ASHLEY: 

      "Hey there, Steph, it's me again. It's been over a week, and you haven't returned any of my calls. I know I was a jerk, and I really am sorry, so could you please talk to me, so we can work this out? Please? "

      I press the button to send what will probably be at least the hundredth unanswered message since the night of Shannon's party, then reach out to open the car door. We just finished up a radio interview a few minutes ago, and we decided to go grab lunch at the sushi place down the road before we head back to the studio. CC is with Jake in his car, while Jinxx and I are riding with Andy, and I climb into the backseat, since Jinxx called dibs on riding shotgun before I had a chance.

      Jinxx is talking to someone on the phone as Andy pulls out of the radio station lot, but with the noise from the engine, we can't really make out much of the conversation until Andy starts to make the turn into the parking lot of the strip mall next to the sushi place, when he suddenly raises his voice a bit and says, "Wait a sec, how do you know that, when I haven't even given you any of the details?" Whatever response he gets seems to confuse him, because he moves the phone away from his ear for a second and looks at it strangely before putting it back and replying, "Mmm-kay, then, if that's the way you want it. But call me if you change your mind, all right?"

      A few seconds later, he ends the call, and as he opens the door to get out, Andy inquires, "What was that about, dude? You looked sort of weirded out there for a minute."

      "You could say that," he says, waving his hand in the direction of Jake's car, which is just pulling into a parking slot. "I'll tell you about it after we get our table, because I don't want to get into a thing out here in the parking lot, and I also don't feel like having to repeat myself because they come in on the middle of the conversation."

      We go inside, and manage to get seated in one of the private rooms, away from all of the windows, since it tends to irritate other people when we end up getting mobbed in restaurants. Come to think of it, that kind of makes it a little difficult for us sometimes, too, because even though we all love our fans to death, it's also nice to be able to finish a meal in peace once in awhile.

      Once we all give the waiter our orders, Andy leans back in his seat and raises an eyebrow at Jinxx, who just sort of shakes his head and sighs. CC and Jake give them both rather puzzled looks, and I prop my chin on one fist, and kind of jokingly ask, "Okay, are you ready to explain why you were staring at your phone awhile ago like it had just tried to give you tongue or something?"

      His head kind of snaps up, and he gives me a rather irritated look, then responds with, "Tell you what, Ash. I'll answer your question if you'll answer one for me first."

      "And that would be...?"

      "What the fuck did you do!?"

      Oh, great, what now? I think, and rub my eyes with the heels of my hands. "Y'know, that question covers such a broad area these days that I'm gonna have to ask you to be just a little more specific," I tell him.

      Staring across the table at me, he nods, "Okay, I can do that. More specifically, what did you do that would cause one of our mutual friends, when I call her about your birthday party, to inform me that no matter what day or time we have it, she's going to be too busy to attend. Think you can clear that one up, Purdy?"

      I feel my stomach drop when he says this, and whatever appetite I had just evaporates. Shit, I knew she was pissed off, but I didn't think it was this bad! The other guys are glancing back and forth between the two of us looking puzzled, and I inquire, "Let me guess, we're talking about Steph, right?" He nods, not saying anything, and I lean my head back against my seat and sigh, "I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I seriously fucked up, but I can't fix it, because she won't talk to me! I've left her so many voice mails and texts that I've just about lost count, but she just ignores them."

      "Can I look at your phone for a sec, dude?" CC asks.

      "Sure, I guess so," I reply, handing it to him. "Why, are you checking to be sure that I actually did what I just said?"

      "Don't be paranoid, Ash. No, I'm checking something else," he retorts. He pulls up my texts and quickly scans them, then lays the phone back down in front of me. Pointing to the display, he says, "If you look at your text history, you'll see how anything you've sent to someone else say 'Delivered' underneath, but the ones to her number don't. My guess is that she blocked you, so she hasn't even gotten any of your messages. Haven't you tried to talk to her in person?"

      "Yeah, I actually went over to their house Monday after we got done in the studio, cause since Macy didn't bludgeon me with a guitar the minute I walked in, I figured that she and Lylah hadn't heard about what happened, and that maybe Steph would be more likely to listen to me if they were there. But they said that she'd gone off to some art show in Santa Barbara and wasn't gonna be back until last night. I sent her a text a little while ago, and I was thinking about stopping by again tonight."

      "So, how about you tell us what you did to piss her off so bad, then," Jake chimes in. "If we know what it is, maybe we can help you figure something out."

      We see the waiter coming with our food, so I wait until he's put everything down and gone, then I take a deep breath and give them the full story of what happened last weekend. By the time I finish, Jake is face-palming so hard I wouldn't be surprised if it left a bruise, and Andy just raises an eyebrow at me and says, "Classy, Ash. Real fuckin' classy."

