Warning: Hold on to your hearts, lovers. Someone's must break.


We Fall Between

Kaylie owes Darby everything she has. Lauren owes Darby everything she once was.

It isn't a surprise that Lauren's idol owns her sorority at CU Boulder. She's still as bubbly and glamorous as she was in high school, but it seems the hippie population has eaten her brain and replaced it with organic tofu. Darby is all about balance between the mind and spirit. Thank God it hasn't changed the fact that she knows how to throw a party.

When Darby arrives, she has Boulder Boozers lugging in kegs behind her. They already know their way around and set up in the kitchen. Boozers never hold grudges. The boys tease Lauren about dropping off the face of the earth and Lauren plays along and even flirts a little. With how good she is at faking it, acting might even have a place in her future.

"I have a dream!" Darby shouts, standing atop the dining room table and holding her cup like a microphone. She sways her hips from side to side, dancing like a girl in a Lil' Wayne music video. "That my lightweights will NOT be judged on their low alcohol tolerance, but by their love for the booze and the boozers!"

No one knows what she's going on about, but they cheer her on. For the last hour, Darby, delightfully on her way to drunk, has been standing there, talking about her dream of a world of no legal drinking age, total vegan domination and no oppression for the unicorn nation.

"You do know that she's butchering a staple in American history, right?" It's Emily, of course. "MLK shutters in his grave every time Darby says 'dream.'"

"I don't think anyone in this room cares and if they do they probably won't remember it tomorrow," Lauren says. She looks at Emily's empty hand and isn't pleased but holds back her commentary. "Well, almost everyone."

"Kaylie isn't drinking either."

"Only because Maeve isn't." Lauren scowls. "Booze is booze. You get the same results. Even I'm not snobby about liquor and I hate thrift shops and Pizza Shack and Burger Hut. How do they think it's a good idea to name their establishments with synonymous for shed or crack den? Such a mistake in judgment."

Emily giggles. "And how much have you had to drink?"

"Enough to feel good and be okay that people I hate are trashing my house, but not enough to make the same mistake twice," Lauren assures her. "And by mistake I mean fucking a douche with a mop on his head."

"Good girl," Emily says pleasantly. "Payson isn't drinking either."

"Boo." Lauren wraps an arm around Emily in a half-hug that's immediately returned. "As a new addition to the Reformed Bad Girls Club—" Lauren laughs at herself. "Did I just say Reformed Bad Girls Club? O.M.G. Anyways, I am going to do something you are going to hate me for, but in the long run you will love me even more for."

"I don't like the sound of this…"

There is a sea of people in the living room and Lauren is determined to weave through them to get to the other side. She pulls Emily along with her and shouts, "Conrad!"

"Hey, little blonde who stole my beer," Conrad says. His voice doesn't slur and his eyes are clear even though he's always with a drink in hand. "Austin said to stay away from you."

"Not surprised, not even offended," Lauren says. "Cowboy, have you met my friend, Emily?"

"I believe we have," Conrad says. His face crinkles, actually making an effort to remember. "The Worlds sendoff the Keelers hosted. Payson introduced us."

"Right!" Lauren says cheerily. Progress already. "Em, you're friends with Payson and Conrad, you're friends with Payson too. Wow! Don't you two have so much in common? That's awesome. I'm just going to leave you two to talk and get to know each other."

"Lo…"

"I should do rounds, make sure they are tearing my house apart," Lauren says, pretending not to notice Emily's eyes, begging her not to leave them alone together.

Though Lauren isn't the best when it comes to this, it only seems natural that the quickest way to get over a guy is to meet a new one. Lauren doesn't expect Emily and Conrad to fall madly in love, but talking to a sweet, normal dude is a step in the right direction.

Lauren feels a thin, female arm wrap around her shoulders and for a second she wants it to be Kaylie even though she knows it isn't. "Hey, babe!" Darby shouts. "Great party!"

"I know, right? And all thanks to you, babysitter," Lauren says, bumping Darby with her hip.

"I really missed this," Darby says. Her eyes are on all the chaos, feeding off it. "When are you gonna come back to campus and party with us like you used to? It's been ages! My girls miss you. Jake too even if he won't admit it."

Jake Conrad. (Again, not of the Cowboy variety). Lauren wants to roll her eyes just thinking about that cocky wrestler.

"I miss the girls too," Lauren says. It isn't entirely untrue, but it sounds nice. "Soon, okay?"

"Well," Darby sings, "if you apply to CU Boulder next year then you can be one of us and we can go to parties like this all the time and be best friends forever!"

Just the idea of college freaks her out. "Sure. If I get in."

Darby scoffs. "Honey, if I can get in then you could do it with your eyes closed."

"Sounds like the direction I'm headed since I sleep through majority of my classes on the daily. Weren't you valedictorian of your class?" Lauren asks. Lost to the question and the alcohol in her system, Darby hugs Lauren tighter, nearing that touchy-feely stage of drunk.

When Darby spots a girl dancing on her table, she mutters a, "Oh, no she di'int," and launches herself off of Lauren and back into the crowd, barreling straight for the dinning room. Lauren laughs, watching Darby kick the poor drunk girl off her table. Yep, that's Lauren's role model.

Before Darby brought it up just now, Lauren hasn't devoted much serious thought to college. She always thought she'd get the hell out of Colorado and go somewhere worthwhile (California) unlike majority of Taft who either don't go to college or go to CU without question. Lauren has a spot as a ZBZ pledge waiting for her. An easy decision leads to an easy life.

Thinking about college gets to her too easily. Before sneaking out for air, Lauren takes a moment, spots Emily talking to Conrad and smiles to herself. All of a sudden someone brushes up against her and Lauren is ready to verbally tear him apart, but sees it was just Ike. Normally she'd tear him apart regardless, but doesn't have the energy to right now. He lifts his cup and Lauren toasts with him before walking out to the backyard.

The pool is lit and no one else is around. Farther out, a bunch of stoners are lying out on the grass, pointing at the sky. Lauren sits in one of the chairs, smoothing down the material of her dress, the red one Razor helped her choose. The only way tonight could've been better is if he was here with her.

"Nice night for a rager?"

AJ. Lauren didn't reply to his "I'm back" text, partly because she didn't want to believe he was back, but mostly because she didn't know what to say. Staring at the ground, she sees his leather shoes first and then her eyes make their way up his dark jeans, button down and finally his face, smiling at her. It almost feels like seconds ago he told her he was leaving.

"Not my idea." Lauren makes it clear. She doesn't jump to hug him or wrap her legs around his waist so they can spin in circles like in the silly movies she loves so much. She just takes a sip of her drink. "I just provided the venue. It's Kaylie's party, actually."

"And when Kaylie cracks the whip you bend over," AJ says. Lauren knows he's joking in that crude way that AJ thinks is funny, but Lauren takes it as an implication that she's weak.

"Can you be any more of a child?" Lauren asks. "You talk to your kid with that mouth?"

"Yup, kiss my loving mother with it too," AJ says, like the snarky son of a bitch he tries to be. So much for him coming back as a completely different AJ. "So, did you get my text?"

"Yes, and I chose to ignore it."

"Ouch, Lo."

"I've been busy," she says. "My life doesn't revolve around you and when you're forced back to Boulder. Kaylie told me about your baby's church thing. Since when are you religious?"

"I'm not. It's a family thing."

"So how long is this family thing keeping you here?" Lauren asks.

"I don't know yet. The weekend, for sure. It's like a little family reunion. Leo is home. My dad's supposed to show. Shauna is around here somewhere," AJ explains, motioning to the party. Lauren presses her teeth tight together at the thought of Shauna Donovan being in her house. "My little sister didn't even invite us. Darby did."

"Darby's biggest flaw was being friends with Shauna Donovan." Lauren doesn't even feel bad about thinking it aloud. It doesn't come from a place of jealousy. It's just true.

"They're practically sisters, actually." This smirk tugs at AJ's lips and Lauren knows he's making assumptions about her. "Lo, Shauna's changed since high school. She makes a kickass mom."

