Hey, my name is Justin. I’m 22, from Millington, Tennessee and I attended the University of Memphis.

"Hey, man. Nice to meet you." Justin enthusiastically strutted down the terminal escaping the droning sound of airplane. He had just arrived on Flight 384 from Memphis and embarking on what could possibly turn into the most intriguing journey of his lifetime. He didn’t know where it would lead him, but he was fully aware that it was starting at Gate A12 of Dulles International Airport.

His assigned cameraman, Jackson, smiled politely while hoisting his bulky camera over his left shoulder. "Hey, Justin. Could you do me a favor and walk back down again so I can catch it."

"Sure."

"And don’t look at the camera."

Decked out in his vintage plaid shirt and baggy, holey jeans, and a grin as wide as Tennessee, he gladly obliged and trekked back to the plane’s entrance to restart his excursion. The way he saw it, people rarely get second chances at first impressions, so he must have been a lucky one.

He and Jackson paraded down the airport corridor towards the Baggage Claim where Justin had already been instructed to meet with his first new roommate. He was nervous. He was excited. He was curious. He knew nothing outside of his Millington, TN haven. He knew to expect the unexpected. What he didn’t know what how the hell he was supposed to do that.

What’s up. I’m Adam from Topeka, Kansas. I’m 23 and a motherfuckin’ mechanic, baby!

Adam sat his supersized backpack on the floor, just in front of his feet and stood contently at Baggage Carousel #2 in his Kansas sweatshirt. With his own camera man, he awaited the arrival of his fellow unwitting cast member.

He turned and spotted the approach of a camera, accompanied by a tall, somewhat flustered guy with light brown hair and happy blue eyes. Adam greeted who he assumed to be his new roommate, jovially across the large space between them. "What up!"

Justin loved the way Adam’s contentment echoed through the airport. Still smiling, he reciprocated his cheerfulness and offered him the handshake/hug combination while laughing. "Nice to meet you, man. I’m Justin." He already knew that he and this guy would get along famously.

"Adam." He pulled out of their embrace and gave Justin a friendly pat on the back. "Man, I was hoping to get picked up by one of the hot chicks in the house."

"Well hey, now you’ve gotten a chance to check out your competition," he replied, dropping his heavy backpack. He stared at the moving carousel absently, inwardly glad that his first meeting was going smoothly.

"I’m not even trying to compete with you, bro."

"No, I’m taken anyway. The hot chicks are all yours."

"Fuck that," Adam laughed. "This is the beginning of the fuckin’ end for you."

Justin chuckled back, knowing that they were in for something crazy. "You probably speak the truth."

"No doubt. We’re in for four months of chaos, dog." Adam was all smiles, and, needless to say, excited about the possibilities. "Let’s get this party started, man." Adam held out his right hand again, waiting for the dap – to him, it always mean that shit was cool and the party could continue.

Justin retrieved his bag from the floor and finished their second handshake of the past five minutes. "Let’s fuckin’ do it."

>>>>>>>>>>

Hey y’all. My name is Usher, I’m 24 and I’m a bartender-slash-dancer from Las Vegas.

Usher, dressed to the nines in his version of casual – leather pants and a cashmere sweater – trekked down the cold Washington, DC sidewalk, which was blanketed in white snow, advancing towards the famed Washington Monument. He was sure that he was scheduled to meet his cast-mate on the corner of Ohio Avenue, but he only spotted one person standing at the corner and there was no way that this little red-head chick could be his roommate. Could she?

Hi! I’m Lindsay. I’m 18 and from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The buxom redhead, who indeed, appeared very young, took notice of the short, handsome black guy walking in circles with a camera following lackadaisically behind him. She smiled her 18-year-old smile and meekly asked, "Hey, are you from Real World?"

He turned back to her, relaying a slight disbelief. "You’re not my roommate are you?"

His high-pitched voice made her want to laugh, but the vast amount of apprehensiveness that was mounting with every second stopped that urge. "Yeah."

Usher could sense her uneasiness and smiled warmly. "Girl, calm down. I won’t bite. I just didn’t expect you to be so young!" He waved glibly and walked up to her. "Gimme a hug!"

"Okay," she smiled again, brushing her long hair behind her left ear.

"I’m Usher."

"What?"

"My name. I’m Usher."

"Oh…"

"This is usually the point where you tell me your name," he coerced, playfully.

"Oh! I’m sorry. I must be camera-shy or something."

"Don’t even worry about it, baby. The camera isn’t there."

"Okay."

"And then stop saying, ‘Okay,’" he laughed.

"Okay." She was officially about to shit herself. "Sorry!"

Usher grinned again, hoping that his soft dimples and impeccable pearly whites would put her at ease. He grabbed her hand and her bag and walked her down the street with him. "Calm down. Take a deep breath with me."

She inhaled lightly and exhaled slowly. "Okay."

"So maybe Name was too hard. How old are you, baby?"

"Eighteen," she beamed. "And my name is Lindsay."

"See? That wasn’t too bad, was it?"

"No, I guess not."

"Like I said, the camera isn’t there. Just me and you." He gave her a light side-hug as they continued down the sidewalk. "It’s all good."

She finally grinned in confidence, deciding that she liked Usher. "It’s all good."

>>>>>>>>>>

Hello, MTV. My name is Christina. I’m a 23-year-old graduate of Northwestern University. I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and I now work as a project coordinator for the Women First Center on the southside.

Christina, in her Ugg boots and bohemian-style, long, flowing skirt, took hold of her rosary in faith, took the pull-out handle of her roll-along backpack and heaved it onto the entrance of the city-bus that was supposed to take her to her final destination. She’d only just arrived in the city minutes before, but was already finding frustration in the day’s happenings.

Before agreeing to the show, she specifically requested that she only be followed by a female camera-woman, only to arrive and be greeted by Hal – the burliest, manliest guy anyone could find. See, MTV knows – it’s the little things that make good television great. Christina’s snit was sure to snowball into something bigger by the time she even met the rest of her housemates.

>>>>>>>>>>

Hi. My name is Britney and I’m from New York City. I’m 21 years old and a senior at Columbia.

The very second that Britney stepped off of the train and into Union Station, she’d been able to bear nothing but that ecstatic, immaculate smile. She stuffed her black Coach purse into her black Coach duffel bag and strutted through the passageway of the station to where she was to meet her new roommate at the entrance.

Before she knew it, she was joined by the unmistakable presence of her assigned camera and it’s owner, Jocelyn. Together, they entered the biting cold of mid-January – a cold that Britney was very used to – and searched for whoever she was looking for.

Yo! What is up! I’m Alicia from ATL, Georgia. I’m 22, I go to Clark Atlanta University, and I’m on fire!

Her curves, covered only by skintight dark denim, could’ve been spotted from a mile away. And although she was light enough to be white, the texture of her long black hair and the span of her hips said otherwise. She leaned against one of the large columns of Union Station, hugging herself inside of her short, black leather jacket. Her stance already told Britney that this girl was full of attitude.

Skeptically, Britney approached the medium-height frame of the only possible option of people that could be her roommate and heavily tapped her shoulder. "Hi."

Alicia turned abrasively from the harsh touch, ready to pounce, until she noticed the camera behind the blonde in front of her. "Oh, hello."

"I’m Britney," she smiled, offering a petite, gloved hand.

"Alicia." She took her hand and gave it a flaccid shake feigning a genuine grin. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I’m sure."

Alicia internalized the vision in front of her – an ostensibly rich, white girl, perfectly blonde and thin. She was already sure that the two of them wouldn’t be talking much after the first day. She picked up her Nike gym bag from the cold concrete and let her chocolate eyes meet Britney’s matching orbs. "Well it’s cold as shit out here, so how ‘bout we bounce to our new phat ass crib?"

"Sure." Britney pulled a pair of glasses from the bag perched on her shoulder, followed by a sheet of paper and turned around curiosity. "Okay, I think we go this way."

Glad to merely be moving in any step towards getting out of the cold, Alicia followed Britney’s lead to what would soon be their new Georgetown home. The two of them, having made conversation the entire time as to who and what they were, arrived on the street of their new home – Prospect Street – to find an eclectic group of people and cameramen waiting outside a tall white townhouse.

Alicia was the first to greet the collection of Real Worlders. "Hey, party people!"

The three cast members, two girls – a redhead and a Hispanic with black hair, and an attractive black guy, greeted Alicia in the same excited manner. In unison, they answered, "Hey!"

Britney was the next to pipe up. "Hi, guys."

"Please tell us that one of you has the key to the house," Christina, the raven-head, interjected.

Alicia stared at her briefly and then back to Britney. "You ain’t got the key, do you?"

"Is that why we’re standing outside?" Britney inquired.

"Well duh," Christina answered sarcastically.

Usher jumped into the conversation before any of them could turn this cold meeting into an icy one. "So hi," he said, extending his hand to Britney. "I’m Usher."

"I’m sorry?" She was just as confused and taken aback by his effeminate voice as Lindsay had been when he uttered those same words.

"My name is Usher," he laughed.

"Oh! I’m sorry, I’m Britney. Nice to meet you."

"Same here," he smiled, moving over to introduce himself to Alicia.

The introductions continued into the following half hour or so as they stood in the vicinity of the steps to their humble abode, all internally wondering why the hell they were stuck standing outside of this kick-ass house with no indication as to when they’d be able to get in. Maybe this was how all Real Worlds started out and editing just made them believe otherwise. That then arose the question of just how much different this experience was in comparison to what they’ve seen on TV for the past thirteen years. They knew that they’d embarked on something different, but just how different was this about to be?

I think it’s safe to say that Adam and me are two of the dumbest motherfuckers on the face of the planet. We got lost trying to find the house. And so, as if that’s not bad enough, I’m the one that has the key to the house. Hopefully, no one’s there yet, but I know the likelihood of that is pretty much slim to none because me and Adam had been riding in circles for an hour looking for Prospective Avenue before we realized that we lived on Prospect Street.

"You think they’ll be pissed at us?" I asked him.

"Not me. You’ve got the key, dude."

The second I saw Adam, I knew we’d be like best friends. He reminds me of what I left back home – the guys that love the girls, love the parties and basically just love life. He’s like me… times two.

I shot him a bird and diverted my attention to the cab driver. "Hey, can this thing go any faster?"

He ignored me and started to drive in, what seemed like, slow motion. I sat back in my seat and sighed until I spotted the group of people that I just knew had to be our roommates. "Oh, shit."

Adam’s face was glued to the window they way we used to be, back in the day, when the car was approaching Six Flags and you could see all the rides just calling your name. "Dude, I see a blonde!" he commented. "And a redhead. And this hot-ass black chick. And—"

The cab stopped and I pushed him out of the car. "And get out, man. They’ve been waiting long enough, I’m sure."

The ‘hot-ass black chick,’ who was definitely hot, was the first to speak, before my feet could even touch the ground. "One of y’all better have the fuckin’ key!" she smiled.

"Dude," Adam yelled, "we got fuckin’ LOST!"

"How did you get lost?" the redhead asked.

This Spanish girl in a weird-ass outfit inserted her comment with a facial expression that told me it was gonna be sarcastic. "I don’t care what happened. Just tell me one of you has a key."

I bowed my head in shame and pulled my coat’s hood over my head. I was glad to see everyone smiling, but I’m pretty sure this is the wrong foot to start off on. "I have it," I mumbled.

The hot black chick didn’t even give me time to be nervous when she grabbed my arm by the elbow and pulled me towards the sidewalk where our new house sat. "I’m Alicia," she whispered to me, just before taking my hood off and yelling to everyone else, "Aight, everyone attack!"

All the girls in the house are hot – that’s a given. But then, I saw Alicia and decided that she has to be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen…besides my girlfriend.

The group laughed, thankfully easing my discomfort and introduced themselves one-by-one. Adam and I explained our stupid selves and we finally prepared to enter the house. In the end, I actually think it’s kind of cool that we all get to see it together.

"Are y’all sure you don’t wanna stay out in the cold and make snow angels?" Adam joked.

Christina scoffed while the rest of us laughed and Alicia and Adam made sure to hurry me along. Alicia’s boots stomping on the concrete steps as she did a little dance, distracted me, making this whole process slower than it should have been.

"Hurry up!"

"Okay, okay," I smiled. "Y’all ready?"

"Yes!"

"Here goes nothin’."

The lock opened, doorknob turned and as our big white/glass door swung open, we were met with the biggest foyer I’ve ever seen in my life. The dark marble floor was adorned with a huge navy blue rug with the Presidential seal imprinted on it. The very first thing we were met with was an escalator. Yes, there’s an escalator in our fuckin’ house. It didn’t take long before all of us were screaming in excitement, oblivion, and disbelief.

The first thing I recall were Adam and Usher running blindly past me, into the obscurity of the house and the other four girls jumping around. I kind of just took it all in, little by little. I think it was supposed to be a modernized version of the actual White House – at least that’s what I got out of it. Alicia took me by one arm while Britney grabbed hold of the other and we explored every inch of our new digs.

Through the entrance hall, beyond our escalator, there was the living room to the right, which was titled the Diplomatic Reception Room. Next to that, our huge Oval Office sat, where the computer and phone were located. You turn a corner and our State Dining Room, better known as the kitchen, decked out in red, white and blue, was just waiting for us to fuck it up. Ever seen a red refrigerator before? Well we have one, damn it. When I say this house is pimp, I mean it’s pimp.

Our house is fuckin’ crazy, man. I just walked around touching everything to make sure it’s real. It’s. It’s insane!

Finally, we went upstairs, where Usher and Adam had already ripped and ran through everything. Our bedrooms, The Red Room, The Blue Room, and The Green Room were distributed along one big hallway, as well as The President’s Cabinet, serving as our guest room.

As if our shit wasn’t big enough, there was another layer to the house. Three floors? Three floors! We approached the third floor (no escalator – just regular steps) and Usher directed us to The Vermeil Room, soon to be renamed the game room because I can’t pronounce ‘Vermeil.’ Our bathrooms and the coveted hot tub, sticking with our red, white and blue theme, as well as insanely huge, were both in the East Wing. Then, there was the West Wing – one word: Confessional. Something tells me Christina will be spending a lot of time in there talking shit. Okay, that was mean. I’m sure we’ll all be up there talking shit.

I walked back downstairs to the second floor where our bedrooms were, and stood at the top of the escalator. I’m still in shock, man. How does a country boy from Tennessee get anything like this?

Lindsay ran past me to the balcony above the first floor to scream at everyone. "When do we pick rooms, you guys!"

The other five roommates found their way to, either the foyer to gaze up at us, or the landing of the second floor along with us.

"How about now?" Britney suggested.

"Yo!" Adam called up, "I’m staying with Justin."

I smiled in satisfaction and gave him a short, "Cool," before anyone else could refute it. "What room do you want?"

"I want The Blue Room," Christina inserted.

Lindsay spoke up next. "Me too!"

"We can take The Green Room," Adam shrugged.

I’m glad that Adam spoke up and claimed me as his roommate. I was scared I’d get stuck with Christina and be driven crazy for four months.

Usher and Alicia had already seemingly formed an alliance and resolved to sleep in The Red Room, leaving Britney with the third bed in The Blue Room.

"Well, that was easy," I commented. Too easy. Hopefully, no one’s gonna be switching rooms before the four months are over. "Everyone’s cool, right?" Everyone was decidedly cool and things were looking up. Then again, we’ve been together for all of maybe thirty minutes, so it’s hard to gauge something like that, I guess. But, I like everyone right now, so that’s a plus, right?

::::::::::

Adam and I had been in our bright green room, unpacking the bags that had arrived hours before, and basically talking about how fuckin’ awesome our house was. I was sprawled across my bed and its lime green comforter when Christina, bearing a pink one-piece swimsuit came knocking on our wall. I couldn’t help but chuckle at Adam ogling her bare, tanned skin.

"Hey guys," she said lightly, "we’re doing the hot tub deal, so get your suits and come on upstairs."

"Yes, ma’am," I replied, jokingly saluting her.

She looked at me tersely. "Is that supposed to be a joke? Are you trying to imply that I’m controlling or demanding?"

Uh… "No, I was just kiddin’, baby."

She peered at Adam, who was laughing, and then back at me. "I’m not your baby. Like I said, we’re upstairs."

"Oh, hell, I’m ready for the confessional already," I laughed to Adam.

"Don’t even sweat that shit. It’s hot tub time!"

Again, it occurred to me that Adam was right. We changed and arrived to a hot tub full of three beautiful women, Usher, and another beautiful woman approaching.

Alicia has possibly the most perfect body I’ve ever seen. She. is. hot.

Alicia, in front of one of the cameramen, reached the hot tub behind me while everyone else seemed to be watching either me, or her, in awe. Whatever the reason was, we ignored it and sat down amidst the group before the questioning began.

"Okay, so why don’t we just go in a circle," Britney announced. "Tell us your little story. And don’t hold anything back!"

All of a sudden, six pairs of eyes were turned in my direction and I did what I do best – talk. "Uh, where to start? I’m from Tennessee, as I told y’all – this little town right outside Memphis and um, living with my girlfriend."

"Boo! No girlfriends!" Adam shouted. After the sound of his loud voice, the other roommates, in amusement, began splashing me with warm water.

Lindsay laughed at him and then came back to me. "So what’s your girlfriend’s name?"

"Melissa. We all call her Missy, though."

"Aww, are y’all like, in love?"

"Definitely," I smiled. "We’ve been together since high school."

Missy and me have been together for…about five years now and we decided that what doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger, so while I’m gone, she’s waiting for me. And when I get back, we’re confident that things will remain in tact and I’ll be able to come home with 7 kick ass friends and a new and improved relationship with my beautiful girlfriend.

Alicia rolled her eyes, playfully – I think. "And so, you’re not scared that you’ll come here and something will break you up?"

"Not at all. Our relationship is amazing and I think we’ll be able to withstand just about anything. Hell, we’ll probably get married, or at least be engaged when I come back home."

"I don’t mean to be rude," Christina began, "but don’t you think it’s unfair to plan her future for her? I mean, what if she wants a career and a life outside of marriage with kids. You have to allow a woman to make her own decisions in life."

What? "I didn’t say she couldn’t have a life outside of marriage. That’s just a tentative plan for the future. She can do whatever she wants."

"Yes, you say that, but you’re sitting here plotting out her destiny. Men always do it. They think they hold the upper hand and can do whatever the hell they want with their girlfriends and wives. It’s not fair to Melissa that you take her for granted that way."

Christina is… a bitch. She’s too opinionated and basically, I just don’t like her.

I rolled my eyes at Christina’s blanket accusations and changed the subject. "So, who’s next?"

