I couldn't believe Jen just walked away from me.  I was being sincere, was
I not?  This isn't easy for me to do…admit I am wrong.  And Jen just acted
like I am the one to blame and she does everything right.  I could feel my cheeks getting hot the more I analyzed Jen's irrational behavior.  But everyone wants me Man!!  I am so hot.  How could she resist the charm?  I stood in the tour bus for what seemed like hours trying to calm myself so I could walk into the club as a gentleman.  I for sure wasn't going to let this girl get to me.  I finally walked out of the tour bus and into the club.  And there she was, in a trance so it seemed looking at all the others having fun.  She looked sad.  I'd just walked over to her and reached to tap her shoulder when she turned directly into my chest.  And in that one moment all the feelings I had for her rushed back to me.  Before I knew it she had quickly jerked her head away from me and moved three steps back.
It was like I had some sort of disease.  Hello Jen, I am trying to make up here, would you cut me some slack?  As I opened my mouth about to say something, I caught a glimpse of Michelle.  Her smile was magic, she could light up the entire room, but I didn't feel the romantic feelings for her that guys feel for girls.  I
turned back to Jen in time to see the hurt expression in her eyes.  She
had obviously seen me looking at Shelbs.  She walked past me and out the
door without uttering a word.
 

"San Jose?!??!"  Laura echoed the thought in my mind.

Yah, I thought we were heading the exact opposite direction.  North, not south!

"I thought we were just going somewhere local?"  Jules asked.  Oh yah, the guys didn’t eat anything, and Scott did say we would stop over at a hamburger joint.

"Yeah,"  Scott began, "well, we got our schedule cleared so we wanted to show you all this great club in San Jose that we found last time we were here".  
Hmmm…was this the surprise Abs was all giddy about?  I mean check out this spiffy club, man!  But what was my take on it all?  I figure, they didn’t want to rush back to Davis—our home so quickly.  But why all of a sudden are they reluctant to go back to our place?  Well…the reprocussions thereof could be devastation.  I mean, they haven’t seen how bad Shelb’s room could get!
All of a sudden I heard J’s crazy laugh (sounds much better en persona than recorded, man!).  And in the same instant, Sean grabbed my arm posessivly, and led me to the club.  "So anyway, lets go to the club".

     I was still in a state of contemplation, so I was caught off guard by this gesture.  I couldn’t believe that Sean would still give me a second glance.  I was resigned to believe that he succumbed to the apparent magnetism that Ritchie emanated.  *Puh!*  I can’t believe that not  a few days ago, I wanted to have Sean’s baby, and thought that Ritchie was batting for the wrong side.  And at this moment I didn’t even search for the pain that would manifest itself in Ritchie’s eyes.  It found me instead.  But the thought still simmered in my mind, about why we were at this club and not in Davis.  We entered and within the protective darkness of the club, Sean muttered in my ear, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

     Hell man I did too, but I also wanted to get to the bottom of our sidetracking.  And frankly, it was nagging me more than resolving my Sean-Ritchie love triangle.  Hey, maybe I was stalling, but it aint any of yo damned concern!  I looked through the dimness at the sincere look in Sean’s eyes, and also past them, at the jealousy in Ritchie’s eyes.  And I came to one conclusion:  Ritchie would spill the beans more than Sean would!

“Sean, um…dear, I wanted to have a talk with you too, but the thing is, I have to …”  What was a good word?  Prod?  No, already I’m getting nasty pictures in my head.  How could I say this without hinting at my intentions?  Oh well!  “…resolve something with Ritchie.  I’ll be right back, I promise.”  And I gave him a wink, hopefully to convey my sincerity.  Thankfully, he nodded, understandingly.  But perhaps he thought I hinted that I was breaking ties with Ritchie?
Did it matter?  Not to me at this point.  I approached Ritchie, and he smiled with warmth and relief.  “Care to dance, Mr. Neville?” I bowed.  

     He gave an enthusiastic affirmative, and I led him to a corner of the dance floor, far away from any of the other guys.  But did I need to?  Shelbs took Sean away the moment I left him.  To “comfort” him I bet.  Scott and Jules were in their own world, but I caught the candid glances she made at Abs from the corner of her eyes.  Abs, on the other hand, was occupied with Laura.  I could see him try to charm her, I don’t know, like a wolf to his prey.  And if I knew Laura, she was trying her best to be polite.  And I caught J and Jen at the door doing what Jen does best (and for fun too), arguing as usual.  But in spite of everyone’s occupation, I took precautions nonetheless.  In our secluded corner, Ritchie and I started dancing, and I pulled him close, (much to his evident joy).  “So what’s the deal, man?”

