"Um, no. Mandy just called me. It turns out we're suppose to go to her mother's tonight for dinner and to do baby plans. So now I have no clue who is going to run the dj booth."

"Well, that's quite a problem. But you don't have to worry about it. I'll do it."

Chris' troubled eyes began to shine with hope. "Really? You'll do it?"

"Yes, now get your cute butt home to your pregnant wife."

"Thank you so much, Ray. I owe you!"

"Have a good night, Chris."

"Bye Ray!" Chris gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before running to his car to go home.

"Oh boy." Raleigh sighed as she looked at the mess in front of her,. She had about forty minutes to set up the dj booth before dusk and everyone showed up wanting some kickin' music. "well, lets get to work." She mumbled to herself as she set work on organizing the jumble of albums and electronics before her. It was going to be tricky, but she was pretty sure she'd get it done in no time.

---

"JC, I really don't like this. You sure you know where you're going?"

"Yes, Erin. I've lived here all my life, I think I know how to get to the party spot I helped discover."

"Well there's no need to get snappy." Josh chuckled and shook his. Sarcasm was the only form of communication he could really use with this girl. Stopping dead in his tracks, Josh turned around to see what had made Erin scream and freak out.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What is that?" Erin clung to Josh's arm for dear life and he looked to the spot she was pointing at. He began laughing once again when he realized she was afraid of a little harmless chipmunk.

"Erin, relax. It's just a chipmunk. You can release the death grip on my arm now."

Letting go of his arm, Erin followed him through the rest of the woods. "It looked like a rat."

"You really need to get out of the city more."

"You're so funny."

"It's about time you realize that." Josh smiled at her before going into the large open field where the teenagers of the town had already begun to swarm. Much to his dismay, Josh's eyes had immediately began to scan the crown for Raleigh. He made himself stop looking and diverted his eyes to Erin, he felt absolutely no attraction to her what so ever. Sure, she was pretty but she used her looks too much. She was the typical petite blonde haired, blue eyed girl that only wore tight pants, belly bearing shirts, and the shortest skirts you could find. She came off as having incredible confidence but Josh knew her better than that. Inside she was just as insecure and scared as everyone else. Erin was too worried about appearances and popularity to actually be attractive to him. She was shallow, plain and simple. He had dated and loved Raleigh because she was real. She told it how it was and never put up a front. She never cared what people thought about her and he could stare into her beautiful lilac eyes for hours on end and still not know what was hidden behind them sometimes. She was mysterious and dark but loving and obvious at the same time. Lately, he wasn't so sure who she was anymore though. She was so different and Josh knew he had played more than one part in that transformation.

---

"Hey girly, wasn't Chris suppose to doing the music?"

"Yeah, but Mandy called. Something came up so I told him I'd take care of it."

"Well now that's unfair to you because you can't party and dance with my sexy ass."

"Joey," Raleigh said looking at him seductively. "You get me all the beer I want and another shot, you can have some dances."

"Just dancing huh?" Joey got dangerously close to Raleigh and she felt herself slipping at his soft, sexy voice.

"Hey hey hey! Put it away Fatone." Carly and Justin cut in, breaking them apart.

"Hey man, why you gotta be like that?" Joey looked at his their friends. It was no secret between he and Justin that he had a thing for Raleigh, and he knew given just one more second, he may have gotten the kiss he had longed for.

"Because we love Raleigh and want to keep her safe." Carly said, wrapping an arm around her best friend, only to get Joey sticking his tongue out at her in response. " Real mature, Joey."

"Shut up."

"Enough children." Raleigh laugher. She loved her friends and this was exactly was she needed to get her mind off things.

"So, have you guys seen her yet?" Carly decided to change the subject.

"Yeah. He brought her here. She's such a tramp. Its completely obvious he can't stand the girl but we all know he's too damn nice to say "get the fuck away from me." Don't get me wrong, the boy is my best friend, but he needs to grow a pair of balls." Raleigh listened to Justin confusedly. Who was he talking about? It became clear when he said "my best friend" though. They were talking about Josh and his "New York trash" as Joey so nicely put it. Raleigh had yet to see the girl, but from what they were all saying, she could already picture her. A tall, skinny blue-eyed blonde haired bimbo with big boobs and a fake tan.

"Speak of the devil. Here they come now." Raleigh looked in the direction of the other three's gazes and she felt sad and upset once again. Tonight had taken a turn for the worst.

---

While not at the dj table, Raleigh had made a stance at the bar made just for the parties out at the field. Seeing Josh with any other woman was too much for her to handle. She had made it a point to get completely intoxicated and was well on her way to doing just that. She was allowing the alcohol to work its magic and wipe away her cares for the night.

"hey girly, you should slow down a bit. Wouldn't want to have to carry you home."