"I’ll go," Adam volunteered. "My story is that I just got out of a seven-year relationship and I just wanna have fun, dude. I had to get out of Kansas, I had to get away from the same shit and so here I am."

"Seven years?" Britney asked.

"Yup."

"Seven years?"

"It just got boring, man. The only option left was to get married or break up and I wasn’t in the marriage kind of mood. I can’t be tied down like that."

"I know that’s right," Usher interjected. "I just gotta be free, girl" he added, snapping his fingers in a circle.

Usher is gay. Very gay. He dresses like people in Hollywood and calls everyone Girl. And so, I’ve never even met a gay person before, much less lived with one, so I think that this is gonna be something totally weird for me. But so far, he seems like a cool guy – even if he does sound like he’s on helium.

"I think I missed where you were from," Adam replied.

"Vegas, baby! I was a bartender there before I left, but when I go back out west, I’m gonna be a dancer, girl."

Alicia and I looked on in enjoyment while Britney continued to question him. "So are you going to do a Vegas nights showgirl kind of thing? Or…?"

"Oh, no, honey. I’m moving to LA to be a dancer with Beyoncè!"

"That’s awesome," Lindsay beamed.

"Wait a minute. What’s Beyoncè?" I asked.

Usher looked at me in shock, like I’d just told him he was straight or something. "Oh, please tell me you’re kidding."

"What? What’d I say?"

"Beyoncè is only the most perfect person in the whole entire world. She’s like, a God!"

"Yeah, man, she’s dating Jay-Z," Adam inserted, as if that was supposed to help me.

"Who?"

"Oh, Lord," Alicia laughed. "We’ll have to teach you about hip-hop before you leave."

So, from what I gather, Beyoncè is some kind of person. And Jay-Z is, too, I guess. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of him, but not her. Lucky me, Usher is gonna tell me ALL about Beyoncè, or Bey, as he calls her, one of these days.

Usher nodded in content agreement. "Okay, enough bullshit. We know the status of the Abercrombie models over here. Which of you girls is attached?"

Britney, Christina and Lindsay indicated that they were very single, while Alicia had another story to tell. "Aight, well I’ve been with my boyfriend, Jeff, for about 2 years now, but I’m like Adam. It’s getting boring."

"Uh-oh," Britney smiled. "Boyfriend drama!"

"No, nothin’ like that. I just – I need to really explore my options and see if there’s anything else out there before I come back to him and say, you know, ‘This is what I want.’" In other words, he has the title of ‘The Boyfriend,’ but that’s about it.

Usher gave her the thumbs up and stared back at me. "So it seems that everyone’s essentially single except Justin, huh?"

"I guess so," I shrugged. "So girls, if you’re drunk and horny, stay out of my room," I laughed.

"Hey, I ain’t makin’ any promises," Alicia chuckled.

"No, don’t stay out of our room! Just stay on my side of it since Justin is the boring one," Adam joked. "Which reminds me – how many of y’all are down for hookups?"

Alicia was the first to affirm her willingness to hook up with a roommate. "Hell, I would like to request a hookup at least twice a month, okay!" We laughed in unison. You can’t help but laugh at her. She’s funny as hell, man.

"Girl, you ain’t said nothin’ but a word," Usher agreed, laughing enthusiastically.

Adam, Lindsay, and Britney also concurred that hooking up in the house was definitely a possibility, while Christina was dead set against it. It’d be funny if she became the one person in the house that was fucking everyone.

I can already see that this house is gonna be full of sex, sex, sex. Everyone is ready to hook up with someone. Adam is just out of a long-term thing and that always means rebound sex. The girls are hot. Sounds like a recipe for trouble…


On the next Real World :: Justin and Alicia get closer. : The girls in the house have a day out that just might end in disaster if Christina doesn’t learn to shut her mouth. ::

Sunday morning rain is falling
Steal some cover, share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable

Laid out across Adam's bed, early Sunday morning, I stared at Justin as he unpacked shit that should have been taken out a long time ago. He and Adam spend their days running around the house like idiots, and their nights are usually squandered with the patrons at ESPN Zone. It's actually surprising that after only a week, Justin has found the time to unpack.

"Hey, Alicia," he said, his face still focused on the dresser in front of him, "while you're over there chillin', would you mind helpin' me out?"

I just love his little country accent. He's too cute, man. Too cute. "Anything for you, Justin."

He smiled back at me knowingly-slash-thankfully and turned back to his clothes. I swear, that smile could make me fall in love with him if I let it. Just. Damn. I left Adam's bed to saunter across the room and relocate to Justin's. I sat down and pulled one of his many bags towards me, unzipping shit just because I could. "You ain't got nothin' private in here, do you?"

"Nah, just my whips and chains," he shot back.

"Oh, shit. I like 'em freaky, now. You better watch it!"

"Do you, really?"

With a slap on his cute little ass and a laugh, I added, "Yup. So don't say I didn't warn you." I watched him pull numerous picture frames from one of his boxes and place them on top of his dresser. Just because I have the tendency to be nosy as hell, I got up to gaze at the frames' contents. I scanned through the photographs, finding pictures of either Justin and a skinny white girl with stringy blonde hair and grayish-bluish eyes, or just the blonde by herself. "I hope this ain't your girlfriend."

"Yeah, she's too gorgeous for me, I know."

Ha! "Not really." This girl ain't even cute enough to be his dog. "What's her name again?"

"Missy."

"Oh, yeah." See, she even has a dog's name. I heard the bulky sound of cameramen entering the hallway and I turned just in time to see my favorite camera guy, Andy, walk through the door to Justin's room. "What up, homie."

He shot me the silent deuces just before I felt Justin kick my foot in contempt. "You're not supposed to talk to them!" he hissed.

"Oh, please. They ain't gon' kick me out for being polite."

"You better hope not."

"You better hope not. I know you can't live without me." He gave me that light chuckle that makes his smile seem like it's about 1000 watts and I almost melted - until I saw him stare at his... girlfriend. "So you said you and Missy have been together since high school?"

"Yup. Senior year." He pointed to a picture of the two of them sitting at a picnic table with a guitar randomly between them. "This one is from our graduation night." What a couple of dorks.

"How cute."

"Yeah."

"So, you're honestly not worried that something's gonna break you up?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that we'll be just fine. Maybe I'm naive, but I think that after all we've been through, we can survive something as simple as a little distance, you know?" He bent down to start placing his clothes into drawers. I was thankful that he couldn't see the look of disgust that my face was taking on.

"It's more than distance, though. This is a completely new experience with a bunch of different forces pulling the two of you apart."

"What's pulling us apart?"

"Well - I mean, nothing, yet. But you're on a television show. They put people like us on these shows for exactly that reason."

"I'm stronger than I look," he laughed.

"What about options?"

"What about them?"

"You don't think that living with all these new people, in this new city, with these new experiences, that maybe you're closing yourself off to possibilities?"

"I just know that what doesn't kill us will only make us stronger."

"Uh huh."

"That reminds me - I have to call her." He threw his pile of folded shirts to me on the bed and dashed out of the room.

I watched, sighing as he left and fell into his plush, green comforter. It wasn't long before I heard the sound of Adam and Lindsay giggling into the room quietly. "What up, Licia?" Adam asked, throwing one of his many huge pillows at me.

"Eh."

Lindsay sat down on the bed next to me and pulled the pillow from my chest. "You look troubled, Alicia."

"I'm cool. I'm just - I'm hungry, man. You wanna go to lunch?"

"I'm down."

"I can't," Adam inserted. "Usher's taking me and Justin shopping for 'DC clothes.'"

"Destiny's Child clothes?"

"I think he means the city."

"You better hope he does," I smiled. I got up, heading for the door before turning back to my two roommates. "I'm gonna see if Brit and Christina wanna roll with us and then we can bounce."

I had nearly made it to The Blue room when I heard Adam yell back, "Bring me back something from lunch!"

Laughing at him, I peeked into the aptly titled, Girls' room to see Britney and Christina knocked the hell out. I guess 11AM is early when you got to bed at 4 in the morning. I headed to the next room to see my homeboy, Usher, pawing through his open closet. I climbed into his unmade bed slowly and let out a whiny groan. He turned to my deplorable form before affectionately giggling at me.

"What's wrong with you, girl?"

"Man. I. Want. Justin."

"So. Get. Justin."

"Ursh" - that's my ghetto little term of endearment for him - "if it were that easy, I'd have the damn boy."

"Well, what's stopping you, Licia?"

"Ugh. Missy." I started rolling my eyes.

"What did she do?"

"She made him fall in love with her."

He looked around the room dramatically and scoffed. "I don't see her nowhere in this house."

"But he's in love with her."

"Oh, please. Love ain't nothin' but a word. Outta sight, outta mind."

"Nah, she's definitely on his mind."

Usher came back to his red bed and shook his head at me. "Girl, what am I gon' do with you?"

"What?"

"She's on his mind now. You just have to make sure that you're the one to get her off of it."

::::::::::

"So what do you guys think about Usher?" Lindsay asked. Us four girls were all sitting around at the restaurant, Papa.Razzi, finishing off what was left of our lunch orders and discussing random shit. "I think he's awesome," she added.

I smiled at the fact that Linds likes him. I would've thought his flamboyance would have scared her off. "Girl, you know that's already my ace koom boom. He is a fuckin' trip!"

Britney nodded in agreement, sipping her Cosmopolitan. "I think he's so cute, though. I first saw him, and I was like, 'Why are all the good men gay?'"

"He is cute, isn't he?" Lindsay replied.

"I love his dimples! Oh! And I walked into the bathroom last night when he was getting out of the shower..."

"Girl, those abs are on point, right?" I held up my hand so she could give me the high-five.

"You took the words right out of my mouth!"

The three of us laughed while Christina looked on in boredom. "I dunno. I don't really see it."

Six eyes shot in her direction and three throats cleared before Britney spoke again. "So um, what about Justin? Do we think he's hot?"

Oh, shit. She talkin' bout my man now. "Girl."

"You like him?" she asked me.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the images I'd conjured up in my head relating to him. "I. Want. Him."

"Alicia has a crush!" Lindsay sang.

"Wait. What about his girlfriend?" Christina has a tendency to fuck up the good vibes we have going.

"Minor obstacle."

"I don't think you should mess up a perfectly good relationship just because you wanna whore it up around town."

I felt my eye twitch and I was tempted - really tempted - to tell her about herself, but she, in all honesty, was probably right. I just don't care. I laughed it off and continued conversation. "So anyway, I peeped a few pictures of Missy today.

"Oh, yeah. I saw those," Lindsay interjected. "She's not as cute as I thought she'd be."

"Yo, I told Ursh that I thought she looked like a dog."

Britney suddenly allowed this hideous snort escape her nose, leaving all of us to burst into spontaneous laughter. "Alicia, you are so wrong," she finally replied.

"Well, I'm just keepin' it real."

"Too real, if you ask me," Christina jumped back in.

"Well then it's a good thing I didn't ask you, isn't it?" I smiled smugly and finished the last of my Sprite.

::::::::::

We'd long since gotten home and nighttime was approaching when I was sitting on the floor of my fiery room, staring at the paintings splashed across the ceilings.

Roses are red, yellow and white
Where have you been all my life
Violets are blue, and I'll be too
If you leave, 'cause I just met you

I hate crushes. You always get crushed. And the crazy shit about it is that I've only known dude for like a week. But man, he's just so damn cute. And he's cool as shit - when he ain't talkin' about that damn Missy.

"Yo, Alicia!" Adam was calling up to me from downstairs.

I rolled from my position on the floor into a crawl and headed to the hallway where I could yell down to him from the balcony. "What!"

"You haven't done any confessionals this week! Jackie says you're due for fifteen minutes before the end of the night!"

Damn producer bitch. I have nothing to say in that damn thing. "Aight," I replied, seeing him enter the foyer. "You'll do it with me?"

"Hell yeah, I'll do it with you. Just name the time and place," he smiled.

"I mean the confessional, you horny bastard."

"I'll do it with you in there, but right now, you have to do the confessing by yourself."

"You suck."

"And I hope you do, too. You could really make this house a worthwhile experience."

"Oh, baby, don't test me." I lazily got up from the navy blue carpeted floor and began to head upstairs. Oh, and lucky fuckin' me, when I arrived on the third level, there Justin was, exiting the bathroom with just a towel and a smile. Ooh, baby, I could talk about those abs in the confessional for a good hour or two. He brushed past me in the narrow hall as I watched his little booty underneath the towel bounce past me as I headed to The West Wing.

"Well, apparently, Alicia has a bit of a crush on Justin." I recognized the voice of Christina behind the confessional door when I attempted to open it. What the hell does this bitch have to say now? "And I really don't think she's respecting the relationship that Justin has with his girlfriend. She's overstepping her boundaries and it's not fair to Justin or Missy. Not to mention, she has a boyfriend of her own. Instead of worrying about trying to get in Justin's pants, I think she should make the effort to fix her own relationship."

See, if I'm ever crossed or caught up in the cross
And it's yo' fault ho, I'm goin' off, ho

Oh, no this ho didn't! I banged on the door as she continued to ramble. "Yo, Christina! This motherfuckin' confessional ain't soundproof, bitch!"

She suddenly swung the door open and stared at me blankly. "Excuse me, but this is private."

"Oh, and so are my personal feelings. Where the fuck do you get off puttin' my shit in the street like that!"

See, I'm unemployed with no boss, ho
'Cause I'm da baddest bitch

She moved towards me to close the confessional door just in time for a group of camera guys to find their way upstairs. "You put your own shit in the street!" she yelled back, trying to get out of my way.

"That don't mean you can motherfuckin' talk about it, bitch!"

"And why not?"

"'Cause it's my shit!"

"I can talk about whatever I want in there! It's my shit if I wanna talk about it!"

The next thing I saw were Justin and Adam entering the third floor, trying to decipher what the commotion was all about. "What are y'all yelling about!" Justin asked.

"This bitch is talkin' shit about me!"

"Well what did she say?" Adam next inquired.

Christina rolled her creepy midnight blue eyes between me and Justin to Adam. "It doesn't matter, because I was speaking privately in the confessional. Bitch."

"Oh, I got your motherfuckin' bitch." I almost swung at the ho before Justin's hand caught my arm and he pulled me out of the vicinity of the other two.

"If you hit her, you go home," he reminded me.

"I don't give a fuck! I just want one good slap before y'all send me packin' then."

"Licia, calm down."

"Nah, that bitch has gotten on my last fuckin' nerve since we set foot in this house."

"It's only been a week."

"And that's seven days too goddamn long."

"Walk with me." He continued to pull me down the stairs with him and back into my room. The bright red paint in here there sure wasn't going to help my mood. "Now, do me a favor and calm down."

"But, Justin-"

"Do it for me," he interrupted. "Just talk to me. Tell me exactly what she said."

Uh..."Fuck that. Justin, come on. You know you don't like her either. Just lemme hit the bitch. You can even get a lick in."

"Now you know that ain't right," he answered, laughing hysterically.

"Yeah, that's why you're laughin', right?" I smiled.

"Okay, it was funny," he grinned back, "but it still ain't right. And I may not like her, but I do like you, so I ain't lettin' you get kicked out of the house for her." Aight. I can die happy now. He just made my life complete. That one little statement calmed me down entirely and Christina was just about the last thing on my mind. "Just ignore her for a while."

"Done."

He looked at me skeptically, falling into my bed in comfort. "I don't trust that."

"I'm serious." I climbed into my bed with him and stretched out across his torso, inhaling his intoxicating boy-out-of-shower smell. "As far as I'm concerned, Christina doesn't exist."

He began to absentmindedly run his fingers through my hair while staring into oblivion. "Uh huh."

"And that's that."

That may be all I need
Come and rest your bones with me


On the next Real World :: The housemates find out the true meaning of "Uh Oh." :: Justin finds out Alicia's secret and sets the record straight. Sort of. ::

A cold – no, wait – freezing day in January in DC has me and Adam on our way to somewhere in the area of downtown to do some much needed working out. And even though it’s cold as hell outside, nothing can compare to the ice house full of bitches that I’m living in. As we trampled through the white, snowy streets, we reminisced on last night’s sordid twist of events with Alicia and Christina almost rumbling in front of the confessional.

"Man, you know what’s funny?" I laughed, pulling my black and fur hood over my head.

"What?"

"I talked to Alicia damn near all night last night and I still don’t even know what the hell they got into it about."

"Are you fucking kidding me, dog?" Adam turned his navy blue cap around over his dark curls to look me in the eye, as he laughed even harder at this crazy ass situation. "Dude, that’s funny as hell."

"What? What’d I say?"

"What exactly did you and her talk about, then?"

I chuckled at our intimate conversation, but decided that right now ain’t exactly the time to spill. "Just… stuff."

"Like what?"

"No, tell me why you’re laughin’ so hard, man."

"Because, man. That’s just… wow."

Bewildered, I kept stomping on, looking straight ahead into the dreary Monday afternoon. "Well, if you know, how ‘bout you just tell me what was going on."

"I will. It’s just hilarious, and kinda ironic, that you don’t already know."

"Because…?"

"Because they were fighting about you."

The weight of my gym bag abruptly too much for my shoulder to handle, and it fell to the cold, wet sidewalk, causing me to stop with it. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Christina and Licia – their fight was all about you, bro."

"There’s no fuckin’ way that Licia would fight over a guy."

"No – well, okay." Adam laughed at his un-witty banter and stopped to recollect his thoughts. "What happened was, they were fighting about something Christina said that Alicia said about something you said."

I’m supposed to pretend that made sense? "Adam, you need to stop drinking so much, man."

"I guess you really are that dumb, huh?"

"I guess so, because I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about."

"Dude. Alicia likes you. Christina was talking about it in the confessional and Licia got mad."

Everyone has a secret
Oh, but can they keep it?
Oh, no, they can’t

I raised my eyebrow at him wondering how much of this he was making up. "So what you’re saying is that that huge blow-out was about some he-said/she-said bull?" He nodded in compliance and I had my answer.

He couldn’t be serious, though… Could he?

::::::::::

I’d been meandering through the house, searching for no one and nothing in particular when I passed the Oval Office, where Usher sat contently at the computer, smiling at whatever it was that was flashing cross the monitor.

I knocked on the wall just as he took notice of my presence. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Yeah, sure." He kicked the neighboring rolling chair towards me and patted the seat. "What’s up?"

I took the seat and slid towards the desk, next to Usher, before I began. "I’ve just been thinking lately about stuff, and, well, I know you’re pretty close to Licia, so I was wondering if –" Suddenly, an image of this gorgeous caramel woman with honey blonde hair and piercing hazel eyes popped onto the computer screen and all previous thoughts slipped away. "Who is that?"

