meadow567: Glad you liked it and thanks for the input. Hope you like this chapter too!

NellieBly41372: Thanks for the review and input. I think that's what I'm going to do, on both suggestions, lol. Hvae fun seeing Shrek the Third. You'll have to let me know how it is. I wanna go see it. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14:

The next day, Robbie ran into OC on the way to practice. He looked terrible and like he was up all night. Robbie was going to ask what was wrong, but decided against it because he knew that he wasn't OC's favorite person.

Practice was pretty rough that day. The team was leaving for Europe in two weeks and Herb obviously wanted to be sure they were ready. Robbie was in desperate need of a massage after practice, but Maddie never showed up. Jack was still pissed after practice too. As soon as he left the locker room, Verchota spoke up.

"What did you do this time, Mac?"

"Nothing."

"Well, who's he pissed at?"

"I think him and Maddie had a fight."

"So he takes it out on us?" commented Verchota. "It must have been some fight."

The whole team had left except for Robbie and Rizzo. Robbie had been waiting around for Maddie, but then decided to leave. Maybe he could talk Laura into stopping over to give him a massage. Just as he was leaving, OC walked back in the locker room, claiming he forgot his key. It was then that Robbie heard Rizzo grilling him about talking to Maddie.

Robbie had no idea what the fight was about, until he heard 'the rabbit died.' Maddie's pregnant! was his first thought. He couldn't believe it.

"She's pregnant!" Robbie then exclaimed out loud. Rizzo immediately tried to cover up the slip, but it was too late. "Oh my God, I don't believe it!" Robbie said. Still, completely shocked. He never would have thought Maddie would be pregnant.

"I couldn't believe it either," OC mumbled.

"Wow. Maddie's pregnant," Robbie said, letting the idea sink in.

"Mac, if you say 'wow' or 'oh my God' one more time, you'll have a nice black eye to wow," OC threatened.

"Sorry, I'm just shocked," Robbie apologized.

"Welcome to my world."

"But you were there when it happened," Robbie pointed out, thinking that himself and the rest of the team should be more surprised than OC was. Robbie offered to check on Maddie, to make sure she was okay, but Rizzo assured him that he was going to see her. Knowing Maddie would probably open up to Rizzo more anyway, because she knew him for longer, Robbie went back to his room.

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The next weekend, Robbie made plans to go out with Laura again. They decided to go to dinner and a movie. Robbie picked an Italian restaurant for dinner, and he let Laura pick the movie. She picked a chick flick that Robbie didn't care about seeing, but he hoped they wouldn't be watching much of the movie anyway.

After the first ten minutes, Robbie was bored. His arm was already around Laura and he leaned closer. Laura looked over at him.

"Did I pick a bad movie?" Laura whispered.

"Yeah," Robbie said honestly, but laughed so Laura would know he wasn't entirely serious.

"We don't have to watch," Laura said seductively in Robbie's ear.

"What do you suppose we do instead?" Robbie asked, pretending to be innocent. Laura leaned toward him and kissed him gently. After a minute, things began heating up. Robbie pulled away slightly. "We better leave before we end up giving the teenagers behind us a show."

"But you paid for the movie."

"So what? Come on. I have a way to get the money back." Robbie grabbed Laura's hand as he led her out of the theater.

"Next time we'll have to remember to go to the drive in," Laura commented once they were out of the theater. "So what's the plan?" she then asked, wondering how Robbie was planning on getting a refund.

"Damn," he said in response, looking at the ticket counter.

"What?"

"The girl's not at the counter anymore. You'll have to do it."

"Do what?"

"Flirt with the guy at the ticket counter and ask for a refund. You're cute and he'll totally buy it."

"No way!"

"Why?"

"Because, I'm not."

"Come on. I know you know how to flirt with guys to get what you want. I've seen you do it before. I think I was even a victim at one point," Robbie joked.

"You're using me as bait?"

"Only if you want to look at it that way. The way I see it though, is that you're doing me a favor."

"Robbie," Laura pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

"Go over there, Laur. That sad puppy dog face doesn't work on me."

"Why don't you go over there?"

"If the girl was still there, I would have, but now there's a guy. Trust me, it will work. If not, I'll make it up to you."

"How?" Laura challenged.

"I don't know yet. Let's worry about that if it doesn't work."

"Fine. But only because I want you to owe me one." Laura started walking over and suddenly turned around.

"What's wrong?" Robbie asked.

"I can't do it."

"Why?"

"That's Alex".

"Who's Alex?"

"My ex-boyfriend."

"Have you dated every guy in Minnesota?" Robbie teased. Laura rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'll buy you ice cream with the money I get back," Robbie promised.

"I don't want ice cream."

"Then I'll buy you flowers."

"I don't want flowers. They die too easily." Robbie thought for a minute.

"I'll go shopping with you and buy you one item of your choice," he said, knowing Laura would take him up on the offer.

"Really?" she asked, excitedly. Robbie nodded.

"Anything?" Laura asked in slight disbelief.

"Well, within reason. I'm not buying you an eighty dollar purse or expensive designer jeans, but we'll see what we can work out."

"Can I get that in writing?" she joked. No guy ever wanted to go shopping with her. Especially guys that knew her as well as Robbie did. "Okay, I'm going." Laura walked to the counter and gave Robbie one last glance before approaching the counter.

"Laura?" the guy working there asked, before Laura could even say anything.

"Hi Alex."

"How have you been?"

"Okay," he responded.

"I thought I remembered that you worked here," Laura said in a somewhat flirty tone.

"Yep, I do."

"I've been coming here every night for the past week, hoping to see you," Laura said, lying through her teeth.

"You have?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I really miss you," she said. Again, a lie. Alex was the last person she would ever miss. They dated for about a month, during one of her and Robbie's breaks. Laura couldn't stand him anymore though. She had really only started seeing him because he was available and willing, and more importantly because at the time, he was seeing a girl that Laura hated.

