Justin arrives at Chase's apartment right around lunchtime. Chase and Tabbetha were inside arguing about me and my attitude when Justin came walking in.

"Hey guys. Don't worry about me. This is your place, and I don't want to inconvenience you into helping me out with these bags." Justin says dropping two bags while he was still holding two.

"OH! Sorry about that. We didn't realize you had arrived already." Tabbetha says walking over to give him a hug and grabbing one of the bags on the floor. "Dude, you have a lot of luggage. You pack like a girl, don't you?" This amuses her greatly.

"You're just too funny, little one. Where am I staying?"

"I made Chase clean out his game room and turn it into a guest room. I know its small but we tried." Tabbetha explained as they walked into the room to drop the luggage.

"It's good. I promise you all worry too much. I neither expect nor want some lavish mansion. I feel more relaxed when I feel like I'm in a real home." He eases their tension on the matter. "I am, however, starving. What do you say we check out Maria's place again. I've actually been looking forward to her food since I left the last time."

"Sounds great to me" Chase exclaims, with a nod of agreement from Tabbetha. "Let's go!"

They all climb into Justin's car because Tabbetha and Chase both wanted to ride in his escalade. Justin even let Chase drive since he knows where they are going. Stupid on his part but hopefully he won't learn from personal experience. It didn't take long for them to arrive at Maria's and they all go in to be greeted by Maria, herself.

"Hello, my darlings!" She greets them with hugs and kisses, even Justin. She loves him since her place since her place has definitely grown in business a bit since his last visit. Everyone hoping to catch a chance to see him.

"I'm going to assume you want the usual table with him here." She grabs the menus and walks them to my corner table. She talks with them a bit, getting their orders, and then running off to go do some things, handing off their order to the cook and having their actual server get their drinks out to them.

"I love this place!" Justin says out of nowhere.

"It is fantastic. It's Arianna's favorite place to eat. Maria loves her. I think that's why she puts up with us" Tabbetha jokes a bit.

"Well she seems like she's a good person. I really wouldn't know but she puts up with Chase, so she can't be too bad, right?" Justin laughs

"I agree. It takes a special kind of person to put up with Chase. I'd put Tabbetha in that same category, too" I greet them as I sit down at the table. "I get a small break for lunch and come here to eat in peace and quiet and I'm greeted by the hostess telling me that you all are already back here at my table" I tell them shaking my head. A few minutes later, the server brings out my drink.

"A beer? Was it that bad of a morning?" Tabbetha raises her eyebrow at me.

"Just trying to get Jackson back into the game. I'm not sure his heart is really in it, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Plus James." With that simple name, both Chase and Tabbetha get an understanding look on their faces.

"Who's James?" Justin can't stop himself from asking.

"No one to worry about. Have y'all ordered?" I ask, not knowing how long they'd been here, but before they could get much more than 'yes' out, all of our food arrived.

Maria came up shortly after. "Everything good?" She asks me as she stood behind me, playing with my hair a bit (and yes she washes her hands, don't worry).

"Of course, I don't think we could have a bad dish here" I answer smiling. She smiles and kisses the top of my head then leaves to go back to the kitchen.

"When did you order?" Justin asks as we all started to eat.

"I don't. She just fixes something and I eat it. She knows me and what I like and don't and what I can and can't eat." I explain. "She's like a mother to me."

"That's cool." He goes back to eating. I kind of felt bad. I could tell he was trying to have a nice conversation with me. I was just afraid he would mistake it for me wanting to be close friends.

"So Justin," I start, "I see you had a safe trip out. Is there a reason behind your 'vacation'?"

"I was just getting tired. Always running and never resting. I could feel myself getting worn out and starting to hate everything around me and taking it out on everyone around me."

"I understand that" I mumble a little. "Especially here lately with the new ones. I feel like I'm babysitting at times."

"I know that one" he smiles back at me.

"So," I look over at the other two that are smiling to each other, "Planning a bunch of fun stuff for your guest?"

"We got nothing for now, to be honest," Tabbetha answers. "I'm sure you can give us some ideas" she smiles at me.

I must grit my teeth to keep from yelling at her and then punching her. I turn to Justin and smile. "I would suggest simple stuff while you can: putt-putt, bowling, and so on. I understand you can always do this stuff, but you should try doing it without cameras in your face. It's fun. I promise." I suggest and actually get a smile from Justin.

"That's what I'm hoping on getting before the secrets out about my location. I want normalcy" He tells me.