"That is Beyoncè." He turned the speakers on, and this loud, brass-induced beat came pulsating through.

It all came thundering back to me. Beyoncè. The Uh-Oh chick. That was the fuckin’ song about two years ago. I don’t know how I forgot that. "That’s Beyoncè!" I repeated, happy to have recognized the song. "Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, oh no no."

"You know the song!" Usher beamed.

"Man, I used to love that booty dance."

"Got me lookin’ so crazy in love!" The horrible sound of Adam’s singing infiltrated the hallway before he entered the room with us. "What are you two doing?"

"Discovering Beyoncè," I smiled. "I remember the Uh-Oh booty dance!" I rose from my seat and started to shake my ass to some random beat that I concocted inside my head. But hey, I shook it, nonetheless as Adam joined in. "Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, oh no no!"

"No! No! No!" Usher yelled, almost cackling at us. "You’re doing it all wrong. Put some rhythm to it." He rewound the song and showed us how to properly Uh-Oh. The ass goes up on the Uh. Everything else follows suit. Just make sure the booty is up on Uh.

Our singing and dancing was going hunky dory – Adam even spiritedly supplied us with Jay-Z’s rap. Then, out of nowhere, the embarrassing sound of laughter tickled my ear and I froze. All four of the female roommates stood in the threshold of the Oval Office, giggling and pointing in amusement.

Fuck them. I kept on singing. "Got me lookin’ so crazy, my baby. I’m not myself. Lately I’m foolish, I don’t do this. I been playin’ myself and baby, I don’t care. ‘Cause…" Okay, I don’t really know anymore, but I put on a pitch perfect falsetto and rocked out to it regardless. I was having fun and I’d be damned if the wrong lyrics were gonna stop me.

::::::::::

It had to be around 6AM when the blaringly annoying sound of Usher’s voice shook me from slumber and damn near sent me rolling to the floor from my bed.

"Rise and shine, y’all!"

A collective groan was thrown back at him and I laughed to myself, glad that I wasn’t the only one in that state of mind.

"Don’t bitch at me," he shouted back at us. "Each and every one of you said that you wanted to go to Kerry’s inauguration, so you better get up before I get you up!"

"I’m a Republican today!" Adam shot back.

That was all the motivation I needed. I actually do want to go to this, seeing how it’s one day going to be a part of history. Besides, how many people are lucky enough to be living in Washington, DC during one of the Presidential inaugurations? Say the average person lives 80 years – you only get like 20 chances to do this. After rationalizing this for another five minutes, I slowly and reluctantly rolled the comforter from over my head to face the wrath of the early morning.

I bumbled into the hallway, almost walking into a stark naked roommate – none other than (insert drooling here) Alicia – trying to tiptoe back into her room. Okay, why wasn’t I informed that she slept naked? This just might bring a whole new meaning to the sleeping arrangements we have going on. ‘Cause damn.

‘Cause my body’s too bootylicious for ya, babe

I took a few steps towards The Red Room to talk to Licia, and hopefully, sneak another peak in the darkness. Yeah, I’m dirty. "Alicia?"

"What?" she whispered.

I could hear the sound of her pulling the comforter back over her. Damn it. "Are you going today?" I hissed back.

"To the inauguration?"

"Yeah?"

"I would go, but it’s too damn early, man," she laughed. "And it’s supposed to only get up to 20 degrees today. I ain’t tryin’ to get sick."

Then put on some clothes, girl, and stop tantalizing me with the possibility of nakedness. "Oh, okay. I’ll see you later."

"Have fun and bring me back somethin’."

Dazed, and yeah, horny, I hauled ass to the bathroom to prepare for a day in the Washington, DC crowds. If 59 million people voted for John Kerry, I don’t even want to imagine how many of those people are going to show up for his inaugural parade. With any luck, people will be in the same mindset of my other five roommates and opt not to go. Yep, it’s just me and Ursh today - doesn’t get much more diverse than that. God Bless America, the land that I love.

::::::::::

Once again, the day has culminated with me trampling through the wetness and cold of DC, discussing Alicia. This time, I was with Usher, and a lot more clarity was being brought to the situation.

"Justin, the girl is sprung. And, she’s gonna kill me for telling you, but she’s definitely gonna come after you sooner or later. Especially if we don’t stretch outside the confines of the house soon."

"But she knows I love my girlfriend, right?"

"Please tell me you’re not dumb enough to think that’s gonna work out."

Why does everyone keep saying that? Is there some Real World curse on relationships? "I do think it’ll work out," I replied. "I love that girl."

Usher gave me one of those ‘You-must-be-fucking-kidding-me’ looks and readjusted the purse-type-bag over his shoulder, shaking his head. "So does Missy know about all the time you and Alicia have spent together?"

"Well, no. But that’s because there’s no point. Me and Licia are just friends."

"Justin. Honey. If you take home anything from your time here, please let it be common sense," he laughed, taking my arm and squeezing my hand.

Uh… "I don’t get it."

"That’s because you’re a boy."

"Well, no shit."

"Tell me this: What do you think of Alicia?"

"Well, I ain’t gonna lie. I think she’s hot, man – just fuckin’ awesome. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t be just friends."

"We’ll see if you still wanna be just friends after a few more weeks without Missy and a couple more sightings of Alicia running by naked."

Oh, shit, don’t remind me of that. The ass was just like… "You saw that?"

"I saw that."

I chuckled at the notion and internally agreed to disagree with him. "Maybe so."

We reentered the house to find it seemingly empty, so I headed straight to the Oval Office to call Missy. All this second-guessing and doubts flying around was getting to me. Unfortunately, Alicia was in mid-conversation when I arrived, laid comfortably across the floor on her back. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be on top of her. I mean, no – Missy. I’ll just e-mail her. Yes.

As I sat at the computer, I tried to ignore Licia’s conversation with her boyfriend, but it was too funny not to listen to. She always sounds so bored when she talks to him. And no, I’m not some kind of weird eavesdropper. I’m not the idiot that didn’t separate the phone and computer rooms, anyway.

A long ass day was sure to send me into bed early, but not before confessional time. The way I see it, if I do two minutes a day, I’ll be complete with my fifteen minutes every week. Smart, right?

I took the escalator upstairs, dropped my hat and coat on my bed and then headed to the third floor, and to the coveted West Wing. I went into the confessional, flipped the switches on, and realized that I had no idea what I wanted to say.

"Uh. So. Yeah." I sat there, simply staring at the camera for a good four or five minutes, unwillingly, but subconsciously thinking of Alicia. Eventually, inspiration hit, and I began to ramble. "Well, me and Usher went to the Kerry inauguration today. It was cold and crowded. Oh, yeah I saw Licia naked this morning, so that was fun. I think her body just might qualify as the eighth wonder of the world. I think the longer I live with her, the more I’m going to realize that I can’t live with her. The thing about it is, I don’t know if I’d have this unrelenting affection for her if I didn’t know she ‘liked me,’" I said, utilizing those famed quote fingers. "I talked to Usher and um, he says she isn’t gonna stop ‘til we hook up. And while I think she’s insanely hot, I don’t think it’s fair that everyone has taken it upon themselves to assess my relationship with Missy as being over, just because Licia has a crush. Missy and me are in love. And yeah, we’re gonna prove everyone wrong. End of story."

They don’t know about you and me
Get it off your mind, ‘cause it’s jealousy
They don’t know about this here


On the next Real World :: The cast enters the real world work force. : Lindsay and Adam? Maybe? ::

The house, unless under extenuating circumstances, seemed to generally concede that morning was the best time of day to interact with one another. It was early one weekday morning when the seven of them were scattered about the White House. Justin, as usual, sat in the Oval Office, talking to his beloved girlfriend, while Alicia was across the room at the computer, instant messaging her own significant other in frustration.

Usher was enjoying the privacy that he’d been granted for the night, alone in he and Alicia’s room with the guy he’d met at Club U-Turn the previous night. Alicia gladly slept in the guest room so that he could do his thing, and at this point, he was certainly taking advantage of… his thing.

Britney and Lindsay were situated at the kitchen table, consuming Lindsay’s mixture of oatmeal and peaches, while discussing the typical roommate relations. "So do you think that being the youngest in the house puts you at a disadvantage?" Britney asked, thoughtfully.

Lindsay tilted her head to the side, pondering the question at hand. "Not really a disadvantage, but like – well yeah, it is."

"Well, I’m the second youngest, and I don’t really see where there’s any problem."

"But there’s a huge gap between us, you know? At least you’re 21. I’m only 18 – the baby."

"So, where do you think that the ‘disadvantage’ comes into play?"

"It hasn’t yet, but I just know that when we start hanging out at clubs and stuff, I’m gonna be like the little baby outcast. ‘Oh, poor Linds can’t get in.’ I’ve never even been to a club before, so that’s one strike against me."

"That’s not a strike," Britney laughed. "It’s just going to be a new experience for you."

I think that Lindsay being in a house with a lot of older people, no matter how immature some of us may be, is going to be a good experience for. At the end of it all, she’ll probably come away with the most fulfilling lessons.

"It’s scary though."

"What is?"

"All these ‘new experiences’ flying at you all at once. It’s like, you finally get used to high school and then they kick you out into the real world."

But now I know life doesn’t always go my way
Feels like I’m caught in the middle

"And is that why you wanted to come here?"

"I dunno. I guess so."

Britney stirred her spoon around in her oatmeal and smiled at Lindsay’s concerns – all of which, were completely valid. "I think that if that’s the case, you shouldn’t worry about what could happen. Just take the experience and love it for what it is."

Just as she finished her statement, the late-sleeping Adam came stumbling through the State Dining Room. His dark curly locks in an endearing, discombobulated state, he nudged Britney’s elbow before making his way to Lindsay’s side of the table to pull her gorgeous red hair and to lightly/affectionately slap the side of her face. He, then, hobbled to the red refrigerator to silently search for nourishment.

"I think someone has a crush on you," Britney beamed in a whisper.

Lindsay turned to look at Adam, adorably dressed down in sweats and his college sweatshirt, and smiled back at Britney. "No? You think?"

"Definitely."

Apparently, Brit thinks that Adam has the hots for me. But, I dunno. I think he’s so cute, but I mean, he’s 23. I don’t even think he’d look in my direction.

"What are y’all talking about?" Adam finally spoke, sitting down as close to Lindsay as humanly possible.

"Just stuff," she answered.

"Linds doesn’t like being the youngest in the house," Britney inserted.

Adam took a bite of his apple before smiling reassuringly. "Don’t worry. The baby of the family always gets treated the best."

"He’s right."

"I didn’t even think of it that way," Lindsay replied, just as the doorbell rang. "I’m an only child, so I guess I wouldn’t know."

"It’s true. My sister Jamie – she gets whatever the hell she wants."

"Mail Call!" The loud sound of Christina’s strong voice resonated through the house and all of the roommates aptly responded.

"Who’s it for?" Justin asked, as everyone hustled into the foyer of the house.

"Everyone." Christina began to tear through the securely wrapped box in excitement. "It says that it’s from the MCI Center."

"Ooh," Usher interjected groggily, "Beyoncè is performing there in March!"

The group rolled their eyes at his obsession while anxiously awaiting what could possibly be in the large box. "Hurry up!" Lindsay stated, rocking back and forth between her bare feet.

"This house has a big problem with patience," Justin commented, resting his elbow over Britney’s shoulder.

"We had every right to be impatient, Mr. ‘I-got-lost-when-I-had-the-key-to-the-house,’" Britney shot back.

Alicia, impatient and annoyed, finally stepped in to help Christina open the box. Contained inside, were CDs, T-shirts, backpacks, posters – typical concert merchandise, for the most part – from a diverse collection of artists, ranging from Beyoncè and Eminem to Rascal Flatts and John Mayer. The seven of them, not even knowing why, began hopping around in circles, screaming like idiots at the prospect of working with famous people.

"Okay, calm down, you guys! We have a letter," Britney shouted. "Listen: Dear roommates. Welcome to the MCI Center staff. Over the next 4 months, we’re excited to announce that the seven of you will be a part of our promotion team."

Justin was the first to plunge into the large box of goodies and discover the smaller box containing seven more-than-special surprises – Apple iPods. "We got another note, y’all. Get to know some of the artists that you’ll be working with. Enjoy these Apple iPods, pre-loaded with over a thousand songs from just a few of your new clients."

Our job at the MCI Center is absolutely awesome. We’re going to be promoting tons of artists for when they come into town – not only to fans, but to the businesses and smaller venues that support these shows.

"Dude, these things are even personalized," he added.

This is going to kick ass.

Alicia waited for the box of iPods from Justin while everyone else tore through the larger box of CDs and DVDs. "Yo, this is unreal!" she exclaimed, searching for the device engraved with her name.

This is one of those surreal moments where I wonder, if I pinch myself, will it all go away? It’s seriously like Christmas up in here.

"Hold up," Alicia added, "We’ve got another box marked ‘Urgent.’"

Adam playfully snatched the box from her and turned around so that he could open it privately. "Oh, shit."

"What’s wrong?" Christina question in alarm.

"Well it’s just…" Adam faced the group somberly before holding up a shiny set of keys. "We got a motherfuckin’ car!"

The yelling, screaming, and jumping recommenced, the roommates ecstatic about the possibilities. "Is it outside?" Lindsay asked.

He took a look at the logo and the keys and shrugged. "It’s a Ford. Let’s go see."

Suddenly, seven people went thundering out of the front door – in their pajamas – to find their new vehicle. Oddly enough, three brand new Fords with red bows garnishing them, sat on the street in front of the house.

Alicia, who had on shorts and a tank top, went right back into the house and out of the cold. "Y’all let me know which one is ours."

Britney followed right behind her when the freezing morning hit her own bones. "Try the Expedition," she suggested.

"That has to be it," Lindsay agreed.

Adam did as implied and tried the door of the black Ford Expedition first, finding that the key wouldn’t fit. "Didn’t work."

They all stared down the line of cars. The only other options were a Taurus and an Escape. "It has to be the Escape," Justin encouraged him, draping his arm over Lindsay to radiate body heat as they rocked back and forth on the cold stoop.

Adam continued the search for their car, being sent on a wild goose chase. The original key unlocked the door to the Taurus, which contained a note and another set of keys on the dashboard. Eventually, and in aggravation, he was led back to where he started and the 2005 Ford Expedition officially belonged to the seven roommates.

::::::::::

"Okay, does anyone know where the hell we’re going?" Justin asked, adjusting himself into the driver’s seat of their new SUV. He watched the cameraman situate himself in the passenger seat while waiting for an answer.

"To the MCI Center," Adam retorted.

"No shit. But how do I get there?"

"Directions weren’t in the box?"

"If they were, I didn’t get ‘em."

"You guys," Christina interjected, "we’re gonna be late if you don’t figure something out."

Justin rolled his at her via the rearview mirror and sighed. "Well, how about someone run inside and print some directions. Christina."

"What? Why me? You’re the one driving, so why don’t you do it."

"Because you’re the one sitting back there whining."

"That’s because listening to you and Adam discuss it isn’t going to get us there on time."

"Well ironically, neither will you and me, so why don’t you hop your ass outta the car and find some fuckin’ directions."

The boisterous sound of Alicia cackling startled everyone, but only provoked Christina to continue. "Justin, I suggest you never talk to me like that again. You don’t know what—"

"So how about I find some directions?" Lindsay loudly conceded. "Just stop fighting, you guys. We’re meeting our boss today and we don’t need to be so uptight."

"Yeah," Adam added, adoringly watching Lindsay exit the car and scurry back up the steps to the house. "She is so fine," he abruptly declared. A host of eyes shot in his direction and he smiled bashfully. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Okay, so I have a little bit of a kinda thing for Linds. I don’t know what it is, but I think she’s hot. She has this innocence and genuineness about her that I really dig.

Adam resumed his gaze out of the window, happily anticipating Lindsay’s appearance while everyone laughed at his revelation. Britney reassuringly nudged Adam’s thigh and gave him an expectant glance. "Don’t worry – I think she likes you, too."

Eventually, Lindsay reemerged from the house, bearing that never-wavering, happy-go-lucky grin that made everyone just want to hug her. Britney immediately scooted out of the way so that she and Adam could have the least bit of privacy. She loved Linds and she was growing fond of Adam, so anything she could do to appease them, she was all for it.

Lindsay opened the car door to six gleeful faces – well, five and then Christina’s usual scowl. "Why’s everyone looking at me like that?"

"Because we hope that you have the directions," Christina answered. "Oh, and because Adam just announced that he wants to fuck you."

Even Alicia’s mouth dropped at Christina’s blatant disregard for Adam’s feelings and her willingness to mislead Lindsay that way. "Ain’t nobody talkin’ about no fuckin’. Get on in this car, girl, so we aren’t late."

"We already are late," Christina retorted.

Alicia was determined to keep her promise to Justin. She told him that Christina no longer existed, and she meant it. She said nothing back to Christina. She simply took the Mapquest directions from Lindsay so that she could reclaim her seat next to Adam, and the roommates were finally on their way to work.

::::::::::

Later that evening, after tons of rejoicing over their new, awesome job, the roommates decided that a celebratory dinner was in order. And they agreed to hang out at Ristorante Tosca, not far from their job.

"You know what Alicia told me last night?" Usher announced, raising his wine glass to sip from it.

A collective "What?" came from the rest of the large table.

"That her birthday is tomorrow!"

"Are you for real?" Justin inserted.

Alicia turned to face Justin and nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"’Cause my birthday is next Monday."

"Oh, hell. We gots to have a party!" Usher confirmed.

Apparently, me and Justin’s birthdays are within six days of each other. I think that just goes to show that we’re meant to be! And that this house was meant to party it up.

"You down for it?" she questioned, timidly.

"I guess, yeah."

Britney took notice of Justin’s uneasiness and smiled sweetly at him. "You know, if that’s not what you guys want, we don’t have to do that."

"Oh yes we do!" Adam jumped in. "What better excuse to party?"

Lindsay laughed at him emphatically, nestling into his side as if he were her protector – they’d been unusually close the entire day – her, using any reason she could to touch him. "Yeah, come on, guys."

"Wait a minute," Christina inevitably spoke up, "Who said that this was a group concensus?"

"Honey, shut up," Usher chided. "Nobody said that you had to come, or even be a part of it."

I usually like everyone, but Christina is a constant buzzkill, and sometimes, honey child just needs to know when to shut it up.

"What the hell are you snapping at me for? It was a simple question."

"It was a lead-in to something negative. And baby, I’m sick of hearing it."

