So I tried to get this done sooner but then I got really busy...Apologies again,you're still my peeps, right? You know, I should never ever be given anything with caffeine because it makes me crazy. Brief 'Me' Update: The boyfriend is officially the ex and the new guy is looking promising. Also, I'm loving The Killers new album...As for this chapter, I hope you enjoy it. And the next one is going to be very...interesting. Read, Enjoy, & Review!

Chapter 27...

9:00 P.M.

"How much did you buy?" Maria laughed, looking through the bags on Raquel's bed.

"As much as Jeff could carry," Raquel walked out of the bathroom in a very short black halter dress. She put her hands on her hips, giving her sister a look, "Why are you still laying there in your sweats?"

"She's still claiming she's not going," Trish said, brushing her hair.

"I'm not," Brianna insisted. "I really don't feel like it. I feel like staying home and watching movies."

"What are we gonna do with her?" Maria asked, sitting on the arm of the couch.

"Bri," Raquel sighed, walking over to the couch. Brianna sat up slowly, looking down at her hands. "I know you're upset about the way John's acting."

Brianna sighed, carefully looking at each nail to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

"But what good does it do to stay at the hotel and mope?" Raquel asked.

Brianna shrugged.

"I think sometimes you forget that you're 22," Raquel put her arm around her. "When was the last time you went out to a club? Just because you wanted to, not for work."

"Not for work?" Brianna thought about it. She shook her head, "I don't remember."

"Exactly," Raquel said. "Now get out of here and go change."

Brianna sighed, standing up, "Fine, fine, I'll go."

"I'll help you pick something out," Maria got up, walking toward the door with her. "Raquel try to be ready soon, we wanna get there before midnight."

"I'm almost ready," Raquel insisted. "I just need to decide on a dress."

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11:30

"So where are these girls?" John asked as he and Randy walked around the club. They'd only gotten there about 15 minutes earlier but he was already getting impatient. He didn't really want to be there so he just wanted to get it over with.

"They'll be here soon," Randy said, looking at his watch. "I talked to Nikki before we left and…Shit."

"What?" John raised a brow at Randy's suddenly annoyed expression.

"Nothin man," Randy shook his head.

"No, what?" John asked, curious. Randy nodded at something over John's shoulder and he followed his friend's gaze, trying to figure out what he was looking at. After a few seconds, he saw what had Randy so annoyed.

On the dance floor, not far from them, Brianna was laughing and dancing with Shelton Benjamin. Of course, she looked amazing. She was wearing a very short blue dress and stiletto heels. Her hair was a little straighter than usual, flowing past her shoulders with just the slightest bit of curl. She looked like she was having a great time as Shelton put an arm around her waist, dancing behind her. And to think, he thought she looked kind of upset when he brushed her off earlier. Apparently he was wrong.

"Don't worry about it man," Randy patted him on the shoulder. "It's a big club."

As Randy spoke, Brianna looked in their direction. Her smile fell when she made eye contact with John. She looked surprised, like she'd been caught in the middle of something.

John shook his head, turning back to Randy, "I need a drink. How 'bout you?"

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Brianna laughed while Shelton showed off his ridiculous dance moves. She was hoping he'd gotten the 'get Brianna out of her funk' memo because if this was really how he danced, he needed some serious help.

"Come on now, you're a pro, I know you can do better than that," he laughed, putting an arm around her waist.

"I'm just tryin' to keep up with you," she laughed, dancing along with him.

"I'm not sure that's possible," Shelton laughed.

Brianna smiled. She was wary on the way to the club but after only being there 20 minutes, she was having a great time.

"Look who it is," Shelton said.

"Who?" Brianna turned to see who Shelton was referring to. She stopped moving when she saw John. He was standing with Randy, looking every bit the gorgeous man he was. And he did not look happy to see her.

Great, just what I needed to cheer up

"Maybe you should go talk to him," Shelton suggested.

Brianna shrugged, "I don't know..He looks kind of…"

"Pissed off?" Shelton suggested.

Bri nodded, "Yeah..I think I need a few more drinks before I try that."

"That's probably a good idea," Shelton said. "You go back to the table, I'll get the drinks."

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"Here you go," Jeff put Raquel's martini down on the table in front of her.

"Thank you," she smiled as he took his seat, handing Matt one of the two beers he was holding.

"Thanks man," Matt downed a fourth of his beer.

