Re: Four Years Later...[James/Ash/Luke]

[Guest]

"Mr. Darko we're really glad that we could meet with you today." Mr. Mike D'Antoni smiled at James.

James smiled, "Please Mr. D'Antoni call me James."

"And you can call me Coach Mike, so James I'm thrilled to hear you've considered joining us here in New York, you know we've had scouts out in your hometown watching you play and we even sent some to Duke. You're talented kid and we want you." Coac D'Atoni stated.

James eyes widened, "Really? Wow... I mean I knew I was good but..."

Coach Mike stood from his desk and motioned James over to the wall window over looking the court which had the team's logo printed on the shiny hard wood floor, "Listen kid don't sell yourself short you've got amazing skills and everyone in the NBA is fighting to have you on their team. You say yes and your life changes forever." Coach Mike stared out onto the court.

James looked down at the cout, right now, this moment was everything he had worked for he turned, he began to think of Evelyn he wondered how he would make their relationship work, they were already far enough from each other as it was and if he signs on to do this he would be seeing her even less, but he would have more money to visit her.

"So what do you say James, are you in or out?" Coach Mike asked.

Its now or never...

James smiled, "I say where do I sign?"

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn stared at the woman behind the desk.

"Ev?" Cathy was shaking her arm. Evelyn jolted.

"Sorry."

"Nice to meet you again, Miss Mathesson," the blond woman said. Evelyn uttered a small yes in reply.

"You know our client?" her instructor asked. Evelyn licked her lips ans she gave a weak nod back.

***

"Let 'er rip, Lucas!" Natasha bounced on her spot. Luke grinned and hit play, settling his headphones over hhis ears.

"Take it
Whatever's left is only following routine and
Fake it
And give in to the thoughts that being bought is what I am
To fit into your plan..."

"Wow, sounding good, Luke buddy!" Natasha tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair as she listened to the recording in her headphones.

[Guest]

"OH MY GOD SHUT UP!"

James laughed, "Yeah Hales its true."

"We're so proud of you!" James' aunt Rose shouted on the other line.

James smiled, "Thank you guys seriously I don't know here I would have been if it wasn't for you guys."

Haley squealed, "Oh my god James that's so awesome! I can't believe it you're the point guard for the New York Knicks! That's insanity I mean I knew you had talent but oh my god I think I'm gonna cry!"

"Aww Hales, calm down. I'm just as happy as you are." James smiled cheefully.

"I swear James you don't know how proud you've made me." His aunt Rose took the phone from Haley, "Seriously your father would be so proud of you and believe me we are, you're like a son to me and this, you deserve it James." His aunt sniffled.

"Oh my god aunt Rose, please don't cry." James pleaded a warm smile on his lips.

Haley took the phone back from his aunt, "So James did you tell Ev yet?"

***
"Ashlee could you come in here?" Her boss Ms. Lancaster motioned her into her office.

Ashlee nodded placing the fabrics she was holding in her arms down on an empty chair, she had an intern at a well known local fashion forward store.

"Yes Ms. Lancaster?" She asked.

"Sit down Ashlee." Ms. Lancasters voice was serious and Ashlee gulped Ms. Lancaster only took her tone like that when she was about to fire someone. Ashlee tapped her fingers nervously on her lap, this internship she was lucky to stumble across at school and it was helping her pay for her school as well.

She knew if she wanted to break into the fashion world she'd have to start from the bottom but she tried to think of the reasons of why she would be losing her job.

"Anyway Ashlee I've called you down here to discuss your future here at Lola's..." She began.

Oh crap!

"Listen Ms. Lancaster I'm sorry!" She interrupted her, "I'm sorry for whatever I did and I promise it won't ever happen again please don't fire me! I mean I can't lose this job I mean its helping me pay for school and well I love fashion, I love to design this has been something I've wanted to do forever and if you keep me here I promise I can--"

"Whoa, whoa whoa! Calm down you thought I was going to fire you?" Ms. Lancaster held up her hand to stop Ashlee from going on. Ashlee shut her mouth and nodded.

Ms. Lancaster smiled, "Listen Ashlee I didn't bring you here to tell you that you were fired, I brought you here because your professor sent me over some of your sketches, and well we can use someone like you on our design team. Once you're done with school I'd like to hire you to my design staff and help me design my fall line we could use you so what do you say?"

