His head spun around and he looked down at me as he dropped both the wallet and the condom to the floor. “What’s up?” He stared at me curiously, and obviously disappointed.

“I, uh.....”

“Go on....” He climbed off of me and sat on the bed, pulling me into his lap.

“I found out today that a friend of mine from home is pregnant, and they used a condom. I just couldn’t help thinking about that, I guess.”

His mouth formed an “O”. “Well, nothing’s 100 percent, Em. That does happen sometimes, but if you use them correctly, it’s not very likely.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Joe. I’m just really shaken up about it, and I definitely don’t want a baby right now. Do you? I mean, you’d be a great dad one day, but...”

“You’re right. I don’t want one. Not for a while,” he interrupted me. He groaned in frustration and hugged me tightly. “Is this why you were so upset earlier?”

I looked down at my open bathrobe and nodded. “Yeah,” I answered quietly.


“Who?” he prodded.

“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed and pulled my robe together, re-tying the belt. He glanced down as I did it and looked back up at me, biting his bottom lip.

“Obviously, it’s somebody important to you, or you wouldn’t be so upset about it....” He trailed off as the proverbial lightbulb above his head lit up. “It’s one of the Forever girls, isn’t it?” I said nothing and kept trying to re-situate my bathrobe. “Which means the father is probably one of the guys! Is it one of my guys?”

“Joey, please. I can’t talk about it right now. It’s going to have to come out eventually, but like I said before, she just found out today, and they want to keep it quiet while they figure some things out.”

“Okay, okay. Fine.” He took his hands off of me and held them up in defense. “So, um, what do you propose we do about...this?” His eyes trailed over my body, and I could still feel his arousal pressing up against me.

“Maybe I could start taking birth control? And you could wear a condom anyway? I know that seems a little overkill, but it would give us a bit more of a safety net.”

Joey nodded. “I’m cool with that, actually. Whatever make you feel more comfortable, okay?” He grinned and pressed his lips to my neck, and started licking and sucking gently.

“But, um....Even if I went to a...a clinic tomorrow...” The sensations coursing through my body made it hard to speak, or even think. “I think it still.... takes a couple weeks before they’re fully effective, so....”

Joey looked up at me and grinned. “You’ll let me know when it’s okay, then?” His hands kneaded the tops of my upper thighs.

“Um... yeah. I’ll give you the green light.”

“Awesome.” He licked a trail from my collarbone up to my ear and nibbled lightly. I gasped when one of his hands slipped under my robe and between my legs.

“Joey...”

“Shh,” he whispered against my hair, making my curls tickle my ear. “I love you. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” I answered nervously.

“Then relax....”
************************************************************************

So Joey and I got intimate without actually doing the deed and woke up in each other’s arms the next morning. I stretched and glanced over at the alarm clock on the bedside table, then immediately jumped up when I realized what time it was. “Love ‘em and leave ‘em?” Joey joked from underneath the covers. He rolled over to his stomach, crossed his bare arms, and rested his chin on top of them. “It’s only 9:30. Where are you going?”

“I have a....a thing,” I said in a rush as I pulled on my pants from the day before.

“A thing? Very descriptive there, Em.” He laughed.

“I have an appointment with a stylist in...” I glanced back over at the clock. “An hour.”

“A stylist?”

“It’s to pick out something to wear for the awards show.”

“Ooh, fun! Can I come with?” He sat up in bed and smiled at me excitedly.

I raised an eyebrow. “Um...okay...I just didn’t figure you’d be interested. You are a man, after all.”

Joey smiled mischievously. “You’ll be trying on a lot of clothes, right?”

“Yeah...”


“Which means that you’ll spend a lot of time in various state of undress, right?”

I tossed a throw pillow at his face. “Oh, hush.”

He caught it and laughed. “Where’s your appointment?”

“Some fancy boutique down the street.”

“And you’ve got an hour?”

“Yeah.”

“How about you go to your room and get ready, and I’ll shower and order breakfast for us? We can eat, and I’ll walk you there.”

“Okay, sure.” Joey climbed out of bed and planted a quick kiss on my lips, then swatted at my behind as I walked out giggling.

When I got to my room, I was greeted by a rather chipper Amelia. “Em! Hey!”

I furrowed my brows, confused by her exuberance. “Hey,” I said as I closed the door behind me and approached my suitcase.

“Tell me you watched TRL yesterday!”

“No. Actually, Joey came into town a couple days early. We went out.”

“You mean you didn’t hear?!” she practically squealed.

“Didn’t hear what?”

She smiled widely and jumped back and forth from one foot to the other like she was about to pee. “We were number 3!”

The makeup bag I was holding fell to the floor. “No way!”

“Yes! ‘Understand You’ was right behind ‘Everybody’ and ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’!” We were so excited that we started hugging each other and jumping up and down, momentarily forgetting the underlying tension between us. “Oh, and Johnny called Mel, and MTV had someone cancel on them. They want us to present an award!”

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

“Why didn’t anyone call me about this yesterday?” I asked her when we’d calmed down a bit.

She looked down at her feet. “They asked me if I’d call you, and I said I would, but I figured you wouldn’t answer if it was me anyway.”

“You’re probably right,” I admitted with a sigh. I stooped down to the floor to pick up the makeup bag I’d dropped and started puling clothes out of my suitcase. “Listen, I know we’ve got a lot of talking to do, and I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now, but we have that thing with Stuart in less than an hour.”

She nodded her head. “I understand. Later?”

“Yeah. Later.” I gave her a quick hug and headed for the bathroom. I
made myself presentable in record time and hurried back to Joey’s room. When he answered, I threw my arms around his neck excitedly and wrapped my legs around his waist before kissing his cheek with a loud “smack.” “Well, hello to you, too,” he chuckled. I felt him twitch a little below the belt, blushed, and squirmed away from him until my feet hit the floor. “Well that didn’t last long,” he whined.

“Have you heard anything about yesterday’s TRL?”

“No, why? Were we finally number one?” He looked down at me expectantly.

“No. Number two.”

“As usual.” His shoulders sank.

“And we were number three!”

“What?! Baby, that’s awesome!” He scooped me up and twirled around in a circle, then sat me back down and kissed me hard. “Congratulations!”