Alexa wasn't sure why, but she and Rachel followed Charlie into the studio. Rachel ran her finger along a guitar which she knew was Sawyer's. "So this is where the magic happens." 

Charlie smiled. "Yep." She headed to a small kitchenette and opened the cupboard to get a bottle of what Alexa recognized as tequila. "I need a drink," Charlie explained. 

Alexa nodded. "Would it be alright if I had a glass of water?" 

Charlie poured herself a shot and downed it, making a slight face. "Of course." 

She disappeared further into the tiny kitchen space and Alexa heard the distinct hissing sound of carbonation escaping from a bottle. "There's Perrier or tap water." 

"I'll take that," Alexa said. "Thank you." 

Charlie handed the bottle to her and looked at Rachel. "Want anything?" 

Rachel was too busy touching all the instruments, using her cell phone to take a million pictures would she'd surely upload to the Internet the second she had a chance. "M' good, thanks," she mumbled. 

Alexa sipped her water since it wasn't the kind you could chug. "Do you think Devin will be okay?" 

Charlie looked pensive for a moment. She poured one more shot and drank it, before putting the bottle back in the cupboard. "Better," she said to herself. "Devin will be just fine. She's tough. She was just hurt, you know?" 

"Yeah," Alexa agreed. She wondered what Sawyer and Devin were doing. Was there yelling? More tears? She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer but she did hope both of them made it out in one piece on an emotional level. 

The door opened and Sebastian and Robbie walked in. Sebastian grinned from ear to ear. "Hey bella," he said to Charlie. 

"Hi," she said. "Where's Lane?" 

"Said he had something to do. Maybe he signed up for some hippy class," Robbie said. "More importantly, how's Devin?" 

"She'll be fine," Charlie said. "Once she gets over it." 

Robbie smiled when he saw Rachel but other than a short polite smile in return, she said nothing. 

Robbie's brows knit together and he sat down, watching Rachel moving back and forth caressing the instruments absentmindedly. He stared blankly, unsure of what to say. Alexa felt sorry for him. She'd seen and knew first-hand the broken hearts Rachel could leave in her path and the last thing she wanted was Robbie to be on the receiving end of it. Not that he'd fallen in love with her after one night but the look was there. One that said he was taken by her. 

It was probably for the best that she ignored him.  

Sebastian kissed Charlie on the forehead and sat down. "I love that kind of stuff." 

"Performing?" Alexa asked, glad someone was there to ease the tension that radiated from Robbie. 

"Taking people by surprise," Sebastian grinned widely. "I love shocking people." 

Alexa chuckled and brought her Perrier to her mouth for another sip but she nearly spit it out when the door burst open, with an angry looking, tattooed man. Her first thought was that he had to be related to Sawyer until the guy headed to Sebastian, pointing his finger like it was a weapon. 

"You dumb little shit!" he hissed. 

"Nice to see you too, Benny." 

"Don't Benny me. How are you going to fix this?" 

Sebastian shrugged and if anything, Alexa admired his courage in that moment. "As far as I'm concerned something has to be broken to fix it. I don't see a problem." 

Benny, whoever he was, gave a half-hearted evil sounding laugh. "Where is he?" He didn't wait for Sebastian's response before shouting down the hallway, "Sawyer, get your ass out here." 

Who was this guy and what did he want with Sawyer? Alexa's fingertips wedged on the underside of the label on her water bottle as she began to pick at it nervously, not knowing if she should look up, look down, stand up, leave. She didn't want to set foot in this raging man's path. 

"Sawyer's gone, boss," Robbie said. "He'll be around later. Maybe." 

"I should have known he would pull something like this," he said. 

"Bennett?" Charlie peeked her head around the corner. "Drink?" 

"Something strong." 

Alexa cleared her throat and Robbie seemed to understand her unspoken question. "This is Bennett, the bands manager. Bennett, this is--" 

"Alexa," Bennett finished for him. "I know. The entire YouTube viewing audience knows all about how she's encouraged Sawyer to share his dirty laundry. You are the one responsible for this." 

"She's not responsible for anything," Sebastian said. "You need to bring it down a notch, my friend. It wasn't her idea to tell the world about Sawyer's sister, who by the way, if you ever refer to as dirty laundry again, you and me are going to have problems." 

Bennett's eyes, narrowed. "You're not threatening me, I hope." 

"Not at all. But I'll tell Sawyer you spoke about his sister less than professionally and we'll see what happens." 

"Sawyer will be lucky if I let him leave this studio," Bennett said. "He's the reason we're in this mess." 

Robbie shook his head and sighed. "Ben, Ben, Ben. You are either really daft or you just suck ass at being a band manager." 

Alexa's eyes widened as the vein in Bennett's neck pulsed but Robbie continued. "If you had as much business mind as you do anger management issues, you'd know that bad press, good press, or how people perceive either, it's still press." 

