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Chapter Five
They soon left the club and went back to the Morgan’s house. Ashleigh, Ryan, and Kendall all had a house together and since Ashleigh was at her restaurant and Kendall was visiting Colleen’s sister Shannon in Illinois, the group had the house to themselves.
They all piled out of the cars and walked in the house. “Hey guys, why don’t you go in the living room, while Ryan and I change into more casual clothes?” Colleen said while showing them where the living room was.
“You mean we can’t watch?” asked Nick astonished.
Colleen shoved him. “Shut up.” The guys laughed as the girls went in to change.
“So Kev, what’s up with you and Colleen?” asked A.J. with a knowing smile as he grabbed a spot on the couch.
“Nothing, we’re just friends,” Kevin replied in a not so convincing tone as he settled on the couch opposite to A.J.
“Yeah sure. Can I be just friends with her too?” asked Nick who sat next to A.J. “I saw how you guys were dancing, if that’s friends, I want more friends like that.” Kevin threw a pillow at him.
“Shut up, Kaos. She’s pretty and all that, but I just met her. All it is, is some flirting,” said Kevin as he picked up the remote to the television and turned it on.
A.J. snorted. “Pretty, she’s a babe!” Nick nodded in agreement.
“So’s Ryan,” said Brian with a smile.
“Speaking of liking someone, what’s up with you and Ryan?” asked Howie.
Brian grinned. “I don’t know but I like where it’s going so far.” The guys laughed and then turned to the television and started drooling over Xena:Warrior Princess.
“Man, Xena kicks ass!” said Nick, engrossed in the latest adventure of the woman in leather. The other guys, hypnotized by the fighting scenes, just nodded.
Meanwhile, Colleen and Ryan were in Ryan’s bedroom changing.
“So Colleen, what’s with you and Kevin,” asked Ryan as she put on flannel pajama bottoms and a white tanktop.
“Nothing. We’re just flirting, I mean have you looked at him? He’s gorgeous.” Colleen looked dazed for a moment as she was lost in thoughts of Kevin and how good he looked in just khakis and a T-shirt.
“Snap out of it, girl,” Ryan said as she noticed Colleen’s trance. “So just flirting, huh?” Ryan sat on her bed and ran a brush through her hair.
“Yeah, I mean, I just met him. Sure he’s hot, but does he have any similar interests or the same values or anything? I just can’t start making out with a guy without liking him as a person. You know?” Ryan nodded as Colleen dressed in boxers and a cut off sweatshirt.
“So anyway, speaking of flirting, how about you and Brian?” asked Colleen, her eyes twinkling with laughter. She put her hair up in a messy half pony tail and slipped her feet into cute, bear feet slippers. She sat beside Ryan on the bed, and leaned back against the pillows. “Do you like him?”
Ryan smiled. “Well, he’s sweet and he’s not thirty feet tall. My neck doesn’t hurt so much, looking up at him.” They both laughed.
They just sat there for a moment, thinking. “You know, isn’t it funny though? I mean, the Backstreet Boys are in your living room.” Ryan nodded.
“Speaking of which, we shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Ryan said as she got up and grabbed Colleen’s hand and opened the door. Colleen started walking down the hall and was just turning the corner into the living room, when Ryan said something and Colleen turned her head to reply and slammed into the wall.
“Ouch!”
Ryan started cracking up and so did the guys who saw the whole thing. Colleen just rubbed her nose and smiled. Well, back to klutz mode, she thought. She finished walking into the room and she noticed A.J. looking her up and down.
“So Colleen,” he said. “Are those space drawers?”
Colleen looked down at her boxers. “No, they’re just plain boxers. Why?”
“Because your bootie is out of this world,” A.J. said with a huge grin.
Colleen groaned. “Oh man, A.J. If that is you’re best line, no wonder you don’t get any action.” The gang cracked and A.J. stuck his tongue out at her. Colleen laughed.
“Do you guys have any good movies?” asked Nick.