"So are you two, like, together?" Lauren asks. It comes out quick and direct. She hates the idea of having to think about why, but she really wants to know.

"Not so clear on that myself," AJ says. "We get along fine and we're always spending time together even if we aren't living together. All I know is my life is scary good right now and I'm not about to complicate it by overthinking. Kaylie does that enough for everyone."

Though her face has been cold and all business, Lauren cracks a smile at that last part. Despite how little time they spend together, AJ knows his sister better than most.

Staring down into her drink, Lauren relaxes a little. Hoarsely, she murmurs, "That's great for you." She's sitting and he's standing and she finally meets his eyes. "And I mean that."

AJ nods, holding her gaze. "I can tell."

Lauren wants to blame the strange, almost mystical feeling she has on the absence of clouds and the strength of the moon, bathing them in light. It reminds her of something Max told her about natural light casting shadows under eyes and noses and chins. She wants to blame the night and the lighting for the hunger she thinks she sees in him. She wants to ignore how much she wants to go back to when they were careless and stupid and did what they wanted.

"I'm still me, Lo."

"I can tell," she says. "That's what makes this so hard."

Before AJ can respond, a voice calls out, "Alexander! There you are!"

Record scratch. Moment over. AJ turns out, reacting to the sound of his name—his full name.

Lauren actually laughs out loud. "Alexander?"

Lauren sees Shauna Donovan slinking over, walking like she still thinks she's the coolest girl at school. The last thing Lauren wants to admit is how hot Shauna is, but damn, she's hot for someone who got pregnant and gave birth. There's this Amazonian quality about her, strong, almost a head taller than Lauren. Though she'd never own up to it, Lauren is a little intimidated, but mostly annoyed.

Shauna marks her territory out of instinct, placing a hand at the nape of AJ's neck and gently scratching her short, cheaply painted fingernails across the buzz cut of his hair at the back. It immediately grabs AJ's attention, his dark eyes leaving Lauren and focusing on the other blonde, the mother of his daughter. Lauren can't say she likes what she sees, but she doesn't have a say in it either. She just keeps drinking.

"Hey," AJ says. "How's the reunion with Dar?"

"A lot of hugging and screaming, but it didn't last very long," Shauna replies. "She's making her classic 'I Have a Dream' speeches. Drunk, really drunk. Graduation drunk."

"Atta girl," AJ says. Shauna smacks his chest and AJ smiles at her. It's a different smile, one Lauren hasn't ever seen before and that kills her a little. More than that, AJ isn't even aware of how out of place Lauren feels. "Didn't Dar end up on YouTube or some shit?"

"Exactly," Shauna says, pulling AJ's arm around her. "Dar was giving a speech at graduation, pretty buzzed from when we were pre-gaming in the dressing rooms and decided to ditch the cheesy note cards and wing it. She hasn't changed a bit. A little E and she can party for days straight. Me, on the other hand…"

"Not your scene?" AJ asks.

"That's too bad." Lauren slices through their conversation, taking an innocent sip of her drink.

Shauna reacts as if just noticing Lauren right now. "Oh. Lauren Tanner." Lauren waves her fingers, but Shauna doesn't acknowledge her long enough to see, promptly tugging on AJ. "You want to get out of here? Dar's wasted beyond recognition and it's all high school kids and boozers being boozers. Plus, I feel bad for ditching Amelia with your brother…but if you want to go inside and have a beer then that's cool too."

"Nah, let's go." There's something so wrong about AJ Cruz turning down a party. "It isn't really my scene anymore either, which is ironic 'cause we hooked up at a party just like this." AJ leans into Shauna and she shakes her head at the memory or lack thereof. Lauren's sips turn to gulps. "You know how Melia is at night. Leo probably stuck his head in an oven already."

"Don't you want to go check in with your sister before we go?" Shauna asks.

"Nope," AJ says without a care in the world. "That's what we've got Lauren for. Yo, Lo, you'll keep an eye on Kales for me, right?"

She swallows another mouthful of beer. "Don't I always?"

"You are the best." AJ lifts two fingers at her in a sort of lazy salute before the two make their way to the gate. Lauren hangs back, turning her plastic cup in her hand. She watches the way AJ gives Shauna a peck on the cheek and she slips her hand into his back pocket.

Get drunker faster to wash that image out of her mind? Yes, please.

Kaylie hates feeling like she's drifting from the Four so she suggests they all get ready together before the party.

"Who's planning on getting laid tonight?" Lauren sings. She spins in circles around her shockingly clean room with a wine cooler in hand. All eyes turn to Kaylie.

"Guys, I seriously doubt that," Kaylie says. "I had the most awkward makeout session of my life the other day with my boyfriend and when I say most I mean this tops the time with Carter in the movie theater. I literally threw myself at him and Nicky kept pulling away."

"Relax, Kay. That is stone cold proof that it isn't you. It's him," Lauren says, laying it out for her. She offers her glass bottle of sweet, pink liquor to Kaylie who just waves it off. The blonde shrugs and takes a long sip. At this point, Lauren can drink wine coolers like Kool-Aid. If Kaylie started drinking this early, she'd lose it by the time the party starts.

"Lo has a point," Emily says. "He's obviously holding back. Maybe if you talked about it?"

"Nicky doesn't like to talk about feelings." Kaylie stares at her reflection in the mirror. Her make up is perfect. She could use more, but no amount could hide her insecurities. "We talk, but never about what we should be talking about. At first I thought maybe it's a guy thing, but I'm starting to think it's a Nicky thing. I never knew relationships could be so frustrating."

"Dump him," Lauren says, like that's the solution to it all.

Kaylie gasps. "Lo!"

"What? Everyone was thinking it," she says defensively, looking to Emily and then Payson, both of who pretend not to notice. "Dump him. Then in twenty years you'll run into him downtown and you won't even recognize him because he had a sex change to become the girl he is and you'll be glad you ended it when you did."

Kaylie skews her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Is this supposed to be making me feel better?"

"Do you?" Lauren asks, sitting on the plush seat next to Kaylie and poking her in the side. Kaylie scrunches her face and tries her hardest not to smile at the mental image.

"Maybe, but only a little."

Lauren smiles and raises her bottle. "I'll be here all night."

"Wow, it's nice to see you two getting along," Emily observes from her spot on the bed with Lauren's laptop. Her eyes are trained on the screen, probably running Damon's name through Google like always. Kaylie doesn't approve, but she understands.

"Sure, if nice became a synonym for weird," Payson adds.

"Pay, don't ruin the moment," Kaylie scolds her. "Now, let me put some eyeshadow on you."

"Which really means you want to paint my face like we're at a charity carnival," Payson says. Earlier, she already made her case about not seeing the point of getting dressed up just to be stuck in a hot, crowded party and get trampled by underage drunks all night. "I'll pass."

"But your boyfriend is coming over," Kaylie teases. It's nice to have someone else in the Four in a relationship. In theory, it should be Kaylie and Payson trading dating stories and experiences, but they don't.

"Who would've thought that Payson Keeler would have a boyfriend and I wouldn't and I'd be okay with that," Lauren muses. "And I don't mean anything by that, Pay."

"I figured," Payson says, not one bit offended.

Kaylie turns toward the current World Champion, curious. "And why don't you ever talk about your boyfriend, Miss Keeler?"

Payson shrugs. "There's nothing to talk about."

All the other girls collectively groan.

"We all hear it, but no one's believing it, Payson." Kaylie giggles.

"My thoughts exactly," Lauren agrees. Her and Kaylie seem to be really in synch tonight. Maybe it's a sign the party won't be that bad. "The second I see Mr. Austin T tonight we're going to have a long conversation about a little something I like to call LID. Locking It Down. Without LID we'd all be hopelessly confused and unhappy. LID is a way of life."

"Have you ever thought of motivational speaker as a future career path, maybe?" Emily asks.

"And teaching hopeless people the secrets of lid?" Payson deadpans.

"Laugh all you want, but LID is necessary to every relationship you want to last beyond the bedroom door," Lauren says. "Oh, and, Kay, after all your little Royal jerks and their little followers trash my house, you aren't getting out of helping us clean. You and your boy toy."

