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When I woke up, my phone was vibrating so hard on my bedside table. It was Saturday, so there was no way one of the E-mails or text or missed calls would be from Arletta, but I could bet they were from either Bobby or Whitney. After sitting up straight and leaned my back on the headboard, I took my phone off the bedside table and scrolled down through the lists of my Google notifications. Putting a Google track of myself on my own phone wasn’t my idea; it was actually Whitney’s. It was one of her tactics to keep her clients in line and now, her main client was yours truly.

There were some articles about the party or about myself. One from E! Online caught my attention and it was about how I dressed. Good thing they said I dressed nicely or Whitney would do something about it. When I scrolled down a bit more, I found something Shush! Posted about the party. My eyes narrowed on it and I decided to tap the link that would take me straight to the article.



I threw my phone to the end of the bed like it was on fire. This was as close as a nightmare would be. How could she even saw Cameron and I in the booth?! It was so unbelievable! I could whine and complained to Whitney about it but Shush! Was so hard to compromise with. She would probably take that article down, but the next second, she would blabber it out to the whole world. I groaned in frustration.

Suddenly, my phone rang and I jumped a bit in surprise. I crawled to my phone and tapped ‘Answer’ before pressing the phone onto my left ear. “Hello?”

“Dareen!”, Feranix’s voice heard from the other line. “Did I wake you up?”

I shook my head. “Nope. I was just reading some articles about last night. What’s up?”

“The others and I were wondering if we could spend the day with you before we continue the tour.”

“The others?”, I asked through my teeth. If Cameron was included in ‘the others’, I needed to come up with an excuse. No one could know about my past with him and a little virtual nudge by Shush! Was already clear.

“I can read your mind from here.”, she said with a huft at the end. I could imagine Feranix rolling her eyes on the other line. “No, he won’t be joining us. Not to worry.”

There was a slight relief in the pit of my stomach when Feranix told me that, but mostly, I felt bummed. Ever since last night, it felt like I was craving to see him again. A year without seeing him in person, in front of me or just near me was driving me nuts, if you wanted the honest answer.

“Sure, I’ll be here all day.”, I said and then, we hung up on each other. It was a brilliant sunny morning, a typical one for California. When I got out from the bed, Pokey, my Pomeranian puppy quickly greeted my foot by licking it. “Hey, boy.”, I giggled and went out from the room. Pokey was a gift from Amy and Feranix for my moving. They said they didn’t want me to be all alone and sulking in the dark, so they bought me Pokey to remind me of them.

I turned on the TV in the living room that was connected to the kitchen to watch Spongebob Squarepants or anything non-last-night-party-related as I cooked myself some breakfast. Nickelodeon lit up on the screen, showing one of my favorite The Fairly Odd Parents episode. I danced around the kitchen, literally, as I put two breads into the toaster, scrambled the eggs, or even to get the plate and mug from the cupboard. Without me realizing, Pokey jumped onto the sofa and his little paws accidentally stepped on the remote, making the TV went a channel up to MTV.

When my ears caught the familiar intro to a familiar song, my legs stopped dancing and I glanced from the corner of my eyes to the TV. There he was, on the TV, playing his music video. I walked slowly to the sofa and just plopped myself down before grabbing a cushion near me. Even though I knew the song was for Trish, but it still gave me a sting on the lyrics. I didn’t cheat on Cameron, but going out with Brian made me felt that way. My eyes were spacing out to the screen until Pokey barked and a burnt smell filled my nostrils.

“Shit!”, I jumped off from the sofa and ran to the kitchen to find the scrambled eggs were half burnt. I turned off the stove and sighed. There goes my breakfast.

“Surprise!”, someone clapped my shoulders and I yelped in surprise. When I turned around, I found Amy and Feranix. “What’s that smell?”

I shrugged my shoulders weakly before taking the pan off the stove and trashed the eggs into the trashcan. “Supposed to be my breakfast, but well, I got distracted and… the rest is obvious.”

“Did you just see them on TV?”, Amy asked, eyeing the TV that was now playing some Britney Spears’ music video. My back stiffened because she caught me off guard with the question. Was it too obvious?

“Uh…”, I bit my lower lip a bit and they sighed on my answer. “What? That song stings!”

“Well, we’ve explained to you that it’s for Trish, not you, Dareen. They do have a song for you, but not that one.”, Feranix stated as she put down a paper bag onto the counter. “We brought you In-N-Out instead.”

After that, we settled into the sofa and decided to do a Desperate Housewives marathon while eating In-N-Out. It was a really nice day for just us, girls, to spend the day together. Even though we’d love to have Erica here too, but there were times we just wanted to be alone so we can talk about the times back in Virginia without any hassle.

“Can I ask how are you guys with David and Eric?”, I asked while snuggling my feet under the cushions. It would relax me a bit to hear good news about my friends, so it felt like my life wasn’t that much of a nightmare.

Both of them grew quiet and Feranix glanced repeatedly to Amy, who was only staring at the pint of Ben&Jerry’s she was eating. “I-I… Got into a fight with Eric last night after the party.”

My eyes widened and I put down the pocket of fries onto the coffee table before sitting up straight. “Ame… I’m sorry.”

