59 You guys are a lot of work

Burt

"I'm sorry," Antonia said.

"You love who you love," Jamie replied.

"What's going on?!"

We all froze as we heard Steve's voice behind us. The four of us had our ears pressed against the door of his bedroom. Missy and I were facing each other as we crouched on the floor. It was almost amusing to watch Missy's eyes and mouth widen with what she heard Antonia say through that door if I wasn't as shocked as she was.

"You nasty dog," we heard Mark snort at Steve as I helped Missy up to stand.

"What?"

"You had sex with Antonia even though you knew Jamie was in love with her?" Missy whispered. I stared at her; I'm not used to how blunt she was, though I guess she must be normally this blunt to Steve. It felt like Michelle calling me out for leaving the toilet seat up or not washing Billy's bottle when he's done or something.

"Wait, who's in there?" Steve looked like he was about to panic.

"Antonia and Jamie," Mark replied.

"Having sex," LJ added before we could stop him.

"What!?" Steve yelled. "Antonia and Jamie?! Having sex?!"

At that moment, the door opened. Right away, Jamie saw the grin on LJ's face and whacked him up the back of his head. He looked at Steve and said, "Antonia's here." He headed for the dining table, sat down, and started eating an abandoned shelled prawn from LJ's plate.

Antonia stepped out of the bedroom and saw that we were all crowded by the door. "Oh, hello everyone," she said drily as we all looked away in embarrassment.

"I'm really sorry," I quickly apologized to Antonia.

"Me too and I don't want to know why," Steve sighed. He looked like he'd been through hell.

"Maybe we should just finish dinner," I said. I pushed the boys to the dining table. It wasn't a request.

Missy walked on ahead of us and picked up the glass of gin that Jamie had left on the table. She turned and handed it to Steve, and said, "Jame, you need to make another round for everyone."

I watched Steve look meaningfully at Missy as he took the glass from her, but Missy turned around and sat down in her place at the table. She started shelling a prawn with her knife and fork (she was the only one doing this the whole time, by the way, I have to say I've been just so amazed).

"I didn't know that Missy was part of this band," Antonia was watching her, like the rest of us were.

"I'm not part of this band. I'm Girl," Missy said, without breaking her concentration. "I'm THE Girl." She finally looked up at Antonia and deadpanned better than Jamie, "You don't even know, Girl."

These girls are shocking me at every turn, today. Normally, they're all giggly and smiling and lovely, but today, they're almost snarling and scary. When Michelle gets like this, I know better to stay the hell out of the way. I also don't understand what's going on at all. I thought Missy and Antonia were friends. Or friendly, at least.

Missy dropped the shelled prawn on the empty plate beside her, the spot at the head of the table that we had reserved for Steve. She looked up at him with a smile and gestured to his chair.

"You guys are giving me a cavity," Antonia muttered as she picked up her glass of gin and started to down it. Jamie got up and I told him, "I'd also like one, please."

"I'm gonna start charging you guys," Jamie muttered and started to walk past Steve to make more drinks. Steve stretched out his arm to block Jamie's path. Jamie stopped to let Steve half-hug him, with Steve's arm going around Jamie's chest as Steve squeezed Jamie's arm. Then Steve dropped his arm and Jamie continued to the bar.

"Don't you feel like punching Jamie back, though? I've been kinda waiting for that since yesterday," LJ said to Steve as he took his seat beside Missy. Both Mark and I kicked LJ under the table.

"You guys are a lot of work," Antonia said. "I don't know if I want to do this, Steve. You have to give me a better offer."

"Offer for what?" Mark and Missy said at once. I honestly had never seen Missy frown this hard before.

"Jame, come back here a sec," Steve squeezed the bridge of his nose, which he usually did when his migraines were attacking. As Jamie walked back carrying the bottle of tonic, Steve continued. "Guys, I would like you all to meet your new album producer." He held out his hands at Antonia.

"For our next album?" LJ asked, referring to the one we were putting together now, the one we were supposed to launch next week.

"For our solo albums," Steve clarified.

"No way," Mark suddenly choked on his food.

"I used to think it was a brilliant idea, too," Antonia quipped, handing him a napkin.

Jamie walked off and came back with the bottle of gin, poured the contents into a glass, and drank it straight.