Chapter Four

Claudia flew through the empty apartment, her eyes searching the entire dark space, with no Harli in sight. Angry and frustrated, she stormed out the door into the hallway. As she was heading back downstairs to hopefully still find JC waiting for her. She prayed that he wasn't just a figment of her imagination when.., it hit her. 

Where else could Harli be if she wasn't in the apartment asleep? 

"Oh..." she stopped, covered her mouth and turned to look at the restroom door. Yep, that'd be where she'd be at all right, exactly the same place she just led Sabrina to. "Craaaaaaap!!" whining and throwing a tantrum, she stomped her way over and barged inside. 

"I know! I'm sorry! I tried to find you, I couldn't. I looked everywhere. I'm sorry. Don't kill me." Sabrina and Harli turned to look at her while Claudia tried catching her breath. "I tried. I really did." 

"Its okay Dia." 

"Of course its okay! You actually thought you were going to keep this from me?" Sabrina shouted. 

"Technically you didn't know I was here."

"Oh but when I found out about it missy..."

"Awww...that cute little motherly attitude is coming out." Harli giggled and reach over to pat her head. 

"Don't pat me! Harli! Why did you not want me to know you were here?" 

"It wasn't that I didn't want you to know, I just didn't tell you were I was going. Two totally different things." 

"Yet your cousin is still trying to catch her breath from running up here to warn you about me being here?" 

"She didn't want you to know because she knew you'd tell Justin where she was." 

"Claudia...remember how mad you thought I was going to be at you earlier??" 

"Uh...yes?" she smiled sheepishly. "Um..., but unfortunately...I have someone waiting on me at the bar, so I really need to be getting back down there." 

Harli raised her eyebrow and stared from Claudia to Sabrina. "You do? And who would that be? And exactly who else is with them??" 

"Don't worry, its only Lance and JC." Sabrina replied. 

"Yeah, Justin isn't here to accidentally bump into you and Alex." Claudia said as Harli's mouth flew open. "And on that note I think I'll be going." 

Sabrina crossed her arms and turned back to her speechless friend. "You and Alex?" 

Back downstairs...

"Well there you are!" JC whirled around on his barstool and saw Claudia returning. "I was beginning to wonder where you ran off to." 

"Oh I---had to show Sabrina where the restroom was." It wasn't a lie...honesty was good in a relationship, or what may eventually become one.

"That's where she went then. Lance has been over here ten times asking me if I had seen her." 

"Yep. That's where she is." she nodded, laughed, tried to ignore the annoying lack of conversation they were having. 

"So, Hey who's that guy up there on stage?" 

"Oh that's Alex. Alex Wood." 

"He's an awesome singer. Has he ever thought about getting signed?" 

"I'm sure he has. He's probably just like everyone else, thinking that its a far-fetched dream that'll never happen." she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I've never really talked to him about it." 

"Dreams are only far-fetched if you make them be that way. You have to put forth some sort of effort if you're really wanting something that bad." 

She turned and stared back at him in amazement. Who cares if part of it was just drunken babbling, he was making sense to her! That's all that mattered, right?  "I absolutely agree with that!" She said jumping off the stool. She might as well take his advice since he was dishing it out. "Would you like to dance?"  

"I'd love to. There's just one thing..."

"What's that?" 

He got up and followed her out on the floor. "Don't slam me against the wall this time." 

"I can't make you any promises." 

"Good because I actually enjoyed it the first time." He said laughing. 

The next morning...

 Harli woke up with the sun blaring through the mini blinds. At first she had to jar her memory before she realized exactly where she was at. She didn't mean to stay there the entire night, she only wanted to take a nap. But after the unexpected visit from Sabrina, her nap was delayed for a few hours, therefore causing her short nap to be longer as well. She was extremely tired the night before, but she really didn't intend on staying there that long. After crawling out of bed, she started to wonder if anyone else was there. There was furniture there after all. But of course that could've been left by the last person staying there. 

"Why couldn't I have just woken up? Or never even took a freaking nap." She said to herself angrily while brushing her hair. Placing her brush back into her purse, she walked into the next room and was startled when she heard someone rustling around in the kitchen, whistling happily to themselves. She then realized the electricity was on as well. No one is going to pay an electric bill for an abandoned apartment. This was someone else's home! And Claudia didn't even mention it to her. "She is so dead." sighing to herself, Harli took a few more careful steps. 

