A/N So here's chapter two. I guess I don't have much to say about it except for how awesome I am for posting it almost exactly a week after ch. one like I said I would. Anyway, please r&r and all that good stuff. have fun and close your eyes if it gets too scary. Maybe I should say I'm kidding. It's not really scary...That was probably unneccesary...


Chapter Two:

"Ruby, what am I going to do!?"

"Calm down Ren, you're not helping anything by getting hysterical."

"You're right. I need to be calm.. I just don't know what I'm going to do. They all are counting on me. Especially Twitty, he has never wanted to do anything else for as long as I've known him."

"But Ren, the longer you don't tell him the worse it's going to be. You know that right?"

"Yeah, I know. But I can't believe that this got to be such a big deal. I never wanted to be in a band. Not for the rest of my life anyway. Sheesh, I just wanted to be in the band to get to Jason Badwells party. After that, well, I guess it was fun, you know? But I never saw it getting this serious!"

"Well, you still have to get this over with, don't you? I don't think you can just keep playing along. But hey, don't worry; they won't hate you or anything. Just be honest and they'll get over it. I'm sure they can find another singer."

Their conversation ended, Ren hung up her phone, sat still for a moment, and then grabbed Mr. Pooky.

"So Louis, what do you think was going on with Ren?" Tawny asked as the two walked towards Tawny's house.

They left the Stevens house a little while after practice, Louis having offered to walk her home.

"Well," Louis started, but he let it stop there. He didn't want to talk abut Ren's strange behavior right now. The sun was out, and he found himself enjoying it's warmness on his face. Why in the world should he want to discuss Ren's weirdness on such a beautiful day, when he was with Tawny?"

"Umm, well I don't know," he said, finally mending his unfinished sentence. "Ren just was probably in a weird mood. Who knows what she was thinking?"

"You don't think she would be nervous about performing do you?"

"No, I don't think Ren has ever been scared to be in front of people. She loves the spotlight.

Louis decides to try and change the subject. Luckily, something perfect caught his eye.

"Hey look! An ice cream dude! Do you want a cone? I bet they have bubble gum guacamole!"

Tawny laughed at the absurd combination. Louis happily watched her smile, and they started to make their way over to the ice cream vendor in the park.

"Man, I would do anything to make her smile. She is so perfect. I still can't believe that we are together. I can't let anything come between us."

So continuing their laughing and joking back and forth, they got the ice cream and kept going to her house. Eventually, Louis quieted down, and they walked in silence for a few seconds, each dwelling on their own thoughts. Except for the birds that were flying, and occasionally chirping overhead, and the odd jogger, it seemed that they were completely alone. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, quite the opposite; it was just that both were content to simply walk together without talking about anything for a while.

Louis stole a glance at Tawny, while at the same time she looked towards him. When they made eye contact, they both smiled, almost shy for some reason. Louis thought he wanted to say something, he wasn't sure exactly what. But before he could even try, Tawny broke the silence.

"Louis, I am still kind of worried about Ren. She did seem pretty nervous, and she sure had a lot of questions for Twitty. I think maybe we should try and find out what the problem is."

Louis stopped walking and faced her. "All right, you win. I'll try and find out what is going on. But you owe me." He said, with a wink.

Before they knew it, they were at her front door, making their farewells. Louis turned and started back home, walking very cool just in case Tawny was watching him. Very cool indeed.

So cool in fact, that he nearly hit a parked car.

Twice.