"Is the article true?" Dave asked.
"Kind of," Chloe answered.
"Is it or isn't it?"
"Kind of."
Dave and Chloe were driving back to Dave's apartment. The conversation was going fine until he brought up the article. It had been bugging him for the past few days.
"I read it. I know part of it's true. The relationships with me, Austin and Steve are true. Who's the other guy?"
Chloe didn't say anything.
"For fuck's sake," Dave gritted. "Tell me."
"Will. It was Will. Happy now? It's not really something I'm proud of."
"Will?! Why?!"
"I was upset. You and me broke up and you were being a jerk, and I....I wasn't thinking straight."
"Oh, so now it's my fault?"
"No, no, no, no, no. It's nobody's fault....or maybe mine, but it wasn't your fault. I was just depressed. Are you mad?"
"Well, yeah," Dave said. "You slept with Will. That's disgusting, but it's not like you cheated on me."
"So you're mad. What does that mean?" Chloe said. "Does that mean you still have feelings for me?"
Dave shrugged and Chloe smiled. She knew him well enough to know what he was thinking.
The girls pulled up in front of their house with the guys behind them. The girls were so excited that the Backstreet Boys were at their house.
AJ jumped out his vehicle and ran over to Dawn. "Please open the door! Please! I gotta take a pee!"
Dawn took AJ into the house and showed him the bathroom. Kevin got Deehone out of the car and Moesha showed him where her room was. He laid Dee in her bed and him and Moesha went into the hall.
"Is she going to be alright?" Kevin asked.
Moesha laughed. "Oh yeah. She's like this all the time."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. We're trying to get her help, but she's too stubborn to go."
"That's too bad," Kevin said.
They went downstairs and found AJ, Dawn and Nick sitting in the kitchen.
"Where's Howie?" Kevin asked.
"He's outside on his cell talking to Michelle," AJ said.
"Who's Michelle?" Moesha asked,
"Howie's girlfriend," Kevin said. "They're been together for about 3 years."
"Howie's had a girlfriend for three years!" Dawn exclaimed. "I never knew that!"
"He wanted to keep it private," AJ said. "He's not a very open person."
"So what's he calling her for?" Moehsa asked. "Is he inviting her over?"
"Yeah, he wants her to come over for a drink," Dawn said.
Howie came into the kitchen, and he did not look very happy. He sat down in a chair and didn't say anything.
"Hey D. Is Michelle coming over?" AJ asked.
He looked up and looked at everyone. "Oh, no," he said. "She said she's going to her sister's."
"At 10:00 at night?" Moehsa said.
"I don't know," Howie said.
"Do you guys have anything to drink?" Nick asked, trying to get the attention away from Howie. He could tell something was up with Michelle and Howie didn't want to talk about it.
"Yeah," Dawn said. "It's in the garage. Do you mind giving me a hand?" Her and Nick went into the garage.
"Let's get the party started," Kevin said. He could also tell something was bothering Howie, and he figured he should leave him and AJ to talk about it. "Got any music?" He followed Moesha to the living room.
When everyone was out of the room, AJ turned to Howie. "What's wrong? Did something happen with Michelle?"
"I don't know. She sounded really suprised to hear from me. And why would she be going to her sisters now? It's 10:00 at night."
AJ just shrugged.
"Promise me you won't say anything if I tell you something?" When AJ nodded, Howie continued," I think Michelle's cheating on me."
"It's really too bad we had to leave the club so early," Nick said. "I was having a good time."
"So was I," Dawn said, as she loaded beers into Nick's arms. "Oh well, at least we got privacy."
"Privacy from what?" Nick blushed.
Dawn's face reddened. "You know. From fans and press and stuff." She was looking through the fridge for more beer.
"I kinda wanted....Well, I was hoping...." Nick stuttered," I, um, I....I was hoping.....Well, I wanted to dance with you." 'There,' he thought, 'I said it.'
Dawn looked up at him. "We were dancing."
"I mean dance."
Dawn almost dropped the beer bottles she was holding. "We could, um, we can still dance," she said. She didn't feel nervous around him until now.
"I guess we could - " Nick began.
"Hey! Hurry up with the beer!" Moesha yelled, standing in the doorway.
They went in the house and Dawn gave Moe a look that could kill and bury.
Dave and Chloe got back to Dave's apartment after another quiet car ride. Chloe tried not to laugh at Dave, knowing what he was thinking. Dave was trying to tell Chloe that he still had feelings for her, but he couldn't find the right words.
Chloe changed into her clothes that she was wearing earlier that day. She was planning on going home and going to bed.
"Can you take me home now?" Chloe asked Dave.
"Do you have to go now? Stay a while."
"For what?"
"I don't know," Dave said. "We can watch a movie or somehting. Please?"
"Why don't we go to my house? The TV is bigger and and we have food."
"No, there's too many people there. C'mon, just stay here for a while."
"Dave - "
"Chloe, please stay," Dave said sincerily. " Stay just for an hour. We need to talk."
"About what?"
"Us."
"Us? What about us?" Chloe knew exactly what Dave was talking about, but she wanted to hear him say it. "I want to know what you're so eager to tell me."
Dave didn't say anything, just walked over to Chloe and began kissing her passionately,
