Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: Wow, I'm way overdue for an update. Sorry, everbody, but school and are not treating me well. I'll try harder to get the updates in... once I get my ideas back in my head. But until then...
Star Fata: Glad you liked it.I loved the idea of Sister Hour for some reason. Here's the next update.
AudreenaDumbledore: Thanks for your review, I'm glad you like the story. I figured they'd work well together, although I really chose them for a somewhat different reason. Hope you enjoy this update.
Phantom Rogue: Actually, yeah, the club was named for the three original Halliwell sisters in "Charmed", although I was a little too lazy to change it since it made no sense to keep it P3 even though none of them have names starting with 'P'. But then again, it was that or KAT. And, uh, well... I don't know. I just confused myself. Agh, just read this update.
Ashley Hammond Astro Yellow: All right, I'm getting somewhere with your promised A/A moments. There's not going to be any real A/A moments for a long time, but you do get an A/A memory. Ooh, and Andros starts talking! I hope you like it. Actually, you better like it, after all the angst you put us through with your updates.
Go on!
Oh, yeah, they won't let me put rulers on the updates. They're mean, I know.
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Chapter 13:
"Go hang out with your friends, we've got everything covered."
Chris was doing everything he could to get Taylor to take a break from her managerial duties. She refused to take the night off as night manager, so he and Wyatt said she could work at P3 but only if she spent most of the night like her sisters and enjoying it with their friends. However, she hadn't gone anywhere in the club except the bar to make sure the new bartenders were doing well and her office to take care of assorted documents she needed to double check and file. Everyone else from the house could see why Ashley and Kimberly called her a workaholic when it came to the club.
Kimberly could see Chris and Taylor bickering over Taylor leaving her station for an hour or two. She got up from her seat and move toward the bar, Ashley following her. She called out Taylor's name to catch her attention. "Come on, Tay, it's not fun without everyone there. Just join us for a while; this is not how we spend Sister Hour and you know it."
"I know, I know," Taylor urged, "but give me ten more minutes; I just want to check the stock before one of the new bartenders annoys me by saying there isn't enough."
"No," Ashley declared. "You get ten seconds. Now, you're coming with us," she said before grabbing Taylor's arm and walking her out from behind the bar and toward the group of tables where their friends were sitting.
Everyone took a break from laughing to see the girls return. "Hey, it's about time you joined us," Alyssa said to Taylor. "We were already beginning to miss you."
"I was over at the bar," Taylor informed.
"Well, you belong right here," Max pulled a chair out between him and Alyssa.
Taylor conceded to her sisters and her friends and took the seat offered to her. "So what have you guys been doing since you got here?"
"Not much," Alyssa answered. "Just ordered some drinks and talking to get to know a little more about each other."
"What, no dancing," Taylor asked, putting on a face of mock disbelief when she looked at Ashley. "My, something must be wrong then."
In return, Ashley smiled playfully, which only worried Taylor as to what Ashley had in mind. "Actually, we were just waiting for you to take a break before Kim and I pulled you onto the dance floor. Now, come on, before the band comes on."
"What band?" Kimberly asked, not remembering Taylor mention the band she booked for tonight.
"I got the Goo Goo Dolls to come and play," Taylor answered.
"Seriously?" Kimberly said with a grin. "Why didn't you tell me? You know how much I love them."
"It was going to be a sort of surprise but, eh, you'll enjoy it all the same. And I put in requests for all your favorite songs by them," she said to both her sisters.
Ashley threw her arms around Taylor, wondering why she always did things like this for her and Kimberly. "Agh, you're just too much, Tay."
"Yeah, yeah, you always say that," Taylor responded. "Now, didn't you say something about dancing or can I go back to the office?"
"No more office," Kimberly and Ashley stated together, along with Alyssa, Cole, and Danny.
They headed toward the dance floor before Kimberly turned around and asked everyone to join them. Only the girls and a few guys took the offer, the rest unsure if they could be so comfortable in a nightclub like P3 so soon. They were still questioning if the girls they just saw were actually the ones they knew from their Power Ranger days.
