Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the characters you don't recognize from the movie.

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews--they're always great inspiration to keep writing! This is a bit of a filler chapter, but it's cute…enjoy!

"He did what?"

Lizzy couldn't help but laugh a little at Paul's exasperated voice coming from the other end of the phone. She was sitting in a chair near by the phone that was attached to the kitchen wall, sketchpad balanced in her lap, pencil tucked behind her free ear. A few days had passed since the incident at the club; she was reluctant to tell her boyfriend what happened but figured he had a right to know.

"Paul, I'm fine."

"Lizzy, some random dude hit on you—it's my job to be pissed," he explained. "If I were there, you know that guy would be out cold the minute he laid his hand on you."

"Oh, don't worry…Uncle Max did a number on him."

"I'm glad someone did," he sighed. "How old was he, anyway?"

"Uh…I'd say about twenty six, twenty seven."

"That's sick, Lizzy. Really."

"Hey, the guy was stoned out of his mind. It's not like I initiated the whole thing," she said, smirking although he couldn't see it. "I like you too much."

Paul laughed. "Good to know."

The line went silent for a few moments; Lizzy stared down at the paper her sketchbook was turned to—a half finished drawing of her cousin, Max Jr., which she had started yesterday. Valerie had come over for a lunch date with Lucy, and brought Max and Michelle along because Max Sr. was working. Little Max had fallen asleep and Lizzy decided to sketch him, because he looked so cute spread out across the couch.

"So, when're you coming h—back?" Paul asked at last. Lizzy knew he was choosing his words wisely, knowing that technically Florida wasn't her real home. Come June, she would be living in New York City with her biological parents and relatives.

"Hmm, someone sounds like they're a bit lonely," Lizzy laughed. "You miss me already? I've only been gone for a week."

"It's been a long week."

"Well, I'll be back late next week," she replied just as Lucy shuffled into the apartment, arms laden with brown paper bags full of groceries. "Listen, I gotta go, but I'll call you again in a few days, okay? Love you."

"Love you, too," he replied. "Bye."

Lizzy stood and hung up the phone, placing her sketchbook onto the chair before approaching her mother. Lucy was in the process of taking the groceries out of the bags and putting the items away in their respective spots. The teenager took a bag and began pulling the items out to help make the task go faster.

"Mom," Lizzy questioned, in the middle of setting a box of cereal on a shelf in one of the cabinets above the sink, "would it be all right if I ask Eleanor and Michelle over tonight? I've been thinking that it would be cool for the three of us to have a sleepover or something. Other than shopping, I haven't had a chance to really hang out with them."

Lucy smiled. "I bet they'd like that," she agreed. "The phone numbers are in the address book in the drawer over there. You can tell the girls that they're welcome to come to dinner."

Once the groceries were properly put away, Lizzy grabbed the phone book from the drawer closest to the phone and looked up the numbers. She decided to call Michelle first, since she came across her number before Eleanor's. It turned out that Valerie answered the phone first.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Val, it's Lizzy."

"Oh! Hey, Lizzy! What's going on?"

"I was actually wondering if Michelle would like to come over for a sleepover tonight. I'm inviting Eleanor, too, so it'll be the three of us."

"That sounds like fun," Val replied. "Hold on, I'll go ask her."

Lizzy heard the sound of the phone being set down, followed by some muffled voices. Val returned a minute later, saying, "She's excited. She said she'd definitely come. What time?"

"My mom said the girls can have dinner with us, so…about five o'clock?"

"Okay. We'll see you then."

The teenager hung up and then dialed Eleanor's number. After several rings, someone finally picked up.

"Hello? Jimi speaking."

The similarities between the sound of Jimi's voice to JoJo's voice threw Lizzy off for a second. The boy was seriously becoming more and more like his father everyday.

"Hey, Jimi, it's Lizzy. Is your sister around?"

"Yeah, she's here somewhere…let me go get her…"

The phone was placed down, but unlike the muffled voices she heard at the Carrigan household, Lizzy heard distinct shouting coming from Jimi. He was truly a typical teenage boy--not moving to go and physically find his sister.

