Jenny warned, without trying to tell her what to do. "As I've always told you, you need to figure out what you're going to do for yourself. I can't make the decision for you, but any time you need to talk, I'll be here to listen."
Jenny didn't really know Ashton. She had only met him a few times, and they were always meetings on the fly. Someone was always rushing to get somewhere, so they never had time to really talk. She didn't have much of an opinion on him, besides what she had heard from other people.
"Thanks Jenny. I'm going to be thinking about this pretty hard over the next few weeks. It's good to be able to talk to you about it, and it's nice to be able to spend time with you again." Kaylee got up and hugged Jenny on her way to her bedroom.
"Good night!" she called.
"Good night!" Jenny called back. She looked at the clock, and even though it was late, she wasn't ready for bed. Instead, she curled up on the couch with her memories of when Kaylee and Noah were younger. She thought about all the times she had been there for them, and the times they had been there for her. Maybe they didn't realize it, but those kids had become her world, and she was always glad to be called back to them, no matter the reason. They were her family, and sitting on the couch while Kaylee was upstairs made her feel entirely at home again.
Over the next two weeks, Kaylee spent a lot of time trying to straighten out her feelings. When she wasn't deep in thought, she was either reading or watching movies. But even then, her mind was a million miles away. Many of the plot lines that were holding her attention were stories that mirrored her own.
One day after a sappy movie marathon, Jenny gently reminded Kaylee that things don't always work out the way they do in the movies.
"If you aren't happy with the way that Ashton is now, then move on because you can't go into a relationship expecting to change the person," she pointed out sympathetically. Jenny was aware that Kaylee knew that, but it didn't hurt to have a little reminder every now and then.
Things were relatively quiet for the band on tour. The guys were anxious to play their last few concerts, being extremely tired and drained from the past few months of traveling. With the exhaustion setting in, the parties afterwards weren't as wild as normal.
Ashton still flirted a lot, and even kissed a few girls, but never went beyond that anymore. Every time he became close to a woman, he started to feel guilty. Besides that, he was under Noah's watchful eye, and even though he and Kaylee weren't technically 'together', he had still received quite a few dirty looks when he was with other girls at the after parties. Those looks always made Ashton feel ashamed, even though he really wasn't doing anything wrong.
So he needed some female companionship. Big deal. Maybe he was bored, maybe he was lonely, maybe he missed Kaylee more than he wanted to admit. What was it about her that all of a sudden made him want to change everything about himself to make him worthy of her attention? And could he change? Or would he end up screwing something up and breaking her heart?
So yes, maybe he was trying to keep himself busy by making out with other girls to keep his mind off Kaylee, but was that so wrong? He just hoped that once the tour was over, everything would work itself out and whatever was meant to be would happen on its own.
Everyone was excited for the last show. Kaylee had called and talked to the band before they took the stage and wished them all luck, telling them that she couldn't wait to see them all the next day. What they didn't tell her was that they were skipping the after party and heading straight home when the last song was finished.
The guys rushed off stage as soon as the final note of the final song was played. They were on the bus and headed for the highway before the first concertgoer even left the arena. Everyone was excited to get back to their friends, their families, and most importantly, their own beds.
A few hours later, the tour bus stopped only long enough to deposit Colton and Jayden before