As about half the group were enjoying themselves on the dance floor, the rest were talking about how the Kimberly, Ashley and Taylor had seemingly changed. "There is no way that is the same Taylor who was the same Yellow Ranger on our team," Cole observed when he saw Kimberly and Taylor laughing freely while following to some moved Ashley wanted them to learn.
"You never know," Merrick said to his old leader. "A lot of things can change a person, even Taylor."
"But she's dancing and laughing like… I don't even have the word for it," Cole shrugged. "Never in a million years did I think she was capable of changing that much."
"Maybe that's who she really was all along," Tommy suggested. "Sometimes, we never see a person for everything they are because we're not the ones who can bring them out."
"Yeah, maybe it's just Ashley and Kimberly," Wes offered aloud. "You heard them last night and you see how they are. Trust me, from what I saw of her when we all fought together that one time, I didn't think she could be like this either. But whenever it comes to Kimberly and Ashley, it's like everything is possible for her. Something changed about her but it's definitely for the better and I think it has to do with her sisters." Everyone in the house already got used to the three girls calling each other sisters.
Jason and Billy could only confirm the idea. "The same goes for Kim," Jason said. "I mean, I know I haven't seen her in almost ten years but I still remember her from our ranger days. She didn't change; she's still the spirited girl who cared for everyone she knew and met, but something is undeniably different with her when it comes to Taylor and Ashley. She still cheerful and caring, but it's like she's more so when she's with those two."
"They kind of have to be," a voice said from behind the guys. They turned instantly to see Wyatt. "Sorry for eavesdropping but I came by to check on the girls, or at least when I thought they were still sitting here. But I can see what you mean. All three of them were different when they first came here. Now, though, I can't say they were the same girls, even on the outside."
"What do you mean they kind of have to be," Zhane asked, watching Wyatt take a seat Tommy and Jason offered the club owner.
"Chris and I know you guys still see the girls as your friends and teammates, but we've only seen them as sisters. It does have a lot to do with the fact that they're Charmed. Again, I don't know how I know this for sure," he started, "but I do know my mother and my aunts were closer with each other than they could be with anyone else. To them, they weren't just sisters; they were part of each other. To fight well and succeed as Charmed Ones, you have to not only know your sisters, but a part of you has to actually be them, if you know what I mean.
"As they've grown closer, they only seem to… brighten when they're with each other. I suppose that's why they have jobs close to each other and stick together through almost everything; they're better and stronger when they're together and they know that. It helps them in battle, which is necessary if we're to find out who or what is after you guys. Moreover, though, it helps them find themselves and see each other for who they really are. At this point, Chris and I can't imagine what would happen if anything bad happened to one of them."
The only thing the guys could do was agree. They saw how Ashley, Taylor and Kimberly were together. Their bond was strong and to have a part of it broken could only bring terrible consequences.
"Put on your smiles, guys," Wyatt said suddenly. "They're coming back. And enjoy the rest of the night." Wyatt returned to the office to continue some work he and Chris started on a while before.
It was obvious when everyone came back that they enjoyed their time on the dance floor. "You guys should have joined us," Katherine said to everyone who stayed back.
"Who knows? Some of you guys might've loosened up," Aisha added, which caused the half the guys to put on faces of false offense at her words.
"Oh, you know them," Cassie said lightly. "They probably couldn't loosen up at a club if their lives depended on it."
"Excuse me?" Zhane and Carlos asked with slight injury in their countenances. No one could see if they were serious or teasing with their wounded expressions.
"All right," Tanya ceded. "We can admit some of you guys can loosen up, maybe even on the dance floor."
"Not the red rangers," Karone and Cassie stated together, earning agreements from the rest of the female ex-rangers.
All the previous rangers who donned the crimson color had to respond to that statement. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I resent that beyond all possibility," Rocky said aloud. "If you forgot, girls, I actually went out on that dance floor and had a good time."
"Only to protect your girlfriend from getting snatched up by another guy," Zack countered his friend.
