Chapter 13

I can't believe I did that!" seemed to be the most popular phrase used the week after Rachel's party.
Lauren was slumped on the leather couch in Rachel's living room with Mary at her side and Katie propped on her elbows on the floor. Rachel had left for work at 5:30 that morning and wasn't scheduled to come home until 6 that night. It was two days before Katie and Mary were scehduled to go home, and Lauren had the feeling she would do the same, after her hectic weekend. Everybody else had left the day before, and the apartment was quiet except for the animated conversation being held by the three girls.
"Ok, so you wake up...and....?"
"I wake up in this huge double bed all on my own, with a huge hangover. I have no clue where I am, until the door opens, and there stands Kevin with a tray in his hands and a smile on his face. Luckily I knew who he was, otherwise I would have screamed and ran right out of the room"
The past few days had been such a hussle of spending time with all the other friends, cleaning Rachel's apartment which had almost been trashed and still smelt of smoke from the party, and piceing together what exactly had happened Saturday night after too much alcohol had been consumed. Noone had had time to really talk about it until now.
Lauren took a deep breath and continued."So of course I had no idea what to say, except "How did I get here?" and "Why am I wearing one of your t-shirts, rather than what I was wearing last night?"
"You were wearing one of his t-shirts?!?!" Mary exclaimed almost jumping out of her seat.
"My thoughts exactly. Apparently he had felt bad about just putting me into bed with my skirt and tube top on, he thought I might have a better sleep in something more comfortable, so he undressed me, his eyes closed the whole time and put his t-shirt on me, leaving my bra and underwear on,or so he says"
"You don't think he would have just said that to cover up that you guys had sex, right?"
"Well that's what I asked Rachel when I got home, and she said that Kevin was in no way that kind of guy, and that he had been helping me the last hour of the party since I was throwing up. God! I threw up in front of Kevin Richardson! He was probably so disgusted with me, I must have seemed like the biggest drunk!"
"So you really think he was generally concerned about the whole thing, and didn't try to take advantage of you?"
"Well Rachel also said she talked to AJ about it, since he knew Kevin had taken me to his place, with the state I was in, and he said that if Kevin would have slept with me, well he would have at least mentioned something to Brian. But, AJ also said that that shouldn't even be questioned because Kevin is really mature, and just wouldn't do that"
"So you belive it?"
"Yeah. Plus I would have been able to tell if I would have had sex, you know, with like the physical signs"
"Well, I don't know about that Lauren"
"Uhhh, well yeah there would be, cuz...uhhh..I'm still a virgin."
"What!!?" Katie and Mary screamed. Lauren covered her face for a second but took them away when Mary started in with more questions.
"But what about you and Steven, I mean, I..we always thought you guys did it that night in Paris when we were on vactaion. I mean, all that banging around and laughing. Those walls were paper thin Lats." Mary loved calling Lauren Lats, it had been her nickname for her since high school.
"Well, actually we were jumping on the bed and having a pillow fight. We were still like kids then, and although we always came close to sleeping together, we both weren't ready for it. And then all my other relationships after him just never lasted long enough to get that far"
"So then you and Kevin definatly didn't have sex?"
"No positive, cuz like I said, I think I would have been a little sore if you know what I mean, and plus I just know by the way HE acted that it wasn't like that. I mean he brought me bagels with strawberry cream cheese, cut up strawberries and gave me orange juice with an asprin for my headache, for breakfast, and he brought it in on a tray, and said that he knew I probably felt really uncomfortable, but if I had any questions about what had happened the night before, he would answer them. Plus he said that he had first wanted to leave me in a hotel, and asked Rachel if it was ok, but she told him about my phobia of staying in hotel rooms alone, and that AJ suggested since he had a big house, and since the party was still going on that I stay at his place. Rachel confirmed the whole conversation. I mean I gotta believe that everything was just innocent, I don't have anything against the guy, that would make him guilty of anything. So I guess, he was just being a good samaratan." Lauren layed her down, adn rested after her long winded explanation.
"So you're all fine about this then?"
"Of course not!!! God knows I am completly humiliated, and won't be able to face him ever again. That was so embarrasing!!"
"Excuse me?!!" Katie broke in."You're embarressed? I'm the one who woke up in BUSHES without ANY clothes on, and had absoltuly no clue how I'd gotten there. And since Brian had no clue either, we just sort of ran in opposite directions. God, your experience was heaven compared to mine. I actaully had sex with a guy I didn't know. Man!!!"
Lauren and Mary were finding this hilarious, although they did feel sympathetic towards Katie. After all, her and Brian both had to sneak out of the bushes naked, away from a pool that was full of people. Luckily noone saw them, but it was probably scarier for Brian since the paparazzi could have been anywhere.
"Sorry Katie, but we just love that story, its so hilarious. Have you talked to Brian about it, by the way?"
"Oh man, when I went to work with Rachel on Monday, I thought I wouldn't see him since he was supposed be out on a radio interview, but it turns out, it got cancelled. We met up at the coffee machine that day and both went completly red and he kind of mumbled hi and walked away. I wanted to do the same thing, but I was just in shock at seeing him, you know? So the whole day we avoided eachother, and just kind of stayed quiet. I've never been so restless in my whole life."
"Well that's not good, you should have talked about it" Mary cut in, always being the sensible, advisor type, " It can't possibly be healthy for you or him to not talk about the whole ordeal. I think you should call him"
"Oh yeah, and say what?"Brain, I'm really upset about you seeing me in the buff, and I'd like to talk about how you feel about it, by the way you have a nice butt.?"
"He has a nice butt?" Lauren said grinning, and sipping her coffee.
"A girl never tells"
"Oh, come on Kates you can't leave it like that!"
"I won't say"
"Ok fine"
Both girls knew that by acting disinterested Katie would spill. She had a look of concentration on her face as if she was trying really hard not to speak, but it didn't work.
"Alright, alright" she burst. Lauren and Mary smiled wickedly and gave her expectant looks. Katie paused a minute, but grinned before answering "It was as hard as a rock"
"WELL, now we know why they call him B~Rok. So much for the basketball theory" Mary laughed.
Katie picked up a pillow and threw it at her head, just missing Lauren's coffee mug.

