The next few weeks were pretty tough for me, I had to admit. If it weren't for the dance studio finally opening up, I probably would've had no choice but to sit around and mope. Instead, I took the much more healthier alternative and threw myself into my work full force. I tried my hardest to pretend that Nick had never existed in my life, but unfortunately it was easier said than done. From what little information I had managed to get from AJ about Nick, I got the feeling that he wasn't taking things all that well himself, which totally puzzled me. If he really felt that horrible about losing me then why did he pretty much tell me to never speak to him again? AJ had said that he hadn't spoken to Nick much since my party and when he did he said that Nick didn't sound like he wanted to talk. In fact, as far as I know, no one had really heard much from Nick period.

AJ had been spending a lot of time over at my place after my party and it all had to do with a certain older sister of mine that shall remain nameless. Erika and AJ REALLY hit it off, and had been spending A LOT of time together. Personally, I was shocked that Erika would immerse herself in another relationship so quickly, especially after how things with Josh had turned out. AJ wasn't exactly the most perfect guy either. Like I've said before, I love him and he's really sweet, but he just can't seem to focus himself on one girl for any length of time. Of course I didn't even try to explain any of this to Erika. If there was one thing I knew, it was that she would be way too stubborn to listen to her baby sister. With Erika, the best thing to do would be to just be there to comfort her when everything fell apart.

Outside of AJ, Melanie, and of course Erika, I hadn't really heard from anyone else. Izzy had asked for some space to think over our friendship so, I'd been giving it to her. Between trying to avoid both Izzy and Nick, I'd kind of distanced myself from the rest of my friends.

So there I was on a late Saturday afternoon, at home all by myself going through some paperwork for the studio. Erika had went out someplace with AJ earlier and hadn't even offered me if I wanted to come with them which was fine by me anyway. The weather was rainy again and pretty crappy and it was the perfect opportunity to start going through all this shit.

"Dammit!" I cursed as I came across a shitload of papers that needed Melanie's co-signature on them. "I really need a fax machine," I muttered under my breath, unsure of what to do about them. Finally I decided to just take a drive over to Melanie and Kevin's place and drop them off for her. I was itching to get out of the house for a little bit anyway.

I grabbed my keys and the papers I needed and headed out to my Dodge Neon. It didn't take my long to drive to Melanie's and when I got there I was quite surprised to find several cars parked in front of the house. I immediately recognized Nick's car and I knew that I really should just turn around and go back home. I could drop these papers off another time. If I knocked on the door now, Melanie would insist that I come in and would just be really weird and awkward, like I was crashing their party.

I was just about to turn around when I saw Izzy walking down the driveway. Damn, she'd seen me and was now heading straight for my car. I knew that she'd make me stay, no matter what how much I argued so I just pulled up closer to meet her.

"Hey, what are you doing down this way?" she asked me, looking a little surprised.

"I just had to drop off some papers for Melanie to sign, but if you guys have company I'll just come back later," I rambled on.

"Nonsense. The guys are just over for what was supposed to be a barbecue, but I don't think that's going to happen with this rain, so Kevin is sending me to go rent some movies. Come on in and join us. Your sister is already here."

"Erika is here?" I asked, sounding a little hurt. Since when did my sister go and hang out with MY friends while I was the one stuck at home? That hurt just a little bit.

"Yea, AJ brought her," Iz explained. "Look, we didn't invite you over because Nick is here and we thought it would be best if you two didn't see each other."

"So, maybe I should just go now," I told her. "I'll leave the papers with you and you can see that Melanie gets them."

"No. You're coming in Mel. Park your car and get inside and have a drink," she ordered.

"I don't think Nick wants to see me Iz. You said it yourself," I argued.

Izzy sighed. "Look, Melanie and Kevin have a huge place and there are other people beside you and Nick here. You can avoid each other, but don't think that you can't hang out with us just because of Nick. That's just stupid Mel."

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed, knowing that there was no arguing with her.

"Great! Just go on in and make yourself at home! I'll be back in like 10 minutes," she promised as she headed for her own car.

I groaned and parked my car in front of the house. Walking up the driveway literally felt to me like I was walking towards my execution. How would Nick react when he saw me? Would he try to talk to me? Or would he ignore me and pretend like I wasn't there? I tentatively rang the doorbell and prayed that Nick wouldn't answer.

"Mel? What are you doing here?" Melanie asked me, as she opened up the door, clearly embarrassed that I'd caught her having a party without me.

"I have some papers I need you to sign and I figured I'd drop them off," I explained.

"Well, uhh come in then," she told me, opening the door wider. "We're just having a little impromptu get together. I didn't invite you because-"

I held up my hand to silence her. "Melanie you don't have to explain. I bumped into Izzy and she told me that it was because of Nick, but I'm here now so we have to deal with it. We're both adults. I'm sure we can handle ourselves maturely. Besides it was inevitable that we bump into each other eventually."

