| Chapter Five: Upside Down and Right Side Up |

“Under normal circumstances I would agree with you, something doesn’t look right. But, after seeing you two in the parking lot and on the set, I really think you have nothing to worry about. Have you ever met someone, besides Brian, who you just ‘clicked’ with? I think that’s what’s going on there.” Megan reassured her. She gave another look at Brian and rethought the day’s events. “No. Nothing’s going on.”

“Well, as long as it isn’t just me, I feel better. Yeah, Malia wouldn’t do that sort of thing would she? Nah. She wouldn’t go for revenge.” Megan cringed at the word revenge. “Are you ready to skate?” The group progressed to the counter and turned over their shoes. AJ, always style conscious, requested skates with some sort of design. The rink was surprisingly pretty empty, with only several groups of 6 or 7 teens skating and others hanging out in the arcade.

“Ok, Megan, I did it again: You had better be prepared to cover my back, need be,” Malia hinted. Linking arms, the girls skated out to the rink and started doing laps. Breaking arms to let another group pass Malia began to gain speed and quickly passed Brian. Taking the hint, he challenged her to a ‘race.’

“Watch out Leighanne and Howie!” he shouted to the two up ahead. Malia and Brian continued getting faster and faster as they each silently willed each other to become quicker. Suddenly, Malia was shoved from behind and found herself grabbing onto the closest solid thing-Brian’s arm. His face registered the same shock as hers as his side dipped as she began to fall with him. Yanking her to her feet, he clutched her hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked breathless, his eyes full of concern. “Here,” the two stood by the side, away from the faster skaters.

“I'm fine, really. My legs just slipped out from under me when I got hit. Thanks for ‘catching’ me, albeit against you own will, before I fell on my butt,” Malia told him, trying to take her hand away to dust herself off. He didn’t let go. “Actually, what the question should be is ‘Brian, how are you?’ Did I hurt you shoulder?” Now it was Malia’s turn to be concerned.

“Thanks for the interest. I'm fine. A little shaken, but okay. That jerk came out of nowhere! Boy, . . . some people,” he said angrily, shaking his head.

“Don’t think about it. He’s not worth your time, really. Anyway-“ Malia began.

“Are you okay?” Leighanne and Megan coasted over. Brian quickly released Malia’s hand. “We saw what happened, but couldn’t get out of the fast lane, so to speak. Brian, what about you? You looked really scared for a minute!” Leighanne reached out and patted his arm and caressed his shoulder.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Let’s skate people!” Brian assured them, grabbing Malia away from Megan. “If I'm not mistaken we were racing.”

“Oh, so you aren’t gonna be a quitter? Good. Let’s see the great Brian Littrell on wheels,” said Malia, taking off around a corner. She gave a tiny wave with her fingers and winked mischievously.

“Oh, no you don’t you little tease,” Brian responded immediately pushing the limits. He grabbed her hand. “If I'm going down, you’re coming down with me,” he told her quietly. The two began skating in perfect synchronicity.

“THAT’S IT!” Leighanne yelled quietly, if there was such a thing. Still, her anger and frustration was clear even if Brian couldn’t hear. “She’s flirting with him. You saw that! Look! They’re skating around together like a couple!” she let loose a tirade of words.

Megan observed the scene. She looks happy, she realized. She wasn’t happy with any other. But then he is her boyfriend. Oh boy, this is going to take some doing to get all of us out of this situation alive.

“Well, I see your point. I will admit this: They do look like a couple.” Megan took another look as the pair zoomed by, hand in hand, speeding up as they went. Malia’s hair was streaming behind her and Brian seemed to be having a good time. Mental message to Malia: DON’T DO THIS!, thought Megan. Boy I wish I could talk to her through telepathy! How helpful that would be.

“She moves fast,” Leighanne dripped acidly. “Skating and otherwise. Female dog!” Leighanne whispered, too polite to swear.

“But, as I was saying, they aren’t doing anything. She hasn’t done anything to attract him. The only thing she’s done is gone along with him-albeit she started the ‘tickle war.’ I suppose that’s flirting . . . but you and I were talking a lot so we did kind of dump her with him. Besides, he loves you! You do have a promise ring from him on your finger. That doesn’t all fly out the window in a little over 12 hours. And not with that girl’s best friend,” Megan tried to reassure Leighanne, who still stood with her arms over her chest. “Standing like that isn’t going to help your cause. If you act sullen he still won’t read your mind and he’ll be even more attracted (Gulp) to her because she doesn’t know and is out there having fun. So just go with the flow, come out with me, we’ll skate, and I’ll get you back with Brian.”