"Ah Joey, I wouldn't want you to have to carry me home either. You just might take advantage of me once you had me in bed." She winked at him.

"Nah. I would, but then your boy over there might beat the living hell out of me like he did James." Looking over in the direction Joey nodded, Raleigh sighed.

"He's not my boy anymore. And James deserved the beating he got."

Looking at how heartbroken the girl really was over Josh, Joey thought it best to drop the subject. "How about a shot?"

"Sounds perfect." Raleigh had done three more shots of crown royal with Joey before realizing it was time to light the wooden dummy bon fire.

"Shit, do you have the matches?"

"Uh..no. I think they're at the dj table."

"Oh yeah. Raleigh stumbled her way over to the table and stopped the music after locating her matches. Taking her microphone, she spoke and stumbled to the pile of wood in the center of the field. "Hey, ya'll ready to set the dummy on fire?" She yelled to everyone who screamed in response, but she thought they all could do better than that. "No, no, no. I said are you ready to set the dummy on fire!" A big smile shown on her face as everyone scream as loud as they possibly could. Everyone except Josh that is. He watched on in horror as she spoke some more.

"She is not going to light that fire. Look at her! She can barely stand on her own!"

"You want her not to do it? Go try and stop her." Justin said before taking a gulp of his beer.

"She should not be going up that ladder or handling fire. She's gonna get herself killed." Josh kept saying to himself. But no matter how worried he became for her well being, he just could not make himself go over to her. He was still insanely upset with her and he was beginning to get mad at himself for letting his true feelings for her get in the way of how he should be feeling, how he wanted to feel. But it was a battle he would ultimately lose.

"I need a drink." He said before going to the bar.

---

"Hi Joey!" Raleigh bounced up behind the man sitting in one of the many chairs around the fire and wrapped her arms around him.

"Jesus, Ray. You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry, Joe." She giggled as she moved around his chair and plopped down on his lap.

"Yeah, yeah. What's up, Ray?"

"What will it take for you to be my partner in a game of beer pong? Somebody needs to put and end to the dynasty."

"Raleigh, I think you've had enough to drink."

"Puh puh puh pwease?" Pouting out her bottom lip, Raleigh tried to look as sad as she possibly could. She really wanted to kill Josh at his own game and this was the perfect opportunity. He couldn't beat her at anything.

"Ok, fine." Joey sighed.

"Yay! Thank you!" Raleigh threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly before jumping up and grabbing his hand and pulling him up. "Let's go!"

"Ray, there's a list."

"And we're already on it. We're on deck."

"Nice to know." Joey said before allowing the drunken girl to pull him across the field tot eh beer pong table. They got there just in time to see Josh and Justin sink both of their ball sin the same cup. It was the first win like that that night, and the boys couldn't have been happier. Nobody could beat them, nobody was better, except for Raleigh and she fully intended to give them, Josh mainly, the same humiliation they had just caused the opposing team. The rule was if both pong balls were sunk in the same cup, that was the game and the losers had to strip down naked and run around the party. From what Joey heard, it seemed like Adam and John were refusing to do it, calling the game bullshit.

"Oh shut up and strip down you pussies. You played the game fully knowing the rules, don't try and weasel your way out of it." Joey received two death looks, but the boys quit complaining and stripped down. Looking around her, Raleigh noticed everyone was watching the table. They were more interested in how the new game was going to go down between the ex's and best duos for beer pong. Looking at Josh and Justin, Raleigh got a burst of confidence. Maybe it was from all the alcohol running through her system, maybe it was from watching the New York slut all over Josh, she didn't know, but the only thing she wanted to do right then was to wipe that victorious grin off his face. And that is just what she intended to do.

"You boys ready to lose?"

Stepping away from Erin, Josh lost the smile that had been plastered to his face all night long. "You seem so sure of yourself, Raleigh."

Looking Josh square in the eye, something she didn't know she had in her to do, Raleigh gave him a sly grin. "I could beat you with my eyes closed and you now it. Oh wait, I've already done that, haven't I?"

"Ok, ok, let's do this." Joey knew this would only end badly if h didn't shut Raleigh up himself.

Taking their first shots, Raleigh and Joey got rollbacks. Raleigh was three for three and Joey missed his third shot so the other team finally got a turn. Josh got a little upset when Justin sunk his ball and he missed. The balls were back to Raleigh and Joey. They had the dynasty down to one cup so the pressure was on. Unfortunately, they had both missed their shots. Josh and Justin got rollbacks that time and threw again. The would have had another shot but Josh's ball swirled around the cup near the top and Raleigh was able to blow it out before it touched the beer.

"You were always good at blowing." Josh tried embarrassing her, unfortunately, she wouldn't take that.