"It didn't even cross my mind," she says, hugging Lauren who's mid-sip.

Kaylie knows Maeve won't show until at least an hour into the party. It's her signature move to be fashionably late so before Maeve shows up, Kaylie spends time with the Four. It's nice to be with her childhood friends, talking and teasing each other. When Austin and his friend arrive, Lauren starts policing the party and Emily starts policing Lauren so Kaylie spends some time with the Royals until Nicky gets there.

"You know I don't like parties," Nicky grumbles as he hugs her hello. Kaylie nods her head against his shoulder. He makes sacrifices for her and to Kaylie it's him making an effort. It reassures her he wants to be in this relationship just as much as she does.

"I know," Kaylie says quietly, still holding on to him. She pulls back enough to look at his uncomfortable, anxious face. "That's why it makes me happy that you stilled showed up."

"Did you doubt me?" Nicky tilts his chin and does that thing with his eyebrows that makes him look like a confused puppy. "I'll always show up for you, Princess."

Kaylie smiles because he knows it's exactly what she wants to hear, but also that he means it. She's about to kiss him when someone comes over, shakes Nicky by the shoulders and chants, "Whipped! Whipped! Nicky's whipped!"

Max laughs and runs off. Kaylie is bad at hiding a laugh, especially with how upset Nicky is. She assures him that Max is just having his future frat boy fun before Maeve shows up and he reassumes his role as loving, tamed boyfriend. Despite what she says, Nicky stares after his cousin with a dark look in his eyes. It makes Kaylie nervous, but tonight isn't couples therapy night. It's supposed to be fun so she kisses him and drags him by the hand into the party.

Kaylie does the necessary rounds, making small talk and trying to get Nicky to socialize, both with the Four and the Royals. When Maeve still hasn't arrived, Nicky and Kaylie end up in the sitting room, one of the few quieter rooms in the house. Usually, at parties, Nicky will start to loosen up, but for some reason he's still as anxious as when he first walked in.

"What's up with you tonight?" Kaylie asks. She runs her hands up his chest and his gaze snaps to her as if just remembering she's there. "Is it school? College? I know CU Boulder isn't your first choice, but it's a start. I'm sure the rest will come pouring in any day now."

"No, school' fine. It's family stuff." Something clicks in him and Nicky goes on, "I talked to Hector the other day. His dad is sick so he's going back to Barcelona for a bit next month."

"That's awful." Kaylie thinks back to that summer in Spain. "How's he taking it?"

"You know Hector and how family-oriented he is. He sounded like he's taking it well, just anxious to get home. I don't blame him."

"You miss Barcelona too?"

"So much it isn't even funny," Nicky says. "Don't you?"

"Of course." Kaylie closes her eyes for a moment, imagining the smell of Abuela and Abuelo cooking, the heat of the sun on her skin and the sand between her toes. She runs down Nicky's arm and he rubs a thumb up in circles on her shoulder. If she's being honest, who she was, who Nicky was and who they were together in Spain, that's what she misses most.

"I'm sorry about the other day," Nicky whispers. His lips brush her ear and it makes her hyperaware of everything around her, how close they are, the gentle way he's touching her, how sincere he sounds. "I was having an off day and I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you…"

Kaylie blushes just at the sound of his voice and she can feel it, but she doesn't have the time to be embarrassed because then he kisses her. She's sure he has the softest lips ever and he knows just what to do with them. Her arms move around his neck to pull him tighter against her, needing to be closer and prove that there's something deeper, past the happy couple exterior, a future worth pursuing. When they part, Nicky gives her this lazy, sexy smile and Kaylie swells from how giddy she is. Something tells her tonight is going to be a great night.

"Oh, my God! So they do kiss in public! I was beginning to have my doubts."

Kaylie watches the way Nicky's expression turns sour, lowering his head enough for her to see past him. It's Maeve, but they both knew that from the sound of her voice alone. She's wearing this cute knit top with quarter sleeves and ridiculous, silver skinny jeans that just make her look thinner than ever imaginable. She struts over in pumps with pointy toes and places a hand on Nicky's shoulder, shoving him away from Kaylie.

"I am willing to make you a deal, future cousin-in-law." Nicky looks disgust and Maeve sees it, but ignores it. "Let me borrow Kaylie for an hour, two tops and after, she's all yours. Then, once you're back from trading V-cards upstairs, I won't make the entire room clap and toast to you, as fun as that sounds."

"Maeve, no threatening my boyfriend." Kaylie takes Nicky by the chin and quickly pecks his cheek before she stands, straightens the material of her hot pink dress and takes her rightful place at Maeve's side. "You don't mind, right?"

"No. Go have fun with your friends," Nicky says. "I'll just go see what Max is up to."

"Please do. And make sure he isn't making me look bad," Maeve says. Nicky narrows his eyes at her and Maeve blows him a kiss before dragging Kaylie back to the party.

Maeve's first stop is to thank Lauren for hosting. Maeve does that thing she always does, sounding so sweet that it's bitchy. Kaylie gives Lauren a grateful little smile and squeezes her shoulder before Maeve drags her on to the next group to socialize with. They talk to different people (Alison DiLaurentis included) and make fun of the drunks doing stupid things and dance like dorks when an ABBA song plays. Maeve doesn't drink and so Kaylie steers away from it too and, plus, if something does happen with Nicky tonight, it's best done sober.

Late into the party, Kaylie grabs a bottle of water, feeling the body heat starting to get to her. That's when Maeve walks up to her and with news.

"Theresa just told me she saw your boyfriend coming out of one of the bedrooms with your friend, the blonde one that was hanging on Austin Tucker all night," Maeve reports. "Can you say skank? With your boyfriend and at your own party, why would someone be so dumb?"

"Stop it," Kaylie says sharply. "I'm sure they were just talking or something."

"God, Kaylie-cakes, you know I love you, but sometimes you're too nice." Maeve takes a sip of her water (and bitched for half an hour that it was Voss and not Fiji) and waves her boyfriend over when she spots him for what feels like the first time all night. "Where have you been?"

"A friendly chat with my favorite cousin," Max says, fixing the collar of his rumpled shirt. Kaylie and Maeve sit at the dinning room table that's cluttered with empty bottles and random snack food. Max pulls up a chair next to Maeve and she wraps an arm around him.

"Baby," she coos, "you're so tense."

"Nothing a cold beer can't fix." Max kisses the side of her face. "You okay, May? You seem a little jittery. Did you take something?"

"Red Bull. I probably shouldn't have gone for that second one." Maeve self-consciously removes her arm from around Max and laces her bony fingers in her lap. Shrugging it off, Max grabs a can of beer and pops the tab, drinking it quicker than he should.

Not too long after, Nicky walks into the room and instantly goes to Kaylie like magnets. He slides his hand down the back of Kaylie's hair and she smiles when she sees him.

"Hey," Nicky says. "What are you up to?"

"Less than you apparently," Maeve murmurs beneath her breath.

Kaylie eyes him, trying not to appear too suspicious. "You were hanging out with Payson?"

She sees the yes on his face. "We talked for a bit, yeah. Payson's cool."

"Not the word I would have used," Maeve says, louder this time.

Nicky shoots her a glare. "Maeve, what is your problem exactly?"

"If you think you can do better than Kaylie, your GPA is no reflection of your smarts, Smarty."

"You don't get to call me that." Nicky's hand forms a fist that shakes against the table. Maeve slides the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip, intrigued by the sudden show of emotion.

"Tisk. Tisk. Temper, temper," Maeve teases.

"Okay. Both of you, stop," Kaylie intervenes.

"How about a game?" Max suggests. It sounds like a good distraction. Kaylie is happy someone else is trying to alleviate the tension, but there's an uncharacteristically dark feel to Max's glassy, almost bloodthirsty eyes. Kaylie feels Nicky's muscle tense up at her side when he notices too. "We're all fans of 'I Never,' right?"

