Lanise let out a sigh. "You're going to have to go over there anyway to pack your stuff. Ya'll are leaving in two days."

"I know," I said. "I'll pack tomorrow."

"I'll expect rent if you stay another night. First night's for free, but no, ma'am, not the second."

I glanced at her and she laughed. "Believe me, I'll be willing to pay."

We were walking down a sidewalk with no destination in mind. I had spent the night at Lanise's house, not wanting to stay in a house where there was a possibility of coming face-to-face with Squid. Once they had taken their bags down the hall to their temporary rooms, I snuck out the door and texted Lanise to tell her I'd left. She replied with *rolls eyes*, and then I asked if I could stay at her place and she let me.

She halted her steps and put a hand on my shoulder. "I don't get why you won't talk to him."

I turned to look at her incredulously. "Did you not understand when I told you he has not contacted me in five years?"

"Yeah, I understood that," she replied, "but did you ever think he has a good reason for that?"

"Yes, Lanise, I did," I nodded, trying to keep my temper in check. "I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That was until I found out he had been talking to Stanley all this time."

Lanise put her weight on one foot and crossed her arms. "Stanley said only four months."

"Alright, fine," I said angrily, not realizing my voice was rising. "He's been talking to Stanley for four months. Four friggin' months! Tell me, Lanise, how that makes any sense! Why would he rather talk to a friend instead of the girl he said he loved? Huh? He didn't say one single word to me!"

The girl in front of me had uncrossed her arms only to put them on her hips. "Girl, first of all, if you keep that shouting up you can go ahead and stay at your momma's house tonight. Or Jane's house for that matter. Ya'll two can scream and yell at each other."

I took a deep breath and tried to loosen up my tense body. I noticed an elder couple staring at us from their yard along with a man a couple houses down from them. "Sorry," I apologized softly. Taking another breath, I sat down on the curb and Lanise followed suit. "I just...I don't understand why he didn't want to talk to me."

"He asked Stanly about you," she said while stretching her dark legs out in front of her.

"Why didn't he ask to talk to me, though?"

"Why the hell are you asking me for? Go ask him yourself."

I drummed my fingers on my knee as I thought. "I mean, I answered the phone when he called and he asked for Stanley. And he knew it was me that answered."

"Like I said, ask him."

"How can I ask him when I can't even look at him?"

Lanise let out a dramatic sigh. "You know what? Do what you got to do, but know that it ain't fair for those other two."

I knew it wasn't fair for Zigzag and Magnet. They didn't do anything for me to evade them. Sure, Zigzag never checked up on me and Magnet eventually stopped calling, but they weren't my boyfriend.

We were sitting silently, listening to the few cars that passed and the wind blowing throught the trees, when my cell phone signaled I had received a text message. It was Stanley. Well, it was Stanley's number, but the message said differently.

hola chica! its magnet!

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Oh, brother." I text back wat? and looked at Lanise. "It's Magnet," I replied to her questioning face. She nodded. A few seconds later my phone beeped.

caveman said his mom nvited u 2 dinner 2night!

cant. playn at the bar 2night. That was a lie. The bar was closed for the week for renovation.

Instead of my text tone going off, my ringtone went off. "Yeah?" I answered.

It wasn't Magnet on the phone like I expected. "Cut the crap, Melina. I know the bar is closed this week," came an annoyed Stanley's voice.

Dammit. "Your point?" I said casually.

"My point," he said, "is you need to stop making up excuses and come hang with these guys."

"I'm going to be hanging with all of you fools in the coming days!" And I didn't know if I would be able to survive!

There was a bunch of rustling on his side of the line and for a brief moment I thought he'd hung up. "Hello?" I said. "Stanley?"

"Fuse?"

I paused. "What?" I said tightly. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lanise glance at me when my tone changed.

"Can you, please, come over here?" Squid's voice drawled. "I really want to talk to you."

I opened my mouth but no words came out, so I snapped my phone shut.

"What was that all about?" Lanise asked.

I contemplated what I was going to do in my head. Figuring it'd happen sooner or later, I said to Lanise, "I'm going to have supper at Stanley's. You want to come?"

She smiled and I guessed she was happy about me finally going over there. "Sorry, girl. I promised Brandi I'd meet her at six."

"Bring her along, too," I said, then with fake cheer added, "The more, the merrier!"

Lanise chuckled. "Not always true. You'll be fine by yourself."

Opening the door to Stanley's house, I took a last, deep breath and released it slowly, trying to steady my nerves. I wasted away the last few hours by walking absently around town with Lanise. We parted ways when I started heading for Stanley's and she had to go in the opposite direction to meet Brandi. I took my time, not wanting any free time before supper. Yes, I wanted to delay the talk with Squid for as long as possible.