While the girls were laughing at Rachel's apartment, all the guys were having a similar coversation in the dressing room at a t.v studio in downtown Orlando.
"So, Kev, your tellin me you had a beautiful woman stay over at your house a few nights ago and you didn't actually spend the night "together"?" Nick asked curiously. He, like some of the others, hadn't gotten all the details on the "after-party 'party'."
"First of all Nick, it's Rachel's sister, and since when did you guys start thinking that I sleep with every woman I lay eyes on?"
All the guys gave him looks of "who do you think you're kidding?"
"Oh come on. So maybe I was a little wild as a senior in highschool, but that was a long time ago, and I'm not like that anymore. I'm alot more mature about relationships now. You know that"
The guys gave Kevin a break. He really wasn't irresponsable about sex, and they only gave him a hard time cause they knew he hated being thought of as the immature one.
"You're right Kev, me and the fellas really don't think you'd do that" Brian said, but grinned all the same, and winked at Nick as if to say "I still don't belive him." Unfortunalty for Brian Kevin saw this.
"You know Bri. I really don't think you're one to talk about sleeping around, because I distinctly remember you telling me about a little incident that happened that night, with you and Rachel's cousin, and a bottle of tequila. Oh, and I almost forgot about the waking up in the bushes stark naked together the next morning," Kevin smirked. Brian cringed at this comment and kicked himself for telling Kevin about him and Katie.
"Brian, buddy" AJ cried patting him on the back," I didn't know you had it in you"
"You dog, why didn't you let me in on the little secret?" Nick asked.
"You know, come to think of it, when Katie was here Monday you guys certainly were avoiding eachother. And I definetly saw some blushing going on too," Howie put in.
"You guys are asses" Brian muttered, getting up out of his seat and leaving the room in a huff.
"You can dish it out, but you can't take it, huh B~Rok?" Kevin called after him. Brian probably shot some obscene word back at him, but he was already too far away to be heard.
"So really Kev, what happened with you and Laura. Is that her name?" Nick asked, focusing back on their earlier conversation, much to the chagrin of Kevin.
"No its, Lauren, and nothing, I mean nothing happened. I put her to bed in the spare room downstairs, and I went straight to bed, on my own, right after that, no lie" he said with confidence.
"Well, I did happen to hear that Lauren woke up in one of your t-shirts, so what's up with that?" AJ tossed in, grinning wildly.
"The girl was in a tight tube top and a skirt. I wasn't going to put her to bed while she was phyiscally sick, in that. And besides, I closed my eyes" Kevin replied. Although he tried to stick up for himself, he knew the guys wouldn't see it the way he did."Ok, so maybe I was wrong in taking her clothes off and putting one of my shirts on her, but we're all adults here, and its not like I did anything to her. Look lets just drop the subject alright?"
Everyone did change the subject, knowing that if Kevin didn't want to talk about it, then noone was going to talk about it.


