

Unfortunate

Roommates

E-Bo

Smashwords Edition

Copyright ©2014 E-Bo

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

I dedicate this book to my beautiful wife.

My proofreader, my story editor, and well......my everything.

Chapter 1

A lot of people will tell you it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Well, anybody who tells you that has apparently never been in my shoes.

"Come on, man, at least try to act like you care," said my friend, Tommy. He somehow talked me into going on a blind date today. The best way to describe Tommy is a 5'9 average built guy with the confidence of a 6'6 body builder. You would think he would have learned something in his 27 year lifespan, but that would be overestimating him.

"Well, excuse me for caring about my job more than some blind date," I said. The only thing that mattered to me was the country singer I would hopefully sign in about 4 hours. "But I guess my life doesn't matter as long as you come out a winner."

"You will change your tune when you see how hot she is," said Tommy, with a smirk. That let me know he was fully confident about the situation.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't pick her for her brain power," I said. I had to take one last shot at Tommy as we were approaching the restaurant table. Tommy was right, she fit the description like he said. She appeared to be about 5'10 like me with a great body, and beautiful brunette hair. I could immediately tell this girl was only doing this to somehow boost her own existence, but what bothered me the most was knowing that Tommy was only doing this to impress her best friend beside her. Of course, Tommy's situations always came in two, and I could tell this was going to be no different.

"I'm going to let you two get to know each other while we sit over there," said Tommy, as he signaled for her friend to sit about two tables away from us. I gave Tommy a smile that only he knew was a way of signaling for his death after this, and he smiled at me to let me know I would just have to get over it. Now the only thing to do was to sit down with a giddy date I knew was a waste of time.

"Oh my gosh, it really is you!" screamed Janice, as she was already falling into my predetermined thoughts.

"Yeah, it really is me," I said, while giving my fake smile I have grown accustomed to in the last few years. I took a look at Tommy, and he was giving me this sad look as to not ruin it for him, so I decided to keep it safe by stopping there for a second.

"I am sorry, I bet you get that all the time," said Janice.

"Nah, it's fine," I said, trying to be polite. "I guess I should be happy anybody remembers me at all."

"Your silly," said Janice, while doing a flirty hand motion." How could anybody forget our local one hit wonder?"

"Well, actually, I had a few more hits than just one." I was just labeled a one hit wonder because that song overshadowed the rest.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Janice, in a concerned voice. "It must be sad to know that nobody cared as much about your other songs." That hit me harder than most interviews did, because at least they were trying to get a reaction out of me.

"Well, it did for a few years, but that's the history of the business," I said, giving the old clichéd speech that everybody says, but doesn't mean.

"So, how was the lifestyle? Did you meet any stars?" asked Janice.

"Yeah, I met pretty much all of the big stars at that time," I said, while trying to dodge the lifestyle question.

"How about Jenny Ramen?" asked Janice, with an excited voice.

"Yeah, I met her, and we actually did a song that I wrote, but everybody always looked at it as her song since it was on her album, and of course, I let her completely have the rights to it, so there you go," I said , which completely caught Janice for a loop. She was finally at a loss for words, but I knew that was only going to be for a few seconds before she fired off her next question.

"So, you don't keep in contact with her anymore?" asked Janice, with a bummed look.

"No, not really. In fact, she actually let somebody else do that song with her last year on an awards show, so I'm guessing she forgot that I even exist."

"Well, at least you still have a lot of money from your own success don't you?" replied Janice, in what was the most asked question behind is that really you.

"Not anymore, you see, the thing they don't tell you is this. By the time everybody gets their cut, there isn't much left for you. Especially, when you have parents like mine," I said, with a stern voice.

"I am so sorry for bringing all of this up. I know that it must be painful for you to go through with all of this, and I want you to have a good time," said Janice, with sweetness in her voice. I wanted to believe her, even though this was her third time apologizing. It was then that she put her hand on my hand, and gave me a warm smile that managed to help calm my nerves.

"It's ok. I am just done with all of that, and now I'm just wanting to move on with my new life," I said. Surprisingly, I was actually warming up to her. "Now is there anything you want to ask me about my current life?"

"Yeah, actually there is." Do you have any connections left?" asked Janice, with a wink.

"Man, I can't believe you asked for the check after one simple question!" screamed Tommy even though I should be the one mad. "I thought you two were hitting it off strong."

"Yeah, if you count somebody wanting me to strongly boost their modeling career," I shot back.

"If you help her, then she will help you. Can't you see that's how that works!" said Tommy, while moving his hands like he was directing traffic.

"Yeah, I can, but that's not how I do things," I said. I picked up speed to get away from my so-called friend.

"Well, you could have at least got her before she got you," replied Tommy, while trying to jog to keep up with me. "I mean haven't you learned anything from me at all?"

"What? That the best way to live is to use women, and then abandon them before you ever build up any kind of trust or bond," I said. I looked Tommy in the eyes as I said it. The one thing I hated about Tommy the most was how he did women.

"Look man, there isn't anything wrong with that," said Tommy. "It's like this, people don't come to you unless they want something, so why shouldn't you get something out of it in return.

"Because not everybody is like that!" I shouted. "But you wouldn't know that, because you haven't gave anybody a chance in years."

"Yeah, but at least I'm happy," said Tommy, with his goofy smile. "So, what's the agenda now?"

"I am going to the apartment for about an hour to take a nap, and then, I will pick you up a half hour later, so that we can hopefully get our man," I said, knowing I was going to be a buzz kill for my buddy.

"Are we going to stay around for the women?" said Tommy, as I was walking off. He knew it was a waste of time, but that's never stopped him from asking before.

I made it to my apartment, and wondered if I should even leave it for tonight. It wasn't that I hated getting out at night as much as I hated getting out in bars. He was worth it though, because his name alone could help my friend and former agent Bill Owens get his label going. I knew it was probably a waste of time, but he never gave up on me when everyone else did, so I was going to help him out any way I could. Plus, he agreed to give me a certain percentage if we did make money together. Now it was just a matter of having to deal with Tommy tonight. Looks like it was going to be earlier, since my phone just started ringing with his smiling picture on the screen.

"What is it, Tommy?" I asked. I didn't even have time to lay down for a minute before he called.

"Just making sure you are still on for tonight," said Tommy.

"Yes we are, but we aren't sticking around when the actual bar opens," I said. I knew that was going to be his next question.

"Come on man, I'm doing you a favor by volunteering to come along to," replied Tommy. He always thinks guilt-tripping me is going to help his case, but I only let him have 2 out of 5 requests, and hanging at bars is one I have gave up on way too much.

"Well, I did you a favor by agreeing on that horrible double date, so I think we are even," I said. I wanted to guilt trip him back (which never works by the way.)

"Well, at least stay around an hour before we head back," said Tommy, knowing that's all he'd need to ride on my former fame card. But we both knew that wasn't happening.

"Haven't we made that mistake before?" I asked, knowing that was just a trap to try to push me for even longer which always happened.

"You owe it to yourself to do this, besides, when's the last time you got—" I heard Tommy get out, right before I hung the phone up.

Chapter 2

I picked Tommy up, and we headed to the bar to hopefully sign country singer, Rick Floyd. He did a few videos on the internet, and instantly became an overnight sensation. Luckily for us, he lived in my hometown which meant we had a great chance of signing him if the big labels didn't get to him first. We arrived at the bar while they were still setting up tables. We sat down at one of the tables as he was finishing one of his song rehearsals. He sounded ok, but nothing that really knocked my socks off. Of course, I couldn't tell him that.

"How's my warm up vocals sounding gentleman?" said singer, Rick Floyd. He comes off likeable, but I wasn't really impressed, so I'm just going to say not bad.

"Amazing!" shouted Tommy, in an over the top voice. Tommy might be a great friend, but he's always gagged me with his conman skills.

"Wow, you really think so," said Rick, startled by Tommy's overenthusiastic voice. Somehow, it seemed to work on him though.

"Yeah, and we are interested in signing you right here, right now," I said. I didn't want to have to be in this bar any longer than usual. I know most people want their ego stroked, but mine was once, and all it led to was false friendships and heartbreaks.

"I have to be honest with you, Jim. I have nothing but respect for you and what you did for the music scene in this state, but I'm not sure I want to sign with anybody just yet," replied Rick. "I mean, it's not that I have anything against your label, but I'm just wanting to weigh my options and do what's best for my family." Hearing somebody say that made me want to leave all together, since I knew what the road life could do to families— but I really needed to land this guy. So, I decided to keep trying, in hopes, he would be more grounded.

"What exactly is the main thing holding you back?" I asked, even though I knew what the answer was.

"Well, the other labels are promising me more money," said Rick, sheepishly. That was when I felt like I was the best thing for this guy, and decided to give it to him straight.

"Look, Rick, I probably can't promise you what the other labels did as I'm just starting mine, but I can promise you that if you sign with us, then you will have somebody who will stand by you through thick and thin when everybody else will leave you high and dry. More important than that, I will make sure you get your part of the dough when everybody else will only take from you," I said, in a speech that even I was shocked to hear. I could tell that Tommy was too before finally getting his game face back on.

"Well, my friend, you heard it straight from the man himself, and if that doesn't sell you, then I don't know what will," said Tommy, like he was a lawyer trying to close a case with the last bit of evidence. I could tell that we probably came on a little too strong to Rick, because he was having problems making eye contact. He finally did manage to gather himself long enough to look at us and smile.

"Look guys, I really appreciate the honesty you are giving me, but I have about four more record labels coming in tonight, and I want to hear what they have to say first," said Rick. I guess I had to respect the man for his honesty.

"Well, Rick, we appreciate your decision, and we want you to know that we will also be here tonight to let you know just how important you are to us," said Tommy, which was something I now had to agree to.

"Nah, boys, you don't have to. I mean, we can meet tomorrow at 2pm, and discuss the deal at the beautiful Sunset Grill if you want," said Rick, with a great solution to the mess Tommy was trying to put me in. Sadly, Tommy wasn't done yet.

"Well, we can do that, too, but we are still going to support you tonight, big guy," said Tommy. He extended his arm out to shake Rick's hand.

"I appreciate that, guys, and I guess I will be seeing you tonight then," said Rick, with a smile and handshake. This let me know this was honestly a great guy. I smiled at him, and headed toward the exit, with Tommy giving me a look of despair as he knew what was going to happen next.

"I am going to kill you, Tommy!" I screamed, after we made it out of the door. Tommy was already backpedaling, and had his hands up in surrender with a smile that he knew wasn't going to help anything.

"Look man, I did you a favor, and now you have to pay the piper," said Tommy, now smiling like he just won the lottery. I was in for a long night, and all I could do was sit back and wait for the misery as we now had to waste time doing something.

We came back to the bar after we went to get something to eat, and the place was packed full of people ready to hear Rick's country voice. Even I had to admit that he sounded pretty good now that his vocals were loose. What really shocked me though was the way that he had the crowd into it with all of his charisma and movements. This guy was a legit entertainer, and I was kind of glad to hear him if I could just manage to dodge the crowd.

"Hey, you find a table while I hit the bathroom," said Tommy, in a rushing manner. He was normally pretty good for staying with me when I first got in somewhere, so I let that one slide, and hoped no one would recognize me before I sat down.

"Hey, aren't you that pop singer?" said a guy, who was wearing a cut up muscle shirt and a cowboy hat.

"Uh, yeah, I was," I said, trying not to make eye contact. I then looked around the room as I shook his hand, and saw an empty table in the corner that would give me more privacy. But before I could walk, the guy tightened his grip and looked me in the eye like a drunk who had one too many would do.

"Well, then, you wouldn't mind keeping a man supplied in beer tonight would ya?" asked the man. I could clearly tell he had one too many, and couldn't afford anymore.

"Whoa, buddy, my friend here has things to do besides talking to you," said Tommy, as he started pushing me from behind me to get me away from that guy. I then went to the booth in the corner that I spotted earlier, and I could tell Tommy was not pleased.

"Why are we sitting here?" spat Tommy.

"So, nobody can see us," I said, as I pulled the seat up to sit down in.

"That's exactly my point," said Tommy, as he was still standing up and pointing his finger at me. He then pointed at a table in the middle of the floor like that was supposed to get me to move.

"Look, you might have dragged me into this, but that doesn't mean I have to be front and center for you."

"Well, how is he supposed to know you are here?" asked Tommy, like he finally got me, but that was soon taken care of when Rick waved at us from the stage.

"I guess we can sneak off in a few minutes," I replied. Tommy just waved me off, and started walking towards a table in the middle of the floor. That meant I was alone, and free to check out the internet on my phone without him aggravating me. That was until I saw Tommy come back with two women heading my way.

"Oh, my goodness, it really is you," said one of the girls. She used a mini flashlight to shine a light in my face to make sure it was me. She gave me a hug before kissing me on the cheek and sitting beside me. Tommy and the girl beside her then sit down at the table, too.

"Yes, it really is me," I replied in my overused response.

"Nice to meet you," said the lady. "My name is Amber, and I'll be your waitress tonight, and this is, Barbara, who will probably be hanging with you tonight." I saw Barbara and already felt bad for her. She fit Tommy's usual description of victims, except she had a childlike innocence to her that I just couldn't help but feel badly for. She was around 5'6 with long blond hair, beautiful blue eyes, and curvy with a flat stomach. If I had to put an age on her, she was 20 years old, and you could tell that while she would normally fit the rich party girl look, this wasn't the case as her shirt had a small hole in it, and her hair was a little more on the wild side like she had just woke up from a party.

"Nice to meet you!" said Barbara, in a more country voice, as she stretched out to shake my hand. I went to shake her hand, but all she did was barely grab my fingers with a quick shake, and then proceeded to sit down. I was a little caught off guard, but realized this girl could be a complete ditz. "So, are you a movie star or something?"

"Huh?" was all I could muster from that. I looked in her eyes, and could tell she honestly had no idea who I was, which actually felt like a good thing for once.

"No, this man here had the number one hit, Simply Too Strong Too Hold," said Tommy in a sly voice, even though he normally didn't have to explain me to anybody.

"You sung that?" asked Barbara, with a disgusted look in her eye.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" I piped.

"Nothing, that song is just really old," replied Barbara.

"Actually, that song is only 7 years old, and I'm 28, and my friend Tommy is 27," I said hoping to get this stupid conversation done.

"Well, I was 14 when it came out, and I'm 21 now, so that is kind of old," said Barbara, playfully like she was enjoying this argument.

"So, are you calling us old?" asked Tommy.

"No, it's fine. Older guys are supposed to be wiser as long as they aren't 40. That much age just creeps me out," said Barbara, shaking as if she was grossed out.

I could tell that my initial response was right of her, but I had no idea that she was this ditzy. I figured the best thing to do was ignore her for the rest of the night, and let Tommy do his thing like always.

"So, what do you do for a living?" asked Tommy, as he put his elbow on the table to go deeper into his fake enthusiasm. But I could tell out of the corner of my eye that she wasn't paying attention.

"Are you playing tonight?' asked Barbara, as she completely ignored Tommy's question, and was focused on aggravating me. I didn't look at her so that I could pretend to ignore her, but she stood up, and walked in front of me to get in my face. "Hey, did you hear me? Hello! Can you hear me?"

"No, I'm not playing tonight!" I shouted. "I'm just here to sign a guy and go home!" I looked at Tommy, and he was shocked as I normally held back my emotions better. I looked around to see if I picked up any attention, but noticed that everyone was too drunk to notice.

"Wow, that was rude!" replied Barbara, with a completely shocked look.

"Yes I it was," chimed in Tommy with a playful sound in his voice. "I think you owe her an apology."

"Sorry about that. It's just a very important day for me, and I'm a little stressed out."

"That's fine," said Barbara, smiling like she was unfazed. "I can't believe you're already calm. You must have great will power."

"Thanks, but if I had great will power, then I wouldn't have lost my temper at all," I said. I could tell Barbara was about to say something else, but she was cut off by Rick Floyd coming around the corner.

"Hey," said Rick, in his loud voice. "How are you all doing?"

"Hey Rick," said Barbara, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He seemed to smile and hugged her pretty tight back.

"You boys have got a great girl here," said Rick, as he pat her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, she seems to be," said Tommy, as he put his arm around her, hoping this could help me and him both.

Rick seemed pretty happy to see us, so I decided this would be a pretty good time to ask him about the contract.

"So, Rick?" I said, getting up from my chair. "So, where do we stand with the—"

"Hey, Rick, did you know that he was a singer too?" interrupted Barbara. I looked at her completely shocked, and then I looked at Tommy who was completely speechless.

"Yes, I did," said Rick. "He was a pretty good one, too. Well, I hate to run boys, but I have a few more people to talk to before my next song, so I'll be seeing you boys tomorrow. "

"Ok, talk to you later," I said. I just fist bumped him before he turned around to talk to the other labels.

"He's such an awesome guy," said Barbara in a bubbly voice.

"Yeah, and I completely lost him," I said, wanting to completely chew out Barbara.

"Not really, you can still discuss it with him tomorrow," said Tommy, as he pat me on the back.

"Well, that probably won't happen now, Tommy, since those guys that are talking to him are all big record labels, and if I was him, then I would sign with them, too," I said, as I knew the score. Those guys could so something I couldn't, which was promise huge money and even bigger exposure. All that was left was for him to pick the one who made him the best deal, so I decided to head home.

"Where are you going?" asked Tommy, since he seen me reaching for my jacket.

"I'm heading home, player," I said, as I turned to walk towards the door.

I heard, "Hey, why are you leaving? You can stay," coming from Barbara, but I never looked back. The sooner I could get rid of her, the better. But first, I was going to stop at the lake.
Chapter 3

It's funny how the lake has always helped me clear my mind, especially since I've never been a nature person anyways. I guess it was the way the wind hit me, and how the blue waves always caught my attention, or maybe that it is normally peaceful with everybody minding their own business. I decided that I would stand here for however long it took for me to get my mind clear.

"Hey, Jim," came a voice from behind me. I turned to see my old friend, Kate, behind me. I dated Kate years ago, but I was never over my ex, so we just decided to be friends in order to be fair to her. She was a great friend though, and was there for me when everyone but Tommy dropped me. So, I was definitely glad to see her. It also never hurt that she was tall, blonde, and had a mischievous grin on her face that always made me smile.

"What are you doing here?" I asked

"Just enjoying the view like you are," she said, as she stood beside me. "You had a brilliant idea when you took me here years ago."

"Wow, I had no idea you've been doing this too," I said.

"That's ok with you isn't it?" she said, with her usual witty sarcasm.

"Yeah, I just can't believe you never told me before," I replied.

"Well, I'm sorry, it's kind of hard to talk to you when you haven't talked to me in the last few years," she said, in a playful yet hurtful tone.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I've just been busy with getting my life together," I said, knowing that was a horrible excuse.

"Wow, I remember you telling me the same thing when we broke up, but you put more enthusiasm in it then."

"Well, it's true, and I'm still working on it," I said.

"Sure you are," she said, in a mocking tone.

"Are you hear to watch the lake or argue?" I said, while smiling the biggest real smile I have smiled in a long time. She nodded her head, and stood beside me as we watched the lake together. I could tell we still had chemistry after all this time, but we both knew that I would never allow myself to be happy for long. I was horrible for beating myself up, and even worse when I felt that I had somebody to complain to. However, it never stopped me from trying to get her back time from time. "So, do you want to hang out tonight?"

"On what grounds?" she asked, in a tone that let me know she knew I had plans on trying to get her back.

"On the grounds of talking and hanging out. I'm just wanting to watch a little TV and spend time with an old friend," I said. I gave her a pleading smile as I cocked my head, and she looked at me with a serious face for one second before starting to smile herself.

"Ok, but this is a complete one eighty from the guy who always holed himself up in a wall writing songs, and always wanting to be alone. But just know that I'm only coming as a friend, and nothing more," she said, before hopping in her car to follow me to my apartment. I had to admit that it was odd that I was actually inviting somebody over, but at the same time, I really didn't want to be by myself tonight. The only thing left to do was head to the apartment.

We walked into my apartment, and a sudden realization came to me, she had not been to my place for years. I was shocked and a little ashamed of not keeping up with her better. I could tell that she was looking around heavy, so I decided to ask her just to keep things from being awkward.

"So, is the place anything like you remembered?" I asked.

"Well, the apartment is the same size, but I don't see all of those horrible awards and pictures of yourself that used to disgrace these walls," she said, while patting me on the back.

"Yeah, those were taken down years ago," I said, with flushed cheeks. "I can't believe that I ever hung them up to begin with."

"Why, that was some of the best times of your life," she said.

"It was all a lie," I said.

"Don't tell me that you're sad you lived that life now," she said.

"Well, it's not that I'm not happy I lived that life as much as I was used by the system, and then spit out by the media and my so-called fans. I mean, how can you love somebody one day, and just completely throw them out the next?" I said. She was going right back to the emotional shoulder that I don't want her to be again. However, the conversation was already started, and I really wanted to vent about it. "Don't you remember how down I was when all the media put me on the lists of people that need to go away, or when TV shows made fun of my career, even though all I did was sing a song that everyone liked?"

"I remember that, and I also remember you letting that take control of your life, and stopping you from being the fun person I once knew," she said, now looking me in the eye and gently shaking me with her hands on my shoulders. "Please tell me you are a successful songwriter now."

"Nah, I quit that years ago. It's hard to sell a song to anybody when everyone hates you," I said. I was still stupidly throwing that pity-party. Although, I will admit, it felt good to get it out.

"You're wrong about that," she said, with a smile as she was looking deeper into my eyes. "Not everyone hates you." I thought about letting her know that I meant the music industry, but it was pretty obvious what she meant, so I decided to make a move to kiss her. However, the door opened up before I could, and in came Barbara with her arms wide open in the air.

"Hi, again," said Barbara , as she was waving with both hands. I completely turned around in shock and amazement as she ran through the house and hugged Kate. She asked Kate if we were dating, to which Kate replied, no. I heard Tommy slowly open the door. He had that typical guilty look on his face. He waved at Kate, before I signaled for him to walk out in the hallway. I could already tell he was in defense mode.

"I had to take her somewhere," said Tommy, under his breath.

"Yeah, but not here, and you definitely can't leave her here either," I snarled. I honestly just wanted to punch him in the face. He had done this before, but he had agreed to never do it again. Especially, since I always hated to be the one to break it to them the next morning.

"I won't, but I can't let her stay the night at my house. She would never leave," he replied, thinking that was honestly going to make me feel sorry for the lowlife. "Just let us hang with you two tonight, and we will both be out of your hair tomorrow. I promise."

"Well, there's also the small matter of me being on a date here too," I said. It then hit me that I left Kate and Barbara alone, and all I could think of was how that would be two losses in one night for me. I then opened the door to apologize to Kate before noticing that Kate actually seemed to be taking an interest to Barbara's rambling.

"So, all that happened to you in one night?" said Kate, with wide eyes.

"Yep, it sure did," said Barbara, while nodding her head to her own answer. I was kind of curious about the story, but I was more worried than concerned at what Kate was thinking about all of this. I then walked between them to get to Kate.

"Uh, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked Kate. She nodded her head, and we walked to the bedroom to talk.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I am so sorry about this. I had no idea they were coming here, or I would have locked the door and turned the lights out," I said, nervously. I almost knew she was going to leave at this point.

"It's fine," said Kate, in a relaxed voice. "This will make everything a more fun way to get back in touch."

"Yeah, but she's highly annoying, and she won't let anybody else talk," I argued.

"Yeah, but Tommy's a loser, and you still let him stick around," she said. I had to admit she was right.

"Ok, but if any one of them start driving you nuts, then give me a signal, and we will get rid of them fast," I said, and she nodded her head in agreement. I could tell by the smile on her face that she thought I was overreacting, but I decided to just let it go to get back out there.

"Sorry about that guys," I said in my usual host mode. I hadn't really had company myself besides Tommy, so I was probably a little out of practice. It didn't matter though, because I saw Tommy nodding his head to some wild story that Barbara was telling.

"Yeah, and he told me that it was just sex, and walked away without ever calling me again. What a jerk, right?" said Barbara.

"Yeah, that was a complete lowlife," replied Tommy. "Some people have no respect for people's feelings." It was obvious to me that Tommy was completely worn out by her personality. He looked at me for help.

"So, what is the plan for tonight?" asked Kate, in a playful voice.

"Well, how about we watch a movie, and rest up for tomorrow?" I said, hoping to get some quiet time with Kate.

"Yeah, that sounds great," said Tommy. He was definitely eager to get out of a conversation with Barbara, and a romantic movie would grant him both of his goals for tonight. What I didn't count on was the women's response.

"How about we just play a board game instead?" said Barbara, as she squeezed Tommy's hand. He looked at me with his pleading eyes again, and I looked at Kate to try to get a majority vote on the movie.

"Yeah, that sounds better," replied Kate. I looked at her with a confused look, and she nodded her head as to say Barbara wants to. I looked around the house, but couldn't find any board game that was easy to grab onto, so I walked back to the living room with a proud smile on my face.

"I can't find any one of them," I said. "I guess that means we will have to watch a movie then." I was wanting to enjoy my small triumph, but I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Then why don't we play Truth or Dare," said Barbara.

"I don't think that's such a great idea," I said.

"Are you kidding me, that will be great," replied Tommy. I knew he wanted me to spoon feed him some good dares, but the only thing I wanted to dare him to do was take her and leave.

"Yeah, that will be the best way to get to know each other," said Kate. She walked up to me to put her arm around my shoulder. She gave my shoulder a squeeze, and I knew I had to go along with it.

"Sure, let's just get this over with," I said. I hated this game, but I was on the losing end, and didn't want to look bad in front of Kate. So, I went along as Tommy and Barbara pulled up two chairs. Kate and I sat on the couch.

"I'm going first," said Barbara, as she was anxious all over to be asked to do something. Kate and I looked at each other, and Kate shrugged her shoulders to go along with it.

"Truth or Dare?" said Kate.

"Truth," said Barbara. She was smiling a huge smile like she was a 13 year old with a secret.

"Ok, how many times have you been in love?" said Kate.

"Well, if you count the first guy who I ever become serious with, then just one. But there was also this other guy who took me here and broke up with me, so I guess two, but I really liked and almost loved a few other guys, so I don't know," said Barbara, on what I thought should have been a shorter answer, but it was good enough to move on.

"Ok, thanks for that, Barbara," said Kate. "Now who would like to ask Tommy the next question?" Tommy looked at me to ask it, so I decided to take it easy on him.

"I will, truth or dare?" I said. I felt like an idiot saying it. It was sort of a fun game, but I wasn't going to admit that.

"I will take truth," said Tommy proudly. I was about to ask the question, how long have you lived in New York, but Barbara started waving both of her hands like she was nuts and jumped in front of Tommy.

"I want to ask Tommy a question," said Barbara. She looked at Kate, and Kate looked at me.

"Sure, let her," said Kate. I could tell she was just trying to humor her, but she was way past annoying to me.

"Ok, go ahead," was all I could say. She smiled and was right in Tommy's face which I knew had to be killing him.