Peering around the corner of the room, she jumped once again when she finally saw her 'intruder'. 

"Mornin' love, bout' time for you to be stirring around here." Alex said happily. "Would you like some breakfast?" 

Harli stood there dumbfounded and let her purse fall to the floor. "Some breakfast?" 

"Yeah, eggs, bacon, sausage. You know all that country stuff. Want some?" 

Easing a little closer, she somehow managed to find her voice. "Might as well I guess..." she sat down into a nearby chair and sipped some orange juice. "So um...I take it this is your place?" 

"Yep." he replied and scooped some food out onto their plates. "I take it Claudia didn't mention that?" 

"Exactly." she nodded and stared at the ensemble in front of her. "Wow, all this food looks great, I guess I'm hungrier than I thought I was." 

"Well dig in love." he grinned and sat down across from her. "Eat all you want." 

"Thank you. It's really sweet of you to fix this for me. I'll have to repay you sometime."

"You're my guest aren't you? and Well, I thought it would be the proper thing to do. You know, to make breakfast for you after we made hot, passionate love all night." he said before taking a bite of food. 

Like a scene straight out of the old Three Stooges shows. One second the glass is at Harli's mouth, the next...liquid is flying all over the place. 

"We did what??"

He laughed and handed her a napkin. "I'm kidding. I just wanted to get you riled up. Next time I'll remember to where a rain coat though." he said. "I promise I stayed in my room the entire night. Scout's honor." 

"That wasn't your room I was in?" 

"Nope, that's my roommate's. He's gone to visit some friends in California right now." 

"California. He had to say it didn't he?" She thought to herself. Her mind began racing, thinking about how PJ was probably wanting to kill her. Her manager was more than likely calling round the clock trying to find her, and she just remembered an interview she had scheduled for that very morning. She wondered how the rest of the cast was doing, if NBC had, by some miracle, decided to pick the show back up again. She hadn't even checked her cell phone messages since she had arrived. And was actually quite afraid to at this point. Especially considering her last few messages that she had checked had been from Justin. 

Alex stopped eating and looked over at her, lost in her own little world. There was an awkward silence between them. He had to get her talking somehow. "So...where ya from?" 

"Hmm? Oh um... North Carolina originally." 

He nodded. Silence again. This wasn't going to be too easy. "Sounds like a nice place." He leaned in to the table and started eating again. He thought that if he couldn't do any better than that, he may as well give up. 

"It is. It's really beautiful there. What part of England are you from?" 

He raised his eyes to her and laid his fork back down. Maybe he was getting somewhere after all. "Kent. Well, Canterbury  may be more familiar..." he stopped and laughed to himself. "I'm sure you have no idea where I'm talking about."

"Actually I do, I've been through there. I've been to the Canterbury Cathedral. It's so beautiful." She constantly kept reminding herself not to tell who exactly she was with or why she was there. She, Sabrina, and the guys had all went there while promoting the movie in the UK.  "Oh and of course I saw the White Cliffs of Dover." she said excitedly while Alex stared at her in amazement. 

"I can't believe this. Do you realize you're the first person I've talked to since I've moved here that even knows what the White Cliffs are? That even knows Kent is a place in Europe, not just Superman's last name? I can't believe you've actually been there." 

"Well---I have." she smiled back at him and shrugged her shoulders. "I'd really love to go back there someday." 

"That could be arranged." He grinned back, with that flirtatious look on his face again. Harli prayed she wasn't blushing but she knew she had to be. 

"Asking me to run away to England with you after spending the night with me? If I didn't know any better Alex I'd think you were coming on to me." 

He stood up to gather their plates and pretended to be shocked. "Me? Coming onto you? You're the one that came into my apartment last night. If anyone is guilty, I'd say it would be you." 

"I was misinformed, and very sleepy at the time." 

"So whenever you get sleepy you just wander into anyone's home and take over their bed?"

"Sure do." she said while putting her plate in the sink. "And you just happened to be the lucky one for last night." 