“Fine.” Leighanne’s answer was curt.

“Please don’t be angry Annie Leigh. She honestly doesn’t even know-“

“Woohoo!” Brian shouted as the two went by again, still holding hands, and now even faster. Malia started cracking up.

“-what she’s doing. Just show some spunk, smile, and let’s go. Cause I'm going out there with or without you.”

“Let’s go.” Leighanne was more determined on Malia and Brian than on having a good time.

“Leighanne?”

“Yeah.”

“Let it go. Just let it go.” Leighanne began skating swiftly around the rink. She slowly began to catch sight of Brian and Malia. Warning bells went off in her head. This is not what “friends” look like. She began grinding her teeth. They’re friendly alright. Malia and Brian were still whipping around the rink with no intention of stopping. Brian was holding tight to her hand, despite the gap between them. Pulling her behind him, he coasted over to the side. Laughing, they started speeding up again. Brian grabbed her other hand and began skating lazily backwards, letting Malia coast behind him.

“This is nice,” she said, tossing her mane with her eyes flashing. “But how’s this?” She released his other hand, and pulling him behind her, so that he held on to her hands held at her lower back, she began to speed skate.

“Whoa! And you said you weren’t very good!” Brian managed to say. Malia slowed down and let Brian coast to her side.

“I don’t know about you, but I am winded! If you don’t mind, I'm going to go sit out for a minute,” Malia told him.

“Good idea. I think Kevin, AJ, and Howie are in the arcade. Bet you a soda I can cream you at any game!”

“Now you’re talking! But where’s Leighanne and Megan? It’ll be kind off odd if we just disappear.” Malia found herself being dragged to the arcade while looking over her shoulder. “Leighanne! I’ll be in the arcade!” she shouted to her. Leighanne gave a nod back, and then went back to twirling around with Nick. Uh oh, Malia thought. This is getting out of hand. Heck, I just met Brian this morning. Leighanne’s known him for a year. Shouldn’t our roles be reversed? She didn’t have time to continue on this line of thought as Brian began searching for a game.

“This is it!” he declared, pulling her over to a pinball machine. “You fast on your feet, now let’s see your hands.” He grinned. “AJ, Howie, Kevin, over here. This should be very interesting.” He rubbed his hands together.

“What makes you think I'm going to lose?” Malia asked.

The boys exchanged a look. “Well I think you should know,” AJ started.

“Bone, just say it.” Kevin told him.

“Well Brian is kind of taking lessons from Nick on these things, and well, hate to say it, but he kicks some serious butt!” AJ rattled off quickly.

“If he plays half as good as he says he does he’ll be doing quite well, actually,” Malia replied, unfazed. “Here goes nothing!”

“Score one for the girl!” Howie laughed. “Dang, she isn’t too bad Brian. You may have to actually put more effort into this than the usual 23 percent you put into singing.” While the group traded good natured insults Malia racked up a high score.

“Your turn,” she told him sweetly. “Have fun!”

“You weren’t kidding Howie. Dang, do you have super special fingers or something?” Brian asked.

“I am told I am very good at guitar and I’ve been playing cello for the past few years. Does that count?” Malia shrugged. “It was just luck. You’re gonna cream me and you know it.”

“Unfortunately you’re right,” Howie sighed.

“Help humanity: Don’t feed the ego!” Malia joked on Brian’s self-confidence.

Laughing, AJ sighed, “He wins. By a lot. Dang. Have fun listening to him brag the rest of the night!”

“You make me sound so awful!” Brian protested. “Now she’s got the wrong idea. I'm just a nice, humble guy, right sweetie?” He shot her his best puppy dog eyes while putting an arm around her.

“Watch it, or the bet’s off,” Malia responded. Before he could do it, she yanked him over to the concession stand. “So what do you want?”

“Nothing actually. I’d rather just talk to you.” Brian explained with a grin. “Hey Leighanne, over here!” he called to her, Megan, and Nick. They all promptly fell into chairs.

“Wow!” exclaimed Nick checking his watch. “Time flies! One last skate, all?”

“Can’t hurt,” Brian agreed. He stretched, anxious to avoid Leighanne’s questioning eyes. “Malia?” He turned to her, but she was talking to Megan. Waiting for her to finish he asked, “One last race?”

