Jason brings Chasen and I back home around seven forty-five. Chasen gets out of the car, and hurries to the door. “Well, I gotta hand it to you, Bridge. You made it through one night with me.”

“Yeah, I did. And you aren’t as bad an egoist as you seem.” I say. Jason coughs.

“Well, um, I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” I say, and Jason looks at me strangely.

“You would?”

“Yeah, why not? You seem like a pretty cool guy. We could actually become friends. I had fun tonight, and so did Chase. I’d go out with you again.”

“I thought that- -nevermind.” I smile, and get out of the car.

“Bye Jason.”

“Bye.” He says, and waits until I get inside to turn into his own driveway. I watch from my window as he gets out of the car, and walks inside.

“That is one interesting boy.”

“Bridget! Danyelle is here!” My mom calls out. It’s two months later, and Jason and I have gotten much closer. We’ve hung out a lot, and he’s become one of my good friends. Danyelle is taking me to her job today, and she tells me that her boyfriend is supposed to be there with his, as she puts it, posse. Her boyfriend is in the same group that Jason is in, so hopefully I’ll get to see Jason today also. I run down the stairs, anxious to get out of the house. I had been stuck cleaning up the house all morning, and was very relieved when Danyelle called and said she could come get me during her lunch break.

“Bye Ma. C’mon Dany!” I say, running out of the door.

“A little anxious, are we?” Danyelle asks, as she starts down the street.

“I was so ready to get out of that house that it just wasn’t funny anymore.”

“Oh, okay. I’m going to tell you right now. This is a place of business, and I know that you’re almost legal, please don’t do anything that could cost me my job.”

“I’ll try.” I joke. I have a record of getting this girl into trouble, and that’s not something I should be proud of at all. Oh well. Danyelle looks at me. “Okay, okay. What is there to do, anyway? I only know you.”

A guy with a backward hat and sunglasses is standing outside of Transcon. I see a smile creep across Danyelle’s lips. “Is that him?” She nods. She waves at him as she passes, and he gives her a smile. She parks, and we walk up to him.

“Hey.” Josh says, and hugs Danyelle.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“The guys and I have to go over some dance steps, and practice for the tour coming up. We’re taking a break right now, and I realized that your lunch break was over so I decided to come meet you out here.”

“Oh, okay. Josh, this is my cousin, Bridget.” Danyelle says, and I smile.

“Hey, what’s up?” I say.

“And Bridget, this is Josh, my boyfriend.”

“Hey.” We head on inside.

“Hey, Josh, I have to go finish up some paperwork in my office, so can you keep an eye on Bridget?”

“She looks like she’s old enough to keep an eye on herself.” Josh says. I was beginning to like him already. “How old are you?”

“I’ll be eighteen next month.” I answer.

“See, she’s almost legal.” He says. Danyelle punches him in the shoulder lightly.

“You know what I mean. Just let her hang out with you guys. I’ll be in there as soon as I can. All this stuff just keeps coming and coming, and I might even have to work overtime if I keep getting stuff at this rate.” Danyelle says. Josh smiles.

“Yeah, she can come chill with us.” He says.

“Thank you so much.” She says, and hugs him again. She heads off towards her office. Josh watches her walk off, then turns to me.

“So,” He starts, “You just graduated from high school?”

“Yeah, this month.” We start walking.

“Well, congratulations to you. Any plans for college?”

“Um, not right now. I think I’m going to wait a year.”

“Oh.”

“I just figured it was better for me, you know?” He nods.

“Here we are.” He says. He opens the door for me, and music comes blasting from nowhere. The rest of the members of *N Effect are all sitting down against the wall. The guys look up at who comes through the door.

“Hey!” Jason exclaims, jumping up, and coming over to me. The guys watch him, puzzled.

“Hey Jason.”

“What are you doing here?” He asks.

“I came with Danyelle. You know she’s my cousin, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Hey, did I miss something?” Josh asks. “You two have met?”

“Yeah, Bridget lives across the street from me.” Jason explains. He turns to me. “I was hoping you were coming to see me, too.” Jason jokes.

“Aw, next time I’ll come to see you then.” Our friendship had gotten so much better since we’d first met. He actually turned out to be a pretty cool guy.

“Anyway, you guys, this is Bridget, Danyelle’s cousin, and she’s going to chill with us, while Danyelle finishes some paperwork.” The guys stand up and walk over.

“Hey, I’m Luke.” The blonde says.

“I’m Chad.” A guy with braids says.