He turned so that they were both facing each other, and standing extremely close. "I'll agree with that." he smiled again while staring down at her. She wanted to kiss him right then so badly, but she couldn't do that. It was way too soon. 

"I--I guess I need to be going now." she said taking a small step back, but still locking her eyes on his. "Everyone's going to think I got lost or something." 

"I'll give you a ride." 

"Oh no its okay, I'll----I"ll..." she stopped and realized that Claudia had drove them to the club the night before. "I don't have a car..." 

"I'll drive you home." he laughed. "I need to do some work for your grandma this morning anyway." 

"Well since you're going over there anyway...I guess that'll be okay." 

"Okay, just let me go change into some other clothes and I'll be ready." 

"All right." she replied as they still remained standing in the same spot.

"Um...Renee?"

"Mmmhmm?"

"I kinda need to get through here to go to my room."

"Oh!" she quickly moved away from the doorway she was blocking. "I'm sorry about that."

"That's okay." he laughed and walked by her. "Oh, Renee?" he called from the other room.

"What am I blocking now?" she thought to herself in annoyance. "Yeah?"

"I hope this doesn't sound too forward, but would you like to go do something tonight?"

Whispering a 'thank you' that he was in the other room and not able to see the excitement take over her face, she replied. "That sounds great!" "Okay...let's not sound too desperate here..." "I mean that'd be good. I'd like that."

"I mean, I know you told me  you just got out of a relationship, so I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you into this, You can say no, or we can do it some other time." He walked out of his bedroom, while in the process of putting his t-shirt on. "So there's no pressure."

"Oh no pressure at all." Harli mumbled to herself. Did all guys just know exactly what to do to drive her crazy? She was beginning to wonder about that.

"Hmm?"

"I mean. No pressure at all!" she smiled happily.

"Great. Seven-thirty okay?"

"That'd be fine."

"Great, I'll be there at seven-thirty..." he said as they walked to the door. "After you,"

They pulled into the driveway to see Claudia sitting on the front porch, practically beaming while the two of them approached her. "You're getting home awfully early cuz'. Or should I say late?" 

"You could say that." Harli replied nonchalantly. 

"Did you kids have fun last night?" 

"I think you'll have to ask Alex about that one." she said, glancing at him. Alex only grinned over at Claudia, and then yawned loudly and stretched his arms. "Mmmhmm. That was one rough night. Better get to work so that I can stretch out these muscles. All that activity can put a strain on ya you know."

Claudia laughed and followed them inside. "All what activity?? Explain please?"

"Oh I'd give you all the details but..." she stopped at the top of the stairs and smiled down at her." I just feel the need to leave out a few very IMPORTANT ones! If you catch my drift!" 

"Pshh...Whatever! I knew you both were lying. You didn't do anything." 

"No. But if you don't care, I would like to have tonight off. If that's ok." Alex said as he sat down on the couch while Harli continued upstairs to take a shower. 

"That's fine" Claudia walked over and sat down beside him.. "Anything wrong?" 

"No. Nothing's wrong. I have a date." 

"A date?" He nodded. "You??" More nodding. "With who??" Alex's eyes wandered toward the stairs and then back at her. "No way!!" she yelled while sitting up in her seat. "For real?" 

"Yes. Why is it so hard to believe?" 

"Its not. I just, didn't know I was so good at matchmaking." she said giggling while clapping her hands together excitedly. Alex reach over and placed his hand over her's to stop her. 

"No...don't Don't clap Dia. You clapped the last time and it was a disaster." 

"But this is different! This is my cousin! I know her background better than that last random girl I set you up with." 

"Well at least you're admitting you knew nothing about her now." he joked. 

"Alex, I swear for the millionth time..." 

"No no...just don't even." he said getting up." I don't want to hear it." 

"But...'

"Shoosh!" 

"Don't shoosh me! I told you I didn't know the woman was married!!" 

"Sure. And that just so happened to be right after I accidentally tapped the back end of your car. But you didn't know."  He said while sarcastically throwing his arms in the air. This argument had been going on between the two of them for months now. Neither one of them were willing to let it go. 

 "Tapped? Alex, There was a DENT the size of the Grand Canyon in my brand new Lancer!" 

