5- Forever Young

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Soon enough, our food arrived- a total of twenty-one chocolate chip pancakes, and twenty-eight strips of bacon. The bill was split seven ways, but Pierre wouldn't allow me to pay for myself. As we walked out of the restaurant, Jeff, Seb, Chuck, David, and Pat headed upstairs, presumably to rest before sound check.

"Are you coming with us?" David asked.

"Nope, we've got some wedding planning to do this morning." Pierre informed him. "Catch up with you later."

So we headed outside, and looked for a place that would be good to talk. We settled on a Starbucks a few blocks down from the hotel. Pierre ordered drinks for both of us.

"So the wedding." He said after he sat down and placed a mint chocolate chip frappucino (my favorite) in front of me.

"The wedding." I smiled.

"Are you excited?" He inquired, seeing the grin on my face.

"Yes," I told him, and sipped my cappuccino.

"When do you think we should have it?"

"What about next August or September?" I suggested. "It'll give us plenty of time to plan it, and the weather will be really nice."

"I think that's a great idea," he agreed. "Now, do you want to do it in Montreal? I mean, we could do it in Toronto, or B.C., or New Jersey…"

"Montreal, I think. That's where all my family lives. I want my parents to be there."

"Yeah. Me too," Pierre said. He was smiling, and looking at me with a strange look. "What?" he said when he caught me looking at him looking at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Because you're beautiful. Because I love you. Because I'm the luckiest man in the world and I get to marry you."

**********

After we finished our drinks, Pierre and I decided to walk around the neighborhood. We walked past the Boston Science Museum, and saw a bunch of people wearing sweatshirts that said "Massachusetts Institute of Technology", or "MIT". There was a big group of them, including a redhead wearing a crimson hoodie that clashed horribly with her hair. Some of the people in that group were wearing shirts featured extremely complicated equations that I couldn't even hope to understand; I knew they were from MIT because no one else would wear a shirt that essentially stated, "Why yes, I am smarter than you." I couldn't decide who was more obnoxious- the MIT eggheads, who seemed to speak only in complex calculus equations; or the snooty Harvard students we saw down the block, who seemed to have their noses permanently stuck in the air.

The show was amazing, as usual. Once again, Pierre dedicated "Jaded" to me. He dedicated it to me at every show over the next two weeks.

I loved getting to see all the different cities, even if it was only for a day or two- we went to Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; New York City; and Sayreville, New Jersey. The day after the concert in Sayreville, we had some time before our flight, so I took Pierre around my old neighborhood in Short Hills, and even showed him my old house. After that, it was time to go to the airport.

"So where exactly are we going now?" I asked after we had gone through security.

"Texas, apparently," said David, who was walking next to me. "Hey, wait a second Katie, didn't you live in Texas?"

"Yeah, I grew up outside of Dallas. What city is the show in?"

"It's at the American Airlines Center."

"No way! That's like half an hour from my old house."

"Seriously?" Pierre said.

"Yea! Oh, man, I'll have to show to show you the house I grew up in, my old school… this is going to be way more exciting than New Jersey."

We headed over towards our gate. Pierre, being the gentleman that he is, offered to carry my purse for me. I had to admit that the zebra print fabric quite nicely complemented his t-shirt.

**********

I had an aisle seat on the plane. Pierre was in the middle, and David was by the window. Chuck, Pat, and Seb were behind us, but lucky Jeff sat in a window seat across from us. We were able to board early, and had no problem getting to our seats.

Pierre and David were engrossed in conversation about the next night's show. I was looking at the Skymall catalog, and occasionally looked up to see the passengers. None of them seemed interesting, and none seemed to acknowledge the fact that Simple Plan was on the plane.

That is, until we saw two teenage girls, chewing gum and talking excitedly about- well, whatever it is fourteen-year-olds talk about. Jeff had gone to the bathroom, and Pierre's back was to the girl.

I figured they were just normal teenage girls, but of course, one of them had a Simple Plan button on the backpack she shoved in to the overhead. I put down the Skymall catalog and listened closer to their conversation.

"Emily, oh my god, Simple Plan is having a concert in Dallas tomorrow! Ohhhh, my god, we are [/so/] lucky we're coming back today!"

"Sammy, I know! This is soooo cool! I love Simple Plan. Wouldn't it be so weird if-"

"If they were on this flight? That would be like so awesome!"

"Oh my god, totally!"

Emily and Sammy continued talking for another minute or two, until Jeff arrived.

"Excuse me, girls," he said. Emily and Sammy saw Jeff and then-

"Oh my god, you're Jeff from Simple Plan! Oh my god, I love Simple Plan! Will you sign my CD? Can we take a picture with you?"

"Uh- yeah, sure. Do you think I could sit down first?"

Jeff was going to have a long flight. An hour in to the flight, I could tell he was getting tired of Emily and Sammy. They had stopped talking to him, but I couldn't blame him for being annoyed at their conversations, which seemed to revolve around Jeff, and only Jeff.

"Jeff!" I said when he stood up to go to the bathroom (or maybe just to get away from Emily and Sammy).

"What?"

"If those girls like you, why don't you introduce them to my fiancé?" I suggested.

"Good idea. I think I'll do that," he said.

Then Jeff introduced Emily and Sammy to Pierre, David, Chuck, and Seb. The only side effect was that I had two teenage girls almost on top of me, screaming in my ear.

Once the girls finally sat down, the flight was almost done. We landed in Dallas without a problem.

The boys were all starving, so I suggested a restaurant that had been a favorite of mine as a little kid. We got seated quickly, despite the fact that there was a long line of people waiting outside. Our waitress took our order for drinks, and then we ordered our food. The restaurant was well-known for its hamburgers and French fries, so we all had burgers with various toppings.

Midway through the meal, I had to go to the bathroom.

"I'll be right back," I said to Pierre, and went to the women's room. I did my business, and when I walked out, I bumped in to someone.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump in to you. I wasn't looking wear I was going." I apologized, all the while not managing to look the person in the face.

"It's okay, it's really not that big of a deal." The person- a male- replied. I looked him in the face, and realized he looked familiar. "Hey, wait a second- Katie Williams?"

"Johnny Collins?" I was surprised to see him in Dallas.

"How are you?" he said. "You look great."

"You too! What are you doing in Dallas?"

"I live here. After college, I decided I was sick of the cold weather, so I moved from Quebec to Dallas. I teach English and coach basketball at Dallas Middle School." He said with a smile. Somewhere in the years since we had graduated high school, he had gotten his somewhat crooked front teeth fixed and whitened. His face had always been attractive, but it was more mature looking, and his skin had cleared up. His once curly hair was straighter than before. Johnny Collins had grown up, and growing up looked good on him.

"Are you serious? I grew up here. I went to DMS!" I told him excitedly.

"Really? Wow!" He seemed surprised. "So are you just here to visit?"

"My fiancé's band has a show at the American Airlines Center tonight," I informed him.

"American Airlines Center? That's Plain White Ts and Matchbook Romance, and… Simple Plan. Are you still with- what's his name-"

"Pierre? Well, we broke up after high school, but a couple years ago, we got back together, and he proposed earlier this month." I said, showing Johnny the ring.

"Wow, that's great. I, uh- I have to get going now, my wife is probably wondering where I am. Are you going to be at the show tonight?" He asked.

"Of course! Are you coming?"

"Yeah! Maybe we can catch up a little more after the show?"

I reached in to my purse and pulled out a backstage pass. "Here," I said, giving it to him. "Come backstage after the show. I'm glad to see you again."

"Yeah, me too."

A/N- Yeah, Johnny Collins is back. *grins*