Colleen snorted. “Does Ryan have movies?” She got up and went over to an antique wardrobe, standing in the corner of the room. She opened it up and row after row of movies sat there. “Have your pick.” The guys immediately got up and scrambled to the wardrobe, pushing each other out the way and fighting over what movie to watch. They finally turned around with a tall stack of movies to choose from.
“Man, Ryan, you have a great collection of movies,” Nick said enthusiastically. Ryan smiled.
“Well, if it’s one thing, me and Colleen can’t live without are movies. Colleen’s got just as big a collection at her house. One of our favorite things is to have theme movie night. Like, we’ll just watch horror movies, or chick flicks or comedies with a huge batch of popcorn and cups of hot chocolate.” Ryan and Colleen smiled, remembering some of their happiest times just hanging with each other.
Brian noticed the look. “So you guys are best friends?”
Colleen and Ryan nodded. “Ryan and I are so alike, it’s scary how many common interests we have. She’s like a sister to me, well, a LITTLE sister,” Colleen joked, patting Ryan on the head. Ryan scowled and acting like she was mad, got up and slammed herself down on the couch, next to Brian. Colleen just laughed and Ryan stuck her tongue out at her.
Brian smiled. “That’s cool that you guys are so close.” Ryan smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, other than my other sisters, Colleen is my best friend.”
“Same for me,” said Colleen.
“So you guys have other sisters?” asked Nick.
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, well you guys met Ashleigh.” The guys smiled. “Then there’s Kendall, she’s in Illinois with Colleen’s sister Shannon. Then I have another sister, Erin, she’s married and lives in Georgia and Colleen has another sister, Gillian.”
“Where’s Gillian?” asked Howie.
“Oh, she’s married to this high powered stock broker, Alec. He’s a great brother-in-law and they live in London where she is part of the Shakespeare Repertory Theatre.”
Colleen got up from the floor and went and took the remote from Kevin.
“Hey, I had the remote,” said Kevin, trying to grab it back. Colleen giggled.
“Yeah, well, you’re just to slow.” She turned and started to walk back to where she was sitting when Kevin grabbed her shirt and yanked her down on the couch beside him.
“I’m too slow, huh?” he said as he gave her a noogie.
“Yeah, you old timer, you’re getting slow in your old age,” gasped Colleen between laughs as she tried to get away. Kevin wouldn’t let go. “Nick, help me get this old man off of me,” implored Colleen.
Nick smiled. “Hey Kevin, let her go.” When Kevin shook his head no, Nick just shrugged. “Well, if you can’t beat them, join them.” Nick got up and started to tickle Colleen along with Kevin.
“RYAN! Help me.” Colleen was dying of laughter as she tried to get away from Nick and Kevin. Ryan nudged Brian. “We have to help her,” she said with a grin and they both got up and joined the attack.
By this time, Colleen was in pain from laughing so much. “Ahhhh!” she yelled as she fell off the couch as a result of trying to wriggle away from her attackers. Everyone stopped.
“Colleen, are you all right?” Ryan asked as they all backed up and saw that Colleen had landed on her back with her feet up in the air. Colleen said yes and sat up. They all started cracking up again when they saw that Colleen’s hair was totally messed up and clumps of hair were sticking straight up from her head.
“Nice hairdo, Pirate,” said Ryan with a grin. Colleen just got up and walked out of the room to get a brush. She started to brush the knots out as everyone settled down for TV time. Colleen had managed to keep the control and had just turned the television to MTV where they were showing N’Sync’s video, Tearing up my Heart.
“In the immortal words of Jennifer,” Colleen said referring to her childhood friend in Illinois, “Oooh, baby.” Ryan nodded.
“I really like N’Sync and that blonde guy on the bed is hot,” Colleen said while absorbed in video. The guys watched as both Ryan and Colleen sang all the words to the song and discussed what guy looked good.
“Oh, I love this shot. Riiiiiight here,” Colleen said as she pointed to the shot of the blond guy laying on the bed in a tight white tank top. “He is pumped.” Ryan nodded.
“Yeah, Colleen, why couldn’t you have met N’Sync at the restaurant?” she asked. Then they both laughed as they were suddenly pelted with pillows from all directions.