Later that night

"Hey girls" Rachel chimed, as she found her three guests sitting around the table eating Chinese food. "Well I see you didn't wait for me" she said, and plunked down grabbing a box of chicken-chow-mein, and some chopsticks.
"Rachel you were supposed be home at six,that was 45 mins ago, the food was going cold" Katie shot as she grabbed back the box Rachel was eating from "And this is my chow mein, you can have that extra eggroll"
"Its cold, nevermind. And its not my fault I had to work over-time. There was like a million other things to do, and I have been running around all day." Rachel went over to the fridge to scavange for something to eat.
"I bet Kevin was telling everybody about how I threw up on his shoe right?"
"Lauren, quit worrying about it, he didn't say anything about you throwing up. I'm sure he's completly forgot about it"
"Yeah I'm sure. Those shoes probably cost more than my whole outfit did"
"So anyways, what should we do Friday, cuz that's our last night here" Mary asked, wanting to change topics.
"I would love to spend that day with you guys, shopping and stuff" Rachel sighed.
"Oh god, there's a but"
"But, I have to fly out to New York for this appearance the guys are making at the Music Festival"
"Rachel!!! You promised we would go to the beach that day!"
"I know, I'm really sorry" she mumbled popping some blueberries in her mouth. The fridge had been completly raided during the party, and noone had had time to go grocery shopping yet. All that was left was a half empty jug of orange juice, a carton of bluberries that Rachel was devouring quickly, and 2 eggs."Man we're all out of food, who wants to go shopping with me tomorrow morning before work?"
"Your working tomorrow too? What is this?" Katie cried.
"Hey, now you guys sprung your visit on me. This is a new job, and I can't afford to miss any days right now. I'm relly sorry, but I just can't do it."
"All you can say is sorry, when you tell us that you can't spend anytime with us during this very brief visit?"
"Hold on hold on. I didn't say I wasn't going to spend any time with you, I already have plans for us tomorrow anyways."
"What. We sit at home and watch t.v?"
"Now don't be so negative, actually I was hoping we could go dancing, at that new club, umm "Casey's" "
"That sounds fun" Mary said cheerfully.
"Yeah I guess" Lauren and Katie said at the same time.
"Oh come on guys you know you want to go"
"Alright alright, you're forgiven"
"Oh damn!! I can't, Howie asked me to go out for coffee again tomorrow night. I forgot to tell you" Mary and Howie had met as planned the night before at a restaurant in a town about 20 mins away. Mary had talked about anything and everything with him, and he with her. They had just clicked, and Mary was happy she had found a new friend in such a short amount of time.
"So now you're bailing on me huh?"
"I'll go shopping with you tomorrow morning, k? Then we can spend time together"
"Alrighy, well I know you guys probably won't have dates with any of the guys, seeing as you didn't exactly start off well." Rachel laughed at her own joke, but stopped when she saw the scowls on her relatives faces."So are you guys still up for it?" she asked.
"Yeah I guess, as long as you don't let either of us have anything to drink tomorrow night" Lauren retorted stabbing a noodle with her chopstick.

