Taylor and I are outside. I'm watching him play in the yard, while I just chill out a little. "It's going to be so different with this kid." I say to myself.

"What kid?" Jason asks from behind me. I jump.

"Oh my gosh, I didn't see you there." I say, looking up at him through my sunglasses. Jason sits down on the ground next to me. "I was talking about, um, Taylor." I say, pointing to the dirty blonde haired little boy playing in the yard.

"Your nephew?"

"Cousin, I don't have any brothers or sisters older than me."

"Oh, okay. Cute kid. He looks a little like you too."

"Yeah, most people related to me do kinda look like me...and everyone else in the family too." I say, and he smiles. Taylor comes running over.

"Hi, Mama." He says, and my eyes widen. I look at Jason.

"Mama?" Jason asks.

"He calls everyone that. He could be talking to you right now."

"Oh yeah, I have a cousin like that...except he called everyone Frankie." Jason says, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Frankie, huh?" I ask as Taylor crawls into my lap. He looks at Jason questioningly. "Taylor, this is Jason, a friend of mine." Taylor smiles. "He probably only understood a very small part of what of what I just said." I say with a smile. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just saw you over here so I decided to stop by. Oh yeah! And, our tour starts in two weeks."

"Oh, that's pretty cool. Excited?"

"Definitely! I mean, touring with Janet Jackson was cool and all, but this is our own tour. With our own opening acts, and our own songs..."

"You always perform your own songs."

"Don't kill my mood."

"Sorry. That's really great, Jason."

"Are you gonna come to the airport the day I leave?"

"Do you want me to be there?"

"No, I just want you to sleep all day." He says sarcastically. I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, sure I'll be there." He smiles widely.

"Cool. Well, I gotta go. I'll see you later. I got a date." Jason says, standing up.

"And just when I thought that smile of yours couldn't get any wider." I say. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"You know the girl I was talking about yesterday?" He asks. "Missy?"

"How can I forget about yesterday?" I think. "Yeah."

"That's who."

"Congrats to you, Jason. What'd you do?" He sits back down.

"Well, she works at the mall, just so you know. But I didn't do much. I just told Chris to go see if she would be interested first, then I made my move."

"Not quite what I had in mind, but that's great, Jason."

"You'll have to meet her." He says, and stands back up again.

"Okay, that'd be nice." I say with a smile.

"Alright, well, see ya." Jason says, and runs off.

"That was interesting."

I walk back into the house with Taylor on my hip. "I want to play with Taylor!" Chasen says, running up to me. Taylor puts his arms out towards Chasen, and I put him down. The two boys go off into another part of the house.

"Bridget, come here." My mom says from the living room. I walk into the room where she is watching some music video.

"What's up?" I ask, plopping down on the couch next to her.

"I don't know if my eyes are deceiving me, but would by any chance, would that be Travis?" She asks, her eyes still on the screen. I turn from her and to the television screen, and my eyes widen at the person who shows up.

"Oh my God, it is." My mom turns to me.

"Since when did he get a record deal?"

"I- I don't know. We lost contact after...you know..." I answer.

"Yeah." She sighs. "Well, I just wanted you to see that."

"Okay, Mom." I get up and go up to my room.

Later That Evening...

"Yeah, Dany, I heard about Travis...I know, I can't believe either...Actually, it's been almost two years...I guess I'm going to keep living like I have been...Ooh, Josh...Okay girl...bye." I hang up the phone and fall back onto my bed. Travis, my ex-boyfriend, had actually pulled off getting a record deal. When we were together, he was always talking about one day making it big, and now his video was aired on TRL. "Unbelievable." I say to my self. Taylor comes into the room, rubbing his eyes. I pick him up and rock him to sleep. After I know that he's in a deep sleep, I head downstairs. The doorbell rings. "Mom! Are you gonna get that?" She doesn't answer. "Mom?" I call. "Guess not." I open the front door. Jason is standing there with a girl about my age by his side. Jason smiles at me.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey Jason." I say. "What's up?" I step out of the house, and onto the front doorstep, closing the door behind me.

"Missy, this is Bridget, a good friend of mine. Bridget, this is Missy, the girl I told you about." I smile, and hold out my hand.

"Hey."

"Hi." She says, shaking my hand.

"So, where are you guys going tonight?"

"We're going to the movies tonight, and whatever else we plan to do afterwards." Jason explains. He looks at his watch. "Well, I just wanted you to meet her, Bridge. I'll see you tomorrow maybe."

"Yeah, okay, Jason." I say. "Bye, Missy. Nice meeting you."

"You too." She says.

"Bye." Jason says. I watch as they pull out of the driveway and around the corner before looking down at myself and giggling at my cows and clouds pajamas.

"Oh my gosh, he thinks I'm a nerd." I joke to myself, and go inside.

I sit in the living room watching MTV and eating cookies-n-cream ice cream. The phone next to me rings all of a sudden. "Hello?"

"Are you not allowed to call me anymore?" Ashlee's voice rings out on the other end. I smile and stretch out on the couch.

"I'm sorry, Ash. I've just been really busy with Taylor back and all."

"He's back? Since when?"

"Since this afternoon."

"Oh, I'm coming to see him some time tomorrow." There is silence on her end for a quick second. "Did you see Travis's video on MTV today?" I sigh.

"Yeah, I did see it."

"How did he score a job like that?"

"Luck, I guess." I say quietly.

"What are you going to do about college?" Ashlee asks seriously. I run a hand through my hair.

