Brittny ran into the engineer room of the studio the guys were working in that day.
An engineer, Joey, and Chris were sitting in the room. Lance, JC, and Justin were standing in the studio by the mic, looking over a paper, and talking with big, angry expressions on their faces.
"Hey guys," she said.
"Hey, Dogface." Chris greeted her.
"Grow up." she scowled.
"Not possible." he replied.
"ANYWAYS. . . "
Joey whirled around in his chair, chuckling. "Do you two ever stop?"
Brittny looked thoughtful. "No."
He shook his head.
Brittny pointed to the microphone. "Do you mind?"
"Go right ahead." Joey answered.
On the other side of the glass, Justin pointed his index finger hard on the paper.
Brittny pressed on the button that activated the mic, and bent down so that her face was level with it. "Hey, babe."
Lance immediately looked up, a grin spread across his face, and he waved at her.
JC and Justin quickly glanced at her, then went back to they're argument, as Lance jogged into the engineer room.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close, and greeted her with a kiss. "What are you doing here?"
"It's my day off." she replied.
"I know. I thought you were taking care of Noah."
"Oh, Danielle got off earlier, which reminds me." Brittny pulled away, and bent back down to the microphone, pressing the button. "Justin!"
Justin looked up from the paper he and JC were still debating over.
"Danielle told me to tell you to call her as soon as you get the chance."
Justin smiled and gave her thumb up.
Lance pulled her back into his arms.
"How much longer do you have to be here?" she asked.
"Till 5:30."
Brittny groaned. "But I wanted to spend time with you."
"You can hang out here if you want. We aren't getting much done. Justin and JC keep arguing over this song we wrote a couple of days ago."
"All right, sounds good. Then afterwards we can go out and get something to eat."
"Great."
They're lips met again in a longer, sweeter kiss.
"Hello?" Danielle asked, juggling the phone in one hand, and Noah in the other.
"Danielle?" Katie's voice sobbed.
"Katie? What's wrong?"
"I-I-" her voice cracked, and Danielle could hear her crying on the other end of the line. "Can you come pick me up?"
"Of course. But don't you have JC's car?"
"Y-yes. But, I can't-I-please, just come get me."
"All right. Where are you?"
"The 711 across the street from the Rain Forest Cafe."
"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."
"Please hurry."
"Ok." Danielle hung up the phone, grabbed her keys, Noah's diaper bad, ran out to her 4-Runner, strapped Noah in, and took off.
"Yo, Joey, lemme borrow your cell." Justin said, plopping down in a leather swirly chair.
Joey pulled it out of the pocket of his baggy JNCO's, and tossed it at Justin. "Heads up."
Justin caught it and dialed Danielle's number. The answering machine picked up, so he called her cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey baby."
"Justin. Hi."
She didn't sound very excited to be talking to him.
"How come you aren't home?"
"I'm going to pick up Katie."
"Why? I thought she jacked JC's car for the day."
At the sound of his name, JC's ears perked up.
"Me, too, but, she was crying when she called me, and sounded horrible, so I'm picking her up."
"Oh. What's wrong with her?"
"I have no idea. Listen, I'll drop by after I pick her up, but I shouldn't talk while I'm driving."
"All right."
"Bye."
"I love you."
Danielle hesitated, then finally answered. "I love you, too."
"Bye."
Danielle hung up the phone, and drove as fast as she legally could.
She pulled up in front of the 711 and saw Katie sitting on a bench out front, and parked directly in front of her.
She got out of the car, not bothering to unbuckle Noah, and walked over to her.
Katie sat in a daze, starring straight ahead, as if she didn't notice the world moving. She looked as if she was about to throw up.
"Katie? What happened? What's wrong?"
Katie looked up at her. Her eyes were red and puffy. "I was. . I-I- was-" she burst into tears. "I was raped."
Part Thirty Two
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Part Thirty Four