"Ok, Tom, how many girls have you been with?" said Barbara. I had to admit that was a good question, and Tommy definitely looked off of his game, but he took a deep breath and smiled.

"Well, I've been with several, but I've only really had feelings for one or two," said Tommy. I was surprised on how fast Tommy bounced back from that, but I shouldn't' considering he has been deceiving women for years.

"So, you've been trying to find the right one too?" whispered Barbara, shocked. Tommy nodded his head, acting like he was emotionally hurt, and Barbara wrapped her arms around him to kiss him on the neck. I looked at Kate, and she looked at me as if to say, gag me. We turned our heads as they kissed for what seemed like hours even though it was probably less than a minute before I had to intervene.

"So, are we going to get this game going or not?" I asked impatiently. Barbara was still kissing on Tommy, but he looked at me out of the corner of his eye to see if I was mad like I sounded. When he saw that I was, he pulled himself from Barbara for just a second, even though she was still kissing him on the lips.

"I think were done for the night," said Tommy, before he went back to kissing Barbara on the lips again. I just looked at Kate and shrugged my shoulder to let her know this night was pretty much done, and that we should go in another room away from those two.

"Not so fast," said Kate. She was smiling a huge smile, and I knew it probably wouldn't end well for me.

"What?" I said.

"We haven't had our turn yet," she replied.

"To kiss" I asked.

"No goofy, to play the game," she said. "I never had many chances to make you answer a question, or do something you wanted to do, so I have to at least get you to do something."

"Ok, I pick dare then," I said confidently. It then hit me that I messed up horribly, but it seemed to work as she was obviously having a great time toying with this idea.

"Ok........I dare you to....sing your biggest hit," said Barbara, as she raised her head from kissing Tommy. I stopped and stared at her in amazement, and Tommy completely stopped kissing Barbara to look at me with his mouth wide open. Barbara just looked puzzled not knowing what the problem was. Kate looked at me as to say sorry even though it wasn't her dare.

"So, why haven't you started singing it yet?" asked Barbara, since she had no idea why that was such a dare.

"Sorry, I just can't," I said. Kate nodded her head.

"What's the big deal? Did you forget the words to your own song?" said Barbara, with a chuckle. Nobody responded to her for a moment, and she looked at me with even more confusion than before. "You did forget the words, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't forget, but I just can't do something that brings back so many bad memories," I said. Kate grabbed me by the arm and tugged at me to let me know that she wanted us to go to another room to get out of this awkwardness.

"We are going to go in here and talk for a minute," said Kate.

"Yeah, it's getting late and I need to be a good guest to Kate anyways." I then nodded at Tommy as Kate and I walked to my bedroom.

"Wait, if you don't do the dare, then you are out!" shouted Barbara. I just closed the door without saying anything to her, and thought on how unfortunate I was to have to deal with her at all. I blocked her out though to give Kate my attention.

"Sorry about that," said Kate.

"For what? You didn't ask the question, and you darn sure didn't ruin my night like she did," I said. "Can you believe how ditzy she is? It's almost like she doesn't have enough brain cells to think before she talks."

"She's not so bad," said Kate. "At least her heart is in the right place just like somebody I used to know."

"Who is that?" I asked.

"You silly," said Kate, as she playfully punched me on the shoulder. Her smile could still light my insides up after all this time.

"Hey, I was never that bad," I said.

"Are you kidding me? You might not have been exactly like her, but you used to be all heart when we first met, and just like her, you had the problem of showing it to everyone until somebody completely broke it, just like they are going to do to her eventually," said Kate. I couldn't believe she compared me to Barbara, and as bad as I hated to, I had to defend myself.

"There is a big difference in me and that," I said, as I pointed towards the living room. "First of all, I never stayed in bars looking for soul mates, and I definitely didn't fall into the arms of anybody for love." I then realized I was completely wrong on both accounts since I met Kate when my career was dwindling down at a bar, and I actually did want people to love me when I mistakenly fell for my own hype. Kate didn't say a word, she just smiled to let me know that she won.

"Well, there is still a huge difference in us," I said.

"Yeah, she isn't damaged yet, but she probably will be when Tommy gets done with her," said Kate. "I was hoping you would mold him into somebody actually decent, but I guess not even J-EM can fix everything." We heard the guest bedroom shut in the other room beside us, and it didn't take any college graduate to figure out what was going to happen next. "Well, I guess that's my cue to leave."

"Wait, you're not going to leave me here with those two by myself are you?" I said. Kate opened the bedroom door, and signaled for me to walk in the hallway outside my apartment. We were alone, and this felt like the most intimate time we had since being here.

"I had a great time," said Kate.

"I don't believe you," I replied. "How could anybody have a good time through all of this?"

"Well, I have to admit that I was kind of worried about you wanting more than I could offer you, but this has actually been one of the best nights of my life since being single the last few months," said Kate. She dropped her head in sadness, and I was starting to realize why she never attempted to contact me over the years. Well, besides me of probably being miserable to be around.

"How long was you with the guy?" I asked. It was the most sincere tone I had, and I really wanted her to understand that I cared.

"I left town right after we broke up, and I met Tom, and he seemed perfect for me until the last year, and then we started arguing all the time," said Kate.

"What over?" I asked.

"He wanted to settle down and have a family, and I wanted us to spend the first couple of years enjoying life before doing the family thing. The next thing I know, the wedding is off two months before the date, and here I am trying to piece my life back together," said Kate. "I have been crying the last two months over all of this, but tonight was the only night I haven't cried, and that's because of you guys."

"Does that mean you are going to stay longer?" I asked.

"Oh, definitely not with those two love birds, but I do want to see you sometime again, but only for friendship, as I just want to have fun for a while," said Kate.

"Ok, how many years should we wait before scheduling?" I asked. I was kind of joking, but not really as I felt this was probably going to be the last time I would see her again. She gave me a smile, and stuck her hand out. I was completely baffled to what she would want. "What is it?"

"Well, I work at the coffee shop about five blocks from here, but I can give you my cell phone number if you are interested in hanging out as friends, and just as friends," she said, as she gave me a wink. I nodded my head, and gave her my cell phone to put her number in.

"You know I'm not completely down with this don't you?" I said, even though it wasn't necessary to have to explain the obvious to her.

"I know, but I'm really needing this, and I know you would never let a friend down on purpose. Besides, you have bigger fish to fry like when you have to explain to Barbara just why Tommy isn't here tomorrow morning," said Kate. She gave me a tight hug, and was starting to walk down the hallway, but I couldn't let her think I was going to let this happen like it did in the past.

"Tommy's taking her with him tomorrow!" I said, as she was now about five feet away from me walking.

"Sure," she said loudly. She gave me one last warm smile before she turned her head, and waved bye. "Goodnight."

I watched her until she was out of sight, and I walked into my apartment with a sense of accomplishment. That was until I heard all of the noise from my spare bedroom. It sounded like somebody was hitting the walls with a battering ram, and I knew my night was officially doomed. I walked to my bedroom, and knocked on my bedroom wall to let them know that I was trying to go to sleep, but that only seemed to make the noise louder in there. So, I walked to my couch, and turned the TV on while putting earmuffs on. It didn't seem to help much, but maybe it would at least get me through this night.
Chapter 4

I woke up feeling miserable as I didn't get any sleep at all hardly. I rolled in my sheets trying to get comfortable until I heard the toilet flush. I rolled out of bed to make sure I wasn't left with any company like I had been in the past. I threw my slipper socks on, walked to the living room, and I saw Barbara relaxing with her hair a mess and smacking on chewing gum.

"Where's Tommy?" I said, in a panic.

"Oh, he's around," Barbara replied, staying calm and chomping away on the gum.

"Oh, thank goodness," I said. I breathed a sigh of relief, and turned my head towards the bedroom waiting for Tommy to come out. I was going to tell him goodbye and thank him for coming, as a nicer way of telling him to get her and him both out of my house. Besides, I had to prepare for my final sales pitch to Rick if he hadn't already signed a contract last night.

"Oh, my bad," said Barbara. "He's not in there, I mean he's coming back after he gets a pack of cigarettes." My body turned to stone while my blood felt like it went 90 degrees hotter.

"He left!" I screamed.

"Yeah, but it's ok, I mean he's only been gone an hour," said Barbara calmly. I looked at her, and wasn't sure if I wanted to blame her for him leaving, or just go back to bed and cry. I ended up just slouching down on the couch with my head in my hands.

"Do you have any idea what that means?" I asked. I could tell by the blank expression on her face that she kind of did, but truly wanted to believe Tommy. "Tommy doesn't smoke."

I could tell she was completely focused trying to take it all in, and then she started crying instantly. I deciding to show my manners and signal for her to sit on the couch beside me. I patted the couch, and she ran to it while covering her eyes, but what she didn't see was the coffee table that she ran right into. She grabbed her leg as she sit down, and I now felt really bad for her.

"Are you ok?" I asked, worried about her leg and a future lawsuit. She looked at me, and her mascara had already began to run a little. She stared at me for a few seconds before cupping her face with her hands and crying out louder.

"No, Tommy left me, and now I have no place left to go," said Barbara. I wondered how she got that considering the only place they truly went together was my place.

"Well, look on the bright side, you still have your place," I said. I didn't even know why I was having this conversation or even caring a little bit after they crashed my time with Kate last night. I normally told them that he left them, and apologized for him being a jerk, but she seemed to be taking it worse than any of them. Maybe it's because she comes off as an air headed basket case.

"I didn't have a place before Tommy," she said, as she had stopped crying for a second to look me in the eye.

"Well, where have you been staying at, a friend's or relative's? Because that technically is a place," I said, hoping to open her eyes. She started to cry and went back to cupping her face again.

"A homeless shelter," she said, in one big sob. I felt bad as I never truly met a homeless person before, and then realized I was running out of time to get to Rick. If I was going to wrap this up, it had to be now.

"Look, I don't really have time to deal with this right now, so is there any way I can take you anywhere else you want to go," I said, in a rushing tone.

"How about Tommy's?" she asked, with her voice completely cleared up like she could turn it on or off by cue. Her makeup was completely smeared now, and it was hard to take her seriously. I wasn't in the mood for laughs though.

"Well, I would, but I can't really do Tommy that way. You see, he is a punk to me, but I would never try to do him that way back," I said, trying to figure out myself why I am so loyal to him. I guess it's because I knew deep down that while he was spineless, he was still my best friend.

"Well, it's past twelve now, and they won't be serving food again till 6pm, so is there any way I can get something to eat before you take me back? I didn't get a chance to eat before I left last night," said Barbara. I knew there wasn't much to eat at the house, so I thought I could at least take her to get something to eat before meeting Rick. It was 12:30 now, and I didn't have much time to waste.

"Ok, we can get you something to eat really fast," I said. "Where exactly do you want to eat at?"

"I don't know right now, but is there any way I can take a shower before we go?" asked Barbara.

"Unfortunately, we don't really have time for this," I replied. "I really have to be going soon, and I can't wait up any longer to get you home."

"You don't understand, I can't take a shower there. All the guys are always trying to peek on me, and it's just weirds me out when they open the door to whistle at me," said Barbara. I was stunned that was going on, and I was completely feeling bad for her and me at the same time. But I knew that if I was going to live with myself, then I had to at least let her have a peaceful shower.

"Ok, but you have to be quick, because I have to meet that guy today or else!" I said.

"Thank you so much," replied Barbara. She ran and gave me a very tight hug, and I just pat her on the back as I didn't want to get too friendly with somebody I was about to send back to a shelter. She released me after about ten seconds of awkwardness, and pulled back to look at me eye to eye while her hands were on my shoulders.

"You are my best friend, you know that?" said Barbara.

"You don't have to butter me up, just go take your shower," I replied. I said it with my most stern voice, and it must have worked since she walked to the shower and shut the door. I heard the water running, and things seemed well for the first 15 minutes. That's if you don't count her singing really horrible songs, but then I noticed that the shower still hadn't ended yet. I knocked on the door, and there was no answer. I knocked harder and there still wasn't any answer. I looked at my watch, it was 12:50 pm, and I was running out of time fast. I proceeded to bang on the door as hard as I could, but she must not have been able to hear me over the sound of her own voice. I continued to bang, and then started screaming at the top of my lungs for her to get out of the shower, but none of that helped. I didn't want to, but I realized that the only choice I now had was to open the door, and scream at her to get out of the shower. I turned the knob, but it was locked. I looked at my watch again, and it was now 1:00 pm. I was really starting to panic now as it would take me about fifteen minutes to get to the restaurant where Rick was if I went straight there, but about 45 minutes if I dropped Barbara off. I didn't know what else to do now except sit on the couch and wait. So, I sat there shaking my leg nervously wondering if I should kick the bathroom door down or not. I finally heard the water shut off, and I thought I was home free until I heard the hair dryer which I knew would take an extra fifteen to 30 minutes for her. I realized that the only thing I could do now was take her with me, and possibly say goodbye to who could easily be the next big thing.

"I can't believe you rushed me like that," said Barbara. "My hair isn't even completely dry."

"Tough," I said, as we were driving to meet Rick. "I told you I was on a time limit, but that didn't stop you from taking a forty five minute shower did it?"

"I was in there that long?" asked Barbara surprised. I nodded my head yes to her, and she could tell by my motions that I was truly aggravated. "I'm sorry, you should have said something."

I gave her the meanest look I have gave anybody in years before turning my attention back on the road. I knew I should be focusing on my desperation pitch, but all I could think about was how I was going to keep her away from us. I stayed quiet the whole way until I parked the car. I turned to face her before I got out.

"Ok, here's what we are going to do," I said. "I am going to give you some money to eat on, and you are going to ask for the back of the restaurant, and I am going to get out of the car in about one minute after you to meet my client. During this time, I don't want you to aggravate us, as this is a very important deal for me, and I can't afford to have it messed up. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, but I—"

"Do you understand?" I replied, cutting her off before she could say anything. She sulked up, and crossed her arms like she was a five year old. I now had about five minutes left to make my appointment. I used my finger to signal for her to get out of the car, and she did reluctantly. I felt horrible, but I had to get her going. I waited a minute like I said I would, and made my way to the restaurant. What I didn't expect was for her to be talking to Rick. I was confused for a minute on what to do until she started signaling me to walk over there.

"Hey, Rick, you remember my friend, Jim, don't ya?" asked Barbara.

"I sure do," said Rick. "In fact, I am meeting him to talk about a potential record deal."

"He's the guy you were talking about?" asked Barbara. I nodded my head, and almost felt like my lip was going to quiver. She was smiling at the situation though, and I knew that could only mean even worse luck for me.

"You should definitely sign with him, Rick, he's been nice to me when nobody else has been lately, and he even let me stay at his place last night," said Barbara, while I just stood there in complete fear. I wanted to say something, but everything I could think of involved me trying to explain to him what she meant. But I definitely couldn't let him know I was taking her to a homeless shelter right after this.

"Well," said Rick. "It sounds to me like you two hit it off pretty good last night, and I'm glad. You needed somebody to be good to you after all you have been through lately".

"Yeah, it's been forever since I've taken a shower in peace. But that all changed this morning when Jim told me to go ahead before taking me here," said Barbara.

"That's the perks of being a friend of mine," I said. "I'm all about helping people out just like I did Barbara. Now imagine what I would do if you were actually working for me."

"Let's talk about this," said Rick, with a smile. I could tell I really had his attention now, and I just had to reel him in. We went to a table to sit down, and Barbara sat down with us. I decided not to look her way, and instead just focused on Jim. "So, I'm dying to know, what exactly is your plans?"

"Well, my plan is to get you signed, and we are going to push your song to all of the radio stations locally, and get you as much publicity as possible," I said.

"No, I mean what exactly is your plans for each other?" said Rick. I couldn't believe we were still stuck on this. However, the right answer could help me seal the deal, so I decided to clear my mind and finally say something somebody wanted to hear for a change.

"The first thing I would like to do is help her get out of the shelter, and get her a job. Then I would like to make sure she gets on her feet before sending her on her way to following her dreams," I said. Rick looked pleased, but not half as pleased as Barbara did.

"You mean you are going to get me out of the shelter!" screamed Barbara. "I thought last night was it."

"No, I have plans on trying to help you out more than that," I replied, shocked about how honest that really sounded from my lips. I didn't get anything else out as she kissed me on the cheek. I smiled at her when in reality, I just wanted to wipe the kiss off as soon as possible

"Well, I've seen all I need to see here," said Rick. He got up.

"What do you mean?" I asked, now in fear of losing him. I stood up as fast as I could to apologize to him over her actions.

"You know, all of this time I've been worried about getting in with a greedy corporation. But anybody who has been as good to Barbara as you've been in one day of knowing her has to be a great guy. So, I'm going to either make you my agent, or sign with your label as long as you go through with helping my friend out. So, what do you say?" asked Rick. He extended his hand to shake.

"I say deal," I replied, as I stuck out my hand to shake Rick's. "I'll help her out anyway I can." I knew it would be awhile before I could get Barbara out of that shelter, but at least I had more incentive than just feeling like a jerk. Barbara was shaking with happiness though, so I at least sounded convincing.

"That's great! Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going. I wasn't hungry, but I didn't want to leave you hanging either," said Rick.

"No problem, and I appreciate you for coming," I said. He shook my hand one last time, and Barbara ran over to his side of the table to hug him.

"Thank you, Rick," said Barbara as she was probably choking the life out of him like she did me. Rick didn't seem to mind though, and proceeded to walk to the parking lot.

"Goodbye, you all. Oh yeah, and one last thing. Don't let me forget to get you two a housewarming toaster," said Rick as he was more than halfway to his car.

"Ok," said Barbara, as she was waving at him. "Thank you so much for doing this, Jim." It hit me that he thought I was going to let her move in. I was now feeling an anxiety attack coming on.

"Why are you so nervous?" asked Barbara, as we were driving down the road.

"Because I am stuck with you if I have any chance of making my label work," I said.

"Why are you so nervous about that, I mean you still have a lot of money left in the bank don't you?" asked Barbara. "It's not like you're going to be broke if it doesn't work." I took my eyes off of the road, and decided now would be the best time to let my aggression out.

"Your right, I have about twenty thousand left, but that won't probably won't last me even a year. So that means I either have to make this record label work, or take a job singing at five hundred dollar gigs. Those are my options," I replied.

"Well, you could get a real job, too," said Barbara. I couldn't argue with what she said, and I wasn't about to try either, so I decided I had to give it to her straight.

"I know, but just because the world gave up on my career doesn't mean that I have," I replied. I noticed that for the first time since knowing her, she was speechless. I decided to keep talking as I rarely had anybody to vent to, and it was also calming me down. "I always wanted to be a songwriter, and I'm hoping that having my own record label will give me more of an opportunity to do that instead of being laughed at like I have been in the past. Apparently, nobody wants a song from a pop star who supposedly only had one hit."

I looked at her, and I could tell that she was actually taking in everything I said. "So, nobody takes you serious either, huh?" I nodded my head in agreement, and decided to change subject.

"So, what do you need from the shelter before we try to find you a place to stay?" I said, hoping she had somewhere else to go.

"What do you mean a place to stay? I thought I was living with you," said Barbara. I knew I was wasting my time, but I had to try.

"Well, don't you have anywhere else to go besides a stranger's house? I mean surely you have an ex or a family member that would love to have you." She looked at me with an evil look, and I knew it was time to stop the car and pull off to the side of the road. She already had tears in her eyes trying to hold back anger.

"No I don't, ok? All of my family is an hour away from here, and the only real person I had to live with was my ex who talked me into coming to this town. He was a construction worker who I dated for six months, but he kicked me out after the first two weeks of being here when he met somebody else," said Barbara.

"How about going back to your family?" I asked.

"Well, my step dad kicked me out, and all my family and friends told me they didn't have any room for me right now."

"Well, have you tried meeting any other guys in town?" I asked. I was now desperately clinging to an answer.

"Yeah, but two of them turned out to be nothing more than one night stands, and the other was Tommy who wouldn't even take me to his place. I guess nobody wants me." She was now starting to cry, and I knew I couldn't handle that.

"Ok," I said. How about we get your stuff?" She went from crying to perking up, and shaking with excitement.

"So, I can live with you?" said Barbara.

"Yeah, but only 'til we find you somewhere else to go. So, do you have any suit cases to get your clothes in or anything?"

"No, but I only have four shirts, and three pairs of pants besides what I'm wearing," said Barbara. I looked at her in amazement as I never heard of a woman only having that little before.

"How about shoes?" I asked. I think she could tell by the tone of my voice that I was definitely shocked.

"Just the pair I have on," said Barbara. "My ex never allowed me more than two plastic shopping bags of my stuff when he kicked me out." I looked at her clothes, and finally noticed how wore out they were. The pants probably started out with thin threads in the knees for looks, but now they were completely holes, and her shirt actually had a few small stains after closer inspection. I deduced that was probably her best last night if she wore them looking for a man.

"Is that the best clothes you have?" I asked. She looked at me, and nodded her head with a facial expression that showed curiosity. "Well, I guess we shouldn't have to worry about going back for that. Not when I can get you some clothes myself." Her whole face lit up with excitement.

"You are going to buy me clothes?" she asked, while flailing her arms around. She was definitely excited, and I was happy to help her.

"Here? You are taking me clothes shopping here?" she asked, as we were pulled into the thrift store parking lot. I could tell she was noticeably upset while we were still in the car, so I decided to calm her down.

"What's so bad about that?" I said. She signaled for me to get closer to her where nobody could hear her. I looked around to notice there wasn't anybody close to us, but I just decided it was easier to play along.

"This place is for poor people," she whispered into my ear. I gave her a baffled look.

"Uh, what do you think you are? I asked.

"Well, I was homeless this morning, but now you are going to let me live with you, so I'm not poor now," she said.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to spend all of my hard earned money on your wardrobe," I said, with authority in my voice. "Besides, this isn't just for poor people, my parents used to go to these places all the time."

"Well, all those clothes are used as in somebody used to wear them all the time," she said. I had to reason with her somehow since I didn't want to be wasting my time here all day.

"Just think about it this way, when you try clothes on at a department store without buying them, doesn't that make them used?" She nodded her head yes to me. "So, what's the difference in buying clothes here as opposed to buying used clothes there?"

"You are so right, they are still used even if they just wore them in the store and took them off," said Barbara. "I feel so dumb for acting that way, now let's go and get some clothes." She opened the car door, ran to the driver side to open, and pull me out. I had no plans on going in, but thought that maybe I could rush her. It was also a slow time of day, so I didn't worry about being seen as much.

I hopped out of the car as she was dragging me by the arm, and I noticed that somebody was taking a snap shot of me as she was dragging me into the store. I didn't worry about it though as I knew a daily sighting of me wasn't the thing to sell newspapers anymore. That hadn't happened after the first two weeks of me living here full time.

"So, do you come in here a lot?" asked Barbara, as she made her way into the store while still pulling me behind her.

"I've never been into this one before. Mom always went to the one's back home to get clothes," I said. Then I looked around to see everybody staring at me like I was broke, so I knew I had to do something fast.

"I'm here for her," I yelled, while pointing at Barbara. She ducked down in embarrassment, and tried to pull me down too. I didn't actually get pulled down by her force, so I kneeled on her second tug to make things easier.

"Why did you do that?" asked Barbara. I thought it was pretty simple, but I must have been wrong.

"Because people already think I'm down on my luck as it is, I definitely don't need people thinking I'm having to get my clothes here," I said. I could tell she wasn't in complete agreement though.

"Well, I don't want people thinking I'm all broke, too," said Barbara. I didn't want to say it, but I felt like I had to.

"Well, you kind of are, but that's not the point," I said, hoping to reason with her again.

"What is the point then?" asked Barbara, who was now folding her arms with a look of judgment coming at me.

"The point is, this isn't a bad place at all, and you will probably find a lot of nice clothes here, but I honestly can't handle any bad publicity right now from people just wanting to tear me down for their own careers. Is that ok?" I said.

She looked at me shocked for about two seconds, before smiling and shrugging her shoulders. "Ok then, let's grab some clothes," said Barbara, with her usual perkiness.

We walked down the aisles, and I could tell that Barbara was impressed with the selection. She started going through the clothing racks like a kid grabbing multiple shirts to stick to her chest just to see how they would fit. I was actually surprised and relieved at how good of quality the stuff was here. There was of course the occasional school spirit t-shirts there, but even they were in great condition. She grabbed about six shirts, and five pair of pants before looking at me with a head nod towards the dressing room.

"Yeah, you can try them on," I said. I gave her a smile to let her know I had no problems with it.

"Ok, but can you come with me," said Barbara.

"Uh, why?" I asked. "I barely know you, and my opinion honestly shouldn't matter to you anyways."

"Well, I never made my decisions by myself, I've always had a friend tell me what's hot on me."

"Well, you might want to find one, because I'm not a clothes guy."

"You mean were not friends?" asked Barbara, while smiling at me to let me know she was being playful.

"Well, you know what I mean, but here's the deal. I'm not going to look at over ten shirts, and eight pairs of pants, deal?" I said, hoping to find a peaceful negotiation. It must have worked because she smiled at me, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me to the dressing room. From there was pure torture because I forgot how long it felt having to sit there. She took all of those clothes since I gave her my approval on every one of them, and was on her way to grab two more shirts and four more pairs of pants to try on next.

"Do you really think all of those shirts looked good on me?" asked Barbara.

"Yes, the thing I liked about them the most was that they all looked like normal clothes instead of something a prostitute would wear like that stuff over there," I said, while pointing at some clothes that were normally reserved for sluts and teenage girls wanting to look wild. Barbara's eyes got big, and she ran to them.

"My clothes, what are they doing here?" screamed Barbara. I completely covered my face in disgust with myself since I should have known. However, even I had to admit to myself that it was slim odds of that happening. She was completely tore up now, and was holding on to at least eight shirts, and four or five pairs of pants. Two of the pairs of pants were leather or at least imitation, and the shirts were all meant to show the majority of your chest. I knew I had to say something.

"I guess somebody didn't know where to take them," I said, knowing that was a horrible answer. She was already starting to tear up,

"Why couldn't he have called me, I would have come got them," said Barbara, while holding a shirt, and almost tearing up again. I honestly started to wonder if she was going to dehydrate losing this much water today.

"Look, Barbara, some guys are pricks. They don't care about anybody but themselves, and they have no plans on being gentlemen. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about it but move on, and fix the broken pieces of your life. That's all you can do," I said. I might have kept people shut out of my life during the last couple of years, but even I let people get their stuff.

"Thanks, Jim," said Barbara. "Now let's go get my stuff back."

Barbara walked up to the front counter and threw all of the clothes on it. "I'm buying these and taking these with me," said Barbara, while sorting them out.

"I'm sorry, but you can't take them unless you buy them too," said the lady at the counter. "All of these clothes have a price on them."

"I know, but my ex brought these here when we broke up, so they belong to me anyways," said Barbara.

"Well, I'm glad you found them, but you still have to pay for them," said the lady. Barbara's face became completely red, and I knew I had to do something.