"Elle! Phone!" he yelled.

It was kind of funny for Lizzy to hear what was going on. She discerned what she thought was Jimi and Eleanor arguing over something, then there were a lot of strange noises as the young girl picked up the phone.

"Hey, Liz, what's up?"

"Just wanted to know if you're up for a sleepover at my house tonight."

"Oh, cool," Eleanor answered. Lizzy could tell that she sounded a lot like her mother, in the words that she chose and how she spoke. Suddenly, there was an explosion of electric guitar in the background that caused Eleanor to groan. "Ugh, hold on a sec my brother's being a jerk--Jimi, turn it down! I'm on the phone!"

"I'm guessing you'd enjoy a night off from your brother?" Lizzy asked, half-laughing.

"Yeah," Eleanor agreed. "I'd love to come. Need me to bring anything?"

"Not anything specific besides maybe a sleeping bag…whatever you want to bring is fine…movies, makeup…whatever."

"'kay. What time?"

"Five-ish. My mom's cooking dinner for us."

"Awesome. See ya later!"

Lizzy hung up, placing the phone back on the wall. She put the address book back and walked into the living room, where Lucy was cleaning up a bit.

"How many extra places do we need to set at the table?" she asked once she noticed Lizzy had entered the room.

"Two," Lizzy stated, flopping onto the couch. "and they're both really excited about it. I am, too. I haven't had a real sleepover since I was in grade school."

"And you don't mind hanging out with two twelve-year-olds?"

"Nah," Lizzy said, dismissing it, "It's all the same, no matter what age you are. Movies, junk food…gossip. It'll be fun."

Lucy nodded. "You know, you better warn your father about this sleepover…since there's going to be a surplus of estrogen in the apartment tonight…"

Lizzy just laughed.

"Your room gets cooler every time I see it." Eleanor observed, tossing her bag, pillow, and sleeping bag onto the floor beside Michelle's stuff. They were just getting settled, having finished dinner a few minutes ago.

Lizzy shrugged; she was currently trying to make her bed look decent, since she hadn't made it this morning. "It's nothing. Just something I started when I first got here. I've been working on it again for the past couple of days." she said. The beach scene that occupied one of the walls was now finished, and she had started filling another wall with skyscrapers and things she'd seen in Times Square. There was also a bulletin board near her bed which held an assortment of pictures.

Michelle plopped down beside Eleanor on the now freshly made bed. "Do you have any new drawings?"

"Yeah, actually, I do," The eighteen-year-old answered, moving over to her bedside table, where she had left her sketchbook earlier. While maneuvering back around the bed, she flipped to the most recent drawing. "It's your brother," Lizzy told Michelle. "Remember when he fell asleep here yesterday?" She gave the sketchbook to Michelle.

Michelle nodded, looking down at the drawing of her younger brother. Eleanor peered over her shoulder, curious. "Whoa," Michelle said, her eyes scanning the page, "It looks just like him."

"Thanks. I tried…it's not perfect, but--"

"It looks pretty perfect to me," Eleanor mused. "I'd love to draw as well as you can."

Lizzy shrugged again, ever the humble artist. "You write stories," the teenager pointed out, "I can't do that really well. I bet you'll be a famous novelist someday."

"And you'll be an awesome art teacher," Eleanor said. "Michelle will probably be the makeup stylist for all the celebrities."

Michelle giggled. "I can live with that," she decided. "And…I think Jimi will be a famous musician like your parents. But Max…I'm not sure about him."

The three girls shared a laugh. It was true. Max was only seven, but his interests changed daily, and he was as wild and rambunctious as his father so it was hard to tell what he'd turn out to be.

"Okay," Lizzy said, sitting down beside her cousins, "What do you wanna do now? I think it's too early for movies and junk food."

"Can I paint your nails?" Michelle piped up.

Eleanor put a hand to her forehead, and shook her head. "How'd I know that was coming?"