I nod as I take a huge bite of my food, getting it all over my face. I finally swallow it and wipe my mouth lean over to Justin. "Well, you don't have long so I would suggest you all get on top of that."

Justin just looks at me. "I'm hoping it'll be a long while."

"I know you do, but to let you in on something, someone just took your picture and it probably won't be long before they sell it." I give him a look of pity and sympathy.

"We're going to a movie today. Normal and in the dark so no one will know it's you." Tabbetha says.

"That would be great." I tell him putting my hand on top of his without a thought, but removed it immediately but, of course, not before another picture. "So, for future references, my office is kind of like a safe haven - VERY private. If you find things getting crazy and you need a place to go, you just need to let me know." I don't know what made me tell him this, but I felt bad and I know what its like to wish for privacy.

"Thanks so much!" He truly appreciated this and I could tell.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tabbetha and Chase share a look and give each other a small high-five. "I saw that you two!" I glare at them. "I'll talk to you two later, but for now I must go back to work. I get up to leave but Tabbetha stops me before I can get away.

"Arianna, you planning on working all night?" Tabbetha curiously asks.

"I'm not sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, it's Karaoke Night at The Bay tonight. Want to come out with us?"

"If I'm not busy with work, I'd love to. I'm sure you knew that considering I'm a sucker for karaoke." I tell her with a smile.

"Awesome. I'm excited. You need a day off to hand with us." Chase adds in.

"Well I'll see you all later tonight and we'll see how it goes." I answer and leave to head back to the office. If I'm going out tonight there's a lot of stuff I need to get done before I can even think about playtime.

It was a long, hard day at work. People to beat up, people to question, and people to whip into shape, all while trying to stay in shape myself. I didn't get out until about 9pm. It may not sound late but that long of a day with as much intense activity the whole time can wear on you.

I get home and Tabbetha was running around like her head had been cut off. "I can't seem to find anything I want. Everything I want is dirty!" she's screaming out as she runs past me as I try to climb the stairs to get to my room.

"I guess that will teach you to do your laundry!!" I yell back to her as I continue to climb up.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. How long is it going to take you to get ready because we are wanting to get going in about 30 minutes. The boys will be here in about 15." She tells me as she runs back up the stairs, meeting me at the top.

"You don't need to worry about me." I tell her closing my door. I open it back up though and yell out for her. "Here! Now quit running around. I don't need my house to fall apart" I tell her throwing one of her favorite shirts of mine at her.

She happily accepts it and goes and gets ready herself. I went through my closet and found some cute comfy clothes. Shockingly, I do own a few. I decided on a bright blue top that was simple enough. It fit well without being too tight, showed some - but not too much - cleavage and some silver jewelry for some accents. I pulled my hair back off my face and neck. I chose a simple pair of dark jeans and some black heels. It took me about 10 minutes. The remaining 5 minutes I had, according to Tabbetha, I used to put some simple natural makeup on. I'm all about simple if you can't tell.

I come out and find that Tabbetha isn't even ready. Sometimes, I want to kill her. The boys were there soon sure enough. "We're waiting for Tabbetha, of course. Chase, go get your girl. I gave her a shirt so she should be good to go. I'm sure she's stuck with makeup or hair. Tell her she's beautiful and let's go. I don't want to miss much." I tell him and he goes up. I turn to Justin. "That girl will be the death of me. If I'm going out, I don't want to miss out."

It didn't take long before Chase came down with Tabbetha in tow. We all headed out in one of my cars, me driving of course. We get to one of my favorite bars, The Bay. Its fantastic because its not a trashy bar or one that's mainly college students where girls are all skanked out and boys trying to hit on everyone. There aren't adults trying to look younger than they were. Everyone was just dressed comfortably, drinking, and having fun in everyone's presence. It was karaoke night which is hard for me to pass up. I love to see people getting up there showing off what they had.

Upon our arrival, I notice the young girl on stage. She is dressed nice and singing her version of Rihanna's "Take a Bow." She was pretty good. Justin seemed to agree. We found a table, my usual (I have a lot of usual tables…its what you get when people are slightly scared of you). It was off to the side a bit but still close enough to be able to enjoy the show. We order some drinks and sit back.

I lean over to Justin. "How many drinks before we get either Chase or Tabbetha up there?" I whisper with a big smile and a wink.

"I find this to be a bit unfair. You know their tolerance better than I do." He whispers back.