"Wait, wait," Kimberly urged. "Rocky has a point, and I think he's one of the guys that can relax with the rest of us; we have proof of that. It's the rest of the red rangers here who can't."
"Who all went on that secret Code-Red mission a few years ago," Taylor and Ashley said with a shared smirk. The guys they were speaking of immediately knew they were never going to hold down that part of their pasts.
Nearly a minute passed before anyone in the large group said anything. The former red rangers couldn't find any defense at the moment and everyone else waited for them to speak. Finally, Jason did.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Taylor shrugged in response, a relaxed smile on her face. "Nothing, really. It's just a coincidence."
"A very weird one," Alyssa added.
"So y'all are blaming us for saving the world?" T.J. inquired next.
"Of course not," Cassie answered.
"It just seems," Ashley started, "that you guys are good leaders but, apparently, you suck at just relaxing with the rest of the world."
"You forgot egotistical," Taylor put in, earning all sorts of glares from not only the previous Power Ranger leaders but from most of the male ex-rangers.
"You're calling us egotistical," Cole, Eric and Wes looked at her at the same time.
Kimberly and Ashley went on the defense at once. "Watch what you say, boys," Kimberly warned. They knew she was a force to be reckoned with, more so when it came to Ashley and Taylor.
"Mind explaining your words, Earhardt?"
Taylor remembered that Eric had a tendency to call her by her last name, as she did with him. It was a habit. "I'm just saying that for you to recruit only the red rangers was more than a bit arrogant. I mean, what, you don't like the rest of us when it comes to saving the world from… whatever it was you were fighting?"
"And you didn't even take all the red rangers!" Aisha exclaimed when Taylor finished. "That was just mean, leaving Rocky behind."
"We didn't have enough red morphers," Tommy and Jason argued in defense.
"It was still mean," Katherine stated.
"Guys, don't worry, it's long forgotten," Rocky replied, barely hurt at the time of the event everyone was speaking of.
"Not to the girls, apparently," Wes said.
"Well, it was a huge insult that you thought we wouldn't be able to handle the job," Trini said.
"We never said that," Jason returned, glad that it was Trini who spoke that any other girl; at least the original Earth Power Rangers knew she would approach the fact calmly.
"Then why didn't you take us along?" Cassie asked, turning to T.J. and Andros.
The two only opened and closed their mouths continuously, trying to stumble on an explanation and finding none. The same happened when the rest of the girls looked to everyone else who went on the mission the males deemed Code-Red. It seemed they were in trouble for the operation. Again. For too long a time, the only sound they could hear was the music and chattering of people in the club. When he couldn't take it anymore, Tommy gave up.
"Okay, you're right. We're arrogant red rangers and we beg your forgiveness."
The girls were happy to hear that and smiled smugly when the rest of the former red rangers said things along the same lines as Tommy's words.
"That's all we wanted to hear," Kimberly said.
"So can we let it go," Tommy asked.
"I guess so," Katherine replied. The rest of the girls let the matter go.
"So what now?" Karone said.
"Anything," Ashley answered. "As long as it keeps Taylor out of the office and from behind the bar."
"Fine, but don't blame me when you want a free drink," Taylor retorted and threw her hands up in mock defeat.
"Okay, except in that case," Kimberly returned.
"There's a pool table and a foosball table in the gameroom next to the office if you guys want to play," Taylor informed, raising interest for most of the guys. She explained that almost none of the guests knew unless she or either of the Halliwell brothers told them and gave them the key to the gameroom. "Have fun, but don't take out the entire mini-fridge."
All the guys from the first Power Ranger team except for Billy left, Zhane almost left with Carlos but decided to stay back when Karone asked him to get her a drink, and everyone but Alyssa, Eric, and Cole from Taylor's old team followed the rest of the guys.
"I guess I should've told them about the gameroom when we first came here," Ashley said.
"And let them have the satisfaction of not having to go through that whole lesson in arrogance?" Taylor asked in disbelief. "No way."
