Conner slammed the door to his bedroom and turned on his stereo. His new Ja Rule CD blared out as if daring people not to enter. Which was just the point. Suddenly someone started pounding on his door. "Who is it?" he shouted.
"Megan!!" a voice yelled back. He groaned and flipped of the stereo and opened the door. "What?" he said with as much attitude as he could muster hoping to drive her away.
As usual it seemed to have no affect and Megan stormed into the room. "Listen, Mac. I am not your personal secretary. Alanna has called almost a dozen times demanding to know where the hell you are. And if she calls one more time I swear I'm having our phone service disabled. At least when you were dating Liz she didn't call like, 500 times a day. I swear, your girlfriend must be the most insecure girl on the planet!"
"Are you done?" Conner said smirking after her little tirade. "Listen, I don't care. I don't want to talk to her."
Megan looked at him curiously. "What did she do? Did she tell little Connie that she loves him?"
"No." Conner muttered.
Megan's face lit up, "She did! You're freakin!"
"Enough!" Conner yelled, "I just…freaked. That doesn't mean I don't...care about her."
"Do you love her?" Megan asked quietly. "I mean you and Elizabeth broke up almost two months ago."
"So?"
"Why did you guys break up anyway?" Megan asked intrigued by her brother sudden show of emotion towards Liz.
"You know when I was at rehab?" Megan nodded. "She dated Evan and then didn't even tell me about when I got back."
"Is that all?" Megan asked incredulously. "You need to get a major clue. First off all your guys had broke up so she was free to date whoever she wanted. Second, weren't you seeing Alanna?"
"But I came clean about it!" Conner interrupted.
"Hold on!" Megan snapped. "Third she was going to tell your right before you confronted her and yelled at her. She had just finished talking to me in the hall and said she was going to tell you. You just never gave her a chance. She dumped Evan way before you came back. Do you know why? Because for some stupid reason she loves you. I have no idea why, but she does."
Conner starred at Megan like he had been slapped. When did his sister start yelling at him? And why, did she sound exactly like his conscience?

Elizabeth stood in front of the mirror at the mall bathroom and smoothed down the front of her silk blouse and her short black skirt. Yep. She was ready for work. She leaned foreword and fixed her makeup. Then she headed towards the makeup counter ready to put in a five-hour shift. She noticed there was a girl in line waiting to get a makeover. As she neared the girl she saw that it was Alanna Feldman. "May I help you?" Elizabeth said politely.
"Don't give me any of that!" Alanna hissed. "I want you to stay away from Conner."
"What?" Elizabeth laughed. "I haven't even spoken to him in like two months."
"I'm not blind. He's always checking you out." Alanna said angrily.
Elizabeth tried not to grin with pure happiness. "So maybe he was. That doesn't mean anything."
"Yeah, but don't forget the last time you two where together was at the little party at his house where I saw you guys making out!"
"What is your problem? That was just a kiss that took place ages ago!"
Alanna frowned. "He still likes you. I can tell. Can't you like start dating someone so he can just get over you?"
Elizabeth's eyes flashed. "I'm not going to date some random guy. You can't tell me what to do. And maybe Conner made the wrong choice in breaking up with me."
Alanna stepped back and placed her hands on the counter. "You would never steal him from me. We belong together."
"Maybe if you did he wouldn't be checking me out." Elizabeth said.
Alanna looked at her and burst into tears.

Elizabeth walked downstairs and into the backyard. After the scene with Alanna at the mall she hadn't been able to sleep. She sat down on the swing and wrapped her arms around herself. She should have brought a jacket. All she was wearing was plaid pajama pants with an El Carro shirt of Conner's. Even though he had lent it to her months ago she could still smell the faint scent of his cologne. She felt a smile play on her lips. Conner hated cologne but he had worn it for her a few times. But she knew, she just knew, in her heart that those days were over. He wasn't what she needed right now. She needed to be in a stress free relationship and with Conner it was everything but relaxed. But oh, how she wanted him. But she was beginning to see how selfish she was trying to steal Conner away from Alanna. After all Conner had chosen her. And Conner and Alanna had seemed to fit well together. Irritatingly so.

Conner walked into House of Java and saw Jeremy working behind the counter. "Hey man." Conner said lightly. He hadn't seen Jeremy since their road trip about a month ago.
"Hey yourself," Jeremy replied. "How are you doing?"
"Okay," Conner said. "How's Jess?"
"I think what you mean, how's Liz." Jeremy said slyly.
"What? Is it that obvious? But anyway it doesn't matter. I can't go back to her. Not after that whole Evan thing."
Jeremy nodded sympathetically. "Well from my perspective it kind of looked more like Evan's fault. Elizabeth was really messed up after you left and I think Evan took advantage of the situation. And Liz? Honestly? I think she was lonely and she missed you so much. But after her head started to clear she realized how wrong it was and she dumped him pretty harshly."
"Really?" Conner asked hopefully.
"Yeah." Jeremy said. "Now promise we one thing. Just don't tell Jessica I told you all of that. She thinks you're totally wrong for her sister."
Conner barley heard him. Jessica was the least of his problems. Right now the only thing on his mind was talking to Liz.

Elizabeth sat there listening to the song coming from Jessica's open window.
There's a thousand words that I could say
To make you come home
Seems so long ago you walked away
And left me alone
And I remember what you said to me
You were acting so strange
And maybe I was too blind to see
That you needed a change
Was it something I said, to make you turn away
To make you walk out and leave me cold
If I could just find a way
To make it so that you were right here right now

Was that song written about her? She felt tears trickle down her face and just as she was about to wipe them a rough hand brushed across her face and wipe them for her. She looked up, "Conner," she breathed.
"Hey," he said smiling.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered.
"I wanted…I wanted to apologize. I feel awful about the way I just yelled at you and left you."
"No," she interjected. "It was my fault. I should have come clean about Evan. I was. I just…I was so upset about Alanna and I didn't even know her. And If I was that upset about some girl then I was afraid about how you would react. I mean Evan is one of your best friends."
Conner smiled and pushed back a piece of her hair. "Silly girl, didn't you know that you meant more to me then Evan? I was just hurt that you weren't honest with me."
"But you seem so happy with Alanna. I mean even Megan seems to think you guys are perfect." Elizabeth said softly enjoying the sensation of Conner's arms around her.
"I was. But she doesn't mean…what you meant to me. I like her. And I'm worried about her. But I'm not in love with her."
"Oh!" Liz said. "I thought you hated me. You were so angry."
"I know. I'm sorry. I was just hurt. When I came back from rehab I wanted to forget that place. I just wanted to be stress free and I knew that with you I could be. I was all prepared to drop Alanna if you would take me back. But with Alanna, it's everything but relaxed. It's her parents, her drinking, and her insecurity. I sometimes get so stressed I just want to drink again."
"But you can't! I mean no offense, but Alanna needs help. And it's not your problem. It's her problem. Remember I went through this with you."
"I know," Conner said huskily placing a finger underneath her chin. "Thanks."
"Conner," Elizabeth said heavily trying to ignore his face hovering near hers. "What about Alanna?"
"Screw Alanna," Conner said so softly, Elizabeth wasn't sure she had heard him. Then he leaned in and kissed her.