"AJ, do you know when Rachel's sister and cousin are leaving?" Brian asked as he stood outside the mall with him.
"Why? You wanna get on top of-"
"Don't even finish that sentence Bone. The only reason I want to know is so I can go to clubs from now on with out the fear of bumping into her"
"Her being Katie?"
"No her being Rachel. We got a little something going on and she broke it off with me. I'm a little embaressed"
"Don't even kid about that B. I swear, you wouldn't live to see tomorrow if you step in my territory."
"Damn, you really like that girl huh? What is it about her besides her looks that get you so defensive. I mean the woman is an angel and has such a big heart. You normally are with the bitches or backstabbers"
"Yeah exactly. She is completly different from every other woman I've dated. And I get to spend everyday of tour with her now too. I'm sick of the bitch type"
Brian laughed at his comment, and noticed Nick coming out of the mall with his new and unfortunate interest Korrie "Speaking of bitches, here comes the queen"
Both AJ and Brian hated Korrie. Howie and Kevin didn't really have an opinion, and Nick was to blind to see the girl was a waste of time.
"Hey guys!" Nick said with a happy look on his face.
"Hey Nick, hi bit...-Korrie" AJ coughed, and Brian snickered.
"Don't you guys have anything better to do than bother me and Nikolas? Shouldn't you guys be out, like trying to promote your sex status or something?"
"They're not bothering me Kor, I haven't seen them since this morning when you dragged me out of bed so you could go and buy a vacumn cleaner"
"Are you complaining Nikolas, am I going to have to give you a time out when we get back to your place, which by the way needs some heavy duty dusting, BY YOU?"
"No Korrie, I wasn't complaining, I was just saying.."
"Well don't speak unless spoken to" Korrie snapped, but pukcered her lips for a kiss anyways. Nick couldn't resist her gorgeous looks, and complelty forgot about his girlfriends demands.
"Damn he's whipped" AJ whispered to Brian, who nodded with a solemn face. They hadn't seen much of Nick except at work, since he had been dating Korrie. Everyone was beginning to miss his company, especially Brian.
"Well we gotta go, I'm going to dinner to meets Korrie's dad tonight"
"Oh by the way Nick, my dad was saying that he was going to talk about offering you a job as assistant disc jockey, you know handing him the records and cleaning the equipment for parties and stuff. You'll have to of course quit the band, but that won't matter, as long as we're together"
AJ burst out laughing at this rediculous offer she made him, and Korrie gave him a stern look
"Is my dad's job a joke to you? Do you think its funny he's a dj?"
"No" Aj said quickly. Even he was a little afraid of Korrie."Uhh, Brian, how bout we go get ready for that party tonight huh?" he said grabbing his friends arm and pulling him in the opposite direction of the couple as fast as he could.
"There's a party tonight?" Nick asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Yeah at-" but before Brian could tell him a thing Korrie shoved Nick into a taxi and they sped off.
"I hate that stupid bitch" AJ said, and Brian nodded in agreement.

The next day Mary sat up and grabbed her pager as it beeped. "I don't recognize this number." She picked up the nearest phone anyways and dialed. "Did someone page?" she asked when a female voice answered the phone.
"Uhhh, I don't know, hold on"
Mary held the phone away from her ear, as the girl shouted the question with out covering the mouth piece. There was movement and then another voice came on. "Mary?"
This time it was a male voice, and one Mary knew well.
"Hello? Mary?"
"Yeah this is her"
"Do you know who this is?"
"No" she lied.
"Man you already forgot my voice?! This is Jake"
"Oh, well what do you want?"
"Can't I call just to talk?"
"No Jake you can't because I don't really want to talk to you"
"Damn, you're being a bitch. I would have thought you'd be happy to hear my voice"
"You leave a message on my machine two weeks ago telling me you're leaving me, and that you found someone knew, and you think I want to hear you're voice?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. So anyways, uhhhm I did call about something come to think of it"
Mary scowled in disgust at how Jake just brushed her feelings aside and acted as if leaving her was no big deal. "What?" she asked coldly.
"Well, I'm moving into a new apartment, and I need some of my stuff, so where is the key to your apartment?"
"Well I'm not in town right now, and I'm not about to let you go into the apartment on your own so you'll just have to wait until I get home"
"Damnit Mary, why do you have to be so stubborn? You may not be able to move on with your life, but I have, and I want some space. That apartment is mine too, so where's the fuckin key?"
"If the apartment was yours, which you know very well that it isn't, then why the hell wouldn't you have your own key?"
"Screw you Mary!" Jake yelled and slammed down the phone. "Same to you asshole" she set the phone down firmly into its cradle, slumped down into the couch, and sighed. She sat there for a minute, before covering her face with her hands and running into the guestroom. Seconds later the phone rang again. "Can someone get that?!" she yelled. The phone stopped ringing, and she heard Lauren's voice coming from the kitchen.
"Hold on a second" There was a pause and her footsteps came closer to the guest room door.
"Mare, the phone's for you" she said knocking before coming in.
"Take a message" came the miserable reply. She buried her face in the pillow so her friend couldn't see her tears.
"You ok hun?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just tired. Can you please take a message?"
"Well its Howie. He was wondering if you were still on for tonight"
"Tell him I'm sorry, but I just don't feel up to it right now"
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Tell him I'm real sorry"
"Ok"
Lauren closed the door quietly and wandered back into the kitchen. She picked up the phone and held it up to her ear. "Howie, you still there?"
"Yeah I'm here"
"Mary says she's really sorry, but she can't make it tonight"
"Why didn't she just get on the phone and tell me that herself?" he asked confusedly.
"She said she was tired, but it sounded like she had been crying"
"Do you know why?"
"No clue. I'm kind of worried about her"
"Mmmm, well then tell her some other time. Maybe when she comes to visit or, if we're in Pennsylvania or something"
"Sure"
"Ok thanks. Bye"
"Wait! Howie?" Lauren said quickly, thinking of an idea.
"Yes?"
"Noone's going to be home except for her I guess. I'm sure she'd appreciate it if you came over and visited her later tonight"
"Maybe I will"
They hung up the phone and Howie gave consideration to Lauren's suggestion. Maybe he would go over. Maybe.

