A/N: I have been dying to get this up. A song-inspired series for Kevlie! And I love this band because I think they're perfect for this pairing. Especially this first song because this one sets the scene for this entire story. And this one will chronicle the progression of Kevlie instead of jumping in headfirst like my other story did.

Anyways, the band for this one is Days Difference and the album is their self-titled one. Love it. First song: "Are You Happy?"

Disclaimer: I don't own the inspiration, nor do I own any characters.

Are You Happy?

I'm on the phone with Gwen and we're arguing. That's all we've been able to do anymore since she moved. She lives like three hours away and I can drive there whenever I want, no problem. Well, there is a problem. And that's that I don't want to drive there to see her.

Okay, it's not that I don't want to drive there. It's that I don't want to see her. All she does anymore is complain and I'm sick of hearing it.

"So are you coming this weekend?" she asks, voice coming through the phone and ringing in my ear. It's the same question she's been asking for weeks. Every week since she moved, really.

I look to my right and see my car sitting there. Its already got a ton of miles on it and I don't want to put anymore on it. That, and when she sees me, she acts like I'm nothing important and that we see each other every day. We don't. And that's why I don't want to see her.

"I'll have to check. The radars around here are picking up some weird stuff," I lied. "Give me some time. It's only Wednesday." No, the radars weren't picking up anything. No, I didn't need time. Frankly, I just didn't want to go. I wanted to be with her, but the teenage hormones had faded and she was just a dusty memory and we were fading into the dark oblivion of nothingness. Yeah, our relationship was that irrelevant.

"Just call me if you're coming, okay?" The way she says it makes it sound like I'd be doing a favor, like I owe her something. It's pathetic, really. I'm just kind of tired of being a little thing for her to tote around. I miss her, yeah. I want to be with her, yeah. But lately, it all just feels like it means nothing.

"Alright," I answer darkly, trying to force a little bit of hope into my voice. I just don't want to see her. I love Gallic with her and everything, but now that I'm busy taking on Bellwood's entire alien population almost single-handed, we can't even talk. And she's in an even preppier school...

"I'll call again tomorrow," she tells me, the smile that's on her face even evident in her tone. Gwen is so readable. It's not even fun anymore to put forth the effort. "I love you, Kevin."

"Love you too," I answer before clicking the line dead. I drop the phone in my toolbox and run one hand through my raven-colored hair. Why do I feel so guilty? It's like I'm leading her on that I'll go to her place this weekend when I already know I won't. That, and I didn't mean what I said. I didn't mean it when I told her I loved her. That was a huge lie.

I'm almost waiting for the right moment to tell her that I can't do it anymore. I can blame it on the distance because I'm pretty sure that's exactly it too. I can't see her flaming red hair and I can't hold her in my arms and I can't take care of her... I'm the kind of guy who needs a girl that I can take care of. It's a paranoia, I guess. Maybe an OCD sort of thing. I'm not sure. But I hate lying to her because I do care, just not enough to keep trying anymore.

"You in here?" comes Julie's voice from the big door of the garage. She uses one hand to prop it up while she slides under, even though she knows very well that I could've just popped it open real quick for her.

The reason Julie can just let herself in and stuff is because she's the reason I'm not fighting our alien problem on my own. She armors up with Ship and we work together a lot on whatever I can't take on myself. Which happens to be a lot of things, but I like having her with me. There's no fun in quippy comebacks if no one can laugh at them with you later.

Julie gets back up from sneaking her way under the massive metal door and dusts off her white skirt, watching me intently. "Something wrong?"

I shake my head a little bit, looking to the ground before taking a breath and looking back at her quietly. "Just Gwen." I throw a thumb in the direction of my phone where it's sitting next to my Plumbers badge and the crystal of taedenite in my toolbox just to show her that I had recently been on the phone. The screen is still glowing blue. "The distance makes things hard..."

Her hands are in her jacket pockets. Julie just makes herself at home, leaning against my car. She smiles lightly and says, "Same here."

Ben moved too, although the distance is less. He's only a town away. It's like a forty minute drive or something. Not bad by my standards. But he moved for a different reason than his cousin. Gwen's dad had gotten a job promotion and was moved to a nicer office whereas Ben's dad had lost his job and the whole branch of his little Tennyson clan was forced into an apartment in a slum area. Sure, it wasn't good for him, but after everything going his way for almost his entire life, he deserved that little taste of reality.

So Julie and Ben have still retained a little bit of a relationship, but they were on the rocks to begin with. They always have had trust issues and such since Jennifer Nocturne reared her ugly head, but they manage to keep it together pretty well.

Well, better than me and Gwen anyways.

"It's not easy," said Julie, pushing a few strands of her ebony hair away from her pale face. "Everything seems harder." Her hands are once more shoved into her pockets. "The world has to spin without them by our sides, you know? It kind of hurts when I'm alone. I don't know how you feel about it, but it almost feels like I'm single again."

I shrug, reaching for a wrench just so I can have something in my hand. I have to reflect on my own feelings, but at this point, my emotions are just null and void. I stopped caring. But I didn't want to.

A silence ensues. The quiet is peaceful. I'm alone most of the time now, but that's always a forced silence. Julie lets me be quiet whenever I want. And I like that. So finally, I ask, "Are you happy?"

She knows what I'm talking about. And a weak smile touches her features. Julie shakes her head the same way I did earlier, gently and quietly.

Neither of us are happy without our counterpart nearby. But what else can we do but hold out for miracles to bring them back?

A/N: I love it. I really do. Kevlie is my little secret indulgence… Anyways, please review and thanks for reading!

~Sky