*The next morning, at Brian's*
Brian woke up with difficulty. He didn't have slept much the last night because he was waiting for Amber to come back. At 3 am he was still awake but he was so tired that he fell asleep on the living room couch. He opened his eyes. The tv was still open and some comics were playing so he thought that it was probably early. He got on his feets and went at his bedroom to see if she had come back. No sign of her. He wondered where she could have been all night and looked in all the rooms to see if she was there. Again, no sign of her. He knew it was mostly his fault if she was angry but he never thought she'd still be. "She's probably at one of the girl's house.." he thought trying to reassure himself. He made some coffee and looked at Tyke. He was happy to have him back with him. He hoped Amber would like him like Stacey did the last night. He laughed as he thought of Stacey's behavior when she saw the dog. He hoped Amber would be that positive. He wanted to call the others to see if they had seen Amber or if she was at their house but he decided to wait a little longer because it was still early and he didn't want to awake everyone. He sat on a chair and looked outside when he heard the front door opened and closed.
"Amber??" he shouted as he ran to the door to welcome her.
"Yeah...it's me..." she said looking down.
"I'm so sorry! I know I've been a big jerk... and I'm really sorry!" he said hugging her. He was smiling, all happy to see her.
"It's okay!" she said with a little smile.
"Hey Tyke!!! Look, who's here!!" he said with a baby voice what made the pet go nuts.
"He's really cute!" she said trying to act as normal as possible.
"Of course he is!" Brian said smiling as he took Tyke in his arms. "Where were you? I was worried about you!"
"I'm sorry. I was at Carly's home!" she lied. "We had a girl night..."
"Oh! That's great! You had fun?" he asked.
"Yes I did! But now I really want to take a shower!" she said as she climb the stairs, almost running to get away from him. "I'll see ya in a while!"
"Okay!" Brian said a little confused.
**Earlier at Nick's house**
"What are you doing here??" Amber shouted as she woke up. When she saw Nick she totally forgot about the big headache that was hurting her badly.
"I should be the one asking you this question!!! It's my bed!" Nick shouted too. He was already awake when she opened her eyes but he was trying to remember what they did last night. When he realized that they were both naked...he knew they did a bad thing and he blamed him.
"Oh my god!!!!" Amber screamed remembering some pieces of what happened that night. "Do you realize what we've done?!?!?!?!!!!" she added putting her face in her hands.
"Yes I do!!!" Nick sighed.
"Brian is gonna kill me!!!! He'll never forgive me for that!!!" she cried.
"We can't tell Brian about that!!!!" Nick shouted as he put his clothes on.
"We have to!!!" Amber said getting dressed too. Tears were rolling down her face as she was thinking of what she've done. She knew they shouldn't tell Brian but she was feeling like she couldn't hide things from him.
"No we can't!!! He'll never forgive us!! You can't tell him Amber!!" Nick said. He got closer to her and squeezed her arms. "We can't tell him ok??? We can't!" he shouted.
"But..." she started but he squeezed her arm harder.
"We can't! Do you hear me?" he almost screamed. He was angry at himself and at Amber. He knew they were drunk but they should have thought about it! He couldn't believed he had sex with his bestfriend's girl.
"Alright... leave me now...you're scaring me!" she said getting free of his hands.
"He better not know this!" he said sitting on the bed.
"What am I gonna do?? He's gonna ask me where I was!" she sighed. She couldn't look at Nick in the eyes. She was feeling so bad. She stayed up, trying to think about something.
"I don't care but you better find something!!" he said rudly.
"Thanks for you help!" she replied the same way.
"How do you want me to help? Find something! It's your mistake!"
"What!?!?!? I'm sorry but it's your problem too!!! If he knows someday, he'll be angry at both of us you know!!" she shouted angrily.
"He'll never be angry at us if you don't shut your mouth!" he said. Amber didn't answer and she looked at him with a disgusting look. She knew it wasn't only her fault. She remembered a little what they've done and she knew he didn't try to stop. She walked to the kitchen, took the phone and dialed a number.