He looked at me confused, “What deal?”

“You know!  Why are we in San Jose, and not Davis?!  I figure someone’s trying to avoid something.”

“Well…nothing!  What makes you think we don’t want to go to your flat?  We’re quite anxious, actually.”

And it was at that point that I used my womanly charms to…well…charm the details out of him.  I gave him a lusty look, and stroked my hair (which guys really like, for some reason).  I fingered his collar (yeah, I’m getting really graphic here, babes), and asked in a voice dripping with honey, “Oh, I think there’s something you aren’t telling me.  And I’d like to hear it, or else I can resort to…much more cruel methods of interrogation!”

I heard him gulp.  But he was silent for a while, and his eyes nervously darted left and right.  So there WAS something he wasn’t telling me!  In a bout of indignation, I punched his shoulder.  Whoa!  Violence?!  SOMEONE is rubbing off on me!  But it worked, and in a moment, I had him spilling his guts.

“Ok, ok, but you didn’t hear this from me!  NOT ME, but the other lads figured that since we were going to your flat that…that…”

“WHAT?!  Or do you want me to display my martial arts skill?”

“OK, but I had nothing to do with it!  They figured that…we’d be seeing much of your…uh…bedrooms…and well…you see.”

“No, I don’t see!”  I was confused, I didn’t get it.

“Well…I don’t want to be so blunt before a lady…”

“Screw that!  Just tell me!”

“Just remember I had no such thoughts!  Nothing to do with me!”

“Yeah, whatever, JUST TELL ME!”

“Ok, well…we didn’t think we’d be booking hotels in Davis.  They thought we’d be…staying…at your place…”

“Sure, but I still don’t see…”

“…And we won’t even be staying in your living room, either.  Oh, blast it!  You know!  Th’, th’, the…wild monkey dance!  The horizontal polka!  Please tell me you get it!”

A shocked expression blanketed my face.  What?!  They wanted (like typical guys) to get in between the sheets with us?!  But…but…we were so innocent!  Skanks we are not!  I abruptly stepped away from Ritchie.
But he wasn’t about to let me leave that easily, “Listen, honestly it was quite innocent, really.  We were talking, and you all came up.  It was just childish bantering between a few blokes!  Really!”

“But…it doesn’t explain why we’re in this club,” I was bearly able to say.

“Well…it was Abs’ idea.  You see, some of us aren’t hooked up yet, and well, what better place than a club?”

Scandalized, I yelled, “And what are we?  Some regular groupies that you could have your way with just because we’re willing?  I’ll have you know that that isn’t the case!  WE COULD HAVE ANYONE WE WANT, WE’RE—“  *Shit*  I was about to say that we were PARTYGURLS, and it wasn’t like we didn’t have our own followers.  I was about to say something else cruel, but instead I went through an emotional contemplation of events.  I decided to forgive these guys rather than never trust them again.  I mean, they WERE guys, and it’s not like they didn’t have women throwing themselves at them all the time.  And they were about to find out that MY girls don’t give in easily.  

After a moment of silence, he appealed to me so innocently that I couldn’t help but believe him, “It was just lads talking amongst lads!  You’ve got to believe me!  I mean, none of us think of you were like that.  You’re all…well…different.  And definitly not a bunch of groupies!  I mean, you haven’t even heard of us until the concert, right?”

I supressed a laugh, “Right, we didn’t even know you guys existed until the concert.  BUT STILL!  Don’t believe you guys are getting any from us tonight!  We’re all friends, and we’re just hanging out!  I mean…honestly…what would you rather have?”  Bad thing to say, I realized too late.
But he didn’t say what I thought he would, “Yeah, who needs sex when you can be beaten several times on the playstation by no less than a girl?”  He smiled at me, and I mirrored it.  Ritchie, what a sweetie.

Just at that moment I realized that Jen abruptly left the club, and took my cue from her.  No way am I gonna stay in this place a moment longer!  So I tugged Ritchie along with me, and interrupted all the dance partners.  “Come on, we’re finally going!”

“But we haven’t even finished our dance!”  Abs said, making a grab for Laura as she walked in my direction.

