A quiet knock woke her from her daydreaming.
“Come in,” she said.
Her dad slowly stepped in her room. It looked like she never was gone with all her clothes laying around, on her bed, on the floor, just everywhere. She obviously had a hard time collecting her things.
“How is it going?” he asked, interested.
Kate could only roll her eyes.
“How does it look?”
Sighing, she said “Just so you know, I am not doing this for you. This is for Karyn and when this is over I am gone again. So don’t get used seeing a scene like that.” She was avoiding looking in his eyes. She was still pissed at him and didn’t really want to talk.
“I know you are doing that for her and I just wanted to say thank you. This really means a lot to her – and it does for me. I know you are not seeing it yet but this will be good for you, too. You’ll meet new people, maybe make new friends and you can explore our country a bit,” he tried reasoning. He had already lost his wife, he couldn’t handle losing his daughter because of his behavior.
Kate shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t really interested in any of these things. She had some friends. Yes, they weren’t really there for her but it was better than nothing. Letting someone in her heart only meant losing him again after a while and she was tired of losing. She wasn’t ready to face any more pain yet. The hole her mom had left behind was too big and too deep. She had a feeling she would die if something else would happen to anyone close to her.
She understood her dad somehow. He didn’t know what to do. He had lost someone as well and had to face this loss everyday by seeing Karyn. She was looking like her mom, too. Katelynn seriously started wondering if her dad was able to mourn at all. Maybe it was good after all. Not really for her, but for the people she loved most in life and maybe when they would be able to find happiness again, she would, too.
But she wasn’t ready to accept that yet. She wanted to be mad at her dad. Wanted him to see that it hurt her, that is wasn’t easy at all to let go.
“Is there anything else?” she asked, emotionless.
Her dad could only look at her with sad eyes. He was waiting for some sign from her that she would forgive him but nothing came. “No,” he said trying hard not to cry. He left her room slowly, closing the door behind him.
Katelynn looked up, a tear running down her face. She felt guilty. “I’m sorry dad,” she whispered before getting back to her belongings. West Palm Beach was calling and she wasn’t even close to being ready.
A chilly breeze was blowing when they arrived at the San Diego Airport. It was still early, the sun hasn’t risen yet. Their plane was taking off in an hour.
Karyn was the first one to get out of the BMW. She was already wide awake. A thing you couldn’t say about Katelynn. She moved slowly this morning, fighting to keep her eyes open.
“This is way too early,” she muttered.
“Dad, Kate, come on! We are going to miss the plane,” Karyn screamed, hurrying to get her bags out of the car.
“Karyn,” she said annoyed. “Shut up! We won’t miss the stupid plane!”
“Girls! Relax. Everything will be fine,” their dad said quietly.
The got their baggage out of the trunk in silence. Karyn didn’t want to get on her sister’s nerves since it was her she owned this journey to, their dad was afraid of saying goodbye to their daughters, and Katelynn was just annoyed by the whole situation.
Jim had made reservations for them to get there one day early. They should check out the hotel and the enviroment. Maybe they could enjoy the day a bit laying in the sun before the tour starts. It would be exhausting, he knew. He smiled to himself. He already felt sorry for Katelynn. He’d had to listen to his younger daughter for the last two weeks and he was happy to have a little time to himself from now on. Sure he would miss his girls very much but it was time he needed. Time to think, to say goodbye to his wife. Something he wasn’t able to do with anyone around. This was something he had to do for himself.
“Okay – let‘s go!” He got some of their bags and went into the direction of the terminal they were supposed to go.
They went right to the First Class section and checked in. That’s it, Katelynn thought.
She turned her head to her father and looked him straight in the eye. Suddenly she felt even more guilty. She wouldn’t see her dad for the next month and she felt like she was going to lose her only parent left.
Katelynn walked over to him. She didn’t say anything, nor did her father. They didn’t need to. They understood each other without saying a single word. They just hugged and said their silent goodbyes.
It took longer with Karyn. She started crying and for a moment Katelynn thought she didn’t want to go anymore but no such luck. Karyn wiped her tears away and tried to play it off by smiling a big smile again. But Katelynn knew better. She felt the same way she did. But this time the goodbye wouldn’t last for forever. She knew it and it was the only reason she didn’t break down in tears herself.
They looked at their father one more time before boarding the plane. They were really going to do this. No more turning around now.