"Yeah Hi?" a young girl voice said.
"Hey can I please talk to Carly?" Amber said a little impatient.
"Yes a minute please!" the girl said.
"Yeah???" Carly asked.
"Carly?!? It's Amber!"
"Hey Amber!" Carly said happily. "How are ya?"
"Not really good. Listen, I really need you to cover me ok? If Brian ever ask you where I was last night, you tell him I was at your house alright???" Amber said hoping Carly would approve.
"Umm...yeah sure!" Carly said wondering what she'd done.
"Thank you so much! I'll explain to you another time what happened ok? Thank you!!!! You're really nice!" Amber said feeling tears in her eyes. She wasn't feeling confortable at all with this situation.
"Alright girl! See ya soon!" Carly said.
"Yeah! Thanks! Bye!" Amber said as she hung up. She sat on a chair, sobbing into her hands. "What am I gonna do!" she cried. She hated herself right now. How could she probably do something as wrong as this? Nick walked in the kitchen to make some coffee and looked at her crying.
"I think you better get going..." he said, unhappy. She looked up at him, tears all over her cheeks. She stood up and leaved, without saying anything. When he heard the door closed, Nick hit the bar with his fist. "Damnit!!!!" he shouted.
***At Kevin's***
"May I speak to Kristin please?" Kevin asked. He had decided to call Kristin and finally work things out. He wanted to see her as soon as possible and get everything right.
"Can I know who's calling?" a male voice asked.
"Kevin Richardson"
"Hold on a minute please!" the man said. Kevin heard him talking with Kristin but he wasn't able to hear what they were saying.
"Yeah?" Kristin said.
"Kristin, this is Kevin!" he said trying behave the better he could so they wouldn't go into a fight again.
"Yeah... what do you want?" she asked.
"Well... are you still in town?" he asked.
"Yeah for 2 more days. Why?" she said with a curt tone.
"I wanted to know if you'd be ready to work things out with the divorce papers and stuff, like 2 mature adult... without yelling at each other or fight... " he said confident.
"Oh... I think it'd be a great idea..." Kristin said with a little laugh.
"Great... what do you think about tonight?" he asked knowing he had nothing planned.
"Umm...let me see...yeah it'd be okay." she said.
"Ok so see ya at 6pm in the little italian restaurant near the hotel??" he asked.
"Alright" she said. "See ya later!"
"Ok! Bye!" Kevin said after he hung up. He sighed hoping that everything would go right. He walked out his room to the kitchen smelling coffee.
"So how did it go?" Stacey asked sitting at the table.
"Great.. well...I don't know how it'll go tonight but... we'll eat at the restaurant so we won't started screaming in front of everyone..." Kevin said laughing.
"Good idea!" Stacey giggled. At this moment the phone rang.
"Yes?" Kevin said answering.
"Hey Kev! It's Aj! How ya doing?" Aj said.
"Hey Aj! Not bad! how 'bout you?"
"I'm doing great!!! What's up?"
"Nothing much... and you??" Kevin said.
"Oh well...nothing really special. I wanted to ask if you'd like to come at Howie's club tonight! Everyone is gonna be there..well... I hope!" Aj laughed.
"Ah sorry man! I already have plans tonight...but maybe Stacey would like to!" Kevin said staring at Stacey who looked up to him when she heard her name.
"It'd be great! Ask her!"
"Hold on!" he said to Aj. "Stace, Aj ask if you'd like to go at Howie's club tonight with the others..!?!?"
"Howie has a club?!?!?" she exclamed what made both Kevin and Aj laugh.
"Yes he does!"
"Oh it'd be great!!!!" she shouted.
"It's a yes!!!" Kevin said to Aj.
"Great!!! Tell her we'll pick her up around 8 o'clock ok?" Aj said happily.
"No problem bone!!"
"Alright! Bye!!" Aj said as he hung up and turned to Becky. "Stacey's coming!"
"Cool!" Becky said. "And Ashley too. She'll bring her new boyfriend!"
"She has a boyfriend? Great!" Aj smiled.
