(cut to third day in sunny Los Angeles - monday)

The first two days of our vacation were very awkward, I have to admit. We hung around Jesse in the studio and copped dirty looks from record execs. Apparently it was 'unprofessional' to have us sitting around like we were. "This is BMG records, you know."

Ugh. Anyway, Jesse tried to convince us to ignore them and stay there with him, but thinking realistically, Jesse worked a lot better without his friends right beside him making too much noise and hoping to god he wasn't going to put that accordion on track four. However unfortunately, we complied to the record execs wishes and made sure they saw less of us. 

"I bet they let Jack Osbourne run around BMG as much as he likes," Reilly said bitterly as we left the house the company had rented for Jesse and drove past the recording studio on our way to Disneyland.  

"I don't really mind, you guys...It was kinda boring sitting around in the studio. And frustrating. I wanted to knock him out of the way and do it all my own way," I laughed, flicking the indicator on. 

"I agree, Kirb. All I did was eat there anyway," Zac said, thinking back to all the free junk food that seemed to be there 24/7. 

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty boring," Reilly agree, although reluctantly. He really had a chronic aversion to Jesse's snooty manager (the one who kicked us out), so he was a little stubborn about it. 

"His stuff's sounding damn good, though," Zac said. He was in the passengers seat while I drove and started searching through the glove compartment, "I think there's a demo tape in here somewhere,"

The record company had given Jesse a brand new Mercedes CRV so the three of us had taken it off him as payment for being turfed out of the studio. 

He put the tape in and 'Step Away' came on. 

"Ahh, I love this song," I said. The cool guitar riff ripped through the demanding lyrics to form a song that mixed rock and roll with feelings of pure anger. 

"God, I hope he puts this one on the album," Reilly said.

"I agree,"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to Disneyland)

The three of us were a ball of energy as we rocked up at Disneyland just as the doors opened. It was already extremely busy, but with a brother in the music business, you'd be surprised just how quickly you go from being outside Disneyland, to right inside.

"Ok...sooo...." Zac consulted the animated map, "If this is Main St, then Adventure Land should be...FOLLOW ME!"

Zac sped off down the road and Reilly and I followed close behind. 

"We may as well go clockwise around the park, I figure," Zac explained, taking photos of everything. 

"Jungle cruise jungle cruise jungle cruise!" I spotted my favourite ride and started jumping up and down, "I don't understand my fascination with that ride, but I wanna go on it!!"

"Ok ok, ya big baby"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to 11am: Pirates of the Caribbean)

"Ahoy there matey! Ahoy!.............Ahoy...!......I SAID AHOY!"

"Zac, the pirate isn't real,"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to 12:30 -after lunch: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad)

"Hey Reilly?"

"Yeah Kirb?"

"Those French fries were great value,"

"Why?"

"Cause I only paid for them once and I'm about to see them again...."

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to 3pm : Mickey's Toon Town)

"For the love of god, Kirby, leave Pinocchio alone," Zac warned when I tugged on Pinocchio's arm for the fourth time.

"But he's a real boy, Zac!" 

Reilly and Zac rolled their eyes and continued looking around. We were done with Toon Town and were ready to move on. 

"Can we pleeeeeeease go on the Mattahorn now??" Zac pleaded like a kid. 

"Why the hell not," 

"Wooohoooo!"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to 7:30 - Dinner at the Carnation Cafe)

"I dunno about you guys, but my feet are killing me," I complained, wanting to yank my shoes off right in the middle of the restaurant. 

"It's no wonder, we've been on every single ride," Reilly said.

"HUH?"

"Yes, it's true. We went on all of them,"

"Phwoar...that's pretty impressive," Zac said. 

The park was about to close, so we all ate our food, bought as much merchandise we could carry then hopped on the Mickey and Friends tram (which was extremely cool, by the way) back to our car.

