Mellisa was carefully fixing her hair (yes, again!!! Don't you get tired of it?) when she heard the doorbell rang. She quickly combed her hair, made sure it looked alright, breathed hard three times, eyed her attires and made a straight move towards the door. She quickly rehearsed her smile and pasted it accross her face. She breathed again, held it, and reached for the handle.

"Yes?" Mellisa smiled appreciatively at the two guys standing in front of her.

"Hi," Shane grinned at her. His cheeks were rather red, he was blushing.

"Hello again, Mellisa," Bryan greeted her.

"Shane, Bryan, come on in. I've been expecting you guys," Mellisa gestured for them to come in. Why do Shane have to bring Bryan along... Mellisa cried inside. It wouldn't be so romantic!!! she sighed, a bit disappointed.

"You, uh, look great today," Shane took a seat on the sofa.

"Thanks," Mellisa flashed him her winning smile and twirled a bit. She was wearing a tight, three-quarter sleeved baby pink shirt and an ankle-high floral skirt. She matched the outfit with her transparent-pink slippers, and of course a rose lip balm.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Shane this time," Bryan eyed Mellisa up and down, "you'd make some guy lucky." Shane gave Bryan a glare and nudged him.

"So, do you wanna drink something? I've got... let's see," Mellisa dashed to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and looked inside.

"Some 7-up and coke," Mellisa called, poking her head out of the kitchen door.

"Coke, if you don't mind," Shane called back, smiling at her. Mellisa lightened up, he smiled a lot today, not that I mind...

"Comin' right on! And you Bryan?" Mellisa asked, trying to be as good a host as she could.

"I'd drink what Shane drinks," Bryan said a bit distractedly. He was busy looking around the apartment, "Neat place you have here!"

"Why, thank you Bryan, you're so sweet," Mellisa brought out three glasses of coke and put them down on the round table beside the sofa.

"Thanks but I don't think I can drink two," Bryan said sheepishly.

"Huh?" Mellisa looked at him, puzzled.

"The coke, it's thoughtful of you to give me two glasses but-" Bryan began, then Shane stomped on his feet. "What?" he whirled around to face Shane.

"How clever, Bryan. The last one's for Mel, of course," Shane knocked his friend's head.

"Hey, you lookin' for trouble, huh huh huh?" Bryan knocked Shane back. The two of them soon had a little fight, but no need to worry, it was all a joke. Mellisa laughed and shook her head in amusement.

The three of them did not hear the door handle being turned, it was too noisy in the room. Even when Rachel walked in a bit annoyed, saying, "All right now, what's happening here, Mellisa if you bring another weirdo here I'm going to kill you-" even when she paused as she found out that Bryan was there, the three ignored her.

"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!!!!" Rachel demanded, her eyes wide open. This time around the three stopped all the laughing and tickling and knocking heads and turned to face Rachel.

"Hi, Rach," Shane smiled at her sheepishly.

"Hey," Mellisa greeted her friend weakly.

"What's she doing here?!!!!" Bryan demanded, pointing at Rachel.

"What are you doing here?!!!! This is my house," Rachel paused, "Well, at least, I stay here. And what's up with that goofy grin, Shane?"

Bryan guffawed, "I told you it was goofy!"

"Hey, I'm just feeling great today, and why do you keep saying it's goofy!" Shane pouted.

"Aww, stop picking on him! Poor guy!" Mellisa joked.

"Now back to the more important business: what the hell is Mr. Oh-So-Sensitive doing here?" Rachel insisted, hands on hips.

"Well, well, look at Ms. Short Temper there! Can't I visit my newly found friend, Mellisa, here?" Bryan frowned.

"Well of course you can but nobody asked my permission!" Rachel held her head high.

"Oh so now everybody must tell everything to you!" Bryan raised his voice. "I didn't know she lives here?!" Bryan turned to Mellisa, and caught her in surprise.

"Well, now you know," Mellisa smiled weakly at him.

"Come on you stay with me, isn't it just logical that Rachel stays with Mel?" Shane frowned, then smiled at Mellisa, "Is it okay if I call you that?" and Mellisa smiled back.

"Yeah, in fact all four of us live together," Mellisa grinned.

