“What are you wearing?” Carmen asked.

“Umm…” I said, “clothes?”

“You’re going to a sleepover. Not… out in public,” she said.

She started to take her keys out of the ignition, so I hopped in the passenger seat before she could get out. My apartment was too messy for visitors. I noticed she was wearing a cute baby tee and matching, comfy pants in a brightly colored stripe pattern.

“See?” she said. “Sleepover attire.”

I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Well… I did bring pajamas.”

“Good. You’re going to need to change into them,” Carmen said, matter-of-factly. We didn’t talk much more on the way to August’s. Just sung along to the radio. We laughed when Quit Playing Games came up, and she turned the volume up even louder.

Once there, August greeted us from the front porch. “What are you wearing?” she asked me. She was wearing a pair of boxer shorts that I assumed were Brian’s and a t-shirt.

I rolled my eyes. “I get it. No need to echo each other… I’m changing!”

I did. Not into anything as cute as Carmen, but I had some sweatpants and a tank top. When I came back out, someone I didn’t recognize was standing with them.

“Michelle, this is Diana,” August introduced us.

She was a little taller than August, with dark hair and a friendly face. “Nice to meet you.”

I said hi, remembering that she was Howie’s girlfriend.

“You guys hungry?” August asked, leading us to the kitchen.

“Duh,” Carmen said, laughing.

“I’ve got some actual food I can make real quick, or…”

“What’s that smell?” Carmen inquired.

“Or,” August continued with a smile, “the cookies will be ready in a few minutes.”

“Sounds like a good dinner to me,” Carmen said, sitting down at the island. Diana and I agreed with her.

August offered me a quick tour of the house, and by the time we were finishing up, the oven timer was going off. We headed into the living room with all of our stuff. I felt like I was thirteen again.

“Look what I’ve got,” Carmen pulled something out of her bag.

“Ooh, we having a party?” Diana asked with a smile. “I’ve certainly had a long week at work… ugh.”

Carmen held up some strawberry daiquiri mix and Captain Morgans.

Okay, so that wasn’t anything we’d had at sleepover’s when I was thirteen.

“Cookies and rum?” August rolled her eyes. “What a well-balanced diet we’re having tonight. All right, if that’s what you guys want, let’s go make them. We just got a new blender, actually.”

We headed back into the kitchen and made our drinks.

“August, you not having any?”

“Oh,” August said, “no, I’m not in a drinking mood tonight. I just want what I’ve got,” she held up her lemonade.

“What?” Carmen asked. “You have to. This is our Friday night happy hour,” she grabbed another glass from the cupboard and poured August a drink. “It’s too bad you don’t have any of those little umbrellas. Oh, well. Here. Cheers.”

Carmen clinked everyone’s glasses, and we all took a sip of our daiquiris. Carmen followed Diana back into the living room. I started to go with them, but I turned to see if August was going to follow. She was spitting her sip back into the cup.

She caught my gaze. “Oh. I’m not really a fan of daiquiris. Don’t tell Carmen,” she laughed. “She’ll suggest something else and have us all doing shots.” She rolled her eyes and hurried into the living room.

“So, August, how’s your job going?” Diana asked when August and I sat down on the couch. “We’ve already established that I’m ready to retire.”

“You work?” I asked, eyes wide. Then I realized how rude I’d sounded. “I mean…”

“Don’t apologize,” Carmen laughed. “I’ve asked her that a million times. She could just sit back and relax.” She turned to August. “Your hubby can more than support both of you.”

I had thought August stayed home. Every time I was here- well, both times I’d been here- she’d been cooking and the house was beautiful and tidy. Like something you’d find on the cover of a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

August shook her head and sighed, proving Carmen’s statement that they’d had this conversation before. “I would feel useless sitting around the house all day. I don’t write because I have to. I write because I want to.”

“For the newspaper?” I asked.

August nodded, starting to say something else. Diana’s cell started ringing.

“Aw,” she looked at the front to see who was talking.

“It’s your boy, isn’t it?” Carmen grabbed it from her.

“Hey!” Diana laughed.

Carmen picked it up. “Excuse me, this is a girls only event… Mmm-hmm. You guys miss us that much, huh?” She held out the cell to Diana. “How do you put the cell on speakerphone?”

Diana pushed a button. “Hi, Howie!”

“Hey, baby!” Howie said.

There were several males voices groaning.

“Do you have it on speaker, too?” Carmen asked.

“Yeah… say hi, guys,” Howie said.

“How’s the slumber party going?” I heard Nick’s voice. “Lots of pillow fights, right?”