"Did you notice that almost everyone on that Code-Red mission left us?" Kimberly observed.
"They'll never learn," Cassie added.
Zhane stuck up for his best friend and the other two red rangers who stayed behind. "Can I just point out that Andros, Cole and Eric are still here with you guys?"
"You can but it won't do anything," Aisha replied.
"I said almost all of them," Kimberly clarified. "I think you guys deserve something in return for staying back and not leaving off with the rest of them to play pool and foosball like we knew they would."
The three guys in question all beamed somewhat at the idea, but it was Zhane that asked what exactly they were willing to give with those words.
"Not much," Taylor answered, meriting a laugh from the girls and a playful hit on the arm by her sisters.
"But seriously," Ashley started, "you guys deserve something, even if it's for something like that. It just shows that there are some sweet guys out there."
"If you says so," Taylor retorted, trapping herself into a staring contest with Eric when she caught his glare.
"Anyway," Kimberly continued, "why don't we figure that later when we get home? What do you want to do right now?"
"I don't mind dancing a little more before the band gets here," Katherine suggested.
"When is the band getting here," Cassie brought up.
Taylor cast a glance at her watch. "Should be in a little less than half an hour."
"Plenty of time left for us to dance," Tanya said before getting up and heading back to the crowd in front of the stage dancing to the song rushing from the speakers around the club. Katherine, Aisha and Alyssa followed her lead, leaving the rest to remain.
"Aren't you going to go with them," Kimberly asked Ashley.
"I think I'll just take a break. How about some water?"
"I'll get it," Taylor suggested, heading to the bar.
"Oh, no, you don't," Ashley said as soon as Taylor offered. "You're not going behind the bar if I can help it. I'll be right back."
Taylor and Kimberly watched as their sister went behind the bar to grab a few bottles of water before getting caught into a conversation with a dance student from the community center they met months before. They turned back to see what their friends were talking about. The only thing they could notice, though, was that everyone was talking except for one person besides them.
Typically, no one would be able to see that Andros was staring at Ashley at the bar, but somehow it was painfully evident to Kimberly and Taylor. The younger sister couldn't believe that they hadn't patched things up and the other couldn't see how they stayed in the same house the last two nights without at least coming to blows about their previous relationship. They were certain, however, that the two still cared about each other to the point that it was hurting them both. Kimberly figured it wasn't helping that Ashley was wearing Andros's color that night. They both wondered how long would this continue.
Kimberly decided to take initiative and try to get Andros to talk. "Hey, Andros," she said loud enough for only him and Taylor to hear her. "You haven't talked practically all night. Are you okay?"
"I'm perfectly fine," he assured, putting on a smile that was obviously strained. At that, the rest of the Astro team that remained at the table looked at him, noticing that he was talking to Kimberly. He hoped they would at least respect his need for solitude and leave him alone for now.
"You're a bad liar," Taylor said in the softest voice she used all night. "And so is Ashley."
"What do you mean?"
"You both tell everyone you're fine," Taylor continued in her calm, almost soothing, tone, "but everyone knows you're both not. What you don't realize is it's hurting Ash even more."
"I don't know what you're getting at."
Kimberly knew Andros didn't understand them; she did know that Taylor was speaking the truth and promised to do her best to let Andros see. "She's an empath" she started. "That means she knows everything everyone is feeling. Actually, she feels all the emotions we feel, sometimes inadvertently. She's learned to control it and use it like a real empath should. She can transform and use anyone's emotions to her advantage but most of the time she just leaves them alone. But other times, our feelings just spring on her. Rarely do they ever consume her like they used to, but it's possible."
It was evident that Andros wasn't understanding where this was leading. "Again, I don't know what you mean."
Taylor wanted to be blunt but she decided to try and let it out as calmly as she could. "All this that you're holding back is only hurting the both of you. I don't know everything you're feeling but Ashley does, or at least she can. Given your history with each other, it wouldn't surprise me if she knew your feelings like a second nature. So you can only think about the pain she's in."
