Carson wiped his hands with a napkin and gently nudged Cassie off his lap so that he could stand up.  Cassie motioned for me to have a seat in her chair, but I shook my head and instead hopped up onto a barstool.  She nodded and sat back down, turning around and leaning onto the back of the chair.  He cleared his throat and looked at Cassie, giving her a genuine smile, then he started his speech. “Cassandra and I have been talking, and we think it’s time that we clear the air about our relationship.”  He turned to me.  “Emily, I know that when you found us in the dressing room at TRL, you were shocked.”  I crossed my arms across my chest and stared him down.  “I also know that Cassandra told you about the little arrangement we made at that time.”

“What arrangement?” Chrissy interrupted.  

“Just keep listening.  This gets good,” Mel remarked.  I raised an eyebrow at her, my arms still crossed protectively across my chest.  

“How do you know?”

“Like I’ve told you before.  I know everything.”  Nothing about Mel surprised me anymore.  At the moment, I was less interested in her Nancy Drew skills, and more interested in what Carson had to say for himself.

Carson kept talking.  “I approached Cassandra before the show a couple months ago....”

I hated the way he called her Cassandra.  I only ever called her that when I was upset with her, like an angry parent scolding her child. Come to think about it, bring on “Cassandra,” Carson.  “Because as an MTV veejay, it’s in my job description to keep up with the celebrity gossip, particularly the information surrounding the artists on my countdown.  I routinely check fan message boards, particularly the ones run by MTV, but also individual fan sites as well.”  

I sighed.  Now, we were getting to the “he knows something” part of the conversation.  

“When I ran across some information about one of you, I felt like I had to act on it, but when I asked Cassandra about it, she ended up giving me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  I never imagined I’d actually end up falling for her...” He looked down as Cassie, gave her shoulder a little squeeze, and smiled.  Oh, how very cryptic of him. What the hell did he know?

“What the hell do you know, Carson?”  Thanks, Mel.  

Carson looked at Cassie and eyed her cautiously.  In return, she shrugged.  “You might as well tell them.”

He sighed.  “Where did you say Amelia was, again?”  Uh-oh.  This wasn’t good.

“She’s at her parents’ house in Kentucky,” I reiterated, placing a staccato on each word for emphasis.  

“Is she really?”  I eyed him dubiously.  “What if I told you that there was a message board about Amelia’s pregnancy on one of the MTV fan forums?”  Carson finally ripped off the bandaid. It was still painful.  Mel winced and Chrissy’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Cassie closed her eyes, as if she was avoiding the situation altogether.  “It got deleted,” he said quickly.  “It was a small thread, so I don’t think there are that many suspicious fans out there, but when you all showed up at TRL without her,  I couldn’t help thinking maybe it was true.  Now, I don’t know who the father is, but I’d place a few bets on the possibilities.”  Silence.  None of us knew what to say, so he kept talking. “I didn’t tell Cassandra what I knew at the time, just that I knew something that could be very big, and I wanted to confirm it.  She asked me what it would take to keep me quiet, and we made a deal.  It was a win-win situation, really.  In exchange for my silence, she agreed to date me-- publicly.  Get the media, especially the teen magazines in on the relationship, and it gave both me and the five of you a  lot of exposure.  I mean, come on-- a member of an up and coming girl group dating an MTV VJ?  It’s a pop culture gold mine.”

“Except, now you’re falling for her,” I said slowly.

Carson nodded affirmatively and took Cassie’s hand with his.  “I am... So, we’ve got another agreement, and this one’s much better.”

“Oh, do tell,”  Mel interjected.

“I want you to know that your secrets are safe with me.”  Carson smiled warmly just as a male voice cut into the silence from down the hallway.

“Oh, dear God!  What did you eat?!”  It was undeniably Brian.  

I jumped up from my perch on the barstool and held my index finger up in front of me.  “I’ll be right back.”  I stomped down the hallway and flung the door open.  Brian was hanging his head out the open window making overzealous gagging noises, and Nick had his red face buried into a pillow to muffle his laughter.  Kevin had his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth slowly, and AJ was fawning over Amelia, who looked like she was literally going to be sick. Howie mouthed a sympathetic “sorry” to me and rolled his eyes in Nick and Brian’s general direction.  I sighed and marched over to the two troublemakers with my hands on my hips.  “Ya think you could have been a little louder, Brian?”  I grabbed him by the elbow and jerked him back inside the room.  

