Lauren stared into and at nothing. She knew why Santiago had blown her off. He had figured out about it,. He figured out she was pregnant. James sat down on the set of concrete stairs she had perched on silently for the past twenty minutes.
"Hey," he shifted uncomfortably, alerting her that he knew the news, "Santiago told me, and he seemed pissed." James paused again, "Whose is it?" he asked, dreading the answer. Lauren looked at him with teary eyes.
"Yours." She answered, confirming his worst fear, and breaking down into tears. She stood and stormed off in no general direction when he said nothing.
"Don't sound so surprised! Winning the Vielstone Singing Contest has some beniefits!" the woman chuckled. Paul frowned, he didn't think he sounded surprised, he sounded stressed. Dawn cut in when she realized he was about to crack and snap at her.
"Hi Mimi!" she chirped.
"Hello Dawn." Mimi, the old Vielstone Singing Contest judge, greeted. "I have a letter for you two, from the Hearthome theater company, very fancy, very posh, invitation only shows." Mimi chuckled, "Totally want you two to be in one of their productions together." She tossed Dawn a large manila envelope, which landed in Dawn's lap with a thump.
"We can't act though!" Dawn objected, then paused, well, technically, Paul could. Paul could obviously tell where her train of thought had gone and scowled.
"Just think about, it could be your big break." Mimi winked and strutted out of the room like that was the perfect goodbye.
"She seemed to change." Misty commented idly.
"That was all she wanted?" Reggie asked.
"Guess so." Drew shrugged, then brought them back to the problem at hand, "Now, what about Randy?" he asked.
James sighed, leaning up and catching up to Lauren with an easy jog. "Does Santiago…?" he let the question hang in the air as he easily kept pace with her angry walk.
"No." Lauren shook her head, "I don't think he does. He knows it's not his, but he doesn't know it's yours." She elaborated.
"Good." James nodded and shifted slightly, uncomfortable again, "Are you going to…keep it?"
"Are you going to help if I do?" Lauren shot back, stopping in her pace. James stopped a few steps in front of her, slipping his hand through his hair, which for once was hanging around his shoulders instead of his little pony tail.
"That's what I thought." Lauren snapped, spinning on her heel and going back inside to her new job.
"We should take the gig." Dawn motioned to the manila envelope on her lap.
"How would that help things?" Paul asked, completely confused, as were the others.
"When we go to Hearthome, Randy won't know." She explained her reasoning, "We could just leave, without a fuss. He'll know we're not here, but he won't know where we are." Dawn continued.
"That could actually work." Maylene nodded her consent.
"But then you'd have to leave us!" Reggie exclaimed, then chuckled, "Plus, can we trust you two in a hotel room alone?" he winked as they turned bright red together. He could always find time for a joke, even when it might be an inappropriate time.
"Shut up Reggie." Paul growled, in embarresment, not in anger.
Regina rolled her eyes, "It doesn't matter, that might be our only choice." She informed them, and brought them back onto subject. Johanna stared at Paul with steely eyes and he shivered slightly. Johanna had the same type of eyes as Dawn. While they may usually be cheery, when they were mad or any other serious emotion, they were scary as hell.
"I like you Paul, and I trust that you two will not do anything irresponsible. And if you do, I know I can take my full anger out on you Paul." She stated pointedly and the others couldn't help but snicker. She said this as if would be Paul's fault if anything happened, as if he would be the one seducing. If only she knew.
"Well you guys better go pack." Drew sighed, alleviating some of the tension of Paul as he saw a way to get out of Johanna's scruntizing eyes. Reggie pouted, causing the others to laugh again. Dawn stoo first and went upstairs, followed by Paul shortly after.
A/N: Sorry. Again, really short chapter, but don't worry, this time I'm not wired on Mountain Dew, so no randomness or ranting. Review.
