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Slipping Out:

The dominoes were really falling down hard this time. Rose, Duncan, Pete, Patrick, Robyn, Greg, Judy, Morgan, and Katherine were the main victims. It all started with this evening. Pete called Rose again at lunch. She was very excited when he did so.

"Hey Rosie!" he said to her after she picked up the phone. The journalist became overjoyed.

"Petey?" she asked in surprise.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked her. Rose's heart instantly skipped a beat.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked. Her emo bassist hottie smiled to himself as her response. He really loved to surprise her at times.

"Yeah!" Pete replied boldly. His soon-to-be girlfriend didn't know how to answer at first. Then, a smile came across her face brightly.

"I'm not doing anything tonight!" she said happily. Her love smiled in satisfaction.

"Sweet!" Pete said. "I'm going to take you out tonight!" Rose quickly became very excited. She had been dying for another date with Pete after last night. Now all she had to do was to dump Tony and get with Pete. But what about Ashlee...

"Oooo!" his girl chirped. "Where are you taking me?"

"It's a surprise!" the emo hottie replied. "So, I can't tell you."

"Awww!" Rose said. "Can you at least give me a little hint?"

"Sorry," Pete said again. "Can't tell you, but look your best tonight!" Rose smiled at that little clue.

"Okay!" she said. "But what is my best?" Pete shrugged on the other line.

"I don't know," he said. "Just what you think is best."

"Okay!" Rose said. "Love you."

"What?" Pete asked her innocently.

"I said I love you, Pete Wentz!" Rose replied aloud. "I love you! I love you! I f***g love you, Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III!" The deviant emo sexpot grinned to himself. He heard what he wanted to hear from Rose all along. She was his now. The only thing left to do was ditch the people that they were with and start fresh together.

"I love you too," Pete said to her in response. Rose blew him a kiss and hung up. But that's when the problems began. Rose was about to leave the bathroom stall she was in when she heard a sound on the other side of the door. Rose jerked her head up quickly.

"Hello?" she asked. Silence had met her. Rose was still suspicious. She slowly opened the door. Amanda was standing on the other side. She looked up quickly. Her co-worker's eyes grew big in worried shock.

"Mandy!" she gasped out. Her co-worker stared back at her.

"Yes?" she asked. Rose was trying to stay calm now.

"Tell me..." she began. "You weren't trying to ease drop on me!" Mandy tried to play dumb and innocent.

"Why Rosie," she said. "Why would I do such a thing?" Rosie didn't believe her at all.

"How much do you know?" she asked. Mandy just shrugged at her.

"Not much," she replied. "Just a date between you and the engaged bass player of Fall Out Boy! Oh and how you love him with a kiss." Rose was mortified. Amanda kept smiling at her.

"It would make an interesting story!" she went on. "Wouldn't it? Pete Wentz cheats on fiancee with local Miami journalist! Nice tabloid headline, huh?" Rose was really freaked out now. This was what she was afraid of. One little slip and she would be martyred as a home-wrecking whore for the rest of her life. And the worst part was, Rose didn't really have any excuse to get away from it. If only there was some way to...

But then, luck was on her side. Both women heard a crash behind them. They looked up and saw Vanessa stumbling out of another bathroom stall. Rose and Mandy cut their eyes at her. The blonde quickly looked up and stood up straight.

"Hi everyone!" she called. Rose looked at her coldly.

"How long have you been listening?" she asked her friend.

"Oh," Vanessa said with no shame. "Just enough to come to the rescue." Then she walked over to Mandy, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her away. Rose looked after them. In a few seconds, she heard screaming out in the hall.

"There is no way in Hell I'm letting you ruin Rosie like that!" her friend yelled.

"And why not?" Mandy asked. "Ashlee deserves to know that Pete is cheating on her with everyone's darling little journalist at BRM."

"Pul-lease!" Nessa hissed. "You don't care about Tart Simpson! You just want to destroy Rose to be on top again!"

"That's right!" Mandy snapped back. "And nothing is going to stop me this time!"

"Hello! Did you forget about me and my army?" Vanessa challenged. "You forget that I can make your life at work here a living Hell! I know, I've seen me do it! Rosie is a nice person and I refuse to have her turned into a slut by the likes of you! You forget I can break you in seconds. I can have you taken back off of the top interview even more if you like!" There was some heavy silence. Rose knew Vanessa well in the two years they had worked together. Nessie meant well on her words. She was also quick to stand up for a friend in trouble. But don't cross Vanessa; she's quick to turn on a friend if they cheat her.

"All right," Mandy said. "I won't say anything about this date. But I will keep trying to get to the top!"

"Right," Vanessa replied. "And I'll be there to stop you!" And that was it. Both women were gone. Rose breathed out easily. "That was close!" she thought. Who knew that love could be such a dangerous thing? But then, she came to a realization. "You know what," the journalist thought. "Screw it! I'm going on that date with Pete! If I get martyred by Us or People magazine, I'll just keep low and fight back if I have to!" And with that, Rose headed straight back to work with a new set of strength.

Meanwhile, Pete had a little bit of a problem of his own. No sooner has he hung up the phone, the hottie looked up and saw Ashlee in the doorway. He was clearly caught off guard by this. Now, it was time for some damage control.

"Ashlee!" he exclaimed. "How long have you been standing there listening?" His soon-to-be ex walked closer to him.

"Who was that on the phone?" she asked in suspicion.

"Uh..." Pete replied. "No one. No one, it was a wrong number." Ashlee looked at him with her eyes narrowed at him. She didn't seem to believe him this time. Pete was slowly preparing for an earful with her.

"Patrick told me that you and he were having lunch with this woman named Rose," she addressed to him. "Care to explain?" Pete looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Explain what?" he asked trying to sound innocent.

"Who's Rose?" she asked harshly. Her soon-to-be ex shrugged.

"A fan," he said without missing a beat. "Just a fan." Then Pete walked away causally. Ashlee watched after him unconvinced. She knew that something was up. The poor tart couldn't tell what, but Pete was certainly up to no good! And the storm just keeps piling on, my friends! The storm just keeps piling on!

And She Called Out a Warning