Bennett didn't say anything as Charlie handed him a drink. It wasn't the tequila she'd been drinking earlier but something darker and on the rocks. 

Sebastian nodded. "He's right, bad press is still good press. In fact you should be buying Sawyer lunch for getting you a ton of free advertising." 

"I'm not buying Sawyer anything," Bennett said. 

The silence that followed was nearly as painful as their car-ride there and Alexa was pretty sure it was a sign. It was time to call a day a day. 

"I should go," she said, standing. Her eyes darted to Rachel. "We should go." 

"Um, yeah," Rachel agreed. "We should." 

She marched past Robbie when he said, "Bye Rachel, nice to see you again." 

"Yeah," Rachel said. "It's been a real slice." 

Robbie looked at his hands and Alexa felt terrible for him but she still couldn't make it to the door fast enough. "Bye Charlie, bye Sebastian. See you later, Bennett." 

"If you see Sawyer, tell him he needs to call me immediately," Bennett ordered. 

Alexa stopped with her hand on the doorknob, realizing they'd driven with Charlie and that they'd have to call a cab. "I will," she said. 

Outside, standing curbside with Rachel, they called a taxi and waited. "That was an interesting afternoon," Alexa said. 

"I feel like we should be on the set of a movie. Like this isn't real life," Rachel said. She rooted through her purse for lipgloss and applied a heavy layer to her lips. 

"No kidding. That Bennett guy scared the crap out of me." 

"Robbie told me about him," Rachel said. "He's all bark and no bite. Thinks he's real tough but Robbie said he's blowing smoke. I'd bet on Sawyer over him any day." 

"Speaking of Robbie, what was that about?" 

Rachel feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"Oh please," Alexa said. "That was exceptionally ignorant, what you did in there. Pretending as if he didn't exist after sleeping half naked next to him. That's something a guy would do." 

Rachel scowled. "I don't want to talk about it." 

"Whatever." 

The cab came and they silently climbed in the backseat. Alexa gave him Gabby's address and stared out the window blankly. Worry ebbed through her brain for Sawyer and for Devin, something similar to anger for Rachel's behavior to Robbie chewed at her and she was exhausted. 

Rachel's voice pierced her thoughts, "Oh my God." 

"What?" 

Rachel nodded to the front porch of Gabby's house. "Look." 

As the cab pulled to a stop, Alexa could recognize the large figure perched on the steps outside the Craftsman. "What is he doing here?" she mumbled. 

Rachel forked over cash to the cab driver and elbowed Alexa in the ribs. "Only one way to find out." 

Alexa steeled herself for what was sure to be a confrontation. She strolled up the walkway with her shoulders held high, refusing to be bullied. "What do you want?" she asked. 

Lane sat hunched with his elbows to his knees and his fingers clasped together in front of them. As she approached he stood and offered a smile that must've required some great effort on his part. He took in a deep breath, "I was hoping we could talk."

One look at Devin and Sawyer wasn't so sure this was the brightest idea. She was overly excited to be at the equivalent of the Ritz Carlton of mental institutions, like she thought it was going to be some great adventure. 

She'd clumsily dismounted from the back of his bike, nearly face-planting on the pavement in the process. Sawyer caught the top of her arm right before she fell. "Easy there sugar, you don't want to break the other one," he said, nodding to the pink monstrosity on her foot. 

Devin pouted, "You still haven't signed it, you know." 

He knew. Seabass had one upped him for sure. Sawyer flicked his lighter, bringing the flame to the smoke that he held between his teeth. "That's cause I'm thinkin' of the right thing to say." 

Devin grinned. "It can't be that hard." 

She had no idea. 

Sawyer inhaled his smoke sharply. "Listen darlin' no matter what don't touch Sadie, 'kay? You kinda have to follow her lead. Every day it's hit or miss, depending on her mood." 

"I've never met a schizo-," Devin stopped short. "Someone like Sadie before." 

Sawyer threw his smoke on the ground and stepped on it, extinguishing his bad habit.  

"You can say it, Dev. Schizophrenic. It's not like she's a psychopath, even though sometimes she can go off the deep end, that hasn't happened in a real long time." 

Devin nodded. 

"One more thing," he said, putting his hands on Devin's shoulders and looking her square in the eye. "I haven't really told Sadie about you and I'm not sure how she'll react so if she's a bitch to you, don't take it personal, yeah?" 

Devin's eyebrows knit together and her face screwed up in confusion. "You don't think she'll like me?" 

Sawyer shrugged. "I don't think she likes me half the time. It depends on her day, I guess." 

"I'm nervous now, thanks," Devin said. 

"Don't be nervous. Just be prepared."

