“I REALLY hate hangin’ around for flights,” moans Britney to nobody in particular.
She’s sat in the first class lounge at LAX and her flight leaves for Carolina in roughly an hour. Her eight dancers are all grabbing the opportunity to sleep the excesses of last night’s award party off. Britney can’t sleep. She never can in airport lounges – so damn uncomfortable. Plus her head really hurts. She didn’t think she had drunk THAT much last night but her head was proving her wrong. Next to her Justin is fast asleep. He’s spending a week on her tour before rejoining *NSync for rehearsals. Across from her Fe is engrossed in some cheap thriller novel. She’s a huge fan of thriller trash. Britney sighs and pulls out a magazine from her bag. She is on the front cover and she pulls a goofy face at herself. She bets she doesn’t look this good today. She opens up the magazine and flicks through it.
“Sorry I’m late,” pants Jade rushing into the lounge and Britney looks up with a grin as she collapses next to her. “The alarm didn’t go off. Crappy excuse I know but it’s true.”
“Hey there,” Britney grins. “Kinda lost ya at the party last night.”
“I talked to Brian and then went back to the hotel with AJ,” Jade says, pulling the dark blue K cap that she has worn pretty much non-stop lately down over her dark eyes.
“Uh huh? Ya didn’t…?” Britney asks.
“No! We just talked. Sorted a few things out.”
“And?”
“And…AJ’s outta my head. Finally. We agreed we aren’t right for each other. He’s moved on and I love Brian. I need to accept that and stop trying to derail my relationships.”
“Totally,” Britney rolls her eyes. “Missed a cool party though.”
“At least I don’t have a hangover from hell,” Jade smirks.
“I don’t!”
“No?” Jade asks and then claps her hands together loudly.
“OW!” Britney winces.
“What’s that then?” Jade laughs and Britney pulls a face.
“I hate you.”
Brian pulls his cap down low over his eyes as he pushes open the door to a small café. He has arranged to meet Farrah here for a drink. After thinking about what Jade had said to him, he had agreed that he needs some kind of closure with Farrah before he can completely move on. He needs to know why she left him. He also needs to know that he could never have made it work with her. He sees Farrah sat on a corner table and heads over to sit opposite her.
“Hey Farrah,” he greets. “Thanks for comin’.”
“No problem,” she smiles. “I was pretty mad at you last week but I’ve calmed down now.”
“Cool. I am sorry but…”
“I understand. It woulda been like rubbin’ Julie’s nose in it.”
“Jade.”
“Huh?”
“Her name’s Jade,” Brian says.
“Sorry, Jade,” she repeats. “So, you guys are over right?”
“No.”
“But I thought you and me were gonna…”
“Farrah, I love her. A lot. I just invited you here to talk.”
“About what?”
“What happened with us.”
“God,” she sighs. “That’s old history.”
“I need to know,” he says. “Why did you leave me for AJ?”
“I told you already! You got too serious too quickly. You’re INTENSE Brian.”
“That was all? Why didn’t you just talk to me about it? I’d have backed off.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh, going off with my best friend didn’t hurt me…” he mutters and she reaches out to touch his hand.
“I didn’t think it through. He was just THERE and he’s cute and… God, this isn’t HELPING!”
“It’s helping me,” he says. “We wouldn’t have worked out. Right Farrah?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs.
“I know,” he states and then smiles. “I’m gonna go. Thanks Farrah,” he stands up. “Good luck,” he kisses her cheek and then walks out of the café with a smile on his face.
Whatever happens with Jade, he is finally free of Farrah. She had had some kind of weird hold over him. He hadn’t realised until he saw her again. The girl who got away. Not anymore. Now she’s just the latest in a long line of miss wrongs.