“Sorry.”  He grinned sheepishly.  “You’d have yelled at him too if you smelled it.”  I scrunched up my nose in disgust and looked over at Nick.

“Sorry,” he squeaked.

“You couldn’t behave yourself for just a few more minutes?”  I gave him an exasperated sigh.  

“No!”  he hissed quietly.  “It’s a natural bodily function.  It was in me and had to come out.  Otherwise, I might have imploded!”  They were all grown men, but as usual, a little potty humor got them every time. They all snickered, quietly this time, and even Kevin let out a little chuckle.

“Well, Carson definitely heard Brian’s little outburst.  I think the neighbors down the street heard Brian’s little outburst!  So, what do you propose we do about that?”  I asked.  

Immediately, Howie was at my side.  He took my hand and squeezed it.  “Let’s go.”  He gestured towards the door with his head.  I froze and stared at him like a deer in the headlights.  “We don’t have to, but can you think of a better explanation for the man shouting from one of the bedrooms?”  He cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows at me.

He had me there.  I wasn’t particularly happy about bringing Howie back out into the kitchen with me, but what was that Carson had just told us?  Our secrets were safe with him, right?  Yeah, right.  Still, Amelia’s big secret hadn’t been leaked to the press yet, and that had to mean something, didn’t it?  I gave Howie a little nod, and he followed me out of Amy’s bedroom.

“Get rid of him!”  Brian whispered as we walked out the door.  I should have brought Brian out with me.  If it weren’t for him, Carson would be none the wiser about the five Backstreet Boys hiding just a few footfalls away.  

Instead of taking a left and heading towards the kitchen, Howie took a right and  opened Mel’s bedroom door to let her little teacup poodle, Lance, out.  He’d gotten a little nervous and yippy with so many people around earlier, so she’d shut him in there to calm down. Now, the little curly black-haired puppy was yelping and shaking with excitement as Howie stooped down to pick him up. “I can’t believe she named him Lance,” he said, as he cupped the pooch’s belly with the palm of one hand while he rubbed his head with the fingers of the other.  “You think that says more about Lance or the dog?”   

I stifled a laugh and shrugged.  “Why are you getting the dog, anyway?”

“Ah!  He’s all part of my plan!”  He said with a wink.  I gulped and followed him into the kitchen.

“Oh, hey, Carson!” he said cheerfully.  “Sorry about my little outburst back there.  This little guy’s got some serious digestive issues.”  He gestured down to the dog and gave him a pat on the head.  “Smelly!”  He fanned his hand in front of his face and faked a grimace.   

Carson’s eyes widened in disbelief, but he didn’t comment on the apparent canine flatulence at all.  “Howie D.  I didn’t imagine I’d see you here.  Maybe Brian, but--”  He held out his hand and Howie shook it.  Brian?  Why would Brian be in our condo on a Saturday afternoon?

“Brian?”  Chrissy asked.  “Why would Brian be here?”

“Uh-- You’re seeing him aren’t you?”  Was he talking to me?  Howie turned to look at me with raised eyebrows and Mel made no effort to hide her amused smirk.  

“No....”

“Well, I know that he’s with that blonde girl from the music video,  but you should know what after what you said about him on my show a couple months ago, the TRL fan boards blew up with speculation that he’s cheating on her with you.”  Oh great.  Now Leighanne Wallace was going to claw my eyes out.

“I had them deleted,” he said quickly.  Well, that explained why I still had my eyes 2+ months later.  “But why are you here, Howie?”

Howie’s eyes flashed in my direction as he bent down to put Lance in the floor.  The little dog promptly ran over to Carson’s feet and started pulling on the shoes strings of his Converse All-Stars with his teeth.  I gave him a little nod of approval.  “Actually, Carson, it’s not Brian that Em’s seeing-- it’s me.”   He crossed the room and placed his hand on the small of my back.

Carson’s mouth formed an “o” of recognition.  “I totally called that one a year ago,” he said with a wink.  “And, like I said before... Your secrets are safe with me.”  He shrugged and looked down at Cassie, who was still seated at the kitchen table basically being the silent observer.  “You want to go do something, Cassandra?  Just the two of us?”

“I’d love to.”  She stood up and grasped his hand as she followed him out the door.

“Do you believe him?”  Mel piped up once they were most likely out of earshot.  

“Not for a minute,” Chrissy snarled immediately.  “I don’t trust that guy and farther than I can throw him.”  (Which wasn’t very far.  She was really tiny.)  That made at least two of us.