"Shane I'm leaving," Bryan stated clearly.

"Sure you're living, you're not dead!" Shane laughed.

"I said leaving, you hear me?!" Bryan repeated.

"Oh don't bother doing that, mister. I am the one leaving," Rachel glared at him.

"But you've just come back!" Mellisa whined.

"I am the one leaving!" Bryan insisted, he suited words into actions when he got up and walked towards the door.

"No, I am!" Rachel stepped forward to intercept him.

"I'll leave!"

"No, I'll leave!"

"You just stay here, I'm going!" Bryan pointed at Rachel, almost touching her as they were so near to each other.

"I'm the one leaving!!!" Rachel screamed in his ears.

"I am!" Bryan moved dangerously forward.

"No, I am!" Rachel did not budge.

"I-" Bryan paused. He looked at Rachel. They were so close they could have been kissing if they were not screaming each other's heads off. There was silence for a moment, as the two of them hesitated, not really knowing what to do. On the background could be heard the sound of Mellisa sipping her coke and Shane talking to her, as casual as ever. They even heard the diapers advertisement on TV, and Mellisa's dodgy comment on it, "I used to wear that label when I was little."

"Fine, I'll stay." Rachel finally said.

"No, I will." Bryan refused.

"No-" Rachel gritted her teeth, "Okay, we both stay. But you're staying right here, don't move-" Rachel pointed her hand as a mock gun and walked slowly backward to the stairs, "- I'm going up and would never come down again."

"Fair enough," Bryan shrugged and started to sit on the rug.

"Uh-uh!" Rachel warned him.

"I wasn't going to get you! I was only trying to sit!" Bryan said, exasperated. Rachel gave him a suspicious look then disappeared upstairs.

"My God!" Bryan said as he finally made his way to the rug.

"Why don't you kiss her?" Mellisa asked too forwardly, whirling her head around from the TV. Shane too looked curious.

"You two are sick, sick, sick," Bryan grabbed the remote and started to surf through the channels.

***

"Hey where's the other girls?" Bryan asked curiously. The three of them -Bryan, Shane, and of course Mellisa- had been watching television for a few hours now.

"Kylie is sleeping peacefully in her room and Deanna is out for a date right after she had her haircut." Mellisa answered nonchalantly.

"She's going out with somebody?" Bryan asked skeptically.

"Nah," Mellisa laughed, "she has a date with her father. To some fancy restaurant, I dare presume." Mellisa shrugged.

"Her father?" Bryan asked, getting more curious each second.

"Hey this thing is getting kinda boring!" Mellisa said, referring to the TV programme, "wanna hear something on the stereo?"

"Sure," Shane nodded his head, flashing her a smile again. Bryan rolled his eyes.

Mellisa got up and walked to one side of the apartment where her stereo resided. Beside was a rack full of CDs and a few cassettes. Mellisa hunched to examine her stereo, "Oh! There's already a CD inside... hey it's Westlife. I love their songs." Mellisa chose the 'random' mode and clicked the play button. The intro to the song 'Seasons In The Sun' came softly out. Mellisa turned the volume louder.

"Pretty old song, but it's good." Shane commented.

"Ooh, I love this song! It sounds so romantic to me," Mellisa smiled at him.

"Goodbye to you, my trusted friend..." someone sang to the song. All three of them turned around, wondering who that was.

"We've known each other since-" Rachel stopped in the middle. "-FOUR HOURS!!!" she screamed, "Four hours and you're still here?!?!?!" she looked at Bryan in disbelief.

"Who asked you to come down, anyway?" Bryan demanded.

"Well excuse me, but this is my favorite song and I wanna hear it!" Rachel answered as if she was explaining one plus one is two to a three years old.

"Now don't start again, Rach, let's just all sit here in peace." Mellisa patted the place beside her. Rachel moved slowly, staring at Bryan all the time.

"In peace," Shane repeated, afraid the war would blow up again.

Rachel took her place and sat in a stiff silence, but as the song went to its second verse she began to relax.

"I just love this part," she sighed.

"I just love the whole song," Mellisa sighed.

"Hey Mellisa, what do you mean when you said Deanna went out with her father?" Bryan started again.

