#for ethan

By: Rhuben

A/N: For Ethan; to keep your mind off things for a bit. Set during Season 2, Episode 25; “Big Time Contest”

Katie let out a sigh when the final beats of the song she was dancing to, ended. The smile on her face instantly dropped and she took a menacing step towards Bobby, who had been trying to reach her, the whole time.

Kendall, who spotted the charged look on his sister’s face, tightened his grip on the leash he had been using to hold Bobby back. Forget about letting him go the second the dance was over, the little brat was now his human shield.

“You!” Bobby’s demeanor immediately changed. With one syllable from Katie, he had gone from hyper-actively trying to reach her, to standing stock still, afraid to move. “Your dance is over, buster. I kept my end of the deal.” She jerked her thumb to the side. “Beat it!”

“But-”

“And go tell that reporter lady that you had an awesome day with Kendall, or I’ll shove all my gaming systems up your nose,” Katie warned, “sideways.” Bobby nodded vigorously and, feeling the slack that Kendall left in the rope, he took off running.

“Ow!” Kendall groaned, lifting his palms to his mouth. “Rope burn.” He started blowing on his hands. “Ow, ow, ow.”

“Serves you right,” Katie huffed.

“I’m sorr--”

“You better be,” Katie said, pointing a warning finger in Kendall’s face. His eyes widened, going cross as he kept his eyes on her finger. He had learned the hard way; her go to move as a baby was to poke him in the eyes. And he thought the hair pulling was bad. One corneal abrasion was all he needed to experience to know that Katie Knight was someone who was going to be able to hold her own. “I love you idiots, but that’s the last time I do something like that to save your behinds!”

“I love you, baby sister,” Kendall said with a  fleeting smile. “I’ll never do that again. Promise.”

Katie crossed her arms over her chest, scrutinizing her older brother before she relaxed her posture, allowing a soft smile to grace her face. “Love you too, big brother,” she said. Then, turning on her heels, she finally made her way off the dance floor.

Dances were stupid, anyway. It wasn’t like she had ever looked forward to them back home in Minnesota. No one would even ask her, anyway. And she would have a better time at home playing her video games. Not even a magazine party was all it seemed cracked up to be. Not that she had entered any of those contests. Not a lot of them, anyway. Besides, it wasn’t like she was ever going to have her name drawn as a winner.

Katie Knight was not a winner. She had gotten a commercial job since moving out to Los Angeles, sure. But, nothing after that. And her plan for being the greatest talent manager in the world -- and future world domination -- wasn’t exactly working out for her at the moment. Hell, the only way she got a dance with a boy (a boy that drove her nuts), was through a bribe. Forget asking any guy for a dance. And forget about anyone asking her.

Katie’s gaze briefly shifted over towards Patrick; who sat in one of the many chairs lining the dance floor. His arms were crossed over his chest, legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles. Forget him, she reminded herself, no guy like him would ask you to dance, either. Not that she really liked dancing, anyway. Or even knew how to dance with a guy. She was more the “spend time at the punch bowl” type. The “I don’t know what to do with my hands” type

What better way to solve all those problems, then by hovering by the punch bowl?

“Is it any good?” The voice was so close to her

Katie went to turn, answer the question, and swallow all at the same time. Upon spotting Patrick standing so close to her, having to lean in to shout the question into her ear, she felt the punch catch in her throat, her muscles spasm, and then she was coughing it all back up. She scrambled for napkins, she was glad that the lights had been turned down a decent amount or her red cheeks would be on full display.

“Oh, geeze.” They both reached for the stack of napkins, her hand brushing across the back of his. She quickly jerked her hand back. She closed her eyes. Made a face.

At her clumsiness. At the fact that standing this close to a boy could make her lose her composure. She could intimidate people with her brash nature. How often had her mom told her that the kids may just be intimidated by her being so outspoken? Her direct attitude? Mrs. Knight had often reassured her that they weren’t negative traits to be had if she were to be a talent manager.

But, she wasn’t there, yet. So, was it a bad thing? Is that why she didn’t really have any friends?

“Here.” Patrick handed her the wad of napkins, his hand hovering for just a moment over the wet spot on her shirt before thrusting it more towards her chin. “Sorry.”

“It’s...sweet,” Katie managed to get out. She lifted her cup to her hide her mouth, as much of her red cheeks as possible. “I mean, the punch is sweet. This--” She grabbed the napkins from his hand, and circled the wet spot on her shirt with the wad. “This is ok. I mean, it’s ok.”

“Sooo, you and Bobby...?” He let the sentence hang in the air.

Katie rolled her eyes. “He promised Kendall and those other idiots to talk about how awesome of a day he had on his ‘date’ if I danced with him,” she replied. Patrick’s eyebrows shot up. Angling his head to the side, he looked around the dance floor, trying to locate the kid. A muscle in his jaw tightened, and Katie was reminded of earlier in the day, when Bobby had tried to kiss her:

“Ew, gross!” Katie had recoiled at Bobby’s brazen approach. As soon as Kendall had gone off to get smoothies, he had turned around and tried turning up the charm. As if bragging about his “guns” wasn’t bad enough. “What the heck, dude?”

