In Dreams Begin Responsibilities

Chapter 9

That night, Kayleigh woke up around three am to get something to drink. While she was in the kitchen she heard it. She was in the middle of drinking a glass of water when she heard, “Kayleigh, tell Criss I love him and I’m proud of him. Please.”
Kayleigh nearly dropped her glass of water. She had received messages before but it always startled her when they came out of the blue. She put the glass of water down, sighing. “Ok, ok, I hear you. I will.”
Well, now she really had to do it.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
“Criss, we talked about this before. Why do you have to do it? You got hurt getting struck by the Tesla coil. You almost had permanent damage to your foot. It could’ve been much worse. Are you trying to kill yourself? Are you trying to give mom a heart attack?” J.D was pulling his hands through his hair and pacing around the room.
The lightning strike was going to be filmed in Florida in 2 months and everyone was discussing it. Mostly everyone was trying to talk him out of it.

“Lots of people have been struck by lightning.” Criss told him.
“And lots of people have died too!” J.D retorted.
“Criss, you’ve already proven you can take four million volts of electricity. Why do you need to push it?” Johnny Thompson asked him.
Criss sighed heavily. They had all been through this same conversation last year.
“Because that is what i’m about. Pushing my own limits. I know if I can take the Tesla Coil then I can take being struck by real lightning.” Criss said, clearly getting annoyed at everyone.
Costa shook his head and said to no one in particular, “ He gets this stuff in his mind and you can’t talk him out of it.”
“No, you can’t.” Criss told him.

The room for silent for a moment when Johnny said, “Kayleigh, you’re quiet over there. You haven’t said a word.”
Kayleigh had been working at the computer. She stared at the monitor and said, “No, hey, i’m just doing my job here and that doesn’t involve throwing my two cents in on what Criss should do.”
“Oh come on, you have to have an opinion.” Johnny said.
“Whether I do or not is not the point. My job is not giving opinions. This is all you guys.” Kayleigh continued to type away at the keyboard.
Criss stood in the middle of the room with his arms folded and a grin on his face. “Ok, Kayleigh. Tell me what you think.”
Kayleigh turned around in her chair and looked directly into Criss’ eyes and said, “Criss, I don’t want you to die and I don’t think your father would either.”
Criss was shocked beyond words. The whole room stared at her. Kayleigh turned back around to face the monitor and continued typing while the rest of the room went silent.

At eight that evening Kayleigh heard a knock on her door and opened it to find Costa standing there with a bottle of wine.
“Hey!” she said to him, kissing him on the cheek. “Come on in.”
Costa closed the door behind him and grabbed Kayleigh by the arm to turn her around and give her a long, slow kiss on the lips.
“Mmmm, I’ve been wanting to do that all day.” he said.
Kayleigh smiled at him. “Me too. Come sit on the couch. Dinner is almost ready.”
She took the bottle of wine from his hand and put it in the refrigerator. When she turned around, Costa was right behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“I don’t get to see you alone near enough.” he kissed her.
“I agree.” Kayleigh said to him. “Blame it on your brother.”
Costa laughed. “Yeah, he is a slave driver.” he winked at her.
“Oh man, you heard that whole conversation on the plane, didn’t you?” Kayleigh asked him.
“Yes, I did.” Costa laughed.

Kayleigh sighed and buried her face in his shoulder breathing in his scent. She felt so comfortable in his arms. She hadn’t felt that feeling in a very long time and she welcomed it.
“Ok” she said. “Go sit down so I can get dinner on the table.”
Costa kissed her again before releasing her and sitting down at the kitchen table.


Kayleigh had cooked lasagna and made a salad. She sat the food on the table and got the red wine from the cabinet and poured them both a glass.
“Damn, that smells good.” Costa said to her.
“Lasagna is one of my specialties; other than cajun food that is and I don’t think you are ready for that yet.” she smiled at him.
“Well I look forward to some of your cajun cooking.” Costa smiled at her.
While they were eating, Costa looked at her as if to say something but stopped.
“What is it?” Kayleigh asked him. She had a feeling she knew what he was going to ask.

“Kayleigh, I have to ask you something.” he paused as if looking for the right words. “Today, what did you mean when you said you didn’t want Criss to die and ‘I don’t think your father would either’.
Where did that come from? What made you bring him up like that? You really shocked Criss, you know. He wouldn’t even talk about the comment.”

Kayleigh sighed heavily. “I know. I guess i’m going to have to talk to him. I didn’t mean to say that. It just came out. I.....well, you see.....there is something we need to talk about.”
Costa gave her a questioned look. “Ok”
“Let’s finish our dinner first. I need more wine for this.” Kayleigh told him.