Andros didn't even deny what Taylor said. Usually, he would but something inside wouldn't let him. He felt his throat constrict as he held back any tears that might've fallen. He didn't care that everyone still at the table turned their attention to him. He didn't want to hide it anymore but he didn't know what to do.
"What do you expect me to do," he asked softly, turning his head away from everyone, who were either looking at him with worried faces or looking away in unease. "It's not like we can talk anymore."
"And why do you say that," Kimberly countered gently. "Because you still love each other? If anything, that's more reason to talk to each other."
"She doesn't love me anymore," Andros said with a tension in his voice, making some things more obvious to Kimberly and Taylor.
"You didn't say you don't love her anymore," Taylor pointed out.
Andros couldn't believe he let that slip. Hell, he couldn't believe he was doing this here where everyone could see. He knew Zhane and Karone were going to give him some kind of talk tonight about finally speaking to Ashley about their relationship, or what was left of it. "It's not like before."
"Nothing is," Taylor said, folding her elbows on the table and leaning forward so that Andros wouldn't keep looking away or eventually tune out anything she and Kimberly would say. "What exactly are you afraid of? Or is there something else?"
"Everything," Andros sighed. No one knew which question he was answering. Yet Kimberly and Taylor had a small idea of what he meant.
Taylor and Kimberly glanced back to see Ashley now engrossed in a conversation with the same girl from before and two other dance students who knew her as well. She was going to be distracted for some time.
"You know," Taylor began, "you both love hard."
"What," Andros said as he slowly turned his head back to face them.
"You both love hard," Kimberly repeated Taylor's words, now aware that Karone, Zhane, Cassie, even Eric and Trini were looking at them and listening to everything. "For different reasons, true, but it's still the same when it comes to you two."
"It can't happen again," Andros said firmly, as if it was a line of a concrete dogma he had to live by.
"Why," Taylor asked swiftly, surprising herself with the emotion in her voice, despite saying only a single word. She smiled in her mind when she saw that she now held Andros's attention. "Because you're scared? Because you don't know what might happen, or you don't want to know? Or just because?"
The last sentence took all of Andros's thoughts out of his head. It was the perfect answer. Just because. The words had an infinite number of endings and an infinite number of answers, which meant they were an infinite number of reasons and Andros honestly didn't know a single one. "Just because," he returned.
After he answered, Taylor slowly leaned back, looking at Andros with eyes that weren't so concerned but not dismissive at all. She cared, that much was obvious, because she wanted Ashley happy. He made her happy. They were both just too stubborn to accept it.
"Can I just ask," Kimberly said suddenly, "why you love everyone you do like your life depends on them?"
She knew she didn't have to ask and Andros knew it as well. It was doubtless that as Kimberly and Taylor learned about some of his history as Ashley revealed hers to them, at least enough to make that question meaningless. But Kimberly had a point in asking; she knew she had to ask, just so Andros could answer it himself and make him see a little bit of truth in this whole thing.
"Because it does," he answered, his voice barely above a whisper. Kimberly thought for a second that she missed his words but as soon as she saw his gaze shift to Ashley behind the bar, she knew what he said. "I can't lose them once I love them," he continued, part of him just letting words come out without any resistance. "If I do, it's hell all over again."
"And because you deserve it," Kimberly supplied, breaking a small smile on her lips at his honesty. "We know you deserve it, after everything you've been through. You lost everything and yet you still fought for something that was deemed hopeless. You lost everyone and the only thing you thought was driving you to continue was revenge. It was actually a love you couldn't let go. You saved the world and still fight for it because you know there are people who deserve to live in a world you thought you lost. You know they deserve to have people fight for them and people to love them. You deserve it and you found it. You're just scared to keep it."
"I don't have it anymore," he stated.
"It's not true if you say it," Kimberly countered before getting up and heading toward the bar to make sure Ashley was distracted enough. Andros needed to know why they were both timorous, or at least why he was.
"That doesn't make it untrue, either," he argued when Taylor waited with patient eyes for him to reply.