"You ready girls?" Rachel called from the downstairs bathroom. She clipped the backing onto her tiny diamond earrings and gave the once over of her outfit. She was wearing a short black skirt with a shiny dark purple tank top that had embroidered diamonds around the neckline. "These damn shoes" she muttered as her strappy heals slightly pinched her toes.
"Yeah! be down in a minute" Katie called. She was wearing a similar outfit except that her shirt was sparkly and was a light baby blue color.
Lauren was the only wearing pants, which were a grayish/silver. They were tight at the top and flared near the ankle. They complimented her slim figure as did her shirt which was pink. It had a diagonal neckline and only one quarter-length sleeve. She trotted down the stairs just in front of Katie who was still brushing her hair as she was walking.
"Come on! Lets go you guys, or there will be no more room on the dance floor"
"Oh give me a break" Lauren retorted.
Mary watched all this from her place on the couch. She looked like a slob compared to the rest of them, in her flannel pants and sweater.
"Mary, are you sure you don't wanna come?" Rachel asked, worried that her friend was in for a very lonely night.
"Mary will be fine. She shouldn't be lonely for too long"
Mary just gave Lauren a weird look, not knowing that she had suggested Howie come over and see her that night.
"I'll be fine. You guys go ahead and have a good time" Mary dug her hand into the popcorn her and Rachel had bought that morning while grocery shopping, and focused back on the movie that she hadn't really been paying attention to in the first place.
"Ok. We'll see you later on tonight then, if you're still up when we get home"
"Ok. Have fun" she said cheerfully so they wouldn't be so concerned. Inside she was completely a mess and didn't know what to do with herself. But going to a club didn't seem to be the answer to her unhappiness either.
"Bye!" They all called, before shutting the door and heading for the parking lot.
Mary shut off the t.v and walked over to the phone. Maybe she would call Howie and see if he wanted to come over for a little bit and talk. She could use his guidance on the upsetting phone call she had received that day. She dialed his cell number and when noone answered she burst into tears for the second time that day, and went to lay back down in the guest room.

"Come on Bri, why won't you just come with us tonight?" AJ pleaded as he tried to put on his shirt and talk into the phone at the same time.
"Because I don't want to run into HER, and besides I still haven't recovered from Tim's party last night"
"Oh you know you can handle one more night of going out, and we won't run into Katie because they are going to a different club than us"
"I just-"
"Come on B. Kevin will be coming, and he invited Shannon. You can hang out with her." Shannon was Kevin's neighbor, and her and Brian had been on and off over the past few years, but had eventually ended up as the best of friends. He always had a blast when she was around. "Ohh alright. But only for a couple hours. And noone is drinking tonight."
AJ considered this, and then agreed if that is what it would take to get him to come. It would only be the four of them, AJ, Brian, Kevin and Shannon, since Howie had said he had different plans, and Nick as usual had been dragged along to some party with Korrie. "Good. Well be at "The Mix" for 9 ok?"
"Alright, see ya then."
The guys hung up and AJ went back to getting ready to go out.

Chapter 14
INDEX

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A Story is a Wish your Heart Makes