"Where'd everybody go?" Jeff looked around at their nearly empty booth.

"To dance," Raquel explained. "I was waiting for my drink."

"What am I? Your slave?" he smirked.

"In a way, yes," she smiled.

He laughed, drinking some of his beer, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She was wearing the green dress she'd bought earlier, her brown hair curled loosely. She smiled when she caught him looking and he quickly looked away. He didn't need her making fun of him for staring.

She stood up slowly, taking a sip of her drink and then putting it down, "I'll be right back."

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Raquel tried to keep the cheesy grin off of her face as she walked toward the bathroom to check her makeup. Jeff was checking her out. He tried to hide it but he was definitely checking her out. Why that made her happy, she wasn't sure, but she shrugged it off, deciding to chalk it up to her ego. She just liked being checked out in general. By attractive men. And they didn't get much more attractive than Jeff.

"Excuse me?"

She turned when she heard a deep voice behind her. This time she allowed the smile to touch her lips. He wasn't Jeff but he was damn close. He was tall and lean with short blonde hair and gorgeous, dark blue eyes. He wore jeans and a button down shirt and when he reached out his hand, she noticed a very expensive looking watch on his wrist.

"I'm Justin," he smiled.

"Raquel," she took his hand, shaking it lightly.

"That's a beautiful name," he said.

"I like to think so," she smiled.

"Sorry to interrupt you. I noticed you earlier but I wasn't sure if one of the guys you were with was your boyfriend," he said.

"What makes you think they're not?" she arched a brow.

"They still could be," he smirked. "But now that I've got you away from them I don't have to worry about them trying to beat me up…Is one of them your boyfriend?"

"Not last I checked," she smiled.

"Good," he smiled back. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She looked back to her table where Matt and Jeff were staring at them expectantly.

She laughed, "I think I should get back. They're getting restless over there. But maybe later."

He smiled, "I'll hold you to that."

She laughed, turning to walk away, deciding against going to check her makeup. She was obviously looking just fine.

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½ Hour Later…

"Okay," Brianna finished her fourth drink, putting her glass down on the table. "Now I can go talk to John."

"Because you're drunk?" Matt asked.

"After four mixed drinks?" Brianna smirked. "I'm not a lightweight hun."

Matt laughed, shaking his head.

"I'm not drunk, I'm just buzzed enough to handle a little rejection," she stood up, running a hand through her hair.

"Don't expect the worse Bri," Jeff advised.

"Thanks Jeff," she patted him on the shoulder before walking away.

Maria got up, "I'm gonna go spy."

"Maria!" Trish laughed.

"What?" Maria shrugged. "Like you don't want to."

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Raquel watched as Brianna walked away with Maria not far behind her. She wanted to snoop too but she knew if her sister caught her should would be pissed. She was worried though.

"Stop worrying," Jeff nudged her.

Raquel looked over at him, surprised that he'd read her so easily.

She arched a brow, "Why would I be worrying?"

"Because you don't like seeing your sister all confused and upset like this," he said. "And you think John might upset her more."

She sighed, not bothering to pretend he was incorrect, "If he does..will you beat him up for me?"

"No," Jeff shook his head. "Have a talk with him, maybe, but I'm not gonna beat him up."

"Then what good are you?" she asked.

"See, before you said that, I was gonna go get you another drink," he stood up. "But now, you're on your own toots."

"Oh come on," she smiled. "You know I didn't mean that."

Jeff laughed, "Sure you didn't."

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John finished his drink and looked around, wondering where the hell Randy went this time. He kept having to go outside to give directions to the chicks he invited. He shook his head, if their ability to understand those was any indication, it was gonna be an even longer night than he thought. He really should have just stayed at the hotel. All he was doing was knocking back drinks and trying not to look at Brianna. The last time he allowed himself a glance, she was sitting between Matt and Maria looking miserable. She'd looked so happy dancing with Shelton before she knew John was there but apparently he'd ruined her night. He wanted to be okay with that because he was mad at her but he couldn't. He didn't like her being unhappy, even if he was pissed. Damn woman.

When did I turn into such a pussy?

He shook his head, remembering what Randy said about love making a person look like an idiot. For once, his jaded friend was right. It was time to toughen up when it came to Brianna. His feelings weren't her number one concern, so hers didn't need to matter to him.

"John."