"Is there any way that we can come to an agreement on this? I mean this is her clothes, but I'm willing to work something out if we can get this taken care of peacefully," I said, not wanting to make the news over something this stupid.

"Yeah, that's right. This is my friend, Jim, and he was a huge star at one time, so that should mean something to you," said Barbara, never letting common sense get in the way of a negotiation.

"Your right, that does mean something," said the clerk. "That means he shouldn't have any problems paying for clothes that is a dollar at the highest." I nodded my head in agreement while feeling completely stupid that I let myself get involved in something that dumb. "I am so sorry, I left my common sense at the house." She nodded her head rather than smile at my comment.

"No problem, it will be twelve dollars even, and feel free to take your time before coming back," said the lady. I saw Barbara about to say something to her, but I grabbed her by the shoulders from behind her, and walked her out of the door softly to keep anything else from happening. I now had the misfortune of helping her get settled into what I used to consider my former hideout that is now considered our home.
Chapter 5

"I can't believe this is happening," said Barbara, as she opened the door with my keys. It's not that I couldn't have done it, but she insisted as she pulled the keys out of my hand.

"Me neither, but let's not get too excited," I said. I could tell that was a losing battle, but I still had to feel in control somehow.

"So, what's the rules? Can I have company over?" asked Barbara. She was shaking her hands in excitement like she was trying to air dry them.

"No, not really," I said. "I don't really like people much."

"Well, how about a boyfriend?" asked Barbara.

"Absolutely not," I replied. "The last thing I want to have is some guy I don't know wanting to stay the night, or starting arguments with you in my home."

"Well, how about family?" asked Barbara, who was now tapping her foot in anger.

"Well, I guess as long as they don't try to borrow money, or overstay their welcome." I said.

"Well, they wouldn't come anyways," said Barbara. She dropped her head down, and I could tell she was still hurt over her family.

"That's not always a bad thing," I said. She looked up at me with a confused expression, and I figured I owed her a little of an explanation. "My family and I don't talk either."

"What happened?" asked Barbara. She walked over to me and put her hand on my back in a friendly gesture. I let her keep her hand there for a second before turning sideways and stepping back from her.

"Here are the rules!" I said. "Rule number one, nobody stays out past ten. Rule number two, no date is to come here, and that includes Tommy just in case he asks. Rule number three, you are to get tested for diseases as soon as possible, and anytime you have sex with somebody."

"I don't have anything!" said Barbara. I just threw my finger up to let her know not to interrupt me, and she shut up long enough even though she was completely red faced.

"Rule number four, you are not to take anything out of this apartment, nor get anything out of my room. Rule number five, you are not to break or stretch any of these rules, or you will be evicted immediately. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head, but it was obvious that it didn't go well. I didn't let on like I cared what she thought though, and decided to say something to break the silence.

"Well, I'm heading out now to check out my recording studio. If you need anything, then call me," I said.

"I don't have a phone, nor your number," she said. I looked at her, and smiled as I walked towards the door.

"Even better," I said, and then I shut the door.

I drove to my recording studio, and couldn't help but take notice on how small it was. It wasn't that I haven't noticed it before as much as it always looks smaller on days that I'm low on confidence. I stood there for a few seconds before brushing it off, and walking in to talk to the team.

"Hey, Bill, how's it going!" I screamed, as I walked into the recording room. One of the most horrible bands I have ever heard was playing. Bill looked at me, and rolled his eyes to let me know that he couldn't handle it any longer. Luckily for me, they were done playing that song about thirty seconds later. Unluckily for me, they spotted me, and came running out to meet and greet me.

"Oh man, it truly is you," replied the lead singer who was wearing 80's rock leather and chains. I nodded my head and smiled since this was a paying customer.

"Yep, you got me," I replied. I stuck out my hand to shake his, and immediately wished I hadn't.

"Man, I can't tell you how much of an impact you have had on my career. I was a huge fan of that one song, and if you told me that I would someday be in a spot to where I would be standing here side by side with Ja-em, then I would have said no way man," said the rock star. "The name's Billy by the way, and the band is called, The Last of The Stars."

"Yeah, I could definitely see how that would be a shocker," I said back. Of course, what I really meant was I never dreamed I would be having to deal with some horrible band like this.

"Well, man, we have to roll since Bill has another band coming in within the next twenty minutes, but maybe someday, I can get him to give us a record deal, and you can tour for us or duet with us. That would be so awesome wouldn't it?" said Billy. I nodded my head, and behind them was Bill giving me the hand signal telling me to get them out now.

"Yeah, we will see what happens, but I better help Bill get ready, so have a great day man," I said. I didn't stick out my hand this time, so he gave me a real strong hug which caused the chains to push against my body. It was uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as when the rest of the band came in to group hug me, and definitely not as uncomfortable as when the female of the band licked my cheek. After about ten excruciating seconds, the band finally let go, and they walked out of the door. I looked at Bill, and shrugged my shoulders.

"We have to pay the bills somehow," said Bill.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be great to have a paying band who may be worth signing," I said.

"That would be nice, but right now, I'm willing to settle for bands who can afford the recording sessions," said Bill.

"How many bands have we had today?" I asked.

"Well, if you count that one, then just two, but one of them was a one man band who just plays the harmonica, so at least there won't be any bad vocals," said Bill. "But enough about me, how are you coming along with Rick Floyd?"

"Well, this might sound weird, but he's agreed to either make me an agent or sign with our label as long as I let this homeless girl stay with me for a little while," I said. I realized after saying it that I kind of mumbled it out.

"What!?" screamed Bill. I realized that if I was going to say it, then I might as well say it in a more proud voice.

"I'm letting this homeless girl stay with me in exchange for him making me an agent or signing with our label," I said again. Bill looked at me with a blank expression, and then shook his head for a second like he was shaking what I said off.

"Have you lost your mind?" asked Bill.

"Well, kind of, but it was more of a misunderstanding. You see, I thought the deal was I would help her get on her feet in exchange for him helping us, but he thought I was going to let her stay with me, so I have to go along with it until we get him to sign on, and then we will figure something else out," I said. Bill started laughing hysterically, and I wasn't sure on whether to smile, or run out of there since he seemed to be losing it.

"Either you are desperate to make money, or are one hundred percent committed," said Bill while patting me on the shoulder. "Otherwise, I couldn't see why you would ever let anybody live with you. So, does she look homeless, or does she look more like a prostitute?"

"Well, she honestly doesn't look homeless," I replied. "She's not exactly dirty, but she's just down on her luck right now."

"Well, could she pass as a prostitute?" asked Bill.

"Yes, Bill, she could pass as a prostitute, but I'm thinking she would be more suited for modeling," I replied.

"Perfect, we can use her for a few music videos if Rick signs. Either way, I want to thank you once again for sticking your neck out like this, because as you know, we are on our last forty thousand, and that probably won't last six months before we have to call it quits," said Bill.

"Yeah, it's hard to promote somebody if you don't have money yourself," I said. "But I'll make sure you will get something out of this."

"How, did you steal some of your money back?" asked Bill jokingly. I had to let out a little of a chuckle on that one.

"No, if Rick doesn't pick our label, then I'm going to hand him over to you as a client. I don't know anything about that end like you do, and that will at least give you a job," I said. I could tell Bill was completely overwhelmed about that, and he took a few seconds before saying anything else.

"That's why I never gave up on you kid," as he punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Let's just try to work on getting this label going before we think about alternate plans though, ok?"

I nodded my head, and realized that it was about time to get out as I seen the guy with the harmonica coming. "Have a great day, buddy," I said, while the harmonica guy was coming in.

Bill looked around to see what the deal was, and turned back towards me with a foul expression. "Thanks," said Bill sarcastically.

"No problem," I said back. I started to walk off, and seen the harmonica guy nod at me with a smile since he obviously recognized who I was. I didn't try to stick around to thank him for his business though since the next thing on my list was calling my good friend, Tommy.

I dialed Tommy's number about two or three times without him ever picking up. I knew that he was either dodging my calls as he always had his cell phone on. Luckily, I seen him walking into the diner he always went to (he isn't known for his bachelor cooking skills). It was also a good chance for him to pick up an easy date. I decided to pull on in there too.

I saw him walking to his table, and ran towards the door to be right behind him before he sat down.

"Hey, Tommy!" I said. He jumped around to face me, and you could tell that he was caught completely off guard. He was wearing a blue button up shirt which let me know that he was out to impress some ladies at the diner, but that would have to wait. "How's it going, buddy?" Tommy jumped around real fast to see me, and you could tell that he was really nervous.

"Hey buddy! I didn't expect to see you here!" said Tommy.

"I bet you didn't," I replied. "Now that we are both here, let's sit down and talk." I could tell Tommy was going to try to come up with some excuse on why he didn't have time, but I threw my hand up gesturing for him to not even try, and then pointed my thumb towards an empty seat. He knew I was serious, so he dropped his shoulders to pout, and sit down in the booth while I sat down on the other side facing him.

"Man, I am so sorry about this morning, but you have no idea how aggravating she can be," said Tommy, before I could get a word in. "That girl drove me nuts. I mean have you ever been with somebody who wouldn't stop cuddling with you long enough to let you go to the bathroom?"

"Well, I don't know about that, but I do know how aggravating she can be. Especially when your best friend is the one who left her alone with you," I replied. Tommy just shook his head, and I could tell he was getting aggravated.

"Once again, I am sorry about that, and I feel bad about it, but I can't take it back. All I can do is make it right to you somehow," said Tommy. I looked at him with a smile that he knew couldn't be good.

"Oh, you can make it up to me right now," I said. I could tell by Tommy's expression how that couldn't be a good sign.

"How?" asked Tommy.

"By getting her out of my house now!" I said with a lot of authority in my voice. I was really close to screaming, but I luckily did it quietly enough as to not stir much attention in the restaurant. Tommy's eyes became wide.

"You mean she's still at your place!" shouted Tommy. Everybody looked at us in the coffee shop. I smiled and waved at everybody, and they turned around while Tommy tried to compose himself.

"Yes she is, and she also ran into Rick this morning, and now he is under the impression that she is living with me."

"Why did Rick think that?" asked Tommy.

"It's a long story, but now I have to let her stay around until he either signs with our label, or let's Bill become his agent," I replied.

"So, you are actually going to let her live there?" asked Tommy.

"Yep," I replied. "Unless of course you return the favor by letting her live with you."

"Man, you can't do me this way!" said Tommy, as he hit both fists against the table. "I can't let her stay with me." I officially lost my cool after that.

"Yeah, but you had no problems leaving her with me," I said.

"Yeah, for one night. I didn't say anything about keeping her full time," said Tommy. "How is this my fault?"

"It was your fault when you promised not to leave her, but we saw how that worked out." I replied. I noticed that my temper was rising, and I think he was losing his too. So we took a few seconds to collect ourselves, and I closed my eyes while I heard him take a deep breath, and with that, we seemed to be calm again.

"Look man, I'm sorry, but all you have to do is kick her out, and that's that," said Tommy. "Rick will understand, and if he doesn't, then you can always find another recording star."

"I can't do that. Rick is too important to our label if we want to survive. Besides, I kind of want to help her get on her feet which is why I need your help," I said.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Tommy. I could tell I actually had his interest now.

"Can you let her stay with you sometimes" I asked.

"No," said Tommy.

"How about hanging out with her on your free time?" I asked, hoping for a better answer.

"I don't keep people around," said Tommy.

"Then what can you do?" I asked.

"I can be there for you if you need financial help or anything, but I can't be around her again. She is just too annoying," said Tommy. I knew what he meant, but I still needed his help.

"Is there anything you can do for me at all," I asked, while dropping my head like I was defeated. I learned years ago that the best way to get Tommy to help you is to make him feel guilty.

"Fine man, fine! I will help you out, but she can't live with me, and if she's around me, than you have to be around me too, because I cannot stand to be around her by myself. That's my offer, now are you willing to take it or not?" asked Tommy. I raised my head up and smiled at him to let him know I beat him.

"Sure buddy, you can start by coming by tomorrow," I said. Tommy gave me a foul expression like he knew he had been duped.

"I can't believe I let you do me this way, I'll get you back for this one," said Tommy. I turned to give him a mean look since he seemed to forget the circumstances. He threw his hands up in surrender. "Oh, never mind, my bad man."

"Well, I guess I'll be going. I can't leave her alone in my house for too long by herself. See ya tomorrow." I said. I then turned around to walk out the door.

"Hey, Jim, aren't you going to say hi," said a voice from behind me. It then sunk into my head that this was the place Kate was talking about. I was just too tore up about seeing Tommy to think about it. I smacked myself on the forehead softly.

"I am sorry, Kate," I said. "I've had a hectic day, and I had to get up with Tommy as soon as I could."

"Let me guess, he left her with you didn't he?" asked Kate. I nodded my head, and Tommy jumped up from the booth when he seen me look at him before nodding yes.

"Well, I didn't think he would let her live with him!" screamed Tommy. Kate looked at me wide eyed, and I was afraid she was going to start screaming. Instead, she started laughing hysterically.

"You let her move in with you!" said Kate, while smiling at my dilemma.

"Well, I had to do something, she was homeless," I said, hoping to defend myself. I knew that answer wouldn't cut it for me, so I tried giving a more real answer. "Besides, I am going to get Rick Floyd to sign with my label if I keep her around."

"So, let me get this straight, you let some girl move in with you, and if you keep her, then you will get a singer to sign with you, "said Kate. I nodded my head yes with enthusiasm hoping she would understand this. She started to smile more, and I was puzzled why. "Oh ok, so are you trying to get your own reality show now." Tommy cackled from behind her. I gave him a mean look, and he stopped.

"Look, Kate, there isn't anything going on, I promise," I said. She smiled at me, and I could tell that she was a little hurt even though she was having fun with this.

"It's fine. I believe you one hundred percent, and it doesn't matter if I didn't because we are not together anyways," said Kate. That was not the answer I was looking for.

"Well, how about we have a dinner tonight where we can change all of that," I said, while trying to put on my charming voice to Kate.

Kate touched me on the shoulder while looking me in the eye at the same time. "Only if you can convince Tommy to take your roommate, she seems fun," said Kate. I shot Tommy a look, and he shook his head no from behind Kate. I nodded my head yes, and he was still shaking his head no. I finally said please real low to where nobody could hear me but him, and he said no. Kate then turned around to face him.

"So, are you going to go or not?" asked Kate." Tommy dropped his shoulders and head in defeat.

"Ok," said Tommy. "But I can't promise to be in the best of moods."

"That's my boy," I said, while patting him on the shoulder. It was obvious he was aggravated about it, but we could never leave each other hanging. Even if it meant having to deal with pure torture.
Chapter 6

I walked into my apartment hallway feeling on top of the world, and it showed because I was almost bouncing. It was then that I realized that I couldn't be seen doing that, so I done a quick look around to make sure nobody was watching me. I was now at my apartment door, and I opened it to see if Barbara was still here. While I didn't see Barbara, I did find a mess all over the whole house. There was a spilled cereal box all over the floor, there was a blanket completely unfolded and halfway laying on the floor from the couch, and the TV volume was mostly wide open.

"Barbara!" I screamed, but I knew there was no way she could hear me through all of that noise, so I turned the volume down on the television, and then screamed her name again. I finally heard something sounding like a splash of water from the bathtub.

I ran into the bathroom where the door was open without thinking to see Barbara in the bathtub. Luckily, the soap suds were covering her body. I quickly smacked myself on the head after I realized what I had done. I then made sure I was looking directly into her face. "I am so sorry."

"It's fine," said Barbara. "We're both adults here, but you can knock if you're that bashful."

"Well, the door was wide open so that wasn't an option, but I ran in here trying to figure out just how anybody could make that kind of mess in that short of time," I said. Barbara looked at me with a puzzled look on her face while wrinkling her forehead in confusion.

"You think that's a mess," said Barbara.

"Yes, it's a mess!" I said.

"Well, I'm sorry, I'm just not used to anybody being that picky about things. In fact, this is the cleanest house I have ever seen in my whole life,' said Barbara.

"That's because I keep chaos down by having everything around here make sense," I said. She nodded her head yes like she either didn't understand what I was saying, or just didn't care, so I decided to drop it. "Look, just don't leave the house a mess is all I'm asking, but we can worry about that later. Right now, we have a double date with Kate and Tommy, so I'm needing a shower whenever you can get out."

"Tommy's coming!" said Barbara. She was about to hop out of the bathtub, but I threw my hand up to signal for her to stop which she did.

"Whoa, once again, wait until I'm out of here," I said.

"Well, we are going to see each other sometime, so there isn't any use being embarrassed about it," said Barbara. I couldn't help but frown at her.

"Well, I doubt you are ever going to see me since I'm pretty good at locking doors, but I'm going to get out of here so you can get ready," I said, before turning around to walk out of the bathroom.

"Wait!" said Barbara. I turned around to see what she wanted. "Can you bring me a towel, I forgot to get one." I nodded my head yes, and grabbed a towel from the closet. I walked back into the bathroom to bring her the towel, but all of that focus on her face made me not notice that a bar of soap was in the floor.

"Aaaahhhhh!" I screamed as my foot slipped on the bar of soap. The wet floor caused the other foot to slide too which made me land back first on the bathroom floor. I was in the process of landing when I heard Barbara scream, and then groan in pain.

"My eye!" said Barbara. I couldn't look at her though because I was too busy looking up at the ceiling while clenching my face in pain.

We were at the doctor's office as I sat down holding my ribs while Barbara sat beside me holding a blue ice bag on her eye.

"Do you think I fractured a bone in my eye?" asked Barbara , while looking at me with a sincere look. I had to grab my side when I turned around to look at her.

"I don't know," I said. "I'm too worried about my back and ribs being broken right now to worry about anything else."

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen anything like that before," said Barbara . "It was almost like you were kicking it at me or something." I stood up very fast to confront her over that one, but first I had to grab my back as that hurt horribly.

"Do you honestly think I meant to hit you and almost kill me," I said, while still clinching onto my ribs. "Because jumping off of a building would have been a less painful way to...." I stopped when I heard somebody clear their throat behind me. I looked and it was a doctor.

"We can see both of you now," said the nurse. I looked at Barbara , and nodded my head for us to go to the rooms.

"Wait!" said Barbara , when my back was turned towards her. "How does my eye look before I go in, because I'm worried that it looks too bad for anyone to see?" I didn't really understand why she cared about it that much, but I still turned around to give her a little moral support. However, when she pulled the blue ice pack off, that bar of soap looked like it was replaced by a soccer ball. I immediately threw my head back in horror, and for a second there, I forgot I was in pain.

"Is it that bad!" said Barbara . I tried to nod my head no, but I don't know if it was my honesty kicking in, or the fact that it hurt to move that stopped me, but all I did was stand there with a blank expression before winking my eyes to get back in character. "Where's the bathroom at?" The doctors pointed to a bathroom sign that was close to where we were, and she ran to the bathroom with the ice pack on her eye. It was about ten seconds later when I heard a loud scream. The doctors ran in there to console her, and she came out screaming "I'm hideous!" I ran to console her.

"It's not that bad, I mean it's bad, but it's nothing that a few weeks couldn't heal if nothing is broken on your eye lid," I said. That somehow made her cry harder, and I realized that I better try another approach. "Let's see if there is anything they can do about this. If not, then I'll buy you a really big pair of glasses, and you can stay in the house until your eye heals up." She seemed to stop sobbing, and actually gave me a hug.

"Thank you, Jim," said Barbara. I just pat her on the back while looking around to see everybody noticing. I saw somebody take a picture and start to leave, but I couldn't catch him if I wanted since I was in too much pain. So, I slowly pulled back to separate myself from her without trying to be too rude about it.

"Let's just go get checked out," I said. She looked me in the eye and smiled, and it was hard to really look caring when all I could notice was that huge black eye.

We were in the rooms, and I was awaiting the results from my x-rays when I heard my cell phone ring in my pants across the room. I only had a hospital gown on, so I tried my best to cover my backside while getting my phone out.

"What are you waiting on?" asked Tommy, when answered the phone. It completely dawned on me that I forgot to tell him or Kate anything about where I was.

"I'm going to have to give you a rain check on the double date tonight," I said. "We kind of had a small problem when I got back home." Tommy was quiet for a few seconds on the other line.

"You didn't kill her or anything," said Tommy, finally breaking his silence.

"Well, it was worse than that," I said to him.

"What is worse than that?" said Tommy. He was quiet on the other side of the line, and I could tell he was thinking of what he would consider worse before finally coming up with an answer. "Man, don't tell me you slept with her, because that would be the death of your life if you let her stay there."

"No, I didn't do anything that stupid. I just blacked her eyes with a bar of soap," I said. There was a pause before I heard Tommy start cracking up on the other end of the phone, so I had to finish. "It's not funny, I slipped on a bar of soap in the bathroom and it happened to hit her in the eye, and now I'm getting examined for any breaks while she's getting her eye checked out." I wouldn't have believed Tommy would have heard any of that if it wasn't for the sound of his laughter getting stronger.

"I'm sorry, Jim, but that is the funniest thing I have heard in forever. Man, I can't talk to you right now, so I guess we are even since you had to cancel," said Tommy.

"Yeah whatever," I replied. "I'll talk to you later, and just get it out of your system before you see me because this won't be funny for years."

"Ok, thanks for coming clean about your soap story," said Tommy. "Get it?" I hung up on him without replying.

I decided the next thing to do was to call Kate, and tell her what happened. I dialed her number, but thought twice before hitting send. How could I tell her what happened, and expect for her to ever take me serious again. However, I had to tell her something, so I decided the best thing to do was to send her a text message telling her I was in the hospital without giving her details. I know that was the cowards way out, but it was better than telling her what really happened for now, so I just typed it and hit send. Then the nurse came back with the x-ray results.

"I have some good news," said the nurse, "nothings broken." I was happy to hear the news since that was probably the only good thing I had come to me all day.

"Thank you for letting me know," I said. "Is Barbara good to go to?"

"Yeah, you'll be happy to know that she just has a swollen eye," said the nurse. I nodded my head.

"Well, that's good," I said, as I was sitting down to get my pants on with my robe still on me. I realized she wasn't getting the hint, so I stopped to look at her and smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought you wanted to know how she was doing," said the nurse.

"Don't worry, I'll hear all about it," I said. The nurse looked at me like I was rude, and finally nodded her head and shut the door. I think she was beginning to think it was no accident.

I walked into the lobby, and I met Barbara there sitting down in the waiting room waiting on me. She seen me and gave me an enthusiastic wave and smile with her eye even blacker than I remembered. I gave her a cautious wave back until I made it to where she was at.

"You ready to go?" I asked, wanting to put this whole day behind me.

"Good news," she said, "nothing is broken."

"That's good," I replied. "Now let's get out of here before anything else happens tonight." Of course, I realized I shouldn't have said that the second I seen the paparazzi running towards my way with their cameras.

"Hey, Jim, is there anything you want to say about your girlfriend's black eye?" said one of the paparazzi while holding a camera directly into my face. I blocked my face, and tried to look away. "Come on, be a man, Jim, and tell us exactly what made you hit her."

"I didn't hit her, and she's not my girlfriend!" I screamed while blocking the lens with my hand again before he pulled back some. "It was all an accident." I wanted to tell him the truth, but I didn't want to be a tabloid joke.

"So, you are saying her black eye and your limp was all a full misunderstanding," said the paparazzi guy smiling. Then he looked at Barbara, and I knew this could not be good. "How about you, are you going to stick with his story that you're not his girlfriend, and this was some freak accident?"

"Don't tell him anything but the bare minimum," I said to her. "He doesn't need to know everything."

"No, I'm going to set things straight," said Barbara. I was shaking my head no, and I thought about grabbing her and stopping her, but that would have been the shot he needed, so all I could do was hope for the best. "Jim didn't hit me, he just slipped on a bar of soap that hit me, and another thing, we're not boyfriend and girlfriend, we just live together." I smacked my hand on my forehead, and I wanted to cry, but decided to be proactive instead when I saw the paparazzi shut his camera off and smile at me.

"Before you send that tape off, is there anything I can do to persuade you not to, like give you a full interview or anything," I said. The camera man just smiled at me.

"No thanks, buddy, you already did enough. This tape right here is enough to pay off my college loans, and give me a nice future, thank you so much," he said.

"This will destroy me," I said. He looked at me with a sincere look, and started walking towards the exit door.

"Look at it this way, you will be in the papers all over again," said the paparazzi guy as he walked out. I looked at Barbara, and she seemed to have a satisfied look on her face.

"At least he has the truth," said Barbara. I nodded my head slowly to show that I was definitely feeling horrible.

"Let's just go home before things get any worse." I said. She agreed, and we started walking towards the exit.

Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning, and felt somebody's arms wrapped around me from behind. I was too out of it to notice it at first, and then started to go back to sleep. Then it hit me that somebody was actually holding me, and I quickly rolled out bed, and looked to see Barbara on the other side.

"What are you doing?" I shouted. She slowly opened her eyes as she rolled around to see me. She waved at me, and closed her eyes back. "Whoa now, you can't go back to sleep until you answer my question." She opened her eyes again, and rubbed her eyes for a second.

"I'm sleeping," said Barbara.

"No kidding," I replied. "But why are you in my bed?"

"I couldn't sleep, the bed was too hard," said Barbara. I shot her a mean look from across the room.

"That's no excuse," I replied.

"Well, I was tired, and I saw you sleeping so good, and I just thought I would join you," said Barbara.

"Remember those rules I gave you a few days ago?" I asked. She nodded her head yes with a nervous look. "Well, here's a new rule, nobody sleeps in my bed besides me. Especially when I'm already in the bed!" She started frowning at me, and hopped out of the bed, too.

"We are friends, and that's it, so why should it matter if we sleep in the same bed sometimes," said Barbara.

"Because that's just it, we are roommates at best, and roommates don't sleep in the same bed together," I replied.

"What is the big deal exactly?" asked Barbara. I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere yelling, so I braced myself, and brought my voice back to a normal level.

"Look, I've slept alone for the last few years, and it just makes things easier for me if I don't get used to somebody being in the bed with me all night. I know that sounds weird, but that's just how I am," I said. Barbara nodded her head at me, ran over to hug me on my side of the bed. I then noticed that I was in my underwear, and she was in a night gown, and I squirmed as this felt too close to being wrong. Finally, she let go.

"So, are we eating here, or are we going out to eat?" asked Barbara. I looked at the clock, and it was about 10 am which meant we only had about thirty minutes to get breakfast anywhere. I figured it would take her longer to get ready than that, so I had another idea.

"Can you cook?" I asked. She looked at me puzzled.

"Nope, not at all. My step dad jumped on me for trying to cook toaster pastries on the stove once," said Barbara.

"You tried to cook them on the stove?" I asked. I wasn't even going to act like that was normal.

"Yeah, but I had no idea they would start smoking like that," said Barbara. She started laughing, and I just let it go.

"How about you come with me, and stay in the car where you don't have to worry about getting ready, and we will get some breakfast somewhere," I asked.

"That sounds great, but do I need to get some other clothes on besides this?" said Barbara.

