XIII

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Astaire

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I always thought problems, like, real problems, were only meant to exist in the deranged minds of writers. I mean, come on! How many opportunities you have in normal days of experiencing an earthquake and finding love at the same time? I don't think it's nearly as probable as movies want you to believe.

But it turned out my best friend in the entire world was just weird and malicious enough to prove that those kinds of problems did exist. The recent changes in her life were perfect for a soap. The drunken marriage, the hot famous boy paying her to stay married, falling in lust with each other, passion, the friend of this boy that likes her and makes her like him too, the drama…and please don't forget the best friend that's a fan of her friend's husband's band that discovers just how calm she can be when she has to sleep on the same house as one of them or travel sitting next to other.

Maggie was having some serious issues, but even when the answer to all of that was quite clear for me (and I swear that, even when the idea of creating a new religion that involved multiple marriage crossed my mind, it wasn't that), I couldn't tell her. Much Yoda to you? Well, she needed to fix this on her own. Her right decision could be not the same as my own right decision.

So I decided to take some time out of this drama once I left her with her husband and Harry took us (as in Gabby and Rhett and I) to the hotel. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to… go and flirt with Captain Jack.

Yeah, you hear it right.

"But if it is the fine lady all on her own." His voice sounded jokingly when I approached the ice-cream parlor. It was late, since I had to wait to be settling to get down on the street. The place was almost empty, and on the outside tables were only a couple and a little girl with her mother. Inside, Jack and a girl behind the counter were fixing things, probably about to close.

I smiled. "Yeah. I needed ice-cream." I said looking him up and down slowly. Jack grinned.

"Then you're on the perfect place. Sit down, my fair lady, and I'll bring you your favorite ice-cream." He stated with a wink and went behind the counter. The girl moved with a sighed, and smiled at me. I was surprised to say the least.

"How…?" I started, but Jack interrupted me.

"It's my gift. You know, like Vianne in Chocolat? Well, I'm like that but with ice-cream."

I don't know what was weirder. The fact that he had actually saw Chocolat enough to remember names, or the fact he just talked about my favorite movie as if it was his too. Or the fact that he was deranged and thought he could do something like that.

But when he came back with a bowl of ice-cream of different colors, I couldn't help but believe him. And gasped like a fish.

"Here you have. Blueberry pie, Swiss chocolate and mascarpone." Jack announced.

And I gasped and gaped.

What the fuck…?

I stared at my ice-cream amazed, until he pressed a little.

"Well? Did I ace?"

"That…" I started a little dazed. This boy was more than amazing. "… is not enough. How the hell did you do it?" I exclaimed with a smile, tasting the ice-cream.

Yep, perfect.

"I told you, it's my gift. Tell her it's my gift, Allie!" He asked the other girl.

"Allie" laughed out loud. "It's his compensation for not being smart, cute, witty or hot." She replied.

Jack pouted, but just as quickly, he shrugged. "Well, it would be too weird if you thought I was cute, hot, witty or smart, and I would have worried. It would be like… breaking a siblings rule."

"You're related?" I asked surprised. I hadn't thought they were. She had long straight blonde hair and he had black hair. Her eyes were bright blue, and he had grey eyes. They similar noses, but…

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm his older sister. Allie, nice to meet you."

"I'm Astaire." I smiled.

"And I'm Jack! So, now that everyone knows who the other is…" Jack sat next to me. "What are you doing in Bolton, my dear?" He asked with an exaggerate British accent. I laughed.

"My friend." I said and he understood. Allie did not.

"You're friend?"

"She's Danny Jones' wife." Jack explained in a low voice.

"She's WHAT?! Don't tell me….?" Allie started and her eyes darkened. Please don't let her be a deranged fan… "Don't tell you you're friends with Maggie Jones?"

"Yep, before she was Maggie Jones and was just Maggie Avalon." I nodded.

Allie was not a fan of McFly, but she had went to school with Danny's sister, Vicky. So it was safe to talk to her, even when I didn't say anything that could compromise them. I didn't want to cause any trouble.