"Yup! I'll call Carly now..." Becky said picking up the phone.
"Wait wait wait!" Aj stopped her. "If she says that she wants to come, don't tell her Howie's gonna be there..."
"Ok...why?" she asked confused.
"Because she won't want to come and I really want them to get their shit together tonight! I'm tired to see D down like that!" Aj sighed.
"Oooohh how sweet!!!" Becky said wrapping her arms around him and kissing him.
"I have a sensitive heart ya know!" Aj giggled.
"I know one part of you who's really sensitive and it's not your heart..." Becky laughed.
"Ha ha ha!" Aj giggled. "But you're right... especially when you're near to me like this..." he added kissing her.
"Yeah yeah... wait a little and you'll have what you want!" Becky laughed as she walked to the phone.
"Alright! Make it fast!" Aj smiled.
Becky took up the phone and dialed Carly's number. After a few rings she answered.
"Yes?" Carly said.
"Hey Girl!!! How are ya??" Becky exclamed.
"Hey Becky! I'm alright...how about you??"
"I'm going great!!! So, what are ya doing of your vacations right now??"
"Actually...nothing... and you? Everything is going great with Aj?" Carly asked smiling.
"Yes! He's a sweetheart!" she laughed looking at him doing some stupid dances move.
"Great!"
"I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go clubbing with us and the others tonight??"
"Tonight? Yeah it'd be fun!" Carly said happy to finally do something. She was happy to stay with her family but she was missing the crew a lot. She liked her sisters but they were younger than her so she couldn't really hang out with them.
"Good! Will you meet us there? We'll be at the Tabu club!" Becky said hoping that she wouldn't remember that Tabu was the name of Howie's nightclub.
"Yes! I'll meet you there! Who else is coming?" Carly asked thinking about Amber. She was curious and wanted to know why she had to cover her. She wasn't thinking about Howie for the moment.
"Oh well... Ashley and her boyfriend, Stacey, Aj and myself...I think Nick is gonna come too..." she said not mentionning Howie.
"Alright!" Carly said a little dissapoint that she wouldn't talk to Amber tonight. "I'll meet you all there around 9?"
"No problem!!! See ya tonight girlie!!!" Becky shouted all smile.
"See ya!!!" Carly said.
Becky hung up and walked in the house looking for Aj. He had left the room while she was talking and she wanted to be with him right now. She found him in the bedroom laying on the bed.
"You were waiting for me?" she said laughing.
"Of course I was!" he said with a grin.
"Great!" she said laying next to him.
"I love youuuu" Aj said smiling.
"I love you too!" she replied before to put her lips on his.
****That night, at the club****
Howie was in the night club waiting for his friends. He had passed most of his time there since he was on vacations. It was his club so he was friend with the crew and he was really friendly with the people that were coming to have some fun. He liked to know the clients, even if he already knew most of them because it was mostly artists that were coming over. He was sitting at the bar, a little nervous. Aj had told him Carly was suppose to come tonight. He was happy about that because he was thinking she wasn't angry anymore. Well, he was hoping. He had decided to talk to her tonight because he missed her really much. Then, Aj, Becky and Stacey came in.
"Hey D!" Aj shouted.
"Hey guys! What's up?" he said showing them their table.
"Nothing much!" Becky smiled. She laughed at Stacey who was amazed by the place.
"Wow! It's your nightclub?" she said looking at Howie who nodded. "Wow! This place is really cool!!"
"Thank you!" Howie laughed.
They all sat at the table and talked. A little later, Ashley arrived with a handsome boy.
"Hey you guys!!!" she shouted smiling.
"Hey Ash!" Becky said hugging her friend. "Nice... really nice!" she whispered about her new boyfriend.
"Thanks!" Ashley replied laughing. "Guys, I want you to meet Paul!" she said taking his hand.
"Hey!" Paul said a little shy.
They all welcome him and the couple sat at the table.
"I'll get ya some drinks!" Howie said standing up.
"Wait D! I'm coming with ya!" Aj said following his friend. When they were as far so no one could Howie talked.