Max's near shouting draws in a few Royals. Shane pulls up a chair next to Max—typical—and the photographer gives his friend a cool nod. "Shane, start us off."

"Hmm," the jock murmurs, rubbing his chin. "I never…understood why in cartoons and someone is sleeping they put zzz's over their heads. I don't know about you, but I don't make zzz's in my sleep…"

Everyone looks at him like he's remedial, which he is.

"Sweetie, I think you're doing it wrong." Maeve sits a little taller in her chair and leans over for a couple cans of beer. She slides one over to Kaylie and pops the tab of her own, drinking for the sake of the game. "I'll start. I never…got caught giving head."

None of the boys drink, looking around with such heightened anticipation. A couple of the girls on the cheer squad, Theresa and Beverly, take shy sips and are greeted with hoots. Kaylie tries to hold back her instinct to judge and taps her fingernails against the unopened beer in front of her. She thinks it's stupid, but who is she to deny the bored, Colorado kids their fun?

"Oh," Shane says, finally catching on. "It's like a dirty game?"

"You're so lucky you've got a good arm." Max laughs and clasps Shane's shoulder.

"No, I can play," says the quarterback. "Let's see. I never…did it in my parents' bed."

Everyone waits for the reveal moment, wanting to see who's brave enough to confess his or her sins to a crowd of the popular kids. Maeve glances over at her boyfriend and Max smirks a little and takes a drink. Maeve does the same while everyone around them claps. They all act so surprise even though it really isn't. It is Max and Maeve, super couple.

Once Kaylie gets past the shock, she shakes Maeve's arm. "Oh, my God! Maeve, you slut!"

"No," she says, addressing the room. Maeve holds up a hand to quiet the herd and it works. "No. It's not slutty if it's exclusive. If you're in a relationship then you can do whatever. Cheating, now that is slutty." She gives Nicky a pointed look and everyone notices.

"Your place or Max's?" one of the cheerleaders inquires.

"No," Max says, a hand on his girlfriend's arm. "We're done with this one. We wouldn't want to give Nicky any more blackmail." Max eyes his cousin and everyone feels the hostility. It's only natural. Nicky isn't one of them. He's Kaylie's plus one. "Hmm, I've got one. I never had sex with a psychotic bitch on a trampoline."

The room goes quiet. Shane is dumb enough to ask, "Who has?"

Max tips his beer to Nicky. "Hey, Brainiac, aren't you supposed to drink?"

No one says a thing. They all just stare at the outsider. A few remember Nicky as the invisible nerd who got into that fistfight with Shane, but most Royals just regard him as Kaylie's property. That's why all eyes then turn to Kaylie, waiting for her reaction when she doesn't even know how to react. Growing more and more aware that everyone is staring at her, Kaylie stands from the table and walks out without a word.

Only when Kaylie disappears does Maeve ask, "Okay, what just happened here?"

"Your boyfriend is a jackass," Nicky says, angrily getting to his feet.

"Nicky, wait!" Max yells after him. "You're supposed to drink! That's the game!"

Maeve shoves Max's hand off of her, irritated. "Honey, I get that you and Nicky have weird Sopranos family drama, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't drag my friend into it. Max, you can be such an ass." Maeve gives him a dirty look before leaving the room. Shoving his chair back, Max goes after her. He grabs her by her skeletal arm and tries to talk her down.

"Kaylie, wait!" Nicky shouts, desperate to be heard over the throbbing music. He weaves through the party zombies, chasing after his girlfriend. She hears him, but she's so heated and embarrassed that she doesn't acknowledge him. "Kaylie, c'mon, we need to talk about this!"

Once he follows down the hall where it's quieter, Kaylie finally turns to face him. Nicky nearly mows her down, coming to a stop so they're literally face-to-face. "So now you want to talk?"

"Well, yeah," Nicky says. "I don't want you thinking whatever you're thinking."

"I just, I thought we were over this keeping secrets thing?"

"Keeping secrets?" Nicky looks confused. "Last I checked we agreed not to talk about past hookups. I don't ask or need to know about whatever happened with you and Carter. And for the record, Max doesn't know what he's talking about. We might have kissed, but not…"

"Oh, so you just made out with a psychotic bitch on a trampoline? That's so much better!"

"Does it matter?" Nicky asks. "It happened before we met. You can't punish me for something that happened before we met! See, this is exactly what Max wanted to happen. He's pissed and trying to get back at me. Not to mention he's been drinking. Kaylie, fighting over nothing is stupid. Can we drop it, please?"

"Answer me this and we'll drop it," Kaylie says, crossing her arms. "Was it Kelly?"

Nicky reaches a point beyond frustration and Kaylie can feel it so she prepares for a fight. "Kaylie, do you hear yourself right now? You need to stop thinking everything is about Kelly!"

"Isn't it, though?" she asks, weakly. "What were you and Payson talking about earlier?" Nicky freezes. "Nicky, I could jump to some other conclusions when someone tells me they saw one of my best friends come out of an upstairs bedroom with my boyfriend, but I trust you and I trust Payson. So, logically, it must have had something to do with Kelly Parker. Why else would you and Payson even talk?"

"Faith, maybe?"

Kaylie throws her hands up, equally as frustrated. "Which is just as bad."

"What's so bad about that? Why can't I talk to Payson about our mutual friends?"

"Okay, fine. We'll drop it."

"Wait, so you bug me about not wanting to talk and now that we're trying to get somewhere you don't want to?" Nicky turns away and takes two steps just to turn and walk back to her.

"Bug you? So that's what I do? Nicky, all I'm trying to do is get you to open up."

"Open up?" Nicky stretches his arms out. "I feel like I'm being interrogated! Okay. Fine. Let's open up. Tell me what you have against the one actual friend I have and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Anything in the world, Kaylie, if we can just finish a conversation for once."

She could yell and scream and prove that she can be louder than him, but she doesn't. Instead, as calmly as she can, Kaylie says, "You never answered my question before. The trampoline tramp is Kelly Parker, isn't it? What other psychotic bitches do you know?"

"Kaylie, I don't know how to deal when you do this. If it isn't Faith then it's Kelly and if it isn't Kelly then it's Faith. I haven't had a real conversation with either of them since last summer, but that doesn't change the fact that they're my friends and I miss them. Is that so wrong? I don't get what you want. I can't do this right now, okay?"

Nicky turns and starts for the door. It's Kaylie's turn to chase him. "Nicky!"

"You're sleeping here tonight, right?" he asks. He faces her, but slowly walks backwards into the foyer with hands in his pockets. "I need to go. I'll call you tomorrow. I promise."

"Nicky!" she shouts again, as if her volume can keep him from leaving. Nicky dismissively waves his hand behind his head and walks out. Kaylie knows he just needs to cool off and then everything will be good again. Until then she just needs to hold on to that hope.

"K, you don't look so okay." A hand touches her back and it's Lauren. She's glassy-eyed, not completely wasted, but getting there. Her concern seems genuine enough. Kaylie leans into her. She could really use a hug right about now.

"It's fine." Kaylie sniffles.

"Did you know?" Payson's voice cuts like a knife. It sounds even more severe in comparison to Lauren's drunken softness. "Kaylie, did you know about the pictures of Kelly?"

"Did you not?" Kaylie snaps. She's angry and she's hurt and she doesn't enjoy feeling attacked. She knows taking it out on Payson wouldn't be fair, but at this point Kaylie doesn't care. "She is your friend, isn't she, Pay? Shouldn't you have known?"

"No, I didn't, but my new best friend's boyfriend wasn't the one who took them. That's all you," Payson says. The accusation (even though it's a correct one) only pisses Kaylie off even more. She will never for the life of her understand why everyone jumps to Kelly Parker's defense. Payson was her friend first, not Kelly. Can't she see how she's hurting?

"Payson, I don't want to do this with you right now," Kaylie says as calmly as she can. "If you didn't notice, I just got into a fight with my boyfriend and I feel like crap."

"When are we supposed to talk about this?"

"How about never?" Kaylie says snidely.

