-Separated, by Usher (CD: 8701)
Sarah/Derek
"I'm sure Brittany's just at the house, Sar," Derek explained as he drove his car down the freeway, heading to a game and talking on his cell phone with Sarah. "I wouldn't worry 'bout her. You okay though, girl? You sound really down."
Sarah hesitated, before answering, "Huh? I do? Oh ... no, I'm ... fine."
"Right," Derek chuckled. "Real convincing, Sar. You gonna be okay? You could always drive over to the house if you wanted to find Britt. Though I don't know why you wouldn't be relieved to get rid of her. Playin'!"
Sarah laughed, "You're so mean."
"No, I'm not."
"I know. Hey, Jeter?"
"Yeah, girl."
"Do you, um ... do you know anything about Nick Carter?" Sarah finally asked, having to bite down her pride to do so. She couldn't believe she was asking her best friend's brother about this, but then again she was pretty close friends with Derek.
"Um ... No, but I thought you know everything about the guy."
"Well, I do ... I mean, all the facts at least." Sarah sighed, "But there's only so much that magazines tell, y'know? I thought maybe since you've hung with him a few times you could clue me in on how the guy works."
"What's goin' on?"
"Well ... nothing, really," she lied, not able to bring herself to confess what she'd done the night before. She didn't even know if she'd be able to tell Brittany about it. "It's just ... Well you know how Britt and I went to the M's game last night..."
"Yeah... and?"
"Well ... seeing as we're in Tampa, it was against the Devil Rays, and that's Nick's team..."
"Yeah?"
"Well, he was there."
"Oh," Derek smirked, "and you talked to him?"
"More than that, actually."
Derek laughed, "Sarah! Do tell!"
"Geez, Der, you sound worse than my girl friends ... never knew you were one for gossip."
"It ain't gossip, Sar. You're my friend and it sounds like you hooked up with the man that makes you pulse."
"Excuse me?!" Sarah shrieked, a laugh escaping her mouth in pure shock that he'd said such a thing. "Derek! Don't say things like that when you're talking about me."
Derek laughed, "Okay ... Gosh, you're actin' like a virgin schoolgirl."
"Whatever."
"Whatever!" he mocked, his voice high-pitched. "Will you spit it out already and drop the valley-girl lingo?"
She laughed, "We just decided to hang out..."
"Where?"
"Uhmmm ... his place."
"Ooh! I see!"
"Derek," she sighed, "it wasn't like that."
Okay, so it was and she'd just flat out lied to him, but she couldn't let him think that they'd slept together because she didn't want anybody to know about it. She was humiliated about what had happened between her and Nick ... the fact that she'd slept with a guy that she hardly knew and he ended up having a girlfriend ... it wasn't something that she really wanted to go shout to the world.
"All right," Derek decided not to tease her. "Well, you like him or what?"
"Yeah ... a lot."
Nick
Nick sighed as he watched the TV in front of him absentmindedly. He knew that Jerry Springer was on the channel that he'd set the TV on, but he was so off in la-la land that it wasn't even computing how stupid the show actually was.
I wonder if I should just call her, he thought as Jerry's security broke up yet another fight. Just to make sure that she's okay, since she ran out of here awfully fast. You act like that's such a shock, Carter. You're such a prick.
Nick sighed and picked the phone up to hear no dial tone. Realizing that he must have picked it up before it had the chance to ring for an incoming call, he cleared his throat, "Hello?"
"Nick?"
"Oh ... Adrienne ... hey," Nick's eyes were wide. Here he was, about to call a girl he'd just slept with and his girlfriend called him instead. "Wha-what's up?"
"You okay, Nick? You havin' trouble talkin' or something?" Adrienne giggled. "You're so silly sometimes, Nicky."
Nick cringed. He hated when she called him that. She was sweet and all, and at one point in time he'd thought he loved her, but he knew now it had just been infatuation. "I'm fine ... Can I call you back later tonight? I had something that I was about to do."
"Not a girl, I hope," she quipped, joking, though Nick couldn't help but get flustered.
"'Course not, baby. Call you later."
"Okay, Nicky," Adrienne said bye and hung up and Nick groaned while placing his phone back in the cradle.
Nick took a few minutes to regain his composure before he picked the phone back up and dialed a number that he'd memorized quickly the night before.
Sarah
"I'll have to call you back, Jeter," Sarah said when her cell began to beep, indicating another call was coming through. "Someone's on the other line."
"Okay," Derek laughed. "Busy girl you are."
"Right. If you talk to Little Jeter," she said, referring to Brittany, "tell her to at least call me so I know that she's alive and well."
Derek grinned with a roll of his eyes, "Okay, I will, though I'm sure she's fine. You know, she's got all that mace in her purse and all. She left with Freddy, right?"
Sarah laughed, "Yeah ... Lord only knows what they've gotten themselves into. Gotta go, Derek ... I don't want the person to hang up before I answer it."
"Okay ... Talk to you later, girl."
"Bye." Sarah smiled as she clicked over to the other line, "Hello?"
"Hey, Sarah..."
Freddy/Brittany
"Brittany," Freddy sighed, stepping into the house to find her sitting on the couch staring down at her hands. "Britt ... it's okay."
He sat down next to her and she didn't answer, so they sat in silence for a few minutes. He knew that she was embarrassed and he felt bad for what had happened. He'd been playing around and so she'd jokingly stuck her foot down his pants to get him to put her down and then when they'd gotten stuck she'd been mortified by what she'd done. He didn't want to embarrass her further by pressuring her to talk about it, so he sat there, waiting for her to look at him again.
Finally Brittany sighed and leaned back further into the couch, her eyes finally darting up to his face. She felt herself melt as he watched her carefully, and she could tell that he was hoping she was okay. "I didn't mean to, Fred," she whispered, feeling tears at the back of her eyes. She would not cry over something like this. He was one of her best friends ... things like this should just be laughed off. But the fact that she was practically in love with him prevented her from having that carefree reaction.
"I know you didn't, Ritt," Freddy replied, leaning back, and nudging her with his shoulder. He looked over at her and smiled, "It's not that bigga deal, girl. You're one of my best friends ... doesn't matter." Brittany sighed and rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her in a hug. "You okay, Britt? Please don't be embarrassed."
She looked back up at him and kissed his cheek gently, "Let's go shopping."
Ten minutes later, Freddy watched Brittany out of the corner of his eye as they drove to the nearby mall. She had her feet tucked up underneath her and her arm was propped up on the window, supporting her head.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she smiled over at him. She felt herself shudder as he took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze ... unfortunately she knew that it was all a friendly gesture. She sighed and squeezed his hand back, placing a kiss on his palm before looking straight ahead again. "I'm just fine."
"You know, if you don't get happy I'm not gonna cook you some good Spanish food later on."
"Oh, bummmer!" Brittany joked. "Didn't we already decide you can't cook?"
"Yeah," Freddy laughed. "But I can cook Spanish. Trust me."