"Yo, this is a classy restaurant," Alicia declared. "How about we just chill with the arguing."

Justin nodded in agreement, placing his arm around Alicia’s shoulder. "Yeah. Me and Licia are having a birthday party and that’s the end of it. Christina, you don’t have to come."

"Oh! Oh! Can I be in charge of decorations?" Lindsay beamed, throwing her hand up.

The table laughed animatedly – even Christina – as Adam grinned at her. "It’s not that kind of party, Linds."

I know Lindsay says some dumb shit, but that’s another one of those things that I love about her. She isn’t tryin’ to be anything she’s not.

::::::::::

"Hey." Justin meekly tapped at the entrance to Alicia and Usher’s room attempting to catch Alicia’s glance.

In solitude, and laid across her bed, she looked up from her book, happily. "Hey, you."

He sprawled out along the floor underneath her bed and sighed. "What are you up to?"

"What’s wrong with you?"

He sighed again. "Nothing."

Alicia swiveled from her position so that she was sitting upright and stuck her feet in Justin’s face. "What’s wrong?"

"No, it’s nothing," he smiled. "I just don’t wanna be in my room."

"Because?"

"’Cause Lindsay and Adam are in there."

"Lindsay and Adam are always in there. What’s the problem?"

"Go see for yourself," he replied, rolling his eyes towards the door.

Alicia quietly snuck out of her room and headed to the Green Room to peek into it, doing her best to remain unseen. On Adam’s bed, Lindsay was scandalously straddled over him as the two of them made out like there was no tomorrow. "Oh, shit!" Alicia exclaimed in excitement as she headed back down the hallway. She reentered her room to hop on the floor next to Justin. "That is somethin’ serious!"

"I told you," he chuckled.

"Man! Baby girl didn’t waste no time!"

"Dude, she is like, into it, too. She came in there with a look on her face like, ‘I’m ‘bout to tear that ass up.’"

Boys
Sometimes a girl just needs one to love her and to hold

"Is she drunk or something?"

Justin shrugged. "I dunno. I didn’t see her drink anything at dinner."

"Our baby is growing up!" she cooed, rising from the floor and heading out of the room. "You wanna come with me?"

"Where are you going?"

"To watch!"

Justin laughed heartily, shaking his head. "You ain’t right."

"Don’t act like you don’t wanna see it, too."

He thought momentarily before knowingly smiling at his roommate. He, too, quickly shot up from the navy blue carpet and snuck back out of the room, mere footsteps behind Alicia. The two of them, huddled at the threshold of the Green Room, watched Adam’s hands explore the depths of what lied underneath Lindsay’s baby blue t-shirt. Unfortunate for Justin and Licia, Lindsay’s fiery locks thrashing about blocked most of their saucy view. They continued to snicker in amusement, nonetheless.

Boys
And when a girl is with one, then she’s in control

"What are you two up to?" Britney asked, approaching the second floor on their escalator.

"Shh," Justin hissed. "Linds and Adam are goin’ at it."

"They’re fighting?" Britney poked her head into the room and instantly turned back to Alicia and Justin in shock. "Oh my God!" she whispered.

Alicia nodded. "Yeah, so shhh."

"You guys should not be watching this," she replied, gazing back into the room. "Damn."

The three of them smiled at the sight in front of them as Lindsay and Adam obliviously continued to consensually sexually harass one another.

"Man, that lucky bastard," Justin beamed.

Lindsay and Adam. What can I say? Somewhere along the line, they became inseparable. In more ways than one.

After a few more minutes, Lindsay pulled the comforter over she and Adam’s heads, leaving their audience in complete disappointment. "Well damn," Alicia sulked, "just when that shit was gettin’ good."


On the next Real World :: It’s Alicia’s birthday. It’s Justin’s birthday. Who’s going to actually get what they wished for? ::

"What time is it? Party time!" The time was somewhere around 8AM when Usher was gallivanting around the house in his boxers and high spirits, waking up his fellow roommates. "Ladies and gentlemen, get your narrow asses up! It’s party day!"

Today is the day that me and Alicia’s joint birthday party is taking place.

Justin was already out of bed, dancing to Beyoncè, while making breakfast. He was also in a smiling mood, excited about the party tonight.

My boys are coming into town, I’m gonna party with my roommates at Platinum tonight. I think this is gonna be a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Alicia cheerfully rose from her bed after being awaken by the sound of Usher’s voice, which, regretfully, sounded a lot like a foghorn. But she didn’t care in the least bit. – Ever since Justin greeted her with flowers and a smile on the morning of her actual birthday the previous Tuesday, she’d also been in a ridiculously good mood.

"Good mornin’, birthday girl," Justin smiled when she flew into the kitchen, dancing, with Usher not far behind.

"Good morning, birthday boy! What you over there cookin’?"

"Just some bacon and eggs. You want?"

"I do!" Usher interrupted, indulging in the salty aroma of Justin’s meal.

"I’ll take some of that, too," she responded.

The three of them soon scattered along the dining table, enjoying a somewhat quiet, but contented breakfast.

"So, Justin, what time do your ‘boys’ get in today?" Usher inquired, delicately taking a bite of his bacon.

"I have to pick them up from Reagan at three."

"Ooh! I wanna go!" Alicia piped up.

"Sure. Ursh, you wanna join us?"

"Nah, honey. I gotta get ready for the party."

Alicia and Justin chuckled animatedly until Christina sauntered into the room. They immediately went quiet and watched her tinker about their large kitchen.

"Good morning," she said, casually. No one bothered to respond, knowing that speaking to her always ended in a borderline disaster. She continued her venture into the refrigerator, finding that there was hardly any left of what she was looking for. She turned back to the three of them, who were dead set on remaining silent in her presence. "Who ate all the eggs?"

"We did," Justin finally answered.

She sighed with a frown and turned back to the refrigerator. "Well."

"Please don’t start any shit this morning," Usher told her. "We were just enjoying our breakfast and I, for one, would appreciate it if you didn’t fuck that up."

Christina rolled her eyes, making sure that Usher got the brunt of it and closed the red door of the fridge. "What I was going to say was, since it’s your birthday, I’ll let it slide." She even went so far as to walk to the table and give Justin a peck on the cheek, followed by taking a seat at the table. "So, what are you guys talking about?"

Justin’s eyes darted back and forth in complete and utter confusion – as did Usher and Alicia’s.

Christina comes into the kitchen and first thing she does is bitch about the eggs. So we all basically know she’s about to trip. Then, out of nowhere, she’s kissing Justin and wanting to talk with us. I’m like, "Oh, my goodness! Hell has frozen over!"

Alicia took a stab in the dark and, after two weeks, spoke to Christina again. "We were just talking about the party tonight."

Christina’s dark aqua eyes twinkled in the dim dining room as she smiled at her three roommates. "Cool."

"Are you okay?" Justin asked.

Christina is acting weird as hell. I think she smiled today for the first time since we’ve gotten in the house. And, well… it scared me.

"I’m great. How about you?"

"I’m fine." He took a few bites of bacon, tempted to pinch himself. He couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on.

"So let me make sure I got this right," she started. "Justin, your birthday is on Monday?"

"Yeah."

"And, Licia, yours was last Tuesday?"

Uh, she called me Licia. Who is this chick and where is the real Christina!

"Yes," Alicia answered quietly.

"Cool. This party should be fun, huh?"

Usher abruptly stood from the dining table, spontaneously bursting into erratic coughing. He headed out of the room, seemingly choking and laughing at the same time.

"Should we make sure that he’s all right?"

"Oh, shit!" Alicia was the next to shoot up from the table in disbelief. She couldn’t wrap her head around the concept of Christina being civil, much less, concerned.

"Well, damn. How rude are those two?"

After a few more seconds of bewilderment, Justin also escaped the weirdness of the dining room table without a word. Christina was just too much for them.

::::::::::

Alicia and Justin piled into their new car on Saturday afternoon, which had turned rather gray and gloomy. On their way to the airport, Alicia sat contently behind Justin as he drove. She admired his wet curly hair while he obliviously dodged traffic. "So, yo, you excited about seeing your homeboys?"

Justin gazed at her through the rearview mirror and smiled that smile that could grace the cover of GQ like a motherfucker. "Yeah, this is the longest we’ve ever been apart from one another."

"Two weeks?"

"Yep."

"Even when you went to college?"

"They were right there with me. The only time me and Trace were separated for longer than this was for those two months that he was alive before I was born."

Alicia’s mouth dropped in slight shock, and an air of endearment. "That’s fuckin’ cool as shit, man."

"Yeah, he’s like my other half. Seriously."

My best friend, Trace is coming today, and I could not be more excited. I knew that coming here, it would be really weird to not have him with me, so it’s gonna be like a breath of fresh air to have him back. I think maybe I’ll feel a little more in my element with him and my cousin here.

"I feel you. And so who else is coming?" she asked, reassuring herself that Missy wasn’t on the guest list.

"My cousin, Nick."

"And that’s it?"

"Don’t worry," he grinned, "Missy can’t make it."

Alicia let out a playful sigh of relief and gave him a friendly hit in the head. "How you know I was even thinkin’ about that."

"I know you, girl."

She lifted her eyebrow and smiled brightly at the notion. "Is that so?"

"That is so." Justin refocused on his driving, searching the highway signs directing him to the right area of the airport. "Shit. I forgot what airline they’re supposed to be on."

"Wasn’t it… I think it was American Airlines."

"I think you’re right," he replied, switching lanes. "Girl, what would I do without you?"

"You don’t even wanna know," she laughed.

"True dat."

His ghetto conventions always made her laugh hysterically. "Not long now," she added, pulling her puffy black coat on.

"Why are you so excited?"

"Well, because you are. And I’m excited to see what your friends are like."

I think it’s awesome that Licia has taken such an interest in me as a person and not like, just someone to fuck. I think that’s cool. It gives her a whole new dimension.

The two of them, cold and comfortable, exited their Expedition, huddled together and entered the confines of Reagan International Airport, searching for the baggage claim. Before they could even reach the American Airlines carousel, the pair heard the thunderous sound of the name, "Bubba!" being shouted across the airport.

Justin instantly recognized the noise and left Alicia’s grasp to run towards the declaration. Alicia followed behind, smiling as Justin raucously hugged who she assumed to be Trace and Nick. After they rambunctiously embraced each other, Justin finally took the time to introduce his roommate to his friends.

It’s so cute to see Justin with his friends together. They way they interact, you’d think they’ve been apart for a year or something.

"Licia, meet Trace," he said, as a short version of Justin stepped forward. He had curly dark hair, those cherub-like cheeks when he smiled, and twinkling brown eyes. "Trace, this is Alicia."

"Hey," Trace said, "It’s good to finally put a face to your name."

Alicia beamed at his Southern drawl, feeling right at home. "Oh, does that mean Justin talks about me a lot."

"Only everyday," he smiled back.

"And," Justin interrupted, not wanting to be embarrassed, "this is Nick."

Another short guy, with dark, wavy locks and impish good looks stepped in to shake her hand. "How you doin’?"

I’m goin’ home with three gorgeous country boys today. Oh, I’m in Heaven! Happy Birthday to me!

After being officially introduced, the group of four retreated to the car, making the typical ‘We-just-met/Haven’t-seen-you-in-a-while’ conversation.

"So, Alicia, has Justin told y’all his big secret yet?" Trace asked, laughing crazily.

Alicia stared in Justin’s direction, suspiciously, wondering what his secret could be. "Actually, Trace, I don’t think he has."

Nick and Trace looked at one another knowingly and, in unison, exclaimed, "Oh, shit!"

"Dude, you haven’t told them!" Nick asked Justin.

Justin merely continued to focus on the road ahead of him. "I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about," he finally replied, smiling.

"Well, somebody better tell me!" Alicia injected.

"It’s nothing."

"Oh, it’s something," Trace shot back.

We’re in the car, riding along from the airport and Trace says that Justin has a secret.

"Then tell me!"

I really can’t tell if Trace and Nick are serious, or what.

Trace leaned into Alicia and lowly said, "Justin’s a virgin."

But Trace tells me that Justin is a virgin. I’m in shock.

Alicia’s mouth dropped and she stared at the roommate in front of her that she was so desperately crushing on. It was one of those moments where, if it had been on television, the music would have stopped and it would be time for a commercial break. Even the cameraman started coughing awkwardly.

Justin stared back at Alicia, via the mirror, hoping that she’d take it for a joke. "Licia, don’t listen to them."

Okay, let it be known that I’m not a virgin. It’s just… It’s been a while. Me and Missy are waiting until we get married. But I’ll say it again. No, no, hell no, I am NOT a virgin.

Alicia continued to eye him, confused and shocked. "So it’s not true?"

"It’s not true," he replied, smiling meekly.

Justin says it’s not true, but… I don’t know. I guess that if it were really true, his boys wouldn’t have called him out like that. So it had to be a joke. Right?

::::::::::

Got time, but I don’t mind
I just wanna rock you, girl
I’ll have whatever you have
Come on, just give it a whirl

The party at Platinum was definitely going off without a hitch. – Well, Lindsay almost didn’t get into the club, but Adam made sure to take care of that. Christina’s weirdly pleasant mood continued into the night, in spite of the fact that most of her roommates continued to ignore her. Britney, Lindsay, and Adam danced back and forth between the bar and the DJ booth, where Usher seemed to have found himself parked for the majority of the night.

The remaining cast members – Alicia and Justin – as well as Justin’s friends, spent a lot of time talking, drinking and mainly getting to know one another. Alicia, never in a million years, thought she’d ever spend her birthday sitting around talking – and in the middle of a club, no less. The funny part about that was, she was indisputably having a good time.

After a while, though, she had to get up. She took a last swig of her free Corona and whispered to Justin, "You wanna dance with me?"

You owe yourself to
Come dance with me
Romance with me
Take a chance with me, my baby

He looked back at her, nervously. He wasn’t exactly Michael Jackson when it came to the dance floor. "I dunno, Licia. It’s kinda crowded."

You owe yourself to
Let go with me
Feel the flow with me
Take hold of me
Don’t be so quick to walk away
Dance with me

"Come on, Justin," she beseeched. "For my birthday?"

At that moment, Usher spotted his friends, still sitting at that same table after all this time, and he decided that he needed to coerce them to the dance floor before the night was over. Smiling, he grabbed the DJ mic and brought everyone’s attention to Justin and Alicia. "Birthday boy and birthday girl! What are the two of you doing sitting down!"

Justin looked around sheepishly while Alicia laughed and tried to pull him up from the table.

"Now I know we didn’t have this party so you could sit around and talk," Usher proclaimed, "so get your booties up and dance! I’m playin’ one of my favorites for y’all so you better get up."

Baby boy, you stay on my mind
Fulfill my fantasies
I think about you all the time
I see you in my dreams

The addictive beat of Beyoncè’s "Baby Boy" went booming through the club’s speakers and the crowd went crazy. Alicia held tight onto Justin’s hand as she moved her hips from side to side in syncopation with the up-tempo percussion, mixed with the Eastern-influenced instrumentation, intensely mouthing the words of the song to her roommate.

Baby boy, not a day goes by
Without my fantasies
I think about you all the time
I see you in my dreams

"You ain’t gonna get up and dance with me?" she yelled over the music.

He wanted to dance with her. He really did. But he wasn’t in any mood to be embarrassed at his own damn party. He simply continued to stare intently at her hips, licking his lips with internal excitement. "I’m sorry. I just don’t dance, man."

She nodded in compliance and kept shaking her ass to the beat. "That’s cool."

Justin thought he was off the hook when she sat back down next to him. Little did he know, it was only to take another drink of her beer. Without another word, still rocking to the beat, she left the table, returning seconds later with a solitary chair and a devious little smile.

"Sit," she told Justin.

He looked at her and then back to Nick and Trace as if they were supposed to know what she was up to.

Usher, in the background, was back on the mic, handing out orders. "Justin, you better do what she says, honey."

Smiling and confused, Justin took the seat that Alicia had brought for him and laughed as she grinned at the many onlookers, including the other smiling roommates, and took a seat on top of him.

Ahh, Ohh
My baby’s fly, baby go
Yes, no
Hurt me so good, baby oh
I’m so wrapped up in your love, let me go
Let me breathe
Stay out my fantasies

She straddled him, resting her short arms over his broad shoulders. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes met his small, round, blue orbs and they got positively lost with one another. She started off slowly, gyrating her hips over Justin’s crotch, satisfied to feel his shiver at her touch. As she continued, the volume of the song seemed to rise, along with the heat, and… a few other things.

I know you dig da way me step da way me make my stride
Follow your feelings, baby boy because they cannot be denied
Come check me in-a night and make we get it amplified

Alicia closed her eyes, feeling Justin’s hot breath dancing across her chest and allowed her neck to roll in the same manner as her hips. She blocked out the sound of everyone cheering, and enjoyed the fact that their lap dance had escalated into something more intricate. She’d decided that Justin’s physical response shouted more urgency than ignorance. There was no way in hell that baby boy was a virgin. And that, alone, was enough of a birthday present.

Picture us dancing real close in the dark, dark corner of a basement party
Every time I close my eyes it’s like everyone left but you and me
In our own little world, the music is the sun
The dance floor becomes the sea
Feels like true paradise to me

I don’t know what made me decide to give Justin that lap dance. I think it started with being frustrated that he wouldn’t dance with me. But I’m glad I did it because I felt connected to him for a few minutes, and that’s all I really wanted for my birthday.

True paradise, indeed.

::::::::::

Hours after the lap dance heard around the world, the cast mates, as well as Nick, Trace, and the many acquaintances that the seven roommates had made throughout the course of the night, gathered at the bar for the ritualistic singing of Happy Birthday.

Alicia was perched over Justin’s neck, beaming like a kid on Christmas, while Justin stood beneath her with an identical expression, as they waited for the arrival of their cake.

In an uncomfortable twist of events, however, more than just a cake appeared from behind the bar. Everyone had been having a just about perfect night, and then, Nick and Trace dropped the bomb – a skinny blonde one.

Dressed casually in a long black leather skirt and black sweater, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, angelic genuineness of ‘the girlfriend back home’ came smiling through the crowd. While Justin’s smile grew wider with every second, Alicia’s faded, because she just knew who it was as soon as she spotted her damn face.

This is why Nick and Trace are my best friends. They knew that the one thing I wanted was to see my girlfriend for my birthday, and they made that come true. It was the best surprise of my life.

"Missy!" Justin yelled. He immediately let go of Alicia’s hands to will her off of his neck and set her down on a stool in front of the bar. Half a second later, Justin was in Missy’s arms, kissing any spot he could find, leaving Alicia to look on in jealousy.

