Having a key to your cousin's house has its perks, trust me. "Pookie?" I call out, walking in the door and disarming the security system. I hear movement upstairs, the bed tapping the wall and I chuckle. The pattern is familiar, one I haven't heard since she and Nick broke up last time. I think about it for a second and dismiss it, hearing her moan in a way that I heard her do with him a few times. My curiosity gets the best of me and I creep up the stairs to her room, walking in the room. I let my jaw drop when I see it's not Andrew. "Cassandrya!" I shout.
Nick sits on his heels, but can't look at me and she just covers her face. "Fuck," she mutters into her hands.
"Get fucking dressed and the three of us have to talk," I snap, throwing a shirt at the two of them and I feel my anger begin to rear its head. I turn and exit her master bedroom, knowing I need to cool my jets. "Unfuckingbelievable," I mutter. She's engaged to Andrew Keegan and he's dating Lauren Kitt, but they still got caught in bed together by me. I sigh, shaking my head as I reach the bottom step and sit on the Lazy Boy chair. I lean forward and hold my head in my hands.
"I told you we should've stopped back then, we would've gotten caught," she points out.
"It could've been worse," he muses.
"How? How could it have been worse?" She stops on the landing, crossing her arms and faces him.
"Let's see, there's Howie, Aaron, JC, Justin, Lauren, Andrew and Johnny," he observes, counting the people on his fingers.
"Not to mention, Kaden and Taelyn are in town with your dad," she tells him.
"When did they get here?" he asks worriedly.
She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, slides her finger over her Andriod a few times and taps the screen before sliding her finger over the screen again. "Just around the time we got here."
"Shit," he groans, brushing his fingers through his hair. His phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket. "Fuck me," he curses.
"Already did," Pookie retorts.
He shoots her a glare to silence her and she narrows her eyes at him. It hits me, they still love each other. He's always going to come to her, want to be with her as bad as she wants the same and it won't ever matter that they're involved because they'll never move on from each other. I remember how they were both happy when they were together. "No, baby, I forgot that was today. I swear. No, I'm with Cassie, discussing the album and tour." He looks into her eyes while on the phone with his girlfriend. "I love you," he says, directing it at Pookie with his hand on her face and takes a step closer to her, pressing their bodies together intimately. "I'll be home as soon as this meeting is through."

I know I shouldn't keep something like this for anyone or any reason, but this is my little cousin and the love of her life. That happened three months ago, back in mid-April. I want to tell someone about this, but I can't betray her trust. Lance comes across my mind and I change routes, heading for his place. I stop at a red light and text JC. 'Be over after I talk to Lance, forgot to tell him some info he asked for a few days ago.'
'Sure, text when you're headed this way.'
He bought it, so I'm in the clear. I call Lance and put him on speaker. "What's up, Chris?"
"Are you busy?"
"No, I'm actually sitting down to watch a video Cass sent me."
That's strange, she sent him a home movie. "Can you hold off for a few minutes?"
"You need to talk?"
"Yes, about Pookie," I sigh.
"I suppose. What's your ETA?"
"Five minutes," I estimate, glancing at my GPS system she got me for Christmas.
"You're at the corner, aren't you?"
He knows me far too well. "Yeah."
"I see you, Chris," he informs me, stepping onto his porch and watches me punch in the code to his gate once our call is disconnected. I get out of the car and we share a quick hug. "So what's on your mind?" he asks the billion dollar question right off the bat.
"I can't keep this to myself any longer."

Fifteen minutes later, he's sitting across from me. "So you went upstairs and...?"
"I saw her fucking Nick."
"Nick? As in her ex? As in Nick Carter? I thought he's with Lauren and she's engaged to Keegan?"
I swallow the lump in my throat and nod. "Then they got dressed and came down, she was snapping at him about his dad and half siblings being in town and he fluently lied to Lauren."
"What did he say to Lauren when she came in?"
"She called his phone. He claimed he was talking about his album and all that mumbo jumbo that goes with it. He looked dead at Pook and said the three words he's always said to her, still meaning each syllable!"
"When was this?"
"Almost a month and a half before he left for tour."
He narrows his eyes and thinks for a moment. "Isn't she with him?"
"Yeah, but Lauren is here! In LA!" I exclaim, pointing at the ground.
"Where are they?"
"In Canada, I think."
He pulls out his laptop and Google searches the current tour Nick's on. "They're in Calgary. Does anyone else know?"
"Just you, me, her and him." I look around nervously. "You can't tell anyone, not even Joe."
"I won't."
A few moments of silence seals the promise. "When does he begin his tour?"
"The solo one? The one she's managing on her own? The one Lauren is expected to be on the majority of?"
"That's the one," I reply with a nod.
"July 27 and some dates over lap with the NKOTBSB tour dates."
"Perfect. Thanks, Lance."
"Any time."
"I've got to meet up with JC."
"Tell the jackass I said hi," he jokes.
I pull my cell out of my pocket and dial his number. "Hey, you on the way?"
"Yeah, C. Lance says hi," I tell him.
"Let him know I said hey."
"JC says hey," I inform Lance.
"Call me later, jackass," Lance tells him.
"I'll call his punk ass later."
"Well, I'll be there in half."
"Alright."
"Later," I say, disconnecting the call and hug Lance good-bye.
"Talk to them alone and let her know to call me."
"She won't listen to me, but she might if you say something to her."
"I'll call her later."