Ashlee grinned, "I say thank you Ms. Lancaster you won't regert it!"

[Tiger-Lily]

"Hello, darling," Kelly Mathesson smiled at Evelyn.

Cathy nudged Evelyn hard in the ribs and Evelyn smiled back. "Hey...Kelly..."

"Ev, you and Cathy will be representing Kelly Mathesson in her divorce case with my help...against her potential ex Kent Howards." Her instructor said something like that. Evelyn had frozen too much to understand.

God, why?

***

Luke stared as Bryan snatched Natasha's guitar from her. She squealed and raced around the room after him. Their manager sighed, but he was laughing.

"How'd your nephew's thing go?" Luke asked him. The man smiled.

"Pretty good."

Luke glanced over just as Natasha dove forwards and tackled Bryan. He yelped like a little girl and Luke burst into laughter.

"So you won't be here this winter?" the manager asked. Luke glanced over and shook his head.

"So...any long-term plans yet?"

Luke understood what the guy meant. He shook his head slowly.

"I don't want to tie myself down just yet...commitment is just not possible when you're touring, Even if it is a small band like this."

"So...no girlfriend?" the man asked, somewhat hopefully. Luke suddenly recalled hearing his manager had a daughter his age.

Luke put down his guitar gently, and turned to face the man. "No, sir." His mind flew to distant memories. "And I don't want one yet either."

[Guest]

After his plane had landed at home James knew the minute he stepped out onto the terminal it would chaos. He pulled out his sweater from his bag and zipped it up and put the hood over his head. He also placed a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

He raised the sleevs on his sweater and walked out onto the terminal.

Okay so far so good.

James let out a sigh of relief as he walked across the terminal the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself. He wanted to come home for Evelyn's birthday since he was on break from training and had finally gotten vacation time. As much as he loved the attention of his fans, at home he just wanted to be normal and not recgonized and run over by anyone.

James wheeled his suitcase across the terminal while he texted off his phone, he had lost his attention when he plowed into someone dropping his phone and his sunglasses.

"Aw crap!"

The stranger picked up James' cell phone and his sunglasses and James smiled, "Thanks a lot sorry about that." James looked up at the person who stared at him in awe. James touched his face and realized that the stranger was holding onto his sunglasses.

Oh shit...

"You're....you're..." She stammered.

James smiled sheepishly, "Yeah I am."

Her chocolate eyes fixated on him and James realized that any second now she might freak out, James pulled out a sharpie and signed his sunglasses, "Here you can keep those if you stay quiet um..."

"Laruen." She said in a daze.

James smiled and signed her name, "There you go Lauren, now if you'll excuse me I have to go."

James walked quickly past her and outside the automatic doors, he didn't even get to take a breath of fresh air before he was blinded by a flash from a camera. He squinted as horrdes of photographers began to photograph him calling out to him. How they figured out he was here beyond him. He smiled to all of them giving them a wave.

A car pulled up for him and he got in driving away from the madness he sighed and put the hood down on his sweater, he took out his phone and called Evelyn, "Man you won't believe it! I'm not even here two seconds and I'm attacked! Enough about me though how are you?"

[Tiger-Lily]

"Man you won't believe it! I'm not even here two seconds and I'm attac--"

The answering machine beeped. Evelyn's recorded message spoke through. "Hey, I'm very obviously not here right now. I never check messages so don't bother leaving them. I'll call you back. Ciao," her recorded voice chirped cheerfully into James' ear.

***

"So, Eve, how have you een--?"

"Evelyn," Evelyn shot at Kelly. "And I'm fine, thanks," she said, through gritted teeth. She couldn't say what she really wanted right then. Kelly would ensure she get kicked out.

"Ev, then," Kelly said, softly. She sighed, running a hand through her white-blond hair. "Ev, can we at least get along for this? I thought you wanted to e a lawyer. For that sake, please calm down."

Evelyn sighed. Kelly was, sadly, right. The bronze-haiared girl bit her lower lip and walked out.

"Evelyn!" Cathy yelled, grabing her arm. Evelyn yelped. Cathy's blue eyes flashed.

