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I woke up, and rolled over on my side. There, I saw Patrick, standing in the arch of the door.

I yawned.

"Hello Patrick." I groaned, stretching.

"Look outside, Pete." Patrick said.

I looked over Ashlee's sleeping body, and saw that L.A was covered in a thick white blanket of snow.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, like a child.

"Ha, you won't be saying wow when you learn they've cancelled our flight till after Christmas." Patrick grumbled.

I jumped up.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

Joe walked in, behind Patrick, in his boxers, rubbing his eyes.

"Joe, the flight's been cancelled till after Christmas!" I pouted.

"What!? What about the Wilmette Christmas we have every year! What are we going to do for Christmas!?" Joe exclaimed.

Soon, Andy walked in, checking his cell phone. He looked up.

"Our flights been..." he started.

"We know." we all said, in unison.

"Wait, I know what we can do for Christmas!" Joe exclaimed.

"What?" we all asked in unison, yet again.

"Gabe told me about the off the wall party he was having, he really wanted us there!" Joe explained.

"Yeah, he told me about that too." I said.

"Well, then we should go!" Patrick said.

"No!" I fought back.

"Why?" Asked Andy.

"Because..." I said, trying to think of an excuse.

Suddenly someone yawned.

"He doesn't want to because Heather's going to be there." Ashlee sighed, in her scanky voice.

"Her name's Rachel!" I quickly corrected her.

"So, that is the reason, then?" Joe asked.

"Okay, it won't exactly be a merry Christmas if I have to hang around her, the whole time. It'll be mad awkward." I said.

"Pete, other girls shouldn't mean anything to you." Ashlee whined.

The boys rolled their eyes. They hated Ashlee.

"They don't dear. You should take a shower." I say, trying to get her away so I can talk to the boys.

"Are you saying I smell or something?" asked Ashlee in an annoyed tone.

"No, but you should freshen up, you know?" I said.

She nodded, suspiciously, and went to go shower.

"Why, why Pete?" Joe asked, pointing to the bathroom door when she was out of sight.

"I...don't know..." I said, shaking my head.

"Anyway, Pete, all you have to do is stay away from Gabe and Rachel." Joe said.

"Fine, we can go." I finally gave in.

"You mean it? We can go!?" Joe said, jumping up and down.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, Joe. We can go." I said.

What was I going to do? I had to look nice...this Party is tomorrow, then Christmas the next day...what a ride im in for. What a ride.
==========================

I fixed my black tie in the mirror for the fifteenth time. I squeezed some jell out of the bottle, and fixed my bangs across my face, perfectly.

Ashlee walked out, in a blue, flashy dress.

She spun around once.

"Pete, do I look alright?" she asked.

My eyes didn't leave the mirror.

"Yeah, yeah you look fine." I said.

"Pete! You didn't even look!" she whined.

I rolled my eyes, and dully turned my head.

"You look fine, Ash." I told her, again.

She smiled a triumphant smile. "Thank you." she said.

Soon, the three boys walked in, wearing tuxes just like me.

"Ready to go, you two?" Patrick asked.

"Mhm, im ready." I said. "Alright, let's get a move on, then." Joe said, walking down the hall. We all followed him, Ashlee and I, hand in hand. We got out to the rental, and headed towards Gabe's, I had given him a call the other day to tell him we'd be there, he was very exited.

I sat in the car, my palms sweating, and my neck aching. I cracked it, and continued to stare out the window.

"So, Pete's nervous, that's apparent." Joe stated.

"Am not." I protested.

Ashlee pouted. "Pete, you can stay with me the whole time." she said.

"I will, dear." I told her.

"Good." she said.

Soon, we pulled up to Gabe's place. I guess Rachel was living here now, and not with Shaant anymore. What a change. I walked in, behind the three boys, Ashlee on my arm.

It was crowded, I knew just about everyone there, too. It was then I reliezed just how many friends I really did have.

Gabe came up to me, and Ashlee let go at the sudden hug I got from him.

"It's been so long." he said, hugging me.

I laughed. "Yeah." I said, when he pulled away.

"So, what'd you get me for Christmas?" he asked.

"Opps, must have slipped my mind!" I said.

He pouted.

"Little jerk." he said.

"By one year!" I protested. He laughed.

"And my other boys!" he said, going over to mingle with the other three. I walked off, Ashlee still on my arm.

"Introduce me to William Beckett, he's hot!" she asked.

I looked at her.

"Hot?" I asked.

"Well, he's cute." she said, not getting the hint.

"Okay..." I said. I walked around, no sight of Rachel, anywhere, hm.

When I found William, he was at Gabe's bar, sipping on a Shirley Temple, talking with Jac Vanek.

"Poster Boy!" Jac screamed when she saw me. William turned also, and smiled. "Pete!" he said.

"Hey Jac, William." I said.

"And Ashlee Simpson! Hi!" Jac said.

"Hello!" Ashlee said.

"She wanted to meet you, William." I said.