Michelle hooked an arm around Eleanor's shoulders. "'Cause you know me too well," she replied. "Anyway, I brought a ton of nail polish."

So, Lizzy agreed to let Michelle paint her fingernails, while Eleanor preferred to paint her own. Five minutes later, the three of them were sitting on the floor in Lizzy's bedroom with a bunch of paper towels spread out and Michelle's entire nail polish collection in front of them. Lizzy let her cousin pick the color, as there were way too many to choose from. Michelle decided on a cerulean blue to match the color of Lizzy's eyes, and got to work. Eleanor picked out Michelle's half full bottle of tangerine colored polish which Max had spilled several months back and began painting her own nails.

Unsurprisingly, the girls found themselves gossiping about school, friends, and crushes as they painted their nails. Eleanor and Michelle attended the same school, so they knew the same people and teachers, and pretty much shared similar opinions about them. Lizzy was a bit surprised to discover that for seventh graders, they had a lot of drama. Well, drama that they'd overheard, anyway. Catty girls and their boyfriends, friends betraying friends and all that.

"It's the same in high school, I'm sorry to say," Lizzy told them with a sigh, just as Michelle was finishing up the last coat on her fingernails. She would have to wait for them to dry before she could paint her toenails. "So, do you two have boyfriends? Guys in your class that you have a crush on?"

Eleanor shook her head no. "No boyfriend, although I have a few friends who are guys. That's about it."

Michelle bit her lip, her eyes focused on the bottles of nail polish rather than Eleanor and Lizzy. A slight blush had crept onto her cheeks, and hadn't gone unnoticed by either of her cousins.

"Michelle, you're blushing." Eleanor announced, nudging the young girl in the arm, a smirk on her face.

"Am not."

Lizzy giggled. "You are! Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Are you hiding a secret boyfriend from us?" Eleanor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," the twelve-year-old answered. "but I do have a crush on this boy…"

Eleanor practically squealed with excitement. "Spill. Now," she demanded. "Who is it?"

Michelle hesitated, biting her lip again. "John."

"John McCartney?" Eleanor questioned, as there was more than one John in their grade. Michelle nodded. "Aww. I can see why. He is cute."

"You should talk to him," Lizzy suggested. "Maybe ask him if he'd like to hang out with you sometime."

Michelle shrugged. "Maybe…"

"You'll never know what'll happen if you don't try." she advised, remembering Sadie's own advice to her when she was struggling to figure out her relationship with Paul.

After Lizzy's nails were dry, she went into the kitchen to get them some food--mostly chips and cheese puffs and other junk. The house was quiet; Jude had left some time ago, complaining about the amount of teenage and pre-teenage girls in the house and jokingly saying that he could only handle one… Lucy was in their bedroom, probably reading. She hadn't stayed in the living room just in case the girls wanted to use the T.V. to watch a movie.

But they never really got around to watching any movies. They were up until well after four in the morning, talking about other things like favorite bands, colors, movies, television shows. The conversations led to completely random side discussions, and by that time neither of the three knew what they had been talking about in the first place. Once midnight rolled around, they had both their fingernails and toenails painted, and had moved on to creating different hairstyles for each other. The girls were on a junk food high--which resulted in a small pillow fight somewhere in between one and two in the morning--and had no intention of going to bed early.

Except for when they finally crashed, which was around four-thirty. When Lucy came in several hours later to check on them, she discovered that Eleanor's and Michelle's sleeping bags were unnecessary. Lizzy, Michelle and Eleanor had all fallen asleep on Lizzy's bed. Lizzy and Eleanor were sleeping with their backs to each other, and Michelle was sleeping horizontally, sprawled across their legs, with her hair half braided. There was also an array of empty bags strewn on the floor, proof of their junk food high.

Lucy could only smile, remembering the numerous times she, Prudence, Rita and Sadie had had these kinds of sleepovers. And Lizzy was right: it was the same, no matter what age you were.

A/N: Sorry, no trivia question...I'll have to think of a hard one. Anyway--please review! :)