"Wow. I never thought I'd hear you say that. Especially after everything that happened between us," Alex admitted.

"Well, I do," Laura said, with a fake smile.

"I missed you too." Laura couldn't believe he missed her. After all, they broke up because she cheated on him with some other guy at a party. "I know you made mistakes, but everyone does. And I know you were drunk when it happened. I completely forgive you," Alex said, referring to catching her cheating.

"God, I feel so stupid," said Laura, flipping her hair back, remembering how Alex loved her hair. "I've seen the same movie five times this week, all because I was hoping to see you," she said, again with a fake smile and squeezing his forearm gently. "I can't bare to watch it again though."

"Well, I could refund your ticket. We're not supposed to but I guess I could make an exception."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yeah sure."

"Okay. I actually have two tickets though. My friend came with me." Alex took both tickets and gave Laura money back.

"So, I get off in a half hour. Do you want to go to my place and get reacquainted?" Luckily Robbie must have seen her get the money, because he then walked up and wrapped his arm around her waist, then kissed her temple. Laura was happy he did, because her response would have been nasty. "Who's that?" Alex then asked.

"My friend, Robbie. Actually, he's my boyfriend."

"Wait. I thought you wanted-"

"Alex, I have to go. We have plans that really can't wait much longer," Laura said, looking at Robbie. She turned around quickly and left with Robbie right behind her.

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Over the next two weeks, the guys were all getting ready to go to Europe. Robbie saw Laura every few days, but tried to keep things quiet from the guys. It wasn't that he didn't want his friends to know, but him and Laura decided that it would be best to take things slow and not flaunt the relationship too much.

Not telling the guys too much about Laura worked well though, almost everyone was too busy trying to figure out what was going on with OC and Maddie to care about other people's personal lives. It was frustrating, because only a few people knew that Maddie was pregnant, and whoever did was sworn to secrecy. Robbie remained a go between for the two, although he wasn't too sure how he got that position because OC didn't really even consider Robbie a friend.

The day before the team was leaving for Europe, Robbie was in his room packing when someone knocked at the door. The second he opened it, Jimmy and Mark began talking so fast, Robbie could hardly understand them.

"Slow down, and take a breath," Robbie said. Once they stopped talking, he continued. "Now in English, one at a time."

"Maddie's leaving," Mark told him. Jimmy continued with an explanation.

"She's so fed up with Jack and his little game, she's going back to Boston."

"What? When?" Robbie asked, hoping she wasn't serious.

"Tomorrow, when we leave."

"I don't believe it," Robbie said.

"I do. Jack's been playing his game too long. I think someone should knock some sense into him," said Jimmy. "He's really hurting Maddie." Robbie knew OC was hurting Maddie. It was pretty clear when she started crying almost every time Robbie tried to comfort her. And Robbie wasn't getting through to OC, which he then explained to Jimmy.

"Rizzo and I have been trying to get him to talk to her. He's too stubborn and into himself to admit he's wrong."

"That's why we don't take no for an answer," said Jimmy.

The three guys decided to do everything they could to keep Maddie from leaving. Robbie for one, thought they were too cute of a couple to have their relationship thrown away like that. Especially when it was due to OC being a jerk.

Just after Jimmy and Mark left, Robbie remembered that he was supposed to go out with Laura that night. Being the last time he would see her for a couple weeks, they made plans to see each other. But Robbie knew he had to be at the bar that night. He called Laura to explain and call off their date.

"Hey Laura, it's me," Robbie said after she answered the phone.

"Calling to remind me about our date?"

"Actually, change is the word I should use."

"Change?"

"Something came up with the team and I have to be with them tonight."

"Oh, okay," Laura said, without much emotion, though she was disappointed. "What happened?"

"Well, Maddie, that's OC's girlfriend-"

"I know who she is," Laura said, a little irritated, but careful to hide it as much as she could.

"Well, they had a huge fight and she wants to go back to Boston instead of going to Europe. All of the guys are trying to get her to stay here, so we're going out to convince her. Considering only a few people know the exact circumstances, and I'm one of them, I need to be there." Robbie hoped Laura wouldn't be too mad. He felt bad, but he didn't know what else to do.

"That's fine," Laura said, trying to sound fine. "I hope everything goes okay tonight."

"I'm really sorry," Robbie apologized. "And now we really can't see each other before I leave." He was about to offer to take Laura to breakfast, but she responded before he got the chance.

"That's okay. Don't worry about it. It's only two weeks. I'll see you sometime after you get back," Laura said, completely but convincingly faking her lack of care.

"Okay, then. I'll see you in two weeks," Robbie said. He had hoped she wouldn't be mad, but he wished she would have cared more than she did. Robbie thought it sounded as though Laura barely cared at all that he was leaving. He knew he would miss her, but it didn't sound like she would miss him too much, which left him somewhat concerned. Robbie shook it off quickly though, because he had a lot to do before going out that night.

After Laura had hung up the phone, she progressively became more mad at Robbie. Since when was someone else, another girl at that, more important than her. Laura thought Maddie sounded like a nice person, but she was beginning to think she tied the guys on the team on a string around her finger. Robbie for one, always seemed to bend over backward to help her. Laura was getting a little sick of it. Why couldn't Maddie and Jack deal with their problems alone instead of getting Robbie and the other guys involved?

Laura then tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, she didn't know Maddie, or what was going on between her and Jack. Laura did know one thing for sure though. She was definitely going to miss Robbie, and she couldn't wait for the next two weeks to be over.

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed. Next chapter, Laura meets the rest of the guys on the team and Maddie. It will be up next week sometime. Pretty please (with sugar and cherry on top) review!