William nodded, and shoke her hand.

"Bilvy is the coolest." Jac said.

William shoke his head, and patted the bar stool next to him. Ash sat down, and they started talking.

"Hey, guys, im going to the bathroom, I'll be back." I told them.

"Okay, see you." Ash said, continuing to talk to William and Jac.

I walked though the crowd, bumping into Ryan on the way, his hand in Brendon's.

"Pete!" Ryan said, hugging me.

Brendon doing the same.

"Hey guys, haven't seen you in months, how's everything?" I asked.

"Better then ever!" Brendon said.

"That's good, you guys have definitely grown since the night I found you in the vegas bathroom." I laughed.

They laughed as well.

"Yes, yes we have." they said.

"hey, have you seen Rachel yet?" Ryan said.

"Uh...no...not since that...incident." I said.

"Damn, what a knock out, she'd make me go straight." he said.

Brendon hit him off top the head, and he smiled.

"Just kidding, but seriously, she has changed." he said.

I shoke my head. "I'll uh, keep that in mind." I said.

"Okay." Ryan said.

"Hey, I have to go to the bathroom, I'll catch you later." I said.

They waved, and I was off towards the bathrooms.

When I got there, the line was huge, I was stuck behind a tall, very skinny, dirty blonde chick, in a really hot black and pink dress that stopped at the knees, her hair slick, and straight, her back turned to me, she was talking to Hayley Williams, as well.

Suddenly, she turned around, to glance at her surroundings, and her eyes fell on me.

My eyes grew wide, as did hers, and we stared for a bit.

Rachel.

She was, gorgeous, and my breath was taken away, literately, I had to quietly gasp for air.

She looked a lot skinnier, which I didn't think could have been possible, and her hair was darker, and her make up, was perfect.

She quickly turned her head, and tried to start more conversation with Hayley, and I suddenly didn't feel so much like going to the bathroom. I panicked, and ran off.

As I was scurring through the party, I bumped into Shaant.

"Pete!" He said, taking my shoulders. I forced a smile.

"Hey man! I haven't seen you in so long, we used to hang out all the time, what the hell?" he said, hugging me.

"I dunno." I said, shrugging.

"And for the record, Rachel doesn't live with me anymore, so we should start hanging out again, man." he said.

I smiled. "Okay." I said.

"Speaking of, have you seen her? I need to check in with her, haven't seen her in a while." he said.

I pointed to the bathrooms. He nodded. "See you around, bud." he said, taking off.

I walked around a little more, stopping to talk to a few friends, Bob and Gretta, Spencer, Ryland, and Jon.

Suddenly, I felt the sudden need to go to the bathroom, again, because I was forced to leave last time.

As I walked over, I noticed the line was shorter now. My heart jumped when I saw that the only one in line, was Rachel. I gulped, and walked over there.

She glanced at me, through the corner of her eye, and continued waiting.

"Hi." I mumbled.

Her eyes grew wide, and she looked left, then right, then at me, and pointed to herself.

I nodded.

"Uh...uh...hi." she said, gulping, and looking down.

"How...how've you been?" I asked.

"Good...you?" she asked, back.

"Fine...so, hows life?" I asked.

"Not so bad, you?" she asked, this time looking up, obviously to study my face.

"Good." I said.

"Uh, just out of curiosity, why are you talking to me?" she asked.

"I dunno, I guess I just missed you're voice, missed talking to you." I said, shrugging.

She half smiled.

"I didn't miss you're voice, because I hear it, on the radio all the time, and on TV, but I guess I missed talking to you, too." she said.

I smiled.

We shared an awkward silence, then she turned to me.

"I never got to truly apologize...so here's a half ass, not very well thought out sorry." she said.

I laughed. Still the same old Rachel on the inside.

"No, it's okay, it's over, I'm over it. As you can see, I still talk to your boyfriend." I said.

"No, it's not okay, you know, I still regret that." she said.

"Me too. I mean, the way I reacted." I said.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened. Rachel smiled at me, and went in.

When she came out, she smiled again, it was kind of fake though. I looked into her eyes, and saw a lot of pain.

"Hey, do you have a...breath mint, or some gum or something?" she asked.

"Yeah. You okay?" I asked, as I dug through my pockets, and handed her a piece of gum.

As I handed it to her, I noticed her hand was shaking a little.

"Yeah...yeah im fine. Just a little...dizzy, I might just head off to bed. It...was nice seeing you again, Pete. Really, really nice." she said, hugging me.

"Yeah, good to know the war ground between us had cleared." I said.

She nodded, dizzily.

"Hey, would you tell Gabe I'm up in bed?" she asked.

I nodded.

"mhm." I said.

"Goodnight, Pete. I hope we meet up again soon." she said,, heading up the stairs.

When she left, I stood there.

Something was terribly wrong here, and Gabe hasn't noticed yet.

yay, Rachel's back. But, whats wrong? Haha, yes, reviews would be nice.