"Would you shut up with the sniffling," Tani complained across the room through the dark.

The sniffling stopped. Bed sheets russled. "I'm sorry," Kendall whined. "But I can't take them yelling anymore. It's like when my parents fought."

"Come on," Zoe offered holding up one end of the comforter and welcoming Kendall into the bed. Tani moaned in protest, but scooted over. Kendall bounded over the small distance seperating the two beds with a small bunny in arms and joined the other two girls in the already too small twin bed.

"It's not right," Kendall muttered into her pillow and Zoe's ear. The girls fell silent.

Through the wall they could hear the muffled yelling between Trace and Justin. After Anna had tumbled back inside and Kendall had ran after her it had been tense to say the least. Trace was pissed at whatever had happened between him and Anna. Apparently drinking hadn't been the way to make him feel better. Now Justin didn't have the good sense to let the sleeping dog lie and was pestering Trace even further. The girls couldn't make out what Justin and Trace were saying. Tani and Zoe had tried, but they could tell they weren't yells of joy. Kendall winced when someone slammed their fist against the armoire.

"I told you she was gunna be trouble," Tani pointed out.

Zoe shifted to face Tani. "How do you know they're arguing about Anna," she asked.

"Well they aren't fighting cuz Trace is pissy because Kendall didn't put out." Tani reasoned.

"Hey," Kendall cried, "it's not my fault." She crossed her arms over her chest and continued mumbling 'it's not my fault' softly.

"Now look what you did," Zoe said motioning towards Kendall.

Tani groaned. "Ugh, ok. Ken it's not your fault."

"You're just saying that so Zoe doesn't yell at you," Kendall pouted, then rubbed the bunny ears against her cheek.

Tani sat up and leaned across Zoe. Patting Kendall's head she repeated, "It's not your fault Kendall. Really. Honest."

"Thanks," Kendall murmered tunneling deeper into the blanket. "But seriously, I don't like them yelling."

Snuggled under the blanket Anna peeked out with sore eyes. Her throat tasted of iron and her lips of salt. Rubbing her cheek she felt patches of dried sand flake off. Dramatically she flopped one arm out of the blanket and on the bed. Turning her head she noticed Kendall hadn't returned to the room.

Sweet as Kendall was, last night Anna didn't want to talk to anyone. She wanted to wallow in self-pity. Well, technically no one ever wants to, but it was a fitting occasion. There was a reason Anna was constantly single and it very much involved the fact that she couldn't get hurt if she didn't have high expectations. But for whatever reason she'd allowed herself to think maybe Trace was worth letting her guard down for. She'd been wrong. And for Anna, she wasn't sure which was worse: not being desired or being incorrect.

Eyes on the empty bed beside her, she felt her stomach clench at the thought that Kendall may have stayed with Trace again. With just the thought of him she curled up and groaned. However, she didn't get too caught up in her misery as there was a knock on the door and very poor attempt at an imitation of a woman from housekeeping. Clumping to the door she pulled it open, then turned back to the bed.

"You're sure getting my money's worth out of those sheets Annester," Justin teased setting two boxes of Apple Jacks on the dresser.

"Uh hmm," she mumbled face down on the bed.

Justin plopped himself beside her and wrapped her up in a hug from behind before she had a chance to resist. She squirmed when he made no attempt to end it. His stubble rubbed against her sunburn.

"Justin, let go," she comanded through a giggle. "My arms are numb."

Finally relenting he laughed too, "I got carried away."

"Apparently." As she resituated herself Anna caught sight of Justin's drawn face. "Hey, why are you so glum?"

Justin shrugged, "Trace and I fought last night."

Anna didn't know if she should laugh or just nod. Sure she'd done the same with Trace, but Justin actually looked more upset about it that she did. Granted, she hadn't looked at herself yet. Her hands flew to her puffy cheeks and disheveled hair. "I'm a mess!"

Justin gave her sloppy ponytail a little tug, "You look just fine for someone waking up after tumbling down the beach."

Anna's cheecks flushed. "Y'all noticed that?"

He gave her shoulder a small squeeze before letting his arm rest across them, "Anna, you took more sand up the stairs than was left on the beach."

