Brittny, Danielle, Katie, Diane, Holly, Emily, Robbie, Razor, and Cheryl were all in the spacious dinning hall.
Brittny was sitting at the edge of the stage, her legs dangling over the edge, Danielle was sitting next to her, her legs folded indian style, her head in her hands, massaging her temples, and Katie was lying on her stomach, her head propped up on her hands.
Diane was standing in one corner of the stage, surrounded by two keyboards, Holly sitting on the stage, her guitar next to her, Emily sitting on a stool, Razor standing by Holly, his own guitar dangling from his body, and Robbie sitting behind his drum set.
Cheryl was standing in front of the stage, pacing back and forth. "OK, we blew our most important gig this week. That's not your fault, but, even so, it isn't a good thing." she fell silent and continued pacing.
Diane and Emily exchanged looks.
Cheryl stopped pacing. "Even though we missed to Today Show, we do still have a busy day, so I'm gonna suggest we get in an hour long rehearsal. Then you can have the next couple hours off. We'll meet back her at two for a warm-up. Danielle, Katie, Brittny, you go to the TRL interview, while everyone else will take the bus to Virgin Records, and set up so everything is ready for the performance. Got that?"
Everyone nodded.
"Let's get to it!" Cheryl clapped her hands together and the rehearsal began.
Katie sat on her bed in the hotel room an hour later, staring at the wall. Being in the same room as Brittny-even if she was in the shower now-was driving her mad.
They're rehearsal had sucked. Mostly because their normal chemistry wasn't there. Katie couldn't bare to look Brittny in the eye.
When she kissed Brian, everything had felt so right, so perfect, so. . . comfortable. But now that it was over, and she was face with the reality of the situation she felt. . . depressed.
How could she have done this to Brittny? She knew it was wrong, and now her stomach was doing flip flops, trying to make her feel guilty. And it was working. She would die if she had to spend another night in the same room as her.
There was a knock on the door adjoining Danielle and Emily's room to her own, and it was pushed open.
Danielle's head pocked in. "Hey, Katie, can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Cool." the door opened all the way,and Danielle came in wearing her favorite sweats, and baggy shirt. "Is Brittny here?"
"Shower."
"Oh." Danielle sat down on Brittny's bed.
The two sat silently for a moment, Katie in a daze, thinking about the whole Brian and Brittny situation, and Danielle studying the look on Katie's face.
"Kat?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean?" Katie asked, trying to cover the tension in her voice.
"Well. . . our rehearsal was just awful today. You weren't even trying, and. . ." Danielle paused, trying to put her thoughts into words. "I just have the feeling that something's up."
Katie sighed. She could never keep anything from Danielle. It was like they had this hidden connection. One look at her, or one word from her mouth, Danielle could always tell when Katie was keeping something from her, and vice versa.
"You don't have to tell me." Danielle said, in a comfortable soothing voice." I just want you to know that I'm here, ya know?"
Katie starred at her hands, wondering if she should tell. She'll find out eventually, and hate me for not telling her. "Dani, something bad happened while you guys were in the elevator last night."
"What?"
"Well, Brian and I were both really worried about Nick and Brittny. We couldn't find them, and we were upset and. . . "
"And. .. ?"
"We kind of kissed." Katie said quietly.
Danielle's eyes widened. "You WHAT?!"
"Shh! She'll hear you!"
"Why would you do that?"
"I don't know! I didn't mean to. It just happened, and I feel so terrible about it. Every time I'm near her, I-I feel so. . .I feel so. . . "
"Guilty?"
Katie nodded.
They were silent for a moment.
"You like him."
Katie looked up, shocked that Danielle had just said that. "What?"
"You like him." She repeated. "You not feeling guilty because you guys kissed, your feeling guilty because you liked it, and you think you like him."
"How do you do that?! How do you know all this stuff without me telling you?"
Danielle shrugged. "It's a gift."
The steady pur of the shower came to a stop.
"What am I supposed to do?" Katie hissed. "I feel so awful. I can't share this room with her, I'm gonna go crazy!"
Danielle thought for a moment. "Normally I would say tell her, but, I just don't think that's gonna work in this case. Brittny and Brian really like eachother. You really like Nick.. . just keep it to yourself. Leave things the way they are."
"But I can't be alone with her!"
"I'll change rooms with you. We'll say Em and I had a fight or something."
"Would you really do that?"
"Yeah. No biggie."
"Thank you I'm feeling better already."
Danielle stood up. "I'm going to go pack up my stuff and drag it over here. I'll be right back."
Katie smiled. "Thanks."
"Your very welcome. Emily snores anyways." laughing, Danielle ducked back into her room.