We talked and talked for hours, until, the mother with the kid were gone, the couple was gone, and almost everyone on the street was gone. Jack closed the door and we kept talking. He was… a charmer. Allie leaved us sometime around midnight, and when we decided it was too much of completely senseless chatting (and when I say senseless, I mean senseless. We were talking of airplanes, conditioners and chairs), it was almost three in the morning. Compared to Maggie, I was not used to talking like this with a complete stranger, but I felt comfortable with Jack.

We said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek in the lobby of my hotel, and I went to sleep. I was so tired; it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. However, I didn't feel like I had slept that much, because not too long after jumping to my bed, Maggie was jumping over me.

"Wake up, sleepy head!!" she yelled in my ear. I swear, there are some times when I would love to kill her.

"Go away!!" I grunted.

Of course, she didn't listen. When she's hyper like this, it only means she's going to get you to do what she wants. "Staire!! It's a wonderful day and you shouldn't be sleeping." She said in a normal voice, taking my blankets off of my shoulders.

"What time is it?" I wondered, trying to cover my head with my pillow.

"Already mid day! 12 o'clock. Get up, get up. The boys have a dinner tonight for their new album and we're all invite. So we need to go shopping."

"Fine! Fine. I'm getting ready." I accepted, but only because of the magic words. Shopping, which involved credit card and boys. So I moved over the bed as ungracefully as I could and stumbled to my bed.

When I came back after a quick shower, Maggie gave me a pair of jeans and a purple shirt. When she did that, I saw her neck and chest. That only meant she had slept with Danny last night, and that was enough to make her all happy and giddy. Sometimes, Maggie is just stupid.

She dragged me out of the hotel room to the lobby, where Gabby, Rhett, Cathy, Vicky, Jazzie, and the boys were waiting for us. Harry, Danny, Dougie and Tom were wearing sunglasses and hats, it wasn't much, but unless you looked really closely, you wouldn't know it was them.

Some time later, off we went in taxis to the local mall, and once we were in there, everyone took a different direction. Cathy and Gabby, with Jazzie and Vicky went to look for dresses, with hottie Rhett with them for a male consideration. And McFly, Maggie and I were left alone to handle shop for all of us.

Tom decided to take the lead, saying that it would be easier to go for the girl's clothes first, and then for theirs. Once I felt sufficiently relaxed with them, it was actually fun, going from dress to dress like it was my thing.

It was interesting, actually, in some sociological or psychological way. Danny was clearly more than interested on Maggie, he took every chance he got to touched her, his eyes didn't leave her for a long time… and he cornered me when she was inside a different shop seeing dresses, suspiciously enough, at the same time Dougie had almost disappeared. I felt bad for Danny, somehow.

"I think…" He started, blushing a little. It was one of the cutest sights ever. "… I'm starting to really like Maggie." Danny stated.

I nodded, that was obvious. But he didn't say anything else and he just stared at me. So I pressed. "That's all?"

"No." he said too quickly. "Do you think it's weird I'm starting to like her?"

The way he said it made me think he had heard something. Anything. It made me worried too, but not so much. If he had found out about Dougie and Maggie, and this was his reaction, then the cost was clear.

"Well… You liked her enough to married her, right? Even in my book, you don't marry anyone no matter how drunk you are." I stated, which was true. Besides… drunken people always tell the truth, right?

Danny nodded. "I think she likes me too."

I nodded. Ok, this was weird. What did he want? "I think so too." I said, just in case what he wanted was reassuring. I nodded again, convinced of what I was saying.

"But… I don't really know her."

That surprised me. "Believe me, there's not much to know. Maggie is how you see her. Even when she has the weirdest comebacks, she's transparent and so easy to read."

Danny smiled. "That she is… Well…" he didn't say anything else after that. Partially because he didn't know how to go on and partly because Maggie stormed out of the store she was in with her lips red.

"Staire!" she said. "I just saw the most beautiful dress ever!! Come, come, it's perfect for you." Maggie exclaimed happily, dragging me to the store with Danny behind. Ok, this was one of the not too many times when I seriously thought my friend was a completely stupid. Enough was enough, and even when I didn't believe in interfering with her life and all… that didn't mean I had to like it.