"But you were in no way trying to get back at me for doing that?" 

"No." she said in an unbelieving tone. 

"Anyway...." he said stretching his arms again. "What happened between you and lover boy last night." 

She smiled brightly once again. "Well...we danced, and talked...and he was really drunk." she sighed and then glared up at Alex when he started laughing. "But we still had a good time, and he said that they may come back in a few weeks! So I'll get to see him again! And he'll get to see me....and I can push him up against the wall again...." she fell back against the couch dramatically. 

Alex stood there confused. "Okay....I'll never understand women." he said shaking his head. "What's this 'pushing him up against the wall' going to prove?" 

"That I'm in control!" she said excitedly. 

Shaking his head in confusion again, he started to walk away "As much as I would love to stand in here and attempt to understand you all day, I can't, I have work to do,. And I have to get everything finished before tonight." 

"Yeah because you have a date!" she said happily while clapping once again. 

"I told you, don't clap." He said as he walked toward the kitchen door. "And stop all that bloody squealing!" 

"Dear Claudia, you should try not to sleep with your best friends boyfriend
you've come so far since that time when you let your first boy in
and you do it so carelessly
as if you had no self esteem
a victim of apathy but you don't care what people say about you
i will let you in before you break yourself "

Lance and Sabrina stared back at a half-asleep JC. They were on a plane leaving Alabama and JC had his headphones on, partially singing, and partially snoring at the same time.

"Do you have any clue what he's singing?"

"I can't make anything out." Lance said shaking his head as they both turned back around. "He's been acting strange ever since we went to that club.

"Do you think its possible he's still drunk?" Lance looked over at her and rolled his eyes. "What? I'm just asking."

"No dear. I don't."

"Oh well, just a thought." she said, turning to look at her passed out friend once again.

"Hey, Justin said Joey and him would be free for the conference." he smiled while listening to his other messages on his voice mail.

"He and Joey."

"Anyway, Miss Cook." he said rolling his eyes. "Now we just have to find a sitter for Jakob so that Chris can come."

"Yes please let's find a professional sitter for our child next time." Sabrina sighed.

"The important thing is that Jakob is safe." 

"He gave a two year old chocolate milk before bedtime Lance." 

"Yeah well....he's the one that had to put up with his hyper-ness all night."

"I don't want to know what my house looks like right now."

"Anyway, purposively changing the subject..." He said clearing his throat. "Talked to Harli lately?"

"Uhh...Have I?" Sabrina said nervously. She was never good at lying anyway, to anyone! Especially not Lance. "Why do you ask that?" 

"I told you. To change the subject." he laughed. "So have you?" 

"Uh...Yeah I ....called her the other day." 

"Oh? How is she doing?" 

"Good. She's doing good." she said biting her lip.

"Okay, stop lying to me." he said as she turned and stared at him in confusion. 

"Lying? I wasn't ly---" 

"You bite your bottom lip and repeat your words whenever you lie." 

"No I don't! No no I don't! Darn it!" 

"Its okay honey." he said patting her on the knee. "You don't have to tell me everything she said. I was just curious, And wondering how she was too I guess." 

"Probably better than Justin is right now." 

Lance raised his eyebrows. "Is she seeing someone?" 

"Not exactly...I think she's interested in somebody though." 

"Oh. Wow. Well I guess you have to move on sometime." he sighed. "I just wish it could've worked out between them." 

"Yeah me too." 

"Hey I forgot to tell you! Justin and Joey are going to come up the day before so that we can all leave together." 

"Come up? As in to our house? Lance! JC and Chris are staying there too you know." 

"Sabrina, we all used to live there at the same time remember?" 

"But not with meee!" she whined. "I was across the street. Away from all the madness." 

"Oh come on honey, It'll be fun!" 

"I hate when you say that. Because it never is." she said as he rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm kidding. It'll be fun having everyone back together again." her smile slowly faded. "Well, almost everyone." 

"Why don't you call her and invite her to come up too?"

Sabrina shook her head. "Umm...No I don't think that's what Harli needs right now." 

"Just a thought." Lance said as he sank back into his seat. 

7:15 p.m.