"Carly isn't coming???"
"Yes she is!" Aj smiled.
"Then where is she?" Howie said a little impatient.
"Yo D, calm down!" Aj laughed. "We just arrived, she'll join us soon!"
"I know but... I miss her!" Howie said sadly.
"I know you do...but wait a little more!" Aj said patting him in the back. They took the drinks and as they both walked back at the table, Carly entered in the night club. "Here she is!" Aj shouted. He gave the drinks to the girls and waved to Carly who was looking all over the place to see them.
Howie stayed up and watched her walking toward them. His heart was beating fast and he was amazed by the way she looked. He never saw her so pretty. He didn't know if she was still angry but he knew instead he had to talk to her.
"Hey!" she said. She didn't look at Howie. She was feeling ashame of what she had told him and she didn't know how he was feeling about it.
"Carly!" Ashley said all smile.
"Hey Ash!" she said sitting next to her. She could feel Howie's look on her back. "You most be Paul!" she added talking to Ashley's boyfriend.
"Yeah! Nice to meet you!" he said still shy.
"Hey Carly..." Howie said.
"Hey..." she said looking at him quickly. She was a little angry at Becky who haven't told her about him being there but when she arrived in front of the club, she realized that Tabu was Howie's nightclub and she almost turned back to her house. But she entered anyway. They all continued talking for a while, drinking and laughing. They danced a bit, came back and talked....they were happy to see each other. After 2 hours, Howie and Carly haven't talk together yet. Everyone could tell they wanted to get together because of the way they were staring at each other but they both were too shy to make the first steps. Stacey, Howie, Ashley and Paul were sitting at the table talking about the Charity event that was gonna be in 2 weeks. "Are you nervous before big events like this?" Paul asked interested by Howie's carreer.
"Oh well...yes we are!" Howie laughed.
"They are nervous before a concert! And they are used to it so..." Stacey giggled.
"Oh I see! But it's probably really fun to do!" Paul said.
"Oh yes it is!!!" Howie smiled. He looked at the entrance to see if some new clients were coming when he saw someone that was looking familiar. But he wasn't sure if it was her so he decided to ask Aj. "Sorry!" he said leaving the others. He walked to the dance floor and patted Aj on the shoulder.
"Hey! I won't dance with ya! Sorry man!" Aj laughed.
"Ha Ha Ha! Really funny! Look out there!" he said pointing a table. "Am I hallucinating or it's..."
"Leighanne!!!" Aj shouted. "Hey let's go see her for a bit!"
"Alright!!" Howie laughed as they both walked to leave the dance floor.
"Hey!! Where are you going!?!?!?" Becky asked pouting.
"I'll be back soon sweetie! We just saw someone we didn't have news for a while! I swear it won't be long!" Aj said blewing a kiss.
Aj and Howie walked fastly to Leighanne's table. They were now sure it was her.
"Hey baby! Long time no see!" Aj said as Leighanne turned to see who was talking to her.
"Oh my god!!! Hey you guys!!!!" she shouted happily as she stood up to hug them. "What are you doing here??"
"It's my club..." Howie laughed. No one seemed to remember that Tabu was his night club. Nothing was mentionning his name or anything like this so no one were realizing it was one of the Backstreet Boys' club. And he wasn't the owner since a long time.
"Oh!! That's great!!!!" she said smiling. "I'm really happy to see you guys!!!!"
"We're happy to see you too!" Aj said. "What's up with you??"
"Oh well nothing much!" she smiled.
"Do you wanna come to our table with us? We could talk a little..." Howie asked.
"Umm...I don't know..." she answered unsure. She looked at her friend who were telling her to go.
"Your nice friends are telling you to come..." Aj smiled.
"Alright... I won't be long girls!" she said smiling.
The trio walked to the table talking all at the same time. When they got at the table, Becky and Carly were back from the dance floor.
"Girls, and Paul, we want you to meet..."
"Leighanne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Stacey screamed with her eyes wide open. "Oh my god!!!!!!! What are you doing here?!?!?!"