JC's tweaking some tracks, finalizing them for other people and he's completely sucked into his task. I lean on the door frame and laugh, his head shoots up to look at me. He let his hair grow a bit and he hasn't shaved in a day or two, he might get rid of the facial hair and cut his hair shorter. "Hey, man!" he excitedly greets, hugging me. We sit down and his cell rings. "It's Jaylyn," he tells me, looking at the screen. I shrug and he answers. "Jayl-what?" He's been calling her by her middle name since they hooked up when Nick was with 'Slutbag' Hilton. She had also broken up with him and had used some shmuck to do it, going back to Alex to only leave him for Nick again to break up with him and begin seeing Keegan since late 08 or early 09. "Chris, did you tell someone about something?"
"What? No," I deny.
"He's saying he didn't, Jaylyn. Of course, I'm always here. Sure. Love you back. Hahahahaha! Bye." He hangs up, puts his phone on the soundboard again and shakes his head. "You know something and it's bugging you."
"Sorta."
"You want to talk about it?"
"Nope, Pookie would kill me."
"Right, the Jaylyn secret that I've already known about for over a year."
I'm going to play dumb for a minute. "What's that?"
"She's sleeping with Nick again, it's been going on for a couple years now. Aaron found out and came running to me a couple months ago." His attention is on the track he's messing with. "Joey's known since last year and Justin's known since it started, those two sworn to secrecy like you probably have been."
"Aren't you?"
"Nope, she thinks I don't know."
"How?"
"I play dumb well and we all know it."
"How did Justin find out?"
"She went straight to his house and told him, crying and freaking out that she'd done something so wrong and that Andrew would catch wind of it."
"Has he?"
"No, he's further in the dark than I had been." He shrugs, unfazed by the turn of events.
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
"About what?"
"Pookie."
"Pregnancy scare with Nick, cheating with him, kissing him while with AJ in 95, he took her virginity, broke up, got back together, broke up and she's engaged. Oh, we had sex," he thinks back, counting the things he can think of concerning her that he knows of on his fingers.
"I figured you two have screwed."
"Eloquently worded," he scoffs, shaking his head.
He leans back in his swiveling office chair, sighing. "I thought you wanted to marry her back then?"
"I did, but she wouldn't have it. She set me up with her friend, we had been engaged until last summer when we caught Aaron and her in bed. I called it off and tossed her out on her ass at such high speed that her head is still spinning, turns out the baby isn't mine or Aaron's. It's Chad's."
"Chad?"
"Chad Murray."
"Ohhh."
"Yeah, she had slept with five guys the week she conceived the kid."
"Off the hook, you are."
"You and the Yoda thing," he chuckles.
"How's Sara?"
"She's good, she went to an appointment with Miki." Miki is her friend who's always at her hip.
"How are you two?"
He laughs. "If you only knew."
"Sounds like you're ready to settle down."
"We aren't even serious yet."
"No, but you've been helping her."
"Yeah, she needs someone to turn to and I'm him."
I laugh. "It's not in the tabloids yet?"
"She hasn't told anyone other than her sister. Nothing on Facebook or Twitter. Her Myspace hasn't been used in close to a year."
"Who uses Myspace?"
"She does evey now and again."
He's been seeing this Peruvian since he went to Massachusetts, been flying between LA and wherever she is and she's a nice girl. I think he's insane. "How often?"
"Once a year or two."
"I think she's been playing you."
His cell rings and he smiles. "Hey, babe. Why? Oh, okay." He hangs up, stares at his phone for a minute and launches it at the wall. "I hate women."
"You'll find her."
"This is why I don't mess with Spanish chicks anymore, they always go get with someone else."
"Man, it's been two months."
"I thought she was the one."
"Nope."
"How did you find her?"
"Kace's cousin is friends with her."
"Well, tell him to stop letting his cousin set you up."
"I'm done trying to find her, she's going to have to find me." He groans and rubs his face, leaning back in his chair.
"Maybe you need to try something new."
"Like fucking what?"
"Dating a mom or someone's cousin, someone you know won't have slutty cousins."
He laughs, being sarcastic. "Like that is going to work."
The past couple years of going between women and being single have gotten under his skin. "Just live it up."
"I don't care for relationships anymore, I'm just going to worry about me."