Harli paced back and forth from the bathroom to her bedroom. Checking her hair and make-up, changing from dress after dress...to a skirt and blouse and then finally another dress again, this time a simple short black one. She then jumped into a pair of heels, that she hated, but wore them anyway. She despised high heels of any kind. They were awkward to walk in and they killed her feet. But they were cute, and matched the dress so she sucked it up and wore them anyway. 

Alex arrived a couple minutes early and she could hear her grandmother welcoming him inside. That's when she started to panic. "Stop worrying Harli, he's just a boy. You've been on dates before." she said to herself in the mirror. "He's no different than anyone else." She paused and looked herself over once more. "Then again, let's hope he is." 

She walked downstairs and was a little shocked to see him not as dressed up as she had expected. He just had on jeans and a casual button up shirt. But why wouldn't he be dressed in anything else? This wasn't exactly New York City. She had spent every summer there ever since she was a baby, Harli knew there wasn't anywhere to go on a date where she needed to get all dressed up. 

He had to smile at her. "I guess I should've gave you some idea of where we were going?" he said laughing. 

Harli laughed herself, there really wasn't anything else she could do. "Can I wear jeans too?" 

"You'd probably be more comfortable that way." 

"Thank you!" she said happily while jerking her shoes off. " I hate these things! Just give me five minutes." 

"Take your time. And Renee?" 

She stopped and turned back to look at him. "Yeah." 

"You look amazing. I wish I could take you somewhere nice since you went to so much trouble." 

"Thank you. And don't worry about it." she smiled. "I went a little overboard anyway." 

After finally changing clothes, they got into Alex's truck and headed toward town. There was that all too familiar awkward silence again for a few minutes before he started talking. "I'm sorry again that you had to change." 

"I'm not. My feet won't be killing me tonight. So stop apologizing." 

"Okay but I'm sure I'll be apologizing again before the night is over." 

"Why do you say that? I'm having a good time already." 

"Well probably because, on our first date that you got all dressed up for...I thought I'd take you bowling." 

"Sounds great!" 

"Yeah right." he laughed. "Now tell me what you really think about it." 

"It does sound great." she said while playfully smacking his arm. "I haven't been bowling in years." 

"I'm sorry it can't be anything fancier than that." 

"Alex. Please. Stop with the apologizing! The important thing is that we're spending time with each other. Isn't that the whole point to a date?" 

"Hmm...If you look at it that way, I guess you're right." he smiled over at her. Slowly his right arm slid up and across the back of their seat. "So come on over here and spend some time with him. She quickly slid across the seat until she couldn't get any closer to him. His arm draped across her shoulders and he pulled her closer to him in a hug. 

"You know, we could just drive around like this all night." She said, laying her head against his shoulder. 

"We could...but you're not getting out of bowling that easy." he laughing. 

"I wasn't....trying to do anything like that..."

"Of course you weren't." 

"I'm just....very very BAD at bowling." she said laughing. "But if you want to be seen with some moron that can't bowl..." 

"The only thing that matters is that we're spending time with each other." 

"Right. So I'll just stand there and watch you." 

"No." 

"Why  not??" 

"Because I'm not that great at it either. So see, at least you won't be looking like a moron all by yourself." 

"Fine. I guess I will." she said as they pulled into the parking lot. Harli leaned over to open her door. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Uh...getting out of the truck?" she said back confused. "Why?" Alex just shook his head. 

"Stay right there." he said before getting out and walking around the truck to her side, and opening the door. "I may just be taking you to the bowling alley but I can at least open your door for you." Surprised, Harli took his hand as he helped her out of the truck. 

She looked up at him dreamily after stepping down on the pavement. "Are you sure you don't want to just ride around." 

"No no no, we're going inside!" he said, pushing her toward the door. "That's it, one foot in front of the other now." 

About an hour later, and neither one of them had made a strike yet. Alex had only knocked down a total of six or seven pins, and Harli had knocked down three....in the lane beside of them that is. She was now standing sideways watching her ball wobble down the lane, going in every direction but the right one. 

"Its going!" she said excitedly. "Its going...." 

"Into the gutter!" Alex yelled from where he was sitting on a bench behind her. 

"No no no...its going. its...it Darn it!" she said jumping up and down as her ball bounced into the gutter. 

