“Justin I can’t work with you hovering.” Katy snapped.  His blue eye baring down on her from all sides it seemed.  Followed by a million questions about when she was going to be done.  “I will be done when I am done, can’t you go hang out with the guys or something, and you haven’t seen them in awhile.  You could catch up or something.” She added.

Justin hung his head, she was right he hadn’t seen them in awhile and he should leave her alone, as his pestering probably wasn’t making her work any faster.  The sooner she was done the sooner they could spend time together.

“Okay babe you win, I will leave you alone, for now.  But come get me as soon as you are done.  I can’t wait to see it.” Justin said and then slowly walked off.  Katy smiled, he had no idea what was going on and his cluelessness was so cute.  She hated being untruthful to him but in reality she was so scared, of everything, her relationship with him, losing her friends, going to jail, the list went on.  She watched him walk away from her, it sound cliché but she really did enjoy watching him walk away from her, that man had a fine ass.

Justin had no more than cleared the back door when Brandi started to pulled him into her conversation with Chris.  Chris looked a little concerned but welcomed a third opinion on the matter. Justin froze on the step trying to process the situation first.

“Tell Chris that he should braid his hair again.” Brandi demanded.  Justin laughed and thought back to the early days of their career.  For whatever reason Chris had decided to braid his hair and even added white yarn to the hair style he was now famous for, even though he had sported the same, normal looking, hair style for years now. 

“You were a fan of the ‘pineapple’ look?” Justin questioned.  He raised and eye brow at her but all the fans seemed to enjoy that look for whatever reason.

“Yes, it was fun and crazy.  I loved it.  So let me braid your hair.” Brandi ordered.  Chris pulled on his hair as if to show her that it wasn’t even long enough to braid any more.  But at this point in his life he was just thankful that it wasn’t getting any thinner.  “And like you should talk you used to have a fro.” She added returning Justin’s earlier gesture to him.  Justin blushed a little, okay so maybe they all had made some bad hair choices back in the day.

“Yeah well, some mistakes don’t need to be repeated.” Justin explained not even trying to defend his actions from way back then.  They all had experimented with different looks at some point.  His current solution seemed to work best for him, just shave most of it off. 

“Thank you Justin.  See even he thinks that it is a bad idea.” Chris said smiling at her.  Brandi pouted, but wasn’t about to give up the fight.  He could grow his hair out again and then she could braid it.

“But if you loved me you would do it anyway.” She teased.  Her smile spread and Chris thought about.  He did love her but at his age doing something like that would just make is seem like he was trying too hard to be young again. 

“I’ll think about it.” Chris finally said hoping that you pacify her for now.  “So how is Katy coming on the video?” He asked turning his attention back to Justin. 

“I don’t know she ran me off, but I think she might be getting close to something.”  Justin said.  Brandi could see the sun getting closer to the trees and thought about what Katy had said about leave once it was dark.  She laid her hand on top of Chris’s a held it tightly, why did this have to be such a tough decision for her to make.  She had always said that she would never risk anything for a guy and here she was about to risk it all for him.  Why was Chris so special to her?

Chris felt her squeeze his hand but didn’t say anything she seemed really distracted as of late and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with his hair style choice.  But he was too old to play these games, if there was something bothering her, he hoped that she would just tell him.  She knew how bad he was and saying what was on his mind and he put his foot in his mouth more often than most people.  So if there was something that she wanted to know then she should just ask him point blank and he would give her an honest answer.

“Where is everyone?” Justin asked, noticing that it was just the 3 of them out in the back yard. 

“I think Joey, Lance and Mandy went for a walk, or a hike or whatever you want to call it.  And I don’t even want to know where Kim and JC are or what they are doing, but you are welcome to go look for them.” Brandi teased.  Justin shook his head, he had seen enough when they were in the woods, and the two of them had probably headed to bed, even though it was a little early for bed. 

“Mandy doesn’t strike me as much of a hiker.” Justin said.

“She isn’t but it’s not like its hard, you just put one foot in front of the other and you make your way through the trees.” Brandi explained.  But Brandi knew that is wasn’t the hiking that had interest Mandy, it was spending time with Joey and using Lance as a buffer to make herself behave. 

“Come on slow pokes!” Mandy teased climbing further up the mill while Joey stopped to catch his breath.  Lance paused with his friend chuckling at Mandy’s comments. 

“Are we a little out of shape there Joey?” Lance added as he watched Joey bent over and breathing heavy.  Lance was boasting about the great shape that he was in, he had made a commitment to stay fit  when he turned 30 and had hoped Joey would follow suit, but being a father of two had to take up most of his time.  Joey playfully punched Lance in the arm before straightening up.  His eyes were fixed on Mandy, who was some distance from them.  Her lean legs showing as she stretched them out on a nearby rock. 

“Are you coming?” Mandy asked, wondering why they were both just staring at her.  Joey nodded and started up the hill again as Mandy waited for them to catch up. 

“Could those shorts be any shorter?” Joey huffed under his breath as then walked toward her.  Lance just laughed; it was like Mandy was trying to drive Joey mad.  Her shorts were a normal length; she just has really long legs and her t shirt wasn’t small, she had had a little more to offer than some of the other girls.  “You can just roll me back down the hill on the way back.” Joey joked as they reached Mandy.  She smiled at him as the image of him going down the hill flooded her mind. 

“We can turn back now if you don’t think you can make it to the top.” Mandy offered, after all she didn’t want Joey to hurt himself on her behalf. 

“No, I can make it.” Joey defended.  Lance and Mandy just glared at him questioning his ability to make it that far.  “What, I can!” He added and started further up the hill just to prove them both wrong.  His lungs were burning and his knees were killing him but Joey made it to the top.  Now he just hoped that the other two were willing to hang out there for a minute before head back.  He took a seat on a big bolder and looked out across the valley.  He was shocked when Mandy took a seat next to him.  Neither of them said anything they just took in the pretty scenery.  And Joey took in a little more than he probably should have.

Mandy was young and pretty, what would he ever want with a washed up boy band member?  Joey wondered what he could really offer her besides his undying love and affection.  He knew that if he got divorced, Kelly would get a pretty good chunk of his fortune, which she was entitled to after all if nothing else for the care and keeping of their two girls.  Mandy didn’t seem to care about money though, so maybe that would be okay.

Lance stood back and watched the two of them, afraid to say or do anything to draw attention to himself.  He didn’t want to admit it but in that moment Lance kind of felt alone, everyone in the house had someone but him.  But he really liked the girls and wanted to see them all happy.  Lance laughed to himself as he thought about the old saying, always a bridesmaid never a bride.