“Just kidding, guys,” Colleen said with a grin. “You’re all much better. . . singers,” she said instead of better looking as they thought she would say. Kevin hit her in the back of the head with another pillow.
“All right, all right. You guys are all gorgeous and you don’t look like you’re still going through puberty.” Colleen looked around to see if her statement met with their approval. The guys nodded. “Well,” she continued. “Except Nick.”
“Hey,” Nick quickly got off the couch and tackled Colleen, putting her in a loose headlock. “Take it back,” he said, trying to keep a serious face.
“Okay, Nick. I was just kidding. You know, you are my favorite,” Colleen said with a grin.
“Yeah,” Nick replied excitedly. “I know I’m the coolest for sure,” he said confidently. This time, it was Nick who got hit in the back of the head with a pillow.
Colleen laughed and caught the pillow as it rebounded off Nick. She placed the pillow against Nick and leaned against him as she said casually, “Okay, what movie are we watching?” She reached for the stack and started looking at what the guys had picked out.
Nick moved around until he was comfortable and let Colleen lean against him again. They started joking quietly as they looked at the titles, not noticing that Kevin was watching them with a mad look. What’s with that? thought Kevin. I thought that she liked me. He sat there thinking while everyone else was talking. Ryan and Brian were chatting on the other couch, A.J. and Howie were throwing kernels of the popcorn that Ryan had made at each other’s mouths, trying to catch it. Their attention was drawn back to Colleen as she got up and put in a movie.
“Hey, what did you put in?” A.J. asked, hoping it wasn’t some sappy movie.
Nick and Colleen just smiled at one another.
“Wait and see,” Colleen said. She started to sit back down with Nick when she saw Kevin lost in his thoughts, sitting on the couch alone. She went over and sat next to him.
“Hey, we picked a movie,” she said as she nudged his leg with hers. He looked up.
“I thought you were sitting with Nick,” he said. Damn, he thought, I sound jealous. I didn’t want to do that.
“Yeah, well I would rather sit here with you,” she replied.
“Although I really like Nick.” Kevin’s happiness of having her sit with him changed to sadness.
“You like Nick?” he asked, wanting to be sure of what she said.
“Yeah, he’s so cute. He’s like the brother I always wanted,” she said. “He has the same humor as me.”
Kevin’s face brightened. She likes him as a brother, he thought. Why should that make me so happy? I have only know her for a night. But then he stopped thinking as the previews were finally over and he saw words scroll across the screen.
“All right! Spaceballs, I love this movie,” said Brian happily.
Ryan threw a piece of popcorn at him. “Then shut up and let’s us hear what their saying.” Brian made a face at her and threw the popcorn back as Ryan giggled.
Colleen rolled her eyes at the actions of the people on the other couch. She grabbed the blanket behind her and spread it out across her and Kevin’s lap. “I think somebody likes somebody,” she said softly with a grin to Kevin as she turned towards the screen and leaned back against Kevin’s arm. Kevin grinned.
“Yeah, I think my cousin likes your cousin,” he replied. She nodded. They all settled back to watch the movie. After Spaceballs, the guys decided to leave as it was three o’clock in the morning. Colleen and Ryan walked them out to the car.
“You guys, it was really nice meeting you, I wish we could have gotten together again,” Ryan said while looking at Brian. Nick stared at her.
“We’re not LEAVING leaving. We don’t leave here until ten days from now when we drive to Chicago for our concert,” he said. Ryan and Colleen exchanged a look and started to laugh.
“That’s so weird. We leave ten days from now to leave for Chicago to,” Colleen said as she looked at Kevin. “Ryan’s coming to stay at my place for a month.” Brian looked at Ryan to make sure this was true and she nodded.
“So anyway, where are you guys staying?” Colleen asked. The guys told them the hotel and room number.
“Okay, so we’ll call you tomorrow?” Ryan asked Brian. He nodded.
“Good. Okay, bye.” The guys got in the car and drove slowly out of the driveway and Colleen and Ryan went inside and to bed.
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