But… I did understand she was confused. It couldn't be different, because of her situation. I would probably be as confused as her… Hell, she's making me confused with this!

I sighed, letting her drag me from here to there buying dresses and all. Danny and the boys thought she was just really happy. I, on the other hand, knew her hyper state was now caused by her not wanting to face things. She didn't want to have time to think about things. She wanted to be in constant motion.

I needed to know what the hell Dougie had said to her to cause this, but I didn't get anything by staring at him. He was grinning widely and only smiled at me when he caught me looking at him.

Jeez.

Men are just trouble!

*`*`*

Rhett

*`*`*

After almost three hours of hearing my mom and the other women talking about clothes, boys, men and all that rubbish, I was seriously thinking about committing suicide. It seemed like the perfect way to end the torture.

But instead, the perfect opportunity to get off appeared to me when I saw the other group one level up from us. With the excuse of missing my sister, I was free to run away. And I did just that, ran to the upstairs floor just before my sis and the four men went inside a shoes store. Astaire, however, stopped outside, talking in a low voice to herself, as if she was on her own world. I had always liked her. She was hot, smart and funny, and had a tendency of getting drunk out of her ass and crashing on my bed. I, being the gentleman I am, never took advantage of that, and instead, gently took her to Maggie's room. No one ever suspected anything.

But as I got closer to her to surprise her, I hear her muttering. My reaction was the same a wild feline would have when hearing his prey.

"… and she's just getting in more and more trouble." Astaire was saying, probably talking about my sister. Who else? "She shouldn't do that… And Dougie, god! He's as stupid as her."

It didn't take me long to understand what was going on and why she was muttering. I felt my blood boil, but before I stormed inside the store and killed both guys, and idea popped in my head.

I smirked, controlling my impulses.

I was against my sister's marriage, but not only out of over protectiveness. No. I felt something wrong about it and I didn't like at all the fact her husband had so much money. He could be blackmailing her with something to stay married or something like that.

I hated Daniel Jones.

And I had just found the perfect way of getting rid of him.

I didn't care how much damage I did. Actually, the more the better.

But I needed to wait first, and I went and smiled at Astaire, asking her how her hours had gone by, and if they had found anything. We got inside the store, and Maggie jumped to my neck when she saw me. That was just another proof that something was wrong. Maggie was over-acting, trying to hide something. What, I couldn't be sure. But I didn't like it.

I followed them and helped them with whatever my sis wanted, until I found my opportunity. I'm not a coldhearted bastard, but this situation was too fishy for my liking. And they were messing with my baby sister.

Daniel had stayed behind, paying for my sister's shoes, when I approached him. It was hard to keep the hatred out of my gaze, but, on the other hand, it was too easy to break the news to him.

"I don't like you, but I have honor and I wouldn't like to be in your position now. I think you should know what my sister is doing behind your back." I said. He looked confused, until I pointed with my head toward my sis and the skater dude. That guy was next on my death list.

Daniel took his time, but I saw the realization slowly appearing in his face. His expression changed, his eyes opened and… I saw hurt. I almost felt sorry right there. Maybe I was being too hard. Maybe there was nothing wrong, and he really cared for her.

But it was too late.

And now I wasn't going to feel bad about it, because the sadistic pleasure of his reaction was bigger that my conscious.

I had got what I wanted.

And somehow… even with all that, the victory wasn't so sweet.

Here's me with yet another chapter and an announcement. This fic already has an ending written. I can say for sure it has only three (or four, I'm not sure now XD) chapters left. So... enjoy them XD.

chlozzard: Here you have more. Hope you like it!

ArizonaAlexander: Thanks!! I love you for reading it!! XD

Alexia Rayner: Thanks. Here you have more!

Nikki: Aaaaw, poor dougie! She is married, but, still... I don´t know XD. Poor Dougie, no one likes him hahahaahah. Here you have more!!!

That's all for now. Wait for the next chapters soon!

Love

XOXO

Odd.