"Umm... do I know you?!?" Leighanne laughed confused. Everyone was looking at Stacey curiously.
"You don't reconize me?" Stacey laughed. "It's Stacey.... you know... Buggie you used to call me..."
"Buggie!!!!!!!!!" Leighanne shouted running over her.
"Wait wait wait! What is going on here?" Aj asked.
"It's Stacey!!!!!" Leighanne said hugging her.
"Yeah...I know that!" Aj laughed. "But how you 2 know each other?"
"First, let me introduce you to the new crew..." Howie said. "Guys,this is Leighanne, Bri" he started but he decided to not tell that she was Brian's exgirlfriend. "...a friend... And Leigh, this is Ashley, Paul, Carly, Stacey...but you seemed to know her...and .."
"My girl Beckyyy!" Aj said sitting close to his girlfriend.
"Hi! Nice to meet you all! Yes, we do know each other!!!" Leighanne smiled sitting next to Stacey.
"How come?" Aj asked.
"Stacey was my little sister's bestfriend! You know that my sister and I are like friends so the 3 of us were always hanging out together when I was in college!" Leighanne smiled.
"I always considered Leigh like my big sister!" Stacey said. "I'm so happy to see you!!!!"
"I was wondering what you've been up to since you left Atlanta! I've been really confused when I heard you left... you didn't say anything..." Leighanne said.
"Umm..I know...well...I'll talk to you about this another time.." Stacey replied looking at everyone that were listening.
"So you 2 met like... almost 10 years ago??" Becky asked.
"Yup!!!!" they both said at the same time.
"This is really weird!" Howie laughed.
"So you are working with the boys???" Leighanne asked.
"Yes! I'm the new makeup girl!"
"That's your job???"
"Yes it is!" Stacey smiled.
"Oh my god I'm really happy for you!!! You always liked to smear our faces!"
"Actually, she's doing a great job!" Ashley laughed.
"I know, she has a lot of talent!"
They all continued talking for a short while but Leighanne decided she should go back with her friends.
"I'm really happy I've seen you!!! And look... I'm leaving next week for Mexico where we'll shoot my next movie but... saturday night, if you have nothing to do, I invite you all to my house for dinner!" she smiled. "You can tell Kevin, Nick and Brian about it!"
"It'd be great!" Aj said.
"Just call me tomorrow to tell me who's coming alright?" she asked.
"No problem girl!!!" Howie said.
"And I want you to call me alright? anytime!!!!" she said giving a paper with her number to Stacey.
"Alright!!! See ya Leigh!!!" Stacey said smiling. She was happy to have seen her old friend.
They continued talking and at a moment Aj grabbed Howie's arm and leaded him away.
"What are you waiting for????"
"I don't know... " howie said.
"Look, I'll try to get everyone away from the table but please, take this time to get things right with her!"
"Alright...thanks bone!!"
They walked back and after a drink, Aj asked everyone to go dancing on the next song. It was a Backstreet Boys song so they were oblige to go. They all stood up and walked to the dance floor but when Carly stood up, Howie asked her to stay for a minute. She sat down and looked at him.
"Look..." they both started at the same time. They stared at each other and laughed.
"I'm really sorry... I know you're angry with me and I think I understand why..." Howie said.
"No no, listen!" she cut him."I'm not angry with you anymore! I mean...I just ... freaked out! I'm really sorry I insulted you...I didn't mean to! I don't even know what I was thinking..."
"It's alright... I know I was a little confused..." he said sitting closer to her.
"I think i've got a surplus of jealousy..." she giggled shyly. Howie stared at her with a cute smile. "So you know my feelings for you right?" she added.
"Yes I do! And I always liked you a lot you know..." he said what made her smile.
"But I don't want you to feel oblige to say that... " she then said.
"I really mean it! I think I never thought about someone as much as i did the last week!"
"Yeah but I completely screamed over you... you were probably wondering what was that all about!" she laughed. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't be! It was just a misunderstanding ... and I mostly thought about talking to you and seeing you" he said smiling, what she did to.
"Alright..." she said.
