving me insane. You know, the usual stuff,” he laughed, putting some salt into the pot and stirring the pasta. “Can I ask you something, Luce?” Stephen asked, seeing Lucy nod from the corner of his eye. “How do you deal with Tyler being away most of the time? He’s usually in New York with his mom doing the modeling thing and special parties and stuff. Don’t you get lonely not seeing him as often?”

“To be honest, I keep a picture of him under my pillow, so I won’t feel as alone,” Lucy laughed, knowing that reason was pretty silly. “I also call friends over to stay with me so I don’t think about him being away as much. It helps, but only for a certain time. Plus, we talk on the phone so that I always know he’s okay and not trapped in a basement by some veela,” she laughed, Stephen just nodded. “Is this about your brother?” Stephen nodded again.

“I’ve been so used to him being there all the time, good and bad. Now it’s just weird not having his crazy pranks and him bothering me all the time,” he answered.

“It’s not like he doesn’t care about you. He just wanted to figure things out for himself a bit. I’m sure he will take you with him one day soon,” Luce smirked and turned off the pot.

“Thanks,” Stephen smiled, hugging her. “You know how to make a dinosaur feel a lot better,”

“You’re welcome,” she grinned, hugging him back and ruffling his hair. “Dinner’s ready!” she called out to everyone else in the living room.