Sadie's door was as usual, closed. Sawyer brought his knuckles up and gently knocked. He didn't hear Sadie's muffled response but assumed it was along the lines of "come in." He stood protectively in front of Devin and shouldered the door open. 

"Hey M and M" he said. "What's up?" 

Sadie gave a small smile. "Doctor Montgomery's blood pressure." 

"Huh? What'd you do?" 

Sadie looked down at her bed and smirked before her head snapped back up. "I didn't do anything. Your girlfriend on the other hand, she has some explaining to do." 

His heart began to drum a rapid beat in his chest. The thought of Alexa having to explain anything she did to anyone made him uneasy. "What are you talkin' about?" 

Sadie leaned forward, as if she were preparing to offer classified information. "Someone tipped Doctor M off and now she knows about our little adventure the other day. I've never seen her so pissed. She came in this morning and grilled me twenty questions. I wouldn't tell her anything though," Sadie's face looked momentarily blank. "Didn't say a word. But she's mad as a hornet."  

Well this wasn't turning out as planned. He forgot his body was covering Devin and he stepped to the side, removing his cell phone from his pocket to text Alexa. Sadie's eyes honed in, then narrowed on Devin. "Who is she?" 

Sawyer held up an index finger, effectively telling Sadie to wait as he texted Alexa that her aunt might be on the war path. It was the only thing he could do at this point. He tucked his phone back in his pocket and pulled out the yellow bag of Sadie's favorite candy. "M and M, this is Devin. Devin, this is M-I mean Sadie, my little sister." 

Devin held her hand up and gave a polite wave where just her fingers moved. "Hi, Sadie, nice to meet you." 

Sadie rolled her eyes. Sawyer tossed the chocolate he'd brought at his sister. "Christ sakes, if you were a cat, you would have just hissed. Gimmie a break M and M. Be nice." He tried to make it sound like an order rather than a request but secretly he was praying that she'd just chill out.  

Sadie huffed. "Hello Devin," she said. She looked back at Sawyer. "What do you want?" 

"We came to see you," Sawyer said. "Dev wanted to meet you." 

Sadie arched a brow and looked at him curiously. "Why?" 

Devin stepped forward courageously, unfazed by Sadie's ice queen routine. "Because Sawyer speaks highly of you," Devin said. "And over the last year, he's become one of my best friends. I just really wanted to meet you for myself." 

All three of them knew that was a load of crap, he didn't speak highly of anyone, really, with the occasional exception of himself. They watched as Sadie's lips pulled from a tight, straight line, into a smile and she burst out laughing. 

Sawyer laughed along with her, even though his body was tense and he wasn't sure how volatile a mood his sister was in. They could flip flop all day long if that's what Sadie wanted to do. 

"You're like a kid," Sadie said. "How are you one of Sawyer's best friends?" 

"She's the same age as you," Sawyer pointed out. "You don't like being called a kid, don't call her one either." 

Sadie looked genuinely surprised. "You look younger than me." 

"It's a curse at times but mostly a blessing," Devin said. "My sister, Charlie, she's like close to Sawyer's age and still looks like she's our age, except when there's a beer in her hand." 

"Wow," Sawyer said. "Never really felt old a day in my life, until now." 

"Sorry," Devin said. 

Sadie held up at hand, like they should both shut the hell up. "So, Charlie is your sister?" 

Devin nodded. "Uh huh." 

"Like the Charlie that Sebastian never shuts up about?" 

Devin pushed past Sawyer, making her way to the guest chair beside Sadie's bed. "I know, right? It sometimes makes me ill. But he loves her. A lot." 

Sadie's cheeks flushed with color. "I know. I think it's sweet." 

Sawyer observed as Sadie ripped open the top of her M and M's. "How long have you known him?" she questioned. 

"Sawyer?" 

"No, Sebastian." 

"Oh, um forever. He's been friends with Charlie since they were born practically. I've never not known him." 

Sawyer continued to watch in awe as Sadie, careful not to make contact with Devin offered the package of candy. 

Devin smiled politely and refused. "I'm more of a jolly rancher kind of girl, but thank you anyway." 

Sadie shrugged. "Your loss." 

"I didn't know you liked Jolly Ranchers, Dev." 

Devin smiled and winked.  

Sawyer watched them interact for a few minutes. Once he was sure Sadie wasn't going to have a meltdown or be a bitch or anything other than a typical teenage girl, he cleared his throat. Sadie glared at him, irritated to be interrupted about whatever the hell they were talking about, which Sawyer had blocked out long ago. The fact that Alexa could be in any kind of trouble was the only thing he could think about. "Will you two be okay for a bit?" 

"Yeah," Sadie said, "go play pick-up sticks for your girlfriend."  

Devin waved her hand as if to dismiss him. 

Sawyer left the room determined to find Gabby. He'd save Alexa and then demand to know more about Sadie and why she almost seemed...normal.