It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to

Her jaw tightened, her eyes narrowed, and she nodded to herself slowly. She walked up behind Justin, where he continued to embrace his girlfriend, and she maliciously whispered to him, "Happy Birthday. Baby boy." With that, she stormed off into the crowd.

You would cry too, if it happened to you

Justin, despite his naivety, took notice of her despondency and resentment, and attempted to go after her. "I’ll be right back," he told his girlfriend.

"Where are you going, J?"

"My roommate – I think she might be a little upset with me."

"About what?"

I know that Alicia is upset about Missy showing up. I know I have a tendency to be slow about these kinds of things, but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve figured a few things out about her.

He turned to look back into the crowd, hoping that she wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t find her, and finally turned back to his girlfriend. "I – it’s a long story. But I think I should make sure she’s all right."

"Baby. Let one of your other roommates get her. We don’t have much time together." She grinned sweetly at him, melting his heart, and then began to kiss his face lightly. "I’ve missed you."

"I really – I should," Justin tried to escape his girlfriend’s grasp, feeling guilty about leaving Alicia high and dry that way. "Missy, just give me a few minutes to make sure she’s all right."

Missy had watched the show long enough to know that if she didn’t step in now, she’d soon be stepping down. She gave him a stern, but loving stare, and sent him on a whole new guilt trip. "All right, J. Whatever you need to do. I came to see you, and you’d rather spend our time with someone you live with. I see." She hung her head low, shoving strands of blonde hair behind her ears. "Go ahead."

Justin’s heart sunk about fifty feet when he saw his girlfriend drop her head. If he had to choose between her and Alicia, there was no contest. "Baby, don’t do that. I’m not going anywhere."

I feel bad about Licia, but really, what can I do?

You belong to me
Tell her you were fooling
You belong to me
You don’t even know her
You belong to me
Tell her that I love you
You belong to me

Any thoughts that he had of Alicia soon drifted away and he was glad to be able to spend the remainder of the night in the arms of the love of his life – no matter who didn’t like it.


On the next Real World :: NBA All-Star Weekend has hit DC. :: The roommates have a job to do and Britney is going to make sure it gets done. And she doesn’t care who gets stepped on (or fired) in the process.

The NBA All Star game is coming to DC, so all week at work, everybody’s been all excited and shit. ‘Cause, come on, it’s the All-Star Game. I haven’t figured out whether it’s good or bad that we have to work that weekend, but the way me and Usher look at it, we wouldn’t be goin’ if we weren’t workin’, so we might as well make the best of it, ya know?

Our boss – well one of them, Josh – is like a hard ass and he doesn’t put up with bullshit. All week, he’s been comin’ in our office like, "Make sure you got this done," and "Did you do that and that and that and blah, blah, blah." Ugh, that dude annoys the hell out of me, now that I think about it.

But anyway, this weekend is supposed to be hectic – everyone and their mama has told us that shit. Now, we’re just supposed to handle it.

"Alicia! Let’s go!" Seventh time in six minutes that Adam has called my name. We’re late again, and apparently, they’re all waiting on me. Yeah, because Justin (that bitch) didn’t just wake up. Lindsay isn’t still putting on makeup. (Insert sarcasm). I’m just the one in the fuckin’ Oval Office, trying to make sure that we all have all the instructions for the Rookie/Sophomore challenge that we’re working at tonight. No, according to everyone else, I’m just chillin’ at the fuckin’ computer.

Fuck them. "I’ll be there in a minute."

A few seconds later, I heard the stomp of Britney’s heels against the marble floor in our foyer. She had been in the car, waiting for roughly half an hour, so yeah, she was probably a little perturbed. She came thundering through the glass door of the computer room, spun my chair around, and waited for me to say something. I didn’t.

"Alicia, I don’t know what you’re doing – I don’t care. Just get in the car."

Oh, like that New York accent is supposed to scare me. "I’m trying—"

Very calmly, she interrupted. "I don’t care. We are forty-two minutes late and I’m about eight seconds from leaving the three of you. Go get in the car."

I watched her for a second. Her eyes had this smoldering glare that actually was scaring me. "Okay."

"Okay." She walked out of the room, and before I got up, I heard her stomping up the steps. That’s the first time someone has opted to take the down staircase over using the escalator. She must have been really pissed. Next thing I knew, I heard things being thrown across the room and her shouting. "Lindsay, you don’t have to be cute today. Just get in the car!"

As I exited the Oval Office, and tried to sneak quietly out of the front door, I noticed a tube of lipstick and a compact mirror that had been thrown over the second floor balcony and shattered across the foyer floor. Remind me not to fuck with Britney this weekend.

::::::::::

Once we finally did get to work, we were all relieved to find that the vibe at the MCI Center was nonchalant. Our nicer boss, Gisele, didn’t even care that we were late. The staff they hired for this weekend was crazy huge, so they hardly even needed us for today any-damn-way.

"So guys, basically, when I need you to step it up is for tomorrow morning," Gisele began, taking a seat at the head of our long conference table. "First off, I need you all here at eight AM, sharp."

Instantly, the group began to whine in response, while Britney gave us the evil eye, as she took notes. "You guys, pay attention."

"I know," Gisele conceded, "it’s early, but you cannot be late tomorrow, so please – do whatever you need to do to be on time. Get up at five if you have to. Just don’t be late."

"May I ask what we’re doing?" Adam requested, raising his hand.

"Of course. You may or may not have heard of the NBA’s Read To Achieve program, but every All-Star weekend, they get together with a group of kids, and they read with them, hang out, play games, and then get a couple of music’s all-stars to perform for them."

"Is that the shit that airs on like every single channel at noon tomorrow?"

"Exactly."

"And so what does this have to do with us?" Justin asked.

"You know, if you guys would, like, shut up and let Gisele finish, perhaps we’d find out," Brit hissed. I tried not to, but I couldn’t help but laugh at her anal tendencies when it came to this stupid job. "Alicia, I don’t know what’s so funny, but now is not the time," she added.

"Guys," Gisele inserted, "calm down. As I was saying, I need you all to be here at eight, because you’re going to be interacting with the kids that we have coming in tomorrow."

"So, in other words, we’re babysitting?" Christina asked.

"Essentially, yes. But you’re each going to have about five children that you’re looking after. You’re going to entertain them, read with them, take them to breakfast and lunch, and sit with them throughout the entire performances," she stressed, eyeing each of us.

"May I ask who’s performing?" Lindsay interjected, also raising her hand.

"Well the NBA was lucky enough to get Nelly to perform, as well as Ciara."

Usher and I looked at one another excitedly, despite the fact that Britney was essentially daring us to say anything out loud. Adam seemed to be the only other roommate pleased at the fact that we got to see Nelly and Ciara perform for free. I guess hip-hop is lost on Lindsay and Justin. And well, Christina doesn’t enjoy any damn thing.

"So, I think that’s about all I need to tell you guys," Gisele finished. "I just cannot stress how imperative it is that you are all here on time, okay?"

"Okay," we answered in unison.

"We will be here at eight o'clock sharp," Justin, the suck-up, replied.

"We’ll be here at 7:59," Britney finished.

::::::::::

"Alicia!" Britney again. "If you’re not down here in two minutes, I’m leaving you."

Why is it always me? I was up at 6AM, making breakfast for everyone, looking over the notes that Britney had written and excited about the damn day. Maybe just shit ass bad luck got me sick ten minutes before we had to leave, but I mean, would they rather me throw up in the bathroom before we leave and be two minutes late, or throw up on them in the car and let everyone smell like shit? I thought so.

After doing what I had to do, I slowly made my way downstairs and outside only to find that the car was gone. "Well ain’t that a bitch?" I said to myself. I checked my watch, and it was only 7:45. We could’ve made it on time, even if the bitch had waited for me. But now, I’m gonna look like the irresponsible roommate that couldn’t make it on time. Fuck that shit. I had next to no money to my name, but I called a cab and hopped my ass downtown with even a few extra seconds to spare.

"Alicia." God, I think people just like sayin’ my motherfuckin’ name. Every time I turn around, someone else is calling me. I was walking down the hall of the MCI Center Business Complex, looking for anyone to tell me where to go when the mean boss, Josh, called after me.

"Hey, Josh," I answered, almost out of breath, "what’s up?"

"Why aren’t you in the arena?"

"I was - well, I --"

"Are you all just getting here?"

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"I’m positive. No, everyone’s been here for a few minutes, I assume. I just -"

"Did you just get here?" he asked, lowering his spooky blue eyes at me.

"Yeah - Well, no I’ve been here for a few minutes. I’m just looking for everyone else."

"Well, they should be in the arena," he answered, condescendingly. "And please tuck in your shirt before you get down there. We’re trying to set an example for these kids."

"Yes, sir." Bitch.

Ashamed, I made my way down to the arena where hundreds of kids were gathering on the floor of the court. Searching for a crew of cameramen and a diverse group of people, I walked over to my roommates, trying to put on the biggest smile I could muster up. "Hey, y’all."

Gisele was basically the only one that smiled at me. - And Linds, but that girl is always smiling. "Hey, Alicia. I’m glad you could make it," Gisele replied. "Christina informed me that you were sick?"

God, what’s up with the 180’s everyone in this house is doing? "Yeah, I was a little under the weather after breakfast, but I’m good."

"Good. Let me take you to your group of kids, then."

We headed towards the large group, and she randomly picked a group of six boys and girls that I’d be hanging out with all day. Ah, I love kids. After I got settled in with them, the rest of the day went relatively smoothly. We ate breakfast from the concession stand outside and headed for the next installment of the day, which was reading with the NBA players. I damn near lost my breakfast again when I found out I was gonna be reading one of Jamie Lee Curtis’s children’s books with Mike Bibby. Oh, shit! What a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Eventually, as we neared lunchtime, that old familiar feeling of nausea crept back up on me and I really needed someone to relieve me. I wasn’t really tryin’ to talk to Britney, and Christina - well, she scares me. I so would’ve asked Usher in a heartbeat, but he was on the other side of the arena, and my stomach wouldn’t make it that far. So, even though after our birthday party, Justin has gone incredibly low on my people priority list, he was right there. What the hell, it was just a few measly minutes that I needed to lean on him.

I walked towards his area of the court, where he seemed to be completely enthralled with his group of kids. As cute as they were, I ventured to interrupt him. "Justin, can you do me a favor?" I yelled over the commotion.

Without really looking back, he said, "Yeah, sure."

"Watch my kids for like five minutes. I gotta run to the bathroom."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks. I’ll be right back." With that, I disappeared into the arena lobby and prayed that relief would find me quickly so that I could get back to my boys and girls.

It took me a little more than ten minutes to feel better, but I rushed back into the arena - the one that had been completely full of kids, only to find that everyone was gone. Not a soul in sight. How the hell could they clear out hundreds of people in a matter of ten minutes? Damn, just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse. I left the arena, searching high and low for any sign of… well hell, anybody.

I wish I remembered what was supposed to happen at this point. I saw the whole schedule on Britney’s notes, but I didn’t remember shit, man. It was either lunchtime or the performance. Or the reading challenge. Okay, I didn’t know. I decided that I just needed to trek back down to the office complex and hope that someone over there would know what to do.

As I headed over there, my prayers were answered, and Justin popped out of a corner, presumably headed to the bathroom as well. "Justin!"

"Oh, hey," he said, turning around. "You’re speaking to me again?"

Not really. "Um, I just wanted to know where you guys went."

"To the practice arena for the performances."

Ah, the performances were next! I knew it! "Oh, so how do I get there?"

"Just go through that door and take the double doors on your left."

Man, I was so happy that I was compelled to kiss the little bitch. Instead, I just headed down the hall that he’d directed me towards. "Thank you!"

"You have to bring your kids with you, though."

"What?"

"Your kids - they go with you."

"You mean you didn’t take them?"

"No…"

"Justin!"

"What?"

"You said you’d watch them for me!"

"No, I didn’t."

"What the fuck, man! Yes, you did!"

"Why would I say something like that? I had five of my own to take care of."

I closed my eyes, hoping, praying, wishing that this wasn’t really happening. "Justin, I asked you if you’d watch them for like five minutes because I had to go to the bathroom."

He looked at me, baffled and stared awkwardly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Licia, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize it."

Tears rushed down my cheeks as I stormed off, in search of the five children I was responsible for. I went back down to the arena to make sure that they weren’t hiding somewhere near there. After that, I searched every motherfuckin’ concession stand on the mezzanine level, as well as the floor level, finding no one but volunteers preparing hot dogs and hamburgers. And, as if the day weren’t sucking enough, I was feeling nauseous again. But this time, I didn’t let it stop me. I went through the arena, again, finding Josh staring back at me like I was some kind of criminal.

"Alicia, what are you doing in here?"

I sighed and wiped my face of excess fear and tears. "I thought I left something in here, but I guess not, so I’ll just be going now."

"Alicia."

"Yes?" I said, turning around.

"Your kids are in the practice arena with everyone else."

Duh, Licia! "Thank you, sir."

"We’ll discuss this after lunchtime."

"Yes, sir."

::::::::::

"Alicia, the fact of the matter is that you were irresponsible. I cannot allow someone like you to be a part of our team if you don’t care." As planned, Josh and I discussed my actions after lunchtime. The only thing was that he was discussing, and I was cringing. I hate being lectured.

"I do care," I interrupted. "I honestly do. Today has just been a terribly bad day."

"Alicia, according to your roommates, you always have bad days. You’re constantly slowing them down. They say they would’ve been late today, too, if they’d waited on you."

"I was sick, sir."

"That’s another thing – they say that you have a constant barrage of excuses and reasons for every little problem you have."

"I don’t know what to say, Josh. I realize the irresponsibility that I exhibited, but sir, I assure you that it was the result of a misunderstanding."

"Well, Alicia, I wasn’t there and can’t make that call. So, what we’ll have to do is talk to your co-workers and see what input they have."

Just as he said that, the door to the conference room went swinging open, and in walked my six roommates, as well as Gisele. The anxiety disappeared from my face, because I knew that Justin knew the real story and that Gisele, the nice boss, was on my side. I relaxed and watched them take their seats at the table, avoiding my stare.

"So, what we have here," Josh started, "is a case of neglect. I don’t know the entire story, nor has Alicia divulged the details of everything that happened. But, what I do know is that the choice in your hands," he directed to the other six. "You guys have informed me of the discrepancies that have arisen with Alicia, so what we’re going to do is ask you what you think should happen."

Britney was the first to pipe up and insert her opinion. "Well, personally, as I told you before, Josh, I don’t see how I can work with this kind of blatant disregard for our job. Alicia is constantly making us late, not caring about what’s going on with the job, and I think it reflects on the rest of us when she loses a group of kids. I mean, if Lindsay hadn’t noticed that they were on their own, who knows where they would’ve ended up. I mean, Alicia, what were you thinking, leaving them alone like that?"

I shot my eyes to Justin before clearing my throat to answer her. "I didn’t think I was leaving them alone. I asked someone to watch them, but I guess they didn’t hear me."

"Well, why didn’t you make sure that they heard you before you disappeared?"

"Because I –"

"Weren’t you thinking at all?"

"Of course I was. I was thinking that I had to fuckin’ throw up and if I had to wait any longer, I wasn't gonna make it to the goddamn bathroom!" I yelled, rising from the table.

"Calm down," Josh interjected.

"No, fuck that! Y’all treatin’ me like some kind of goddamn criminal because I was sick. If you wanna fire me, go right a-motherfuckin’-head, but don’t fuckin’ sit here and talk down to me like you own me. I made a mistake and that’s it! The kids are fine! By the way, I feel much better, thanks for asking." I kicked my chair out of the way and stormed out of the office. I’d rather be alone, without a job, than sit there, in front of them while they look at me with those ‘You’re a terrible person’ eyes. Fuck them.

::::::::::

Saturday night, when I was supposed to be enjoying the best weekend of the year, chilling with NBA players, watching the slam-dunk competition and drooling over Allen Iverson, I sat around the house, wondering if even one of my roommates gave a damn that I was chillin’ at home alone. I was about two seconds from hitting the sheets when I heard the door open and Justin and Adam’s loud asses come bumbling up the steps.

"Licia!" Adam called. He walked into my bedroom and spread across the floor as if nothing was wrong. "Why are you still here? The shit starts in like ten minutes."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not really caring about the answer.

"Well, Justin wanted to change out of that dorky uniform we had to wear and I decided to come with him and see if you wanted to come back with us."

"With you and Justin? I don’t think so."

"Why not?"

"I just don’t. Plus, since I did such a terrible job today, I don’t think I belong there with y’all."

Adam sat up from the floor and stared at me. "You’re not still mad, are you?"

"Hell fuckin’ yeah, I’m mad! Y’all just sat there while Britney and Josh pummeled my ass. Not one of you stepped in to defend me."

"Licia, I honestly didn’t know what to think. I knew you were sick, but I don’t think that was an excuse to leave your group like that."

I rolled my eyes and fell back into my pillows. "It’s cool," I lied. "Just forget it."

"Well, I don’t know if you heard, but on Monday, they’re gonna have us watch the tape to see what happened, and then, we’re gonna vote on whether you should be able to keep your job."

"Gee, thanks," I replied, sarcastically.

"What’s wrong?"

Ugh, boys are so fuckin’ retarded sometimes. "Nothing, Adam. Y’all are gonna be late if you don’t bounce."

He stood up, towering over me and looked down at me, in all my lazy frustration. "You’re sure you don’t wanna come?"

"Positive. Have fun."

He bent down to kiss me on the forehead before hopping out of the door in only a way that Adam could. Eventually, Justin tip-toed into the room and sat down on my bed, again, like nothing was wrong. "Hey."

I gave him a blank look and closed my eyes, waiting for him to sense my anger.

"You’re mad at me again?"

Shit, I never stopped being mad about the Missy fiasco. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to apologize."

"For what this time?"

"I know you’ve had a shitty day, and I’m sorry that you’re feeling down."

"And?"

"And um, I hope you feel better."

"And?"

"And do you wanna come back to the arena with us?"

I got up from my bed, and left my side of the room to sit on Usher’s bed. "You’re unbelievable."

"What did I do?"

"Are you really that dumb? Justin, you could’ve saved me today and you kept your fuckin’ mouth shut!"

"How was I supposed to save you?"

"Oh, I dunno – by telling the truth!"

"Licia, I could’ve been fired."

"Oh, but it’s okay that I get fired, right?"

"You won’t get fired. We’re gonna take a vote. And you know me and Adam, Lindsay and Usher got your back."

"That’s where you’re wrong, Justin. None of you have my back, because if you did, you wouldn’t be talkin’ about how irresponsible I am."