"I do have feelings for you but I'd to take things slow ... because we're great friends and I wouldn't like to lose that ... " he said.
"Really?" she giggled.
"Umm...yeah... why are you giggling?" he asked.
"That's what I wanted to tell you...well, one day I thought that if we'd have something together... I'd have to tell you the same thing..." she smiled.
"Oh!! That's great!" he smiled.
"So, if it doesn't work out... you know... you have to swear that we'll stay friends alright?" she asked.
"I agree!" he shouted happily.
"Why don't we take things slow and go dance for a while?" she asked.
"You're on!!" he smiled taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor. Everyone looked at them smiling. They all danced for a while and after a couple of dances, Becky and Aj decided to sit down a little. When they got back at the table, Nick was sitting there, fixing a point, lost in his thoughts.
"Hey Nickyyyy!" Aj said but he didn't hear him and kept fixing. "Hey Nick, Mandy over there!!" Aj added trying to get in back from his trance.
"Yoohoo Nick!!" Becky laughed as she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes.
"Huh!?!?" he said coming back to reality.
"Yo man! Where were you 10 seconds ago??" Aj laughed sitting down.
"I... I don't know.." he replied taking a big sip of his beer.
"Oooh god! Looks like someone is having love problems!" Becky said. "What's wrong baby?" she added wrapping her arm around is shoulder.
"Nothing... I guess..." he added still not really present.
"It looks like really bad love problems!" Aj laughed.
"Yeah...where is Rachel anyway?" Becky asked.
"She is back in Canada... her mother wanted her back because she missed too much school..." Nick said.
"Oooh that's it! You miss her..." Aj said grinning.
"Umm... we could say this that way..." Nick said looking straight in front of him. He couldn't tell them about what happenned between Amber and him. But he couldn't stop thinking about it and kept blaming himself and her for this. If Brian knew about this, he would lose the best friend and big brother he never had.
"I think Carter is a little confused in his head!" Becky laughed going sitting back next to Aj.
"He've always been confused anyway!" Aj said.
"So...any new gossips?" Nick sighed before to drink the rest of his beer in a shot.
"It doesn't seem to interest you really much man!" Becky laughed at him.
"Well if you really want to know everything new... first, Ashley have a boyfriend...Paul..over there.." he said pointing the couple in the dance floor.
"Good for her..." he said not really caring.
"Secondo... Howie and Carly are finally together!" Aj said.
"It was about time!" Nick shouted.
"Yeah!" Aj said laughing. "And third...we learned that Stacey is Leighanne's old friend!"
"What? they know each other?" Nick asked.
"Yup! Stacey was the best friend of Leigh's sister." Aj said. "And Leigh invite all of us for dinner Saturday!"
"Huh?!? How do you know all that stuff? Brian told you?" Nick asked confused.
"Nah! Look over there!" Becky said poiting at Leighanne's table.
"She's here?!?" Nick shouted.
"Yes she is!" Aj nodded.
"Oh well, that's probably a sign that I should leave..." he said. "Bye guys!"
"Bye..." Becky and Aj said looking at him leaving.
"Why does he act like this?" Becky asked confused.
"I don't know... well, we never knew why but he always act like this when it's about Leighanne...she's Brian ex fiancee you know..."
"Oh really???" Becky asked.
"Yes! and I think he's the only one, beside Brian, who knows the real reason why they broke up..." Aj said.
"the real reason?"
"Yeah... the reason Brian gave us is that things weren't going the way they wanted to and it was too hard being apart all the time... but I don't really believe that... I think there is something else!" Aj said.
"Sherlock Holmes is back!" Becky laughed. "Well, maybe Brian didn't want everyone to know that's all.."
"That's what I think too!" Aj said. Then the others came back from the dance floor and after a few hours of dancing and drinking they all decided it was time to go. Howie walked with Carly to her car.
"I'll call you tomorrow!" he said.
"Alright!" she smiled. He walked closer to her and gave her a sweet kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and they hold each other during a short time. Then they kissed again and they both left.
Up to chapter 21
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