"Well now what do we do?!" Nick asked.
        "Talk," replied Brian.
        "What is there to talk about?"
        "I think about all of us...this little triangle thing going on..." Julie sighed.
        "What triangle thing?" Nick asked, confused.
        "Are you completely oblivious to it?" Julie turned to him.
        "I assume so since I have no idea what you are talking about," Nick replied.
        "I like Julie, Nick," Brian blurted out.
        "Well you're just gonna have to stop liking her," he said, putting an arm around Julie. She shrugged him off.
        "You don't own me, Nick..."
        "But I thought you liked me."
        "I do. But that doesn't mean I have to spend every waking second with you," Julie stated. "No matter how good that sounds..." she said under her breath.
        "Look, Julie, I agreed that we were friends, and I stick to that...I'm sorry I made everything awkward, but I see nothing left to talk about," Brian said.
        "Awkward?" Nick asked.
        "He kissed me too," Julie said quietly.
        "WHEN WAS THIS?" Nick blew up.
        "Before you kissed her, so calm down Nick," Brian said.
        "Oh..."
        "And I told him I'd have to choose between you two...and I did," Julie took Nick's hand. He smiled lightly.
        "And I respect that choice," Brian added.
        "You sure, Bri? I mean, we can break off whatever we have if it makes you uncomfortable," Nick said, looking at Julie for an agreement; she nodded.
        "No, don't ruin what you have over me. I'll get over this. I mean, it should be nothing. We've only known four of the girls for what, almost two days? We're getting worked up over nothing," Brian stated.
        "Yeah...WORKED UP OVER NOTHING," Nick emphasized the last part especially for Jenny and me outside the door. Jenny looked at me and giggled. We unlocked the door.
        "Bravo!" she clapped her hands.
        "Impressive," I said.
        "Now can we go watch American Pie?!" Nick asked.
        "Yeah..." Julie led him downstairs and I followed.
        "Sorry if it didn't amount to anything," Jenny said as she walked by Brian to the stairs.
        "No, don't worry...thank you." He stopped at the stairs, turned, took her hands into his, and looked into her eyes. "It was good that we talked. It did help me at least. I wouldn't have been able to do it if you hadn't locked me in there."
        "Sarah helped too."
        "Yes, Sarah helped too."
        "...So does that cousin of yours  like Sarah?" Jenny changed the subject as she took her hands out of his and they began to walk down the stairs.
        "I dunno. Why don't you ask him?" Brian laughed.
        "Maybe I will!" Jenny vowed as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
        Most of the movie was spent dodging the popcorn that AJ and Howie had made. Chin got revenge by dumping AJ's own bowl of popcorn on his head. Afterwards, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. At one point, Brian began kicking a rock that kept hitting me.  Jenny thought it was hilarious. AJ was trying to apologize to Chin most of the time, but she had almost forgotten about the earlier argument and kept telling him not to worry about it. Cathy was making random comments about how she almost couldn't stand living in a house where BSB and *N Sync was practically spoken about everyday, and Howie could only laugh. Hannah told Lance of stables nearby and he agreed to ride with her sometime.
        The upstairs became a bustling place once we got home. The guys were arguing about the order in which they could use their bathroom, some gave up and headed downstairs, only  to realize that they had to share down there, too. We ended up letting them use our bathrooms out of pity.
Julie found Chin alone in her and Hannah's room. "Chin?" Julie stood in the doorway.
        "Hmmm?" she was rummaging through something.
        "We need to talk..."
        "About?"
        "Nick."
        "Oh." Chin sat down her bed. Julie stood in front of her.
        "I know you like him too-- "
        "LikED."
        "Oh. Well, um, yeah, okay..."
        "You couldn't have tried with Brian? I mean, you like both of them..."
        "I did..."
        "What?"
        "Both kissed me...but I chose Nick."
        "I can't believe this. TWO Backstreet Boys like you. Good lord," Chin laughed.
        "Chin-- "
        "What?"
        "Please don't be mad."
        "Mad? I'm mad? No, I'm not mad. But I dunno what I am. I can't be mad. Who knows if I really likED Nick? This was all based on nothing. I idolized him. There. That's all."
        "So you're okay with this?"
        "Yeah, don't worry. We all have bigger problems in life. We shouldn't make a dig deal out of this. It's silly...No biggy, hon," she grinned.
        "You sure?"
        "Yes!" Chin got up and hugged Julie. "Don't make too much of this, k? We're only 18!"