"Sure, if you can do it in the next five minutes," I said. Barbara giggled, and ran into her room to get ready. I put on some blue jeans, and a tight black t-shirt since they always made me feel stronger for some reason, and I was ready in about two minutes. However, Barbara still hadn't come back yet.

"Are you ready yet?" I asked.

"Not yet," replied Barbara, "I'm trying to fix my hair."

"No time," I replied, and I walked in there and signaled for her to go. She was still combing her hair, and looked like she was wanting to choke me.

"I can't go out like this," replied Barbara, "my hair is a complete mess."

"Well, you can fix it on the way there," I replied, before gently touching her arm, and using my thumb to make the let's go signal. She put the brush down in a rough manner, and started walking towards me.

"How does my eye look?" asked Barbara, as we were about to open the door. I took a look at her, and noticed that the swelling had went down a little, but she was still in rough shape.

"Still black," I replied, before opening the door to about ten different news stations, and paparazzi people pointing microphones at me. Barbara tried to throw her hands on her head while kneeling her head down to where they couldn't see her face. I grabbed her by the arm, and we started walking forward through the crowd.

"Is it true that you really slipped on a bar of soap, and how is that possible?" asked a reporter.

"No comment," I replied.

"Well, how about your relationship status?" asked the reporter.

"Once again, we are not a couple," I responded.

"Then why are you two living together?" asked somebody else.

""That's none of your business, and good day," I said, while walking into the elevator with Barbara. She was still ducked into a ball, and I was surprised she was like that.

"Let me guess, you are camera shy," I asked.

"No," she said, "I just can't be seen with my hair a mess like that." I took a deep breath, and decided to get back to what was important.

"So, are you still up for breakfast?" I asked.

"Sure," she said. We waited for the elevator to go down, and we walked out into the street where more people were awaiting us. As suspected, Barbara hid her face again, and I pulled her through the crowd asking questions, except I didn't try to answer any that time. Finally, a local policeman asked the crowd to step back, and he walked me to my car.

"Thanks," I said. The police officer just nodded and smiled as I unlocked my car door. He opened the door for me, and held the door until I got in.

"Hey, can I ask you just one question?" asked the police officer.

"Sure," I said, "anything after that."

"Did you really slip on soap, man?" asked the police officer. "I've just been a fan of yours for years, and I hope you didn't really get abusive on this beautiful young woman." Barbara and I both nodded our heads yes, and the cop smiled. "Good luck out there." He shut my car door for me, and stopped the paparazzi as I pulled out onto the road. We were finally making headway away from everything for a few minutes.

"Are we still getting breakfast?" asked Barbara. I didn't say anything because I knew we had no chance out there which is why I was going to pull into my work place. Maybe they wouldn't find me there for a little while.

I pulled into the recording studio, and was swarmed by news vans the second I pulled in. I thought about leaving, but I saw Bill signaling for me to make a run for it. I turned to Barbara.

"Run!" I shouted. She nodded her head, and opened the car door the same time I opened mine. We both started running, and she left me behind very easily while I felt like I was about to pass out during that short of distance. I made it into the hallway of the building, and Bill patted me on the back.

"I can tell you haven't ran the stage in a while," said Bill.

"You're right," I said. "Just like I can tell you haven't skipped a meal in a while." I then started to rub Bill's stomach, and he smacked my hand and laughed.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to the beautiful lady?" asked Bill. He then stuck his hand out to shake hands. "My name's Bill Owens, and I've had the misfortune of being partners with your loser friend here." Barbara smiled and hugged him instead of shaking his hand.

"My name is Barbara, and I'm Jim's roomie," said Barbara. The whole sound of that made me shudder, and I had no plans on ever getting used to it.

"Well, then. Welcome, Barbara," said Bill, while smiling a huge smile at me. I never smiled back. "So, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could get us something to eat," I replied. "There is no way I am fighting that crowd again."

"I don't have time right now since we have so much talking to do, but there is some donuts in my office for the little lady if she is hungry," said Bill. Barbara's eyes lit up, and she looked anxious to get to them, so Bill pointed to where his office was, and she ran in there, and immediately threw open the top of the lid to devour two or three white donuts. I started to walk that way, but Bill grabbed me, and walked me the other direction. I still couldn't stop from looking back at them though.

"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" I asked. Bill looked at me like I just asked the dumbest question ever.

"Well, not much really. I was just curious as to what time you was going to give the interviews today," said Bill. I immediately jumped back, and then shot him back the same look that he gave me.

"What interviews?" I asked. "Everybody already knows what happened, and I don't really want to explain it again." Bill started laughing hysterically, and then grabbed his chest to emphasize the hilarious thought in his mind.

"No crazy, not that. I'm talking about the interviews announcing your status as a couple, and how this record label is your life," said Bill. I saw the smile on his face, and realized that he definitely hadn't lost his marketing side.

"That's good and all, but were not a couple," I shouted. Bill hand signaled for me to keep my voice down. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do it."

"Why on Earth couldn't you do it?" asked Bill. "Is it the money, the fame, or being associated with a hot chick that hurts you so much?" I looked to see Barbara was still eating the donuts. She raised her head up to wave at me with a powdered donut mouth, and I nodded my head at her before looking back at Bill. He looked to see the answer too, and turned to face me quickly as to not lose his sales pitch. "Well, nobody said she was the smartest. You just have to be willing to be seen with her in public."

"I don't know," I replied. "It's just not right, and I'll have to think on it." I turned to walk to the room with the donuts, and had my back turned before Bill did his famous last sales pitch that I had never been able to walk away from.

"Is it right that we are about to lose our dream?" asked Bill. I stopped twisting the door knob to hear the rest, and Bill did what he did best. "Is it right that we can't afford the publicity that other record labels get? Is it right that you were used by the same media that you can now use yourself, and one last thing. Is it right that you aren't going to get rewarded for your good deed of getting some poor innocent girl out of a homeless shelter before you end up there yourself?" I let go of the door knob, and turned towards him again.

"I get what you're saying, but who's to say that we will even get any positive publicity out of this, and who's to say she will go along with it. After all, she does kind of have a say in all of this," I replied. Bill knew he was almost done negotiating which brought that crooked smile that I had seen one too many times when he used to carry my career. He signaled for me to move away from the door knob, and he opened the door himself to talk to Barbara.

"Hey, can we talk to you for a second?" said Bill.

"Sure," said Barbara, nodding her head. She walked out into the hallway where we were, and put her arm around me in a playful mode without realizing she just got donut powder all over my shoulder. I softly moved her arm off my shoulder, and Bill gave me a warning look as to not make things any harder.

"We were wondering if you would help us out," said Bill. Barbara nodded, and Bill decided to proceed. "You see Jim and I are in a rough spot. We have this beautiful recording agency, but we don't have the money or resources to promote it. That also means that we aren't making any money, and Jim and I will be out on the streets, or having to take a job we hate which is where you come in." Barbara was now giving him her full attention.

"What can I do?" asked Barbara, with a concerned sound to her voice. I could tell Bill was on fire, but it was still the matter of whether she would do it or not.

"We are needing you to act like you and Jim are a couple right now, and to tell your story to the news outlets while making them believe that you two truly are in love. That way, we will get all kinds of television exposure, and maybe, just maybe we can promote our recording studio along the way," said Bill. Barbara was starting to make a disgusted face, and turned to look at me.

"Are you ok with this?" asked Barbara. I hesitated for a moment, and then blinked my eyes twice.

"Only if you are," I replied. "We are in a tight spot right now, and if Bill thinks this is a good idea, then I'm willing to do it if you aren't sickened out by it."

"No, I'm fine, but it's just going to be weird acting like I have feelings for my best friend when it's really your best friend I'm after," said Barbara. She laughed which sounded like a mixture of a laugh mixed with gasping for air.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I said. I then looked off because I couldn't stand to make eye contact with her knowing I was not enjoying this at all. Bill clapped his hands to keep the moment from staying quiet.

"Well, then, now that is done. We will be letting the news teams in around the next thirty minutes, so get your story together you two," said Bill.

"Whoa, did you say in the next thirty minutes?" I asked. "I don't think I am ready for that today." My voice and body motions already showed panic, so Bill put his hand on my shoulder, and brought my head down to his eye level.

"Take a deep breath, and stay calm," said Bill. I did what he asked, and he smiled a warm smile at me while preparing to talk in a calm voice. "I already told them you would."

His calm voice didn't seem to help as I threw his hand off of my shoulder, and stood completely up while throwing my hands to my side to emphasize panic. "How is that possible when we just agreed, and you haven't had the time to call them yet?" I asked. Bill was stepping back before saying anything, and I knew that was his way of letting me know he was nervous.

"Well, I actually called them before you said yes, but only because I knew you would do the right thing for the team," said Bill, while still walking backwards. "But this is a great thing, and you have to admit I am right."

"Well, unfortunately just because your right doesn't mean you're going to feel right after I get done with you," I said, while acting like I was about to lunge and attack him. Bill was either playing with me, or actually scared because he was acting like he was about to take off running when I felt Barbara's arms wrap around me as I was lunging at him.

"How's my hair?" asked Barbara.

"Huh?" I asked. My mind completely wandered away from Bill, and he even stopped pretending to run, and walked up beside me.

"How's my hair? Is it a mess?" asked Barbara.

"It's fine, but why would you worry about that when we have a lot more to worry about in the next few minutes?" I asked.

"It's fine means it's a mess doesn't it?" said Barbara.

"No, and that's the least of our problems anyways," I said. Barbara then started shaking her hands and going into fits.

"I can't go onto live TV a mess! We have to get my hair fixed right now!" screamed Barbara. I looked at Bill, and he urged me to try to calm her down.

"Look, you're fine, and nothing is wrong with your hair. Besides, who cares about that with all of this going on?" I replied.

"I care," said Barbara, while still in fits. She then grabbed both of my shoulders with a panicked look in her eyes. "I can't have my big TV moment spent with me having messed up hair, and no makeup. So, please do something!" I looked at Bill hoping that he had an answer to our problem, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll see if any of the news vans can help us out, but I can't promise anything," said Bill. I nodded my head, and she hugged us both. I wasn't really in the best of mood about all of this, so I just gave her a quick pat on the back when she hugged me, and she let go to look at me and smile.

"Thank you so much!" she replied.

"No problem," said Bill, with a perverted smile on his face. I could tell that he enjoyed that hug for all the wrong reasons, so I pointed at him to go away and make a few phone calls. He nodded, and walked into his office to make some phone calls while I took a minute to explain some rules to Barbara.

"Look, Barbara, I need you to listen to me on this, and completely do as I say," I said. Barbara shook her head yes, and I decided to keep on going. "If we are going to get through this, then I need you to let me do most of the talking, and don't add anything unless I ask you to agree. If they ask how long we have been together, then tell them that we have been dating a week. If they ask how we met, then tell them we met through a friend, and if they ask you if we are really serious, then tell them that you are just enjoying the early stages of our relationship, and don't tell them you live with me. Do you understand?" Barbara nodded like she did. I was pleased that she agreed so easily, so I smiled at her and put both hands on her shoulders while standing directly in front of her to say one last thing to calm her down. "You will be great, and if you don't know what to say, then always look at me to carry you."

"Thanks, Jim," said Barbara. She gave me a quick hug with both arms around my neck, and kissed me on the cheek before a make-up person walked in from the outside entrance carrying a make-up bag. Bill opened his office door to address the situation.

"Follow me into my office, and she will take care of you," said Bill. Barbara looked back at me and waved bye while walking into the office where the make-up lady followed Bill. I waved by too until she went in the door. Then I sat on the hallway bench while putting my hands on my forehead to regroup and brace myself. Bill sat beside me to give me a few words of wisdom as he had always done in the past.

"What's wrong, kid?" asked Bill. I turned to look at him, and he could tell by the look on my face that I was frustrated.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? I'm about to go on TV and tell people I'm dating somebody I would never ever have anything to do with, and you want to know what's wrong?" I asked. Bill let out a chuckle and put his arm around me.

"I thought we already had this conversation," said Bill.

"Yeah, we did. But that doesn't make living a lie any easier," I replied.

"This isn't a lie, this is the entertainment industry, Jim," shot Bill back at me. "If you think about it, this is no different than when you had to act like you loved the pop star life." I didn't say anything for a minute which made Bill think he finally won me over, but I still couldn't help but think about one other problem.

"How about Barbara?" I asked. "She is about to have her whole life changed too, and I don't know if she can handle that."

Bill was about to open his mouth and say something when his door opened up, and Barbara came out of the office looking like a million dollars. I was stunned at the quick timing while Bill was mostly stunned with his mouth still open.

"How did you get out of there so quickly?" I asked.

"I don't know, they just said I was a natural beauty. So, they mostly worked on my hair, and here I am," said Barbara, as she threw a little bounce in there to emphasize that she thought she looked great too. I nodded my head, and noticed that the camera crews were coming in, which meant that our 30 minutes were up.

"Is it time yet?" asked the camera man, and Bill nodded his head while pointing for us to walk down the hallway to another room. We started walking and Bill grabbed me by the shoulder outside the door to stop me as the camera crews walked by us. Barbara stopped too, and Bill pulled me down to whisper something in my ear.

"I knew she could handle this," whispered Bill. He then smiled at me and gently pushed me on the back to signal for me to start walking into the room where the interview was going to take place. I was about to walk in myself until I felt a soft hand grab mine, and I looked to see Barbara who gave me a warm smile, which let me know she felt like we were a team. I nodded my head at her with a nervous look on my face, and into the room we went where all of the photographers immediately started snapping pictures of us. The light blinded us both, and it made Barbara bump into the chair leg and about fall down if her hands hadn't of hit the chair seat. There was a giggle from the crowd, and then Bill walked in front of us sitting down to address the crowd.
Chapter 8

"Here's the deal people," said Bill. "We are only going to let questions go on for about thirty minutes only. During that time, if you ask something they don't want to answer, than you will have to go on to the next question without any follow up questions about it. Do we have an understanding?" The reporters all agreed, and Bill let out another smile. "With that being said, I'll moderate the questions, and let the drilling commence."

The first question came from a reporter in the back row. "So, how does it feel to be in the spotlight again, Jim, or should we way J-em?" The crowd was quiet, and I took a second to gather my thoughts before leaning in front of the microphone.

"Well, it doesn't feel too much different than promoting a cd actually," I said. In fact, I have some of my old ones in the trunk of my car if anybody is interested. That drew out laughter from everyone except for Barbara who leaned forward to ask me a question.

"Do you really have CDs in the trunk of your car," whispered Barbara.

"No, of course not," I whispered back.

"Oh," said Barbara. We both went back to our original sitting positions, and I saw another reporter raise their hand.

"So, how in love are you guys?" asked another reporter. Barbara and I looked at each other, and she winked at me to answer that question for her. Her hands were starting to shake now, so I wanted to wrap this up as fast as possible.

"Love is such a strong word, and it's also a very expensive word too, so I would say that we are just enjoying the relationship for what it is right now," I said. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and Bill gave me a thumbs up on the answer which verified that I was in the zone. "Next question please?"

"So, is there any truth to you blacking her eye," asked another reporter.

"Well, yes and no," I replied. "I did, but it was an accident," I said. I heard a few reporters talking to themselves, and I knew the tide was about to change. "Next question please."

"The next question is for Barbara," said another reporter with a stern voice. "What really happened on the night he blacked your eye." I looked at Barbara, and she looked at me with a helpless look before turning towards the reporters.

"Uh, he uh, slipped on a soap bar and accidently hit me in the eye," said Barbara. The reporters half chuckled without really believing it until Barbara leaned forward again. "But I have proof he didn't hit me, because he fell on his back from the soap bar too. The reporters laughed and I urged for her to shut up, but the reporters were all homing in on her now.

"So, is that the true story?" asked another reporter to Barbara.

"Yes it is," said Barbara. "He didn't just fall straight down either, I mean he looked like he was floating on his back in the air before coming down." The reporters were laughing harder, and she wasn't even looking my way anymore which meant I lost her to the crowd. Another reporter raised their hand, and Barbara didn't even give me a chance to point to them before she did.

"So, how did you two meet? Was it at a bar, online or through mutual friends?" asked the next reporter. I moved forward to cut her off.

"Well, we met through a....." I said, before getting cut off by Barbara.

"We met at a bar through friends, and we have been in love ever since," said Barbara. "I know my life has never been better since he rescued me from that shelter." The reporters all gasped when they heard that.

"So, you lived in a homeless shelter?" asked a woman reporter. Barbara smiled and lit up with excitement.

"Yeah, I moved from my small town to date a few guys who turned out to only use me, and I had no place to go but back home, or to the shelter. That was until Jim met me, and took me in to help make both of us the happy team we are now," said Barbara. She then turned towards me to kiss me on the cheek. I was too mad to even say anything even though all the reporters were saying aww.

"So, Jim saved you even though he had been chewed up and spit out himself?" asked another reporter.

"Yep," said Barbara. "Jim might look up tight, but he's really a sweet guy." For some reason, the reporters all laughed over that even though it wasn't a joke which made me give them a confused look. I then looked at Bill to end this, and Bill happily stepped in.

"Well, that concludes today's questions," said Bill. "Please be sure to let people know that our recording studio is here where we not only make you sound the best, but we make you a star." All of the reporters kind of nodded their head, and left their seats to get back to their jobs. After they all left, I looked at Bill, and then looked at Barbara without being able to still say anything to her.

"Well, I felt nervous, but I think that went really well," said Barbara smiling.

I was walking outside of the building furious over that whole interview when Barbara stopped at the door she was walking out of to get my attention.

"I'm sorry, will you please quit acting mad?" asked Barbara. I stopped and turned around to confront her over it.

"Sorry, you're sorry!" I screamed. "Sorry doesn't make up for you completely ignoring anything I said, or the fact that you made me look like a complete idiot in front of all the local news outlets" I then turned around to go back to my car.

"Wait," screamed Barbara. I turned around to face her one more time.

"What now?" I asked.

"I'm coming with you. I mean I still live there don't I?" asked Barbara. I then walked towards the car and pretended I didn't hear her. "Please, Jim, don't leave me here." I opened my car door, and then motioned for her to come on. She smiled, ran towards the car, we started it, and left the parking lot.

"I'm sorry once again," said Barbara, as we started driving down the road.

"It was a mistake, and I knew you weren't ready. So, it's ok, just a lesson learned," I replied.

"Well, maybe it won't get covered much. I mean it's not like you're a big star or anything," said Barbara smiling. I shot her a baffled look, and she instantly realized that wasn't exactly the right thing to say. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean you're just not as famous anymore." She realized that wasn't right either after a few seconds of thinking about it, and went to open her mouth again, but I stopped her with a hand motion.

"It's ok, I know what you meant," I said. I then turned the radio up, and I saw her trying to say something else, but the radio was luckily too loud. However, that didn't work out like I had planned when she turned the volume back down on me.

"So, are we ok?" she asked.

"Well, we kind of have to be for the time being. Besides, this should all blow over in a week if we stay hidden." I replied. Then I heard my cell phone go off. We both stared at the phone on the console, and I grabbed it before she could answer it for me. It was Bill, so I felt inclined to have to answer. "What now Bill?"

"Oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe what happened!" said Bill. That made me a little nervous.

"What's that?" I replied. I looked at Barbara, and she opened her mouth silently as to say what.

"Well, my friend, you two are officially stars," said Bill.

"How is that possible?" I said.

"Well, your interviews have went viral, and now everybody is talking about you two," said Bill. "I have been getting tons of calls over people wanting to work with us, and even more about people wanting to book you on television shows to talk about your relationship."

"What exactly is there left to say," I asked.

"Oh, nothing really from your point of view, but everybody wants to talk to her," said Bill. I didn't say anything else for a second, and Bill could tell I was confused. "I can tell you are clueless, so just do me a favor, and turn on the TV when you get home will ya? Oh yeah, and I'm going to be needing help tomorrow since the phone has been ringing off of the hook with people wanting to record with us now. That is, if you can find a minute superstar."

"I'm just going to pretend you left that last part out, and just say bye," I said. I heard a laugh on the phone before pulling the cell phone away from my head to turn it off.

"Hey, can I talk to Bill for a second," said Barbara, but I had already hit the power button off before she could finish her sentence.

"Sorry, do you want me to call him back," I replied.

"No, I'm good, said Barbara.

"Good, because we have to get home fast," I replied.

We made it into the house, and I turned on the TV to see the news. All of the stations would show me talking for a few seconds, and then get to Barbara's responses that made me look like an idiot. Also, I heard one website say they don't know if they believe the whole soap bar accident, but at least we are past it, and maybe I can become relevant again. I realized that all of the stations were treating me like an idiot, and her like a fun loving human being. Then I looked on the computer with different articles saying that I found my fifteen minutes of fame through somebody else, with another article that said "washed up stars who still find beautiful women" with a picture of me on the main article page. All of this seemed to be overwhelming for me, so I finally put my head down beside the computer desk. Of course Barbara ran over there smiling.

"What is the internet saying about me?" asked Barbara, with a high pitch to her voice. I looked at her, and scooted my chair back to let her have the computer. She looked at some of the article titles, and looked towards me. "Hey, at least we are getting attention."

"Yeah, that's great unless you want to stay out of the spotlight. Now I'm portrayed as a nobody with a loud mouthed......stopping there before I said something that would hurt her feelings. "Somebody with a loud and fun personality,"

"Awww, thanks," said Barbara. "Do you need the computer back now, or can I use it for a little while?" I signaled for her to go ahead, and I started walking towards the bed room. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To the bedroom to get away from this nightmare day," I said. Then I went to the bedroom and shut the door.

Chapter 9

The next morning, I decided to go to the diner to get something to eat before she could wake up. That would at least give me a little peace and quiet, and a little time with Kate if she was working. Luckily, she was working when I went in there.

"Why, hey, if it isn't our local celebrity! Where is your better half at?" said Kate. I could tell that she had seen the news, and was definitely not going to let me live it down.

"I don't even want to hear it," I said. A few of the other customers turned around to look at me.

"Hey, if it isn't our local celebrity," said Norman, one of the café regulars. I waved at him before getting back to Kate.

"Must you do that to me," I said playfully. "You know I can't handle any more attention right now."

"Yeah, especially with that blonde keeping you up all night," said Kate. I heard a few of the customers laughing, and I leaned close to whisper something in her ear. "Can we talk alone?" Kate nodded her head, and we went to an empty booth. I made sure nobody was listening in before attempting to speak. "Kate, I'm going crazy right now, and I need your help."

"Well, that's not so hard to believe, but what do you need help on?" asked Kate.

"Kate, ever since that girl has been in my life. I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I haven't had one minute's peace," I said.

"Well, that sounds like the symptoms of love," said Kate, with a chuckle. I just threw my hand up.

"I'm serious! That girl has done nothing but cause me harm since she has came into my life, and if I don't get some time away from her, then I will scream." Kate laughed at me, and I gave her a puzzled look trying to figure out what is so funny.

"I just can't figure you out," said Kate. "For years, you have been playing it safe and keeping everybody out, and the one person you let in unravels it all."

"Irony isn't it, but can you still help me?" I asked.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Kate.

"Well, for starters, you can go out with me tonight!" I replied.

"That's great and all, but that will probably ruin your cover," said Kate.

"Well, not as if I care, but we can take Tommy just to be safe. That is, if you don't mind being Tommy's date." She gave the gag expression like she was going to put her fingers in her throat, and I gave my best convincing smile. "Please!"

"Oh, all right!" said Kate, lowering her voice like she was frustrated. "As long as you let Tommy know that I'm just a guest, and not the prize!"

"Got ya!" I said. "I just have to confirm it with Tommy, and we're good to go. But thank you so much, and I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"You can make it up to me by leaving me a decent sized tip before buying me an even bigger dinner tonight." Before I could say anything, I saw a cut off t-shirt revealing somebody's stomach along with blue jean shorts blocking my way out of the booth. I looked up, and of course it was Barbara.

"What are you doing here?" asked Barbara, in a demanding voice. I heard somebody say uh oh which drew laughter from the crowd in there.

I looked up at Barbara and angrily stared her down for a minute before taking a second to say anything to her.

"I'm here for breakfast, and to talk to my buddy, Kate. Now what's your reason for being here?" I asked.

"Because were a couple and you left me at the house to go hang out with her," said Barbara loudly. I reached up to grab her by the shoulder, and sit her down so that we could discuss everything without having a crowd around us.

"So, how am I doing?" asked Barbara, smiling when she was in the booth out of everybody's sight.

"Great if you're trying to destroy me, but I just talked Kate into going on a double date with us tonight," I replied. Barbara started clapping her hands in excitement.

"Does that mean we are taking Tommy, too?" screamed Barbara again, and I once again had to signal for her to keep it down. She did and I gave her a thumbs up. She started clapping her hands softly with enthusiasm, and I knew I had to get her out of there.

"Well, I guess we better go," I said. "We have a long day ahead of us." I stood up and gave Kate a light hug. Barbara joined in like it was a group hug, and we started walking towards the door.

"Wait, aren't you going to get anything to eat?" said Kate, who was now behind us.

"Nah, I lost my appetite now," I said, while looking back at her to let her know what I meant.

"So, what are we going to do today?" asked Barbara.

"Well, I am probably going to help Bill out," I replied. "He will be swamped today."

"Can I come with you?" asked Barbara. I smiled at her, and shook my head no.

"It will be busy, and I think we need a little time away from each other," I said. I was relieved to be able to find a little bit of a break from her, but she didn't seem to be in too good of a mood over it.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked with her arms crossed. I looked at her with a serious look, and a cocky smile before saying anything back.

"Well, you can stay at the house and watch TV. I know there has to be something you will watch," I replied.

"But that apartment looks so boring, and I don't have a phone to call anybody on," said Barbara.

"Would you remember anybody's number if I did buy you one," I asked.

"Well, not many besides Mom's and a few exes, but still," replied Barbara.

"Ok then, I guess you won't need one," I replied back. I heard my phone ring right after I got that message out of my mouth, and the cell phone ID said, 'Bill' on it. I stuck my finger up to tell her just a minute before she could say anything, and I answered the phone.

"Hey, Bill, what's up?" I asked.

"Jim, you have to get down here now. Too Jazz the rapper is here," said Bill.

"Wow, what is Too Jazz doing at our place? Doesn't he produce albums himself?" I asked.

"Yes, and that is exactly why we have to talk to him," said Bill. "So, get down here now."

"I will in just a second. I just have to take Barbara home," I said.

"No!" screamed Bill. "You have to take Barbara with you. Jeez, Jim, I had no idea you would be stupid enough to leave her home."

"Well, we're going to be busy," I replied.

"It doesn't matter. She is the reason everybody cares, so bring her and bring her now!" said Bill.

"Ok, we'll be there in a minute. Bye," I said, before hanging up the phone. I saw Barbara smile, and hug me from inside the car. Off to the recording studio we went.
Chapter 10

We went into the recording studio, and the first person we saw was Too Jazz coming up to talk to us like he owned the place. I hadn't met him before, but I could already tell that two things he was good at was making an entrance, and owning a room.