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to Century City Plaza : tuesday afternoon)

"Listen Kirb...I'm really sorry for kind of leaving the entertaining up to you guys," Jesse said as we went into Bloomingdale's, even though our mission was to go to the local supermarket. Reilly and Zac should know better than to send the two shopaholics out on their own.  

"Ah Jess, it's ok. You know we don't mind,"

"Yeah but-really? You don't mind?"

"Pfft, nah,"

"I was all worried...I wanna show you guys around, not that I've seen the place myself, but I just can't bring myself to take time off," He explained. 

"Yeah, I can see how you'd feel that way, so it's alright," 

"Thanks babe, you're the best," Jesse smiled and put an arm around my neck, hugging me against him.

"So," Jesse continued, "What can I buy for you, little lady?"

"YOU'RE gonna buy ME something?" I asked, my mouth agape. 

"Yes, I want to buy you something. I have money these days, you know,"

"O....k...."

"Go on, pick something. And it can be expensive, I don't care,"

"Jesse..."  

Jesse shook his head and took off towards the hand bags. 

"Now if I know you as well as I think I do, you'll want one of these," He picked up a Burberry cashmere scarf and my mouth dropped open once again, "And one of these," He picked up a little Louis Vuitton hand bag, "And these," He pointed out a pair of green tinted Gucci sunglasses. 

I squealed.

"I know you don't usually wear these kinds of brands, and probably wouldn't dream of it...Mainly cause they're too expensive, but give them a go...for me," Jesse said, holding out the handbag and scarf. I took them off him.

"Thank you so much, Jess..." I said, practically speechless.

"OH!"

"What?!"

"It's warm outside, you won't need a scarf! What was I thinking!"

"Jess, you know how weird I am, I'll wear the scarf no matter what temperature it is...Kelly Osbourne has one!" I shook my head as if he should have seen that coming. 

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to The Viper Room : tuesday night)

"Are you sure you wanna go in there? I mean...that's where River Pheonix died," I said cautiously. Frankly, I was scared someone would steal my scarf and bag, so I wanted to go somewhere 100% safe.

"Relax, Kirb. It'll be fine. Besides, I know the bouncers,"

"So...? What difference does that make?" 

Jesse ignored the question and walked through. Turned out the bouncer did know him and let us three, who were so obviously under 21, straight through.  

"You guys want a drink?" Jesse asked us as we sat down in a booth. 

Reilly looked up, "Heineken, thanks,"

"Same, thanks," Zac replied.

"Cosmopolitan..." I answered, still cautious. Sleazy guys were eyeing me off so I edged closer to Zac in the booth. 

"It's pretty pumping in here, hey," Reilly said. 

"Yeah...god knows what kinds of people are lingering around. Drug dealers...prostitutes...criminals...."

"Kirby," Zac warned.

"This is Sunset Boulevard," 

"Dude, you sound like Jesse's manager," Reilly laughed, "Hey what's his name anyways?"

"Martin," Jesse said as he set our drinks down on the table. 

After a while, we all got to talking and I decided to get over the whole prostitutes and criminals thing and just relax. It turned out to be pretty cool after a while. 

"Hey Rye...She's checkin you out," I discretely informed my brother on the punky girl that had her eyes on Reilly.

He looked over then snapped his head back. "What? No."

"Of course she's looking at you. She's so obvious!"

"She's way too hot to be looking at me,"

"Oh gimme a break, Reilly. If you say you're ugly then that must mean I'm ugly too...so don't talk like that,"

Reilly laughed heartily and sipped his beer. 

"Go talk to her!"

"No!!" He wined. 

"I swear to god...if you let her just walk away without even trying to start a conversation...well...you'll regret it forever," I said, ordering another drink.

Reilly gulped down the rest of his beer and got up.

"If I embarrass myself...You'll pay," He gathered up all of his pride and headed over to the girl with a purple streak in her hair. 

"That was good of you," Zac said.

I shrugged, "Well, I do what I gotta do,"

"Hey guys, I know those people, I'm just gonna go say hi, ok?" Jesse said. He was up and gone before we could answer. 