"And if anyone would know it certainly is not you." If he wanted to dish it out, she'd dish it right back.

As Raleigh and Joey took their shots at the final cup, the boys were sweating bullets. If one of them made this shot, it was up to them to finish the game. They couldn't miss, but unfortunately, they didn't do as well as they needed. Raleigh had made her shot but both Josh and Justin missed theirs. That was the game.

Giving Joey a high five, Raleigh turned to her opponents and smirked. "Drink up boys, I told you, you can never beat me." She started to walk away from the table but Joey stopped her before she could go any farther. "Where you going? We're up against Brady and JL next."

"Oh, I have to and change the music up a bit. You should find yourself a new partner."

"Ahh, you just wanted to beat his ass didn't you?"

Laughing a little, she said "Yep, that's about it."

Laughing and shaking his head, Joey agreed to find a new partner. "Alright. Have fun and give us something we can dance to."

"Don't worry, I have the perfect song for you, now go and beat their asses at beer pong."

"Oh I will."

Going back over to her table, Raleigh found the song she thought was perfect and put it in. Turning on the microphone, she yelled to everyone, "Alright, I wanna see ya'll dancing!" Hitting play, Raleigh enjoyed the cheers and laughter she got from everyone as they heard Baby got Back by sir Mix a Lot booming through the speakers.

Going over to Raleigh dancing, Carly joined in. Not long after, Joey bounced his way in singing.

"'Cause I'm long and I'm strong, and I'm down to get the friction on!" Josh watched as Raleigh threw her head back in laughter before dancing all up on Joey. He hated how he felt the jealousy surge through him. Raleigh was no longer his girl. He had completely shunned her from his life and as much as he hated the fact that he couldn't hate her, he found himself still loving her. But it would be a long time before he could ever forgive her. Yes, he could admit to himself he knew why she had done what she did, but he wasn't ready to admit it to anyone else. Especially Raleigh.

---

Seeing Raleigh by herself over at the Dj table for the first time that night, Josh decided to go over. He was angry with her, but he was dying to hear her voice and look into her lilac eyes once again. While making his way towards her, he shook his head when he saw her light a cigarette. He hadn't seen her light up since her show over a month ago, he had figured she quit, hoped she had quit.

"Hey." Raleigh stopped mid-puff and looked to her left. Surprise graced her features when she saw Josh standing there. "Hi."

"Thought you quit." Looking at the cigarette in her hand, Raleigh sighed.

"I only smoke when I'm under stress."

"Smoking does nothing but give you cancer."

"What do you want, Josh? It's completely obvious you can't stand me so why the small talk?" Raleigh watched as Josh lowered his head and kicked at something on the ground that wasn't there. He didn't know why he was speaking to her either.

Taking on last puff on her cigarette, Raleigh dropped it to the ground and stepped on it. While exhaling, she nodded toward Erin who was flirting with Joey shamelessly.

"So, we get in a fight and you bring the girl you broke up with me for down here. Nice touch."

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm not with her like that and I didn't break up with you for her."

"I'm sure." Raleigh rolled her eyes.

"what about you? It didn't take long after for you to jump in the sac with James the asshole."

"Ok, one; what does it matter what I did after you sent me a letter to break up with me? And two; I waited four months before dating him. He was there for me when the person I needed most wasn't. "

"So you don't deny sleeping with him? I hope he knew what he was getting into."

"And what is that suppose to mean exactly?" Raleigh looked at josh and crossed her arms. She hoped he wasn't about to say what she was thinking he meant.

"Nothing. I just hope he didn't want kids. You probably would have killed them." Before either of them could comprehend what had happened, Raleigh slapped Josh across the face as hard as she could. She was so full of rage with what he had just said and she was ready to take it out on him here and now.

"You have no right to speak to me like that! Don't you dare act like you're not a two-timing, backstabbing bastard, Joshua because you are. Yes, ok? I made a big mistake that I wish like hell I could take back day after day but I cant! I have to live with my decisions everyday of my life but don't you dare try to act like you're better than me because you're not." Shaking her head, Raleigh's body shook as she tried to calm down a little. Taking a shaky breath, she looked up into his blue eyes once again. "We're both the same, Josh. WE took the cowardly ways out. But now you're off the hook, you'll never have to see me again after the end of summer beach party. We'll go our separate ways and live our own lives without one another. And I hope yours is wonderful." Walking away briskly, Raleigh tried not to let everyone see the tears that never seemed to stop falling.

Watching Raleigh walk away from him, Josh felt the fire burning within him. Nobody was good at getting under his skin like her. Sure what he said was wrong, but he was angry and hurt and that was the first thing to come out of his mouth before he could think. And he never thought he'd regret it like he had.