"Hey, there," said Too Jazz, before running up to give me a full hug. I mean this wasn't just a light back-pat hug either, but a full ten second bear hug. He let go, and gave Barbara a lighter hug along with a small peck on the cheek. He had aviator glasses on, and a pin striped suit that spelled out rich hip hop mogul. Then he straightened his back into perfect posture before getting on with the conversation. "I'm guessing that you are all wondering why I am here at your dream factory, and by dream factory, I mean the place where you want to make somebody's dreams come true. Well, the truth is, I'm wanting to help you make people's dreams come true along with yours, and that's by making you part of my team."

I was completely caught off by what he said, but I still knew I had to say something, so I took my best shot at it. "So, what exactly do you have in mind for us?" I asked. Before he could say anything else, Bill ran down the hallway to stand beside him. Too Jazz gave him a funny look since Bill was a little too close to him, and Bill acknowledged him by smiling and politely side stepping a little bit away from Too Jazz.

"I was actually thinking about sending a few of my talents down here to record with you guys, but I have to warn you, I only surround myself with the best, and by best, I mean somebody who can handle his business like a true professional. That means that no matter what, he keeps dignity and style, and above all, looks good while doing it," said Too Jazz.

"So, you aren't here because we were on the news?" asked Barbara. I looked at Bill, and he smiled at me to let me know that it was going to be ok.

"Well, of course I'm here because of that, but I also want to make you a part of my well-oiled machine," said Too Jazz. Barbara smiled and done a goofy half bow to let him know that she agreed. I shot her a disapproving look considering this had nothing to do with her, and then proceeded with my questions.

"This sounds great and all, but I just have a few questions about the merge if you don't mind," I replied.

"Sure, fire away," said Too Jazz, while throwing his hand in the air flamboyantly to tell me to carry on.

"Well, where exactly do we fit into the company as far as rank goes?" I asked. "Does this mean we are just your employees, or your actual business partners?" Too Jazz rubbed his chin, and I could tell he was studying me even though he had sunglasses on. After a few moments of rubbing his chin, he finally smiled at me.

"As you probably know, playa, I don't normally run things unless I'm completely in charge, but I'm willing to let you guys be financed where I pay all of the studio fees, and you guys get a chunk of the proceeds if you can make my young talent shine like the stars that they are, and believe me when I say that I really want these boys to shine," said Too Jazz.

"So, when do you want to sign this deal?" asked Bill, who probably didn't realize how much he would have had to sacrifice when he quit the recording studios for me. That, or he thought they would call him back and change their mind which would have let both of us keep our jobs.

"Whoa, whoa, player," said Too Jazz, while backing up and moving his hands back like he was scared. "Any pro like me knows you don't sign dynamite, and I want to see if you guys are dynamite before I let you blow up on me." I looked at him curious as to what he was getting at. "That means we are going to get to know each other, and I'm going to throw a party for your label at the most suave club in town when I figure out which one of these low class joints that is, and if that goes well, then we might sign. If not, then it's going to be free publicity for me for giving back to such a small label, and good for you guys to get the rub off from me." All I could do was shake my head agreeing on what he was saying.

"Well, that sounds great, but I still need to talk to my partner here," I said. Bill didn't respond for a moment like he was completely lost in thought. "Hey, Bill, we need to talk." That second time broke Bill from his trance, and we walked over to a farther part of the hallway, and Barbara ran over there to consult with us. Nothing was said between us, we just nodded our heads to take the deal, and walked back towards Too Jazz.

"We will do it," said Bill. "So, what exactly do you need us to do to help you throw it?"

Too Jazz looked at us, and smiled the biggest smile he could at Barbara and I, and I automatically felt uncomfortable. "All I want is for you two to have a bunch of interviews where you thank me for the help I'm giving you, and I also want you to host the party. That's all I need from you two, and I promise you that after that, all of us will be flying higher than airplanes," said Too Jazz. "Now the question of the day is can you do it?" I hated to do it, but I hated not to do it even more. All attention was on me, and even Barbara was tense. I waited for a second to build up suspense before I started to smile.

"Of course I'll do it," I said. Everybody smiled, and Too Jazz walked over to give me a group hug, which prompted Barbara to run over and hug us too. Bill hesitated for a second before deciding to run over and hug too, but Too Jazz used his hand to push Bill away when Bill ran in for the hug. It didn't seem to faze Bill though as he just stepped back and gave us a thumbs up instead with a cheesy smile on his face.

We were walking back towards the car, and Barbara seemed to be more excited than I was about the deal.

"I can't believe we are going to be hosting a huge party," said Barbara, while clasping her hands and twiddling her fingers. It was obvious that the excitement had over taken her, but I just kept my game face on as I had been here before.

"I wouldn't get too excited about it," I said. "You have no idea how much stress hosting a party can be. Not to mention the fact that we have to do more interviews, and we all know how well that worked out last time." I proceeded to walk in front of her so that I could have the car door unlocked when she made it to her side.

"Well, I can help you on those," said Barbara. I stopped and turned around to look at her for a second before doing a fake laugh and smile.

"You think I'm the one who needs help?" I asked.

Barbara stayed quiet for a second before attempting to say anything at all. Finally, her lips moved slowly.

"You are kind of uptight, Jim, and you kind of come off as you're above everybody else," said Barbara. I looked at her, and shook my head for a second in disbelief.

"Yeah, I have to admit I am kind of uptight, but that's a whole lot better than spilling your whole life story, and embarrassing yourself," I said. I didn't say it with the confidence I wanted as I didn't feel too right about it, but I still couldn't let her have the last word.

"Well, it's better to be yourself than a fake," said Barbara. "That's what I've been told anyways." The wind was blowing, and it wasn't exactly the warmest atmosphere out here, so I wasn't exactly in the best of mood.

"And look where you're at now," I said. She looked at me with hurt in her eyes, and I knew I had crossed the line, which made me run up there to comfort her, even though she was already tearing up. "I am so sorry." I ran over to hug her, but she kind of pushed me off and went to sit down on the porch sidewalk. I sat next to her hoping to get everything straight with her.

"Just leave me alone," said Barbara , who was now fully crying

"Look, that was a low blow, and I am so sorry," I said, while putting my arm around her to hopefully make things right.

"No, you're not, or you wouldn't have said it," said Barbara. I dropped my head, and pulled her in tighter in as friendly way as I could.

"If I could take it back, then I would. But all I can do now is say I'm sorry and try to make it up to you somehow," I replied. "So, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"You can stop being so mean," said Barbara, before raising up like she had an epiphany. "Yeah, you could stop being so mean, and start being nicer to me!" She was really starting to cheer up, and I straightened my back up while taking my arm off of her shoulder. She could definitely tell that I was startled.

"What do you mean be nicer to you? I give you a place to stay, and I also bought you some clothes," I said. I felt like I had a valid point, but the way she stuck her index finger up like she was saying wait just a minute let me know that she thought different.

"Since I've been there, you have been treating me like I'm a burden, but I wanted to be treated like your friend, is that a deal," said Barbara.

"Well, normally a deal constitutes that I would gain something in return," I said, not wanting to be a smartelic, but confused on her wording.

"Well, how about this? I will do things your way during interviews if you will be nicer to me, and treat me like your equal," said Barbara. I looked at her for a second trying to take it all in before saying anything else.

"So, let me get this straight. You will try to listen to what I say if I'm not so mean to you. Is that correct?" I asked. She shook her head yes, and I smiled at her. "We have a deal." With that, I stuck my hand out and she shook it. I started to walk back towards the car when I heard Barbara clear her throat.

"I thought you was going to help Bill today?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me, Bill is a perfectionist, and he only listens to two people. Him, and the artist who is recording. Part of the deal was I would check on him but stay out of his way," I said.

"So, you were just going to leave me home for a little while?" asked Barbara. I knew I was busted, so I slowly shook my head.

"Yeah, that was just me needing alone time," I said. "But I was going to come get you in about one hour anyways for the date."

"Is Tommy as excited as I am?" said Barbara with a gleeful voice. Once hearing that, I closed my eyes and snapped my fingers.

"Oh crap, I forgot," I said. "Ill text him right now." The only words I sent was, do you want a dinner date with Barbara and Kate, and he sent back a text message saying, "YES!!!!!!"

I looked back at Barbara. "We're good."
Chapter 11

We went home for a few moments to get ready, and Barbara put on what she considered her most stunning dress while I put on a black button up shirt and khakis.

We went to the restaurant to meet Kate and Tommy. I made sure to explain to Barbara how important it was to not start flirting with Tommy in front of everybody, on our way to meet them at the restaurant. Kate was extravagant in her blue dress, and matching high heels. Tommy seemed to be the most excited.

"Hey there!" screamed Tommy from across the room as he ran up to meet us.

"Tommy!" screamed Barbara from across the room. She ran to hug him, and almost kissed him on the lips before stopping short to remember what we talked about. They both let go quickly before Tommy turned his attention back towards me.

"I showed up early just to get us one of the best tables in the house," said Tommy pointing at the table where Kate was standing. I was a little shocked at Tommy's early arrival, but I was definitely not shocked at where he put us, which was in the middle of the restaurant.

"So much for privacy," I mumbled. That didn't stop Tommy from pulling up a seat for Kate to sit down. Of course Barbara was confused, and ran over to sit down beside him before I motioned for her to sit down on my side.

"Oh," said Barbara. She smiled and came back to my side of the table to sit down. I sit down, and she looked at me with an odd expression.

"What?" I asked.

"Uh, you are supposed to pull the chair out for me like a gentleman," said Barbara, with a smile that let me know she expected first class service.

"Oh, my bad," I replied. Then I scooted the chair back on the floor with enough room for her to sit down without getting up myself. I could tell that's not what she had in mind, and Tommy and Kate laughed as she sit down. Then I focused my attention to Kate and Tommy. I noticed that Tommy was actually dressed up even though he wore a plaid dress shirt that didn't really suit him. Kate was wearing a beautiful blue dress that had sequins shinier than glitter. I was so happy that they were taking this serious.

"So, did you have any problems on the way down here?" asked Kate. She said it with a sly tone to let me know she was making fun of my newfound celebrity.

"Well, not really," I replied. "The game hasn't hit us that bad yet."

"Well, that, and the fact that he had called downstairs to make sure nobody was out there," said Barbara. I nudged her in the ribs softly to let her know to shut up, and she looked at me with a mean look. "Ouch, watch where you put your elbows. That kind of hurt."

"Sorry," I replied before turning my head towards Kate and Tommy. "So, how has your day been?"

"Oh, same ol' day as usual. Just a different girl," said Tommy, which only managed to get stares at from the table besides Barbara who seemed shocked. "I'm kidding of course." Everybody just shrugged it off.

"How about you Kate, how was the diner today?" I asked.

"Oh, not bad. I just waited on a few customers, and talked about you all day," said Kate, with a smile.

"Oh really. You weren't name dropping me were you?" I asked in a playful cocky manner.

"No, I didn't have to. In fact, I can't seem to get off of the conversation about you even if I wanted to. That's how it seems anyways when all of the reporters and customers hand pick me to wait on them," said Kate. I dropped my head out of guilt of having her associated with me.

"I am so sorry, Kate. I did not mean to drag you into this," I replied.

"Oh, don't be. I'm making excellent tips, and they are thinking about making me manager so that the other waitresses can go back to making money now," said Kate with a smile.

"Well, enough of that. Let's eat!" said Barbara, with both elbows on the table.

"We kind of have to wait for the menus and a waiter before we do that," I replied. "This restaurant gives first class attention to their customers, so sometimes you have to wait a few minutes to get somebody's undivided attention."

"Oh, I see," said Barbara nodding her head. We went back to getting ready to start a conversation again before we seen Barbara turn her head towards the waiter across the room. "Hey, when you get done with that woman, can you please come wait on us. We are starving over here." Tommy and Kate's face turned blood red, and I just put my head in my hand.

"Thanks for that," I said to Barbara.

"What was so bad about that?" asked Barbara. Before I could answer, the waiter came running over there.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I had no idea that you two were over here, or I would have been over here right away!" said the waiter. I gave him a weird stare as I hadn't had that kind of attention in restaurants since my fame was up, and he noticed me which brought him back into an upright posture. "Is there anything I can do for our local pop star and his lovely lady?"

"I'll try the steak, and a regular soda," I said without having to look at the menu long. Tommy and Kate then told their orders which left Barbara alone with the menu.

"I'll have a cheese burger and fries," said Barbara. Even I was shocked at her considering this was more of a steak, or salad franchise.

"Barbara, dear," I said, to get her attention. "This isn't the kind of place that you order such a thing at."

However, the waiter wrote it down after pausing for a few seconds, and smiled at us.

"Your food will arrive shortly," said the waiter. He then walked off to put the order in, and Barbara was smiling at me

"I knew they would have cheeseburgers and fries," said Barbara. It was at that moment that I saw a family wearing tuxedos. They had a boy who looked to be about 8 years old looking at us.

"You ordered cheeseburgers and fries here?" asked the little boy.

"Why yes I did," said Barbara, while making her voice raise like she was talking to a baby. "They will probably do the same thing for you too if you ask them nicely." The boy smiled at Barbara and turned back around to his parents.

"I want a cheeseburger and fries too," said the boy. The boy parents stared us down, and you could tell that they were none too pleased to have to order something so simple for their son. I looked at them and opened my mouth as to say sorry without actually saying it, and they shrugged their shoulders to show that they gave up. The waiter came around to them

"We want two steaks well done along with a bottle of your best wine, and well, uh..... a cheeseburger and fries," said the parents to the waiter. I noticed that our whole table was listening in on their order.

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve that kind of food here," said the waiter.

"Well, you did for them," said the parent, with a loud voice. He was already getting ruffled up, and we all turned our heads.

"Because they are special guests," said the waiter, while not really seeming to be unnerved.

"Well, why are they so much more special than us!" shouted the parent. He was starting to stand up in his chair, and we could tell things were about to get messy. Tommy looked at me, and we both nodded our heads in agreement on what had to be done. I stood up, and walked towards the waiter with a 20 dollars, and shook his hand to secretly pass off the money to him.

"We had something come up, and we have to go. Sorry for the inconvenience," I said. The waiter felt the money, and smiled at me while winking at the same time. "Oh, that's perfectly alright, sir. Is it ok if I give your cheese burger and fries order to this young man?" said the waiter pointing towards the kid. I nodded my head, and he silently said a thank you to me, and we went out of the restaurant with me in front of the group.

"Hey, what are we going to eat now? I'm starving," said Barbara, who was behind me. I turned around to complain to her about putting us in that kind of spot, but I turned around to see Kate's smiling face first. That put me in a good mood, and I stopped short of saying anything towards Barbara.

"Well, I guess we can go to the park and hang out for a little bit. I heard that they are having a fund raiser full of dancing and horse rides," I replied. I could tell Barbara was about to open her mouth, and say something, but I threw my finger up to stop her from saying anything which actually worked. "They will probably have cheeseburgers and fries too." Barbara smiled and clapped her hands together in excitement.

We left our car parked at the restaurant parking lot, and walked over to the park which was only three blocks away to go to the park benefit.

"So, how are we going to do this," asked Tommy, as we were about to walk into the park.

"Well, the plan is this, we stay in groups, but I'm staying with Kate as much as possible, and you stay with Barbara as much as possible," I replied. I looked at Kate, and she nodded her head in agreement, and I looked at Tommy, and he nodded his head while letting out a sigh which didn't discourage Barbara at all when she grabbed his arm with both of her hands before letting go and letting out a giggle.

We walked to the park where all the festivities were at, and managed to get to a booth where a food vendor was before Barbara and I were recognized.

"Oh my goodness, it's the legend and his girl," said one of the people at the park. I looked at Barbara, and nodded my head for her to get closer to me. She got the hint, and moved towards me more, and Tommy smiled while locking arms with Kate which she pulled her frown.

"Hey peeps," I said, which came out really uncomfortable since I actually was. That didn't stop everybody from crowding me though. I stuck my hand out to shake a woman coming towards me, but she ran in for a hug instead which knocked the breath out of me. This woman was kind of heavy build, but I quickly assumed that a lot of it was muscle instead of fat based on the fact that I felt like my back was going to break. Everybody kind of smiled until my face turned red from the combination of pain and smothering which prompted Tommy to pull her off of me as fast as he could.

"So, how's it feel to be a big star again," asked a guy who seemed to be the unofficial spokesman for the group. I just kind of smiled and shrugged before Barbara stepped in front of me, which shocked Tommy since that was normally his job.

"We are doing pretty good, but we are on a date tonight, so can you please let us have a good time," said Barbara. I was impressed, and pat her on the shoulder lightly from behind to show her support. I could tell the group was kind of offended, and things could easily turn nasty which prompted me to evaluate the crowd to find an easy solution.

"Yeah, Barbara is right. However, I wouldn't mind signing a few autographs and Barbara doesn't mind taking pictures with you all as long as you keep us being here our little secret!" I said in an enthusiastic voice. Everybody kind of shook their heads yes in a calmly manner until one guy let out a yeah really loud which made the crowd of around forty or fifty let out a roar of approval. I looked at Tommy, and Barbara and I could tell they were happy that I was going to embrace the crowd. I looked at Kate, and she let out a half smile which I could tell wasn't an approval. However, the crowd went quickly as I signed a few autographs, but most of the older men just wanted a picture with Barbara. I smiled, and she looked at me and just shrugged her shoulders when my line ended, and hers was still going which honestly didn't bother me at all since she seemed to be having a good time. We finally were finished after about forty. I then looked at the gang to see what they wanted to do. "So, does anybody want to get anything to eat?" They nodded at me very angrily, and I realized that we still hadn't ate yet.

We purchased our food at a booth that served hamburgers, hot dogs and nachos, and we started walking towards the miniature golf at night event the park had going on. It was neat with all the lights going on to help you find your way. The hole had a pole with a light on it to help you see.

"So, how is the food, Tommy," said Barbara, desperately wanting his approval as she put both elbows on the table after moving her food to the side.

"Just like this event, boring and tasteless," said Tommy, who was desperately trying to kill the conversation. We all were quiet for a moment, and Kate finally stepped in front of us like she had something to say.

"So, who's up for a little miniature golf?" asked Kate, trying to keep good moral up. I stepped forward and raised my hand, hoping to keep the fun going. I looked around and urged for Tommy to raise his hand which he reluctantly did, and I looked over to see Barbara was raising her arm up as high as it could go while trying to reach higher like she was wanting to answer a question in school. I nodded to Barbara that we was going to play, and she ran over to the booth to get the golf clubs. We went to the first hole, and I smiled as I stepped forward like I was the leader of the fun.

"So, who's going first before I school all of you?" I asked, while holding my club over my shoulder like it was a baseball bat. I looked at Kate for a response, but I heard Barbara's voice instead.

"So, you think you're going to school us, huh," said Barbara as she pushed me out of the way. "I was the best in middle school when it came to getting the ball in the little paper cup." I shrugged my shoulders while looking at Kate while she turned her head sideways to let me know that she was just going to go along with it, and Barbara's first swing barely missed the hole putting the ball a few inches away. "So, what do you think about that, hotshot?"

"Not bad, but I'm not too bad myself," I replied. I took a swing, and the ball was probably a few feet away. Tommy and Kate both took swings which put their ball close, and everybody managed to get their ball in on the second try except me who took three tries.

"Ha!" said Barbara. "I thought you was going to school us, super star." I looked at her with a little anger before smiling at her as to not show any negative emotion around Kate.

"Oh, the game is just beginning," I said. The next few holes put us all neck in neck. We were all doing pretty good with Tommy even starting to loosen up by goosing Barbara in the ribs during each hole, or Barbara tapping him in the knee to mess him up. I was starting to really find my groove in the last few holes though, and I was actually up by one before taking the final swing that would have had me winning it since I went last. However, I felt something hit me in the knee which I automatically assumed was Barbara. I turned around to say something to her, but was faced with Kate instead who was smiling along with Barbara. I just shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head as to say whatever, and let everybody take their final swings along with me, who was actually not caring that it was a tie. After the game was over, we all started walking back towards the event.

"So, did everybody have fun?" asked Tommy, who was probably as shocked as we were to hear it come from him. We all looked at him funny anyways, which put him on the defensive stance. "Hey, if we are going to do something stupid, then I might as well try to enjoy myself."

"Yeah, I had fun," I said. I then looked towards Kate's direction. "How about everybody else?"

"Yeah, I had a great time," said Barbara, obviously not understanding who I was talking to again as she grabbed Tommy's arm.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders while looking in in my direction before locking his arms onto hers. I nodded at Kate, and she smiled a hesitant smile before doing the same. We were a few feet away from the event before we switched partners, which put Barbara and I now locked arm and arm. She smiled and put her head on my shoulder to show she was having a great time, and I didn't move away like I normally would have. We made it back to the event where people were now dancing to slow songs. I turned towards Kate while making a hand gesture and bow like I was a prince.

"Would you like to dance?" I asked Kate, while trying to sound as charming as possible for me. I saw her kind of hesitate and nod towards Barbara. I turned towards Barbara too, and it hit me as to what Kate was trying to say. I then extended my hand elegantly in a playful manner towards Barbara. "Oh yeah, may I have this dance."

Barbara looked confused as she didn't understand why I was asking her, then scrunched her face up like she was upset with me. "Uh, you know we both have dates, so why are you being rude to Kate," said Barbara.

"Because people's all around here, and we have to at least dance the first dance together," I replied, with a stern voice. Barbara looked around, and it finally dawned on her too.

"Oh, ok, but I want the next dance to be with Tommy," said Barbara.

We walked out onto the part of the park where they had the slow dancing, and Barbara and I danced to a slow song, while both of us were feeling uncomfortable. We hardly ever looked into each other's eyes during the whole song, and the times that we did were only quick glimpses before turning from each other again. Finally, the song was over, and we started to walk back towards our group when two older people stepped out in front of us.

"May we have the next dance," said an older lady beside who I assumed was her husband. I looked towards the direction of Kate and Tommy who were both laughing while signaling for us to go ahead and dance with them. I then turned my attention back towards them.

"Sure, that will be no problem," I said with a smile.

"But I thought that our next dance was going to be with......"

"That will be no problem at all," I said, while looking at Barbara after I cut her off.

Barbara made a sour face towards me before shaking it off and smiling at the old man. "Let's get started," said Barbara.

We danced an innocent dance with the older people seeming to have fun until the older lady leaned closer and started breathing on my neck. I dismissed it as her just leaning to close to rest on me until I felt lips barely touching my neck which I pulled back from. I looked at her and gave a small smile before looking towards Barbara's direction, and noticing the older man fully grabbing her butt. She never seemed to stop him, but instead looked at me with a sense of dread. I saw him rubbing her back with his other hand, and I then noticed the older lady sliding her hand down towards my butt. Finally, the song ended and I quickly pulled back, and walked over to grab Barbara by the arm so I could save her from any more awkward moments. We were heading back to our group, when I saw a line full of older and younger people looking at us.

"Aren't you going to give us a dance too," said an older lady. She was in front of the line, and she gave a quick wink and a smile in my direction.

"Well, I would, but it's getting late, and we have to get going," I replied. Everybody either made a groaning noise or dropped their shoulders, and I looked back at them. "Sorry, maybe next time." Then I made it back towards Kate and Tommy who were holding their chests dying in laughter.

"Lets' go, and let's go now!" I said.

"Wow, I haven't had anybody grab me that much since my grandpa gave me those awkward hugs as a kid," said Barbara. We all turned looked towards Barbara's way out of shock.

"Your grandpa gave you uncomfortable hugs?" asked Tommy, who couldn't even hide the disgust in his voice. Barbara then turned to smile an innocent smile at him.

"Well, I used to think so, but then I noticed he did it to all the girls, so that was just the way he was," said Barbara. I felt like I had to quickly change subject before explaining anything to Barbara.

"So, does anybody want to go to split up a little bit before we call it a night?" I asked. I then grabbed Kate's arm and gently turned towards a different direction, leaving Tommy and Barbara by themselves.

"Hey, where are you going?" screamed Barbara as we left them standing together.

"We are going walking," I screamed out to them.

"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do," asked Tommy, clearly just as confused as Barbara was.

"I don't know, either walk, or sit down on the bench. It's your choice," I said, as we left the two standing there lost.

"Wow, we finally get some time together now," I said. I could tell Kate seemed a little worried though.

"Aren't you worried about people seeing us like this," said Kate, who I could tell was a little worried.

"Nope, because you are the only thing that matters to me tonight," I said with a smile. Kate smiled too, but something about her body motions didn't seem completely right, so I decided to talk to her about it while I was still upbeat after we started walking. "So, what's troubling you tonight, huh?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm getting a little tired," said Kate.

"I understand that, but something about you feels a little off," I replied. "Is it anything I've done to you?" Kate turned her head towards my direction which made her hair move beautiful and elegant through the breeze.

"How is this going to work?" asked Kate bluntly.

"Just like this," I replied, with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "At least until I get Rick signed to my label, and us signed with Too Jazz."

"So, how much longer do you have to do this, and what are you going to do with Barbara after this is all said and done," said Kate.

"I've been thinking a lot about that, and I'm honestly considering paying for her own place if this goes well. I mean, I at least owe her that much, don't I?" I asked. Kate nodded her head, and smiled at me before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"You really are a good guy, Jim. You just let your own ego get in the way too much," said Kate.

"I know. That's always been my worse trait. I just happen to use it a lot," I said. Kate punched me on the shoulder, and looked at her watch, but didn't say anything either way, even although her motions let me know it was getting late. "So, should we call this night to a close?"

"I hate to ask you to do that," said Kate. "I just have an early shift tomorrow."

"Well, maybe we can get you out of there so you won't have to worry about a stupid thing like a job at a diner," I said.

"I think you already have enough women to worry about as it is," said Kate playfully.

"That's hilarious, but can't we just enjoy each other's company for what little time we have left," I said playfully. Kate smiled and grabbed my hand with a firm squeeze, and we walked back enjoying the moment.

"So, you two are already back?" asked Barbara, who was full of energy. I could tell Tommy was getting tired, and Barbara was wearing him out more. I nodded my head yes, and Tommy looked at me while trying to force a smile

"You ok, Tommy?" I asked. Tommy just raised his head and looked at me with very little energy.

"Yeah, I guess I'm getting a little tired. I had a late night house guest last night," said Tommy.

"Who was it," asked Barbara in a nosy manner. I stepped in between them, and shook his hand.

"Well, thanks for coming out tonight. I truly appreciate it, and if there is anything I can do for you, then let me know," I replied.

"Well, can you get us V I P access to your party," said Kate. She then proceeded to wink at me, and I just shook my head to say something before hearing somebody make an irritated voice behind me.

"Who was at your house last night, Tommy?" asked Barbara to Tommy again. Tommy just looked at her and smiled.

"It was my cousin, but I have to go right now. But you kids enjoy the rest of the party while I walk Kate back towards the car," said Tommy. He then grabbed Kate's arm, and started to pull a little to get her to walk with him. Kate waved bye to me.

