Who's Going Home With You Tonight?

Tiana stood beside Shelly holding on to all of her bags as well as her own while her friend paid for yet another dress. After leaving the store, Tia passed Shelly back her bags. "How do you do this everyday? My fingers would be broken."

Shelly flexed her hand and laughed. "They get use to it after a while. However what doesn't get use to it is my back account." She grinned and locked eyes with Tia. "Thank god we get paid next week."

Tiana smiled at the thought of having money once again, then frowned as the bags she carried seemed to get heavier with guilt. "I hear you. I have to pay my rent. Replace what I spent on these,"she said lifting her bags in emphasis. "And consider putting some food in my apartment."

They stepped down off the sidewalk and onto the road, waiting for the traffic to go before hurrying across the street towards Shelly's car. Tiana was sure one day they were both going to become road kill in the downtown streets of Vancouver.

"How much do you pay in rent?" As they neared the car Shelly his the unlock button and popped the trunk.

Tiana grimaced. "A little over fifteen hundred."

"Oh wow." Shelly muttered. "Thank god I have Kent cause I'd never be able to pay that every month."

"You learn to manage your money...a little." Tia said as she placed her bags into the trunk on the right hand side, trying to ignore Shelly's comment on how nice it was to have a boyfriend. She knew Shelly didn't mean it that way.

"So what shall we do now?" Shelly asked as she closed the trunk and headed for the drivers side of her black mustang, resting her arms on the roof of the car as she looked across the roof at Tiana.

"Well, since I called Chuck earlier I don't have to worry about getting home right away to catch his phone call."

Shelly cocked an eyebrow, "Don't you be fallin' for Pierre's best friend there girly."

Tiana decided to shrug off the warning and not take it offensively. "He's a good friend, nothing more, nothing less."

Shelly smiled and opened the car door, dropping down into the driver's seat. Tiana opened her door and climbed in beside her.

"So what do you thing, supper and then drinks? Or just head straight for the drinks?"

Tiana grinned. "Well as much as I'd like to head straight for the drinks, I'm thinkin we should eat first otherwise you'll have a drunken fool on your hands."

Shelly turned the ignition over and slipped on her oversized sunglasses. "Alrighty then, food it is."

By five thirty that night the girls had found a restaurant, ordered, had time to chat, then ate.

"Oh my god, I'm so full." Tiana stated as she pushed the last bit of her chicken caesar salad away.

"Amen to that that." Shelly sighed as she stacked her plate with Tia's just before the waitress returned to clear the table.

"Ladies."

Both girls glanced up to see two boys standing there beside their table. "We overheadyou two talking about going out tonight and we were wondering if you'd like to join us?"

Shelly glanced from the boys then to Tiana. This was her chance to get Tia out of the house and to stop thinking about Pierre. "That depends," she spoke softly before looking back up at the boys. "Where are you going?"

The shorter one grinned. "We were thinking about the Whiskey Nightclub."

Shelly smiled and answered before Tiana could. "Sure, we'll meet you there around nine?"

The guys nodded and politely excused themselves. Wide eyed Tiana stared across the table at Shelly. "Are you serious? We're actually going to go out with those guys? We dont' even know their names!"

"That my dear, is the beauty of it."

***

They were so drunk that they could actually admit it, which was pretty bad. In fact, Chuck was surprised that David and Pierre would stand and walk let alone pretend to dance. He was also keeping a close eye on Jeff who was making out with a chick in the corner. He cursed under his breath and sat back down at the booth they had. He was getting tired of this whole baby-sitting deal. She should really be back at the hotel either writing or on the phone catching up with family, something he hadn't really got a chance to do since coming to Toronto from Vancouver.

He watched as Pierre suddenly emerged from the crowd with a little blond thing in tow and proceeded to make his way over with her help.

"Chuck." He slurred. "This very sexy lady is Manda, and she would really like to dance with you."

Chuck half assed smiled at the girl who looked like she might have been eighteen, then leapt out of his seat to catch Pierre before he crumpled to the floor. "Sit here buddy."

Pierre merely pushed him away as he slumped into the seat. "Go dance with that nice girl. She came to me to come get you. I'm just gonna rest here." With that he placed his forearms on the table and rested his head on top.

Rather than making a scene, Chuck decided to let Pierre rest and gave into the girl's wishes and walked out onto the dance floor where thankfully David and Seb were still dancing.

From the booth Pierre lifted his head and looked around. There were so many people just standing around or dancing. He was kind of wishing he could catch a glimpse of Tiana in the crowd. Suddenly it hit him. If he can't see her, he can at least phone and hear her.

***

The club wasn't crowded yet which was nice for once, and the two boys they had met, Jamie and Aaron turned out the be fairly nice. Not what you'd expect from your typical male college kids.

Tiana had just finished her second drink and was about to head back out onto the dance floor when her cell phone started ringing. Holding one finger in the air, signaling for Shelly to wait a minute, she looked down at the screen expecting to see her sister or mother's caller ID.

"Pierre?" she basically asked the phone before flipping it open and pressing it to her ear. It had to be one of the other guys. "Hello?" she said softly.

"Tiana, babe. I needed to hear your voice."

She glanced at Shelly who was looking curious. "And why would you need that?" she asked him calmly.

"Because I miss you and I was stupid for leaving."

Tia heard David in the background asking who he was talking to.

"It's Tiana." Pierre said into the phone rather than to David himself.

Great, just great, she thought to herself. He was absolutely smashed. She was surprised he had even got her number right.

"I love you, Tiana."

She raised an eyebrow like he could see how confused she was. "Pierre, how much have you had to drink?"

There was a pause before he spoke again. "A couple. I had to work up the courage to call you."

She choked back a sob. This boy was going to be the death of her. She loved him but she wanted desperately to smack him over the head and attempt to knock some sense into him. "Well Ithink you worked up a little too much courage, Pierre. Because you won't remember any of this in the morning, and if you do, you won't like what you've said."

"I really do love you, Tiana."

A single tear rolled down her cheek and she brushed it away with the back of her free hand before anyone could notice. God how she wished he was sober and being serious. She'd hop on the next place and go see him if he was. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. "No." She said finally. "You don't, Pierre and you made that pretty clear when you left."

She flipped her phone shut and locked eyes with Shelly, who was clearly worried about the conversation that had just taken place. She didn't even have to ask who was on the phone. Instinctively she told both boys they were sorry and that they would have to catch up some other time because they had to go.

Once outside Tiana broke down and climbed into Shelly's car. She was doing well today. She hadn't really thought about him. But like routine, night had fallen and again she was crying over him.