      "No shit, Sherlock! You think I don't already know that? I already told you, I've tried every way I can think of to apologize, but she's totally cut me off!"

      Then, completely out of the blue, CC's hand whips out and smacks the back of my head. And this isn't a playful tap, either, he whacks me hard enough to almost put me face-first into my makizushi. "What the fuck, dude!?" I yell, rubbing the back of my head. "I don't think that was actually necessary, I already said that I know I was jerk, okay!"

      "Yeah, but you left out half of it, didn't you?" he fires back. 

      "What the hell are you even talking about? I told you guys every single thing that happened that night!"

      He sort of stares at me for a few seconds, then sort of mumbles, "Damn, you actually have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?". I shake my head, and even the others are looking at him kind of oddly, so he grabs his phone and calls someone. 

      "Hey, babe, it's me," he says, which tells us he's talking to Tiff. "Can you pull up that Facebook post you got yesterday and send it to me? Yeah, that one. Because I need it to give someone a reality check, I'll explain when I get home. Okay, love you, babe! Bye!"

      He ends the call, then turns back to me and says, "Okay, I guess I owe you a bit of an apology, since you apparently only deserved half of that slap. But I have something to show you, and when you see it, I think you'll understand."

      His phone pings, and he taps the screen for a second before pushing it across the table toward me. I look down, and instantly understand what had been bugging him, because I see a Facebook post from Alyssa's account that had been sent to Tiff, which shows a picture of her  in front of a pretty nice-looking house, getting a piggyback ride from a rather muscular Latino guy, and holding a bunch of papers in one hand. It reads, "Home sweet home! My awesome Joaquin and I just closed on our new house, can't wait for moving-in day!" Then I look at the date, and see that she just posted it yesterday.

      I can't fucking believe that she actually showed up at my place for a booty call when she has a boyfriend in fucking Tampa, especially when she knows damn well how I feel about that sort of thing! Sure, I have an eye for beautiful women, and I'm undeniably fond of getting laid, but I totally draw the line at poaching another guys girl. I've been on the receiving end of that too many times to have any desire to do it to someone else. I guess this is the end of what used to be a beautiful friendship.

      "Oh, yeah, I definitely get it now," I tell him. "Trust me, there was nothing said the other night about her having a boyfriend, or she woulda been out on her ass, whether I remembered the party or not."

      "Fiancee, actually," he responds. "According to what I've heard from Tiff, they got engaged a couple of months ago. I never thought to mention it, because I figured she would have told you herself. Now I guess I know why she didn't."

      I pull out my phone, and after taking a bite of my food, I proceed to remove her from all of my social media accounts. For a second, I think about blocking her number, but I decide to wait, because I figure she'll call me when she sees that I've basically unfriended her, and then I can have it out with her directly. Then, as I put it away, I see Jinxx just sort of shaking his head, and it dawns on me that he hasn't said anything since I told them what happened. "So, aren't you gonna yell at me, too?" I ask. "Or are you planning to wait 'til we get back in the studio and clock me with your cello or something."

      "No, I'm pretty much gonna do what C told Tiff he was doing, and give you a reality check," he answers. "Then maybe you'll understand why Steph doesn't seem to want to deal with you right now. Because I think I'm probably the only one here who actually understands exactly what kind of buttons you've pushed."

       This statement is a definite attention-grabber, and everyone seems to forget about their food as we all turn to look at him. "Has Steph ever said anything to any of you about why she decided to go overseas to finish college?" he inquires.

      Jake and CC shake their heads, and Andy says, "No, but I assumed it was because she thought she could learn more about her art over there."

      "Oh, I'm sure that was probably a contributing factor, but Alice told me something that she heard from Steph, and there was definitely a bit more to it than that."

      Then I remember something she said when I was showing her around at APFI, and I tell him, "She did tell me once that one of the reasons she transferred was because she hoped that she wouldn't have to worry so much about dealing with childish assholes, or something of that nature."

      "Oh, judging by what I heard from Alice, I'd call that a major understatement on her part," he says. "From what she says that Steph told her and their friend Talia, during her sophomore year at her first college, she was earning some extra money doing a bit of tutoring, and one of the guys started giving her indications that he might actually be interested in more than that. I guess the school had some sort of annual fall formal, and he apparently asked her to go with him, so she went out and did the whole nine yards; bought a dress, got her hair done, all that stuff..."

      He pauses for a second, and CC makes a motion with his hand, saying, "And...?"

