"I don't know why he did it."

"What? Mandy? Um, um."

"Mickey, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I mean, we weren't together or anything." She started to cry. "I thought you said he wouldn't hurt me? Well this kinda falls under that category!!" She yelled. Jo and Jenn came running over.

"What the fuck is all the noise!?" AJ yelled coming down the stairs with Laura right behind him. They could see Mickey was crying.

"Oh my God Mick. What's wrong?" Laura yelled going over to her.

"Nothing, just leave me alone ok."

"Mick?"

"Just leave me alone ok? I'm going for drive."

"Oh no your not." Brian told her. "Not like this."

"Fine then, I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later."

Mickey left and Jenn told everyone to let her go. AJ and Laura asked them what was going on. Brian explained that Nick had called him and told him that he got back together with Mandy. He was coming up to Orlando today. Brian also told AJ that he did not agree with it and he was concerned that Nick was doing it for the wrong reasons. All of them were worried about Mickey. They knew that no matter how much she denied it, she really liked Nick. First Matthew and now Nick. It just didn't seem fair.

"Why the fuck is he back with Mandy?" AJ asked, although it seemed to be a rhetorical question.

"I have no idea!" Brian exclaimed.

"I hope Mickey will be ok." Jo worried.

"I'm sure she will be. She doesn't like people seeing her when she's upset." Laura explained.

"Nick can be such an ass. Doesn't even know a good thing when he sees it." AJ remarked.

"Wow, I'm suprised to hear you say that about her." Laura told him.

"I really like her. That's why we can pick on each other so much. We can take each other's shit. Not a lot of people can do that."

Mickey just walked and walked. She had no idea where she was going or even where she was. It was a nice day out, very warm. She ended up at a park. There were a few early morning joggers but besides that, things were quiet. This is what she wanted at the moment. She went and sat down on a park bench in front of a fountain. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the note Nick had written her. She kept it on her at all times, it made her feel good. Right now she wanted to tear it up but she just couldn't. Why was he doing this to her? Talk about getting mixed singnals. Why did she let herself slip? She should've realized, he's famous, he probably has a girl in every country. He probably wasn't expecting the girls to travel so much with them and when things got close to home he went back to Mandy.

"Are you alright Miss?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine thanks. My cat died this morning." She said to the women standing in front of her.

"Ok then, as long as you're sure you're ok."

"Yep, but thank you for your concern." Mickey said as she got up to head back to AJ's. She realized that she couldn't stop the tears from falling and she wasn't in the mood to keep telling strangers that her cat died.

When she got back to AJ's everyone rushed over as she walked through the door. She loved that her friends cared so much but she just wasn't in the mood for anyone right now. She hated people seeing her cry, she didn't want to seem weak. Jenn would always let her cry with no problem. Laura always walked away because she knew that's what Mickey wanted, she would wait in the other room for however long it took Mickey to come back. She didn't know how she would have made it through without the two of them when her parents died.

"I'm going back to Toronto today." She announced.

"Mickey, please don't." Jenn pleaded.

"Jenn, I'm going home." She cried, the tears heating up her cheeks as they fell.

"We don't want you to leave Mick." Brian told her.

"Yeah well I don't think I can stay with you guys and watch Mandy and Nick." She started to yell. "I'd turn into the bitch real damn quick for no reason at all. I'm not about to let that happen!"

"Mandy won't be travelling with us. She's busy with her group and they're going to be travelling with N Sync soon." AJ added.

"It will be too hard. Things will get too messed up. It would be hard for you guys to be nice to me, I mean God Nick is your bestfriend Brian and one of yours AJ. You guys aren't going to diss his girlfriend and I highly doubt we could all get along. Jenn, Laura and Jo would feel like they'd have to be mean to her and then I'd get the blunt of it all. I'd be the bad person."

"Mickey, we wouldn't put you in the hotspot like that." Brian was saying as Nick walked through the front door with a sullen look on his face.

"Fuck, great!" Mickey said and headed up to the room she was staying in.

"Mickey." Jenn called, going after her, Laura and Jo followed close behind.

"Please don't leave Mickey." Jo pleaded. "I'd like to see you as much as I can." Mickey looked up at her.

"Yeah Mick, that way you don't have to see Nick or Mandy. Spend your time with Jo." Jenn said.

"I know Nick isn't the only reason you've been travelling. I know you like him and all but look how close you've become with Brian and AJ and it's just a matter of time before you'll be like that with Kevin and Howie." Laura told her. "Don't let this one thing ruin all the goodness. You love this." Mickey stopped packing and just sat down on the bed and cried.

"Why did I allow myself to like him so much?" She asked.

"God Mickey, you're the one who's always answering our questions like this." Jenn replied.

"You don't choose the people you fall for. It just happens when nobody's paying attention." Jo answered.

"Plus Brian and AJ really don't want you to leave."

"They're just afraid that if I go that you and Jo might leave."