I walked into the dining room and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, sorry I'm late." Everyone was gathered around the table with food already on their plates, and when I spoke all of them looked over at me.

"Not at all, honey," Stanley's mom said. "We're just glad you made it."

"Yeah!" Magnet exclaimed happily. "I saved you a seat."

He saved me a seat alright. Right next to him and straight across from Squid. "Thanks," I said sincerely out loud but sarcastically in my head.

"There's a plate on the counter in the kitchen," Stanley's mom informed me. "Help yourself to some spaghetti. And there's breadsticks on top of the toaster oven."

"I like breadsticks," I heard Stanley's grandpa say as I went to the kitchen.

While I was putting the pasta on my plate, I noticed my hand was quivering slightly. Get a grip, Mel! I scolded myself. You've never been this nervous before. And there's nothing to be nervous about! After pouring sauce onto my spaghetti and grabbing two breadsticks, I walked back into the kitchen.

"I don't like breadsticks," said Stanley's grandpa as I placed one on his plate before sitting down.

"Pa," Stanley's dad said, "you just ate two of them."

"Did I?"

"Where'd you go yesterday?" Magnet asked me.

"You were here and then you disappeared," Zigzag added.

"I had to get some things done before I leave," I said, looking at anyone except at the boy in front of me.

Stanley slightly shook his head while the other two nodded.

"You're staying over tonight, right?"

"Yep," I said to Magnet.

"Muy bien!"

Silence descended upon the table and I chanced a look up at Squid. He was looking down, busy twirling noodles around his fork. He still looked the same. The only significant differences were the fact that he had put some muscle on and his hair grown a couple inches and was slightly wavy. I looked away before he had a chance to look up.

"You boys better be careful on this trip and watch each others' backs," Stanley's mom said. "Same goes for you and Jane, Melina."

"Yes, ma'am," we all replied.

I bit a piece off of my breadstick. "Where's Hector?"

"Him and his mom are going to eat with us tomorrow." Stanley took a sip of his drink. "He's going to stay over tomorrow night. If Jane wants, she can, too."

The rest of the meal consisted of talk about Nashville and Universal. I mostly kept quiet, only talking when somebody asked me somthing. Once the food was cleared from our plates, Stanley's mom insisted she'd clean up the mess and we go do our own thing.

"We could watch a movie?" Stanley suggested. They agreed. "Okay, you guys can pick out a movie and I'm going to get changed."

"It's still early, though," Magnet said. "What if we decide to go out?"

"Aww, does Caveman have a bedtime?" Squid joked and the others laughed. Even I had a faint smile on my lips.

Stanley sighed. "I'll get changed later."

"There's a good boy," Zigzag said and went over to examine all the movies by the flat screen.

"Stanley?" called his mom from the kitchen. "Come here for a minute, darling."

"Coming," he called back. He left the living room and I sat on the couch, watching the boys arguing over which movie to watch.

"How about this one?" Magnet asked while holding a DVD out to show them.

"Naw, that one's lame," Squid said.

"This one?"

"Too boring," Zigzag said.

Magnet sighed and reached for another one. Squid pushed it back in place before Magnet had pulled it all the way off the rack. "Why do you keep picking stupid ones?" he inquired. He searched through the movies while Magnet grumbled in Spanish and grabbed the one that caught his eye. "This is more like it. Right, Zig?"

"Definitely," he agreed.

I was curious about what movie Squid picked out, but I didn't have to wonder long. He turned to me and showed me the cover. "Van Helsing fine with you?"

Caught off guard, I responded only with a curt, "Yep."

He turned to put the movie in the DVD player. Magnet came over to sit beside me and Zigzag headed for the loveseat. The previews started playing, the classic, black and white monster movies, and Squid walked over to me. Oh, great, I thought as I hesitantly looked up at him.

"Can we tal-?"

"So what movie are we watching?" Stanley's voice interrupted Squid.

"Van Helsing," I answered quickly. "What did your mom want?" I felt Squid's eyes on me, but I carefully avoided them.

"Oh, uh, nothing." Stanley's cheeks turned a bright red.

"Why're you blushing?" I interrogated further.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Fuse, can we talk?" Squid said over Stanley and me.

I blinked a couple of times before slowly nodding. I stood up and went to the hallway, knowing who was close behind.

"Where're you two going?" Stanley's mom asked when we passed her.

"Out by the pool," I replied.

Even though the sun was setting somewhere in the West, the sky was still orange with its rays. I sat in one of the chairs by the pool and Squid sat in the one next to me. Instead of the awkward silence that I thought would happen, the boy next to me cut right to the chase.

"I know you're beyond mad at me," he started, "and might even hate me, but I apologize a million times over." My arms crossed and I remained quiet, so he continued. "I didn't mean to cut you off like that. The day I got home, I was contacted and told I had to finish up my time in jail. After I served my time my focus turned to finishing up school. I would've called during that time, but I didn't have a cell phone and the home phone got disconnected."