"Goodnight, Jim," said Kate. I waved bye too.

"Sweet dreams," I said. Then I looked at Barbara who had a furious look in her eyes, and proceeded to start walking angrily to catch up with them, before I put both arms around her to try to calm her down.

"Whoa, where are you going?" I asked. Barbara was trying to push me off, but I wasn't letting go.

"I want answers," said Barbara, who wasn't struggling to fight as much.

"Well, you have an answer," I said, with a little humor to my voice.

"Do you believe that at all?" asked Barbara who pulled away from me after I loosened both arms around her. She was clearly wanting to cry, so I decided to cut her off before she could.

"Nope, but at least he wasn't trying to hide being a prick," I replied. That drew a confused look from Barbara, so I signaled for her to walk with me so that I could help clear her head, and she started walking beside me to hear what I had to say. "You see, Tommy while not the best person in the world is exactly what he claims to be to women. Unfortunately, that is a womanizer. But isn't it better to know what is on the table rather than be deceived later on."

"I guess so, but all guys are like Tommy," said Barbara.

"Not all guys, just the guys within that type,' I said, while smiling at her. "There are many types out there, but most people go for what they know. Even if that means dating losers."

"How do you get that? You don't even know my exes," said Barbara.

I took a deep breath of air, and exhaled before I smiled hoping to blow her mind. "Has any of them ever held down a solid job while you were dating them?" I asked.

"Well, most of the guys I dated were in high school, but one of them was making pretty good money being a construction worker," said Barbara. I just gave her an emotionless look that she knew was supposed to be a judged look, and Barbara finally broke from the silence. "Well, he did."

"Well, that's good, but what exactly did he do with the money after he made it," I asked.

"Well, he paid his rent most of the time, and then he would normally use the rest of his money on a few small habits, and would normally spend whatever he had left on me," said Barbara. I could tell by the desperation in her voice that she wanted to prove me wrong.

"Have you met anybody else that you thought was decent," I asked.

"Well, Joe was great to me, but he stopped taking me to the clubs with him when I started getting jealous of him dancing with other girls," said Barbara. "Then I found a woman's jacket in his car along with a bunch of texts from different women."

"So, did you give him an option of straightening up before you broke it off?" I asked.

"Well, actually he called it quits on me, but I threatened to break up with him before he told me to go. Then I met the guy that recently ended things, and then I met Tommy and you," said Barbara.

"Whoa now, don't be considering me one of your dates," I said, with a playful manner as I crossed my fingers into an x. She just laughed and came closer to me like she was going to kiss me, and she ended up actually giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Well, you're not my real boyfriend, but you are one of the best friends I have ever had," said Barbara, in a sincere voice.

"Thanks, and you better not forget what I did for you either," I said playfully. "Now where are we going to eat at?"

We settled for a small pizza joint that was only a few miles down the road. I could tell Barbara was completely starved as she was scarfing the pizza down.

I drove us to my favorite park.

"Why exactly did you bring us here?" asked Barbara, after she hopped out of the car.

"To share with you one of my favorite past times," I replied, as I slowly turned towards her with a smile. "Plus, I wanted to see if it would help you calm down too." She gave me a confused look.

"What is so amazing about this, and why would it help me calm down," asked Barbara. I looked at her puzzled as to why she didn't gain the same feeling before moving towards her.

"This," I said as I grabbed her shoulders from behind, and moved her closer to the fence. I still held on to her shoulders when we stopped moving, and I gently moved my head closer to her ear so that I could talk in a more soothing voice. "Here is what I want you to do. I want you to relax and close your eyes as if nobody is around you, and just feel nothing but nature around you."

"I'm not feeling anything," said Barbara.

"Then think of something that makes you calm, and just enjoy the nature around you," I replied. Barbara closed her eyes, and I could tell she was at ease as I seen a smile go across her face. She seemed to truly be at peace with herself at that moment, and I left her alone for a few seconds to take it all in.

"Is it working?" I asked.

"Shut up, Jim," said Barbara, while still smiling. I just left her alone and let her go, and she gently came out of it before turning back towards me. "So, do you wanna chat some?"

I nodded my head, and sit down in a grassy area beside the car. "So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"You!" said Barbara, pointing directly at me. "Why are you always so uptight, and what's the deal with Kate. I mean why did you two break it off the first time?"

"Whoa, now" I said, as I threw my hands in surrender, and moved my back like I was trying to back away while sitting down. She laughed at me which was something I wasn't used to.

"I'm serious, dummy, just answer the questions because I really want to know," said Barbara. She walked over to where I was sitting and sat beside me. She turned to look at me face to face. "You did ask me what I wanted to talk about didn't you?"

"Yes, I did ask, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to answer anything," I replied. I could tell by her facial expression alone that I wasn't going to get off that easily. "Ok, I will start with the hard question first. I guess I'm uptight because I have to be strong."

"That doesn't make sense," said Barbara.

"Well, let me put it this way to you, have you ever had anybody use you and throw you away because you seem too nice and friendly," I said. Barbara nodded her head like she couldn't believe I figured out the obvious. "Well, I was used because I was too swept away in the moment to understand that people were using me for my kindness, and nearly lost everything. But being uptight let's people know that I am not to be used or messed with, and it also helps me to stay in control of my emotions to prevent myself from getting caught up in the moment. Does that help any?"

"Yeah, you stay uptight to shield yourself from everybody," said Barbara.

"Well, that's kind of right, and it's worked so far," I said.

"Not really," said Barbara. "Even though you come off as a jerk, I can really tell you are a nice guy."

"How can you say that?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know, that's just how you came off to me. Why else would anybody hang out with that jerk Tommy, and pursue somebody as hard as you do Kate," said Barbara. I just stood up, and she pushed me back down. "But it's sweet that you care as much for her as you do which reminds me. What happened between you guys?"

"Well, I kind of did," I replied. "You see, Kate wasn't exactly my first love. My first love was actually some other girl named Megan, and we dated while I was up and coming, but I broke it off to be a big star, but what I didn't realize was just how important she was to me. So then, I dove into my music career to get my mind off of her, and basically became a used piece of chewing gum to them. Then my parents/managers took over half of my money, and then I moved here and met Kate. So, basically I happened because there was no way anybody could have pulled me out of that depression, but boy did she try. Now I have a second chance with her, and I'm not going to let her slip through my fingers again."

"That's sweet, but if she meant that much to you, then why didn't you try to get her back the first time," asked Barbara. I decided to stand up, and then I extended my arm out to help Barbara do the same.

"Because I knew I wasn't good for her then, but I'm in a different spot now, so let's go, and no more questions" I replied. She grabbed my arm, and pulled herself up, and we started walking back to the car.

"Yeah, but why do you think you are ready now?" asked Barbara as we were walking back to the car.

"No more questions until we get home," I said.

"I mean what's different now," asked Barbara.

"Now no more talking until we get home," I replied.

"Ok, meanie," said Barbara, as we both were inside the vehicle. She punched me in the shoulder, and I looked to say something to her, but decided to just smile instead.

"You never change do you," I said, as I started the car up. She just smiled, and we drove back to the house.
Chapter 12

We made it back to the house, and I was completely worn out from all of the activities we did. I unlocked the door first, and walked in sheepishly while Barbara was completely full of energy.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Barbara, hoping to have a whole night of fun figured out.

"Well, you can do whatever you want, but I'm going to lay on the couch and watch TV," I replied.

"What did you say?" asked Barbara, who seemed completely shocked by my response.

"I said I'm going to lay on the couch and watch TV for the night. What's so hard to understand about that?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just haven't seen you stay up and watch TV the whole time I've been here," said Barbara.

"Well, that's because you haven't been here that much. I used to do that all the time," I replied. Barbara looked inquisitive about the whole response, so I decided to clear the air. "Well, I only do it when I'm either too excited, or too stressed to sleep, and tonight is one of those nights."

"Well, can I stay up and watch TV with you?" asked Barbara. I thought about it without saying anything for a second before finally coming up with a response. "Sure, but you have to promise to stay quiet while watching it with me, deal?" Barbara nodded her head and smiled at me while dropping her butt on the couch beside me.

"So, are you excited or stressed?" asked Barbara, who was thrilled like it was a teenage slumber party.

"I thought the deal was to stay quiet," I replied. Barbara smiled, and softly bumped her shoulder into mine in a playful fashion, and I instantly smiled at her. "Well, I'm excited because my life is finally coming together. I mean, I am getting Kate back, I'm about to be offered a record contract, and if everything goes well, then I can actually be able to help you get on your feet, and get your own place."

"Yeah, that will be pretty neat," said Barbara, who had now dropped all enthusiasm out of her voice. It was obvious something didn't sit well with her.

"What's wrong, don't you want your own place?" I asked. She turned to say something, but stopped like she was afraid to say. I then put my arm around her to try to make her feel better. "You know I can't help you unless you talk to me." She turned around, and showed a sense of fear like she was holding a deep secret.

"Can I tell you something?" asked Barbara. I smiled at her, and looked deep into her eyes hoping to make her feel more open.

"Sure you can," I replied. Barbara put her head on my shoulder, and it threw me off balance to where I was almost laying down on the couch.

"I don't want to move away from you," said Barbara, with a sympathetic voice. "You are the only person who has ever been there."

I pat her on the back with my hand while making sure I didn't accidentally pull her hair. "That's nonsense, you have a lot of people who care for you," I said.

"Like who?" she asked me. I stopped to think about it for a minute since I really didn't know her before this, and realized I had to think of something fast.

"Well, I don't know everybody in your life, but I do know you, and that's enough," I said. Barbara looked up with tearful eyes, and pushed her head into my shoulder more, and I leaned back on the couch the rest of the way where I was now laying down with both of my arms around her to console her.

"Thank you, Jim, you truly are my best friend," said Barbara.

"You're one of mine, too," I replied. "Try not to wake me when you get up. We have a big day tomorrow!"

"What is that?" asked Barbara . Then she thought for a minute before turning to look at me. "Oh gosh, that is tomorrow?!"

I nodded my head at her in a goofy manner, and smiled at her. "Yeah, tomorrow is that day, and we have to have each other's backs tomorrow, so no answering questions on your own, ok?" I asked. She nodded her head yes while her head was on my chest, and I pat her on the back. "Goodnight, Barb."

"Goodnight, Jim," replied Barbara. I closed my eyes without moving her, and went to sleep.

The next morning, I heard a knock on the door, and I went to raise up before somebody had me weighed down. I looked down to see Barbara's head still on my chest while still completely asleep. I tried to wake her up, but I couldn't get much of a response out of her. So, I looked towards the door to see who it was.

"Who is it?" I asked, without any luck of getting her awake.

"It's Kate, open up," said Kate. I opened my eyes wide in fear, and jumped out which resulted in Barbara hitting the floor hard. That seemed to wake her up, as she completely opened her eyes, and looked up at me from the floor while rubbing her elbow.

"Why did you do that for?" shouted Barbara loudly. I looked at her, and threw my finger towards my lips signaling for her to keep her voice down.

"Kate is outside, so keep it down!" I said to her in a lower voice. She just looked at me puzzled.

"So, what's so bad about that?" asked Barbara, confused and a little aggravated that I made her hit the floor.

"Because you didn't go to bed like I asked, and you fell asleep on me last night," I replied, with a more aggravated voice. I then heard the knocking on the door again.

"What's wrong with friends taking a nap?" asked Barbara.

"Everything if you happen to have a potential love interest outside," I replied.

"Oh yeah!" said Barbara, with a dumbfound expression. "Sorry, I didn't look at it that way."

"What other way is there to look at it?" I asked, with a hateful sounding tone.

"Like we are close friends who don't worry about what people think," said Barbara, still seeming to be upset over hitting the floor. I went to say something else, but I heard Kate knocking louder.

"Is this a bad time?" asked Kate, while still outside of my apartment.

"No, not at all. I'm just having problems getting off the couch," I replied, with a fake laugh after saying that. "Just one more minute, I promise!" Then I shot Barbara a serious look from across the room.

"I know, I know. I won't say anything," said Barbara.

"You got that right," I said. Then I went to open the door for Kate, and was shocked to see not only Kate, but Tommy out there beside her. I then stood in awkward silence while staring at them.

"Are you ok?" asked Kate, while starting to laugh at my awkward pause.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. "I'm just not woken up completely yet." Kate put her hand on my chest, and winked at me before looking towards Barbara's direction. "There is the princess of the day." She then ran to hug Barbara who let out a faint smile.

"Hey, Kate, how are you doing?" asked Barbara, who was barely patting Kate on the back, since she seemed to be a combination of nervous and drowsy like I was.

"I'm doing great, especially since I get to be such a huge part of your big day," said Kate, who was genuinely excited. "Now let's go to the bedroom to fix your hair and makeup."

"Ok," said Barbara, trying to sound enthusiastic, but she barely had time to get the words out before Kate grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the bedroom. I then turned to look at Tommy.

"What is going on here, and why are you two at the house right now when the party isn't until tonight?" I asked. Tommy gave me a coy look, and pointed to some blond hairs that were on my chest.

"I'll answer your questions if you answer mine," asked Tommy. I motioned for him to walk to the farthest part of the apartment away from the girls before I said anything, and he followed me over there.

"It's nothing, ok. We were watching TV together last night, and she accidently dozed off on me, that was it," I replied.

"Oh really," said Tommy with a coy smile. "Are you sure that was it, or is there a few details you are leaving out about what really happened?"

"That's it, but don't say anything to Kate at all, do you understand me?" I said, while grabbing Tommy by the shoulders to shake him. Tommy nodded his head with a sinister grin.

"I understand, but you two better get your story straight since we have been hired by Bill to accompany you two all day."

"What? Why would he do that?" I asked.

"Just to be a distraction if you two have problems getting your story straight all day," said Tommy. "But don't worry, he is doing it all on Too Jazz's dime since Too Jazz recommended getting you two a makeup artist, and a body guard for the day."

"Please don't tell me that you are the body guard," I replied. Tommy winked at me, and pulled his shirt up to show his muscles.

"What can I say, Bill is a genius, but he wanted it to be a surprise which is why we both called it quits from the double date last night. Well, me anyways."

"So, why are you two here right now then?" I asked.

"Because you have a whole day full of events," said Tommy. I gave him a puzzled look, and he smiled at me again. "Oh yeah, I forgot that you didn't know about that either." Tommy reached into his back pocket to hand me a letter signed by Bill.

I opened the letter up, and the letter pretty much said sorry that he couldn't let me know about all of the publicity events that he had scheduled, but he knows that I'm more entitled to do things if I didn't have a choice on it, but at least he did get my friends a job for today so that they could make some money while also bringing emotional support. Plus, it makes more sense on why they will be beside us for the whole night rather than being suspicious. The letter ended with the last sentence telling me sorry once again before saying love, Bill, at the end of it. I wadded it up, and threw the letter away in the garbage can.

"Well, at least you have some time with Kate today," said Tommy, while handing me a schedule of the places that we had to be for photo opportunities. I looked at the list, and it ranged everywhere from speaking at a school event to doing interviews with the news at 4 p.m.

"Why is any of this necessary?" I asked.

"To get your name out, and to promote the party," said Tommy.

"I don't need my name out, just the label's," I replied.

"Hey, is that lipstick on your shirt," said Tommy, who was now looking down at my chest where Barbara's head was. I looked down to see a bright red lipstick along with face powder. I immediately crossed my arms on those spots to cover the evidence, but Tommy had already seen enough, and looked me in the eyes. "Jim, what happened?"

"Nothing happened, why are you even asking me about this?" I asked. Tommy looked at me, and it was obvious that he had some look of concern in his face.

"Well, I'm asking because you didn't have it last night when you were with Kate, so that leaves us with only one other option," said Tommy, who now had his hands crossed. I looked around to make sure the ladies weren't coming out before I said anything else.

"Look, this isn't anybody's business, and definitely not yours, but she fell asleep on me watching TV last night, and that was all that happened," I replied.

"Is this the first time that has ever happened?" asked Tommy, who seemed to be still upset.

"Yes, well, it's the first time I agreed to let her lay with me without her sneaking in anyways," I replied. For some reason, that seemed to drop the tension a little bit.

"Just please tell me that you didn't sleep with her, because that would be weird to have to compete with you," said Tommy.

"Compete with me?" I asked, while pointing a finger at myself. "Why would you have to worry about that? Besides, I thought you were done with her anyways."

"Well, I kind of was, but she would be convenient to have around considering all I have to do is call her up when I get bored, and it's not like she could date me full time anyways now that she is connected to you publicly," said Tommy, who punched me in the shoulder while smiling at me with his tongue to the side of his mouth. I nodded my head to him, and stared him down for a second.

"So, you think I'm going to keep somebody around just so you can use them as you please?" I asked, while showing signs of aggression in my voice. Tommy shrugged his shoulders at me as if to say I guess, and I was about to let in on him until I heard the bedroom door open, and the girls came out. We both turned around, and Barbara came out looking extravagant. I was completely frozen by the sight of her in a beautiful red dress, along with blue eye shadow, and apple red lipstick. Everybody was quiet for a minute until Barbara was about to break the ice.

"How do I look?" asked Barbara. I was going to say great, but I was beat to the punch.

"Beautiful!" said Tommy, who was walking very fast towards her direction. "I don't think anybody has ever been half as beautiful as you are right now." He then kissed her on the cheek, and she smiled an awkward smile like he caught her off guard. Kate gave a disapproving look as she opened up her makeup bag to reapply powder back onto Barbara's face.

"What do you think, Jim?" asked Kate, while still putting the blush back on Barbara. I didn't say anything for a second so that I could regain my composure. "Jim?"

"She looks good, but my eyes are already sealed on one gal," I said, while making sure to make eye contact with Kate.

"Come on, you know she looks better than that," said Kate. "I know your trying to butter me up, but you don't have to put the poor girl down that hard." I looked, and seen that Barbara really valued my opinion, so I decided to come clean about everything.

"Ok, she looks great," I said. Barbara's eyes then became really big, and she ran towards me really fast to the shock of everybody before hugging me really tight. I had already braced myself when I saw her running, and pat her on the back unenthusiastically while getting the life choked out of me. "Don't forget about your makeup and blush." She let go, and stood a few feet away from me smiling.

"Thanks, Jim, I'm glad to finally get your approval on something," said Barbara. Kate let out the smile that let me know she seemed kind of worried, while Tommy was chuckling to himself.

"No problem, now let's go get this day over with," I said.
Chapter 13

The first place we went was the elementary school, and all the kids watched a little video of me that was sent to them by Bill. We waited outside of the classroom to talk to the 3rd graders first since they won some kind of best grade average award which allowed them to meet us instead of any other class. We walked in there, and I was surprised on how the loud screaming kids all calmed down when we walked into the room. The teacher then shook our hands, and proceeded to introduce us all to the class.

"Class, as part of your awesome average award, you will be the first to meet and talk to our local celebrity Jim, or is it J-em?" asked the teacher very cautiously.

"Jim is fine," I said, while smiling at the teacher to let her know I wasn't offended at all.

"Ok, Jim it is," said the teacher, who was now full smiles again while engaging the class. "So without wasting anybody else's time, let's let our guests introduce themselves." I looked around, and noticed that everybody expected me to go first, which was odd considering I always felt equal to them the last few years, but I went as expected.

"Hi, my name is Jim, or J to the uh, M," I said, while moving my hands goofy which gathered giggles and laughs from the class. I then felt myself smiling unexpectedly before signaling for Barbara to go next.

"Hi, my name is Barbara, and I am Jim's guurlfriend," said Barbara, while twirling her hair in a goofy manner. All of the class gave the expected ooooooh, and a laugh which made all of the grownups laugh before Barbara took a bow, and stepped close to me to let Tommy go next.

"Hi, my name is Tommy, and I am Jim's best friend," said Tommy, with the same charm he always used. The only problem was, nobody seemed to be too interested in him. Tommy then decided to proceed after an awkward pause. "I help him find music clients, and I also help him in his day to day life. That is all."

He then signaled for Kate to go next while whispering good luck in her ear.

"Hi, my name is Kate, and I am a waitress," said Kate, with the room still silent like they wasn't interested in her. I looked at her, and she signaled for help from us since this was very awkward for her.

"She is also my hair and makeup stylist," said Barbara, which got all the girls in the room's eyes to light up. There was plenty of gasps, and all of the girl's in the room seemed to say wow at the same time. Kate looked at her to say a silent thank you without actually saying it, and Barbara winked back at her while smiling only for a second before getting back to the class. "Now does any of you have any questions you want to ask us?" All of the kids raised their hands at the same time before the teacher picked one out of random to ask the first question.

"Hi, my name is Mickey, and I want to ask you how much money do you have?" asked the first kid, while looking directly at me. I didn't know what to say, but I thought I should at least be honest.

"Well, honestly, I don't have as much as I used to, but I still have enough to make it on for at least the next year," I replied.

"So, what did you spend it all on?" asked Mickey. I felt a little nervous as I couldn't tell the truth on this one, but Kate jumped in front of me.

"He didn't spend it all, he gave a lot of his money to his parents to keep for him so that he wouldn't waste it all," said Kate. The class all nodded their heads, and the teacher stepped in front of us with a new found confidence.

"That is great, because we were talking about responsibility a few days ago weren't we class?" said the teacher. The kids all nodded their heads, and she stepped away. "Now the next question will be answered by Amy." A little girl stood up and looked like she had a serious look to her face.

"My question is for Barbara. Where did you and Jim meet, and how exactly did you get homeless?" asked Amy. I looked at Barbara, and she didn't know what to say for a second, but I walked over towards her and pat her on the back.

"Well, Jim and I met through our friend Tommy, and he was sweet enough to help me get back on my feet, and the way I got there was because I never truly believed in myself until lately, and I never focused enough on school to try to be somebody which is why education is very important, or you could end up homeless," said Barbara. The class didn't know what to say to that, and finally Tommy stepped in with a full laugh, and the teacher started laughing too which then started the kids doing the same. The teacher finally stepped in front of us again.

"Kids, I'm glad Barbara was so honest with you, because an education and believing in yourself are two of the greatest things that you can ever do, and I'm glad Barbara is starting to believe in herself now," said the teacher. "Anything else, Amy?"

"Yes, I just want to tell you that you are beautiful, and I'm glad you're not homeless anymore" said Amy to Barbara.

"Thank you! You are very beautiful too," said Barbara, who seemed to be at ease with Amy now.

"Ok, the next question goes to Stacy," said the teacher pointing at a boy. The boy stood up beside his desk rather than sitting down in his seat.

"Yeah, I'm wanting to know how to score a chick like that," said Stacy, while looking at me. We all laughed, and the teacher signaled for him to sit down, and then pointed to another kid to ask a question.

"My question goes to Barbara," said the little boy. "Barbara, will you marry me?" The teacher signaled for him to sit down, and then pointed at a girl to ask a question.

"Jim, will you marry me?" asked the little girl.

"Ok, enough questions to Jim and Barbara. How about we ask Tommy, and what's your name again?" asked the teacher to Kate.

"Kate," she replied.

"Ok, to Tommy and Kate then," asked the teacher. A little girl stood up.

"Can you do my makeup to make me look as beautiful as Barbara?" asked the little girl. Kate smiled at her, and walked over to the little girl's desk, and got face to face with her examining her.

"Nope, you are beautiful just the way you are," said Kate, after she was done examining the girl's face. I felt warm inside, and even Barbara seemed to have a fuzzy moment by the expression she was giving. Only Tommy seemed stone face to the moment.

"Awww, that's so sweet! Now how about asking Tommy a question before we wrap this up and play in the gym," said the teacher. Tommy walked right in front of the middle of the room with a confident look on his face. However, nobody said anything or even hinted at wanting to ask Tommy a question. The teacher finally walked in front of Tommy to save what little pride he had left. "Well, if everybody has run out of questions to ask, then we can go outside and play. "

All of the kids hit the door as quickly as possible which surprised me even though it probably shouldn't have.

"Wow, they love their recess don't they," I said, while looking at the teacher.

"Yeah, especially since you are going to play outside," said Tommy. I turned to face him, and signaled for him to talk to me alone for a second which was seemed to catch the teacher off guard, and just seemed to shock Barbara and Kate.

"What's wrong?" asked Tommy. He was actually trying to pull off a shocked look on his face in front of everybody before I dropped my head down for a second in defeat before looking at the teacher

"How long is recess?" I asked.

"Thirty minutes," replied the teacher. I looked at the clock in the classroom, and nodded my head. "I believe I can handle that." I noticed that all women were smiling, and Tommy seemed to have a mischievous look on his face that let me know he won that battle.

We walked outside, and the kids were playing duck, duck, goose out in the field. We casually walked into the recess area, and watched them from a little bit of distance before one of the teachers spotted us, and signaled for us to come closer.

"Hey, everybody, there is our local celebrities," said one of the teachers. All of the other kids who hadn't already seen us waved along with the one's we already visited. We waved back.

"Hey there," said Barbara, who was crouching like she was talking to toddlers. The kids waved back.

"As you all know, they won't be with us all day, but who wants them to play duck, duck, goose with us while they are here," said the teacher. They all waved their hands enthusiastically, and Barbara and Tommy walked over to join while I threw my hands up in surrender.

"I'm afraid I can't get that low anymore," I replied, while holding my hip like I was too old, but Kate pushed me from behind to get me moving.

"Of course he will," said Kate, as she was pushing me into the spot that the kids opened up for us while they were sitting down. I got into the group, and a young boy was standing up while the teacher was beside him explaining the rules.

"Ok, here is how we play it," said the teacher real loud like we were some of her grade school students. "Jeremiah here will go by patting everybody on the head saying duck or goose. If he says duck, then you stay seated, but if he says goose, then you have to catch him before he sits in your spot after going around it two laps, or you are the goose. Does everybody understand?" We all nodded our heads yes. "Ok, then let the games begin."

Jeremiah walked around saying the usual duck, duck, goose routine, and we almost felt like it was going to be one of us, but he actually picked a little girl around us instead. She almost caught him before he made it back which made her the one who had to circle around. When she went to circle around, she walked by us, and hit a little boy on the head. The little boy actually caught her which made her still have to stand up there. From there, the little girl went by me, and hit Barbara on the head. She chased the little girl, but let up when she was almost there to get her which made Barbara the one who picked out the next goose. Barbara seemed to enjoy it circling her foes before finally settling on another little boy instead of one of the gang. That seemed to confuse us, and we were sure she was going to pick one of us next, but she ended up picking another kid who she allowed herself to be captured by another little kid. From there, she did the same thing a few more times until she finally stopped to make an announcement.

"You know, I've been captured a few times which must make me a really ugly goose, but the next person I am going to pick is going to be even worse than a goose. That's right, they are going to be an ugly toad, and not just an ugly toad, but the most filthy disgusting toad of them all," said Barbara. All of the kids seemed to be really fascinated on who this ugly toad could be, and Kate and I both looked at Tommy while all he could do was smile over it. Barbara then proceeded to walk around the room like the game consisted of, but instead of picking Tommy, she pat me on the head. Without thinking, I jumped up and started chasing her while feeling insulted. She didn't slow down though, and I barely managed to keep up with her any at all until I saw her look back to say toad to me. However, she stumbled before she could say it, and I saw this as my chance to grab her, but I couldn't slow down enough, and I ran full speed into her which put me on top of her. I was kind of worried, but she seemed to be ok though, and we just looked at each other with her laughing so hard that I couldn't keep my serious face up. I looked around, and all of the people around us were concerned, not to mention how bad it looked, so we both jumped up with me dusting myself off.