"None of us said anything like that! Britney is the one that told Josh about you losing your kids, she’s the one that said you were constantly making us late, and she’s the one that said you didn’t care about our job."

"And the four of you were the ones that didn’t say shit to refute it! And you, Justin, of all people, know what went down today, and you sat there like a little bitch with your mouth shut."

"What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to be there for me! You were supposed to have my back! But then, I should’ve known that you didn’t have it in you to step it up, because anytime something comes along that might get Justin in trouble, Justin’s gonna save himself and himself only. Ain’t that right, baby boy?"

"You’re overreacting," he replied, calmly.

"Get outta my room."

"Alicia, I’m sorry."

"Get out."

::::::::::

Monday morning, we all gathered around the conference table again, to view Saturday’s course of events, from the moment I woke up to the second that I stormed out of the office that afternoon. I guess those damn camera’s in every fucking corner might be my saving grace.

My six roommates, as well as my two bosses, watched the tapes intently, displaying how I retched into one of our two toilets while Britney yelled callously at me. They watched me hail a cab and give him my last dollar, just so I could get to work on time. The tape proceeded to the point at which I asked Justin to watch my group while I ran to the bathroom. And it was at that point that Justin lowered his head in shame and avoided my glare. Everyone else gave me these pitiful looks of sorrow as if I’d just lost my best friend.

"Well," Gisele began, "I guess we can start with the votes now."

"Um, I don’t think that’s necessary," Britney interrupted. "May I talk to Alicia privately for a minute?"

Gisele looked back and forth between me and her and excused us. Bored, I followed Britney outside to the hall, with a camera man on my heels and waited for her to speak. "I owe you a huge apology," she whispered. "I honestly don’t even know what to say, except I’m so sorry."

"Do you have something against me?"

"No, not at all. I just get anal when it comes to excelling, and when I thought you were slacking off, I really felt like you needed to go."

I nodded, understanding her position. I was hurt, but not by her. "Well hey, it’s cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I’m over it."

"Alicia, I really am sorry."

"Yeah, I get it." I gave her a wink and went back into the conference room where everyone else seemed to have been inevitably listening in on our conversation.

"Alicia, I, too, owe you an apology for my coldness towards you on Saturday," Josh admitted. "It’s clear that you did everything you could, in spite of not feeling well, to be a part of this team, and your efforts aren’t going overlooked."

"Thank you," I replied, sitting back down.

"Yeah, Licia, we’re all sorry," Lindsay added.

"I know," I smiled, beginning to stare at Justin. Some of you just aren’t sorry enough.


On the next Real World :: The roommates trek it to New York with Britney – well, except for Alicia and Justin. :: Alicia is still highly mad, and the (sexual) tension is madly high. ::

I'm leaving today
Livin’ it, leavin’ it to change

Usher and Adam, bones damn near frozen in the cold, ran back and forth from the portico of their house to their black Expedition, toting their roommates luggage for their upcoming trip out of Washington, DC.

Britney has invited us to her parents’ high-rise in New York City for the weekend. Her mother is speaking at a series of luncheons at The Ritz, so we plan to live it up for a couple of days.

While Adam bounced around in front of the car, Usher went back into the foyer of the house to call the remaining roommates out of their rooms. "You guys, it’s time to go! We have to move before the rush hour traffic begins!"

Seconds later, a bubbly Lindsay came leaping down the stairs with a backpack and a smile, followed by an expressionless Christina, whom already had her iPod earbuds inserted in her ears. Britney, notoriously early for everything, was the last to bumble down the steps, seemingly discombobulated.

"Are you all right?" Usher asked her.

"Yeah. I’m great," she answered, running her palms over her dark blonde locks. "I just feel like I’m missing something."

"Well, we are missing about two roommates. Where’s Justin and Alicia?"

"Last night, we drew straws and it ended up that they had to stay for the HP Conference."

The plan was for everyone to come with me to New York for my mom’s thing, but as it turns out, Josh gives us a call the night before and says that he needs at least two of us to stay in town for a Hewlett-Packard convention that’s going to be at the MCI Center. Ironically enough, Justin and Alicia end up being the two that have to stay at home.

"And they’re okay with that?" he inquired, incredulously.

Britney grabbed her coat, chuckling at the notion. "Well, you know Justin – he’s game for anything. Alicia said it was cool, as long as she didn’t have to talk to Justin."

"Wow."

"Yeah, so you know that’s gonna be a disaster and a half," she agreed, walking out of the immense, white front door.

"Honey, you speak the truth," Usher laughed. "Licia! Justin! We’re gone!"

::::::::::

Friday night, hours after 5/7ths of the house had gone to New York for a doubtlessly fun weekend, Alicia and Justin remained inside, with no car, and not wanting to deal with the rain or each other.

"Alicia! Telephone!" Justin yelled from the Oval Office, hoping that she’d heard him so that he wouldn’t have to hike upstairs to repeat himself.

Alicia, laid across the midnight blue carpet of the second floor landing, reading one of her many books, exaggeratedly rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice. She slowly met Justin downstairs, passing him on her way to the phone. "Yo," she said into the receiver.

An unfamiliar man’s voice came booming through the other end. "What up, girl?"

"Who is this?"

"I’m your boy from U-Turn the other night. You said I could give you a call if I wanted to chill."

A couple of nights ago, me and Usher go to this club around the way called U-Turn. I meet this guy, Marcus - he was cool, blah blah blah. Out of the blue, Friday night, he calls and he’s like "Yo, you wanna chill?" I figure since I ain’t got nothin’ else to do, he can come through, we can hang out. Why the hell not?

Alicia smiled rather maliciously as she hung up the phone, knowing that two was company, and that third wheel Justin would make it a crowd. "Yo, Justin!"

He came thundering down the steps, almost elated that she’d called his name. It was the first time she’d voluntarily spoken to him in days. "Yeah?"

She gazed at him awkwardly as he stood before her, panting, with a wild look in his eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Are you? What’d you need?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I was having company, so if you could stay out of my way, I’d appreciate it."

Justin’s expression fell considerably, but he nodded in spite of it, to save face. "Yeah, that’s cool." He watched her stroll coolly out of the room and took a seat back at the phone, dialing his girlfriend’s phone number as quickly as his fingers would dial.

"Hello?" Missy’s soft voice, laced with Southern sweetness comforted Justin more than his own mother’s would.

"Hey, you."

"Hey, baby!"

The excitement in her voice made him smile. "I miss you again."

"Oh, you are too much. I just talked to you this morning."

"I know…"

"I miss you too."

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I just got my hair done today, and now, I’m getting ready to go downtown with the girls. What are you guys up to?"

"Everyone’s outta town," he answered lowly, "so me and Alicia were left here ‘cause we have to work tomorrow."

"So did you volunteer for that, or what?"

"No, I kinda got stuck here. Why?"

"Well, because I just think it’s funny that you magically got stuck there with Alicia."

‘Cause I’d be crazy to let my man go
And let some other Jane Doe go and try to steal him

Justin sighed lightly, as they’d been through this conversation more than once. "Babe, don’t start this again."

"I’m not starting anything, baby. I just find it weird."

"Well, if it’s any consolation, she’s not exactly speaking to me, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Why is that, J?"

He shrugged to himself and leaned back in the reclining chair that sat adjacent to the telephone. "Let’s talk about something else, okay?"

"Okay, so what do you have to work on tomorrow?"

"I dunno. Some convention thing."

"Fun."

"Be right back." Hearing the doorbell ring, Justin quickly hopped out of his seat, barely even telling his girlfriend to hold on. He quickly made it to the front of the house, just in time to see Alicia greet her new friend with a lively kiss before he even made it through the door. Once again defeated, Justin slumped back into the Oval Office to resume conversation with Missy. "Sorry about that," he mumbled.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. Alicia is just – the guy that came to the door, the guy that she met on Wednesday – she started making out with him as soon as he walked in the house."

"What?"

"Alicia invited this guy over that she met at a club the other night. And as soon as he walked in, she started making out with the guy."

"Okay, and?"

"And that’s gross!"

"Well, Justin, why do you care?" she drawled. "Is it affecting you?"

"No. But I mean, that’s – how can she do something like that with me standing right there?"

"Again, why does it matter?"

"Because," he paused. "It’s not that it matters. It’s just not right."

"Because… you’re jealous?"

"What?" he exclaimed. "No, of course not."

"J, if there’s something going on with the two of you, I suggest you tell me right now."

I love my man, he loves me more
He may not be the perfect man
But I don’t plan to let him go for Jane Doe

"Missy, baby, there’s nothing going on. I love you."

Well, maybe I’m a little jealous. But who wouldn’t be? Me and Licia go from being completely cool to becoming distant strangers, and I walk through my house to see her making out with other people. It’s kinda fucked up.

::::::::::

"Alicia!" Yet again, Justin was calling upstairs to his roommate from the front of the house. It was Saturday morning and the two of them were scheduled to be at the MCI Center by 10AM. "If you don’t hurry up, we’re gonna be late!" he announced.

"Yo, how ‘bout you shut the fuck up and wait for me outside!" she shot back.

"I give up," he muttered. He didn’t know what to say to her.

I guess it’s safe to say that me and Alicia’s friendship, or whatever you would have called it, has completely crumbled. I can’t talk to her without her snapping back at me, she always ignores me – I don’t know what to do.

What it is ain’t what it was, or should it be
When it comes to you and
How it seem ain’t how it is
There’s been a change when it comes to me and, oh baby, you
Oh, maybe we can try another day, another way

Mere seconds later, Alicia came sauntering down the cascading staircase, dressed and ready for work. She didn’t bother with a ‘Good morning’ or even a glance in Justin’s direction, but simply grabbed her black down coat and walked out of the door.

The rigid silence of the walk to work was icier than the freezing weather outside, and Justin was going crazy because of it. "Alicia, you can’t ignore me all weekend." Her promenade to the nearest bus stop was becoming more of a brisk walk when Justin spoke to her. "Licia, please talk to me."

"We have to get to work," she answered, "so stop whining."

"Just explain to me why you’re not talking to me."

If I could meet you again
It would be so simple

"That would defeat the whole purpose, Justin."

The reason I choose not to speak to Justin isn’t because I’m jealous of his girlfriend or any bullshit like that. I’m mad at him because he’s shady as hell. I’ve dealt with a lot of people like that, but he comes off as a genuine, down-to-earth kinda guy, and now, I’m realizing that he’s totally the opposite of what I expected.

"But I don’t get it."

"That’s the problem. You don’t ‘get’ anything."

"So, why can’t you explain it to me?"

She sighed, watching a tiny cloud form from her warm breath mixing with the cold air. "How about you just let it go?"

Now it’s hardly simple, it’s just simply hard
I find myself not being myself just to avoid confrontation
Oh, it’s off track – that is a fact
Can we get it back?

"I can’t let it go. You’re my friend, and how you feel affects me."

Right now, me and Justin are not friends.

"We’re not friends."

They both hopped on the approaching bus, where every seat was filled and standing room was limited. – There was barely even enough room for their cameraman. At that point, conversation ceased… for the rest of the day.

If I could meet you again
It would be so simple

::::::::::

After hours of ignoring one another at work all day, Justin and Alicia arrived back at their white house, fatigued and agitated. She immediately escaped to her haven and hell, her room, where she was glad that no one would be there to bother her. As much as she loved Usher, his soprano voice, grating through her brain was not what she needed at the moment. She grabbed her iPod from her one-strap knapsack and turned it up as far as it would go. She wanted to be sure to drown out any sounds of Justin puttering around, as well as any thoughts that might surface after being with him all day.

Meanwhile, Justin had found his way back to his favorite position – the chair next to the telephone, and engaged in conversation with his darling Missy. "So what are you doing tonight?" he smiled into the phone.

"I dunno, probably nothing. Memphis seems so boring without you here."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I thought DC would give me something new and interesting to be excited about, but I think the only way I’d be able to enjoy it here is if you were with me."

"So you’re not going out either?"

"Probably not. It’s not like I have anyone to go with."

Missy laughed, slightly content that Alicia still wasn’t speaking to her boyfriend. "Well, you can always just sit there and talk to me."

"That’s all I’d want to do anyway."

"You’re so sweet."

"It’s because I love you."

"I think I love you, too," she replied.

"Oh, you think you do. Hmm. I guess I can live with that."

"You have no choice but to live with it."

Justin got up from the phone chair to spread out across the floor and settle into conversation with the love of his life, allowing the soothing familiarity of her voice erase any frustration that the day had brought him. He’d finally found total gratification in their chat when he was met with Alicia’s scent of True Star perfume and her shadow hovering over his space on the carpet.

"Yo, I need to use the phone," she said in a hushed tone.

"Miss, hold on for a sec." He immediately shoved the phone underneath the wrath of his palm and looked up at her. "I’m using it."

"Yeah, I see that, but you’ve been on it for like an hour and I kinda need it, too."

"I’m in the middle of a conversation, though."

"Well, how long are you gonna be?"

"I don’t know. There’s not really a time limit on these kinds of things."

"Well, how about you let me use it and then you can call the bitch back."

"Alicia, don’t talk about her like that."

"Sorry."

"I’ll be off in like half an hour."

"What! You can call her back! I need to use it for like five minutes."

"Please don’t yell. I’ll give it to you in fifteen minutes."

"Fine," she replied, taking a seat at the computer. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in there and witness the cheese-fest that is ‘Justin & Missy,’ but she knew that if she left, she’d come back sixteen minutes later and he’d give her some lame excuse not to get off the phone, like, ‘You weren’t here.’

Justin drives me fuckin’ crazy talking to his damn girlfriend all the time. I mean, how much could he possibly have to say after all that damn time? And then, he’s, like, refusing to give me the phone. Because of him, I haven’t talked to my boyfriend in days. I’m starting to think that he’s trying to be on my bad side.

A quarter of an hour later, Justin was still enchanted in lively conversation, with seemingly no intention of giving up the phone. "Justin," Alicia reminded him, "it’s been fifteen minutes, exactly."

"Could you wait for just a few more minutes please?"

"You’re not even sayin’ anything to her!"

"Stop yelling," he quieted her. "She has me on hold."

"So hang up. You can call her back, man."

"I’m not gonna hang up on her. Just give me a few minutes until she comes back and I’ll get off."

She dramatically rolled her eyes, scanning the ceiling, and then stormed out of the room and into the kitchen.

He says that he’ll give up the phone when Missy comes back. I don’t know why I believe him, but I do. So I go into the kitchen to fix a sandwich while I wait.

A mere five minutes later, Alicia returned to the Oval Office, only to find that Justin was once again, enthralled with some conversation, unbeknownst to Alicia as to what was so intriguing about that girl.

As if we’re not already doing bad enough, he is really pissing me off right now.

"Justin, get off the goddamn phone!"

After putting Missy on hold again, he stared up at Alicia, who was glaring at him from the telephone chair. "Well you weren’t here when she came back, so I thought maybe you didn’t wanna use it anymore."

"Yeah, well you know now, so give it up."

"But we’ve started talking about something completely different. I can’t leave now."

"Get off the phone."

He sighed back into the receiver and despondently told his girlfriend, "I have to go, baby."

"Why?"

"My roommate needs to use the phone."

"She can’t wait?"

"Apparently not. She’s been waiting twenty minutes, though, so I guess I should let her have it."

"If she needed the phone so badly, why didn’t she use it before you got on it?"

"I dunno. I don’t even think she wants to use it," he whispered. "I think she just wants me off of it."

"That’s exactly why you can’t give her the phone, J."

"I have to. I don’t want her anymore mad at me than she already is."

"Why do you care if she’s mad at you?"

"Because she’s my roommate. And I have to work with her. I can’t really work right if I’m worried that she’s gonna cuss me out," he laughed.

"Just ignore her. She’ll be fine without you, I’m sure."

"Maybe so, but I’m just gonna let her use the phone real quick and then I’ll call you back."

"I ha—." Click.

"Hello?" Justin looked at the silent phone and did a quick scan around the room. "Hello?"

"I think she’s gone," Alicia announced, holding the phone’s cord in her hand. "Oops."

Me and Alicia have had our differences for the past few days – that’s fine. But she comes into the room all attitude-y and stuff and, while I’m in the middle of talking to Missy, she unplugs the phone. I put up with a lot of her shit, but she’s really crossed the line.

"Alicia, how dare you hang up on my girlfriend!"

Did you sleep on the wrong side
I’m catching a bad vibe
And it’s contagious, what’s the latest?

"I told you to get off the phone!"

"I was getting off the phone!"

"You were taking too long! It doesn’t take five minutes to say ‘I’ll call you right back!’"

"I’m not gonna hang up on my girlfriend in the middle of a sentence to satisfy you. Just because you’re a cold bitch to everyone you associate with doesn’t mean I have to be the same."

Speak your heart, don’t bite your tongue
Don’t get it twisted, don’t misuse it

"What?"

"You heard me. Everyone can’t be a bitch like you. Sorry."

He called me a bitch.

"Did you just call me a bitch?"

It’s official – you got issues, I got issues

"It certainly seems like the shoe fits."

"So you just called me a bitch."

"I just called you a bitch," he reassured her.

Am I supposed to change, are you supposed to change?
Who should be hurt, who should be blamed?
Who should be hurt, who should be ashamed?
Who should be hurt, will we remain?
We need a resolution

She wordlessly spun on her heel and slowly walked up the two flights of stationary steps, to the third floor and into the confessional. She was shocked, and rather speechless that Justin, of all people, would take it that far. Turning on the light switch and taking the seat in front of the camera, she gravely looked down, and then into the lens of the camera with tears forming in her eyes.

"He called me a bitch," she said to the contraption. "I don’t know why, but I just can’t believe that he would come out of his face and call me that. – The person that I felt closest to in this house, and that I wanted to know most, has just totally disrespected me." Her tears finally fell, her eyes reddened, and she brought her knees up to her chest in the small chair, wishing that she could erase the indignant feelings that accompanied that moment. "I know that – I mean, it’s trivial to care about just a word, but it was the anger behind it that really hit me. I’ve never been insulted like that. And it threw me off because, at one point, I was really feelin’ him. And it’s like… I dunno. It hurts, man." She lowered her head again, shaking it in defeat. "It hurts."

Are you aware of what you make me feel, baby?
Right now I feel invisible to you, like I’m not real
Am I just some chick you placed beside you to take somebody’s place?
When you turn around, can you recognize my face?
You used to love me, you used to hug me
But that wasn’t the case
Everything wasn’t okay

Justin knew he’d hurt her. He didn’t mean to – he simply got caught in a heated moment and he wanted to get a rise out of her. He didn’t realize, until she didn’t respond, the intensity of his words or the impact they would have on his roommate. Immensely regretful, he hiked up the escalator to Alicia’s room, baffled to find her not there.