"Hmm...I guess I'm going to have to hold it off."

"You know if I could, I'd hold it off with you, but you know how my parents are."

"Yeah. I wouldn't want you to do that anyway." I say.

"Does Jason know?" Ashlee asks. She had met him a few times, and they had gotten close enough to where they'd joke around with each other.

"No, he doesn't know. I told him that he was my cousin. I just don't think I want Jason to know right now."

"Oh. So, what's up?"

"Nothing really. Jason just stopped by with his date Missy."

"Missy? Missy who?" Ashlee asks.

"Uh, I didn't quite catch her last name." I say.

"Do you know where she works?"

"She works at, uh, I don't know that either."

"Damn Bridget you aren't working with me. Is she average height, dirty blonde hair, and hazel eyes?"

"Um, yeah."

"Oh my God."

"What?" I ask.

"Jason is dating Missy Allen."

"Who?"

"Missy Allen. She's totally not his type."

"Why? They looked cute together."

"Believe me, Missy looks cute with everyone. She's nothing but bad news." Ashlee explains.

"And you say this because?"

"Bridge, she tries to get in any guys pants she can, but if she can't she'll drop the guy on the spot."

"Oh my gosh are you serious? She didn't look like that."

"That's because she looks like she's this innocent girl who won't hurt anyone." Ashlee explains. "She gets really jealous too. Missy just gives off the impression that she won't do anything. She's fooled a lot of guys. Including my brother. Seriously, girl, you have to warn Jason about her."

"Ashlee, are you sure about this whole thing?"

"I'm more than sure. I'm positive. She did this kind of stuff to my brother. I should know."

"Okay. I believe you. Jeez, I just don't believe this whole thing."

"You're gonna tell him, right? I mean, as soon as possible."

"Yeah, Ashlee trust me. I'm gonna tell him."

"Good. This is something that he really needs to know." Ashlee says matter-of-factly.

The Next Day...

I wake up to the light shining brightly in my eyes. I hadn't remembered falling asleep on the couch last night, but I guess it caught me off guard. I can hear laughter coming from the kitchen. As soon as I wake up enough to actually get off of the couch and drag myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth I do so. I look in the mirror at my reflection. "My hair is such a mess." I think as I brush my teeth in fast circular motions. I wash my face and leave the bathroom having combed my hair just before leaving.

"Nice of you to join us." Ashlee says to me. She is holding Taylor on her hip.

"What are you doing here so early?" I ask, grabbing a bowl and the Fruit Loops.

"Early? No. I should be asking you why you woke up so late. It's two in the afternoon. Even Jason stopped by."

"How long ago?" I ask, pouring the cereal into my bowl. Ashlee puts Taylor down who then goes running out of the room.

"About thirty minutes."

"Did you tell him?"

"Oh yeah! You know what? It totally slipped my mind." I look over at Ashlee with a raised eyebrow as I pour the milk into my bowl.

"Slipped your mind?" I ask, returning the milk to its spot in the refrigerator. "That's a lie. Nothing you have your mind set on 'slips your mind'." I say as we walk into the dining room. We barely ever use the dining room, but it was closer than the living room was.

"Okay fine. He kept going on and on about how great the date was and how much he wanted to tell you about it. I couldn't get myself to tell him. He was just so damn happy."

"Maybe Missy's changed then." I say, putting a spoonful of Fruit Loops into my mouth.

"Nah, that's just phase one. Make the guy swoon over her."

"But how could she get him if Jason made the first move?"

"Oh, well, in that case, this is phase two."

"What's phase three?" I ask, suddenly interested.

"Phase three is making the guy her boyfriend. Some guys go on to phase three quickly while others don't. Jason seems like a sensible guy. Maybe he'll realize they aren't meant for each other before phase three."

"She doesn't waste time does she?"

"Oh, it takes a little while for her to get to phase three." Ashlee says.

"You did your research, didn't you?" Ashlee smiles.

"I try. It's not my fault that I'm just good." I roll my eyes playfully and eat another spoonful of my cereal. The more Ashlee said about this Missy girl, the worse my feelings were about her. Hopefully Jason won't get attached too quickly so I'll have time to tell him about her, and hopefully he'll listen.

It had been about an hour and a half since Ashlee left when the doorbell rang. My mom had taken Chasen and Taylor to the store with her so I wouldn't have to worry about either one of them going to the door. The doorbell rings again. "I'm coming!" I call out. I unlock the door and open it to be greeted by Jason's smiling face. "Well, don't you seem mighty jolly right now." I say, letting him into the house.

"Hey to you, Bridget." He says.

"What's up? Had fun last night?" I ask, closing the door.

"Tons of fun." Jason says, sitting on one of the stools next to the wall. I wait for him to continue, but he doesn't.

"So, what'd you guys do?"

"Oh. Oh yeah! We were going to go see a movie, but just as we got there we saw that the lines were too long. Missy and I were going to just come back, but that was just going to be a waste of what could've been a good date. We went clubbing instead at Teen Scream." As much as I hated the name, Teen Scream was a pretty well known teen club. Missy and Jason weren't going to be able to get into a real club so of course they had to go there. "It was a lot of fun. We danced the whole time we were there."

"How long were you there?"

"Two and a half to three hours." He answers.

"You really like her?"

"Of course I like her. She's perfect! She gives off this shy impression of her, but that's totally not how she really is."

"We all know how she really is." I think. I know that I was being one sided here, but what Ashlee was saying made a lot of sense. "Oh, I'm glad you guys had a good time."