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Chapter 16:

All the guys, minus A.J, with their management, were sitting around a rectangular-shaped wooden confrencing table, discussing past album sales statistics compared to the recent release of their new album. They're most recent album " Black & Blue " had been such a success in sales, and now they were a planning spectacular world tour.

Howie shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His ears were tuned in to what was being said, but his mind was wandering. ' You're too much of a softy ' he thought to himself, still feeling a little troubled that Chase could be so angry with him. Though Nastasia was probably right. He was probably already over it and was no longer mad, but what if he still was? Howie would hate to have him mad at him still. After all, he hadn't meant to yell at him.

" What do you think D? " Kevin asked as all heads turned towards Howie.

Howie shook his head and blinked his eyes several times. " Huh? "

" You're spacing again bro, " Brian laughed.

" I don't want to know what he's thinking about, " Nick said childishly.

" How old are you Frack? " Brian asked as Howie gave Nick a puzzled look.

" Um...20, why Frick? "

" Are you sure about that? "

" Yes. "

" Uh-huh, right... " Brian grinned, his voice trailing off.

" Hey! " Nick piped up. " What's that susposed to mean? "

" Nothing, Frack. Nothing. "

" Anyways, do any of you know where Mr. McLean is? " one of their managers asked, after flipping through a pile of papers.

" I haven't got a clue, " Kevin answered, looking down at his watch. A.J was terribly late. It was now 1:45, the meeting had started at 12:15, meaning it had started 15 minutes late. " D, where's J at? "

Again Howie was spacing, leaning back into the chair, his eyes kind of glazed over as he looked deep in thought. Just as Kevin was about to repeat his question, the door to the meeting room burst open and A.J rushed in. Everyone looked at him in question.

" Yo! Sup? Sorry I'm a little late, " he said as he took a seat in the empty chair and dropped his keys onto the wooden table.

" A little, try an hour and a half, " Brian laughed.

A.J grinned sheepishly. " Sorry guys, I uh...had a few errands to run. "

" Well, glad to have you finally join us Mr. McLean, " one of the managers said. " Now that all of you are here, we can start talking about plans for the " Black & Blue " World Tour. "

*****

Nastasia laughed as Lauren rolled her eyes. The two of them had been engrossed in quite a long conversation, since Howie had left.

" Well, that's just JJ for ya, " Nastasia laughed.

Lauren laughed too. " I swear, I don't know about him sometimes... "

" But that just makes you love him more. "

" Yes it does. His wild sense of fashion, not being able to make up his mind on what color he wants his hair to be, and damn, all those tattoos...I find it quite sexy. "

" Well, he was quite the dork when he was younger. You're lucky you didn't know him back then, " Nastasia joked.

" I think I met him one time, yeah, I met him one time. And that was a funny experience. I think it was back in what? 7th...no 8th grade. You called me up and said you, me and two of your friends were all going out to a movie, and you wouldn't let me say no. So my Mom picked you up and drove us to the theater. I'll never be able to forget what happened that night. God, Alex was such an immature punk back then. We were all sitting in the theater and just as the movie started, I could tell someone was throwing popcorn at me and I knew it was Alex because I could see a grin on his face. I told him to stop and being the jerk he was, he kept on doing it. "

" Yeah, and what do you do? You stand up, right during the opening credits, your popcorn bucket crashing to the ground and you throw your pop on him, telling him how much of an immature jerk he was. Then you left, " Nastasia burst out laughing as she finished Lauren's story. " I can still remember the surprised look on JJ's face when you threw your pop on him. It was a funny sight. But thanks to you, you ruined my date, because I had to run after you before you got out of the theater. "

" Consider me having done you a favor that night, " Lauren laughed. " You went out on a date with Jeremy Roberts, the biggest jerk in junior high. "

" Hey! I thought he was cute. "

" You also thought he was the sweetest, most innocent guy on earth until Mary Simmins. "

Nastasia rolled her eyes when that name clicked in her head. Mary Simmins had been her worst enemy throughout junior high and into highschool. Nastasia and Jeremy had hooked up for only one week until she saw him kissing Mary Simmins near his locker. " Yeah, well she was a bitch. What can I say? "

" That I won't deny. Did you know they broke up two weeks later? "

" No I didn't, but serves Jeremy right. "

Lauren stood up from the couch and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. " Chase! Would you come down here please? " Chase had been up in the guest room ever since he had stormed from Howie and Nastasia's room, earlier that morning.

A minute later, he came pounding down the stairs and glared at Lauren as he walked by her and sat next to Nastasia on the couch.

" Get your shoes on Chase, " Lauren said.

" Where are you going? " Nastasia asked.

" Going home. "

" NO! You can't! " Nastasia said as she stood up abruptly from the couch. Chase looked at her with surprise.

Lauren's eyes glazed over with question. " And may I ask why not? "

Nastasia bit her lower lip and looked at the ground. She had gotten a phone call from A.J earlier, while Lauren had been in the bathroom. He had told her, whatever she had to do, to keep Lauren from going home. " Um, because...I said so. "

" Funny Staz. I gotta go home and change out of these clothes. "

" No! I was thinking we could take the kids to a movie today. I heard there was a new Disney movie out. And Chase has been bugging me to take him to go see it. "

" Ha, you expect me to go looking like this? "

" You can borrow a pair of my clothes. The pair of khaki shorts and blue tank. "

" You mean, my pair of khaki shorts and blue tank, " Lauren laughed, remembering how she had lent them to Nastasia and still hadn't gotten them back.

" Sure, then it should be no problem, right? "

" Alright, we'll go to the movies. "

Nastasia grinned and tickled Chase, causing the scowling look to leave his face and him to burst into giggles.