"Drake is taking us to a club tonight. It's the weekend and you need to et out more!"

Evelyn opened her mouth but Cathy simply grabbed her other arm and towed her to her car. "Now, let's get ready! Lotsa dancing, cute guys and music!"

Evelyn threw her a look but obliged.

***

"Wait...I already told my 'rents I would be there in the summer...my sis is graduating," Luke said softly. "She wants me there."

"Lucas, no worries,' Natasha purred, patting his shoulder. "This tour will be the best thing ever. trust me, your rents will understand. after this, we're international, boy!"

[Guest]

James was thrown off by Evelyn's answering machine, nonetheless it was just like Evelyn to say something like that, he grinned and left a message, "Anyway I know you won't check them but if you happen to be near by you can hear my voice, lucky you! Anyway my flight came in early tonight and anyway after I checked in at the hotel I was wondering if you'd like to meet up we could go out and have some fun. Call me back."

James tapped the screen on his phone and stared out the window as they drove towards the hotel.


***

Ashlee walked into the office where she saw her other friend Cassie sulking in her chair.

Ashlee sat next to her, "Case what's wrong?"

Cassie sighed, "Will broke up with me last night."

"Aww Cassie!" Ashlee hugged her, "Well what did he do if you don't mind me asking?"

Cassie pulled from her hug, "Stupid jerk cheated on me."

Ashlee gasped, "Well that's not right! Cassie listen he doesn't deserve you, you're obviously better than him and to show him you're done you're going to come over to my apartment and me, you and my roomie Chloe are gonna get all glamed up and head out to Rain tonight. Were just gonna dance and have ourselves a girls night what do you say? Ashlee beamed.

Cassie gave Ashlee a faint smile, "Screw him, I'm down."

[Tiger-Lily]

"Wow, you know, it's a pity you have a boyfriend Ev," Cathy mused, looking over Evelyn's outfit. Evelyn raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, seriously, that is so amazingly hot, I'm not even kidding! I'm jealous, girl!"

Evelyn glanced down uneasily at the purple mid--thigh denim dress she wore, paired with mid-thigh purple stockings so she wouldn't reveal more than she wanted (an inch of skin between the top of the stockings and the hem of the dress). Her hair was down, curled slightly, but more naturally teased by her nervous hands. She'd tossed on a bit of makeup, but not a lot. She hated how cakey it made her feel.

Pulling on her black ankle-length boots, she straightened. "Let's go, get this over with."

***

When the two girls arrived at the bar, Drake went out to meet them, pulling Cathy into a hug. Evelyn felt a pang inside her and sighed. Three days till her birthday....

"Ev, I figured you'd be a little dull tonight. I brought along one of my best friends," Drake told her. Cathy giggled and Evelyn felt a stab of warning.

Cathy didn't like long-distance relationships. In fact,, she'd told Evelyn enough times how dumb it was to tie yourself to someone across the world.

"Meet Ryan Collins," Drake said, gesturing ot a guy leaning against a nearby table as they entered.

Evelyn had suddenly never missed James more than she did at that moment as familiar grey eyes alighted on hers. Ryan got to his feet and sauntered over, drawing the eye of several girls.

"Wow, Drake, yo never mentioned she was a hottie," he told Drake, and Cathy smiled secretively. Evelyn had the horrid feeling htis had been a setup. Sure enough when she looked at Cathy, her friend looked away.

Nothing new, Cathy had tried to set her up about thrice on Valentine's Day already. She'd said it was selfish of her boyfriend to hold her down when she should be having fun.

Evelyn hadn't been able to think of a smart enough comeback.

Ryan's familiar grin was plastered on his face. "Long time no see, Lyn."

[Guest]

Ashlee stood in the mirror looking over outfit, black dressy shorts worn with a plum halter, with matching pumps and accesroies. She looked to her friends and grinned.

"So what's the rule tonight ladies?" Chloe chirped.
"No men!" Cassie cheered.

Ashlee flashed a smile, all the distant memories flashing in her head she realized that she had wanted someone for so long that she never got the time to enjoy just being with her friends.

"Come on ladies the night awaits us!" Ashlee smiled linking arms with her friends and heaidng out of her apartment to the club.