"You're the one obsessed with the truth," Payson points out. "Just tell me if you knew or not. That's all you ask of anyone. Well, now I'm asking you."

Kaylie hates this. Damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. After a moment of thinking it over, Kaylie would rather tell the truth as hard as that is than be a hypocrite. "Yes, I knew. I saw them the day Max put them on his site. There. Happy, Payson?"

"And you didn't tell me? You didn't even tell Nicky, did you? He's Kelly's best friend!"

"Guys," Emily says in this timid voice, walking up between them. "Don't fight."

"I don't even know what the hell is going on right now," Lauren murmurs.

Sidestepping Emily and weaving around Lauren, Payson moves right in front of Kaylie. "Tonight I found your boyfriend fighting about it with Max, telling him to take the pictures down. Thank God someone did! Do you know what something like that can do to a gymnast trying to make the Olympic team?"

"They were fighting over Kelly?" Kaylie asks. "He isn't even on speaking terms with her and she's still messing up our relationship!"

"Kaylie, that's not what's important!"

"Oh, boo hoo, Pay!" Kaylie shouts. "If she wasn't acting like a slut then there wouldn't be anything to take pictures of in the first place. I don't know why you're mad at me! I wasn't the one who took them or put them online or posed for them."

"But you knew about them and you didn't say anything, did you?" Payson shouts back. To which, Kaylie doesn't respond. "And you're really one to talk, Kaylie. You're the queen of sloppy drunk mistakes and so far you're just lucky no one put those online."

"Okay, that's enough." Maeve swoops in, knocking Lauren back to get between Payson and Kaylie. A drunken Lauren almost falls over and gets pissed about it, lunging for Maeve, but Emily manages to hold her back. "This party sucks. Max is being an asshole. I'm out. Kaylie?"

Kaylie gives her oldest friends a sweeping look from Payson's misdirected anger to Emily struggling to restrain Lauren and then finally to Maeve who looks like she's ready to beat down a bitch if Kaylie so much as asks.

"Yeah," Kaylie says. "Let's leave."

"Kaylie, don't go," Emily says, but Kaylie acts as if she doesn't hear.

Rising above the others with a smug smile, Maeve grabs Kaylie's arm and leads her out the front door. Of course it's Lauren who always has the last word. Struggling for balance, she grumbles, "So much for a party for peace."

How Emily ends up in a corner with Conrad Cooper at Lauren's party is the biggest mystery of the night. Well, maybe not the biggest mystery—Lauren set them up—but it is baffling to Emily at least. What's glaringly obvious is how it's fast becoming a sinking ship. Besides being friends with Payson, they have nothing in common and nothing to talk about.

"So…did you watch Worlds on TV?" Conrad asks.

"Um, I watched the girls circuit to see Payson compete, but that's it…sorry."

Conrad smiles like he gets that response a lot and Emily can't help, but be a little sympathetic.

"Nah." Conrad waves off her apology. "It's cool."

And just like that they're back to silence. Emily glances at the nearest clock for the fifth time since Lauren ditched them and sees that they've been trying to think of things to talk about for a solid fifteen minutes now. The trying-way-too-hard-conversation is too Awkward Blind Date to be anywhere near normal.

Not a fan of the silence, Emily asks the first thing that comes to her. "So where do you live?"

"Austin's spare room at the lake house." Conrad nods across the room where Austin and Payson are off in their own little world, him giving her a kiss and her looking like a deer in headlights. Conrad grins at his fellow gymnasts before bringing his attention back to Emily. "I was born in Dillon, Texas, but moved to Dallas. I trained at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy before moving to Colorado."

"Oh. I hear it's hot there."

"It can be."

The conversation drives straight into a brick wall, one of many tonight. When Emily fumbles for something to say (what was she thinking bringing up the weather?) they're left with the silence yet again. Emily is fairly devoted to her straightedge ways, but alcohol is starting to sound more and more like a good idea right now.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Emily asks.

Nowadays, Emily has a strange relationship with music. There are certain songs that she can't help, but associate with Damon and then she ends up thinking about their breakup and it puts her in a bad mood. For all intensive purposes, Damon is music. Songs are his children. He lives and breathes it. With the end of their relationship, it's almost like he took custody and left her with nothing. A world without music is an empty, sad one, but until she finds a way to get Damon out of her head, Emily has no clue how to remedy this.

Music is good for one thing—conversation. It pulls a half-smile on Conrad's face and Emily chooses to concentrate on that. He really is good-looking. There's such a gentle quality to his eyes and such softness to his features. Emily can imagine him calling home every Sunday and having lengthy conversations with his mother, chatting like old friends.

"For the record, Dallas is straight up city. Buildings, buildings and more buildings. Honest to God, I have no clue why Austin goes around telling people I'm a hillbilly or a cowboy even if I look good in a cowboy hat if I do say so myself. But, yeah, I listen to country. Ray Charles. Patsy Cline. Johnny Cash. I was Elvis three Halloweens in a row. Willie Nelson—"

"Taylor Swift?"

Conrad's smile grows. "Oh, definitely! A road trip with Swifty in an old convertible Mustang, eating peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches while she serenades me and I drive. Yeah, you caught me. The only reason I'm a gymnast is in hopes of some day getting famous enough to finally bump into her at some event. That right there is what dreams are made of."

Emily laughs, a lot more comfortable now than before. "I have some of her songs on my iPod, but the genre as a whole—not so much."

"Well, you are missing out, my friend. I can't think of any other genre appropriate for those nights when you're spending the summer on your uncle's farm—real country—with your seven football obsessed cousins, all drunk, sneaking through farmlands, looking for a cow to tip."

Emily decides that had been way too descriptive to not have happened. Maybe the nickname Cowboy is more appropriate than he thinks. "Is that your last moment of true happiness?"

"Nope. My last moment of true happiness would be earlier today when I fried up some Snickers bars." Emily makes a face and Conrad laughs like he expected that one too. "The trick is to freeze 'em before dunking 'em in batter and into the fryer. I kid you not, best thing I probably shouldn't have eaten. I'll give you the recipe along with a country music mixtape."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Emily warns him.

"Oh, don't worry. I intend to. It's a super secret recipe. You'll be the third to know. Only rule is to not tell Austin."

"Sounds easy enough," Emily agrees. "I work at this pizza place not far from here and all my coworkers are stoners. Once, after closing, they were deep frying pieces of cheese cake and this thing they called deep fried mac and cheese torture bombs."

Seriously, how did Carter manage to date Kaylie and hook up with Lauren? He's so weird.

"Get out!" Conrad says excitedly. "Tell me it tasted amazing."

Emily shrugs her shoulders. "I wouldn't know. They offered, but I didn't try."

"Aw, Emily Kmetko, something tells me you missed out. Next time, you gotta try it. If not for your taste buds, then for me."

Emily bounces on the tips of her toes. "I'll think about it."

"Good enough for me." Conrad has this genuinely goofy quality that Emily finds nice to be around. "And your last moment of true happiness?"

She hates to bring down the mood especially when they've finally gotten the ball rolling, but a specific memory surfaces. Emily thinks of Damon and the last time they kissed, lounging on the couch while Lauren and Razor flirted and denied they were flirting and beautiful, blunt Henley said whatever her genius brain could come up with to annoy her brother.

Noticing Emily's blank stare, Conrad guesses, "It involves an old boyfriend, huh?"

Bingo.

Before Emily can respond, Conrad holds out a hand. "Wanna dance?"

"No," Emily says slowly. "I, um, I don't dance. Trust me. You don't want to see me try."

"I'll let you in on a little secret." Conrad moves towards her, but only a little. "I don't either. I kinda just thrash around and pretend everyone isn't looking at me like I'm having a seizure."

She's back to laughing again. Just like that. "You know, I think I can do that."

"Oh, I bet you'll excel at it." Conrad takes her hand and leads her off.

The room is hot from the surge of people constantly coming in and out. Conrad wasn't joking about his style of dance. He throws his long, muscular arms around and moves his feet in a repetitive manner as if he's trying to do the Snoopy dance. Emily just laughs and goes with it because it isn't like she cares about what any of these people think of her anyways. He takes her hand and spins her in a circle and Emily laughs, swaying to the electric beat.