"Do you wanna dance, Kirby?" Zac asked me. 

"Sure!"

Zac and I snaked through the crowd and into the middle. 112's 'Dance With Me' came on and we started dancing and laughing. Zac was an amazing dancer. He'd already surprised me when we were dancing to the Jackson Five for fun, but I wouldn't have expected someone as big and muscular as him to be able to dance so well. 

We slowed down the pace when Usher's 'You Got It Bad' started playing. The whole crowd seemed to stop and start swaying. Zac put his arms around my waist and we danced together while everyone else went in their own directions. 

"That was nice," Zac said as the song ended.

"Yeah, it was. Even if I hate this kind of music," I smiled. 

We went to sit down again and had another drink. Then we played 'Where's Reilly'. Zac won when he spotted him necking the punky girl up on the balcony. 

"I'm so happy for him," I said, "He hasn't been with a girl for so long that I was beginning to wonder if he was gay,"

Zac burst out laughing and sipped his beer, "That definitely shouldn't be a concern anymore," 

"Hey look, Zac, is that....?" I squinted my eyes through the crowd, trying to put a name to the face.

"That's...heaps of famous people," Zac's eyes widened. 

"Yeah? Who? I can't see them properly,"

"Well, there's the guy from Grosse point....Thora Birch, Christina Ricci..." Zac craned his neck, "...and Allison Hannigan,"   

"Willow?!"

"Yes, Kirby, Willow."

"Should we go talk to them?" I asked and told at the same time. I was torn. 

"Thora's pretty hot, you know...so's Christina...and Allison,"

"Ugh. Come on pimp," I got up out of my seat, martini in one hand, new bag in the other and headed in the direction of the famous people. Zac was soon by my side.

"Hey, my name's Kirby," I stuck my hand out and hoped to god someone would shake it, instead of letting me stand there like an idiot. 

Allison returned the gesture which I thought was tre cool. (Willow!!!)

"You're Australian!" Thora exclaimed. Zac knocked me out of the way and had his eyes on Thora.

"Yes, she's from Melbourne. We go to the same school in Oklahoma,"

Apparently he's my new spokesperson.

"Uhm. Yeah. This is Zac," I introduced the idiot which, surprisingly, Thora had her eyes on. 

"So you're here on vacation?" Allison was initiating the conversation, which I was extremely grateful for. 

"Yeah, my brother's mixing an album up here, so we followed him," I explained.

"Wow that's awesome," She flicked her then presently curly red hair over her shoulder and smiled, "Oh here, sit down!"

I sat down next to her in the booth and Zac sat beside Thora at the opposite end. Christina was occupied with sending SMS messages and the guy from Grosse Pointe was listening intently to my conversation with Allison. 

This 'guy from Grosse Pointe' was actually extremely good looking. His named turned out to be Kyle and he really had a way with words. He was bizarrely charming. Allison ended up having to leave a little while later. We swapped e-mail addresses and promised to stay in contact. So naturally when she left, I moved up a spot in the booth next to Kyle. 

"Oh man, it's already three," I exclaimed, "We should go soon,"

Kyle nodded, "Kirby...I was wondering, if you would like, maybe we could swap numbers? There's no pressure to go out on a date or anything, but just if you ever wanna go out in the casual hanging out sense..."

Without saying another word, I grabbed my eyeliner out of my bag and scribbled my cell phone number on a napkin and put it in his hand.

"Call me soon, ok?" I said, and gave him a wink.

"Oh here...If you ever want to call me," He did the same as I had and handed me the scrunched up other half of the napkin. 

"Zac! We should go, it's three am," Zac looked over and nodded dismissively. I kicked him under the table and he started to gather himself. 

"It was really nice talking to you," Kyle said. 

"You too..." I braced myself as Kyle leaned forward and kissed me good bye. 

We both got up and after many waves good bye, went downstairs. 

"Can you see Reilly and Jess anywhere?" I asked Zac as we weaved through the crowd that were somewhat lazier than they were two hours before. 