Melanie let out a sigh of relief. "I'm happy you aren't mad at me or anything. Here, let me take these papers into my office and I'll sign them and fax them later on, okay?" she offered as she took the papers from me. "In the mean time let me get you a drink and you can go and sit in the living room where everyone else is."

"All right," I agreed. "I'll have a Mike's Hard Lemonade."

"One Mike's coming right up," she said very business like as she got a bottle from the fridge and popped open the top for me. "Here you go. Now I'll be right in right after I finish these appetizers."

"Do you need any help?" I asked her, looking for any excuse to avoid going into that living room which meant having to face Nick.

"No, I'm good sweetie, but thanks anyway. Now get your ass into the living room!" she ordered with a playful grin.

"Yes, ma'am," I answered, my stomach already twisting into knots. Damn, Izzy was right. Everyone WAS there. The whole gang and then some. I wasn't too surprised to see Chantal sitting there because by now I pretty much assumed that she was part of the group, but I guess inviting Chantal meant inviting her fan club (Erik and Dan). I was a little surprised to see Ashley though. As far as I knew he and Iz hadn't made up after the fight at the beach, but then again when was the last time I really talked to Iz?

I quickly surveyed the room, looking for a spot to sit. Erika immediately spotted me and waved, but she was sort of sandwiched in between AJ and Kevin and looked like she had no intentions of moving over. Bitch, I thought. She could've at least saved me a spot. But then again she didn't know I was coming. Actually there really was only two places to sit. One of them on the couch next to Ashley and the other one on the opposite couch next to Nick.

Since I wanted the night to go as painlessly as possible I decided to sit down next to Ashley. Yes, it was a little awkward, but it was less awkward than plopping myself right down next to Nick. God ... who knew that deciding where to sit in a roomful of people could be so tough?

Ashley just turned towards me and gave me a weak smile, but before I could even say hi Melanie walked in with a tray of potato chips, dips, pretzels, and other little munchies for us. "Dig in guys! Isabelle should be back in a few minutes with some videos," she announced, sitting next to Kevin.

I grabbed myself some potato chips and pretended to act like I was listening while Melanie and Kevin discussed their wedding plans with everyone else. In reality I was tuning them out and trying to get a hint of exactly what was going on in Nick's head. He was sitting on the other couch all by himself, with his legs sprawled out. Like me, he seemed to not be listening to Melanie and Kevin, but he made no attempt to hide the fact. He looked so lonely and out of place that I actually almost felt bad for the asshole. I wondered if the way he had distanced himself from the group had to do with the fact that I was there.

My thoughts were interrupted as Izzy entered the room. "I'm back," she announced. "I decided that with the storm and everything it's a perfect night for horror movies so I rented The Exorcist, Urban Legend, and Blair Witch."

"Thanks Iz. Now you'll going to give me nightmares," Melanie complained with a laugh.

Iz just kind of gave Melanie a devilish smile and turned her attention back to the group. It was then that she realized that the only other place to sit was next to Nick, and that I was obviously in HER spot next to Ashley. Oh my God ... if looks could kill I swear I'd be dead on the spot. Without a word she plopped down next to Nick, never once leaving contact with my eyes. I actually had to look away to ignore her glowering. I didn't mean to start so much trouble. I just didn't want to sit next to Nick. Unfortunately I was getting that gnawing sensation of déjà vu. This was starting to bring back all those feelings of jealously that I'd witnessed the night of my birthday. Great, as if my night couldn't get any worse.

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The evening progressed on almost uneventfully. We'd started out watching Urban Legend, then The Exorcist, and finally we were in the middle of watching Blair Witch. I tried to immerse myself in the movies, but it was a little difficult to do when I constantly felt Izzy's eyes, drilling a hole in my back. God, she was being childish! All this because I sat down next to her boyfriend?

Talk about being childish... If giving me dirty looks all night long wasn't already bad enough she had to take things one step further. She was snuggled up against Nick, practically sitting in his lap. During the scary parts of the movies, she made sure that her head was buried securely in Nick's chest. Any chance she had to whisper in his ear or make any sort of physical contact she took it. Nick seemed oblivious to her advances. Maybe it was because he had too much on his mind, or the fact that he knew Izzy so well that he knew her flirty behavior was all just an act. Either way it still bothered me. I wasn't the one all over Ashley here. In fact we were sitting a lot farther apart then she and Nick were. What fucking ever, I thought to myself... Soon the movie would be over and I'd be able to go home.

I soon lost interest in the movie and concentrated on the storm going on outside. Rain was pounding loudly on the rooftop and lightening illuminated the sky. This certainly is perfect weather to watch horror movies, I chuckled to myself.

I watched as a a huge bolt of lighting lit up the room followed by a loud boom of thunder. Before I could blink, the TV flickered off and the room turned pitch black.

It's amazing how even at our age everyone's first instinct when the lights go out is to scream. Various shrieking could be heard from all parts of the room. "It's okay guys. It's just a black out," Melanie reminded everyone, trying to calm them down.