"Huh?" Mellisa asked back distractedly, paused, then said, "oh. They do that all the time, what with Anna being the only child and her mom long gone. Anyways her dad could afford it so why not," Mellisa shrugged.

"The last time they brought us along, remember?" Rachel spoke up.

"Yeah, to that famous Italian restaurant," Mellisa sighed, "but the food is icky. I only liked the pizza."

"Yeah, the calamari is terrible," Rachel nodded along.

"What's wrong with squid? I love them," Shane licked his lips.

"You're crazy." Bryan knocked his friend's head.

"The toppings, yum!" Mellisa continued, ignoring the others.

"Are you kidding? It's like, toppings with pizza, not pizza with toppings!" Rachel laughed.

"But it's delicious, isn't it?" Mellisa asked.

"No, I felt full eating my first slice. Ugh, it's not even a pizza. I mean, it's only a thin layer of bread, like, real thin, with all the sausages blah blah on top of it!" Rachel described.

"That's the way I like it, how unfortunate it costs a fortune!" Mellisa groaned.

"How fortunate it costs a fortune!" Rachel corrected, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, everybody loves pizza with thin base. Right, Shane?" Mellisa nudged Shane, who was listening intently to the girls' conversation.

"Um... as long as it's a pizza, I'll still eat it," Shane smiled sheepishly.

Mellisa groaned, "you're not helping! How 'bout you, Bry?"

"Huh?" Bryan seemed lost, then quickly answered, "Yeah, of course. I love pizza with thick base."

Mellisa started to smile, "See, he loves pizza with thick-" she did a double take, "hey, we're talking thin here!" she complained.

"I told you, I told you. Even a mindless guy like him know it." Rachel grinned victoriously.

"Who said I'm mindless?" Bryan said, irritated.

"I do," Rachel answered, still grinning.

"Well you're an airhead then," Bryan retorted.

"Excuse me, I don't think I hear you right?" Rachel asked back, her voice raising.

"Oh no, here we go again," Shane groaned.

"Hey, you two actually agreed on something!!!" Mellisa exclaimed, laughing.

"Hey, yeah!" Shane piped.

Rachel and Bryan looked at their respective friends as if they were crazy and then rolled their eyes, "Whatever!" they both said at the same time.

***

"It's been a great time, thanks," Shane grinned at the front door.

"Yeah, feel free to come again soon!" Mellisa said excitedly.

"Yeah," Shane still grinned that goofy smile.

"So, um," Mellisa hesitated.

"Shane what are ya doin' let's go!" they could hear Bryan yelling from the apartment lift.

"Listen, um..." Shane cleared his throat.

"Yeah?" Mellisa anticipated.

"Are you free tomorrow?" Shane blurted out.

"Mmm," Mellisa seemed to be thinking hard, then she quickly answered, "no, no, not at all." she grinned cheekily.

"So, um, wanna go out?" Shane coughed.

"Sure, what time?" Mellisa looked at Shane hard, making him feel like blushing again.

"I uh,... will see you here at... um... how does eight sound to you?"

"Great," Mellisa beamed.

"Well, then, um, I just wanna say that I-" Shane scratched his head.

"SHANE ARE YOU KISSING THERE?" Bryan's exasperated voice boomed again. Shane and Mellisa blushed hearing his statement.

"I've better get goin' then," Shane laughed uneasily.

"Well, see ya soon." Mellisa smiled, ready to close the door.

"Till tomorrow," Shane took another long glance at Mellisa, then turned around a bit hesitantly and ran to the general direction of the lift.

"Bye," Mellisa whispered to the empty hall. She rested her hand on the door side, sighing dreamily away while looking forlornly at nothing and everything. She did not know what she was feeling. It was a mixture of happiness, dizziness, confusion, anxiety, impatience, warmness, light-heartedness, etc. etc.

"At last, the two annoying guys are gone!" Rachel's breezy voice came from behind her. Mellisa quickly snapped back to reality. She closed the door quickly and turned around to face her friend.

"Yeah," Mellisa smiled.

"Hey, what's up with that goofy grin?" Rachel teased.

"Cut it out! I think I've had enough of that word today!" Mellisa punched Rachel on the side playfully, both girls laughing as they strolled to the living room, eager to get another good doze of Westlife.