***

James streched lazily on his bed in his penthouse, he slid his finger across his phone and nothing came up on the screen he sighed. He wondered why Evelyn hadn't called unless she was busy, he walked over to the wall sized window and walked out to the balcony taking in the night life.

He took a deep breath, from within he heard someone knock on his door. He arched an eyebrow, he wondered who would be visiting him.

"Who is it?" He asked walking back into his room.

"Housekeeping..." The voice sounded very foriegn almost Spanish and feimine.

"What the hell?" James muttered to himself he opened the door and saw the young women standing in a very revealing maid's outift, "Um ma'am... its almost eleven and my room is clean."

A smile played on her lips and she came into James' room and stroked his arm, "I heard there was a dirty boy in here." She purred.

James gulped his eyes widened.

"SUPRISE!"

James looked up and saw his friend and team mate Sam Davis standing in the doorway a big grin on his face, "Dude how are you?"

James pulled away from the maid, "Um I'm fine what the hell are you doing here?"

"Hey guys come on in!" Sam shouted out into the hallway, James eyes widened as he saw his room fill up with some of his teammates and other people he kind of knew and people he didn't even know. All of sudden his room was filled with music and someone was serving alcoholic drinks and the "maid" was now dancing.

James pulled Sam aside, ""Dude how did you find me and what and why are all of these people here?"

Sam smiled, "Relax dude, umm...coach told me where you headed and I decided to invite some of the guys along and we would throw a party come on you need to let loose and have some fun."

James sighed as the party started to come into full swing, "I guess you're right."

"Yeah plus that maid over there, she's for you." Sam winked.

"Dude you know I have a girlfriend." James stated firmly.

"Oh come on its long distance and have you even seen her since you came back?" Sam asked.

James shook his head, "No but--"

"But nothing, what she doesn't know won't hurt her right?" Sam stated.

James bit his lip doing whatever to that maid would just show that he hadn't changed from who he was in high school until now. James brushed her off he would allow himself to have fun but he wasn't going to let it g et that far. At least not like back in the day before he met Evelyn.

James grinned, "You're right its been awhile since I've had some real fun, thanks dude I apperciate it."

Sam smiled, "Yeahh! That's my boy lets party!"

[Tiger-Lily]

"Ev, lighten up, please!" Cathy egged.

Evelyn shot her a glare, scanning the area for Ryan. "Cathy, I told you, I have a boyfriend and you go and--"

"He's not here, damn it! He put his bloody career over you and you're sitting here like some housekeeper waiting till whenever he decides to return--"

"No, he didn't. I told him he'd be the world's biggest moron if he didn't try out," Evelyn returned somewhat coldly. Cathy sighed.

"Ev...it's called innocent flirtation. Ryan looks really taken with you already--"

"Too bad. I don't like him, he seems fake," Evelyn said, raising her voice. amused grey eyes swung in her direction and Ryan flashed her a broad smile, sauntering over from the dance floor.

Cathy had suddenly vanished.

"So, Ev...I notice Cathy's nearly hitched," Ryan began. Evelyn wanted to punch him.

"And?" she replied cuttingly. Ryan merely looked amused.

"Where's your ring--?"

"I take things slow, Ryan," Evelyn said through gritted teeth, feeling a stab of cold panic inside her. Ryan sat down across the table, leaning forwards. His eyes flashed.

"That ass is no doubt off earning fame, huh? He's caught you now, and--"

"What do you want?" Evelyn exploded in frustration. This night was not so much fun...at all.

Ryan merely sighed. "Fine, keep deluding yourself...when you attend Cathy's wedding. You don't know what you missed out on when you left me, Ev--"

"I was never with you," Evelyn forced out through clenched teeth.

She leaped to her feet, hearing Ryan's words ringing and mingling with Cathy's, and made her way to the bar.

[Guest]

The girls walked into the club, the music could be heard from down the street there was defintley a party going on.

Ashlee and the girls made their way to the bar, Cassie ordered, "Three cosmos please." The bartender smiled as Cassie paid for the drinks, in return she got three hot pink drinks. The girls clinked their glasses, "To us."

All of them sipped their drinks.