For some time, no one said anything. Taylor sat in her seat starting at Andros looking down at the table, finding the most effective thing to say, if there was anything useful to say. The rest of the group was wondering the same thing and whether or not they should stay silent. Karone couldn't stand the silence anymore or seeing her brother this way, but even if she didn't know the right thing to say, she had to say something.
"Andros-"
"You really want to know," Taylor asked, cutting Karone off accidentally. She kept her gaze steady as Andros raised his head to look at her. He made no other response or move for his answer but she could see the answer in his eyes. "You know Ash is the Charmed One of love and humanity. Even before she was Charmed, she loved life more than anything. Well, almost anything," she corrected. "But she always hoped for a better world for everyone and fought for it because she believed in that hope. She had faith in humanity, which I could never fully understand. But even so, do you know how much it takes for just one person to have that responsibility as a Charmed One?" She leaned forward after Andros shook his head gently.
For a second, Taylor was grateful that the group of tables she reserved for them was in one of the private alcoves created for small groups. It would be easier to talk without the worry of any of the club-goers listening in.
"Being the Charmed One of love and humanity means she has to love everything in it, and the stranger thing isn't that she can but that she does," Taylor explained, knowing Andros would say nothing before she finished. "I don't know how but she just does. But that does create some complications in other areas of our lives. There's no question that the Charmed Ones before us had to make a choice sometime in their lives between their lives as regular people and as Charmed Ones. You choose magic or normal life, saving innocents or living your life as one. We never had that ultimatum but Ashley didn't want it anyway. She knows what she would choose, and Kim and I love her for it. I never thought it was possible but she has more than enough love for one person; she has enough to love the world for all its beauties and faults. But that love can drive people crazy if it becomes too much. It can scare the life out of her or literally make her crazy like when she first got her empathy. The thing is she's so capable of love and has so much of it, that whatever and whoever she loves, she loves them with everything she has because she's so full of this boundless love. But that can only scare her when life comes back to mind and everything falls down again. Too much love is just too much, period."
Taylor took a breather and tried to measure if anything she was saying was registering in Andros's mind. She and Kimberly wanted him to see it but Ashley needed him to know, even if she didn't know it herself.
Kimberly returned and took her seat by Taylor, knowing what Taylor already told Andros and the rest of the table. She could only wonder what Andros was thinking after looking at his face, conflicted emotions fighting for dominance. She waited for Taylor to continue.
"That, and something else." Taylor took some time to find the right words for her second explanation. By now, everyone who was still there was paying attention to all she said, but she couldn't focus on that.
"There's a big struggle for all three of us as Charmed Ones but I think to an extent, the biggest struggle is for Ashley. I told you before that at one point the Charmed Ones had to decide between a magical life and a normal one. When we found that out, Ashley wouldn't show it but Kim and I knew she was scared again, but for a completely different reason. Loving isn't something she does, it's something she is. If and when she loves someone, it's forever. But she was scared that if it came down to saving someone she loved as a normal person and saving an innocent because of the duties of a Charmed One, she wouldn't know who to choose. One calls for her duty while one calls for her heart. Either way, the decision would kill her. It's like asking her to choose between me and Kim, or worse between us and a world full of innocents who will never know the fight she made for them. It's something she can never win and she's scared that it will happen. She says there's if it'll happen, she always says when. And so…"
Andros didn't need her to say anymore. Taylor said so much that she thought she couldn't say anymore. It just worried her that if it was too much for her say, how hard would it be for Ashley to realize and fully accept it? She kept her eyes on Andros, silently begging that he would understand now why it was so hard for Ashley. The truth was that she didn't know why herself but what she did know, she told him. She hoped it would be enough.
Kimberly looked around to see how the rest of the table was taking it. Most of the looks told her they thought what Taylor said was amazing and more so if it were true, which they had no doubt of in their minds. Moreover the looks Cole's and Eric's faces told her that they couldn't believe that Taylor had said all of that. If it had depended on who they were as rangers, Kimberly would have been fit to tell Andros about Ashley. It wasn't that Taylor and Ashley were closer than either was to Kimberly; she knew they shared their bond equally. It was just that Taylor had become fitter to tell them the truth. Kimberly couldn't help but make sure that Andros took everything to mind.