"We're fine," I said, while dusting my pants off, and I looked to see Barbara was doing the same thing. I then happened to make eye contact with Kate, and I could tell there was much more than concern from my fall in her eyes. "I'm sorry you all, but I think we are going to need another goose because I need time to recuperate."

"That's fine," said the teacher, seeming to realize the awkwardness in my voice. "I think we will go to play a little basketball for a while."

"That's great, I can use a little more exercise," said Tommy. He then walked over to Barbara, and pat her on the back hurrying her along. I waited for Kate to walk beside me, but she walked past me with an angered face rather than stop.

"What's wrong?" I asked, catching up with Kate. She didn't say anything to me, so I stepped out in front of her when I noticed that everybody else had already went by us. "Come on, I need some kind of answer." Kate stopped in front of me, and just seemed to shake it off.

"Nothing really, I guess I've just been kind of jealous all day thinking Barbara is getting attention with you while I'm playing second fiddle," said Kate. She then looked me deep into the eyes, and showed a moment of tenderness. "Will you please forgive me?"

"Of course," I replied. I then went to put my arm around her before realizing that I couldn't be seen doing that here, so I then pulled my hand back which brought a smile to her face along with mine. We then watched the basketball game, and Barbara and Tommy were on separate teams, and Barbara happened to be a lot more athletic than what I thought as she was going head to head with Tommy on the basketball court. Everybody was having fun watching Barbara do layups around Tommy, and Tommy seemed to be enjoying the game as he was rubbing up against her more and more on defense. I noticed Barbara score and look my way for approval, but all I did was give her a thumbs up as I was in a deep conversation with Kate. Tommy scored, and I gave him a thumbs up too as I was still talking to Kate, and Barbara seemed to get mad which prompted her to stop the game after she was passed the ball.

"Hey, everybody, how would you like to see Jim and Kate finish this game with us?" said Barbara. Tommy looked kind of baffled, but Barbara wasn't looking in his direction.

"Well, I'm still kind of banged up, and I don't think Kate is really a basketball player," I replied. Kate nodded her head to my statement, and threw her hands up in surrender.

"Come on, I'm not hurt, so you shouldn't be either, so how about we play boyfriend and girlfriend against those two," said Barbara. I shook my head no while grabbing my knee, but Barbara wasn't going to let me by with that. "Come on you, wimp, play, play, play, play." She continued until the rest of the grade school out there joined in too, and I looked at Kate, and we both nodded our head yes while smiling at each other, and joined the game which was now two on two.

The game started off with me getting the ball first, and I faked out a pass to Barbara to break the defense which allowed me to score. Tommy smiled, and passed the ball to Kate who passed it back as quickly as possible to Tommy which allowed him to get by me and score. Kate smiled and high fived Tommy, and I just shook my head in disbelief of letting him go by me like that. Then the ball was checked back in to me, and I drove past Tommy just like he did me, and went for a layup only for it to miss which allowed Barbara to get the rebound and score. We went a few more plays like that, and I mostly guarded Kate which resulted in me leaving her wide open since she barely could dribble, let alone score the ball. However, she did hit one which made all of kids let out a gasp, and I fist bumped her before catching Barbara giving me a sign of shock and disapproval.

"Great defense there," said Barbara, as she walked by me. It was obvious she was completely angry with me. I nodded my head with a sense of guilt.

"Sorry," I said, and blocked that moment out of my mind to continue the game.

"This will be the last points of the game, whoever makes these will be the loser, and whoever doesn't will be the big loser," said Tommy. All of the kids gasped as he was acting like a typical bully that they were used to seeing on the playground. I declined to sink to his level, and instead looked at Barbara to guard Kate while I was going to take Tommy one on one. Barbara nodded her head in agreement with me, and she went after Kate who was used to me guarding her the whole game.

Kate inbounded the ball to Tommy who tried to get by me, but I locked him down on defense, and he couldn't' get past me in that spot. He passed the ball to Kate who tried to dribble the ball, but wasn't used to the tight defense that Barbara was allowing as opposed to me who didn't really try to guard her at all. She finally passed the ball back to Tommy, and he tried to fake a layup only to stop dribbling at the three point line which I didn't fall for. He realized that I was probably too close to stopping him from shooting, so he passed it back to Kate.

"Shoot, Kate, shoot," screamed Tommy, who saw that she was wide open since Barbara was behind me making sure that Tommy didn't get past me. Kate looked around, and hesitated to shoot the game winning shot. "I said shoot the ball!" Tommy's demand seemed to work that time as Kate finally broke out of her trance to shoot, but her hesitation gave Barbara enough time to run over there and block her shot which made all the kids make the oooh sound. Then Barbara ran and grabbed the ball and passed it to me while I was under the goal, and I scored the winning shot. Tommy dropped his head in defeat, and Barbara ran and hugged me with me embracing her in a victory hug. I noticed that we were probably hugging a little too long for school kids, so I let go and gently pulled away. However, what I didn't pay attention to was some of the kids laughing at Kate who was clearly embarrassed about getting blocked that bad. I ran over to her to console her, and noticed that Barbara was walking beside me too.

"Good game! Sorry about that block, but we couldn't let Tommy win," said Barbara. She hugged Kate, and Kate patted her on the back with one hand halfheartedly.

"That's ok, that's all part of the game," said Kate. Barbara then ran off towards Tommy's direction to shake hands or hug him one, and I stuck my hand out to shake Kate's.

"Great game, and sorry about that block," I replied, with a showing of goodwill. She didn't shake my hand though.

"Well, that wouldn't have happened if you would have just guarded me like you had the whole game," replied Kate, before walking past me. I dropped my head in disbelief that I let myself get into this situation.

"I'm sorry, I was being an idiot," I replied.

Kate turned around, and signaled for me to walk with her. "I'll get over it, but you better celebrate with your lover for now," said Kate. She then pointed at me to walk with her as all the faculty started taking notice of me being around Kate so much. It also didn't look good on Tommy that he was really getting into his conversation with Barbara about the basketball game, so I caught up with Barbara much to her and Tommy's surprise.

"Have we stayed our time yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, but what's the big hurry?" asked Tommy. I could tell that he wasn't ready to go, so I decided to stick around for a few minutes longer when I saw that Barbara wasn't ready yet either.

"How much time do we have?" I asked.

"Well, actually, we have time for one more game," said Tommy.

"Ok, let's go for one more game of basketball with Kate and I on teams," I said. We started walking back towards the basketball court, but a different teacher came walking towards us to cut us off.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Berry, and we were wondering if you had time to play one game with our students since you already played two with hers."

"Well, I don't mind if they don't," I said, before looking at the group. They all nodded their head in agreement, so I shrugged my shoulder before nodding my head yes. "If that's what they want, then let the games begin!"

We walked towards the other side of the school where another playground was, except these students looked to be fifth graders since they were taller than the third grade students. However, they were just as excited to meet since their mouths looked to be wide open, and nobody was moving out of that group.

"Look, it's Jim and Barbara!" shouted one of the students. That broke them out of their frozen stage, and they started running towards our way.

"Hey there!" I said, expecting to get mobbed by the whole group. However, I noticed that the boys were running toward Barbara, and all of the young girls were running towards my direction. Tommy and Kate stepped back to let the crowd have more room around us.

"You are pretty popular with the females aren't ya Ja-em?" asked Barbara, playfully.

"What can I say? An old reaction from a new generation," I replied back. Barbara and Tommy laughed while Kate smiled over my comment.

"Can I have your autograph?!" shouted one of the young girls who was the first to approach me. Barbara was having the same reaction from the young boys, and I laughed at how more important she was than me in that area.

"Why sure!" I replied, as I grabbed her folder to sign with the ink pen she provided me. The rest of the girls grabbed pulled out their notebooks so that I could do the same, and it finally hit me that they had plans on me doing this all along. I signed for a while until everybody who wanted my autograph was finished, and the teacher of the class came towards us with a smile after directing traffic for all of the girls to get one autograph, and one quick picture before having to stand beside her.

"You are quite the celebrities around here aren't you two?" asked the teacher.

"I guess I wound my clock back to my fifteen minutes of fame again," I replied. She chuckled at me as did the rest of my group.

"Thank you for coming out here even though you were only supposed to do one classroom today. I know our students truly appreciated it," said the teacher.

"No problem at all, and thank you for having us," I replied. I shook her hand, and was about to signal the group towards the car.

"Wait just a second," said Barbara. The teacher looked just as confused as we did.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We told her that we would play one game with them didn't we?" asked Barbara.

"I guess we did. But I think they already had their feel of us," I replied. The teacher let out a huge smile as she gathered all of the students around.

"Hey, is everyone still interested in having Jim and Barbara do one game with us?" asked the teacher.

"YEAH!" screamed all of the students. I looked at my group's direction, and shrugged my shoulders.

"Then let the game begin!" I said. That brought an even bigger cheer from the crowd. The teacher pulled out a few ropes out of her box, and signaled for everyone to come over there. Everyone followed her orders, and she seemed poised to talk.

"I'm afraid that we don't have much time left, but we will have to do what we can don't we gang?" said the teacher. The kids let out a big cheer, and she hand signaled for them to calm down which they did. "The only game that we will have to make time for is the three legged race which means a team of two will have one leg tied to their partners, and whoever makes it past me wins. Does everybody understand?"

We shook our heads yes since it was a child hood game for everyone, and she walked up to me to tie my leg to Barbara's even though I was actually closer towards Kate. I shrugged my shoulder at Kate, and Tommy playfully banged his knee to hers which resulted in her banging her knee harder into his.

"Owwwwww!" screamed Tommy.

"Is everything ok?" asked the teacher, while still tying my leg to Barbra's.

"No, I just had to work out a few kinks in my leg," said Kate, while looking at Tommy in a menacing manner.

"OK then, let's get this show on the road," said the teacher. There was a nervousness in her voice as she tied Tommy's leg to Kate's, and she was even more nervous when Tommy winked at her after she raised up from tying their legs together. She just tried to avoid the whole scenario before walking a few feet in front of everyone. "Ok, everybody line up side by side, and when I say go, then run as fast as you can to where I will be standing. Does everyone understand?"

"Yeah, we aren't stupid," said Tommy, while looking around to see if anybody would join in with him. Unfortunately, nobody said anything which left him in an awkward spot to where he just shook his head yes at her.

"Ok, on your mark, get set, go!" screamed the teacher, and with that being said, everybody was on their way. Barbara and I were doing ok while losing a little bit of ground to a few kids, but Tommy and Kate were truly doing horrible. At one point, Kate fell down, and Tommy was trying to pull her along with her trying to get him to stop so that she can get back on her feet. We were losing to a few kids when Barbara looked toward me, and said something that I didn't quite hear at first.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said pack me!" said Barbara, with a feel of rush and excitement in her voice.

"I don't think that's appropriate here," I replied.

"It doesn't matter, we need to win this race by any means necessary, so pack me now!" said Barbara. I didn't feel like arguing, and I did kind of want to win the race, so I did as she asked, and packed her frontwards with the rope coming up my knee enough to where it didn't slow me down from packing her. We ran a few feet, and before long, we were in the lead which resulted in us winning the race while the other students were just starting to catch up. She high fived me from the front, and I followed her lead to turn back to back before doing a high five from behind. I wasn't as excited as she was, but I couldn't keep from having a big smile from all of the silliness we displayed. We cut our celebration short as the teacher was coming our way with a huge smile of her own.

"Well, done you two, and not only am I impressed with your team work, but I am also impressed with your thinking outside of the box, isn't that right kids?" said the teacher. The kids started nodding, and the teacher started clapping which resulted in the students doing the same thing. A few moments later, Tommy and Kate were coming by with Kate dirty, and Tommy exhausted.

"Well, look at you two, your persistent if anything," said the teacher. The students started laughing, and Kate gave Tommy a death stare which I thought was funny until she turned to face me with an even angrier looking one.

"I hate to run, but I think we have a few more stops we have to make today," I said, while looking at Tommy who looked up from gasping for air to say yes. I looked in the direction of Kate who was completely dusty, and she definitely agreed with a head nod, and Barbara just shrugged her shoulders as to say I guess.

"Thank you all for coming by, we really enjoyed your company," said the teacher. She shook everybody's hand, and then signaled for the kids to come over to do the same. However, instead of the kids giving Tommy and Kate attention, they all ran towards Barbara and me to get hugs from us only. I looked in their direction and shrugged my shoulders like Barbara did earlier before giving a big smile and group hugging a bunch of kids.
Chapter 14

We were leaving the school when I turned my head towards Tommy to speak to him.

"Well, that was fun, but I think the suit was a bad idea for a school event," I said.

"Well, I guess you were right for wanting to dress normal, isn't that right, Kate?" said Tommy while looking across me towards Kate's direction.

"Yeah, I have to say that didn't go as planned," said Kate, with her shoulders, and her muddy clothes on.

"I'm sorry about your clothes, Kate, but I had a great time," said Barbara. "I had no idea school could be so much fun. They need to make one for adults who want to keep learning!" Nobody even bothered to let her know that was called college, so I decided to change subject.

"So, what's on the schedule next, Tommy?" I asked. Tommy opened his notepad, and looked up with a slight frown.

"Well, unfortunately for you, it's a magazine photo shoot where you have to answer questions, and take pictures in horrible angles for an hour or two. But maybe there will be some hot photographer th....," said Tommy, before stopping mid-sentence after seeing Barbara turn around in his direction.

"A what?" asked Barbara.

"A hot photographer, somebody who is the best at taking pictures. You know, a really famous one," said Tommy. Barbara kissed him on the cheek, and turned towards my direction.

"Do you really think we will get that kind of treatment, Jim?' asked Barbara. I scratched my chin, and gave a half smile towards Barbara.

"Who knows?" I replied. "I'm just looking forward to spending more time with my real girl," With that being said, I tried to put my arm around Kate, but she ducked under my arm, and took a few steps back to get behind me. The reaction left me stunned for a moment. "What was that about?"

"I can't let you get muddy before the photo shoot. What kind of stylist would that make me?" asked Kate, while trying to sound playful.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can keep my arm off of your shoulder today?" I replied, while hoping to sound completely flirty rather than creepy.

"You shouldn't have to worry about that much longer, because I'm going home to change clothes, but I'll meet back up with you later," said Kate. Barbara and I both turned towards her in shock, and I was about to say something before I heard Barbara's voice come out first.

"You don't have to go. You look great!" said Barbara. Kate looked down at all the mud on her, and cracked a smile.

"Thanks for that, Barbara, but I better get home and get out of these clothes," said Kate. "I'll meet up with you guys after the photo shoot."

"Ok, that sounds great," I replied.

We drove her home, and I walked out of the car with her to kiss her on the forehead.

"Today will get better, I promise," I replied. She gave me a warm smile, but something didn't feel right. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just have a few things on my mind today," said Kate.

"Do you want to talk about it over the phone?" I asked. I heard Tommy honk the horn, and I turned around to see him pointing at his arm like we had to make time even though he didn't have a watch on.

"Don't worry about me right now, we can talk about it later. Just focus on your photo shoot, and I'll be back soon, ok?" said Kate.

I nodded my head after hearing Tommy honk the horn again, and kissed her on the forehead one more time.

"Ok, but we will talk about this," I replied. I walked to the car, opened the passenger side door up, and punch Tommy in the shoulder hard. He howled out in pain, and Kate gave us another faint smile while waving bye.

"Do you need a tissue?" asked Tommy, being sarcastic.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just wanting to get this photo shoot over with," I replied.

"How long do these things normally take?" asked Barbara.

"Well, it can sometimes take hours, but I doubt they do more than take two pictures of nobody's like us," I replied. "In fact, I'd be surprised if the photographer is even there on time."

Chapter 15

We drove to the photo shoot that was located at the park, and I couldn't have been more wrong about it. There were makeup chairs, props, and even clothes racks out there which I assumed was for us.

"What happened here?" I asked, when hopping out of the car.

"I don't know, but it looks like somebody is famous again," said Tommy, while patting me on the back.

"Well, they wasted way too much money on a scam then, isn't that right Barbara?" I asked, before looking towards Barbara's way. However, Barbara didn't say anything for a moment as she was awestruck by everything around her, and her mouth and eyes wide open didn't do anything to say different. She finally looked our way after a few seconds of pause.

"This is amazing!" said Barbara. "I can't believe they did all of this for us, can you?"

"Well, not really, but I guess it's a slow week for the magazine," I replied. I didn't get to say much of anything else since a female with a camera around her neck was breaking ground to get to us as fast as possible.

"Hello, it is so nice to meet you!" said the lady. She had solid black hair, glasses around her neck held by a string behind her neck, and another pair of glasses on top of her head. "My name is Agnes, and I can't wait to be your photographer. I was your biggest fan, and I was super psyched to get this job when the paper asked me to do a personal favor for Too Jazz. In fact, I would have done this for free!"

"Well, I'm glad to meet such a fan," I said, while sticking my hand out to shake hers. She went passed my hand, and hugged me super tight in a very uncomfortable way, and I looked to Tommy who cracked a smile at me while Barbara looked to be visibly upset.

"Uh, hello, I'm Barbara, the girlfriend," said Barbara, when Agnes still hadn't let go of me. Agnes slowly broke free from her grip, and stuck her hand out to shake Barbara's.

"Of course you are," said Agnes. She walked off from Barbara and pointed at a park bench for us to sit on. "The first shot I want to do is with you two casually holding hands, and we will go from there. I don't have much to work with, but I want this to be my best work for you, Jim."

I smiled and nodded my head while I heard Barbara grunting like she was aggravated. I turned my head towards her to give her a puzzled look since I had no idea what she was aggravated for. She was directed towards the makeup chair, they spent about thirty minutes on her before getting her ready.

"Is she ready?" asked Agnes. The makeup artists gave Agnes a thumbs up. "Ok, then we are ready for the first park bench shot since Jim is too good looking to require make up."

I walked to the bench to sit down, and Barbara walked to the bench with a sour expression on her face, and I put my arm around her to get the picture

"No, no, no! That isn't going to work at all," said Agnes. "We need you two to show your love for each other rather than it looking like you are trying to use Jim for his name!" Barbara's eye's became huge, and she acted like she was going to get up and say something to Agnes, but I grabbed her knee, and pushed on it to keep her down. Agnes smiled, and looked up from the camera. "That's perfect, Jim, now come closer together, and put your arm around Jim." Barbara did, and she took the picture. "Perfect!" She took a few shots like that, and then gave us a thumbs up to let us know that she was done with that angle. We stood up, and I decided to calm Barbara down first.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked.

"She is what's wrong with me. Can't you see that she's hitting on you?" asked Barbara.

"Why would you care? It's not like you actually like me or anything. Besides, Tommy is right there," I replied. Barbara started shaking her hands, and bouncing around like she was a three year old girl having a tantrum.

"I know that, but it bothers me that she thinks we are together, and doesn't care. Besides, Kate is the only one I feel comfortable sharing you with," said Barbara.

"What the heck does that mean!?" I said.

"You know what I mean!" said Barbara.

"No, honestly I don't," I replied. Barbara completely dropped her guard for a moment, and looked at me with her bright blue eyes.

"I know this sounds weird, but I look at Kate as the one who fulfills your romantic side, and me as the one who fills your normal side." I was still confused, and my confused expression must have given it away to Barbara. "I know I get on your nerves a lot, but you seem to be opening up to me more, and you can't say I'm not one of your best friends," said Barbara. I didn't say anything, and she started grabbing me on the shoulders, and shaking me. "Please, Jim, say that I'm one of your best friends. Please, because you are my number one. Please!" I could sense that this meant more to her than I thought it should, so I decided to open up to her as she did me.

"You are definitely one of my best friends," I said, with a whole smile. She hugged me super tight with me hugging her too, and Agnes ran over there to get some quick snap shots of us.

"That's the magic I was looking for!" said Agnes. She took multiple shots, and I looked at Barbara with a brilliant idea. I signaled for Agnes to wait just a moment, and I pulled Barbara off to the side, and I think she could sense my enthusiasm.

"Let's pretend were in love rather than making this even more awkward," I said. "You can pretend I'm Tommy, and I can pretend your Kate"

"How about this? I can pretend you are you, and you can pretend I am me, and we can just have fun fooling everybody," said Barbara. I agreed with a head nod, and a confident smile.

"Or we can do that," I said.

Barbara pulled me to the park bench, and tugged on my arm to sit down, and sit in my lap with body turned sideways while having both arms around my neck with a playful grin to compliment the rest of her body motion. I gave what I thought was a goofy expression like I was having fun, and the photographer snapped away.

"Great, now give me something else just as good," said the photographer, which Barbara playfully obliged to by acting like she was trying to pick me up on her shoulders even though my feet wasn't even leaving the ground. She done a quick smile to go along with the pose, and the photographer snapped away the pictures which actually caught me off guard. I looked towards Tommy direction when we were getting photographed, and he looked disturbed and hurt until he caught me looking in his direction, and then he tried to play it off like he was having a good time watching us. I was too focused on him to notice that they were done with that pose until Barbara stood up and came face to face with me.

"Hey, hey, snap out of it," said Barbara, while snapping her fingers in my front of my face. I came out of my trance after the second snap.

"I'm sorry, I just went away to my happy place," I replied.

"That's fine, I just wanted to see if you wanted to pick the next pose," said Barbara. I turned my attention to the photographer.

"You don't care?" I asked.

"No, not at all, sugar," said the photographer. I thought about it for a second before turning my attention back to the photographer.

"What do you think would be best for us?" I asked. She shot a quick smile at me, and walked towards my direction to grab my hand, and put it on her thigh as she threw her leg up beside me while looking at me face to face like we were doing some kind of dirty dance. I was kind of caught off guard, but that didn't stop her from staring into my eyes like we were passionate for each other. I never said anything as I was too taken aback to do so.

"That's the kind of shot I want. The dance move you did on Jenny Ramen for your song's finale oh so many years ago. The only problem is, I have to be the one to take it," said Agnes, with a low flirty voice while still looking deep in my eyes. I saw Barbara's frustrated glance at us out of the corner of my eye, and made sure Agnes had balance before completely putting her leg down to turn towards Barbara.

"Can you bring that kind of heat, darling?" I asked playfully, while completely walking away from Agnes which brought a smile from Barbara.

"Oh, we do wilder things then that daily," said Barbara. She had a huge smile on her face when she saw that I blew off Agnes's advances, and ran to jump in my arms which I fully accepted. I caught her in the air, and she jumped down from my arms, and threw her leg straight up in the air higher than Agnes did, and did the same pose complete with the passionate expression that Agnes had. We stopped short of kissing while Barbara still had the passionate expression on her face.

"Whoa, don't stop there. Kiss her already!" said Agnes. I looked deeply into Barbara's eyes, and winked at her from my left eye while she smiled a huge smile at me, and leaned closer to actually kiss when I heard a familiar voice from behind me that stopped us in our tracks.

"Now that's how you do a photo shoot," said Kate. Barbara and I quickly pulled back from each other, and turned our attention to Kate.

"Well, you have to be realistic," said Barbara, while poking me in the ribs. I smiled a nervous smile at Kate knowing how bad that looked.

"Yeah, it's all about our love," I said to Kate, while nodding my head at the photographer. I guess the photographer thought I wanted her to come over there, because she came running over there and put her arms around Barbara and me.

"Isn't this the cutest couple you have ever seen," said Agnes, before kissing both of us on the cheek. "I honestly don't want to admit this considering my girl hood crush for Jim here, but they really are meant for each other, even though I thought I was the only one who deserved a cute face like this." She grabbed my head, and turned my face towards hers like she was going to kiss me, but I pulled back, and turned my attention towards Kate. I saw Tommy behind her in the background doubled over holding his chest from laughing so hard.

"Well, we have something, but I guess we better get going," I said, while walking towards Kate. Kate wasn't smiling at me, but I still stood beside her while signaling for Barbara to come since she was still standing beside Agnes. "Thank you so much for your time, and I can't wait to see how the pictures come out." I turned away to walk back to the vehicle hoping everybody was following behind me when I heard Agnes say my name really loudly. I turned towards her hastily to see what she wanted.

"We still haven't done the interview or the horse ride yet?" said Agnes.

"Horse ride?!" I asked. "We are supposed to do a horse ride?" I turned towards Tommy who looked at the schedule, and shook his head like he felt sorry for me even though he was smiling ear to ear. Then I looked towards Kate's way, and she just blew in the air like she was sick of this like I was. I then sighed really loudly, and walked to the chairs where Agnes was pointing towards us to sit, and Barbara grabbed my hand, and smiled at me to try to assure me this wasn't going to go too bad. I smiled back at her as we sit down to do the interview.

"So, we know you two are madly in love, but what makes you two truly love each other?" asked Agnes. I didn't say anything yet since I was thinking on how to answer the question until I heard Barbara's voice.

"What makes us truly love each other is the fact that Jim is the sweetest guy I ever met. He doesn't always come off that way, but it's obvious to anybody who knows and watches Jim. I mean sure, he will always make up an excuse for his niceness, but the truth is Jim will always find a way to make it without me, but I couldn't make it without Jim," said Barbara. I was speechless, and Agnes was seeming to tear up. I knew I had to say something just as good, so I spoke from my heart.

"Your turn Jim," said Agnes.

"I can truly say that I have never met anybody like Barbara before. Sure, there are plenty of women out there who seem to be like her, but nobody can be as interesting, or as sweet as Barbara comes off. Sure she seems like a ditzy blonde, but underneath is somebody who is truly pure, and better than what this world is, and she inspires me to want to shield her and be better too," I replied.

"Do you really mean that?" asked Barbara, who was now teary eyed herself.

"Yes I do, and I'm sorry that my answer wasn't as good as yours because you're a lot better than that." I replied. Barbara hugged me super tight, and Agnes took some quick shots of us in that moment, and I didn't even try to look in Tommy and Kate's direction as I knew it wouldn't be good.

After that, Agnes asked us some different questions like how we are adjusting to the celebrity couple life, and what our day to day schedules which were. I kept mine simple and honest while Barbara talked about running two miles a day, and always doing exercises before going to bed. She also threw in what her favorite day time television show, and what else she does to look so beautiful before Agnes pulled out her last note card.

"Ok guys, one last question before you two ride off into the sunset to your party," said Agnes. We both nodded and smiled as I was just happy to get this over with. "My question to you is do you consider this a fling, or do you two believe you can truly stand the test of time?" I thought really hard on the question, and Barbara once again had the answer before I did.

"Well, truthfully Agnes, I once looked at Jim as more of a place to stay, but now, I look at him as my guardian and protector. So, to answer your question, I truly think this will stand the test of time as I truly love you, Jim," said Barbara, who was making complete eye contact with me now.