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "I"m sure I"m asking for it, but why'd you and Trace fight?"

"Stuff."

"Always so eloquent Mr. JT," Anna smirked.

He nudged her shoulder, "It's early. I didn't sleep much."

Anna nodded, "I wasn't going to say anything, but sheesh, Justin, your bags are worse than mine."

With his free hand he touched under his right eye, "Yeah? That's pretty bad Anna."

"Oh hush," she shot back when she noticed the playful smirk underlying his actions. "When are we going home?"

"Are you not enjoying your trip Ann?" His voice was playful, but Anna wasn't sure if he didn't look a little hurt.

She thought a moment, "Do you mean the part where I almost broke my nose, got second degree sunburn, or the part where I pretty much got called a groupie slut-"

"Hey, when Zoe calls you that you can't take her seriously," he jumped in. "That's how she shows she cares."

"It wasn't Zoe Justin," Anna corrected.

His eyebrows drew together. Kendall might have called her a slut, but that was like the kettle calling the pot and was basically indiscriminate. And Tani, who could be quite the bitch, hadn't really talked to Anna much. "No. He didn't...he wouldn't have-Trace!" Anna tried to grab his arm as he barged out of the room, but he shook it out of her grasp and flew across the hall.

But before he could reach Trace's room Tani and Zoe cut him off in the hallway.

"Justin," Zoe cried, "let's get shaking. Some of us gotz jobs to get to." She slumped her overnight bag on the floor right in front of him.

He ignored her, stepped over the bag, and banged on Trace's door.

"Oh, good morning to you too Justin," Tani rolled. "No, I did not have a good night. Thanks for askin' though. Someone's yelling kept me up half the night. The other half was telling Kendall I did not want to cuddle."

Turning briefly, Justin shot her a threatening look.

Up until just now Anna didn't think riding in the back of an Expedition next to Tani would be the highlight of her day. But it was. Zoe and Kendall had managed to get Trace and Justin down to the car without arguing and without a scene. Once they were on the road Trace zonked out against the window and the mood was a little lighter. Anna could see Justin and Zoe talking in the front seat, but couldn't hear them over Tani's Ipod. Not that she was entirely interested in what they were talking about, but she felt bad for Justin. From the greeting Trace had given him when he'd opened the door and the way Justin reacted to Trace not being the most gentlemenly to her, Anna assumed there had been more to their argument that just her. Then she'd thought, 'wow, when did I get so full of myself that the only logical argument they could be having would be about me?'

When the car pulled up to her condo complex Anna actually smiled, even though the mini-vacation was over. Kendall climbed out first and when Anna'd finally managed to maneuver her way out of the back seat Justin was at her side with her bags.

"Thanks," she said taking the shopping bag and resting it on top of her travel bag. "For all of it. I might have put up a little stink about going in the first place but it was really nice. Sunburn and all."

Justin just nodded. Anna could tell he was tired. While she didn't think she knew him that well, he looked a little unhappy too. "Anytime Annester."

Anna mustered up another smile for him. "Maybe I'll let you teach me to surf next time."

He gave a soft laugh and pulled her into a hug in one swift motion. To her own surprise Anna relaxed instantly and squeezed him back. They stood that way for at least a minute before Zoe honked the horn. Anna looked at the car in the nick of time to see Kendall hit Zoe with her pillow and Trace jerk awake at the sound and smack his face on the window.

"Ah, my life," Justin mummbled down to Anna. "I guess I can't get away as easy as you can, huh?"

Anna gave him a reasurring squeeze and patted his back. "Anytime you need to get away, my door's open Justin." With another honk of the horn Anna let him go and stepped back to grab her bags. She blew Kendall a kiss and set off up the sidewalk. She didn't turn around, but gave another wave when Zoe yelled out the window.

Throwing her bags on the floor Tani crawled up onto the kitchen counter while Kendall and Zoe walked in. "I'm not moving," she groaned. "Can someone get my blanket?"

"Tan, it's like 12 steps to your bed," Zoe joked, giving her side a poke as she walked by and towards her own room. Kendall followed Zoe, no attempt to get Tani her blanket made by either girl.

Tani sat up and pouted, "Thanks ladies."

