Innocence

The next day, I called Maria Baker and asked if we could get some coffee. We settled for meeting up at the Starbucks close to her salon.

"It's so good to see you, Hun," she said, giving me a hug before we sat down.

"It's good to see you, too."

"So, what did you have to ask me?"

I bit my bottom lip, not wanting to sound desperate or something. "I was just wondering if you had an open spot at the salon for a receptionist or anything."

She smiled softly. "For you? Of course I do."

That was too easy...

"On one condition, though."

I knew it.

"Talk to the boys. They're driving me crazy. They're driving us all crazy!" She said, laughing a bit and shaking her head. "I'm sure they've already put 'Plan McKenna' into effect."

I smiled, looking down at the table. "Yeah, that was yesterday."

She sighed. "Try to put everything behind you, Sweetie. Those boys have missed you like crazy; especially Jimmy and the Berry's. They miss their partner in crime."

"Well, Brian invited me to go with them to Johnny's tonight. I was planning on going, I'm just..."

"Nervous?" She had a knowing smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"There's no reason to, Manda. You'll be with your friends again and it'll just be like old times."

"But what if it's not? What if things have changed too much?"

She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. "They haven't. You're just letting yourself get worked up for no reason. They're your friends that you've known for almost your whole life. Nothing's going to change that."

I sighed because I knew she was right. Damn... I hate when Moms are right...

"So, I'll see you next Monday at eight?" She asked as we walked to our cars.

I nodded. "Thank you again, so much."

"Don't worry about it. Just have fun tonight."

Oh yeah... We'll have fun tonight.

Around eight, Val called to tell me that she was on her way. I put the finishing touches on my outfit for the night.

"Damn, girl. Someone's letting her sexy side out." Val smirked as she saw me walk out to her car.

"Do I look okay?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair.

"You look perfectly fine. Why? Are we trying to impress a certain muscled, tall, brown eyed hunk?"

"If you're talking about Vin Diesel, then yes," I said, ignoring where she was going with her comment.

"Oh yes. I was totally talking about him," she said, rolling her eyes.

The rest of the ride, we just talked about random things. She's been doing pretty well these last couple of years. She still helps the boys out on tour with the merch when she needs to. Other than that, she does some modeling jobs.

When we got to the bar, the guys were all about to do a shot. "Manda! You should do one with us!" Jason said, smiling deviously.

I just smirked. "Bring it." I grabbed the shot glass from him and downed it. He just stood there, looking at me in shock.

"Damn, she finally learned how to handle her alcohol," Mattie B. said.

"That's no fun," Jason said, pouting.

"So, am I going to get a hug from you two or not?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. They both broke out in smiles, before grabbing me into a hug.

"Now we can torture the world to no end!" Jason cackled.

"Oh shit, the Berry Trio has been reunited," Zacky said, laughing and shaking his head.

"Damn strait," Mattie said, nodding.

"Manda, you want a beer?" Brian asked as him and Johnny went to get another round of drinks.

I looked at Matt and knew I was going to need some heavy alcohol tonight. "Nah, grab me some Jack."

"That's a girl," Zacky said, smiling and putting his arm around me. "I finally rubbed off on her."

"You better not be rubbing anything on me while your girlfriend is sitting right there," I said, looking over to Gena who had an amused look on her face.

"Oh, why not, Baby?" He groaned, before rubbing against my thigh.

"Wow." I heard a girl's voice say. I looked over and saw that Matt had some red head hanging off of him now.