“You don’t understand!  We’ve been on our feet all day!”  Laura said to Abs, trying to remain as polite as possible.

“Great!  Finally,” Jules said, and the rest of them followed my lead.  And Scott followed along smugly.  Oh, if only he knew that Jules wasn’t totally his!
I decided to warn the others when next I possibly could, but I also thought that it wasn’t like these FIVERS weren’t wrapped around our fingers!  I laughed inside.  These ego-centric pop-stars are going to get a rude awakening about PARTYGURLS.  We don’t roll over on cue, no matter how cute the guys are.  And, well, they were pretty damned cute!

We all walked towards the door, herding a confused J out with us, and I had enough just to grab Sean’s arm.  “Hey,” I said, “We could have that talk anytime you want.”  I gave his arm a reassuring squeeze, and we followed everyone else towards the bus.

"Really?  How about now?"  The shock and betrayal she displayed satisfied
my cruel side.  I knew she was beating around the bush, and I wanted to get
to the bottom of this…love triangle.  I wanted to be sure of her feelings
for me.  I mean, she has been rather confusing.  First she's sweet on me,
then she kisses Ritchie, and all of a sudden it's back to me.  And dancing
with Michelle didn't alleviate any of my worries.  'Chelle hauled me away by the elbow once Grace left me to talk to Ritch.  I gazed longingly at her, as she walked away, arm in arm with Ritchie.  But Shelbs took my chin in her hand, and turned my face away from the scene.

"Forget about her, Grace is just a heartbreaker extrordinaire.  Let her
walk off with Ritchie.  Come on, let's dance.  You're gonna have to show me
those sexy moves you pull onstage.  Oo!  It's the blue song!  It's euro-pop, isn't it?  No wonder you like this club…"

Typical Shelbs, continuing without a breath, but you get used to it,
though.  In any case, she was helping out, but if only she would understand
that I didn't need it this time! 

 "Shelbs, it's ok!  Grace is just settling something with Ritchie.  She said she'd be back to talk to me afterwards.  So I appreciate the sympathy, but in this case…I don't really need it right now."  I didn't tell her that Grace hinted she MIGHT be breaking-whatever she had with Rithchie-off.  She didn't need to know.

"Oh…well…do you still want to dance?"

"Of course."

She led me to dance, as I searched the floor for…you know who.  They were
in a secluded corner of the club, and they were dancing rather close.  I
HOPE I wasn't imagining the signals she gave me.

"No, no, Sean.  Me, Michelle.  Pay attention!"

"Sorry 'Chelle, it's you, it's me, we're dancing."

But as we danced, couldn't help but watch Grace and Ritchie from the corner
of my eye.  Then all of a sudden it seemed like they were arguing.  And I
swear I saw her punch Ritchie on the shoulder!  I felt my mouth creep into
a smile.

"So what's so funny?"  Shelbs asked.

"Huh?…Oh, nothing!"

"If it's so damned funny, then tell me what it is!"

"Uh…well…"

Suddenly I heard a feminine shriek I didn't recognize.  A young looking
blonde came up to me, and pointed.  "Oh mah gawd!  It IS you!!  You're from
FIVE, aren't you?  AAAHHHH!  It's Sean from FIVE!"

I was at a loss for words.  Usually most of our fans were too young to get
into any club.  Hey, I wasn't delusional, I knew that most of our fans were
too young to stay at home alone!  

Michelle saved my @$$, "Hey what are you talking about?  This is my
cousin…uh…Michael Christopher Balikbayan Mabuhay.  Yeah, he's visiting from the Phillippines."  And she whispered in my ear, "Thank the lord you look asian, just flow with it, k?"  And so I tried to hide my accent.  Not only that, much to the surprise of  Michelle I feigned a Pilipino accent, "Yes, my causin inbited me here prom da Philippines.  I am here only…only…two weeks."

"Oh, my bad, sorry!  Sorry!  Ha ha!  My mistake!"  And she walked away.
Thankfully, the other guys were aware of the exchange, an hid their faces
the best they could.  The rest of the dance passed without incident, until Grace hauled all of us away towards the bus, and the rest is history.  And here I was with her, asking her to talk with me right now.

"Ok, ok," she said, "we'll talk in the bus.  Privately."  She smiled as she
led me into the bus.  What was she going to tell me, I wonder?  What
happened to her and Ritchie?  I guess there was only one way to find out.

Does anyone know what is up?  CLICK HERE for Chapter 20
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