But let me show you 'round,
let me take you out
Bet you we could we could have some fun girl
'Cause we can do it fast, fast, slow,
whichever way you wanna run girl
But let me buy you drinks, better yet rings
Do it how you want it done girl
And who would've thought that you could be the one

“Sooo…” Renee set her glass of ice tea down on the ground beside the lawn chair she was sitting in and turned to look at Allie who was sitting next to her. The two were lounging by the pool after going swimming while Justin was at the studio. Renee knew that now would probably be the only time she’d have to work her magic.

“So what?” Allie lifted her sunglasses up and stared back at Renee.

“Come on… what’s going on between you and Justin?”

“Nothing.” Allie replaced the glasses and leaned back in the chair again.

“Uh huh, sure… Allie it’s me, you tell me everything and I know you better then that. I’ve seen pictures of you two all over the place, but none of the papers know who you are, and Justin hasn’t put out any statement so they’re all up in a tizzy.” Renee was only telling Allie things she already knew. “The scary thing is, most of their rumors are true this time.”

“Justin says he never comments about his personal life, so he’s holding to that.”

“That’s bull. You’re names being dragged through the mud and you don’t care?”

“Oh I care, we’ve had it out a couple times over this, but… in the end it doesn’t matter, he told me they’ll just say what they want anyway.”

Renee decided to try another angle. Allie was being way too relaxed over something that Renee knew would normally set her off completely, something wasn’t lining up.

“You guys seem to be getting along pretty well, that’s good yes.” Renee watched Allie carefully and felt a slight glimmer of success when Allie smiled, clearly lost in a moment, before answering.

“We’re good.” Allie finally answered.

“I’ll say.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Allie sat up again and Renee knew she would finally get the answers she was looking for. The juicy stuff.

“He watches you…”

Allie looked at Renee curiously, “Excuse me?”

“Not in a creepy way… it’s like he’s completely caught up in you. And you pretty much stare at him the same way. So don’t tell me there’s nothing between you. You’re having his baby for God’s sake, that’s got to mean something.”

“It’s not like this baby was planned.” Allie said, a little angry but her hand rested on her stomach in a way that clearly showed she was finally comfortable with the idea of becoming a mother.

“So what… that’s not what I was asking.”

“Okay… okay. Nothing has actually happened… he almost kissed me last week before we went to the doctor”

“Almost?”

“Yea, I kinda freaked out and left him standing there in the kitchen, and then we went to the doctor and found out that it was a boy and we had a moment.” Allie’s voice wandered off in a dreamy tone and Renee grinned. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something… someone moving around near the patio door, but when she looked there was no one there.

“A moment huh?”

“I guess yea, but we haven’t talked about it or anything and nothing’s happened since so, I don’t know.” Allie relaxed in the chair again.

“If something did happen though…?” Renee glanced at the kitchen window and saw the blinds moving. She smiled knowing that Allie couldn’t see him, but that Justin was there, listening to everything they were saying.

“I don’t know… sometimes I think it would just be easier that way. He’s sweet, when he’s not being an ass. He has a pretty hectic life for the most part but he’s willing to work around everything to make this work so I know he’s going to be in my life for a long time.”

“And…?” Renee gave Allie a wicked smile and Allie playfully swatted at her.

“And he’s hot as hell.” They started to laugh and then the patio door slid open as Justin finally couldn’t stand in the shadows anymore. Allie jumped and her cheeks turned pink. She desperately hoped he hadn’t heard what they were talking about.

“Hello ladies.” Justin avoided Renee’s knowing glance. He knew that she’d seen him but if she wasn’t going to tell Allie then he certainly wasn’t. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Allie was quick to answer and Renee just picked up her glass of ice tea and stood up.

“I’m going to go get more tea.” She grabbed her shorts that were resting on the ground and her beach towel and headed towards the door. Justin nodded at her after she winked at him and then sat down where she’d been sitting. Allie stared out across the water, and was shocked when he reached out and rested his hand on her arm.

“Hey?” He said softly and she slowly turned and looked right at him. He breathed in sharply and instantly forgot what he was going to say.

“Jay?” She asked him after a moment.

“Oh…” he shook his head and let go of her arm. “Um… ” He nervously licked his lips and fought a battle inside his mind over how to say exactly what he was thinking. “I’m going to order a pizza and wondered what you wanted on it.” He finally stuttered and stood up.

Allie’s shoulders slumped and she let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding as he tore his eyes away from hers and started to step back and forth waiting for her answer and rubbing his hands together.

“Oh…” She said softly. “Cheese is fine.” She looked back at the rippling water.

“Okay.” Justin started to walk back inside, mentally chastising himself for not just kissing her or telling her that her confusing feelings were his too.

But then again, she didn’t know he’d heard all that. He met up with Renee in the kitchen where she’d been peeking out the window listening in on his conversation with Allie.

“This window sure is a mighty handy thing.” Renee said. “You can see and hear everything that’s going on out there.”

“Um… sure, never noticed.” He tried to play it cool.

“Right…” Renee looked at him. “Chicken.” She said, and stepped around him to go back outside with Allie. He shook his head knowing that she was right.

Justin ran a hand over the top of his head and peeked out the window at Allie and Renee. Allie was standing up and grabbing her towel and he assumed she would be coming inside. Renee however didn’t seem to be following her, she had sat back down in the lawn chair and waved a hand at Allie as she started walking towards the back door. Justin backed away from the counter and grabbed the phone, realizing that now he had to order a pizza regardless of whether he actually wanted to or not.

He opened up one of the drawers near the refridgerator and pulled out a menu to a local pizza place so that he could make the call. Allie slid open the glass door and walked inside, shutting it behind her. Justin took a deep breath and set the phone back down.

It was now or never.

“Hey Allie?”

She was in the middle of heading towards the hall to go upstairs and change, but she stopped and turned around. “Yea?” She wrapped the towel around her waist because she suddenly felt a little self-conscous standing there in her bathing suit while his eyes scanned over her. He looked very serious, like he was going back and forth over something in his head and couldn’t quite decide whether he wanted to tell her about it or not.

He had however caught her attention and she was interested to know what it was that he wanted.

“Can we talk about something?” He finally said, glancing at the floor and then at her again.

“Of course.” She said “But, can I go change first?” She said. Outside it had been warm and sunny but the house was freezing cold, not to mention she needed a minute to gather her thoughts. For some reason it seemed like he wanted to talk about something that was a bit more important than pizza toppings. She should have realized that earlier.

“Oh… yea. I’m going to order that pizza, and then I’ll come upstairs okay?” He said.

“Sure.” Allie continued on her way to her room and Justin picked up the phone again to quickly get the silly phone call finished with. He might have been one step closer to getting everything out in the open but he was more scared then ever and was pretty much shooting blind and hoping to hit the target.

He gave Allie a few more minutes before he walked slowly upstairs and knocked on her door.

"Come in!" He heard her say.

There was no turning back now.

Come on and lemme show you 'round
Let me take you out, bet you we could have some fun girl
'Cause we can dress it up, we can dress it down
Any way you want it done girl
Or we can stay home, talkin' on the phone
Rappin' 'til we see the sun girl
Do what I gotta do, just gotta show you that I'm the one girl