“You’re on!” she consented. “Consider this your ‘prize.’” She and Brian followed Nick, who had gotten AJ, Kevin, and Howie, to the rink. “C’mon, you two, last skate!” she prodded Megan and Leighanne. They slowly began to follow her.

Leighanne didn’t know what to make of it. One minute she had her eyes on Malia and she knew what was going on, and the next she saw her walking hand in hand with Brian to the arcade. And in the concession stand line. And now on her, no, their way to the rink. Suppressing every urge to commit justifiable homicide, Leighanne plastered a smile on her face and walked out with Megan.

Megan also had no clue as to what this all meant. Yes, Brian and Malia had ‘clicked’ but this was extreme. She was also wondering what sort of motives her best friend, usually kind, considerate, and observant to everyone’s feelings, had. Before she could think any longer she saw them flying by, holding hands and singing. Of course.

“C’mon, you can do better than this!” Brian shot at Malia.

“I can, can I? Well, fasten your seat belt, here we go!” Malia took off faster and quicker than ever before, zipping around the corners at warp speed.

“Stop! I'm going to be sick!” Brian yelled.

“That shouldn’t be unusual. That would be how you feel every time you look in a mirror!”

“I would laugh, but I then I would fall!” he screamed. “Woohoo! This is fun!” His left arm flailed in the air helplessly. “Heads up!” he called to the group, who had linked arms with Megan and Leighanne and were skating at a more moderate pace. Brian began to pull his own weight, making the duo unstoppable. “Slowpokes,” Brian named them.

“Watch out you guys!” Malia called as they flew past the group. Nick tried to grab her hand and link on but she was too quick. “You want to race Littrell?”

“Okay!” he said, nearly missing a pre-teen girl.

“Then let go of my hand, and let’s fly!” Malia pulled away and began skating as fast as she could. Brian smiled and began matching her speed. Malia held out her arms as she coasted past Nick and the rest, but they saw her coming and swiftly moved aside, and stayed glued to the wall for Brian, who wasn’t far behind.

“That’s it, you all are going to lose to me!” Nick yelled. He too, joined the race. AJ, Howie, and Kevin followed suit. Shrugging their shoulders Leighanne and Megan began chasing after them too.

“This was what I meant Leighanne. Just have fun for now, and later things will be sorted out.” Megan gasped.

“I know,” Leighanne admitted. She narrowed her eyes, watching Brian and Malia. “But it still hurts. It hurts a lot.”

“Ha ha!” Malia’s laughter rang out. “I win Brian!” She skated backwards to watch him.

“No way! You and I were tied! What do you think Nick?” Brian shook his head.

“She won by a mile, you’re SLOW!” called Nick, skating past Malia.

“Let’s not quibble over fine points,” Howie said.

“No, let’s!” Brian joked. “Oh well. I say it was a tie. But since it’s late, and we all have to be at the shoot early . . .”

“Ohmigosh! I totally forgot about As Long As You Love Me! Shoot, Leighanne, I will see you tomorrow,” she told her, as Leighanne rolled up next to her. “Megan where are you staying?”

“With Leighanne,” she said as they all began pulling off their skates.

“Bye everyone!” she called. “See you tomorrow!”

“Your feet stink,” AJ told Kevin with a straight face. He was quickly silenced with an icy stare.

“Let’s blow this joint,” Brian again resorted to an old phrase.

They all piled back into their cars and went home. All with very different thoughts on the day.

“Well now I know not to let Brian and Malia alone together,” Leighanne told Megan, late that night, at her apartment. “Don’t get me wrong-I think she’s great. But she’s acting like trash, and Brian is mine.”

“Wait a minute. Neither one of them did anything. Granted they seemed close, but you just have to let it go. At the end of this week do you think he’s going to remember his girlfriend’s crazy friends who were extras? Doubt it, doubt it, doubt it,” Megan said, wanting to leave the topic. The sad thing is that she seems to get along with him great-maybe a little too great-so why should she have to lose him as a friend? Megan wondered. “Are you sure you’re not having a little attack of the jealous streak?” she kidded, slipping into her sleeping bag.

Leighanne switched off the lights. “Who knows? He called me tonight and told me he loved me, so things obviously are still the same that way. Night.”

“Night,” Megan said drowsily, while at the same time Malia said a quick prayer to God and drifted to sleep.

* * * * *

Instinctively you give to me
The love that I need
I cherish the moments with you
Respectfully I see to thee
I'm aware that you're cheating
When no one makes me feel like you do

| Chapter Six |