"Ah, but I'll even let you in on that. Plus, you have a bit of an advantage of your own. You could probably talk anyone, especially women, into doing anything you want."

"You'd probably be surprised what I want and can't get," he winks back at me.

I just roll my eyes. "It takes only a mere 2 drinks before Tabbetha is set for the night. Chase depends on what he's drinking, but he's doing tequila tonight so I give it probably 3 shots for him, too."

"I see. Well then I say 4 drinks for Tabbetha and 5 shots for Chase and they'll be up there."

"I agree with the 4 drinks for Tabbetha but I believe it may take you batting your eyelashes just a couple of times, unless it's a cheesy love song then it'll probably take 5 drinks. With Chase, I give him 6 shots and Tabbetha's pouty lip" I laugh at our deal as we sit back and let the drinks roll in to see how it goes.

After the girl left the stage, it isn't long before she is replaced by young man. It is obvious that he isn't sober, but he isn't trashed either. He gets up there and picks a love song and starts singing - quite a bit off key - to the girl who he obviously cares for, and she doesn't seem to notice.

"He could use a little help, huh?" Justin chuckles a little along with his joke.

All I can do is roll my eyes. "I guess that's one of the many things we don't have in common." I tell him as I turn to give my full attention to the man on stage.

He makes a point to lean closer. "What are you talking about? Are you telling me that you think he's a great singer?" He is obviously confused by my actions.

"I believe you, Mr. Popstar Singer, need to learn to not be so shallow. I'll let you in on a little secret." I say in a loud whisper as I turn back around to him and lean close. "Not everyone can sing as well as you and definitely don't get paid to." I pull away and smile at him as if I really let him in on a very important secret.

"I'm not shallow. I was just saying -"

"That he's bad," I cut him off. "I'm sure he knows it, and I'm even sure she knows it." I point out the girlfriend that was smiling from ear to ear with complete admiration and love for the man on stage. "This time I really let you in on a secret. It's the bad ones I look forward to."

Before he can reply, we hear Chase and Tabbetha ordering another round of drinks for our table. "You two need another drink. You have a look like you're having an intense conversation and that is not what this night is about." Tabbetha says with a small slur.

Justin and I laugh a little. This was her 3rd drink coming and the bet was still on. "We're so sorry Tabbetha. We don't want to be the ones to rain on your parade." The drinks arrive and we all tap our glasses together and drink away.

A couple more people sing away as our table shares stories with lots of laughs. We were all drinking and having fun like we had planned on. We were interrupted though when a girl with a pair of lungs belted out a note on stage, catching our attention.

"So you don't like the good ones?" Justin asks curiously.

"I never said that. What I said was 'I look forward to the bad ones.'" I tell him with a smirk.

"Please explain to me why the bad ones are better for you then the good ones."

"The bad ones have more to say."

This definitely causes Justin to be lost. The confused look on his face says it all. "How so?"

"Well the good ones pick songs that are good for their voices. They know what will be good to sing and that's the song they choose. You should understand. When you first started out, y'all picked songs that sounded good for your voices and your harmonies. Now you may write your own songs but you write them for your voice." Justin nods a little. "The bad ones, on the other hand, don't have the luxury of that. No matter what song they choose, they are pretty much going to sound bad. So, they choose a song for the message. If they are going to sound bad no matter what, they might as well get a message out with it." I continue to explain seeing the lost look slowing disappearing. "It may be a message that says 'let's party,' or as simple as 'I'm drunk and I want to let everyone know' but like the guy earlier, they could say 'I love you more than anything and I'm willing to embarrass myself to let you know this.' Starting to understand why I look forward to the bad one?" I ask him.

He nods silently at first. "I think I'm pretty good and I still have a message to say with my songs."

"Yeah and how long did it take for you to establish yourself to be able to write your songs with a message? Nobody here is famous and getting paid to do that. Your message though still fits your voice. It's written that way, so I think some of the message gets lost in that, not all but some." I give him a sorry-to-be-the-one-to-let-you-know-this look.

Instead of being met with an insulted look, I actually got a look of understanding and what I believe to be a slight smile. "There may be more to you that I ever imagined. I'm looking forward to learning more, more of the not so scary bruised and cut up you, that is."

Oh shit. What did I just set myself up for? I already made the decision to not let him in, even as a friend, and here I am having drinks, making harmless bets with him, and even sharing a secret -as simple as it may be - with him. I'm in trouble!