"People are allowed to use the phones at jail occasionally, aren't they?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't have your number on me," he said.

"Why couldn't you use a payphone if you didn't have a cell or home phone?" My eyes stayed glued on the surface of the clear water. Squid was about to say something, but I beat him to it. "No, no. Scratch that question. Whenever you started talking to Stanley, why didn't you want to talk to me?"

"I did," he said quickly. "When I started talking to Caveman two months ago I-"

"That's a lie."

"...What?"

"Stanley said you two started talking four months ago." I glanced at him when he raised his arms slightly up in defense.

"My bad. When I started talking to Caveman four months ago," he continued where he left off, "I was going to ask for you after him and I were done. Then we started speaking about getting everyone together and going on a trip." He hesitated a moment before saying, "It may sound stupid, but I was wanting to surprise you. We all did."

"Well, you definitely surprised me," I said, finger quoting 'surprised.'

"Yeah," Squid muttered while readjusting his hat, "Caveman said you wouldn't be very happy. Guess he was right."

I didn't reply right away. I sat in silence and listened to the noise in the neighborhood becoming steadily quieter as night came. Pulling my cell phone out to check the time, I noticed I had a text from Jane, which I deleted right away when I read Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:. No matter how many times I tell her not to send me those, she never fails to send me two each day, and on a good day, three.

Sighing, I put the phone back in my pocket and leaned my head back against the chair, closing my eyes. I could hear Squid shuffling his feet beside me. Yes, I thought with dry humor, suffer in the awkward silence.

"So..." his voice cutting through the air.

My eyes opened but I remained in my position. "So I don't believe you."

When he spoke I could hear a little bit of annoyance seeping through. "What don't you believe?"

"Five years," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "You couldn't find a damn phone in five years to call me. Just to check up on me, say hey, hell, even to break up with me!"

Silence again, and then, "I'm sorry."

I looked over at him to find him studying the ground. He looked up finally and I didn't look away. "Do you not realize how mad I am at you?"

"Yes, Fuse, I do realize how mad you are!" He didn't say it angrily, but sounded as if he was on the verge of pleading. "You have every right to be and you don't have to forgive me, but just know that I truly am sorry."

The sincerity in his words almost made me want to forgive him right then, but I didn't. Instead, I blinked a couple times and said, "I don't forgive you...and I don't believe you entirely." I took a breath and looked at my hands in my lap. "At least, not at the moment."

When he didn't say anything for a few seconds, my eyes drifted over to see him looking away and nodding his head slowly. "I can live with that." When his eyes met mine again I turned away.

We both sat there, not knowing what to say next. Crap, now I'm suffering in the awkward silence.

"Hey, you two." We turned to see Stanley's mom standing in the sliding door frame. "It's getting dark. Why don't ya'll come in and watch the movie with the others. You already missed a lot of it."

"Coming," I said, standing up with Squid following me. I wondered briefly if Stanley's mom had been watching us, making sure we weren't up to anything.

Stanley, Zigzag, and Magnet were watching the movie quietly, but when Magnet noticed our appearance he sat up suddenly with a big grin on his face. "Ask Caveman what his mom talked to him about!"

"You don't have to tell the world, Magnet," Stanley groaned, sliding his hand over his face.

"What did she talk about?" I asked nonchalantly.

"They had the sex talk!" Magnet blurted out before Stanley had the chance to open his mouth.

Squid snorted behind me and I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. "Wow."

"We didn't have the sex talk," Stanley said while his eyes darted between Squid and myself. "She was just telling me to make sure you're protected."

My eyebrows rose even higher and Squid couldn't contain his laughter.

Stanley's eyes widened. "No! I meant...that's not what I meant. She's just worried since, you know, we're all guys."

"Um, I'm not a dude," I said, pretending to be offended.

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

I grinned and sat inbetween him and Magnet. Squid took the loveseat since Zigzag apparently abandoned it for the floor. As the movie continued with Hugh Jackman shooting arrows at CGI vampire babies, I looked around at my friends. Stanley, sitting straight up but with his eyes drooping every now and then; Magnet, curled up with his arms encircling one of the couch's pillows; Zigzag, his hands behind his head and eyes staring unblinkingly up at the television; and Squid, sprawled out in a lazy way on the loveseat.

It dawned on me then that I was happy they were here, and extremely ready to go on this road trip.

A/N: Like Squid said, I apologize a million times over. Lack of an update is due to somewhat being busy and writer's block. But I think I've finally broke the evil power of writer's block 'cause I want to start writing the next chapter! Then again I have a bad habit writing out half a chapter then leaving it for a long time... Reviews might help me with that, though. ; )

So what do you think about Squid? Do you think he's telling the truth? R&R! : )