      "And, there was a message on her voice mail after classes that day from him, saying that he was gonna be running late for some reason, so for her to just meet him at the dance. So she went to the gym, or wherever they were having it, and found out it was all a prank. That guy, and several others, were pledging a frat, and part each guy's initiation was to get friendly with a 'homely' girl, ask her to be their date, and get her to show up at the dance. Then, when the girls showed up, they'd find out that the guys were already there... with dates from one of the sororities."

      This makes my stomach roll over, and I see the others push their plates away, too. "Wow! Talk about shitty!" Jake blurts. 

      "Oh, it gets worse," Jinxx solemnly informs us. "Apparently, one of the other girls they pulled it on was a friend of Steph's. If I remember correctly, she had that disease that causes people to lose their hair, and had to wear wigs. So on top of having the whole crowd basically laughing their asses off at these girls for being naive enough to fall for their trick, someone decided to take it over the top and grab the girl's wig, right there in front of everyone. As I understand it, she took off like a bat out of hell, and Steph and a few other people spent the rest of the night looking for her."

      "I don't think I like where you seem to be going with this," Andy mumbles.

      "That's because you're not stupid," Jinxx responds. "Steph told Alice that campus security found her the next morning. She'd gone and hid in the utility room in their dorm, and hanged herself from one of the ceiling beams. I guess she just couldn't handle the thought that people would be laughing and talking behind her back after that." 

      For what feels like forever, my brain won't even let me form any words to respond to the story. Just when I think that things can't get worse, somebody proves me wrong. "So now she thinks that I'm like those guys," I finally manage to get out. "That I'm some insensitive asshole who doesn't care about anyone else's feelings as long as I get what I want. Shit, no wonder she doesn't want anything to do with me!"

      "Maybe," Jake responds. "Or maybe she just needs a little more time to cool off before she talks to you again."

      "Y'know, considering what apparently happened after that dance, that's not outside the realm of possibility," Jinxx adds. "From what I understand, other than the girl who committed suicide, a couple of others dropped out, and most of the rest just didn't want to deal with it anymore, but Steph and a couple of others got fucking angry! Apparently, she and two or three others joined up with the dead girl's family and kicked up all sorts of a fuss, which wound up getting the frat banned from the campus, and most of the people involved either suspended or expelled. She told Alice that the girl who pulled off her friend's wig lived on her floor, so she snuck into the girl's room one day and put hair remover in her shampoo and conditioner."

      "I think that's what's known as 'karma'," CC chuckles. "Sounds like the petty little bitch was just lucky she didn't get the same treatment Joleen did."

      "From what I heard, she managed to figure out who did it, and wound up getting her parents involved. Her dad was a politician of some sort, and was raising all sorts of hell with the school, trying to get Steph expelled or something. But then the other girl's folks heard about it, and announced that they'd gotten ahold of video of what his daughter did, and if he didn't back off, they'd release it to the media," Jinxx relates. "I guess he was up for re-election, and had made anti-bullying a big part of his platform, so video of his daughter bullying someone to the point of suicide would have most likely sunk his campaign like the Titanic. So instead of having more bad publicity that there had already been, the college administration decided that it would be better for everyone if both girls just transferred to other schools."

      "And Steph wound up in London," CC observes. 

      This had pretty much tanked the good mood we were all in this morning, and nobody's really hungry anymore, so we pay for our food and head back out to the parking lot. Then, just as I'm about to open the car door, something catches my eye. There's a woman, with colored streaks in her hair, walking toward the bookstore in the mall, and I'd be willing to bet my album royalties that it's Stephanie. I tap Jinxx on the shoulder, point her out, and he turns to scan the rest of the lot. 

      After a couple of seconds, he points, and says, "There." Andy and I look where he's pointing, and there's a gold SUV in the next row, with personalized plates that read, "FIR'D UP", which we've all seen too many times not to recognize. 

      I let go of the door handle, and tell Andy, "You guys go on back, I'll catch an Uber when I get done here."

      "So you're gonna go try to talk to her, then?" he queries.

      "Well, the way things have been going lately, this is probably my only shot," I reply. "If I catch her in the store, there's less likely to be a big scene, but either I'm gonna get things straightened out, or she's gonna tell me to my face that she doesn't want to talk to me anymore. At least then I'll know."

      "Good luck, man," Jinxx says, then they get into the cars and drive off. I take a deep breath, then make my way to the bookstore, wandering the aisles until I find her in the children's section, of all places. She's looking through a pile of Dr. Seuss books, and she's apparently so focused on them that she doesn't notice me walking up behind her, since she doesn't even move until the words leave my mouth: "Steph, I really need to talk to you. Will you please listen?"