"No, that's not it. They really like you." Laura reasurred her. "Just don't make any decisions when you're upset like this. Wait till tomorrow night and if you still want to go....."

"But you won't." Jenn jumped in with a smile. "Wait, hear that?"

"Oh my gosh! They're yelling at Nick. There you go, I guess they don't like Mandy that much."

"Let's go downstairs. I'm not about to mess up great friendships just because I didn't get a guy." Mickey said heading downstairs.

"Mickey." Brian and AJ said. Nick turned around to look at her.

"Well there's no luggage, so that must be a good sign." Brian quipped.

"No luggage. For now anyhow." She said looking at all three guys. "Don't yell at him. You should be happy that your friend has a girlfriend and that he's happy."

"He's not happy." AJ said rather cooly.

"That's not for you to decide Alex. Don't let females come in between you friendship!" She said with a smile.

"Are you alright?" Brian asked, coming over and giving her a hug.

"Yeah as long as nobody comes over and asks me if I'm ok."

"Alright, so what are we going to do today?"

"Well we need to get showered and changed." Jenn mentioned. "We kinda fell asleep in the living room with our clothes on that we wore yesterday. Mickey, do you want to shower first?"

"Yeah. If I take to long just bang at the door." She joked.

While she was in the shower everyone went to the living room. Laura cleaned up from the night before. It was an awkward situation because everyone was giving Nick the cold shoulder. They weren't ignoring him or anything but they weren't happy with what he'd done and they let him know. He was getting fed up but he stayed, he didn't want to leave. He got up and left the living room. The others just shook their heads and decided that Mickey was right, it wasn't their business so they would stay out of it.

When Mickey finished her shower she headed to the top of the stairs and yelled down that she was out of the shower. She went into her room and saw Nick. She had to catch her breath, she wasn't expecting him and right now she wasn't sure if she wanted to see him. He was sitting on her bed next to her packed bag. He looked so lost sitting there, his cheeks red, like he had been crying. The tears started falling down her own cheeks again as she walked over to him.

"You're not going to leave are you?" He asked her.

"What difference does it make?"

"Oh Jesus Mickey! Don't be like that. You know I want you to come with us."

"No Nick, I dont know what you want. Just when I think I do, you do a complete one eighty."

"I can't explain about Mandy."

"Hey, it's none of my business."

"It's marketing Mickey. It's what the people want."

"Well it's not what I want!!" She yelled, not realizing just how much she felt for him.

"Mickey," He said and the tears started falling from his eyes. "You're the last person I want to hurt."

"Nick, that line is so old is it permanantly covered in dust. I don't want to hear it ok."

"Come here." He said reaching out his arms to her. They walked into each others arms and she let him hold her. They both stood in the room crying on each other's shoulders. "Please stay." He whispered as he held her tightly.

After everyone was showered and ready they congregated in the kitchen. They were all hungry so they were trying to find food. Something that was becoming harder and harder for them. They decided they would go eat at Denny's and then go grocery shopping. Then after all of that they would decide what to do for the rest of the day. The girls took AJ's truck again and the guys took Nick's truck. AJ liked driving but he also liked it when he didn't have to all the time, plus he could see that Mickey loved to drive. Brian was happy that Nick would be doing the driving now, Nick was ok with it although he had driven all morning. Mickey grabbed her Boy Power cd and popped it in the player when she got in the truck. She put it on random play and Next's Too Close came on first and she cranked it. The girls sang the song as they pulled up next to the guys at a red light. Everyone was smiling now so things were ok.

Brian called Howie and Kevin from his cell phone and asked them if they would like to meet us for lunch. Both of them agreed and said they would meet us there. Brian also told them that Nick had gotten back with Mandy. Howie already knew, he found out from Mandy and Kevin was in total shock. He said he was going to smuck Nick for it but Brian told him that they had to stay out of it. Kevin, being the fatherly figure, wasn't sure if he could. But in the end he promised he would leave it alone. Brian laughed and told his cousin he was proud of him.

Mickey parked next to Nick at Denny's and they all got out of the trucks. Just as AJ was crawling out of the backseat of Nick's truck, Howie pulled up and Kevin was in the passenger seat. They all stayed outside for a few minutes before heading in to the restaurant. AJ mentioned that he'd have to go grocery shopping and Kevin reminded him not to get too much because they were going on the road again. Kevin came over to Mickey and gave her a hug and asked her how she was. A few more tears fell. This wasn't going to be easy, especially if she stayed with them. God she hadn't even met Mandy yet and already hated her. She didn't want to see them together. That's it she was going home. Then she looked over at Jo and her other friends and realized that the decision wasn't as easy as it might seem. She knew she would be miserable if she went home. She wasn't in the mood to see Matthew and it would just drive her crazy knowing that she was missing out on a lot. She would stay. She looked up at Nick, yes, she would stay. She liked him and she wasn't about to say goodbye just yet.