Ashlee scanned the room and she saw familiar bronze curls her eyes widened, "Evelyn? Evelyn!" She shouted to the loud music, "Ev is that you!"

***

Dante came up to James, "Ayy Darko come here!"

James nodded over at Dante and walked to him, "Yeah Dante?"

Dante grinned, "Come on man follow me."

James walked over to where he saw a bunch of his teammates huddled together, Craig handed them both shot glasses filled with tequilla and Brandon announced, "Cheers to having the best team in the NBA!"

"Cheers!" The whole team announced, James chugged on his tequilla the warm liquid burning down his throat while he drank, he slammed the shot glass down on the glass table as the bar tender filled it again.

Dante grinned, "Aw snap Darko you goin fo a record!"

James laughed, "You better believe it."

Dante and James both clinked their glasses together chugging back the shots.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn vaguely heard her name being called, but then Cathy appeared, handing her a drink. Evelyn shook ehr head. Cathy grinned.

"Silly, it's not spiked. Drake never gives girls spiked drinks, any girls. And I know about you and alcohol...bad experience." They both grinned.

"Thanks, Cathy," Evelyn said, somewhat guilty for having been so harsh before.

"No worries,: Cathy told her.

Cathy walked off and Evelyn sipped her mixed drink, instantly relishing the rich cherry flavor. "What is this?" she asked the bartender onthis side.

"Cherry Marinara."

Evelyn nodded and then finished it off. Cathy was right. It was a nonalcoholic perfect drink.

"Ev...are you drinking?" Ryan sounded incredulous.

He should get blue contacts, Evelyn thought boredly, and then decided to acknowledge him.

"Not alcohol, twit."

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, simply walking away. Evelyn frowned. Funny...

[Guest]

Ashlee was sure it was Evelyn she knew it but she knew with this loud music nothing could be heard.

She turned to Chloe and Cassie who were already on their third drinks, "Stay here you two!" She shouted over the music. Cassie and Chloe nodded taking another sip of their drinks.

Ashlee leapt off the bar stool and walked down further where she thought she saw Evelyn, hoping that the alcohol hadn't gotten to her already she knew she had a higher tolerenace then one drink.

Ashlee tapped her on the shoulder, "Ev?" She asked loudly.

[Tiger-Lily]

Cathy turned to see a girl with dark locks and green eyes behind her. "Um...no sorry...I'm not Em," she said apologetivcally. She piushed her dark golden hair out of her eyes and moved away.

***

As Evelyn got to her feet, she heard someone call her yet again. This time, Ryan's smirking grin was in view. Her temper flared.

To her anger, Ryan followed her as she moved away from the bar.

She turned, only to be presented with a glass of the cherry drink.

"It is nonalcoholic, right?" Ryan asked, hesitantly. Evelyn turned around and moved away.

When she eventually came to the other side of the room, Cathy found her. "Here, finish mine, will you?" she said,, handing her the full glass. "Drake's taking me to try this other drink instead. And this one's not my type."

Evelyn sighed, and sipped at the drink, eyes open for a blond haired creep.

The music was starting to get to her. Her head pounded painfully, and she rested it in her hands.

"Ev? Ryan said you looked sick--" Cathy cut herself off and cursed, touching a cold palm to Evelyn's chek. "Evy? Can you....hear me?"

"I'm not dying, you know," Evelyn replied, somewhat amused. Cathy flushed.

"Sorry," she said, taking her hand back. "Ryan sent me here cause he said you looked sick."

Evelyn jerked upright? What was Ryan up to now?

"He isn't such a bad guy, Ev," Cathy continued softly.

Evelyn tried to not roll her eyes. "I care why?"

Cathy looked frustrated. "Girl, I'm sorry, but...come on! Most of our friends are either married now, or engaged or they have their soon-to-be-fiances around all the time. You...you're none of that, okay? For all you know, your supposed boyfriend could be on the other side of the planet in a hot make-out session. What you don't know won't hurt, I bet he thinks!"

Evelyn rubbed her forehead. "Cathy, I've already told you--"

She stoppeed. "Can you do me a favor? Get me one of those cherry drink thingamajigs? They amazing."