He jumped, jarred from his thoughts by the sound of his name. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, it was hard to tell because the music was so loud.

"John!"

He sighed when he heard her voice. It sounded like she was a few feet behind him. He sighed and, knowing he couldn't just ignore her, turned to face her, "Yeah?"

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Brianna was surprised by the look on John's face when he turned around. He looked so…annoyed. She wasn't used to that from him. Earlier, she figured if she gave him a little while he would relax but apparently she was wrong. And now she wasn't so sure talking to him was a good idea.

Don't wimp out Bri…just say what you need to say

She took a deep breath, "Can we talk for a minute?"

"What do we need to talk about?" he asked, looking at her so coldly she almost turned and ran away. He really wasn't going to make this easy on her, was he?

"Um.." she wrung her hands. She was nervous because she really wanted, needed him to understand how she felt. She needed to make it clear to him that she didn't mean to hurt him with what she said before. That was the last thing she wanted.

"Listen, I know you're mad at me," she said. His jaw clenched but he didn't interrupt.

"And you have every right to be but..I just-"

"John! Where the hell have you been?"

Brianna looked over her shoulder, rolling her eyes when she saw a slightly drunk Randy Orton flanked by two blondes.

Randy smiled at her, "Hey Bri..Didn't know you were here."

"Hi Randy," she crossed her arms over her chest.

One of the blondes nudged Randy and he smiled, "John, Brianna, this is Jessica and Nikki. Ladies-"

"John Cena," the taller blonde, Nikki, bumped Brianna's shoulder as she walked over to John, smiling. "It's so nice to meet you."

Brianna looked at John, obviously wanting to continue their conversation..in private.

He shrugged, putting an arm over Nikki's shoulders, "We're gonna have to talk later Bri."

With that, he walked off with Randy and the girls. Nikki looked over her shoulder, winking at her.

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Maria felt horrible when John and Randy walked off with their little skank friends. She was tempted to start something but she wanted to check on Bri first. She was leaning against the bar looking lost and defeated. Maria walked over and hugged her without saying a word. Brianna leaned her head on her shoulder and they stood there for a few seconds.

"Want me to go kick his ass?" Maria offered.

Brianna laughed a little, shaking her head, "No..that wont help. But thanks."

They released their hug and Maria could see that Brianna's eyes looked a little misty.

"I'm really sorry Bri," Maria hugged her again, quickly this time.

Brianna shrugged, "It's not your fault. Let's just go back to the table."

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Raquel laughed as Jeff and Matt argued over who was the cuter kid. Everyone's laughter stopped though, when Brianna and Maria returned to the table. Maria was holding Bri's hand and Brianna had the look on her face that she always got when she was trying to hard to look like she was okay. It was a smile but an uncomfortable one.

"What happened?" Raquel asked immediately.

"Nothing," Brianna said as she and Maria took their seats.

"Nothing?" Maria questioned. "He was such a jerk."

"What did he do?" Raquel asked.

"Nothing," Brianna shook her head.

"Randy came up with two random chicks and John walked off with them. And the way he was look-"

"Maria," Brianna looked over at her.

"Sorry," Maria looked guilty. She put an arm around her, giving her a half hug.

"Alright that's it," Raquel stood up. "I'm going to talk to him."

"Raquel, it's really not a big-"

Raquel gave her sister a look and Brianna sighed, "Fine, whatever."

Without another word to any of them, Raquel walked away, looking around for John and Randy. Just her luck, they were filing into a booth just a few tables away from everyone else. She stormed over, stopping in front of the table, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey Rocky," Randy smiled.

Raquel completely ignored her friend, glaring at John.

"What?" he asked, his arm around some ugly blonde.

"I need to talk to you," she said.

"He's busy," the blonde giggled, scooting closer to him.

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that hard for him to tear himself away from all the ugly at this table," Raquel smirked, looking at both women.

They looked offended but John stood up quickly, taking her hand and pulling her away before a fight started.

"What is your problem?" he asked. "You don't even know them."

"I didn't say anything about their character," Raquel shrugged.

John rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of character, when did you turn into such an asshole?" she asked.

"What?" he stared.

"You heard me," she pointed. "Bri was trying to apologize to you John, what is your problem?"

"My problem?" John asked. "She's the one messin' with my head."

"She's not trying to John," Raquel insisted. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I cant completely blame her for not dropping Nick in two seconds just to be with you."