"Licia, are you still here?" he yelled into the house.

He didn’t get an answer until a few minutes later when she quietly came tottering down the narrow staircase from the third floor. She didn’t speak to him when she passed him in the hallway on the way to her room, nor did she speak to him when she came back out of it with a sweater and her Timberlands on, making her way back to the first floor.

Justin watched from the second floor landing while she gathered her coat and purse, and moved towards the door. "Alicia, where are you going?" No answer. – She only continued meandering around the foyer. "Alicia, I am so sorry."

She opened the front door, and turned back to his pleading form on the balcony. She was tempted to cry again, but she didn’t. "Don’t even worry about it."

I was left to cry there, waiting outside there, burning with the lost stare
That’s when I decided why should I care?
You weren’t there when I was scared, I was so alone
You need to listen
I’m starting to trip, I’m losing my grip and I’m in this thing alone

I watch Alicia walk out of the house, and it kind of scares me, because I have no idea of how bad she feels and I also don’t know what she’s capable of. So I decide to follow her.

::::::::::

Alicia ended up obliviously finding her way to one of the local bars, Chadwick’s, where she hoped to drown her dissatisfaction and sorrow in a few drinks. Little did she know, her least favorite roommate had been just a few feet behind her, waiting for the moment that she was too drunk to yell and run, but not too drunk to talk to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

Alicia rolled her eyes for the second time that night at the sound of his voice, watching as he took the bar stool seat next to her. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want to apologize."

"Let me guess – you’re sorry that I had to come out in the cold to get away from you," she sarcastically replied. She took a long drink of her beer and stared at him awkwardly. "That’s okay, Justin. I don’t need your sorry-ass sorries anymore."

"No, I’m sorry because I hurt you. I said things that I didn’t mean and I wish I could take it back--."

"But you can’t, so why don’t you skedaddle on home and leave me alone."

"Licia, please. We’ve had a bad few days, but I don’t want to see our relationship go completely down the drain like this."

"We have no relationship."

"Our friendship – whatever it is, I just don’t think it’s meant to be this way. We started off so well, and I don’t know what happened, but this isn’t how it’s supposed to go."

"Why do you care now?"

"Why don’t you care now?"

Alicia and I are in this bar, having possibly the most honest conversation since we’ve known each other. And, even though she’s getting completely blitzed, it’s so refreshing to be able to talk to her without the tension surrounding us. At this point, I’m feeling a lot better about us.

After a few minutes of pure openness, the two of them realized that they were on the road to recovery, lightening the mood considerably. Justin ordered a couple of drinks to catch up to Alicia, and they resumed their bungling discussion.

"You know what started this all?" Alicia said loudly. "The minute that you literally dropped me for your girlfriend."

"What?"

"Our birthday party. I was sitting on top of you when they did the birthday song, and all of a sudden, the girlfriend pops up, and Alicia gets put down."

"Well, it was my girlfriend."

"Yeah, that was the problem. After that, it just went downhill."

"I’m sure it didn’t help when I almost got you fired."

"Ah, so you admit it!"

"I wasn’t trying to," he laughed. "I dunno – I was just focused on not getting in trouble. I’m sorry for that, too."

She dismissively rolled her brown eyes and took another drink. "You’ve hurt me a hell of a lot for you to not even be my man, you know."

"It wasn’t intentional, though."

Oh, but in often times those words get tangled up in lies
And the bright light turns to night
Oh, until the dawn it brings
Another day to sing about the magic that was you and me

"Yeah, nothing you do is ever intentional. I swear, you could get away with anything with that damn face, baby boy."

"I don’t need to get away with anything," he smiled. "I’m a good guy."

"Hey, you never know. Ain’t no tellin’ what’ll happen to you once you get out into the real world."

"I think I’ll be all right."

"That’s what I like about you," she smirked. "You really do have good intentions."

"I try."

‘Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
Others only read of the love
The love that I loved

::::::::::

As twilight hours approached, Justin and Alicia bumbled their way down the cold Georgetown streets and back to their famed White House in high spirits. After all was said and done, in their drunken stupors, they decided that they were going to try again. A series of misunderstandings shouldn’t ruin a potential friendship. – They both knew that before they even uttered a word to one another. Talking about it only cemented that concept.

The two of them stumbled into the house and, laughing at her drunkenness, Justin hoisted Alicia over his shoulder to carry her up the steps and put her to bed.

"Justin," she whispered, "you have the cutest booty I’ve ever seen."

"So do you," he laughed, patting hers, while they rode the escalator to the second floor. He stepped off of the moving staircase, almost tripping into the carpet, but eventually finding his way to the Red Room and resting his roommate on her messy red bed. "It’s good to be home, ain’t it?"

She nodded with her eyes hung low, but smiling. "Take off my shoes."

"Okay, but you have to take off mine." He sat down on the floor and lifted his shell-toe Adidas to her bed while untying her dark yellow Timberland boots that sat on the red carpet. "You got some big ol’ feet," he added.

"I do not! I only wear a six."

"Yeah, times two."

"Shut up. And take off my coat," she slurred, raising her arms.

"Take off your own coat. I’m goin’ to bed." He stood from the floor and then plopped into Alicia’s cozy mattress along with her, staring at the ceiling as if it contained some brand of magnificence.

After minutes of silence, Alicia suddenly burst into laughter. "What the hell are we doing?"

"We’re laying here. Why’d you have to fuck up a good moment?"

"’Cause I want you to take off my coat."

She likes me
She says she needs me
She wants to see me
‘Cause I’m the shit

She laughed again as Justin rolled over the bed, on top of her, and pulled off her coat, along with his. "What are you laughing at?"

"We are fuckin’ fucked up!" she cackled.

"Maybe you are, but I’m completely fine."

"You are fine. But not in the unfucked up way."

Justin chuckled in a way that signified that he didn’t really know what he was laughing at. In his inebriated 4AM state of mind, he was really only thinking about one thing. And when he found Alicia straddling him, and her lips attacking his, he smiled in spite of himself, glad that she was thinking the same thing. And then, that coveted comforter went over their heads, concealing their soon-to-be nakedness. And it was on.

Now it seems that things are really getting better in my life
Is it just today, or things are really getting better
We’ll see tonight


On the next Real World :: The morning after – everyone is back, but no one suspects a thing. Or do they? :: Justin and Alicia examine whether their feelings are real. And if so, where does that leave – dun, dun, dun – Missy?

Man. I woke up Sunday morning, feeling like my body was spinning in circles around my head. The way I felt didn’t even qualify as a damn hangover. It was just painful. I woke up lying halfway in Alicia’s bed, halfway on the floor, wearing nothing but a pair of socks, so I’m pretty sure that I just fucked up – big time. And considering the fact that this is the first time I’ve had sex in years, and I was drunk, it’s probably safe to say that I fucked up in more ways than one. Regardless, my biggest problem was bound to be calling soon, and I had no idea what to say to her. How do I tell my girlfriend of five years that I cheated on her? …Or do I tell her at all?

"Justin!" Alicia’s raspy, Southern voice resonated through the halls, calling my name from what sounded like the bathroom upstairs.

I wish I could’ve yelled back in response, but I think the vibration of my lungs against my body would have caused my head to explode. So, I threw on my boxers and very slowly walked up the steps, entering our red, white and blue bathroom area. "Yeah?" I froze when I saw the silhouette of her body standing in one of the three shower stalls. I can’t believe I really hit that.

"I left my shower shoes in my room. Could you go get them for me?"

Yeah, if I can hop in there with you when I come back. "Yeah, sure," I obliviously replied, watching the outline of her ass as she bent over. Man, I hope everyone comes back soon. I hiked back to her room as quickly as I could to retrieve her yellow flip-flops and dashed back upstairs, in spite of my headache, anxious to drool over my roommate. "How are you feeling?" I asked, passing the shoes behind the translucent shower curtain.

"I’m okay. I just got a little headache. How ‘bout you?"

"Same. I just wanted to make sure that we were still cool and everything."

"Yeah, don’t worry. I remember everything."

"Everything?"

"Yup."

"Oh…" I turned just in time to see one of our cameramen, Jackson, walking into the bathroom, and I thought I should get the hell out of there before this moment ended up on some fucked up MTV promo where they’ll make it look like I’m getting into the shower with her, or something crazy like that. "I’ll be downstairs, all right?"

"Yeah. I’ll be out in a minute."

I quickly escaped the camera lens and made it back downstairs to the Red Room to clear all my stuff out before everyone returned. The last thing I needed was for everyone to come in with their rumors and speculation when I’m trying to figure out what to do with Missy.

The kitchen, with the blue countertop still containing the open mayonnaise jar from the evening before, was cold and messy, but I was too hung over to care. I pulled a semi-clean bowl from the red dishwasher and poured a mountain of cereal into it, only to realize that we had no milk. Of course I still ate the shit anyway – even though the crunch of the Cheerios wasn’t helping my headache.

Not long after, Alicia joined me at the dining room table in an unusually good, but quiet mood. "Is that all the cereal?" she sighed.

I nodded, staring at the overflowing garbage can where the big yellow box sat at the top of the pile. "Sorry."

"I’m tired," she announced.

"What time did you wake up?"

"I dunno. Maybe close to ten." She glanced at the microwave and then back to my cereal bowl. "What ti—."

"What ti—." We both began, simultaneously. "Sorry. Go ahead."

"Nah, you can go," she smiled timidly.

"No, go ahead."

"I was just gonna ask what time everyone was getting back."

"I was about to ask the same thing."

"It’s pretty boring around here without them."

"Oh, so I bore you?" I jokingly asked.

"I ain’t say nothin’ like that."

I smiled at her and chuckled. "Actually, you did."

"Well you know I didn’t mean it that way."

"No, I know. I was just kidding. It is weird not having them around."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," I trailed off. Yep, this is pretty awkward. "So um, what are you doing today?"

"I dunno. What are you doing?"

"I dunno. What are you doing?"

"You just asked me that," she grinned.

"Oh, yeah."

She sighed again and stared out of the window behind us. "So, are we gonna talk about this, or act like it didn’t happen?"

"Talk about what?"

"You know – last night."

I’d love to talk about it, but I don’t know what to say. "Sure, let’s talk about it."

"Well, I…" Just as she began to speak, the strident sound of the one and only Usher reverberated throughout the foyer.

"Honey! I’m home!" he exclaimed, sounding more like Lucy than Ricky Ricardo. "Now, where y’all at?"

I rolled my eyes at his impeccable timing (note the sarcasm), and got up from the table, following Alicia to greet everyone.

"Licia!" he screamed. "I missed you, baby!"

She wrapped herself in his embrace, agreeing. "I missed you, too, boy!"

"Justin, get over here," he finally said to me, hugging me anxiously. "I see you’re still alive."

"Barely," I laughed. "How was your trip?"

"Oh, it was amazing. Britney’s mom hooked us up!"

"That sounds hot," Licia beamed. "Where’s everyone else?"

"Girl, they’re tryin’ to find a parking space outside. You know I had to get in here and make sure my two favorite people were still all right. I can’t believe you didn’t kill each other!"

Oh, but we did a few other things. "Yeah, well."

Alicia and I chuckled nervously while Usher stared at us suspiciously. "So are you getting along now?"

"Yeah, we’re cool," she ensured him. She gave me an awkward look, as if I was supposed to know what the hell to say, and then pulled Usher further into the house, towards the living room. "So, tell me all about your trip, Ursh. I wanna hear every detail."

I watched them disappear and stood at the front door while the four remaining roommates drove in circles around Prospect Street, waiting for a space big enough for our car. Sunday morning – not gonna happen.

::::::::::

Late into that afternoon, the seven of us decided to do some long-overdue sightseeing. We’ve been here for weeks and we haven’t even made it to the damn Washington Monument yet. So yes, we decided not to bask in our lethargy and, at Brit’s insistence, venture into the city of Washington, DC. Bundled up tight in our coats and closely-knit group, we strolled down Pennsylvania Avenue, searching for the Smithsonian.

The seven of us took a break, stopping at a hot dog stand for a little nourishment before we continued our hike through the snowy chaos of the small city. I was downing my third hot dog and waiting for Alicia to garnish my fourth, when Adam pulled me away from the entire group. "I gotta talk to you, dude."

"What’s up?" I asked in alarm and a little confusion.

"Dude, you and Alicia are freaking me out. What is going on?"

"Um, is now really the best time to discuss this?" I looked back at the rest of the group, seemingly engaged in things other than us. But still…

"I can’t stand back and watch it anymore. What the hell is up with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You’re getting along all of a sudden. It’s weird. What’s up?"

"Well you guys did leave us alone for two days. We kind of had to get along."

"Okay. Yeah," he blinked, "but what happened?"

"We talked, man."

"And?"

"And we’re straight now."

"So you’re just not gonna tell me?"

"I’m telling you," I laughed. "That’s all there is to it."

"So then what’s up with all the weird looks between you two?"

"Adam. Bro. I think your imagination is running away with you."

"Dude, come on. Everybody can sense it."

I scoffed at his accusations, hoping he’d buy it. Damn, were we that obvious? "All I can tell you is that we talked, sorted everything out, and we’re cool now."

"So, are you cool like ‘me and you’ cool, or cool like ‘me and Lindsay’ cool?"

"I don’t even know what kinda cool you and Lindsay are, but I’m pretty sure that ain’t me and Licia."

"Okay. I get it. It’s a secret. But I bet you Alicia is gonna tell Usher, and then he’ll tell everyone else."

As he returned to where he’d previously stood, at Britney’s side, I kind of took in his words, contemplating whether or not that was possible. I mean, Alicia knows that I have a girlfriend, so she knows that she can’t tell anyone, right? And, even though she’s in one of those ‘open relationships’ with her boyfriend, she wouldn’t want that news to get to him, right? Or, maybe I’m just making too big a deal out of all this. It was just one drunk night that won’t happen again because we’re just friends, right? Because I don’t have any additional, non-platonic feelings for her, right?

Wrong.

::::::::::

It was pretty late when we arrived back in Georgetown. We stopped for dinner and Lindsay had us check out this weird club that showcased country acts. I like country as much as the next guy, but that shit was… it was weird.

But, when we got in, I decided that I needed to do a little confessing – and what better place to do that than the confessional? I raced up the escalator and up to the third floor, hoping that no one made it in there before me. But damn, I hadn’t even gotten to the West Wing when I heard Usher rambling about only God knows what. But then, I heard my name, so I listened.

"Alicia and Justin. Lord, I don’t know what to say about them. Personally, I think that while we were gone they did a little somethin’, if you know what I mean. But whatever it is, they’re tryin’ really hard to cover it up. I think Justin is starting to like Alicia, but he doesn’t know how to let go of the high school sweetheart. Oh honey, you’ll figure it out once you realize that you gotta live with Alicia for two and a half more months."

I couldn’t help but laugh at Usher’s projections, even if I should have been taking them to heart. I stood there trying to convince myself that he was wrong, but the truth of the matter is, he was probably right. I paced around the Vermeil Room, shooting around the pool balls while Usher continued his ranting and raving about the wonder of New York City. I know I say it all the time, but that dude is a trip.

"Hey you," he startled me, coming out of the confessional, as I’d gotten wrapped up in my solitary game of 9-Ball. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine. Why?"

"You seemed a little out of it today."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, unless you were talkin’ to Licia."

I chuckled, knowing where he was trying to go with that. "Nah, I’m fine."

"Okay. Well, the West Wing is all yours."

"Thanks, man." It wasn’t until I heard his footsteps against the staircase that I decided to do my confessing. I didn’t need anyone to hear what I was about to say. Very cautiously, I walked into the dim room and flipped the light switch that they say begins the session. Those producers are liars, ‘cause you always hear Real World-ers complaining about how the confessional camera is always on. But whatever – I do the switch thing anyway.

"So," I sighed, "Alicia and me – me and Alicia. We – well, last night, we had sex. And now, I’m kind of lost. I know that the right thing to do, hands down, is to just tell Missy the whole truth and whatever happens, happens. But I’m wondering if it’s worth breaking her heart over something that’s so incredibly insignificant – I mean, we were drunk. And if I promise myself that it’ll never happen again, then it’s okay, right? Well, not okay, but—," I paused when I heard the doorknob of the confessional turn.

Behind the door stood a semi-shy Alicia with a pink shade of discomfiture covering her gorgeous face. "Usher told me you were up here."

"I’m kind of in the middle of something," I smiled back.

"I know, but I thought that this would be the only place we’d be able to talk."

"Umm. Yeah, we can talk. Sure."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Come here," I encouraged, patting my lap. "Have a seat."

She grinned, resembling a flustered kid on Christmas, and sat down on the right side of my lap. "So what are you talking about in here?"

"I was talking about you. And me. And stuff?"

"And Missy?"

"Yeah."

"It’s okay. I talked about you. And me. And Missy. And Jeff. – When I woke up this morning."

"What did you say?"

"I said that I should probably just completely break it off with Jeff, since I’m not really feelin’ it right now, you know?"

"That’s probably a smart thing to do."

"Yeah," she nodded to me, and then to the camera. "And I talked about how I kinda felt bad that I’m responsible for you cheating on Missy."

"Really?"

"No," she laughed. She gave me a peck on the forehead, which was adjacent to her lips. "No, but I did say that life kinda sucks for your girlfriend right now."

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her honesty. That was one of the best things she had going for her… among other things, I realized, as her ass settled into my crotch. "And what else?"

"Well, I just told the camera what I always tell it. – I like you."

"I like you, too," I admitted. "I didn’t wanna say it, but I really do." It’s true.

"I know you do. It was only a matter of time."

"Oh, really?"

"Apparently."

"Yeah..."

"When we first got here, I was telling the camera that it was only a matter of time before the two of us were in here making out."

"But we’re not making out," I laughed.

At that moment, making another one of her notorious first moves, Alicia devoured my lips with hers. She didn’t even waste any time thrashing her tongue into my mouth. And so, as it turns out, she was right. And I was still doing wrong.


On the next Real World :: Sparks fly between Justin and Christina... but not in a good way :: Does Missy finally find out the truth? :: And Alicia shows her softer side. ::

"Girl, you look like you just got run over by Bey’s entourage," Usher noted, as Christina slowly came pacing into his room. "What’s your deal?"

It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon, and she was still trudging around in her pajamas, which was a rare state for the ever-ready Christina. Ignoring Usher, she sighed and leaned against the doorframe of his closet. "What time is it?"