Cathy frowned, and then shot her a funny look. she turned. "Oy, Ryan! Get us a cherry marinara, please?"

A moment later, the blond-haired boy set the tall glass in front of Evelyn, one hand lightly brushing her hair. Evelyn gritted her teeth and slapped his hand away. Cathy frowned again.

"He's buying you drinks now, you could be nicer! Plus we know it's nonalcoholic. I asked the bartender myself," she hissed in Evelyn's ear, as the latter straightened.

Evelyn sighed, and discarded this comment, instead sipping on her drink. Her headache seemed to have increased ten-fold now.

Ryan had vanished somewhere, surprisingly. Evelyn sighed in relief and let her head hit the table.

Cathy yelped. "Ev...?"

"Headache," Evelyn murmured. "I think this thing with my stepmom is gonna kill me...."

Cathy winced. Evelyn suddenly recalled freaking out on Cathy one day at random. She'd told Cathy about how her stepmother had kicked her out all those years ago...oh, right, Evelyn had left.

Cathy now patted her shoulder. "Girl you need some alcohol in you. It'll help."

Evelyn nearly choked, raising her pounding head. "You high, girl?" she muttered.

Cathy sighed. "You can handle a couple drinks," she said firmly. "And I'm gonna sit here and watch over you too."

Evelyn sighed. For some reason, she felt oddly...lonely right then. She smiled at Cathy. "So long as it isn't so strong it makes me throw up."

Cathy nodded and signalled to the barman.

Two shots later, Evelyn couldn't move. Her head was now killing itself, it seemed. She didn't understand. The bartender had given them the weakest drinks there. She'd had nothing alcoholic before that, as she'd taken her drink from Cathy, who wouldn't get drunk while Drake was around.

"Ev...you don't look so good," Ryan murmured, somewhere above her. "Do you want me to drive you home?"

Evelyn would have said yes...but this was Ryan. She'd drink herself dead before she went anywhere with him.

"Hell frigging no," she snapped coldly.

Ryan appeared amused. "Fine, I'll get Cathy to."

A moment later, Cathy was shaking her shoulder. "Evy? Please wake up! Don't die!"

Evelyn raised her heavy head, shooting her an incredulous look. "Cathy...what the...?"

Cathy's blue eyes twinkled. "It worked, didn't it?" Beside her, Ryan stifled a laugh.

"Want me to drive while you sit with her in the back? I'll drop you back here...?" he offered to her. Cathy frowned.

"Nah, I wanna leave no anyways. Why don't you help...."

At that moment, Evelyn's head dropped again, as her world darkened around her.

***

Everything hurt, she realized, when she woke. Her eyes weere burning, her head was hammering itself from the inside, her mind spun with the events of last night. She hadn't seen Ryan since November, the day of her ill-fated engagement.

But where was she...? Some bedroom...familiar....wait, this was Cathy's guest room, in her tiny house she shared with her finance.

"Feeling better?"

Evelyn let the blood drain from her face. She choked, jolting upright. Ryan smiled cheerily at her from his lounge on the other side of the bed.

I'm going to murder Cathy....

[Guest]

James groaned as the sunlight beamed into his room, apparently in all the commotion nobody bothered to draw the curtains shut. James inhaled deeply his throat burning from all the shots he had taken last night. He knew alcohol didn't sit well with him but for some reason liqour took to his system better than beer or wine had.

He turned over to the other side and opened his eyes and saw Sam and Dante under the covers of his king sized bed. James eyes widened as he fell off his bed almost landing on another person who apparently didn't leave.

I didn't...did I?

He got up from his crumpled heap on the floor entangled in the covers and saw that both Dante and Sam were fully clothed, he let out a sigh of relief as he looked down and saw that his shirt that he was wearing was missing but luckily his pants were still on. He walked over carefully over the crowd of people who decided that crashing on the flooor,the couches or chairs were better than driving home.

His head thorbbing he knew he had drank too much and going into a contest with Dante and Sam for chugging back shots and playing three rounds of beer pong weren't going to do him well, the fact that he was even alive was beyond him.