"I truly love you, too," was all I could muster to say. We stared deep into each other's eyes for a second before I looked down to see her hand on my thigh. I then looked to see Kate and Tommy who both had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Truly beautiful!" said Agnes.

"Yeah, well, I guess we better go," I said, before jumping up to stand beside Kate and Tommy.

"Did you forget the horse ride again?" said Kate, impatiently.

"No, we can all ride on it," I said.

"I'm afraid it's only big enough for two people," said Agnes. I looked to see the horse carriage on the left, and turned towards Kate and Tommy. Then I noticed that somebody was left out, so I signaled for Barbara to come and join the group conversation too.

"How are we going to pull this off?" I said. The group all looked confused on what I was trying to say.

"The plan is for Kate and I to drive down there separately, and you two are going to ride in the carriage, unless you two have something you need to tell us," said Tommy. I could tell he was feeling betrayal from both of us by the tone of his voice.

"Come on, Jim, we are almost done until the party anyways," said Barbara. She grabbed my arm, and hugged it like she was clinging on to me. Tommy looked irritated, and so did Kate.

"Jim, can I speak to you alone?" asked Kate.

"Sure, no problem," I replied, before I started to walk towards the corner with Kate. However, Barbara still had a hold of my arm, so I moved my arm up to try to give her the hint to let me go. She still didn't release my arm, so I gave her a mean stare which made her let go of my arm.

"Oh sorry, I just felt warm and safe around you," said Barbara. I didn't give any expression at all when she said that. I just walked towards the corner to talk to Kate with a sense of dread coming over me.

"Was you needing something?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was needing to know what exactly your problem is," said Kate.

"My problem!" I said, while pointing at myself. "What do you mean my problem? You're the one who keeps giving me the evil eye over there."

"Maybe because you and Barb over there are getting way too comfortable with each other," said Kate.

"It might look that way, but when else have you seen us get close besides when we have to," I shot back.

"I don't know, but it didn't seem that way until this morning when you two fell asleep on each other last night," said Kate.

"How did you know about that?" I asked, with more concern in my voice than I wanted to show.

"I don't know, maybe it was due to the fact that you two were acting weird, but mostly because Barbara told me, and told me nothing was going on which I somehow believed then, but I am not so sure now," said Kate. I dropped my head, and took a moment to think before I raised my head up with a more sympathetic voice than before.

"Look, Kate, I promise you that nothing has happened between us, and I still want you," I said. "So, my question is, what do I have to do to make you mine?" Kate took a second to grab her mouth in aww of what I said before standing back up, and she seemed to drop her guard now before slowly raising her chin up from her chest as I had done moments before.

"Find out where you and Barbara really stand?" said Kate, in a very low toned voice. I looked towards Barbara's way to see her and Tommy talking with her hitting him in the chest in a flirty fashion before looking back towards Kate's way.

"I think we are good," I replied.

"That's because you both have no idea just how close you are," said Kate.

"We know how close we are, and that's why we are both going for what we want," I replied.

"Well, just talk with her, and if you two truly are friends, then you won't have any problems helping her get her own place if this works out for you tonight," said Kate.

"Ok, I'll try," I said, while making complete eye contact with her again. I turned towards Barbara and Tommy, and snapped my fingers while pointing towards the road. "Let's go people, we have to get our show on."

"Ok, if you are in that big of hurry to be alone, then so be it," said Tommy. He walked off like he was half mad, and I shot him a puzzled look before pointing at Barbara to hop onto the carriage.
Chapter 16

We were finally heading towards the party after Agnes took a few photos of me helping Barbara on the horse, along with making me wear a white top hat and matching suit. While Barbara had to wear an old time dress for the last few pics that I surely wasn't aware of, but things were seeming to go pretty well on the way down there. Mostly because this day was almost done, but also because the carriage driver was wearing ear phones which allowed us to talk one on one like Kate wanted us to do.

"So, beautiful night, huh?" I said, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, it really is," said Barbara, while quickly turning her head the other way to dodge the conversation before quickly turning her head back.

"Yeah, well, I think there is something we need to talk about," I said. "I mean we have been spending a lot of time together lately, and it's obvious that we are getting close, and......."

"Jim, I love you!" shouted Barbara, before I could finish my sentence. "But I think I truly love Tommy in the other way, and you as just a big brother." I took a moment to breath before finally chiming in.

"So, is that how you really feel?" I asked Barbara. She nodded her head yes, and I started to smile at her with relief. "That is great, because Kate thought we had something going on, and I tried to assure her that we didn't, but now that I know how you really feel, I can move forward with Kate," I replied. Barbara's face seemed to really be smiling then.

"That is really great, because I don't want any hard feelings between Kate and me, and I really look forward to her and Tommy coming over, until Tommy asks me to move in with him," said Kate. I turned my head away from her for a second to close my eyes in aggravation as I didn't have the heart to tell her she had to get her own place yet.

"Yeah, that will be great. Especially when we all get our own places," I replied.

"Why would we do that? I'm fine living with you until Tommy asks me to move. In fact, I feel safe knowing I have you around. Especially since we have bonded so much together lately haven't we?" asked Barbara.

"Yeah, we sure have," I said, without saying anything else after that. She scooted closer to me, and hugged me with her cheek bones on mine.

"Wow, you're really warm. I'm staying close to you," said Barbara. I didn't say anything at all, and we arrived to the party with her still hugged close to me while photographers were taking pictures of us.

"Now that's true love right there," shouted a male photographer. Everybody else made the oooooh sound like they were in elementary school, and I shook it off with a smile as we made our way into the party, which was actually bigger than I imagined it would be. In fact, a lot of pop stars along with some pretty famous socialites were there, too. We were greeted by Too Jazz as we made our way into the building with him still wearing sunglasses.

"Wow, aren't you two just the hippest and hottest item I've seen in a while. Well, since I was out with my girl last night anyways," said Too Jazz, with a laugh after a quick pause. "Welcome to your party! As you can see, I went all out on the refreshments, and the decorations to make this dump flow like a pump. But the main question is, what do you think?"

"I love it. This is a whole lot sweeter than when my parents had my 7th birthday party at the bowling alley. I remember it good because I thought all those people were there for me, but it turns out they were there for beer and bowling night, and mom just got them to announce it was my birthday, but it was still neat," said Barbara. Too Jazz threw his head back, and seemed to be completely startled by everything Barbara said.

"It is truly amazing," I said, while throwing my hand out for Too Jazz to shake. He looked it over for a second, and had his butler walk over there to give him a cloth to hold while shaking my hand so that he didn't get any germs on him, and then leaned close to me to whisper something in my ear through all the loud music.

"That girl is a freak. I see why you like her so much," said Too Jazz, before patting me on the shoulder and walking off.

I did my best fake laugh and pat him on the back as he was walking off, and started walking my own way until Barbara grabbed my arm, and pulled me beside her.

"What are you doing?" asked Barbara, who was now holding onto my arm for dear life.

"I am hunting for Kate and Tommy so that we can get on with our dates," I said, while trying to pull my arm away from Barbara. She wasn't letting go at all though.

"Well, don't leave me until we do find them!" said Barbara. I shook my head yes with my face frowning at her until I heard a voice on the microphone that made us both look center stage at Bill.

"Greetings, my name is Bill Owens, and I'm part of team Jim and Barbara, and I'm here to say thank you, and I hope everyone here has an amazing time tonight. But enough about me, the real reason I'm on stage tonight is to let everyone know that not only are Jim and Barbara happy you are here too, but they would also like to do everyone here a favor tonight by dancing with as many of you as much as they can. You see, their life is always grand when they are together, and now they would like to spread the love by giving you all a dance. So, for all you single ladies and men out there, maybe their good luck will rub off on you. For all you couples out there, neither one of you can go hold it against each other for having a piece of eye candy to dance with at the same time. So, thank you once again, and enjoy."

My eyes were bigger than saucers at that statement as Barbara and I both made eye contact with Tommy and Kate who both happened to make it our way, and I shrugged my shoulders to say sorry to them while the crowd absorbed them wanting a dance.

We danced a bunch of dances with anybody and everybody until the DJ felt sorry for us, and gave us a break four songs in to play some hip hop songs. We sit down beside Tommy and Kate who pointed for us to come to a booth that said V.I.P. on it. We sit down, and more photographers came to snap some pics of us at the table before we could say anything to them, and we smiled for the pics before quickly turning our attention to Tommy and Kate once they were done.

"I am so sorry about this guys! I had no idea Bill would do us that way," I replied.

"No worries!" said Tommy. "At least you two get a break from trying to be intimate with each other for a little while!" I turned towards him.

"What is your problem? Do you honestly think we have something going on?" I replied, with anger in my voice.

"No worries, boys, Tommy knows that we are just friends don't you, Tommy?" said Barbara. She tickled Tommy's chin as she said it, and he seemed to loosen up a little about it. I finally started getting tickled about the whole situation, and Tommy started laughing, too.

"Wow, you finally show emotion over a girl. Isn't that just something!" I said.

"No comment, but I will say it's just awkward that you two are living together," said Tommy.

"Admit it, Tommy, you like me a little don't you?" said Barbara, as she grabbed his lips and smashed them together. We were all getting a laugh out aggravating Tommy, and he pulled her hands off his lips, and threw his hands in the air.

"Ok, I'll admit. I do like you a little, but don't let it go to your head," said Tommy. We all threw up our hands up in celebration at the table, and I fist bumped Tommy who seemed aggravated to finally admit it.

"I'm glad you finally have come to your senses, but there is nothing wrong with telling a girl that you like them," I replied, while turning to look towards Kate, who was now smiling back. I didn't stare at her long though as Bill was walking towards the table.

"There's our guests of honor," said Bill, who stuck his hand out for me to shake it. I just stared him down.

"You're a brave man coming over here!" I said, while standing up like I was going to attack him.

"For what, for giving you a full day of publicity, and turning your special night into a special night for everyone," replied Bill.

"Nice try, but there is no way I'm going to let you flip that one around. I mean seriously, who pimps out there best friend as a dance partner all night," I replied. Bill shook his head and threw his hands up in surrender.

"I was desperate to say something, and that was the first thing that came to my mind, but the crowd seems to really be enjoying it," said Bill who pointed at a crowd who was standing in line to dance with us. I smiled at them, and started poking Bill in the chest. Then I heard the mic up in the front again, and the DJ came back on.

"Well, now, it seems nobody wants to dance unless it's with our amazing couple, so for the rest of the night, there won't be anything but slow tunes, and slow dances until we give everybody what they want because that's exactly what Too Jazz does."

I looked at the gang, and they all shrugged their shoulders at me. I looked into Kate's eyes, and she let out a faint smile. Some old couple grabbed Barbara and my hands to pull us on the dance floor. We went to the floor, and danced for about 30 songs straight until Too Jazz popped up to grab the mic after another song went off.

"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but we are about to end this party with two more songs. One will be with two people our lovely couple chooses, and the other will be just them to end the night out. Sorry, but I had no idea just how much they were in demand, and trust me when I say that can be bad sometimes, but it's never not good. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and let's end the night out with one of two."

The slow song came on, and I grabbed Kate while Barbara obviously grabbed Tommy from the table. I looked into Kate's eyes as I was feeling the mood after all those songs, but she didn't seem to really be getting into it as much. That was when I pulled her a little farther away from her to have a conversation with her while the song was going on.

"This was definitely a shocker tonight wasn't it?" I asked.

"Not really," said Kate. "After all, this is kind of your thing."

"No, this isn't my thing. It's more like Bill's to get our fledgling studio the attention it needs," I replied.

"Yeah, but the only attention it is going to get is from you and Barbara," said Kate. I shook my head no, but that just seemed to irritate Kate. "Come on, Jim, take a look around. Tonight is no different than the nights when you were a big star. The only difference this time is you're not wanting to embrace it, but me and you both know that this life is all you know to succeed."

"This is just one night, and everything can go back to normal. Just look at Tommy and Barb, they are completely hitting it off, and there's a good chance that she can calm him down," I replied. "Besides, there's a good chance that Too Jazz is just using us for his own personal gain without any real deal being offered at all." Kate didn't look completely sold, so I pushed my head closer to hers. "What I'm saying is please see how it plays out tonight before you make any decisions." The music stopped which meant that the DJ was going to announce the last song.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the moment that you all have been waiting for. The moment when the prince and princess takes the floor to be one and share in the magical gathering that has brought us all here tonight. So, let's hear it for Mr. and Mrs. Ja-emmmmmmm!" said the DJ.

I looked at Kate, and threw my finger up to signal for her that I would be back in a minute or two before walking towards Barbara who was smiling, and honestly looking amazing in that light. I walked towards her, and put my hands on her side while she put her arms around me, and everybody crowded around us to see the show.

"It's been a long week hasn't it," I said to Barbara.

"Yes it has, it's also been the greatest time of my life," replied Barbara. I wanted to show emotion in it, but I just tried to play it casually since the crowd was wanting us to seem truly in love.

"I'm glad, but what could you have possibly enjoyed about today?" I asked.

"Well, today has been great because for the first time in my life, I truly feel important, which is something I haven't had a chance to feel in my life. But the best part of this week has been meeting Tommy, and most of all, meeting my best friend in you," said Barbara. I smiled at her when she said that, and she leaned in closer to me which was now more a whisper. "I love you more than I could love any other human being, Jim. Thank you for everything."

"I love you, too, and you deserve this and more," I said, while putting her head on my shoulder since she was now in tears, and nothing else was said for a while in the song until I felt somebody poke me on the shoulder. It was Too Jazz.

"You two are too much," whispered Too Jazz. "I need you to talk to Bill, and give me an answer tomorrow morning. I hope to hear from you soon." Too Jazz then walked away, and I couldn't hide the smile on my face.

"We did it Barb, we actually did it!" I whispered. However, she was too into the moment to say anything, and she never raised her head up until the song went off. Then we felt like we were stuck in a moment of time. We stood that way for a few seconds until I seen the guests walk up to us, and we shook hands with a lot of people before getting back up with Kate and Tommy.

"We got a deal," I said. Tommy shook my hand, and I hugged Kate while Barbara hugged Tommy. We walked to the office where Bill was at, and he was forcing a smile at me which made me realize something was terribly wrong. I shot him a puzzled look.

"What's wrong, did Too Jazz lie about the deal?" I asked, with panic in my voice. I was walking towards Bill, and he was stepping back away from me like something didn't go right.

"No, he offered us a deal, and it's an even bigger deal than we imagined, but it's not the deal we thought," said Bill.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I looked around, and everybody seemed as confused as I was, and Barbara was flailing her arms like she was having a panic attack, and I gently nudged her with my elbow to get her to calm down. She looked at me, and realized that she was losing it.

"Sorry," whispered Barbara. I shrugged my shoulders to let her know it wasn't a big deal before getting back to Bill.

"Bill, what kind of deal were we offered, and I want a direct answer this time," I said, as I walked up to Bill, and got in his face. Bill closed his eyes, and turned his head away from me as he said it.

"He wants you and Barbara to do media rounds for his company, and also work as agents for certain bands to keep their heads straight," said Bill. I pulled away from him, and fixed his tie that was crooked.

"That doesn't sound too bad then. We can sign the deal, and go our different ways on media rounds," I replied.

"That's the catch!" said Bill. "The deal only works if you two are always side by side, and you have to stay together, or the deal is automatically off. That means that you couldn't even take a chance on having a relationship with anybody, and you two will always be on the road together all the time."

I looked towards Tommy who didn't have any reaction besides shock, and then I looked at Kate who seem to be in shock before looking at me like she was confused, and then I turned around and threw my hands to my side in a show of anger.

"Then you can tell Too Jazz that I said no way, and he can keep his deal!" I shouted. Bill and Tommy both ran towards me to calm me down.

"Whoa there buddy, you can't do us this way!" said Bill. "There is way too much money at stake for both of us, and we both need this."

"He's right," said Tommy. "This is your chance to be back with a major label, and to make the big bucks again. We both know that you need this."

"Yeah, but I'll be stuck in a fake relationship, and I'll also be a mascot for a company again, and I don't need that. Besides, we can still sign Rick as soon as I get her on her feet," I said, while pointing at Barbara.

"You mean the same Rick I haven't been able to get ahold of the last few days," said Bill. I dropped my head in defeat.

"Ask Too Jazz to give me a few more days to think about it," I said, before I heard the door shut behind me. I looked and Kate was gone. I ran towards the door, and caught her in the building. It was pretty easy since everybody else was already in the parking lot.

"Wait!" I shouted. Kate stopped, and let me catch up to her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving," said Kate, with tears in her eyes.

"Why are you doing that for? I haven't even made a decision yet," I replied.

"To help you do the right thing," said Kate.

"Well, isn't that up to me to decide?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I'm just making the decision easier for you, because the last thing I want to do is hold you down and have you depressed again. So, please let me do this for you," said Kate, as she was tearing up. I didn't say anything, and she hugged me now completely crying, and then started walking away.

"Please, Kate, I can't do all this by myself," I said loudly, as she was walking away. Kate turned around and looked back at me.

"You're not by yourself. You just think you are," said Kate.

I stood there in silence before I started to storm back into the room where everybody else was.

"You!" I screamed, pointing at Barbara. "All of this is your fault!" Barbara was taken aback before pointing at herself.

"My fault, how is this my fault?" asked Barbara.

"It just is," I said. I turned my back away from her to keep from saying anything else, but she stepped in front of me to confront me.

"No, Jim, how is this my fault! Tell me, Jim!" screamed Barbara.

"If it wasn't for you, then I wouldn't have lost Kate, I wouldn't have had to do this stupid party, and Rick wouldn't have wasted my time lying about wanting to sign with me, and most of all, I wouldn't have been in the spotlight to begin with!" I screamed.

"I'm sorry I just wanted to be your friend, and tried to help you out," said Barbara. "I just thought that's what best friends did."

"You're not my best friend, Tommy is. You are just a nuisance that I had to deal with to make some money, but all I did was go in the hole having to feed and babysit you, so even that good deed blew up in my face," I said.

"So, you don't want me around anymore, is that what you are trying to say?" said Barbara, who was crying. I didn't say anything back. I just stood there quietly. She grabbed my shirt collar, and started pulling on it. "Answer me, Jim, do you really consider me a nuisance, and do you want me really gone? Please, Jim, answer me!"

I still didn't say anything back, and she was crying really hard now.

"Ok, if that's how you feel about it, then can I stay with you, Tommy?" said Barbara, who now looked towards Tommy. "I mean it's obvious we have rekindled our feelings for each other, so what do you think?"

"Well, about that, I like you, but I'm not really that much into anybody yet," said Tommy. She hit him in the chest, and started walking away.

"If that's how everybody feels about me, then I guess I will go back to the shelter tonight, and try to catch a ride back into my hometown a failure tomorrow," said Barbara. "That's what everyone wants, right?" She started walking out the door.

"Wait, Barb," I said, which made her turn around. "You can stay at my place tonight while I'll stay at Tommy's, and I'll personally drive you back home myself. It's the least I can do." I handed her my keys, and looked at Bill.

"I'll drop her off," said Bill, who started walking towards the door where Barbara was. Barbara stopped, and looked at me before walking out.

"You know, it's funny, Jim. You make it sound like I was using you the whole time, but if you think real hard about it, then it kind of sounds like you were using me," said Barbara, who's mascara was completely down her face now. She started walking towards the door, and Bill was behind her.

"Just think about the deal," said Bill, like a sleazy car salesman. I just stared him down, and he looked at me for a few more seconds. "Just think about it." After that second comment, he shut the door.

I signaled for Tommy to go, and he nodded his head in agreement since there was no reason left to be there.
Chapter 17

We made it to Tommy's apartment, and I just sit on the couch speechless.

"Come on, man, open up," said Tommy. "You haven't said anything since we left the party."

"There's nothing left to say, my life is over," I replied. Tommy punched me in the shoulder, and I gave him an evil look.

"Ouch! What was that all about?" I asked.

"Because you are throwing a fit about having one of the most awesome situations ever," said Tommy.

"How do you get that?" I replied.

"First of all, you have an amazing job offer in front of you, and all you have to do is go to a few parties, and babysit a few bands, and secondly, you have Barbara, man," said Tommy.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but I don't have any of that anymore, and if Barbara is so special, then why didn't you take her?" I replied.

"Because Barbara might want my body, but she truly wants to be your other half, and that's the kind of bond I would want if I wasn't such a lowlife," said Tommy. I didn't say anything to him, and I just turned my head away from him before dropping it down. "Look, Barbara loves you more than any girl who wanted me ever could. It might not be the way that you wanted Kate to love you, but it's still love, and you two are better off together than you ever were separate." I looked at him puzzled for a second.

"How do you get that?" I asked.

"Because you were smiling man, and you had more of a glow than I ever seen before. With Kate in the past, you were always brooding and whining about how life did you bad, but with her, you were always on your toes, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you actually liked having her around some," said Tommy. I thought about it, and didn't say anything. "Come on man, admit it!" I finally broke a smile out.

"Ok, she kept me from being brooding, but that was because I didn't have time to think with her saying the dumbest and most random things," I replied.

"Which is what you needed," said Tommy, who punched me in the shoulder very hard again. I rubbed my shoulder without saying anything about it.

"Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but I kind of lost out on anything. The deal required us to be a team, and Barbara is going back to her parents tomorrow, and even if she did stay. What am I supposed to do about Kate?" I asked.

"Kate can always be an option if you want to pursue that, but my question to you is which one is more important, Kate, or your career and Barbara?" I didn't say anything at all for a few seconds, and I was in deep thought before punching him hard in the shoulder like he had already did me twice.

"What was that for?" asked Tommy.

"For making me have even more to think about before going to bed. Night, Tommy," I said, before going to bed.

The next morning, I drove to my house, and she looked just as worn out as I did.

"Morning," I said. "Are you still wanting to go to your parents'?" She just nodded her head, and walked out of the apartment, and into the car like I did.

"Do you know the way, because I have a gps if you need me to use it," I replied. She nodded her head, and gave me directions on a napkin without saying anything to me at all.

We drove about forty minutes down the road which was all country roads before I looked in her direction.

"Do you want to discuss last night, because I feel like we should," I said.

"What is there to discuss? You let me know exactly how you feel about me last night," said Barbara.

"Well, I did, but that was just the anger talking last night, and not really who I was," I replied.

"Don't worry about it, it's over. Just drive," said Barbara.

"Ok, but if you want to talk, then I am definitely all for it," I replied. She just nodded her head, and pointed at me to keep my eyes on the road. We made it to where the directions said to, and I parked the car in the driveway, and grabbed her shoulder to let her know I had something to say.

"Wait, before you leave. I just want you to know that last night was a huge mistake, and everything I said was stupid. I mean it's true that things didn't work out for me, but it was all me and never you. All you did was provide me the opportunities I needed to succeed, and all I did was mess up. So, what I'm asking you to do is please don't leave, and give me a chance to make this right," I replied. Barbara went from a stern to a half smile at me.

"We can talk about that later, but first, I think there is something else you need to make right first," said Barbara.

"Huh?" I replied. Then I saw somebody who appeared to be my long lost love Megan come out the front door.

"Oh, hey, I'm glad you finally made it," said Megan. I looked towards Barbara who was smiling a huge smile at me.

"How did you find her, and more importantly, what have you done?" I asked. My hands were already shaking.

"I googled her, and don't worry about it, let's just go in," said Barbara. I didn't know what to say, so I unbuckled my seat belt and went in.

We sat on the couch, and Megan brought us some sodas in a cup as she came out of the kitchen.

"Thank you," I said. I noticed that Barbara was sitting real close to me, and I never scooted away. She even put her arm around me which I thought was odd before directing my attention back to Megan.

"So, Barbara tells me that you are having a wild situation," said Megan. I didn't know exactly what to say, so I looked towards Barbara.

"Yeah, I told her that you want to take the deal, but you are afraid to hurt the one's you care about all over again," said Barbara.

"Yeah, it's something like that," I replied.

"Well, let me tell you from experience that while I was hurt when you made the decision you did, it was still your decision to make, and my life still went pretty well. I have an amazing husband, two little boys, and this house in the country where we can raise them. So, even though you made a decision for yourself, it was the right decision for you, and I moved on just fine without my little pop star," said Megan with a smile.

I felt comfort after that, and for the next little bit, we talked about what we did with our lives after we lost contact, and we sit and talked for hours until Barbara got off the couch.

"If you don't mind, can I go outside and stretch my legs for a little while," said Barbara.

"Sure, we need to go in a minute anyways," I replied back. She smiled, and gave me a half hug along with a peck on the cheek before going outside to stretch. Megan and I looked out the window as she was doing some weird stretches outside.

"She is really good for you," said Megan.

"Well, she is really good, but were not exactly what you think we are," I replied back, as Megan was standing beside me.

"Oh, I know. She told me all about everything before I even got a chance to find out her name, and mostly before she had a chance to find out I was married," said Megan, with a huge smile as she still had a cup of soda in her hands.

"She did?" I asked, while putting my hands on my head like I was tore up, but I couldn't stop smiling thinking about it. "What did she say to you exactly?"

"It's kind of funny, but she started the conversation with Jim needs help after I answered the phone, and she never stopped talking from there, said Megan.

"Yeah, that sounds like her. She's weird, but sweet in her own way," I replied.

"She's sweet in every way, and you two will be great together," said Megan.

"I'm telling you, we're not really like that," I replied again, except with very little defense in my voice.

"Oh, not yet, but I have a feeling you two will change your mind someday," said Megan. "But for right now, take the deal, Jim, and make both of your lives better." I nodded my head, and we walked towards the porch as I was leaving.

"Thank you for agreeing to see us," I said.

"No problem, you and your crazy blonde are welcome here anytime," said Megan. We hugged, and I hopped in my car where Barbara was smiling a huge smile.

"Are you happy that she is doing well without you?" said Barbara. I looked at her confused for a second. "I mean that she moved on, and you both did pretty well."

"If you mean do I have closure, then yes. She has a life that I could never have given her, and she is doing great, so thank you for that Barbara," I replied. She gave me a huge hug after that was said.

We were pulling out of Megan's driveway, and I stopped before actually pulling out onto the highway.

"You know, we still have this huge deal in front of us if you want to take it," I said.

"I know, I already told Too Jazz myself that we were going to take it," replied Barbara. "I just wanted to show you that Kate would be ok just like Megan was if you did take the job."

"Were you really going to try to hook us up?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it had to be on the time's we weren't on the road," said Barbara.

"So, you had no plans on leaving, huh?" I replied.

"Oh, I did. But Bill told me that you were just a drama king, and that you would be over it tomorrow," said Barbara. "Besides, it's not like your good at anything else besides being a celebrity, and we can get Kate back anytime. Oh yeah, and Rick called, too, and we directed him towards Too Jazz's label since I signed both of our signatures on the paper."

"Do I have a say in anything in my life?" I asked.

"Not anymore," said Barbara.

With that being said, I smiled as I pulled out of the driveway, and headed back to our apartment.

The end.