"There's Jesse over there,"

We spotted him by the bar still talking to the same people. I went up and tugged on his shirt sleeve. 

"Hey Kirb! What have you guys been doing?" 

"We were just making new friends,"

"Oh right, cool," 

"Anyway, it's already past three, you've gotta be back in the studio at 9 tomorrow...You've got that meeting, remember?"

Jesse nodded the way he does when Mum nags him for something, "Yeah yeah, it's all under control. But the guys have invited me to theirs for a jam,"

"Tonight!?"

"Yeah!"

"I ain't going to no jam session at three in the morning," 

"You guys can take a cab home. Here's a fifty...buy yourself some ice cream and a video on the way over...Sorry Kirb,"

I looked from Jesse to his friends and back to Jesse then wondered why I should care. He was having more fun than he'd had in months...And even if he was going to look like shit the next morning (or not even make it to the meeting at all), at least he was enjoying himself.

"Ok, Jess, thanks," I reached up and hugged him, "I'll see ya tomorrow,"

"I spotted Reilly over there," Zac pointed off into the distance.

"Reilly!" 

Reilly turned around and waved. He left the girl and came running over.

"Hername'sJayandsheinvitedmebacktoherplace!!!!!"

"Put spaces between your words,"

"Her name's Jay and she invited me back to her place!!!!" He repeated, still just as enthusiastic. 

I cut in soon after.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you're going back to this strange girls' house?"

Reilly blinked.

"Yes."

"Eh, ok." I shrugged. Reilly seemed puzzled. 

"Jesse won't be home at all tonight, so you can do whatever you want," Reilly jumped up and down and hugged me. 

"I'll see YOU guys TOMORROW!!!" He ran back into the distance and out of our sight.

Zac and I turned around and started walking out. 

I pulled the fifty out and started waving it around, grinning evilly, "Well...That's more candy for us,"

-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    - 

(cut to wednesday afternoon: in the studio)

"I'm surprised they even let us in the door at all," Reilly mumbled after we'd just discussed that we were allowed to be in the studio for two hours only.

"Hey Jess? What happened to Mitch, the first manager?" I asked, just as Martin passed by the studio door.

"He's got too many clients," He said as he turned a few dials.

"Oh..."

"He was cool," Reilly said.

"You've never met him, moron," 

"Yeah well I'm sure he'd be nicer than Martin. That guy has a pole lodged up his ass," Reilly answered. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Mitch is a hell of a lot nicer since he signed me in the first place," Jesse said. 

"Anyway, what does this do?"

Typically, Reilly was reaching for the big red button.

"That's the seat ejector," Jesse said, his eyebrow raised in mischief. 

"Very funny," 

"So what did you guys end up doing at the club all that time I wasn't with you?" Jesse asked, still turning dials and flicking switches. 

"Reilly went off with a girrrrrl," I said like a real idiot.

"No!! Was she hot?"

"Majorly,"

"Scoooore,"

"Yeah...well...I didn't get her number...soo..."

"You didn't get her number?!" I exclaimed.

"She used me," He sighed exaggeratedly. 

"...You don't really care, do you?"

"Nah."

"And what did you end up doing, Kirb?" Jesse asked.

"We met some famous people,"

"Really?? Who?"

"Uhhm, Thora Birch, Christina Ricci, Allison Hannigan and Kyle from Grosse Pointe," I answered.

"Did anything interesting happen?" He asked.

I reached forward and grabbed my mocha frappucino from Zac who'd just returned from Starbucks on the corner.

"I've got a date with Thora on Friday," Zac answered smugly. 

Jesse gave him a very corny high five.

"Kyle and I exchanged numbers, and Allison gave me her e-mail address, so we'll probably keep in touch," I added.

"Sounds like it was a very productive night, then," Jesse said as he picked up his Gibson and started tuning it. 

"I'll just do a little more work on this song then we can go, ok guys?" He added, drowning out our answers when he flicked the amplifier on. 

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