“And I’m the man of your dreams.” A guy with brown hair says. “No, I’m just playin’. I’m Jared.”

“Nice to meet you.” I say.

“Okay guys back to work!” Their choreographer says, walking into the room.

“I wanna talk to you later, okay?” Jason says.

“Okay, sure I guess.” I sit down against the wall, and watch the guys.

“Do you think Danyelle would let you catch a ride home with me?” Jason asks me as we walk down the hallway. They had another short break while Josh was trying to get a few moves straight. We were just walking around the hallway.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, her office is right here, so I can ask her now.”

“Okay.” I say. He turns the doorknob, and he tiptoes into the room. I follow. Danyelle looks up.

“Hey.” She says with a smile.

“Hi.” Jason says, and sits down on her desk.

“What do you want, Jason?” She asks, putting down her pen.

“What makes you think I want something?”

“Because you always tiptoe in and sit on my desk when you want something. I mean, I haven’t been working here long, but, you know.” I sit down in one of the chairs.

“Can Bridget ride home with me?” Jason asks.

“Why?”

“Because we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“I’m not telling you that!” He exclaims.

“Uh-huh.” Danyelle says, giving him a sly look, and cocking an eyebrow. “Bridget, s’cuse us for a second, please.”

“Why can’t I hear?”

“No, seriously, this is something between Jason and I.”

“Fine.” I say, and leave the room.

“Are you gonna tell her?”

“What are you talking about?” Jason asks.

“You know exactly what I’m talking ‘bout! Bridget wouldn’t happen to be the girl you were telling me about a few days ago, would she?”

“No, what makes you think that?”

“Well, for one thing, you basically described her perfectly. Cute girl, who could get almost any guy she wanted, but she wouldn’t date a guy in your shoes. Cheerful, and has a great sense of humor. Sounds very familiar if you ask me.”

“There are lots of girls like that.” Jason says. “I could be talking about someone else.”

“Jason, I’m going to ask you this again, or I’m gonna ask the guys,” Danyelle says, getting up, and walking in front of him. “You and I both know that I’m going to find out anyway, so there’s no reason for you to hide it from me. I won’t tell. Now, who is this mysterious that you’ve been talking about.” He hesitates, then smiles.

“It’s not your cousin.” He says.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is you are getting all in my grill.” He says playfully.

“Jason, I just said that you didn’t have to tell me.”

“I don’t?”

“No!”

“Her name is Missy.”

“Oh, really? Cool, girl?” Danyelle asks, walking over to the door, and opening it.

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool, but a little shy.”

“That’s nice. Bye Jason.”

“Wait! You didn’t even answer my question!” He says, getting off of the desk, and standing in front of her. I am standing outside the door, waiting for him.

“Oh yeah, what was it?”

“Can Bridget catch a ride home with me?”

“I don’t think- -”

“PLEASE?!?” Jason practically yells, startling both Danyelle and myself.

“You didn’t let me finish. Jeez! I was gonna say that I don’t think her parents would mind. I’ll call them, and tell ‘em. Gosh, you’re just jumping to conclusions. Chill out, boy!” Danyelle says.

“Yay!” Jason yells stupidly. “Thank you!” He says like a little kid.

“Okay, Jason. You better hurry back. What are you doing down here anyway?”

“Another break. Josh was trying to get something straight.”

“I don’t think it’ll take him that long. They’re probably waiting for you.”

“And you’re probably right. C’mon Bridget! Hop on my back.” I raise an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that, just c’mon. I’ll give you a piggy back ride.”

“I’ll walk, thank you very- -” I didn’t finish my sentence because Jason picked me up over his shoulder, and took off full speed down the hall.

“Oh my God, Jason! I swear if you run me into a wall I’ll beat your ass!” I scream. He keeps running until...

“JASON!!!” Someone screams from behind us. He comes to a quick stop.

“Oh my God. Put me down now.” I say. Jason turns around still holding me.

“Oh, um, hey Johnny, what’s up?”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m showing Danyelle’s cousin around.” Justin says, turning his back to Johhny.

“Oh, hi. Nice to meet you.” I say. “I’m Bridget.”

“I’m Johnny, his manager.” He says, indicating Jason. “Shouldn’t you be practicing?”

“Actually, I was on my way back there right now. So, I better be going now.”

“Jason, wait.”

“What?”

“Put the girl down. I know you’re enjoying it, but please.”

“Thank you so much. Jason, listen to the man, and put me down.”

“Sorry, Johnny, I can’t do that.” I give the man a pitiful look, and he shrugs. Jason starts running again.