"I'll go get the flashlights," Izzy volunteered. "You want to give me a hand Mel?" she asked in a cold voice.

Uh oh... I could smell a confrontation, but I couldn't just say no in front of everyone else. "Sure," I grumbled as I got up from the couch.

I followed her to the hall closet where Melanie and Kevin kept a few spare flashlights. As soon as we were out of earshot she whirled on me. "What the fuck do you think you're doing moving in on MY boyfriend?"

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Iz, we've been through this. I don't want YOUR boyfriend. I didn't even know that you two had made up because I've been giving you your 'space' to think through our friendship. Besides, when I walked in there was no place else to sit except next to Nick, which just would've been weird."

"You should have figured it out Mel! Why else would he be here?" she protested.

"I don't know! Maybe I have a little too much going on in my life right now to think about whether you and Ashley are still together or not," I finally exploded.

Izzy sighed. "This is what I mean about you Mel. All you care about is yourself! You never seem to think that anyone else has any problems but you."

"Until your boyfriend cheats on you with another woman, you have no right to say that kind of stuff to me," I tried to defend myself.

"He already did. With you," she accused in that icy tone of voice again.

"Izzy listen to yourself! You sound like a two year old. By the way your performance during the movie before was real cute," I sarcastically replied.

"What performance?" she innocently asked.

"The way you were all up on Nick, trying to get me jealous! You were pissed that I was SITTING next to Ashley, so you decided you were going to be all flirty with Nick to teach me a lesson. Think about how Ashley feels seeing that? No wonder he made out with me!"

"I don't know what you are talking about. Nick is like my brother. I would NEVER go there."

"I didn't say you would! You were just flirting with him to piss me off and it's really fucking immature! I'm sick of this shit!" I told her whirling around to walk away, but instead I found myself face to face with Nick. I wondered exactly how much of our fight he had heard.

"I'm sick of the both of you," Nick spoke up, trying to hold back his anger. "You are both acting like babies fighting over Ashley like this and I'm sick of being pulled into these stupid cat fights. In case you haven't noticed Melissa and I are not dating any more so I couldn't give a fuck who she spends her time with anymore. As for you Izzy, you are supposed to be one of my best friends, yet lately all you seem to be doing is pulling me in to fight your battles and I'm through with it! I'm leaving."

My eyes stung with tears as he angrily walked away. It really hurt to hear the cold impersonal tone he had used to talk about me. He really didn't care. Without a word to Izzy, I picked up the flashlights and headed back into the living room to find Melanie tugging on Nick's arm.

"Don't leave Nick! The roads are really bad. You're welcome to spend the night here," she offered.

"No thanks. I don't want to have to referee any more cat fights," he muttered as he took his car keys out of his pocket.

"At least wait until the storm calms down a little."

"I'll be okay!" he insisted pulling his arm away. "I've driven in bad weather before you know."

"Fine," Melanie finally gave up, knowing that when Nick was like this there was no getting through to him. "Call us the minute you get home," she instructed.

"Yea, whatever," he told her as he walked out the door.

"I hope he's going to be okay," she murmured as she watched him pull out of the driveway. "Now will someone please explain what the hell happened?"

"Nick found me and Izzy fighting in the hallway and he just got pissed off because he was sick of the way we were acting. We were inadvertently dragging him into it and he just decided enough was enough and left," I explained.

Melanie sighed as she looked from me to Izzy. "You two just cannot seem to get along lately. I thought that you were done with all this petty shit. Whatever has gotten into you guys I expect you to work it out and soon, because I now that I can vouch for everyone when I say it's getting really old really quick." She paused and looked around disgusted. "I'm going up to bed. The rest of you are free to stay the night. You all know where the guest rooms are. Work it out between yourselves." With that she disappeared up the stairs.

"What the heck was that all about?" Izzy asked looking puzzled.

"She's sick of having to stay neutral between you two. We all are," Kevin spoke up. "We have a wedding to plan and Melanie is just a little worried that you are going to drag this on and somehow ruin our wedding. Now I think I should go upstairs and calm her down."

I watched him go and just stood still while everyone else dispersed themselves. I noticed Izzy go over to Ashley, put her hand on his arm and whisper something to him. Then they disappeared off to her room without a word to anyone else. Soon I was left standing the darkness all by myself. Everyone had went off on their own way, except me. Even Erika had disappeared with AJ.

With a sad sigh I grabbed a blanket and made myself comfy on the couch. I couldn't believe that Melanie thought I was going to ruin her wedding. All you care about is yourself! You never seem to think that anyone else has any problems but you. Izzy's words from our argument came back to me. Was she right? Was I being too self-centered? Had I been to busy trying to get everyone to feel sorry for me, that I'd become totally insensitive to their problems?

The remainder of the night was spent doing a lot of thinking and not very much sleeping at all. Things had to change, they just had to.