Well I am back. It took forever to get three reviews. Sad, but true. As promised, here is the next chapter. I am praying for four reviews before the next chapter. PLEASE!

-Stacey556

"You can do this Ashton," she said to herself. There she stood outside the office of Ronda, her boss. Her palms were sweaty, and she was hoping she would be able to remember the speech she practiced last night with Mitchie and Caitlyn. After two hours of talking, Ashton had finally decided she would at least ask to see if it was at all possible for her to leave.

Slowly she raised her hand and began to knock. "Come in," the voice behind the door responded.

"Hi Ronda," Ashton began as she entered the office slowly. The only bad thing that will happen is you'll get told no. Now grow a pair and ask her, she said to herself.

"Ashton, just the girl I needed to see. Please take a seat." Ronda gestured at the seat in front of her solid oak desk. "We've noticed you've been doing excellent work here in such a short period of time. We wanted to give you an opportunity to write an article. You're movin' up kid. No more coffee runs for you." Ashton was speechless. How in the world was she suppose to ask for time off when she had just been given the chance of a lifetime. "Now what is it that you needed to speak to me about," Ronda stared at her.

"Well, Ronda…" Ashton had a huge decision to make. Pursue her career or take a chance with a boy she could end up loving.

"PAUL. Turn the lights back on! You know I'm scared of the dark!" Mitchie yelled into the empty darkness. She and Paul had been working together for the past three hours on the newest Connect 3 single.

"Mitchie, I'm bored of the light. Can't we work in the dark?"

"Wow, sometimes I forget you're 25. Probably because you act like you're…" but before she could even finish her sentence, she felt to strong arms wrap around her and began to tickle her.

"Paul…stoppppp…" she couldn't stop laughing. It's like he knew all of her tickle spots.

"What's going on in here?" Mitchie heard as the lights got switched on. She looked to Paul and to the beautiful boy standing in the door.

"Oh, sorry man. Mitchie was giving me sass," Paul tried to explain.

"So, you decided to tickle her?" Shane didn't know what to think. He knew that Paul was a very flirtatious person as was Mitchie, so he wasn't sure if this was harmless.

"Shane, it was just harmless fun. We've been stuck in this room for the past three hours. I guess we went crazy." She laughed, trying to cover up her nervousness.

"Okay, well I was hoping to hear what you guys have done on the new single," he said as he pulled up a chair right next to Mitchie.

"Yeah, man. I'll play it for you."

"So he just started tickling you?" Caitlyn asked Mitchie. They hed decided to grab a bite to eat for lunch per Mitchie's request.

"Yeah, and I, of course, didn't think anything of it until Shane walked in."

"Well, have you talked to Shane since then?"

"No," Mitchie wasn't sure what to even say to him, because she wasn't sure if he was mad. It wasn't like he walked in on them making out. The two of them were just doing some harmless tickling.

"Mitchie, you have to talk to him. You never know he may not even be mad about it. Like you said you didn't really think anything of it." Caitlyn explained. She was always good at giving advice. Although Caitlyn hadn't been in many relationships, she knew a lot about what the right thing to do was.

"Okay, okay. I'll talk to him once I get back. Hopefully he's there."

Ashton had been sitting on her couch in the same position for the past 2 hours. Ever since she got home from work, she's been practicing what she was going to tell Jason. She had to be upfront with what happened, and how she feels about it. Soon there is an excited knock at her door.

"Well here goes nothing," she sighs to herself as she gets off the couch to retrieve the door.

"Hey you," Jason says as he leans into a hug.

"Hey, come in," she nervously follows him to the couch.

"You wanted to talk," Jason looked at her. He could read her emotions on her face, and he knew that she was nervous as he was.

"Yeah," Ashton began. She wasn't quite sure if this would go as planned but all she could do was pray that it would. "I talked to Ronda, my boss, today." Jason nodded her to continue on.

"She said that they're really impressed with my work at the magazine," she smiled weakly up at him, but unlike her face, his face was stoic.

"They've given me my very own article." Her smile grew bigger, but when her eyes met his it slowly vanished. He didn't seem happy at all. It was as if he knew what the jury had decided, and it wasn't in his favor. Before she could even continue to talk to him, he expressed his thoughts. "Did you even ask Ashton? That's all I want to know. Did you even ask if you could go? I mean I know that you've chosen to stay and write the article. I understand how important your career is to you, but I figured you'd at least would've asked her." He got up off the couch suddenly. He was hurt, because she just sat there with tears welling in her eyes. The fact she said nothing had been enough of an answer for him.

"When you decide I am more important then a stupid article, you know where I be. We leave in two days." With that he shut the door and left her with her mouth agape and tears flowing from her eyes.

Mitchie walked into the house towards Shane's room. Before she knocked, she took a deep breath, and started to hear music from his room. She paused to listen as he sang and played, and slowly realized it was their song. As she knocked, she began to smile.

"Who is it?" his voice sounded annoyed.

"It's Mitchie," she half-whispered.

"Come in," she heard him say, and she opened the door.

"Can I sit?" she asked, and sat down next to him on the floor.

"So about earlier," she began but before she could he interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it Mitchie. I understand that you are a very flirtatious person. You couldn't help it I get it." His tone was one of hostility with jealousy thrown in.

"Seriously, you're jealous?" she was so confused. She knew there was nothing going on between her and Paul, and thought Shane was confident in their relationship even if it was quite new.

"How can I not be jealous Mitch? You're beautiful, talented, and funny. Any guy would be stupid to not want you. Paul…"

"Is nothing compared to you," she cut him off. " Always remember that I am yours and only yours."

Please let me know what you think. I love reviews like every author. There is alot I want to do with this story, but I want to know I have an audience. Thanks you guys.

-Stacey556