        "Soon to be 19..." Julie added with a grin.
        "Well then, just rub it in! Miss I'm-a-few-months-older-than-you-so- there!" Chin laughed.
        "MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!" they heard a muffled cry. They ran to the game room to find the rest of us congregated, watching the spectacle. Brian had a screaming Nick all zipped up in his sleeping bag while he dragged it around the room by the top so Nick was completely stuck inside it.
        "I guess their friendship is bA-ack," Jenny whispered to Julie, who smiled.
        The night was eventful. Now and then some crash would be heard from either room the guys occupied, then there would be some good-natured bickering. At one point I heard screeching; Brian had sneaked into our room and soaked Jenny with water, as Nick had done to Julie in her and Cathy's room, and AJ and Lance had done to Chin and Hannah in their room.

~*~*~*(in the game room later that night)*~*~*~
        AJ, Nick, and Brian were in their sleeping bags on the ground, all lying on their backs. Their heads were together and their feet made them look like a three-legged star.
        "So you're okay with all of this, Bri?" Nick asked for the billionth time.
        "YES Nick...I'm fine."
        "Chin is fiiine..." AJ muttered in his sleep. Brian ad Nick snickered. "What?" AJ woke up.
        "Someone li-ikes Chiiii-in..." Nick said in a singsong voice.
        "What? WHO!?" AJ got worried.
        "YOU!" Nick and Brain said at the same time.
        "Do not," AJ grunted.
        "Do too," Nick and Brian said together.
        "Chin's cool, okay?"
        "Uh-oh," Brian said.
        "What?" AJ asked confused.
        "Where have we heard that before?" Brian hinted.
        "Oooohh..." Nick understood.
        "WHAT?" AJ was getting more confused.
        " 'Hannah's cool.'" Nick quoted Lance [from the Disneyland bathroom soon after their clam chowder fight].
        "It's not like that," AJ got defensive.
        "Uh-huh..." Brian and Nick said in unison, not believing him.
        "Well what about you and Jenny, Bri?" AJ tried to switch the convo off of him.
        "What do you mean?" Brian asked.
        "You know what I mean."
        "We're just good friends."
        "Good friends, huh?" Nick asked.
        "YES good friends. There is nothing wrong with that. She's been there when I need to talk and we get along great. She's a really good friend. That's all.  End of subject," Brian stated.
        "Oooookay..." Nick wasn't convinced.
        "Now goodnight y'all," Brian turned over onto his side, ready to go to sleep.
        "Nite," Nick sighed.
        "Goooooooodnight," AJ closed his eyes.

        In the morning 12 sleepy people showed up in the kitchen.
        "Why don't you girls whip up some breakfast?" AJ asked groggily.
        "Excuse me...?!" Chin replied.
        "You heard me," AJ grinned. "OW!" He was jabbed by a near-by Jenny.
        "Thank you Jenny," it was Chin's turn to grin.
        "How's about we cook breakfast?" Kevin suggested.
        "He speaks!" Cathy joked.
        "Funny, Kat," I said.
        "Well Kev's got a good idea...so girls, sorry to sound mean, but SHOO." Lance pointed to the door. We pretended to seem hurt, but we vacated the area. We went and sat in the family room. Now and then we'd hear a crash and a few yells:
        (crash)
        "NICK!"
        "IT WASN'T ME!"
        (crash)
        "AJ!"
        "WHAT!?"
        (crash)
        "BRIAN!"
        "IT WAS NICK!"
        And so on...It was cute. At one point, Julie and I attempted to peek into the kitchen. We came face to face with smoke and ran from the vicinity to report back to the family room.
        Soon we were called to the dining room and were presented with somewhat of a grand breakfast--if you could call it that. The guys were a sight to see. We couldn't help but laugh. The only remotely clean ones were Kevin, Howie, and Lance. AJ had what we hoped was not egg in his air and some substance on his shirt. Nick had flour on his nose, forehead, chin, arms, and in his hair. Brian had syrup on his shirt and some batter on his face. We sat down and enjoyed the meal, commenting on the guys' looks. Chin got up to take her plate to the kitchen. AJ shot up.
        "Chin! Let me take that for you," he said grabbing a hold of her plate, with her still holding it, preventing her from getting to the kitchen.
        "It's okay AJ, I'm a big girl," she laughed, pulling the plate.
        "NO, let me," he pulled it back.
        "AJ, it's OK..." Chin insisted, she pulled it.
        "Let ME," he pulled.