“Jason where have you been, man?” Luke says, coming up to Jason and I outside the room to the studio.

“I went to her...” Jason says, and turns around so I’m facing Luke.

“Hi.” I say, giving him a small wave.

“Cousin’s office to ask her something.”

“Well, you better get in her now because Rick is getting pissed.” Luke says, opening the door. We come into the room.

“Jason! C’mon! I know you didn’t forget you had a schedule, did you?”

“Sir, no sir!” He says, saluting Rick with his free hand. He laughs as he pulls me off of his shoulder, and catches me in his arms. My eyes rest on his. His smile slowly fades, and is replaced by a look that I’d never seen out of him before. My mind all of a sudden goes blank, and I get lost in his stare. Josh looks at Luke and smiles knowingly. Chad whistles.

“YO!” He yells, and we both snap out of it.

“I think I better put you down now.” Jason says, letting my feet hit the floor. I was so shocked that I almost forget to catch myself, and I stumble a little before standing straight. Jason walks over to the group, and gets a lecture from Rick before the music starts. They begin dancing again. I sit back against the wall, and bring my knees up, resting my arms on my knees. I take a deep breath. I didn’t see or hear Danyelle come into the studio.

“What is wrong with me? He’s my friend, and I can’t feel this way about him. I thought my feelings were strongly against dating guys with a career like his.”

“Maybe it’s because you’ve started to like him as a person.” Danyelle says. I didn’t even know that she was sitting next to me.

“How much of that did you hear?” I ask her nervously.

“Enough to know exactly who you’re talking about and how you’re feeling.” She says, and I drop my head down.

“Oh. Dany, I don’t understand this at all. After what happen with Travis and all- -”

“Travis is out of the picture, Bri.” She says, smiling. “I’m going to give you some words of wisdom right about now, okay?”

“You won’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“I won’t say a word. Look, Bridget, you’ve just learned the hard way that you can’t control who you have feelings for or who you fall in love with, not that you’re in love with him. It’s not smart at all to plan who you’re allowed to like. In your case, it’s from a past experience, but still it’s not smart to do that at all. Because sooner or later you realize that this wall you’ve spent so long trying to build up is going to crash and burn.” She says. I knew she was right, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“It’s just so weird, Danyelle.” I say, leaning against her. She gives me a small hug.

“I know, I know.”

“I just don’t want to get hurt. I don’t to fall into a relationship, and not be able to get back up again. I made that mistake once already, and I don’t want to make it again.”

Jason comes around and opens the door of his car for me. Then, he walks around to his side, and gets into the car. We didn’t leave Transcon until about five-thirty. There is silence between the two of us for a while before I decide to say something. “So, um, you said you wanted to talk to me about something.” I say, not looking at him.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“See, I, uh, since you’re a girl and all, you would probably know what to do in a situation like this. Okay, I want this girl to notice me, and I don’t know how I’m going to do that. I know that this is like, middle school stuff.” He says.

“Hmm...Tell me about the girl.”

“She’s about your height, dirty blonde hair, blue eyes- -”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, personality wise.” I say with a smile.

“Oh, okay. Um, she’s kind of shy.”

“Has she ever had a boyfriend?”

“Yeah, but not many.”

“Do something that she likes to do. Get her something nice. Try something like that, but revise around in more of your style. You get what I’m saying, right?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Jason says. There is silence between the two of us again. He pulls into my driveway. Jason licks his lips, and looks over at me. “Um, Bridget?”

“Yes?” I say, looking at him.

“What if I had feelings for two girls? I mean, does that cause some sort of problem?” He asks.

“It all depends on how you handle the situation.” I practically whisper. “There’s always a right way and a wrong way to handle it.” Jason leans closer to me, and brings one of his hands around my head, twisting some hair around his finger. He stops, slides his hand across my face, and runs his thumb over my cheeks and lips slowly and softly.

“I don’t know if I should be handling the situation like this or not.” He whispers, and brings my face closer to his own. I close my eyes as our faces get closer. “I don’t think this is right.” Jason says, right as our lips touch slightly. I open my eyes in disappointment, and sit back against the seat, taking a deep breath.

“It seemed okay to me.” I think. “I better go on inside. I still have something important do to before tomorrow. Bye Jason.” I say, and open the door of the car. I get out and walk inside, tears burning my eyes. “I have to stop being a baby like this.” I say. “Hey Ma. You’re taking me to Aunt Vicky's to pick up Taylor, right?”

“Yeah, we’re going in a little bit.”