Locked Up!

"Katie, wake up!" My mom's voice startles me, as I kick her off my bed. I yawn and stretch out my arms, as I sit up to see Mom, who's just shaking her head while folding her arms.

"Ugh, what?" I ask while making my bed.

"Just please don't kick me like that. Okay, sweetie?"

"Yes, mom." I search for my phone and realize I woke up at 2 in the afternoon. I follow Mom downstairs and smell the most delicious thing I've ever smelled in the whole world.

"What smell is that?" I ask.

"I made brunch. Pancakes with chocolates and whipped cream, along with a chicken caesar salad." Oh my gosh, I LOVE those!

As I bite into my pancake, I whip out my phone from my pocket. Some stranger must have DM'd me on Instagram by accident. The message reads Quarantine sucks, right? 

I reply to Um, I think you have the wrong number. Btw, I'm Katie (just from my page).

Soon he replies. I know. Hey Kate! I'm Kevin. haha, we have the same first initial!

You do realize I prefer by Katie right? I text back.

Instead of an answer, he responds with a picture. A picture of him, without his shirt. But boy, he's got some nice abs.

We continue our text conversation, that I almost got too distracted. Mom takes away my pancakes and salad.

"What was that for?" I whine. I make my best sad puppy dog eyes and she finally sighs heavily.

"It was getting cold. But if you're gonna finish it, put your phone away. And also do your remote learning!" She calls out, going into her office to work from home. I sigh, as I work on my assignments for today.

A few hours later, Mom leaves to buy some groceries. I figured Kevin and I could call or video chat or something. I plug in my AirPods and video call him. He just simply DMs, I have a better way. Here's my number: 583-294-6071. I quickly make his profile and FaceTime him. There we go! Kevin looks way better like this than from the shirtless picture before.

"Hey, how goes it? You're really pretty today." He smirks.

"Yeah, I'm good. You're really handsome today." I smirk back. He just rolls his eyes. I have no idea if I'm flirting or not, but I stroke my hair and my face get hot.

"So, quarantine okay for you?" I ask.

"Great! I love how there's no more school. The only thing I miss is football with my friends." Kevin says.

"Well, I miss art, ... yeah and that's about it." I say.

"Cool! What do you draw?" He asks.

"I draw realistic portraits. Graphite and color. Here's a self-portrait." I take a sheet of paper with a portrait and put it up onto the camera.

"Nice! Wow, that's really good!" He says. Then I hear the garage open.

"Okay, well, it was nice talking to you. Gotta go!" I say, and hang up quickly. I run up the stairs and into the room to pretend as nothing happened.

The next day, Kevin calls me first. Just a voice call.

"Hey," I say as I pick up after the first ring.

"I actually have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I think... I might have a crush on you."

"I actually kinda feel that way, too."

"Really?"

"Really." My heart is beating so fast, I hope he doesn't react angrily or anything like that.

"Um, not to be weird or anything, but don't you think this pandemic is a disadvantage for new relationships?" He says.

"Yeah, me too," I say. So I guess we have some kind of connection. Interesting. We just have to wait for this pandemic out to actually talk to each other, face to face. 

So every single day, we text, DM, FaceTime, and call for any updates on our life. I learned that Kevin likes music. I didn't even know he could play the guitar! I drew a portrait of him and mailed it to his house so he could see it. He said he loved it so much. We also decided to go on a few social-distancing dates. Had to do air-kisses instead. Also remembered that Mom would be home so we just stuck to chatting online. We played games together, did Just Dance with Zoom. And we also watched some movies/tv-shows with Zoom, too. He’d read me bedtime stories, and sing a song for me to sleep faster. The only other thing we needed was for the pandemic to end. Sometimes he’d come over and we talked through a window in the basement. I think the most important thing was, no matter what happens in life, it’s never too late to love someone.

Two years later, the pandemic ended! We were officially together, and I auditioned for a role in a movie. I got the part, and Kevin also landed my character’s love interest in the same production! We continued to work together on different projects. We starred in the same sitcom together. Had dinner together. Wrote songs on his guitar together. Formed a band together. Went on tour together. So you name it, we did it. We also competed in a live show, a Just Dance competition. The winning team gets $10,000,000 and earns a private vacation to Hawaii. I remember he got so many fans from there, because of our musical career. 

In the meantime, Mom bought me a mansion for me to live all by myself. She gave Kevin some type of blessing and a few days later, we got engaged! Then I invited Mom to our wedding. We kissed for the first time. And our new life together started from there. 

Now, in 2025. 

I feel a kiss on my cheek, as Kevin whispers, “Gotta get to work. See you later, honey.” I look up at him and smile. 

“You, too!” I pull the covers over my head and sleep some more. I get a text from one of my co-stars, Jessica, and we FaceTime for a bit. 

“Hi, honey! Why are you looking pale today?” She says.

“Ugh, Jess, don’t get me started on that.” We laugh until our sides hurt. The doorbell rings. 

“That your new husband?” She asks and acts all flirtatiously. 

“Stop it. See you later, bye!” I say. I open the door and Kevin’s back again. 

“Hey, what happened?” I ask. 

“There’s a new virus going on. I have no idea why everything’s locked up right now.” He sighs and takes off his leather jacket. I hang it up in our closet for him. 

“Yeah, well. Good thing we’re married now.” I smile, and he firmly presses his lips against mine. I kiss back passionately and for the first time in my life, I smell that familiar smell I’ve ever smelled in our whole entire life. It’s the pancakes again, and Mom and Kevin’s dad come to our bed, with a tray of pancakes with chocolates and whipped cream, along with a chicken caesar salad. And we start our life all over again.