"It’s 3:48," he answered, turning his alarm clock in her direction. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yes. But only because I was tossing and turning all night."

"Why is that?"

"Did you not hear Justin and Alicia cackling until five in the morning?"

"Honey, please. I was knocked out."

"But she’s so loud. How could you sleep through that?"

"We only hear the things that we wanna hear. So, if Justin and Licia kept you up all night, it’s only because you wanted them to."

"I hope you realize that that makes no sense."

"Well I share a room with the girl and I have no problems getting to sleep."

Christina rolled her eyes and finally took a seat on the bed across from Usher. "You’re just used to her loud ass."

"Okay, so remind me again. What is it that you have against my girl?"

"I have nothing against her. I just don’t like the way she carries herself. I mean, this whole thing that she has going on with Justin - whatever it is - is just wrong."

"What, she can’t like him?"

"Yeah, but the way she hangs all over him and is always in his face, when she knows he has a girlfriend, is terrible."

"Well he knows that he has a girlfriend, and obviously, he doesn’t think that whatever is going on with Alicia is affecting that, so why should she be blamed?"

"That’s exactly my point," she quipped. "She’s allowing this... boy to dictate her actions and string her along when she knows that he has a girlfriend at home. I mean, forget the fact that the poor girl is probably sitting at home thinking that he’s so in love with her, but Alicia is completely playing into it."

You’re a dirty, dirty man
You and that other woman
You’re two of a kind

I just don’t buy Justin’s little innocent country-boy act. I think there’s a lot of unspoken malice just below the surface that’s itching to get out.

"I don’t think that he’s purposely stringing her along," Usher argued. "You ever think that maybe they both just genuinely like one another?"

"Well, then why keep up the charade with Missy? Why doesn’t he just cut her loose?"

"That’s one question I don’t know the answer to. I mean, maybe it’s not so easy to just let go of a five-year relationship."

"And that’s another thing. If he’s been with her for five years, why the hell was it so easy for Alicia to turn his head?"

"Well." He plopped into the four red pillows that decorated his matching bed and rolled his eyes. "I don’t know, honey. He did say that this was their first time apart. He hasn’t had anything else to look at after all this time."

"I dunno about that. I gotta say, I don’t trust Justin. And I just think that there’s an easier way to go about all of this. If they like each other, all they have to do is tell their significant others. Really, how hard is that?"

Usher rolled his eyes one more time and pulled one of his pillows over his head. "Girl, you ask way too many questions."

"Well somebody needs to."

You’re a dirty, dirty man
And you been hiding your little dirt all over this here place
Here’s my chance to throw some mud in your face
‘Cause I’m a good housekeeper
I’m gonna take my broom and sweep all of the dirt out in the street

::::::::::

Lindsay was cuddled up comfortably in the swivel chair that accompanied the computer desk, browsing the Internet and instant messaging her best friend, Hilary, while her roommates were all somewhere scattered across the house after a long day at work. She was deeply enthralled in conversation when Christina did her bowlegged saunter into the Oval Office. "Hi," Lindsay cheerfully greeted her.

Christina remained in the door frame and gave her a weak smile. "Hello."

"What’s up?"

"I wanted to know how long you were gonna be on the computer."

"Do you have some work to do, or do you just want to use it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well yeah, if you need to work, I’ll be glad to get up right now."

"Oh." Christina was taken back by Lindsay’s willingness in spite of her own attitude. "Um, no just take your time."

"I won’t be long."

She gave her an acknowledging nod and went back on her way out of the area until she heard the phone ring. Lindsay was halfway to the phone when she was knocked out of the way by Christina’s abrasiveness as she rushed to answer the phone herself. "Hello?"

I really, honestly try to be nice to Christina whenever I can. Especially since everyone in the house is so mean, but today, she basically throws me out of the way so she can answer the phone. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I don’t like it.

"Christina! What are you doing?" Lindsay screamed.

"Sorry," she hushed, answering the phone again. "Hello?"

"Hey," a female voice replied, " who’s this?"

"You called here," Christina quipped to the quiet country voice on the other end. "Who is this?"

"Oh, I’m sorry. This is Missy. Is Justin there?"

"I’m sorry, too. Hi, Missy." She smiled to herself and sank into the telephone chair. "I’m not sure," she lied. "Linds, could you check and see if Justin is here."

"He is. He ju–."

Christina put a quick finger up to her lips that was supposed to inform Lindsay that she was to shut up. "Missy, could you hold on for just a second?"

"Sure."

"Okay." Quietly, Christina asked her roommate, "Could you give me a minute alone here?"

Confused, and a little intimidated, Lindsay granted her privacy and left for the kitchen. In turn, Christina returned to her phone call. "You still there, Missy?"

"Yeah, I’m here. Did you find Justin?"

"Um, yeah. He should be on his way downstairs."

"Oh, okay."

"So, how have you been?"

"Um, I’ve been great," Missy replied in perplexity. "How about you?"

"I’ve been good."

"Getting along with all the roommates?"

"I’m trying," she chuckled. "It’s hard though, when everyone in the house seems to be attached to someone else, you know?"

"How so?"

"Well you know, Adam and Lindsay are always hanging out, and sometimes with Britney. And then, Alicia and Justin are really close. As well as Ush–."

It’s probably wrong that I went and told Justin’s girlfriend about his quote-unquote ‘friendship’ with Alicia, but what’s more wrong what he’s doing to that poor girl. So I figure what I’m doing is the lesser of two evils, thereby making it all all right.

"Wait," Missy interrupted. "What do you mean when you say that they’re ‘close’?"

"Well, I just mean that they’ve been getting along so well and everything - hanging out whenever they can, in the hot tub all the time, things like that."

"But, I thought they weren’t speaking to each other?"

"Are you kidding? If those two aren’t speaking, then I’m not on the phone with you at this very moment."

"Christina, are you sure?"

"I’m positive."

"Wow."

"Oh, but I don’t think it’s anything that you should worry about. I’m sure that Justin still loves you and everything."

"Yeah," she said, absently. "So um, where did you say Justin was?"

I’m cleaning up my whole house fast as I can
It’s time to make everything spic and span
You’re a dirty man

"Oh, he should be right down. Actually, let me make sure he’s on his way." Christina hopped up from the chair in satisfaction and threw the phone into the seat, while finally informing Justin of his waiting phone call. "Justin! Telephone!"

As he passed Christina in the foyer, he offered her a polite ‘Thank you’ and happily headed to the phone. "Hello?"

"Justin, I said that I was cool with this ‘Real World’ mess, didn’t I?"

Wait, let me take that back
It was you, so I was with it

"Yes," he drawled, somewhat baffled.

"Well, J, it’s just not going to work out if you’re not being honest with me here."

I guess I didn’t get when you showed you didn’t miss it

"Whoa, what are you talkin’ about, babe?"

"I’m talking about you. You and your new... girlfriend."

"What?"

Now it seems that your interest ain’t here and we ain’t the same

"Alicia! I know all about the two of you and all your spending time together."

"Miss, why are you so upset? That’s not a crime, is it?"

"It’s a crime when you’re sitting in a hot tub with her and yet you have me thinking that you’re not even speaking to her!"

I can’t believe that you can’t feel my heart
And I can’t believe you’d let me fall so hard
Stop playing
How could you let it go this far if you had doubts that I wasn’t the one?

"Babe, I think you’re overreacting. I must’ve just forgotten to tell you that we’re friends again."

"Uh-huh. And so, when did that happen?"

"I dunno, maybe a week or so ago."

"Convenient how that’s the last time you called me, J."

And you said that you’re the type to take it slow
And you said, ‘Before I step, I’ll let you know’
Stop playing
Before you let me see you with her, you could have told me a change was gon’ come

"What are you talkin’ about, Missy? We talk everyday."

"Yeah, but it’s only because I call everyday. And it’s really funny how whenever I call, you’re never the one to pick up the phone. You’re always so busy these days."

Is she the reason you don’t call like you used to?
Fall through my hood like you used to
Or put it on me hard like you used to do

"It’s not always because of Licia," he submitted. "Sometimes, I’m in the shower, or maybe eating dinner, or who knows. Maybe I’m with Adam, or Usher - it could be anybody."

"Or maybe you’re somewhere in the hot tub with her, or laying in her bed."

I know in my mind what’s goin’ on, but my heart won’t let me go until I know

"That’s not true. Where are you getting this stuff from?"

Right now, I feel like the lowest of the low. I’m sitting here lying to my girlfriend again when I know that if I get it out in the open now, it would probably be a lot easier in the long run.

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah!"

"Don’t yell at me. I’m the one with the right to be mad right now. Not you!"

"But you’re getting mad over nothing. I’m just friends with her."

Something like this has never come up in our relationship, and I’m scared to find out how she’d handle it. I’m not ready to break her heart yet. Or better yet, I’m not ready to break mine.

"Well your friendship seems like it’s a little bit too close, if you ask me."

Is she the reason that my calls couldn’t reach you?
The deepest of my love couldn’t please you
Or bring it to me home like you used to do

"But where are you getting these ideas from?"

"Justin, I swear to God, if I see you on television making out with her or engaging in some other lewd act with her, I’m gonna be absolutely heartbroken, so I suggest you just tell me now."

Me seein’ her fallin’ for your charm got me feelin’ like I wasn’t good enough

"You’re not even listening to me right now. There’s nothing going on between me and Alicia. We’re just friends, so there’s nothing for you to worry about." Justin sighed heavily, wishing that he didn’t have to choose between adamantly lying to his girlfriend and crushing her. As much as his mind had been consumed with Alicia for the past few days, his heart was with Missy, and he just couldn’t let her go. Not yet, anyway. "Miss, I love you, okay?"

"Really?"

"Yes. Really. And I don’t love anyone else but you, so don’t worry." His heart almost split in two when he heard her sniffle on the other end. "I’m sorry."

"No, Justin. I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions and lashed out at you instead of talking to you first. It’s just that when Christina was telling me about everything, I started seeing red instead of rational."

"I understand," he reassured her. "I just hope –. Wait. Did you say Christina? As in my roommate Christina?"

I’m sure that Christina has managed to piss off everyone in the house in some way, but this time, she crossed the line.

"Yeah, while we were waiting for you, she told me about how much time you were spending with Alicia, and I got so upset–."

"Yo, Miss, I’ll call you back, okay?" Justin was the one seeing red now, and he was pissed.

"Umm. Yeah. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, fine. I’ll just call you back." With those last words, he slammed the phone down, into the receiver before she could even respond. He was storming through the bottom layer of the house searching for the person that he deemed responsible for the new mess in his life. "Christina!"

Oh no!
The fights out
I’m ‘bout to punch yo’ lights out
Get the fuck back

Adam and Britney were situated across the landing of the second floor, reading about the company they’d be working for the next week, when Justin came thundering up the escalator, startling both of them.

"Where the fuck is Christina?" he boomed.

The two of them shrugged and darted their eyes towards her room. "Are you all right?" Britney asked.

"Hell fuckin’ no, I’m not all right," he answered quickly, continuing his raging path down the hall.

I been drinkin’ and fussin’ too
And I been thinkin’ of bustin’ you
Upside yo’ motherfuckin’ fo’head

"Justin, wait," Adam called after him, hopping up from the floor. "What’s wrong?"

"That bitch has crossed the line, man. Where is she!"

"Okay, but calm down. You sound way too much like Alicia right now. And that would be great, except I don’t think that I can hold you back, bro."

"Fuck that shit. Where is she! Come out, Christina!"

"Justin. Calm. Down." Adam tried to pull him in the opposing direction of any of the bedrooms and back towards where Britney still sat on the floor, confused.

Now, I don’t know what the hell happened between Justin and Christina - I’m not even sure that I want to know. But he comes thundering up the steps with this raging bull look, and I know that I probably need to keep him away from her.

"Get off me, man! I ain’t gonna hit her. I just wanna talk to her."

"Well, if you calm down, I’ll let you go."

I’m doin’ 100 on the highway
So if you do the speed limit, get the fuck outta my way
I’m DUI, hardly ever caught sober
And you about to get ran the fuck over

"Get off of me," he repeated, wrestling out of Adam’s grasp. He took his ammunition up to the third level, examining every shower stall, every bathroom stall, the game room, and even interrupted Usher in the middle of one of his confessionals. He didn’t stop there, though. He trampled all the way back down to the first floor to start his search again. The five other roommates had gathered somewhere among the middle of the house while Justin went on his rampage.

Move bitch, get out the way
Get out the way, bitch, get out the way

As he passed through the foyer, once again, Christina casually strutted out of her room and parked herself at the balcony’s landing. She looked down to where he stood, frenzied, below her and chuckled. "I hear you’re looking for me?"

"Yeah, I wanna know what the fuck your problem is."

Her tone was complacent, as was her facial expression. "Seems like you’re the one with the problem, don’t you think?"

"Yeah, and it’s because of your big ass mouth. You know, I’d really like to know where the hell you get your nerve."

"Where do you get your nerve, Justin. How dare you treat a woman that way?"

"What way?"

"This!" she yelled, pointing to Alicia. "Missy loves you, but you’d rather fuck her!"

Alicia glared at Christina as she continued to point and accuse her. She was more than tempted to say something, but this was Justin’s battle to fight, and as much as she hated to admit it, Christina was right, on some level or another. She simply knocked Christina’s finger from the side of her face and let them continue.

"Christina, I get it," Justin said, calmly. "You have an opinion on everything. Having it is one thing, but expressing it and injecting it into my personal life just ain’t gonna work."

"Oh, so because she’s your girlfriend, I’m not allowed to give her fair warning that she’s about to get her heart broken? I’m not allowed to tell her that you’re fucking playing the shit out of her!"

"I’m not playing her! I love my girlfriend, and you don’t know anything about what’s going on between us!"

"Oh, please. Let’s not forget that there are cameras watching everything here. Don’t even try to play the innocent card right now, Justin."

Justin was left at a standstill, because, on that subject, she was absolutely right. He was cheating on Missy, whether his head wanted to acknowledge it or not. "You know what card I want you to play? The stay-out-of-my goddamn-business card. What I do with my life has nothing to do with you."

"I refuse to sit back and watch you hurt this girl because you can’t keep your dick in your pants!"

"Missy is not your girlfriend! She’s not yours to care about!"

"I care about any woman that’s being hurt!"

"Then you need to take a look at yourself, you fuckin’ hypocrite, and stop hurting the people around you - the women around you that are wanting to be your friends."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Don’t try to turn this back around on me. You’re the one doing wrong here."

She is twenty-five
Spent over half of her life so afraid to speak her mind
It’s such a shame, ‘cause oh what a brilliant mind she has

"That may be very true, but you’re no angel, sweetheart. You’re hellbent on being a good Samaritan to every woman you pass on the street, but you can’t find it in your heart to embrace the people you live with. Not even the women. Yeah, I might have fucked up, but at the very least, I know that I have the people in this house to lean on. At least I haven’t pushed everyone away for no goddamn reason. In spite of it all, I know that I’m not alone. And you know what? At least I can admit that I’m not perfect."

"I never said I was perfect."

"Yeah, you just act like it."

And now that she’s been introduced to confidence
She doesn’t see that she is bordering on arrogance

Christina stared down at him, wondering if he was serious. She then stared at the nervous faces of the five other spectators, somewhat embarrassed by everything he’d just said. Their argument, that started with his trivial concerns about his girlfriend, somehow evolved into a venture through some much-needed soul-searching. Justin was right. More importantly, she was, too. But the fact still remained that Justin was right.

When will she learn to come back to the middle?

A solitary tear fell from her mysterious aqua eyes, and she sniffled softly. Very quietly, she relented and retreated towards her room. "I’m sorry."

::::::::::

After the awkwardness of an apology from Christina subsided, the remaining six roommates went back to their usual routine of scattering around the mansion, and avoiding Christina at all costs. This time, however, their reasons for dodging her were completely different. No one knew what to say to her - especially Justin.

So he didn’t say anything. He would nervously bypass the Blue Room where she was silently wrapped up in her comforter, and he kept walking to Alicia’s room. "I feel bad," he announced, crawling into her bed, where she and Usher were strewn across it.

"Girl, I don’t know why," Usher chuckled. "That girl was askin’ for it."

Alicia lightly struck his shoulder and moved over so that Justin could fit on the bed with them. "Shut up."

"I didn’t want to make her cry. I just want her to stay out of my business, you know?"

"Yeah," Alicia nodded. She welcomed his head to rest on her stomach and stroked his dark hair. She thought of how the three of them were laid in her bed, content to be there with one another. She then thought of Christina and how there was no one in her room with her to provide her with warmth and support; no one was in there to stroke her hair and rub her back. She was alone in her desolate blue room while the three of them laughed together in the fervent red room, acting like everything was okay. Sure, Christina deserved it, but we don’t always get what we want in life. "I’ll be right back, y’all." Alicia then wiggled out of the awkward position she’d been laying in and headed to the next room where she found Christina balled up into a lump on her bed, covered by covers.

"Get out," Christina announced, before Alicia could even make it to her bed.

"Listen, bitch. I know I’m not your favorite person in this house - then again, who is? - but I know you’re hurting right now. And I don’t have any wise words or happy thoughts," Alicia answered, sitting at the edge of her roommate’s bed, "but I’m here for you." She softly draped her arm across the clump of Christina and whispered, "It’s gonna be okay."

Christina, feeling the release of Alicia’s weight in her bed, removed her comforter to see her roommate walking out. "Wait," she sniffled.

Alicia turned and waited for her to speak again. "What?"

"I’ve been terrible to you. Why do you care?"

Girl, I can tell you been crying and you’re needing somebody to talk to
Girl, you don’t have to be hiding
Don’t you be ashamed to say he hurt you

"I dunno," she shrugged. "I just know how it feels to be alone." Alicia watched as those lonely tears fell from Christina’s eyes, remembering how desperate she was for a shoulder when everyone wanted her fired. On top of that, she was no stranger to the pain of Justin’s angry words. As much of a hard-ass as Alicia tried to act like she was, she wasn’t cold-hearted, by any means. She sat back down on Christina’s bed and pulled her into her arms. She let her cry on her while the two girls swayed lightly back and forth. "It’s gonna be okay."



Still to come on this season of Real World :: Christina isn’t done yet. Britney’s new boy somehow ends up in Christina’s bed. :: A couple of Real World couples find romance in the Pokonos. :: Usher’s dreams just might come true, thanks to a little persistence and his good friend, Justin. :: The roommates become Seven Strangers to the beauty of Europe and the friendly miracles that only a vacation can provide. :: And wait, are Justin and Missy ever going to break up? :: Find out what happens when Real World returns.