"At least it stayed in our lane this time." 

"You jinxed it!"

"Oh...I jinxed it?" He stood up and walked over to her. "I suppose I've been jinxing the entire game then huh?" 

"Yes you have." Harli pouted as she plopped down on the bench. "I told you I wasn't any good at this." 

"And I told you I wasn't either, but the important thing is...." 

"We're spending time with each other." she replied in a monotone voice before they both started laughing. 

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm starving, You wanna get out of here?" 

"Oh but we're doing so well." she joked while taking off her shoes. "I did have fun though." 

"Yeah me too. Where do you want to eat at?" 

"You mean there's another choice around this place besides McDonald's now?" 

"Yeah, two more choices. We're moving up in the world." he said laughing. "We have a Subway and a Sonic now." 

Harli's eyes widened. "Sonic?? I haven't ate there in forever!" 

"They don't have one in North Carolina?" 

"Uh...No...well not close by anyway." she said, hoping he had never been there and seen the abundance of Sonic restaurants all over that state. 

They ordered the Brown bag special, and Harli tried to stop eating so quickly, but it seemed like ages ago since she had had fast food. It was so fattening, and for once she didn't have to worry about that. She didn't have to obsess over her image anymore, and it felt so good! 

"Now I know Grandma Landon isn't starving you." Alex laughed. 

"Sorry, I'm just...really hungry I guess." 

"I know, I was just kidding. But I don't see how anyone could live in that house and ever be hungry." 

"She does fix some great food. And a lot of it." 

Alex nodded. "She's a sweet lady. She helps me out so much." 

"You help her out too. She could never grow a garden like that at her age."

"I'd do it all for free if I could." 

Harli laughed. "She wouldn't have that. If someone helps Grandma, she's going to give them something in return, no matter what they do for her or how much money she has. She's always been that way." 

He nodded again and chewed on a French fry. "She's helped me out when I thought I wasn't going to have enough money to make it the rest of the month on." 

Harli took a drink of her soda and then thought for a moment. "Claudia only pays you once a month? Why does she do a crazy thing like that?" 

He paused for a while, as if he had just let something slip that he shouldn't have. "Oh...no she pays me every week, you know, what she can anyway." 

"Oh." she replied quietly. They sat there in silence a few minutes. Alex didn't touch his food, he just stared out the window, deep in his thoughts. 

"Alex? What's wrong?" She said, twisting her head around, trying to see his face. "Did I say something wrong?" 

He turned around quickly and blinked his eyes. "Huh? Oh, no love, you didn't." he smiled and patted her shoulder. "I was...just in my own little world. Are you about finished?" she nodded and threw her papers in the bag. After throwing away their trash he started up the truck and they headed back. They rode in silence, and didn't sit as closely as they had earlier. Harli wanted to, but wasn't too sure if she should. She didn't know what was said to make him become so distant all of the sudden. 

"Alex?"

"Mmhmm..." he said, pretending to be paying attention to the traffic, even though there were hardly any other cars on the road. 

"I had a really nice time tonight." 

He looked over at her and smiled. "I'm glad you did. I had a great time too." he patted her on the hand on then stared back at the road. 

"I--I hope I didn't say anything out of the way. If I did, I really wish you would tell me." She said, her voice a little shaky now. Something had to be bothering him and she hated that she may have caused it. "I'm...sorry if I hurt you." 

He glanced back over at her again. "Hey, don't cry now. Its not that bad." he laughed a little and motioned for her to move closer to him. "I didn't want to make you cry! Now I really feel bad." 

"You didn't make me." she sniffled. "I just didn't know if I had hurt you, or what had happened." He hugged her close to him and turned into a driveway to turn the truck around. 

"You want to go to my place a while? And talk? I can talk better when I'm not driving. And well...there's probably some things I need to explain to you anyway." 

"Sure." she said, now beginning to get a little worried. Sure, he seemed like a wonderful guy, but she really had only known him for a little over twenty-four hours. And already she was having feelings for him that she shouldn't that soon. What was he going to tell her that bothered him so much? And, she also wondered, if this would be the time to tell him the truth about herself as well. Laying her head against his shoulder, she closed her eyes and prayed that she wasn't about to face yet another disaster in her life.