He found his phone on top of the dresser and took it with him out towards the balcony so he could see if anyone had called, because he obviously wouldn't have heard it last night with all the noise and defintley not this morning after passing out like he did. He slid his finger over his phone to unlock it and saw that he had no missed alerts, he went through his phones seeing the hundereds of pictures he had managed to take with Shawn, Dante and the rest of his teammates.

He saw someone had recorded a video of him he was standing on the table with Dante and some girl. He pressed play.

"WHOOOO YEAH!" He heard himself shouting as the music blared.
"TAKE IT OFF!" Someone had shouted.

James took of his shirt swinging it around as the party goers cheered him on, he watched himself fling the shirt onto a couch in the penthouse as he danced on the table.

The video ended and James laughed, "Wow..."

Last night was clearly a fun night, he was a bit sad though to see that Evelyn hadn't called him, he decided that she would probably be at work and he decided to text her.

Hey Ev
Sorry if i didn't call you the nite before.
its just the team came and found me and suprised me w/ a party!
Anyhoo i miss you and i really want to see you.
call me or text

James hit send as he waited for a reply, he looked out at the city and sighed.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Give me my phone!" Evelyn spat, lunging at Ryan. He sighed and handed it back easily enough. She flipped through it, frowning. "What...?"

"You have a bill of three hundred bucks, Ev. Nice going. I deleted it for you though." Ryan sent her a brilliant grin.

"Who were you calling?"

"None of your freaking business!" She gritted her teeth.

Ryan sighed. "You know, you were so much more, um...enticing last night all drunk. Pity you can't recall any of it."

It felt like she'd been slapped. Evelyn's breathing froze, and her eyes widened. She distinctly recalled being in pain from whatever she'd drunk and passing out...at the bar. Had she awoken later?

"Of course, you're unnaturally clingy," Ryan went on. A dreading sensation filled Evelyn as she stared at him. Cathy said she'd look out...so she would have...right?

"Cathy and Drake made me babysit you by the way," Ryan said, sounding nnoyed. "So they could go out and spend 'quality time' together," he said, making air quotes. Evelyn stifled a panicked whimper, her fear creeping into her eyes as tears.

But she wasn't like that. She'd been drunk before. She just could not get up.

Could she?

[Guest]

"Richard?" Mr. Daniel addressed his old colleague, "Do you know of any nice eligible boys around here for my daughter?"

[Tiger-Lily]

The manager of the band looked up. "This is sudden...why? I assumed she's happy being single...?"

[Guest]

"She thinks she is, while she constantly tries to maintain a serious relationship. Something always goes wrong though. I want her to settle down in a serious relationship now. She's 21 after all." Mr. Daniel replied.

[Tiger-Lily]

Richard mused. "Well...I don't know...I kinda want my boys to stay single...it draws the audience in, and they're all pretty good boys too...I don't know, buddy..."

[Guest]

"Anyone else you have in mind?" Mr. Daniel asked

[Tiger-Lily]

Richard went over the boys he knew around that age.

"See, one thing worse than having one of my boys committed and killing their appeal is if they happen to fall for a fellow band member...we have one girl, and so far, it seems platonic. But I might be wrong, but I think she has a thing for one of the boys in the band. And I do not want that. I don't allow "items" in the band itself. It creates unnecessary drama, heartaches, and breaks apart a band. I had them sign a contract never to get into a relationship with each other when we all formed this thing. They understand but...they're still young. So...the guy this girl likes...well, I do believe he needs to be distracted, if you will. And I might be wrong, but he has enough charm that even a girlfriend won't hurt his appeal to the female fans..."

[Guest]

"Do you think he'll be interested?" Daniel asked, "My daughter can be a good distraction I must say. The girl is beautiful."

[Tiger-Lily]

Riched frowned to himself. "The boy has the centre eye on him. He's my lead singer and guitarist, and a fairly goodlooking young man himself. I asked him if he had any long term plans, but...he was afraid to commit, I believe, due to his touring. He brokeup with his last girlfriend for this reason...he doesn't do the long-distance thing. And she couldn't afford to fly around after him, wherever he was touring. She was in school."

He paused. "These factors would probably apply to your girl..."

[Guest]

"Hmmm...Maybe. She's about to graduate though," Mr. Daniel replied, "I think they'll be able to work things out. What do you say? Want them to meet up?"

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