“Oh, come on,” Bobby had said, the wide smile never leaving his face. “I know you like me.” He leaned forward, puckering his lips, squeezing his eyes shut. Katie took a giant step back, and Bobby stumbled forward, missing his target.

“Do that again, and I’ll punch you,” she had warned. Her heartbeat quickened in her chest. No one had ever taught her how to get out of a situation like this. Violence was usually her go to. “Just leave me alone. I didn’t even want to hang out with you in the first place!”

“Worth the risk,” Bobby had said with a shrug. He took another step forward and Katie jumped backwards, bumping into something behind her. She felt a pair of hands grab her arms, steadying her, then heard Patrick say from behind her, “She said to leave her alone. Beat it; before I beat you!"

"What? Is he your bodyguard or something?" Bobby had asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Katie glanced up at Patrick (whom she realized was still holding her steady) who slowly blinked in Bobby's direction - his eyes narrowed slightly, face taught with annoyance. Jaw a straight line. He made a show of making a cracking sound with the gum he was slowly chewing. He looked down at Katie before releasing her, releasing a breath of air through his nose, stepping to the side and sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. Finally, he had opened his mouth and said, still looking at her, "Only when she wants me to be."

“Thanks, but I don’t need your help,” Katie had said to him, before turning back to Bobby and throwing a punch at him that landed on his

“Ow!” Bobby had groaned, grabbing his face. As he rubbed the sore spot, he smiled, impressed. “You’ve got an arm; Bobby likes!”

“Argh, get lost!” Katie had growled, throwing her hands into the air. Bobby looked back and forth between Katie and Patrick, opened his mouth, decided against whatever it was he was going to say, before rushing off, still rubbing his face. Katie pressed her lips together, turning towards Patrick. “Um, thanks.”

“You had it handled,” Patrick had said with a shrug and his lopsided smile. “I was just backing you up.” He then removed his game console from his back pocket. “Brought my game. Ready to play?”

“Sure!” Katie had replied.

Katie rolled her eyes, looking over at Bobby who was flailing around on the dance floor in his idea of dancing. “There is no me and Bobby,” she said. “I only agreed to this to help those idiots out. And it was just one dance. He signed a contract. Non-negotiable."

Patrick lifted one corner of his mouth into a teasing smirk. "Ok, then, d’you want to dance?” He then hit himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand. “Reckon I have to sign a contract myself, hey?"

"No!” Katie shouted the word louder than she intended to. Luckily the music was already so loud, it wasn’t jarring. “I mean, we can hang out. That's cool." She then lifted her fist and punched him on the arm. Friendly-like, of course.

“You have a nice right hook, by the way,” Patrick said with a chuckle, reaching for his own cup of punch.

"Thanks.” She pressed her lips together, rocking back on her heels. Silence fell over the two of them as they looked around at the other party-goers. “So, uh, nice party, huh?”

His nose wrinkled. “I mean, Gustavo contracted us to perform or whatever, but I only wanted to come to this thing because I knew you'd be here," he said, indicating her with his cup of punch.

"Oh.”

"Yeah, these magazine contest things aren't that much fun,” he explained. “It's just another thing you have to be 'on' for. Can’t really relax with all the bloody cameras around, either.”

“Oh.” Katie lifted her cup to her mouth, biting down on the rim. She closed her eyes at her repetition. She looked around the space, her eyes sweeping over Kendall who was having trouble getting close enough to Bobby (who was still flailing) to get his harness back on, to Carlos who seemed to be having a great time jump-dancing, with his two dates, to the Jacksons who were speaking with Pop Tiger reporters, then to James who was making his umpteenth time up to the chili dog counter. “Well, um, you want to just sit and...” “Talk” was the word that wanted to roll off her tongue, but she was at a loss for what topic to focus on. “And make fun of James all night?”

“Cool,” Patrick gave his lopsided smile. He motioned towards the empty seats lining the dance floor, and Katie stepped past him to claim a seat. He lowered himself into the seat next to her. Katie looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I’ll make sure Bobby doesn’t try to break your contract, either.”

“Yeah, don’t leave me alone with him,” Katie warned, “Ev-er.”

Patrick put his hands up defensively. “No worries,” he promised.

“I mean it,” Katie said, “you have to take your bodyguard job seriously.” She laughed as she watched Patrick make a V with his index and middle fingers, pointing towards his eyes before he turned it out over the dance floor.

             Jackson lets out a small chuckle as he looks at him with a shake of his head. “You know I wasn’t trying to run late right? Traffic was a bitch.” 

Dorcas needed time to herself, her little makeshift pack, her and her two sisters, could get stifling. They’d grown up with nothing but each other, and both Agatha and Prudence could get intense.

She loved them, dearly. But still-

So she found herself in a bar, in one of the strange towns they drifted into, and as she turned, her drink in hand, she caught a man drinking alone’s eyes. In the back of her head, she felt something inevitable, snap into place. She was walking towards him a little dazedly, holding his gaze.

And she sank into the seat at the other side of the booth without even asking, feeling a little dizzy. “I, do I know you?” she asked, softly, even as her instincts screamed at her that she knew just what this was. Impression.

Ethan: Ew, why's Poe white?