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, stabbing the frozen ice cream with a spoon. “I don’t know. We got into a fight so much ever since last Christmas over little things. We fought and we made up, but I’m tired to do it over and over again.”

Amy started to tremble and I could see her eyes started to glisten. Feranix and I moved closer to her, wrapping our arms around her or over her shoulders, comforting her. The second our arms were on her, she burst into tears and rested her head on my shoulder. Amy started going on about how Eric liked to just ignore her when she told him how he should watch his health and he should just rest when the band had a day off. She said Eric didn’t like to “be put on a leash”.

Halfway through the story, Feranix started to cry too on about how David acted like he lost his interest in her. She said he didn’t like to spend time with her when the band was home in Virginia. He liked to spend his time with his band or his other friends.

My heart crimpled to know my friends’ situations. I took my phone off the coffee table and dialed the number that I had on speed dial. I set all of my friends on speed dial in case of an emergency, so if I had any problem, I could just call them in a dash. The dial tone was taking forever until a click was heard. “Hello?”

“David Pavluk, get your ass here and don’t forget to bring your friend’s ass too. One more thing, don’t you dare to say anything about going here to Cameron!”, I hissed and hung up before he could even say anything. Feranix and Amy just had her mouths opened on my action. “They need a reality check, okay? You guys have to say it to them.”
********
Feranix, David and I peeked from the curtains that blocked the view of the window that would give you the view of the small backyard. Amy and Eric were outside on the garden swing, talking their relationship out. From the look of their faces, it was obvious that they were arguing but still keeping their voices down. “I wonder what’d happen next.”, I mused while having Pokey in my arm.

“It’s a usual thing for them to fight, actually, but this is the first time they talk it out before making up.”, David sighed and shook his head slightly before walking over to the sofa and lounged there.

“I’m worried. I can’t take this anymore.”, I took the doorknob of the French doors that connected the living room to the backyard, but Feranix stopped me.

“Dare, just let them do this.”

Feranix and I went into a staring contest, but then, I surrendered. A minute later after that, the door was opened and Amy and Eric went into the living room with their hands clasped together. “Well?”, I asked.

“We talked it out and we made up.”, Amy grinned, showing off her a thousand watt smile. She looked up to Eric before he leaned down to give her a light peck on the lips.

“I realized what Amy had been saying to me is just a sign that she’s care about me.”, Eric explained with a grin as wide as Amy’s. “That makes me love her more… oh wait, is that even possible?”

The happy couple exchanged another kiss, meanwhile, the three other people in the room groaned from their mushiness. “Can we stop the lovey dovey thing? My girlfriend and I are hungry and it’s almost dinnertime! I say we should head down for a Chipotle!”, David pointed to his stomach that made a growling noise.

We laughed a bit at his childishness and decided to just go to the nearest Chipotle. I changed my clothes before joining them in the van that they used for the tour. Along the drive, I kept leaning forward to the front seat, where David was driving and Feranix sat shotgun. I had no interest to join Amy and Eric who was at the backseat, cuddling with each other. We ignored the couple and put on some Cobra Starship and sang along.

When we got to Chipotle, there was someone waiting for them outside and I could recognize that someone easily. He was waiting for us, or more likely, David, Feranix, Eric and Amy to go on with the tour. “Don’t you know it’s freezing outside?”, Cameron spat to David when we just got out from the van.

“Why didn’t you just go inside and get some food first?”, David replied with a roll of his eyes. “Where’s Brian and Wes?”

“They said they’re gonna meet us here when we’re done.”, Cameron answered before eyeing me but he didn’t say a word. We all went inside and David told us, the girls, to just save a table while the guys get the food.

On our way to the empty table, I saw Parker was on his way out to the doors with his hood covering his head, probably to avoid the paparazzi. “Parker!”, I called out.

He stopped and looked around before noticing me. “Oh, hey, Dareen.”, he grinned and walked towards me. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.”, I giggled. “I’m having a simple farewell dinner with my friends.”

“Oh.”, he nodded and made an O shape with his lips. “Well, I’m just buying a simple dinner for myself.”, he chuckled.

Cameron

“Why do you have to bring her along?!”, I hissed to David while we were in line to order. It was frustrating enough for me to see her again since last night and now, I had to spend my dinner looking at her.

Over a year, I had try to control my thoughts for her and I even tried to go on with my life without her. Most of the songs I wrote for the new record were for her, but that was just something I had to do. Dareen always filled my mind every time I was on stage and about playing her show’s party was a result of me begging to Brian to just accept the offer, even though it was in the middle of our tour.

“Do I have to remind you that you want to talk to her?”, David glared at me. “This is your chance.”

“Last night was my chance, but she had to go!”

“You should be grateful that you have another chance.”, Eric spoke up, in the same cold tone David used. I shut my mouth and just groaned quietly at my friends. It was useless to argue with them because they got me right. I should be grateful that I had another chance to talk to Dareen.

After we ordered our food and got them, we brought them over to the table where the girls waited. From afar, I could see Dareen was talking to a guy that I recognized from last night, as one of the casts of Golden Coast. That guy was rumored to have a crush on Dareen. Even how he looked at her disgusted me.