"Why not?" John asked. "You've been trying to push us together for months now."

"Maybe she's confused because being with you isn't exactly a sure thing," Raquel shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"She thought things were perfect before John, then you cheated on her," she reminded him, pleased with the stricken look on his face. If he was going to play high and mighty, she was going to bring him back to Earth.

"I thought you didn't know about that," he said.

"She never told me but of course I knew," Raquel rolled her eyes. "Distance would never have made her leave you. I knew her story about the move to LA being too much was bullshit. She could've been across the world and she would still have wanted to be with you."

John looked guilty, "So you just figured it out?"

Raquel nodded, "It wasn't hard. That's the only thing I could think of that would make her break up with you."

He nodded.

"But I gave you a chance when I saw you again because I know that people make mistakes," she said. "And as much as I wanted to kick your ass for hurting my sister, I knew you loved her and I knew she loved you and I knew that even after all this time apart, there would be something there."

Raquel hated sounding like a hopeless romantic because she wasn't but it was true.

"Do you know how amazing it is that she even speaks to you after what you did?" she asked. "If someone cheated on me, they would be gone, no matter how much I loved them."

John was silent, not meeting Raquel's gaze.

Raquel shook her head, "It's interesting to me that she was willing to forgive that but she says something you don't like and you act like she no longer deserves to be in your presence. Real nice John."

Raquel turned, knowing that John felt truly terrible. He deserved it. She smiled, heading toward the bar to get a drink before going back to the booth with her friends.

She smiled at the bartender, ordering a lemon drop martini. He got it ready quickly and brought it to her.

"This should cover her next few."

Raquel saw a masculine hand slide a hundred dollar bill toward the bartender. She turned, smiling when she saw Justin.

"I think this obligates you to have a couple drinks with me, doesn't it?" he smirked.

"You think you can buy some time with me?" she smirked.

"I was hoping it would work just this once," he shrugged.

She smiled, picking up her martini, "I suppose we could talk for a little while."

He smiled, taking her free hand and leading her away from the bar, "Good."

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2:OO A.M.

Raquel waved lightly as Justin went to the bathroom. He seemed like a nice guy. She couldn't say she was terribly interested but he was fun to talk to. And he was definitely keeping the drinks coming. She wasn't completely drunk yet but she was definitely getting there. She could tell when she was talking to Justin that her words were slurring a tiny bit. She didn't think she'd had that much but she'd probably just lost track. After a few minutes, Justin returned, two drinks in hand.

"I figured I'd grab a couple drinks on the way back," he set hers down in front of her.

"Thank you," she smiled. She felt her eyes go a little wide when she looked at him. She'd never noticed what a gorgeous color blue his shirt was.

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Brianna didn't bother to hide the fact that she was staring at John and Randy's table. Nikki was practically sitting on his lap, cackling like a hyena at every word he said. In Bri's opinion, he didn't look like he was having that great of a time but that was probably just her imagination. Why wouldn't he be having fun? He'd successfully fucked up her night and now he had Nikki doing everything but shoving her breasts in his face. Shelton needed to come back with her drink soon.

She sighed, looking over at Jeff. He'd been a little quiet for the last 10 minutes or so. And his gaze was fixed on the reason why. All the way across the club, Raquel was sitting with some blonde guy. She had been for quite some time. She had her drink in one hand and the other hand on his arm and she was laughing. She looked like she was having a great time. And Jeff was starting to look miserable.

"Should we go get her?" she asked, feeling bad for him.

"Go get who?" Jeff turned to her, obviously trying to seem unaffected.

"Raquel," she answered. "You've been looking over there since she left."

"No I haven't," Jeff insisted. "I've been talking to you."

"Talking to me and looking over there," Brianna said. "You know, it's okay to admit you like her."

"I don't," Jeff responded quickly. "I mean, I like her as a friend, but that's it."

She eyed him suspiciously and he met her gaze with a straight face.

"I don't believe you," she informed him.

"I don't see why not," Jeff said. "Raquel's my friend, that's all."

"Mmhmm," Brianna rolled her eyes.

"Are you just focusing on this to keep from focusing on John?" he asked.

"Probably, yes," she nodded.

"Come on," Jeff stood up. "Let's go dance."

She shrugged, following him, "Why not?"

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P.S. As always, big hugs for the reviews! You're all awesome!