        "AJ..." she pulled, no longer laughing. AJ's hands slipped and he let go of the plate. Its contents ended up on Chin's shirt.
        "Thanks...well you can have it," she muttered, a bit annoyed, as she shoved the plate at him, and headed upstairs.
        "Geeze, AJ, nice going," Cathy commented.
        "I just didn't want her to see the kitchen..." he mumbled.
        "So you weren't trying to be a gentleman? Shame!" Jenny laughed.
        "What did you guys do to our kitchen...?" Hannah asked.
        "Nothing we can't fix..." Lance muttered.
        We all headed into the kitchen to help clean up. AJ slipped out of the room and headed upstairs, determined to apologize to Chin. He saw her room door closed and didn't bother to knock, thinking she'd just yell at him. He opened the door.
        "Chin..."
        "AHHH!!!" Chin screeched; she was in the middle of changing.
        "SORRY!!" AJ exclaimed, and shut the door, and waited. The door opened a few moments later.
        "Dammit AJ, you could have KNOCKED," she glared at him. "Or were you just trying to get a free show?" she muttered and let him in.
        "Look, I'm sorry! What else can I say?"
        "I dunno." Chin crossed her arms and sat on her bed. There was silence for awhile.
        "About the plate--" AJ began.
        "Forget about it," Chin cut in.
        "NO, let me finish...I was just trying to prevent you from seeing the disaster we made in the kitchen..."
        "Cute..." Chin smirked.
        "That's what everyone is cleaning up right now."
        "Oh."
        More silence.
        "So, um how are we gonna do this thing for Jenny?" AJ broke the silence and changed the subject.
        "Hmmm?"
        "You know, this late birthday celebration."
        "Oh...um, we gotta get her out of the house."
        "That's the problem..."
        "Yeah...um, let's send one of you guys with her to the mall or something and keep her busy."
        "Good idea."
        "Who..."
        "Umm."
        "Not you, she'll kill you," Chin snickered.
        "Haha, very funny...how's about Brian?"
        "Why?"
        "I dunno...they seem to be like best friends all of a sudden, so why not?"
        "Okay. It's a deal. Let's go!" Chin grinned.
        "Feeling better I hope?" AJ helped her up and gave her a hug.
        "Much, thank you."
        Downstairs we had casually gotten to the subject of Jenny's birthday and what presents she wanted.
        "Guys! Stoppit! It was two days ago! Don't get me anything!" Jenny wailed.
        "So what if it was two days ago? You still didn't get any presents!" Nick pointed out.
        "Yes I did! I got six more friends!" Jenny grinned pointing to the guys.
        "Awwww!!!!!" Brian cooed at her and slung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a one-arm hug, "How sweeeeet!"
        "But seriously Jenny, you must want something," Howie said.
        "No I don't!" she insisted. Just then Darwin and Kezia began barking. We ran outside to shush them.
        "I've always wanted a dog..." she said when she thought no one could hear, taking her time to walk outside. She didn't notice Brian was behind her untill they left the kitchen.
        They came outside to find us playing with the animals. Chin and AJ had told us about their plan to send Brian off with Jenny while we got the house ready, and we agreed that it was a good idea. When Brian came out, Jenny had gone to play with Darwin. Chin pulled Brian aside and told him the plan. He nodded. We soon headed inside to get changed.
        "Jenny?" Brian caught up to her walking up the stairs.
        "Hmmm?"
        "What do you wanna do today?"
        "Whatever the group wants to do."
        "Can we do something without them?" Brian asked. Jenny gave him an odd look. "I wanna go to the mall and see movies and go ice skating etc...the guys don't want to, I already asked them, but would you take me?" he gave her puppy-dog eyes.
        "Now how am I supposed to say no to that?" she laughed. "Lemme change, and check with the girls, and I'll give you a tour of our wonderful mall, k?"
        "K!" Brian grinned as they parted ways.

        "Hey Sarah..." Jenny said finding me in our room.
        "Hmmm?"
        "Brian wants me to take him around the mall, is that okay with you guys?"
        "It's fine with me, I bet it'll be fine with everyone else. Go have fun...Ick. I sound like a mom!" I laughed.
        "Yup...okay, see you later today!" She grabbed her stuff after she changed and went downstairs. As soon as I heard the front door close I got everyone together upstairs to talk about the party. Brian had agreed to take Howie's cell phone with him so we could tell him when it would be safe to let Jenny come home.

*Chapter 22 ~ The Birthday Present*
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