“You wish, Carter!” Carmen said, sarcastically.

“How’s my wife doing?” Brian asked.

August smiled. “I’m good. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too!”

“It’s sad how whipped you are,” Nick said.

“What?” Brian responded, and we could hear them rough housing even over the phone.

“Michelle?”

My heart sped up as I heard AJ’s phone. “I’m here.”

“They aren’t brainwashing you are they? Watch out for that Carmen…”

I laughed. “Of. Course. Not,” I answered, in a robotic voice. “I. Speak. For. Myself.”

“Good, girl,” Carmen praised dramatically. “Don’t worry, AJ. I’ll be sure to tell her lots of stories about you tonight.”

“Jeez. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Alright guys,” Howie said, “wrap it up. You have your own phones.”

“Bye!” they yelled, and Diana and Howie took the speakerphones off.

After a short conversation, she got off the phone.

“So, how long have you been dating Howie?” I asked.

“Oh… gosh, it’s been years. Since right before Millennium was released.”

I tried to remember when that CD had been released. The 90s, surely. Wow, I couldn’t believe they weren’t married. I wished I knew her well enough to pry.

We watched a chick flick and filled up on cookies. I didn’t know the last time I’d had this much fun. With a pang of regret, I remembered my old friends. I wondered what they were doing now, back at home. Did they ever think about me? Ever wonder what had happened to me? I’d left without notice, without telling them where I was going. I couldn’t even remember why I’d settled on Orlando. I think I’d just wanted somewhere sunny, and I figured there were jobs and lots of things to do in the area.

Not to mention it was far enough away that that life could never find me again. I shuddered.

I realized August and Carmen were saying something about Nick.

“You know, you never told me the story with you two.”

“Oh. Ugh,” she made a face.

“You promised,” I reminded her.

“Alright. Let’s see… I met him through her,” she jerked a thumb at August. “We dated for like… gosh, a year? Then took a break. He was so busy! Black and Blue came out, and they were still in the middle of… Backstreetmania. We got back together as they were recording Never Gone. I started seeing him more again through August. Um, lets see. Oh, we started getting serious. Then they went on tour, and the jerk didn’t want to have a girlfriend while he was traveling around the world.”

“Ouch,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant and simply angry. There was an underlying tone of hurt though. “At that point, they hadn’t toured together in several years. I guess he got the taste of freedom back, and was like ‘while am I wasting my time with just one woman?’”

“Wow. So it’s been several years since you’ve dated him?” I asked. After all, they were working on a new album now. That CD couldn’t have been too recent. I found that odd, since they were still rivaling as if the wounds were still fresh.

“Well…” Carmen started.

August laughed. “You hoping she wouldn’t catch on?”

Diana turned to me. “They got back together recently. Didn’t last long.”

“I thought he’d grown up,” Carmen defended herself. “Turns out, he’s still a moron. So we’re done now. For real.”

“That’s what you said last time,” August said, loftily.

“You know what?” Carmen grabbed her pillow and smacked August with it.

“Aww, a pillowfight,” I said. “You’re making Nick’s dreams come true!”

Carmen ceased immediately. “Have I mentioned that he needs to grow up?”

“Never,” Diana laughed.

“Him and AJ,” Carmen rolled her eyes. “One girl after another.”

This caught my attention. August noticed and sent Carmen a look. Carmen didn’t get the memo and continued.

“Bachelors for life, I swear. Especially if Nick ever settled down, I’d have a heart attack.”

One girl after another? I didn’t like the sound of that.

“I don’t think you’re giving them enough credit,” August said pointedly. “Especially AJ…”

“What?” Carmen stared at her. I noticed her daiquiri glass was empty. Apparently she was one of those people who tended to talk after drinking some alcohol. “Remember the last girl he dated? And, jeez, you remember the girl way back in the day who tried to break you and Brian up?”

I began to wonder how many people he’d dated before me. Not that this was new information. He was a famous musician, so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the number was high. But his charm and friendliness had made me forget my initial reservations. He’d shown me he wasn’t the “kind” of guy I’d thought. Which is what had led to trouble in the past. I’d started my life over once. I didn’t think I was strong enough to do it again.

But, from what Carmen was saying, he was exactly what I’d thought. It was like he was split into two people, with contradicting personalities. Which AJ was… AJ?

August, realizing that her subtle hints to Carmen weren’t working, suggested a game. We pulled out Clue, a childhood favorite of mine, and started setting up the board. The conversation veered away from AJ, and I tried to concentrate on the game and spending time with them.

But I couldn’t fully force her comments from my mind.