"I lied," Conrad tells her. "My last moment of true happiness was further back with an old girlfriend, first and only girl I ever loved. She's a topnotch poker player, robbed grown men blind, kicked my ass for sure. See, I've got no pokerface, too honest, she said. The one and only time she let me win, showed me her cards, I knew she was in love with me too."

Emily slows to a stop as she listens to him and they're two people standing still, surrounded by bodies that can't and won't stop moving. She looks at Conrad's face, feels the heartache and envies the threads of warm nostalgia throughout.

"Does it get any easier?" Emily asks.

"Eventually," he replies. "To be honest, I haven't quite closed the door on that one just yet, but I think that's how first love is and always will be. My life was going left and hers right and it hurt at first, but now I'm just enjoying the ride. No matter what happens in the future, we'll always have that moment and, yeah, I was truly happy."

Another song plays, just as high energy as the last and as they dance, Emily notices Alison's friend, Mona, looking their way. She knows the look of a lioness on the prowl, animal eyes on Conrad. He seems to notice her too, a big dopy smile on his face. Conrad turns to Emily and she finds it a little flattering that he wants her opinion. They already feel like friends.

"I don't know if you want to go there," Emily warns him.

"Why not? She ain't the kind of girl I can take home to meet my mamma?" Conrad asks. It's like he already knows the answer, but just doesn't want to believe it.

"More like the type of girl who'll worship you when she's drunk, but hate you when she's sober." Emily has a few classes with Mona, a lower rung Royal. "Also a rich, snobby bitch."

"So we can dance and I won't have to worry about her stalking me?"

Emily nods. "Probably. As long as you make it super clear that you're not looking for commitment and don't use your Worlds conversation starter. Actually, don't mention that you're going to be a super awesome Olympian some day. Something tells me she can go from Too Cool for You to Gold Digger pretty fast."

"Sage advice, Emily Kmetko. I think you're pretty awesome too. You don't mind, do you?"

Emily gives him the okay to go be a normal girl-chasing dude for at least a little bit and he touches the back of her head and gives her one last smile before swimming through the crowd and making his way over to Mona, the Dragon Lady. Stuffy and sweaty, needing to get out of the crowd and fast, Emily heads for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Wow, Teach, I didn't know you could get down like that."

Lowering her water bottle, Emily realizes Ike is with her, leaning against the counter. Of course. Who else calls her that? Emily takes a breath and mutters, "Thank you?"

"I'd ask you to dance, but I'm kind of on the job." Ike pulls up the sleeve of his jacket and Emily sees a wad of cash in his palm, folded over and wrapped up in a rubber band.

"And you get to keep all of that?"

"My supplier gets a cut. Lauren gets a cut since I use her house as the drop-off, Rodge too, but the rest is mine. Most of it goes to paying the bills and taking care of the rugrats, but it's still more than I'd make if I was slinging dough with you every day after school."

"And weekends," Emily adds. "I gotta admit I'd much rather have your kind of dough."

Ike's eyes caution her, trying to put out her sparking interest before she starts getting in to the wrong business with the wrong people. She thinks it's sweet of him to try to protect her but it's not like Emily would seek out drug dealers. It isn't her.

"So the guy you were dancing with…I don't think I've seen him around before."

"Yeah, he doesn't go to Taft."

"Oh," Ike says in a way that makes Emily suspicious. "So is he the guy that makes LoTan all giggly whenever she gets a text from? I, um, I'm just asking out of curiosity…yeah."

Emily laughs. Ike and Lauren? Poor kid. That's never happening.

"No. The guy I was dancing with is Conrad. The guy Lauren's always texting is my stepbrother, Razor," Emily explains. She reads Ike's confusion and goes on, "Yeah, weird name, I know. Anyways, he lives in California. They met last summer."

"Interesting," Ike says. "What does he look like?"

Emily pulls up a mental image of Razor. "Hmm, tall and skinny. He has amazing hair, but telling him that is a world of trouble. He has green eyes…" Ike self-consciously runs his fingers through his dark hair that matted to his forehead from the sweat and Emily can't take it anymore. "You have a crush on Lo?"

"Crush," Ike says nervously. "What are we, in the third grade?"

"Sometimes it feels like it."

"I'm just curious," Ike reassures her.

"Sure."

"I'm serious!" he shouts in a very third grader way.

Emily could go on and on teasing him about liking Lauren and blame him for making her suddenly miss Razor, but there's a commotion across the kitchen and the two look over to find Rodge (Mr. Red Beanie) getting into a fight with one of the Royals, Glen, shooting guard for the basketball team and lover of candy canes. When she sees Ike innocently holding back, Emily scolds him and grabs him by the sleeve of his jacket, dragging him over.

"Get your hands off me," Rodge says flatly. That's the first time Emily has heard him speak. "What's your problem, man?"

"My problem is I have to breathe the same air as Rejects like you!"

"Ike, do something!" Emily urges. Ike shakes his head to show his protest, but Emily doesn't care and gives him a shove. He stumbles forward and is confused as to what she wants him to do. Ike is clearly no match for Glen.

"Hey," Ike says with uncertainty. He clears his throat, grabs a bigger set of balls and puts a hand on Glen's letter jacket, pushing him off of Rodge. "Bro, back off."

"Bro, I'm not your bro. Fuck off, faggot." With one arm, Glen shoves Ike back and actually makes him lose balance. Luckily, Emily is there to catch and steady him. "I get that you're everyone's hookup for drugs and shit, but I am so sick of having to deal with you and your dirty ass friends."

"Well, if you don't plan on kicking your coke addiction then you're just going to have to deal with it," Emily speaks up. The boys all look her way, wondering when this became her business. Glen shoves Rodge away, more interested in giving Emily a hard time when, to everyone's surprise, Carter steps up beside her.

Glen sizes him up. "Are you high, Anderson?"

"Yes, I am!" Carter answers, honest and proud. "But it doesn't mean I can't kick your ass. Leave her alone and walk away, Glen."

"Barbarians, before you start a pissing contest and tear the kitchen apart, I have an idea," Rodge says, straightening his jacket, moving between Ike and Emily. "If you don't want to do business with us directly then you can go through our…newest associate." He nods to Emily. "What's your name again?"

Emily blinks. "What?"

Ike shakes his head. "Dude, leave her out of this."

"Emily Kmetko?" Glen says. "My tutor?"

"Yeah, she's our new in-between-er person," Rodge continues. He pulls a cell phone out of his pocket and hands it over to Emily. She doesn't understand, but takes it anyways. "Emily will set up the trade, talk to us and get you what you want. We've always run a sloppy business. We could use someone with actual organizational skills and I've seen her locker."

Emily blinks again. "You have?"

"Yeah." He chuckles in a way much too soft for his rouged exterior. "I bet Martha Steward would want to live in there."

"Are you high?" Emily asks, dead serious.

"Obviously," Ike says as Rodge answers, "No."

Glen looks completely lost, which isn't anything new. "Foreal? I am so down. Get a little homework help and get a little weed."

"Two birds and one satisfied stoner," Rodge pitches.

Glen leers at Emily. "Plus, you're a lot nicer to look at than these freaks."

Emily finds that more than odd. After all, she's always considered herself one of the freaks.

"It isn't a bad idea," Carter says from her side. Emily still has no idea why Carter stepped up, ready to protect her like that. His unknown loyalty makes Emily feel a little bad for all the things she's said and thought behind his back. "Emily runs a clean kitchen at the Shack. She is perfect for the job."

"See, she works at the Shack," Rodge says. "You always know where to reach her if need be."

"Dude, can you not make decisions when you're high?" Ike interjects. "And you didn't even ask Emily what she thinks of this. Rodge, dude, just shut the fuck up."

"Sounds good," Glen agrees, ignoring Ike completely. He gives Emily a look over and apparently deems her worthy. "Whatever gets you fucking idiots out of my face works for me. We'll be in touch, Tutor Girl."

