Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish.

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"Ellie?"

Holy. Crap. Did he just notice me through my twelve year old girl camaflouge? Damn it. Maybe, if I didn't respond, he would just think he was imagining things.

"Ellie?" I heard again, this time more concrete.

Shit. I guess he wasn't imagining things. By this time, I could feel all those beady twelve year old eyes on the back of my neck. And trust me, they didn't feel good. They felt like they were ready to kill.

I turned around slowly only to have my suspicion confirmed. Everyone had turned around and was staring at me. The twelve year old girls, the record management, the store owners, and most importantly, Mr. Craig Manning himself.

"Ellie!" he said (again), his face turning into a blend of shock and happiness. "What are you doing here?" he questioned as he made his way to where I was standing. The crowd of twelve year olds parted like the Red Sea did when Moses came to it. No. Joke.

"Um...surprise?" I offered, not really knowing how to answer his question. Because really, I didn't know what the hell I was doing there.

He pulled me into a hug as I responded and when he let go he looked straight at me.

"Surprise?" he asked. "For what?"

"Just...surprise." Could I be any lamer?

Though, the answer seemed good enough for him. He took me by the hand and led me to the sea of girls, all of whom by now had turned their beady little stares to full blown death glares. How dare I, an older girl, step on thier turf? Even so, they parted, though not as willingly for me, and I was led to the signing table where Craig had previously been sitting.

"El, this is Seth, my record manager..." He pointed to each individual and told me their name, however, after the record manager part, I kind of zoned out, but got the gist of it.

Here I was, in some random Vancouvor CD store, Craig holding my hand, and twelve year old girls ready to jump me in a dark alley way.

Why was I here again?

Oh. Right. I still hadn't figured that part out yet.

As all this ran through my head, I was brought back to reality by Craig squeezing my hand a bit and saying,

"C'mon El, sit down."

"Huh?" Could you tell I hadn't been getting any sleep?

"Sit down with me," he said again, this time in a more definite tone.

"No, I really can't," I responded, shaking my head.

He smirked. "Whatever, of course you can."

"And you're sure your fan club won't roast me over an open flame and chant some voodoo curse at me?" I smirked back.

He half smiled at me. You know, in his Craig way.

"I dunno, they might. Twelve year olds are pretty vicious. I can only imagine what you did when you were twelve." He smiled. "Really, c'mon. We'll grab coffee when this is over."

I smiled back.

"Okay."

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We sat in a secluded little coffee shop in Vancouvor. (Starbucks was too popular for Craig, apparently.) His "managment" came with us, to my dismay. But then again, what had I expected? They sat in one corner of the shop, while we sat in the other. This was their idea of giving us some "privacy."

The waitress came over, pen and paper in hand, ready to take our order. She looked about fifteen. Fifteen and like she really didn't want to be there.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Mocha latte, please," I requested.

"Yeah, make that two," Craig agreed.

She nodded at us and right as she was about to walk away, did a double take.

"Wait are you...no, you can't be. But you are! You're Craig Manning, right?" she asked all jittery.

Craig smiled sheepishly.

"Um yeah, I am."

"Oh. My. God. I LOVE your song! It's amazing! You're amazing! I mean where do you come up with all the..."

At that point I zoned out. This girl just didn't shut up. First I thought she was going to pass out or something, and then she just started spewing word vomit. And it was making me want to vomit. What was the world coming to? First twelve year old girls and now crazy fifteen year olds? Craig is gone for four months and this is what happens? Wow.

Finally, after about ten minutes Craig's so called "management" finally noticed that he was being verbally abused by this sixteen year old and kindly (but forcefully) asked to her to leave him alone. She agreed, but of course first requested an autograph and picture. Claiming her prize she walked away, but first winked at Craig and slid a napkin over to him with her number on it. Now I really wanted to vomit.

"Wow, we're in here ten minutes and the mauling just doesn't stop does it?" I asked.

Craig grinned. "Actually, that wasn't the worst freak out I've gotten."

There was worse? Great.

"Huh, really?"

"What, don't believe me Nash? Just because everybody else has realized my studliness and you haven't."

"Studliness? Pshh. Whatever."

He blushed.

"Wait, Craig, are you blushing? Aw, did I make you blush? How. Cute."

He looked down on the chipped table.

"So, Nash, why the surprise visit?" he asked, obviously wanting to change the subject. I gladly followed suit.

"Oh, I dunno. Had some time and figured you could use some of home here. Even though, ya know, you don't return emails or phone calls." That last part came out a bit bitter. It was meant to.

He looked down again, this time a bit in shame.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about that. You see how crazy my life is right now."

There was that word again. Sorry. Sorry followed by an excuse.

"Don't worry about it," I reassured him.

"So, how are you? What's been going on in Toronto?"

"I'm...well," I concluded. More to myself than Craig. "Nothing really has been going on. School. Writing. The paper. And that's pretty much it."

"No more drumming?" He asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Nope, no more."

He nodded. "Makes sense, I guess." He paused. "So, writing. The journalism thing? It's working out?"

"Yeah. It is. It's working out great." Now Ellie. Now's the perfect time to throw in Jesse. Tell him. Tell him about the amazing guy you met who is crazy about you and wasn't too afraid to admit it to your face. Tell. Him.

Only, I didn't.

One, because Craig started talking again.

Two, something in me just couldn't.

"So I guess we should--"

He was interrupted by my cell phone ringing. I took it out of my bag and the caller ID flashed Jesse. I swallowed hard as guilt ran through me. He still had no idea where the hell I was.

"Who's that?"

"Oh, just Ash. I can call her back." Why was I lying? "You were saying?"

"I guess we should get going? Do you have a place to stay? If not, my record company can set something up for you if you want."

I nodded. "Yeah. That'd be great."

He smiled. He smiled that smile at me and for a moment the guilt was gone.

"C'mon," he nodded to the door. "Let's go."

I smiled back and followed him.

Holding my cell phone in my left hand, I heard it beep indicating I had voicemail.

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A/N: I wrote this around midnight...hehe...its fun...review...