Chapter II

Ashley sat at the table on Saturday morning eating a bowl of cereal while looking at the text Griffin sent her apologizing for forgetting her, she called him and waited for him to pick up "Hey Ashley."

"Don't worry about yesterday" she said into the phone "it turned out for the best, I'm going to Six-Flags today thanks to you."

"huh!?" came his reply.

"I ran into Ricky he gave me a ride, and i gave him some gift advice for my sister... but it came at a price" she smirked.

"Damn! Can I come?" he replied eagerly.

Ashley switched the phone to her other ear "He won't pay for you."

Griffin sighed on the other line "well when are you gonna be home? maybe we can go to the movies tonight?"

Upstairs Amy was watching John sleep while surfing the web on her new laptop, but in the back of her mind she had a nagging feeling that Ricky was up to something 'how did he know i wanted a laptop? why'd he even get me such an expensive gift?'

She had told Ben about the gift and it seemed that the sausage prince was also wary of Ricky's motives. Amy just didn't know what to make of the sudden development, Ricky had also got gifts for John and he hadn't asked for anything, he didn't really seem himself for the last couple of day's now that she thought about it. She was interrupted when Ashley ran past her room and then came back a minute later holding her hoodie.

"Amy I'm going out! tell mom and dad I'll be back later" she said moving away.

"wait where are you going!?" asked Amy turning from her desk.

"Sis-Flags! be back later" Ashley shouted running down the stairs.

Amy sat back confused "what the heck is going on with everyone lately?"

Outside Ashley jumped into Ricky's car sporting a small smirk, the closest she got to smiling most days. The older boy sighed "you know i think i got the shit end of this deal."

Ashley shrugged "deal with it."

Ricky shook his head and started driving, after a few minutes he glanced at her "how's Amy like the laptop?"

his passenger looked at him "she was on it most of the night and all morning today."

Ricky smirked triumphantly while Ashley rolled her eyes and began to play with the radio "you are up to something with her aren't you?"

He shook his head "there is nothing wrong with being friendly with the mother of my child."

Ashley found a station and turned the volume up a little before sitting back in her seat "what about your girlfriend, who is it this week? Grace?"

Ricky sighed "if i was doing anything... although I'm not... why would i string along another girl while i tried to do anything with your sister?"

"um because your a man whore who loves attention" she said "besides I've heard enough stories around school about you to know there's some truth in them."

"If everyone thinks I'm such a bad guy why are you bothering to hang out with me? why did your parents let you come?" he asked.

Ashley looked out her window "well for one you're paying my way into an amusement park... and two i didn't tell my parents where i was going."

Ricky looked to her "what? why didn't you tell them, what if they start looking for you?"

Ashley shrugged and seemed almost sad "they won't notice I'm gone don't worry about it... besides i told Amy where i was going."

After that they remained silent only making comments about the music choice as they drove for another half an hour to get to their destination.

~Juergens' Household~

Ben sat on the couch while Amy sat on the floor where John was now laying down on his blanket, she had the laptop in her lap while talking to her boyfriend. He sighed "i just know he's up to something."

"I don't know" said Amy "i just can't see a reason for him to give me this, you don't usually get laptops for women to woo them."

Ben leaned forward "well whatever the reason why would he get it for you in the first place?"

"i don't know" Amy replied "let's not worry about it and just take it as a gift between friends."

Ben sighed but nodded "hey i was wondering if you wanted to go out and get some air? it's a nice day we could take John to the park."

Amy was about to answer when her cell phone rang and she sighed seeing the caller id, she answered "hi Adrian what's up?"

"put Ricky on the phone" said the dark haired girl on the other line.

"He's not here i haven't seen him at all today" Amy replied.

"don't give me that, i called him earlier and he said he couldn't talk cause he was on the way to your house" she said annoyed.

"well the only person here with me is Ben" she said "i can put him on if you don't believe me."

"please do" said Adrian.

Amy handed the phone over and Ben answered "um hello?"

"where is Ricky?" she asked him

"i don't know, i haven't seen him since last night at work" he said.

There was a soft growl on the other line and then a click, Ben pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it "she hung up on me."

Amy just shook her head and grabbed her phone, "come on lets go to the park."

they had went to the park walking around with John in his stroller just chatting idly when yet again the conversation turned to Ricky, since Ben felt the need to bring up the fact he was trying to become friends with the drummer boy. Amy just sighed trying to say as little as possible about the whole situation. She wasn't against it, and it would be nice for the two boys to get along but she felt it was more of a pissing contest between the two. While Ricky decided to make it clear that he didn't want to have that kind of relationship with her, the kind Ben kept thinking he did, she got two different impressions. One, when he was around Ben he didn't act like he wanted Amy but Ben still got jealous. Two, though was the fact whenever Ricky got her alone he seemed softer and more intimate, brushing her hand lightly or when he sat down next to her he would sit just a little to close for it to be completely innocent.

Ben was still talking and Amy kept nodding but her thoughts were also drawn to the fact that since Ben had returned from Italy she felt he was hiding something. He seemed to be perfectly normal and the same as ever but there was still something that made her think more had happened over there. Sure she eventually confronted him but he proclaimed his innocence saying he hadn't done anything over there besides work and a little sight seeing.

She was drawn from her contemplations though when her boyfriend pointed to an ice-cream cart "you wanna get one and sit at the bench for awhile?"

Amy nodded "yeah sure."

They got their ice-cream and sat down at the bench and Ben smiled "i like this, just going out together."

'without Ricky you mean' she thought but smiled back "yeah it's relaxing."

Her boyfriend sat forward and turned to look at her "i was wondering, i mean... you and i haven't been out in awhile, did you maybe wanna go out tonight... i mean just you and me, dinner and a movie, we can get someone to watch John."

Amy thought about it for a second and decided she hadn't really spent that much time with him lately "sure we can go, well we can if i can find someone to watch John."

~Hours Later at Six-Flags~

Ashley couldn't stop laughing at Ricky who was looking slightly green after they got off their last ride, he stumbled over to the bench and sat down "next time I'm going to just give you money rather than come here with you..."

"you don't like it here?" she asked between gasping for breath after laughing to hard.

Ricky leaned back on the bench "not a big fan of going upside down in a giant steel death trap."

Ashley sat next to him and wiped a tear from her eye "oh come on their not that dangerous."

The older boy just sighed and looked at his cellphone "maybe we should get going, I have some more stuff to do later today."

Ashley didn't care for him to elaborate on what he might or might not be doing later so she stood up "yeah I gotta go with Griffin to the movies tonight."

Ricky nodded silently and stood leading the way back to his car; forgetting for the time being that he was just using Ashley to get close to Amy, and actually having fun with her.