Upstairs, Zoe yelled down "I love you Tani. Now got to bed. You have to work tomorrow."

"Yeah Mom," Tani muttered, then added, "Hey look who's talking. You have to work too."

Still yelling down the stairs Zoe replied, "Yeah, but as far as I know my boss isn't on his male pms right now like yours is."

"He's just a horny ball of hormone and he'll take care of it," Tani teased back.

"You get paid extra for that, right?"

Tani heard Kendall gasp, then the two of them giggle. Just to get a rile out of them she said yes and a few more words about where, when, and how before she got bored with it and her back started to hurt from laying on the counter. She pulled herself down and wandered into her room. Once there she realized she'd left her bags in the kitchen but didn't really care.

She kept shiftin from being too tired to think and thinking too much. Anna was a nice girl, she was sure of that. And she knew it was screwed up for them to continue to try and set her and Justin up when Trace clearly liked her. Maybe, too, she just didn't like the idea of Justin being with Anna because she knew they had the potential to pull off a really nice, sane relationship. Which was hard to say when it came to Justin. Then where would she be left? With Kendall and Zoe? Laying on her bed, she closed her eyes.

Upstairs Zoe and Kendall were having a pow-wow in Kendall's room. Zoe flipped a fluffy teddy bear wearing a scarf on the floor and sat down.

After pulling a nail file from a nighstand drawer Kendall sat on the bed. "Do you really think Tani does that with Justin?"

"At work?" Zoe asked, "Nah. You know when he's at work it's work. You could probably walk through the studio naked and he might not even notice. I did get pretty close to that once, but of course the producers and staff typically frown on nudity. It's also a policy of my own not to let Joey Fatone see you naked. If Jay's bored or has writersblock or something, maybe. After work, or even before, who knows."

Kendall nodded as if she agreed. She thought about it for a minute or two. Then her brain switched into a more exciting topic. "So what was up with that hug," Kendall nearly squealed.

"Right," Zoe asked.

Kendall nodded enthusiastically, "So, why'd you do it?"

"Do what?" Zoe asked taken back.

"You honked the horn dorkus and ruined their moment. I swear to God I thought he was going to nuzzle her neck or something. And we both know what that means and leads to and then-"

"He wasn't going to do that Ken," Zoe cut her off.

"How do you know," Kendall questioned, "maybe he wanted to. He's been with us for the past two days and I know that's been killing me to only cuddle with girls and he is a very needy lover-"

Zoe closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "Ken. No. Were you even listening in the car today?"

Kendall stopped picking at the polish on her ring finger, "No. Why?"

Rather than explain to Kendall, Zoe replied, "Kissing girls isn't really on his mind right now. Surprisingly. For the first time."

"Funny," Kendall said, then returned to her nail, "that's like saying the sky doesn't want to be blue right now." Still mumbling to herself Kendall continued, "Not wanting to kiss people. Who is she talking about? Has she met him? What else would he do?"

When Justin pulled the Expedition into the garage he hadn't even pulled the keys out of the ignition before Trace was slamming the door and into the house.

"I'll get the stuff T-bag," Justin shouted after him. "Why should I get any help around here?"

Trace yanked open the door. "You want help? Who the fuck do you think you are that you deserve help? And, let's be honest here, buddy, you already helped yourself to everything anyway." Door slam.

Justin tried to deconstruct what Trace had blabbed about while carrying the bags inside. Right away he threw the sandy contents into the washing machine before any of it could get tracked into his carpets. It had only been a few days but he was already thinking about the naps he could take in the next few days. He made a mental note to tip his housekeeper a little more so he didn't have to do anything except enjoy his bed.

Through the doorway he heard what sounded like metal on ceramic. A second later Trace came tramping down the hallway with a piece of Nutella bread in one hand and the plate it was supposed to be on in the other. "And just so you know, I'm not giving you the satisfaction of holding it above me that I'm living here. You can try to kick me out, boy, but I will not leave."

Justin shook his head, "I'm not goin to kick you out."

Trace's eyes widened. He gestured to an imaginary audience. "Oh now he's playing the part of the chivalrous knight taking pity on the poor peasant."

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling at the absurdity of Trace's remark. "I...I don't even know how to respond to that."