Emily frowns in a hey, it's only okay when Lauren calls me that! But Glen is already gone so she doesn't get the chance to say it. Carter does that thing where he makes a fist and bumps it against her shoulder before he too disappears, leaving Emily with the boys from Laguna.

"Jesus, they call themselves Royals? More like Where the Wild Things Are. Have you seen that film, Benzinger?" Rodge laughs, bending over to pick his beanie up off the ground. He plops it atop the back of his head and pulls it over his large ears. "It's more fun when you're high."

"Why'd you do that?" Ike demands, giving his friend a shove.

"Share the wealth, man." Rodge nods to Emily again, but this time his eyes stay on her. They burn. "Consider this my contribution to starting your Get The Fuck Out of Laguna fund."

"You can back out if you want and no one is going to give you shit for it," Ike reassures her. This is all happening so fast it makes Emily's head spin.

"We make good money," Rodge argues. "It isn't like you have to touch the drugs. You don't. Ike and I take care of all that. You just have to deal with the Neanderthals and considering you tutor said primitive beings I'd say you've had practice. And you need to keep track of what Royal dick wants what and when, keep a ledger. I know you could use the money. We all could use the money."

Emily doesn't like this, but she knows he has a point. It isn't like she's dealing with mean, horrible drug dealers. It's Ike, who's her friend (as strange as that is) and Mr. Red Beanie, her savior. They're all waiting for her reply and Emily takes a deep breath before she answers, "Okay. I'm in."

Payson doesn't usually go to Lauren's parties, but it is a Saturday night and she doesn't have practice the next day. It's nice to get out of the house, especially since she's still a little upset over her mom conspiring with Marty. Kim assured Payson that she didn't tell Marty about Kelly being drunk and passing out at their house, just expressed her concern in general. Payson believes her, but needs some space regardless.

She isn't a fan of PDA, but it is nice to be away from the gym and be open about their attraction. There are so many people moving from place to place, but when she's with Austin, the havoc is reduced to background noise. Payson has never seen the appeal of lip-to-lip contact, all the swapping saliva and the strange sounds, but Austin is a great kisser. Sometimes his experience scares her, but he's sweet, willing to go slow and teach her.

Austin is so confident, his tongue making its move and though Payson begs herself not to lose control, body revolts against brain. No matter how warm he is and how good he tastes and how amazing this feels. When they pause for a breath, her brain and body come to an agreement—her lips need to return to the place they just were and fast.

"Well, well, well, look at Supergirl acting like a normal horny teenager for once. You have my total and complete approval." Lauren goes out of her way to be embarrassing as usual.

Smirking, Austin slides his arm around Payson and they both sits back against the loveseat. "Thanks for the invite," he says to Lauren.

"Anytime," she replies, filtering through the crowd with her eyes. "Ew, Emily is hanging out with Ike when there are all these hot, available, non-gross guys in the room. Kaylie is being a loser with her loser friends. You two are macking. Where'd your boy Conrad go?"

"Getting ideas, Lo?" Payson asks.

"Not me," Lauren says, holding a hand to her chest.

"I was planning on playing wingman and getting him laid," Austin says. "He flirts with the junior gymnasts—Becca—at the gym. I keep telling him if you can't pick her up from school cuz her mom didn't put you down as an emergency contact she's too young for you, bro."

"You're awful," Payson says, laughing. "Just not Em. Yes, Lo, I saw you trying to set them up."

"Surprise, surprise. I can't believe you noticed with Mr. Famous' tongue down your throat." Lauren flips her hair over her shoulder. "Even I wouldn't push Em into some DTF guy. I'm trying to get her back on her feet, not knock her on her ass all over again."

"Seems like a failed attempt if she's hanging with another dude and Conrad is hitting on Kelly Parker Knockoffs. I'm sensing a trend," Austin says, seeing Conrad talking to Mona. She doesn't look like Kelly at all aside from being petite and dark haired, but it's sort of there.

"So much for thinking he had taste," Lauren says, taking a sip of her drink as she watches.

"Guess I should go make him look good," Austin murmurs. Though he says it, Austin doesn't move, reluctant to leave Payson. "How about we go get a drink before I do?"

"I can take a hint," Lauren tells them. "Have fun."

Austin drags his body up and takes Payson by the hand, leading her to the kitchen. Austin's been knocking back a few beers, drinking at leisure and it makes Payson a little nervous, but not once does he pressure her to do the same so she doesn't worry about it.

"Hey! You're Austin Tucker, right?" asks Max Spencer. The dark-haired teen with the camera has such on excitement on his face. You'd think Austin is a god or something.

Austin paints on the smile he reserves for fans. "That's me."

Before Max can ask for a picture or an autograph, Maeve snorts, walking towards them. Austin's smile fades, eyes taking on a dazed quality, as he looks Maeve up and down. "You know this is a Lauren Tanner party, right? No offense, but why on earth would someone who's been to the Olympics be here?"

At first Payson thought Lauren was just jealous of Maeve's friendship with Kaylie, but now Payson even sees it and feels it. Why is Kaylie hanging out with this girl?

"Lauren's a good friend of mine, actually." Austin's reply surprised Payson and the rest of the room, their faces dropping, stunned. He looks around and announces, "Lauren Tanner is one of the coolest people I know. She doesn't discriminate. She even lets haters into her party."

Maeve turns in a 360-degree circle, shooting everyone looks daring him or her to laugh at her and watch their popularity plummet. Payson smiles almost as wide as Austin, glad she's on the path she chose, away from silly high school hierarchy.

"Okay, I could use that water now," Payson says, pulling Austin away. Max shouts something about wanting a picture, but the two gymnasts keep walking. "That was really great what you did back there. You didn't have to. Lauren is used to dealing with people like that."

"Don't mention it," Austin says. "Who is that girl anyways?"

"Maeve Benson. She's Kaylie's friend."

"Have you noticed how, well," Austin hesitates, but then blurts it out, "she's lethal skinny?"

"She's an aspiring model. I think she's proud of her stick-like, vaguely inhumane proportions. Why? Do you think there's something more there?"

"Just a bad vibe." Austin tries to shake the feeling and goes to the refrigerator. They hang out for a bit, play a game of I Spy: Drunk High School Party Edition and when Payson spies Conrad crashing and burning with a different Kelly Parker Knockoff, one who resembles Kelly to a downright eerie degree, Austin decides to go into wingman mode and save the day.

After a quick trip to the bathroom (she gets an express pass when Lauren snaps her fingers and the line in front of the door disperses) Payson spots Nicky. She hasn't heard from him since texting him a couple days back. Payson decides to approach him just as Nicky runs up to Max and slams him into the wall, rattling a framed photo of Lauren as a child.

"The hell, Nicky!"

"Cut the crap, Max. You know what this is about!"

"Well, if you took your arm off my windpipe maybe you could explain it to me because I have no clue why you just attacked me out of the blue!" Max shouts. Nicky has his forearm up against Max's throat, pinning him to the wall.

"Kelly," Nicky says in this deadly, shaking voice. "I saw those stupid pictures you took of her and put on your stupid blog! What the hell, Max?"

"And why would you have a problem with that? Last I checked, you aren't even friends with Kelly Psycho anymore." Nicky doesn't say anything, but his grip on Max loosens until they're on opposite sides of the hallway. Max squints his eyes and then shakes his head angrily. "Unbelievable. You're seeing her again, aren't you? Behind Kaylie's back?"

"Don't act like I'm the one on trial here," Nicky says. "How did you even get those pictures?"

"Well, there was a party. There was tequila. I think you can figure out the rest."

Watching the interaction between the cousins, Payson doesn't think she's seen Nicky show so much emotion before. She's so used to him as Kaylie's nice, quiet boyfriend. This side of him is one she never even knew existed. It only makes sense that it's over Kelly.

"Nicky, I don't see why you're being like this. If anything, it's karma. Kelly Parker has always been a horrible person. I thought you were finally starting to realize that, but apparently not if you're hanging out with her again. What that psycho bitch has over you I'll never understand."