In West Palm Beach the sun was shining bright and even though it was still morning it was already hot outside.
Katelynn was feeling sick. She hated flying and the landing about killed her. She just wanted to lay down and sleep a little. Karyn’s jumping up and down and the heat just made it worse. She wanted to go back home right then and there but she was stuck.
“Do you see the car that is supposed to pick us up?” Kate tiredly asked. She was standing outside of the airport, right next to the street but she didn’t see the car. This is just great. What a “nice” start.
Karyn started looking around as well. She sensed her sister was feeling bad and she felt sad that she wasn’t enjoying this whole trip as much as she did or at all. She wanted her to feel good.
“I don’t see it. Maybe it didn’t wait for us. I mean our flight got delayed for an hour.”
“Yeah, I guess so, too,” Kate sighed. She walked on to the street and started whistling and yelling for a cab. It didn’t even take a minute for one to get there. The cab driver looked strange with his big, dark sunglasses but Kate tought it was better than nothing. She never saw a good looking cab driver before so why should it be different now? The man got their luggage and stuffed it into his car. I wonder if anything will be broken when I unpack my things, she wondered because the trunk didn’t seem to have enough space for all their belongings. Maybe renting a car would be better. I’ll talk to dad about it… if I ever get to the hotel.
“Where do you want go?” The cab driver asked with a thick spanish accent. Karyn and Kate hardly understood him. We definitely need a rental car, Katelynn snickerd. This was so weird.
“The Crowne Plaza, please.”
The man looked shocked. What is his problem? She knew what the man was wondering. Two young girls going to a hotel like that? The only thing that came to Kate’s mind was: People with money are normal human beings as well and don’t have to show their wealth off. And it annoyed her that there were still people who thought they were people from outer space. Sure, there were people who liked to present themselves as reach, but everyone seemed to forget the normal ones. The people who didn’t want to be rich but were born into it. Their family had money, yes, but they never acted like they were something better because they weren’t.
The trip to the hotel seemed to take forever. They got stuck in traffic. Kate guessed it was the time everyone got to work and so the streets were busy. Karyn had fallen asleep a while ago and she was glad about it. A little silence helped her headache to wear off and she didn’t need to worry for a while. She wanted a little sleep for herself but first there was some business to do. She had to check them in, she didn’t know what her father booked at all, she didn’t know what to expect. All she knew was that she didn’t expect what she saw when they arrived at their final destination.
She carefully shook Karyn awake.
“Care-bear? What is going on here? Why are so many girls standing infront of the hotel?” Kate asked absolutly clueless.
“Fans, sis,” she smiled, “these girls are here for the Backstreet Boys!” The sparks in her eyes came back again. She really seemed to enjoy that moment, she was happy she wouldn’t have to wait outside of any of the hotels they were still going to.
“Really?” Katelynn couldn’t believe it. There were at least 30 girls standing in front of the hotel. Some were chatting, some looked tired, some excited – it was quite a mix.
As soon as they were out of the car a dozen eyes were on them. Curious, jealous eyes. They wanted a piece of the cake as well and it was moments like these when they saw they wouldn’t get it.
Katelynn tried not to look at any of these girls when she walked past them, first because of pity and second because of embarrassment. She just wanted to get away from here and she was happy when she arrived at the reception. She looked behind her, her sister wasn’t embarrassed at all. Kate could see her talking to some fans outside, her face smiling brightly. She enjoyed seeing her sister like that but she still hoped that she would come in, too, because she didn’t want to go back out there again.
She got the key to their room and nodded to her sister. Gladly she came right away, grinning all the way.
“Let’s go sis. The journey begins,” Kate tried to sound cheerful. Who am I trying to fool?
“Yeah,” Karyn replied. She couldn’t wait. She wanted to do so much and was already getting impatient.
Arms around each other, they went to their room. Just that it wasn’t a room at all. Katelynn unlocked the door to discover that her father booked a suite. She couldn’t believe her eyes. They really didn’t need anything like that and yet she stared with awe in her eyes. They had always grown up normal and this was so not normal. Everywhere was gold and marmor. Karyn went into every room ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ but Katelynn only wanted to do one thing – look out of the window.
She slowly pulled the curtain back and what she saw was absolutely breathtaking. Her eyes moved from the large pool to the white-sanded beach and at this very moment she thought, maybe this isn’t bad after all, for the very first time. She turned around – a little smile playing on her lips.