"Taylor's telling the truth, Andros," she said, hoping she didn't disrupt too much of his reverie. "Ash is only scared because she has too much love. She thinks she can't love anyone, even us, more than she has to love the world and the rest of humanity, but she can. She's just scared if she has to choose. But that doesn't mean she can't try."
"She won't unless you let her," Taylor added. "Just let her."
Andros looked away again, away from them and from Ashley's direction still at the bar, trying her best to finish up her conversation. He didn't know exactly what to say to that but he wanted to say something. "I know," he whispered, knowing Taylor and Kimberly would hear it.
"Hey," Kimberly said softly, not daring to raise her voice any higher right now. "It doesn't have to be now. It'll take a lot of time, maybe more than you can think of right now. But just… give it some more time. I mean, you've got forever."
"What?"
Kimberly suddenly smiled, her heart fond over a small tradition Ashley shared with no one but Andros. It was too cute for her or Taylor to forget. "Ash told us about the Casper thing."
"What Casper thing," Zhane asked aloud, forgetting that it had nothing to do with him, which he was reminded of when Karone slapped him hard on the arm.
Andros wanted to answer the question this time, a small smile falling on his lips for the first time in days. "I'd always ask her if I could keep her forever," he explained, suddenly remembering the first time Ashley made him watch the movie with her and when he involuntarily asked her the same question from the film.
"And her answer was always the same," Taylor finished, not needing to say the word aloud.
There wasn't anything more anyone could do now but stay silent. They stayed that way until Ashley came back with her hands full of frosted water bottles.
"Sorry it took so long," she apologized. "I got into a conversation with Julie and I kind of got lost in it."
"No prob, little sis," Kimberly said, giving Ashley a small smile for forgiveness Ashley didn't need to ask for.
As soon as Ashley sat down and everyone grabbed their water bottle, she looked around, wondering why no one said anything since she returned. Something was wrong it she knew it was going to bother her. "What's wrong?"
Taylor turned to Ashley and patted her on the shoulder. "Nothing of much importance," she lied. "Don't worry about it."
As soon as Taylor said those words, Ashley knew she had to let it go for now. There was no way any of them would tell her if she asked, at least not now. She slightly frowned in defeat, but didn't let the expression stay long on her face. It was supposed to be a good night for them. She started wondering why none of the guys returned from the gameroom or why the other girls hadn't come back from the dance floor.
"Oh, wow," Taylor said abruptly, practically jumping out of her seat. "Hey, guys, I'll be right back. I've got one last job to do," she explained, running off before her sisters could say otherwise. Three minutes later, they saw her walk onstage and call for everyone's attention with the microphone.
"All right, everyone, having a good time so far?" She was answered with several shouts of affirmation from everyone around the club. "Well, the night's about to get even better. Here tonight is one of the greatest bands of our time and I know you will all love them. Everyone, give it up for the Goo Goo Dolls!" When she finished, roars and claps of applause came from everyone and she walked off the stage for the band to begin.
She returned to her table, giving Ashley and Kimberly each a hug. "Hope you guys enjoy."
"We definitely will," Ashley assured.
Everyone at the table turned their attention to the stage, waiting for the guitarist to strum a few strings. As soon as he had though, Taylor suddenly felt like slapping herself. She cast quick glances between Andros and Ashley, making sure they were all right. At any moment now, either of them could've bolted from their seat and ran out of the club to only god knows where. Taylor shifted her gaze when she felt Kimberly's eyes on her, yelling at her for doing this here and now. She was going to get some kind of talk, if not from Kimberly, then from Ashley. The only hope Taylor had now was that everything she and Kimberly told Andros would get through his head.
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A/N: There you go! Can't be mad at me... for now. Now, review, damn it! Yes, I'm getting aggressive. I'm mean when I'm lacking reviews. I could be mean enough to take this story down... Maybe.