That's the last straw for Nicky who moves his hands to Max's throat and starts to strangle him.

"Nicky, stop!" Payson rushes over.

"I want you to take those pictures off now!" Nicky shouts. Payson uses all her strength to pull the boys apart. When Nicky finally lets go, barreling through his anger and recognizing Payson's pleas, he leaves Max coughing and rubbing his reddening neck.

"Nicky," Max coughs, "you," another cough, "need to lighten up."

"Now, Max."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Max asks exasperatedly. "I need a computer."

"We can use Lauren's," Payson suggests. Both boys look as if they're just noticing her now. She knows she's intruding on a family affair, but it does concern Kelly and as far as Payson's concerned, Kelly is family. "I can show you and I know her password."

Nicky thanks her, his face softening till he resembles Kaylie's coy boyfriend again. Payson nods to the stairs and the cousins follow.

When Payson pushes on the door to Lauren's bedroom, it creaks open and they're all shocked to see Alison inside, alone. She gives a lofty, drunken laugh, murmurs something about this not being a bathroom, grabs her large leather bag and walks out. Something about that didn't feel right, but Payson has other, more pressing things on her mind at the moment.

"So this is Lauren Tanner's bedroom, huh?" Max tries to whistle even though he can't.

"Don't touch anything," Payson snaps, knowing Lauren would be pissed if she knew they were in there. She grabs Lauren's laptop on the edge of the vanity and boots it up, sitting on the edge of the bed. "So, Nicky, when's the last time you saw Kelly?"

"Yeah, Nicky, I'd like to know too." Max is across the room, playing with Lauren's camera.

"Dinner with our dads," Nicky replies. "I don't think she had a choice and she wasn't happy about it. She didn't even directly tell me about the pictures. I had to hunt for them myself. I don't know what to tell you, Payson. I don't even know how to talk to her anymore."

"I can relate. The one time I tried to, she was drunk and passed out on my couch."

"Quick question," Max says. "Why do you even care? Seriously, I need to know or it'll drive me crazy. I had to sit by and watch that—for the lack of a better word—psycho treat Nicky like crap and still he'd do anything for her when she wouldn't even call him her boyfriend."

Nicky is quick to disagree. "The fact that you think that just goes to show you have no clue what you're even talking about."

"Whatever." Max scoffs. "All I know is you're at a good place. I'm not ashamed to call you my cousin and all because of Kaylie. She's a nice girl and one of my friends, Nicky. If you're telling me Kaylie is going to get hurt in whatever sick game you and Kelly have always been playing, that's not cool. Kaylie doesn't deserve that. Just think before you do something stupid, okay?"

"Don't pretend you're doing this for my sake or Kaylie's," Nicky says. There's that anger mixed with defensiveness creeping up his throat and coating his words. "Max, you've hated Kelly ever since you hit on her and she told you to get lost."

Payson smiles. Now that makes perfect sense.

"Okay, I'll be the first to admit she's attractive, but that doesn't change the fact that she has the personality of a hammerhead shark," Max says. Though they're friends, Payson isn't disillusioned. She knows that also makes perfect sense.

"Like your girlfriend is any better?" Nicky scowls. "And you think Kelly is a horrible person?"

"And I'm sure your car is bigger than his car too. Can we please focus?" Payson turns the laptop towards Max who's now sitting at Lauren's vanity with a pen in hand, writing on a piece of pink stationary. He stops and walks over to where Nicky and Payson are.

With fingers racing across the keyboard and a few clicks of the trackpad, Max accesses his blog—The Maximalist. He owns the domain and it seems he plans to hang on to the site for a long time. It acts as a portfolio of pictures that Max has taken, from the artistic to headshots of his girlfriend to events he's been to. He brings up the infamous pictures.

Payson winces. "That's not the Kelly Parker I know."

"Me neither." Nicky sneaks looks at the screen, standing over Max to make sure he deletes it. "Max, if a bunch of your friends have this as their desktop backgrounds, I swear—"

"No one does, okay? I don't just give away my pictures away for free. For one, I watermark all of them and I enabled an htaccess file that prevents people hotlinking my images. If that isn't enough, I block the right-click function. I have a disclaimer so if you steal one of my pictures I'll sue and the only way to really steal it is to print screen, but the guys who look at my site aren't smart enough to figure that anyways."

"Good," Nicky says. "And I want your backup copies."

"Why? So you can jack off to them? Nicky, dude."

"No. Because I know it isn't safe with you. You're just going to do something stupid with it," Nicky says matter-of-factly. "Tomorrow I'm coming by and you're going to give me every copy you have. Digital. Print. JPEG. GIF. If not…" Nicky's voice trail off, running his fingers through his hair. "If not, grandpa's going to find out who really wrecked his Aston Martin."

Max's face goes pale. "You wouldn't."

"For Kelly? You want to test me, Max?" Nicky says. "And if you already sold the rights to a reporter or something then you bet I'll tell everyone—the family, Maeve—why Hector left and what you had to do with it."

Payson doesn't know to what he's referring, but from Max's blank face, it's life altering.

"Come by around noon," Max says in a low, dead voice. "I haven't sold it to anyone though I can't say I didn't consider it." Max clicks around on the laptop before handing it back to Payson for inspection. "There. It's done. I hope you aren't mixing up who you're trying to protect and who you should be protecting."

Before leaving, Max goes over to the vanity and folds up the pink piece of paper he'd been writing on. He tucks it beneath Lauren's camera and leaves. Nicky double checks the website, refreshes and checks again before letting out a long sigh.

"Did she say anything else when you saw her last?" Payson asks him.

Nicky looks like such a wounded animal. "You know how when Kelly convinces herself of something then that's it?" Payson nods. "She thought I had something to do with those pictures when I had no idea. It just…sucks. I can't even think of trying to snap her out of this self-destruction thing when she can't even trust me enough to hear me out."

His eyes glaze over like he's replaying their last meeting in his head and seeing him like this makes Payson feel so helpless.

"I had no idea," she says. "And I believe you when you say you didn't."

"Thanks, Payson. At least someone does."

A light bulb goes off in her head and Payson knows the perfect way to lift his spirits at least a little. She reaches for her phone. "There's good in all this."

"What could possibly be right when everything feels this wrong?" Nicky asks. There's something so poetic about how he says it and Payson wonders if he picked that up from Faith or if Faith picked that up from him. "I miss her, you know? Kelly. I miss how things used to be. If I could do it over, I would have done everything differently."

That puts everything on pause. It brings back what Max just said about Kaylie. Maybe she should be protecting Kaylie. While Kelly's reputation is on the line, so is Kaylie's heart. Why does helping one friend rise from rock bottom have to mean bringing down another?

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying you aren't happy with Kaylie?"

"No. That's not what I'm saying," Nicky assures her. "It's, like, in that area of my life, my relationship with Kaylie, it isn't perfect, but we always work through it, I care about her and like being with her. But it's getting harder to just concentrate on that part while everything else falls apart. My life as a whole…it's not so great right now. Did that make any sense?"

Payson relaxes a little. "I get it," she says, not knowing how else to respond. She feels the same about her gymnastics life, which is going fantastically and her home life, where her dad is still desperately seeking a job closer to home and her social life, where her friends are complicated and messy. "At least we'll have Faith soon enough."

"You talked to Faith?"

"She's been in New York for a while now," Payson explains, perplexed. "You honestly didn't know? She hasn't texted you?"

"Stupid," Nicky murmurs. "I got a new phone and a new number."

"Yeah, she said she's coming back."

Nicky smiles the biggest smile Payson has ever seen on him. Faith never actually mentions a specific date when she talks about coming back to Colorado, but, clearly, they need her here almost as much as she probably needs them.


Author's note: So far, this chapter was the most fun to write. We don't know about you, but this Nicky/Payson friendship stuff was fun to write and Kaylicky, oh, sweet and kinda hot yet insecure and messy Kaylicky. Plus, how adorable is Conrad? What is it about our favorite four that parties never really work out with them?

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