I MET RASCAL FLATTS!

And I got two hugs from Joe Don Rooney.

Eeeee. I love him.

And I haven't been on in forever! Nice to be back, ha ha. Well, anyway, chapter.

WARNING: Lightning and Sally are going to drink a substance which nobody should drive with in their systems. Yeh.

Indeed, I thought to myself that I would regret going to the Campout, the one I had looked forward to for ages. I stayed in town. There were no customers, so there weren't any people. Except for the contractors, of course. I was sitting by myself, because he had just left. He told me he would come back soon.

The contractors weren't doing so bad. They were pretty good at what they did, from what I was seeing. Not to mention, a lot of them were very attractive. Especially one of them. He kept staring at me, and he would smile. He seemed really nice, actually.

Just as I was thinking this, though, Lightning had come back from wherever he was. He was holding two cans of something that I couldn't see. Once he had gotten close enough for me to see it, I scoffed at him.

"What's so funny?" he asked me. "You can't take a beer?" Scoffing back at me, as if it was an insult. You could tell he was very happy. For what reason, I didn't know. But he was so incredibly sweet, even to Lexie before the town left. That was impressive.

"Shut up," I snapped back at him, taking the beer from his hands. I quickly opened the tab and began to drink it. Though it was only a sip, it was enough to prove that I could in fact take a beer. I put the can just a little below my lip, touching nothing but my hand. "See?"

He began laughing at me and sat down by me. He was so nice when Emma wasn't around him. Almost like what he was around me when we were together, I suppose. Just a great person to be around, friend or more. "I see you taking one little sip," he noted.

I gave him a glare, along with a tooth-less smile. "I don't chug beer."

"You should try it some time," he said with a slight sigh.

"I kind of did," I told him. I remember exactly what had happened. "I vomited for twenty-four hours straight the day after." Oh, my first real drink. Twenty-one years old and taking my first can of beer and chugging it down within five minutes. Best day of my life. Of course, the day after was perhaps the worst. "I refuse to chug."

"Well, I guess I understand that, but maybe things have changed since you did it." Sarcasm. Obviously.

I just laughed at him for practically asking me to chug the beer. He was so crazy sometimes. "No," was all I could say without sounding like an idiot.

He just smirked at me and turned his head. "Fine, fine. Maybe things haven't changed after all."

Pause.

We didn't look at each other for nearly two minutes. I managed to glance at the clock inside of Flo's. It was 8:21, and though the sun had already set, it was still light enough for you to see anything in town, which right now was only Lightning and the contractors, which was a change. A nice change, though. I didn't mind it.

"Or maybe they have."

Maybe things have changed? No, they're the same, pretty much.

I looked back at him and he was looking back at me. He had somewhat of an evil grin on his face. I knew what he wanted me to do. "I'm not chugging the beer!"

"Just take more than a sip!" he insisted. He was half-laughing now, the evil from the smile was gone. "Seriously, do you ever drink?"

"Of course I do!" I said right back. "I just don't feel like it!"

"Fine," he scoffed at me, still smiling. I watched his expression change slowly to a frown. There was something different about him that I had realized when he was around me; I just couldn't figure it out. I knew he was upset, but why? And what was it to do with me?

But I knew the question couldn't be answered without asking. "You okay?"

He looked back up at me a little confused. Maybe thinking. I couldn't really tell.

Even though those eyes of his, they just can't lie to save his life.

Something I hadn't been able to do in a long time, look straight into his dark blue eyes. Slightly squinted, full of curiosity. Looking somebody into the eyes was something I had learned when I became a lawyer. You could tell when and if they were lying about something. You could tell how they were going to answer a question or maybe completely just not answer. And I knew that he probably was thinking of somebody. But who would he…

Oh, right.

Emma. Of course it was Emma, who else was there to think about? Honestly, I couldn't understand why I hadn't thought of that. He was dating her, in love with her.

"I'm fine," he tried to assure me, giving me another smile. "Really, I'm okay, I just…" As his voice trailed off, I saw his face become serious, which wasn't normal for Lightning. Even when he was racing, he was having fun. He knew it didn't matter if he won. But now it just seemed so unlike him to be like this, I was almost scared of it.

I just kept staring at him like it was all my business. Then again, what else was there to look at? The contractors? Nah. "Okay, I'm dead serious," I told him. I knew something was wrong, and I was going to find out.

He didn't look at me for about two seconds, he was just breathing in and out heavily. I admit, I knew he wasn't in the mood for talking. But then again, I was a little worried, and with that, I was eager to find out what was on his mind. Once he did look at me, he pressed he lips together. His lips separated after a while. "I know you are." He turned his head around to the contractors just watching them do their work.

But of course, being myself, I continued to look at him, into his eyes. Though he wasn't looking into mine, I could still see what he was thinking. He wasn't going to tell me. So I decided to give up on asking. "Fine," I sighed into words. I looked away from him and down at my feet. They were swaying just like Lexie's would on a day or night like this. I was happy, I guess. I didn't know why, though.

"I'm just shocked, I guess."

I felt my eyebrows raise up as if automatically and ended up turning my head back over to him, to see him look right back at me. "Shocked?" I asked.

"You know what's happened in a month," he told me, turning his head away from mine. "I mean, we go bankrupt, we come back out of it, the town becomes ours for a while, I become your friend again, I mea-"

"You became my friend again," I interrupted, thinking out loud. As soon as I realized I said that to him, I began biting my bottom lip and my eyes wandered to the ground. "Stickers," I said quietly. "You know you could've been my friend that whole time we were on business-only-limits, right?"

My eyes went back to see him now looking at me, almost confused, but too surprised to be confused. He stared at me for a long time until he finally got to words. "I…" he stumbled. "I have some things I need to do at Wheel Well." He stood and started walking towards the Cozy Cone, which usually was where his car was. He and Emma shared one, considering the size of the town. However, he had realized as he spun right back around to me-

"You don't have a car."

He stared at me blankly as I felt a burst of laughter come out of my mouth. Moments like this, where he had no idea what to do, they were sweet. He was right. I did know what had happened in a month.

"Lightning, absolutely nothing happened in a month," I began. I shook my head and continued laughing. I was about to go hysterical, and I knew there was something wrong with me. I stopped before it was too late, slowly drowning out the laughter from me. I looked right back at him. His face wasn't blank anymore. He knew. He'd seen me like this before. That "one night." I laughed, only that time, I had let it go too far.

That's probably why he didn't talk to me again unless it was about "business."

I don't exactly remember how he came over to me again, or how it lead to what it did, but right before he had leaned into me and pressed his body up against mine, he looked me straight in the eye, and said, "I think you're right."

So, WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NOW? Ha. Well, I got half of the next chapter already written, and I already know the key points for the rest, so HEY! I've officially come back to my calling… uhm, if this is my calling. Oo

Review, yeh?