Bobbi shut the door to her cottage behind her and started down the paved path that wound along the expansive lawn. Her pointed black stilettos kept her from walking across the lawn towards the back patio as she normally would have done. But she used the extra time to take in the scenery expanding out to her right.

The afternoon sun was making its descent down into the ocean and a cool wind ripped through the air. She wrapped her long black wool coat tighter across her as she hurried into the kitchen through the open patio doors.

She had heard Rosie's laugh several yards out but it remained constant as she entered the house. Rosie turned towards Bobbi and started up her round of giggles again, nearly spewing her mouth full of what looked like rice Chex all over herself.

"Hiya, Rosie." Bobbi said, pausing for a moment. She nodded towards Sam as he leaned against the stove on the other side of the counter from where Rosie. He was dressed and ready to go for the night, always the first out of the four of them. His neat white button-up was buttoned all the way to his throat and Bobbi was not surprised to see that his belt, his wristwatch and his shoes all matched in terms of their leather materials. Bobbi turned back to Rosie as she finally seemed to compose herself.

"Taking the semi-formal dress code a little too liberally, don't you think?" Rosie said, smirking at the sight of Bobbi's tee-shirt.

Bobbi glanced down at the neon-yellow shirt supporting the Boston Bruins as it hung loosely on her, starkly contrasting with her black leather pants. She glanced back up at Rosie and sent her a look of mock surprise.

"A dress and a joke that was almost funny. You doing alright, Rosie?" Bobbi retorted, smirking.

Rosie tried to pull her black dress down further over her knees as she sat, obviously uncomfortable but shrugged and played it off.

"The dress was the only thing my stylist packed for me that matched my hat and converse combo. And as for the joke, it was Sam's. He said it when we saw you walking up the pathway. I just said it louder." Rosie said. She looked over at Sam and shrugged. "Better luck next time, Samuel."

Bobbi laughed as Samuel just sipped his water, his face remaining expressionless.

She started to make her way down the hall leading towards the bedrooms when Rosie called out to her.

"No funny business, you two! Car's here in 15 minutes!"

Bobbi sent her a thumbs up over her head as she continued down the hall way and stopped outside the last door at the end. She knocked lightly and cracked the door to stick her head in.

"Teddy, babe?" She called out.

"Yeah, Bird." He responded, from the open door of the bathroom on the other side of the room.

Bobbi entered the room when she heard the hair dryer start running, signifying that he was probably somewhat decent and it was acceptable for her to enter.

She crossed the room towards his closet and pulled it open. She stepped inside and started rummaging through the few pieces of clothing he had bothered to hang up. The rest remained neatly folded in his suitcase, placed right in the middle of the floor.

"Where's that shirt you wore to the AMA's last fall?" Bobbi called out towards the bathroom.

Theo leaned out of the doorway to answer after shutting after the hair dryer, running his fingers through his hair to try and style it.

"The white one with the ivy leaves?"

Bobbi turned his way and nodded.

"Should be at the very end of the stack. On the left side."

Bobbi turned towards the other end of the closet and spotted the long sleeve button up she was looking for immediately. Closing the door, she replaced her with the button up and walked over to stand in front of the mirror at the end of the closet as she buttoned up most of the buttons.

"Looks good on you." Theo said, walking up behind her.

Bobbi looked up at him through the reflection in the mirror and he sent her a wink and a smile.

"Im glad I don't have to spend my night watching a whole bunch of guys stare at your chest."

Bobbi shook her head with a light laugh and buttoned the last top button, dispersing with any sign of cleavage.

He took a few steps closer and leaned down to kiss her on the head. She shook her head out of his reach then checked her reflection to make sure her slicked back ponytail was not affected by his display of affection.

"You're certainly one to talk." She smirked as she turned round to face him and found his still shirtless. He was putting on his belt as she walked over to him, then leaned down to grab his shoes.

"What?" He said.

"Man-cleavage is basically a wardrobe staple for you at this point."

"You've never complained before." He scrunched his nose down at her.

She laughed and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his lips. Her high heels helped her actually reach them with out the need to stand on her tiptoes like usual.

She pulled away and leaned over a bit to examine the olive branch tattoo exposed on his left rib cage. She gently ran her fingers over it but he recoiled immediately, a small laugh escaping his lips.

"Stop it! That tickles."

Bobbi looked up at him and laughed.

"So you can stand to get a tattoo of an extremely intricate tattoo of a compass on the inside of your wrist, of the most tender of places, and yet me touching your ribs makes you laugh."

"You're hands are cold!" Theo said, recoiling further as she stuck her hands out again towards his ribs. She laughed as she watched him falter back. He steadied himself by sitting at the edge of the bed and lean down to tie up his shoes.

"Yeah sure." She said, shaking her head and returning to grab her coat from where she had set it in his closet.

"Hand me my black tee-shirt with ya?" He asked, glancing up.

Bobbi crouched down over his suitcase and started rummaging through his clothes. She grabbed the shirt he was talking about and tossed it up at him as he stood from his bed and walked back over towards her.

Something metal sticking out from underneath the pile of clothes caught her eye and she grabbed ahold of it. She pulled the metal picture frame out from underneath the clothes and stood up to examine it. Theo pulled his shirt down over his head and adjusted it, coming to stand behind her as he pulled his own coat down from its hanger.

"I can't believe you still pack this with you." Bobbi said, smiling down at the photo she held.

It was an old photo of her, Theo, Alfie and Sam. A very old photo. They all looked so much younger and had a much worse sense of fashion. Bobbi's hair was still its natural shade of brown, and Theo's hair was long and swooped in front of his forehead. It would take him a few years to finally perfect the pompadour he had it in now. Even Sam's hair was different, short, nearly a buzz cut, right before he decided to grow it out.

"Of course!" Theo said. He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You can update it at least. We have much better ones of all of us. Maybe one where we don't look so naive and sweaty."

In the photo Bobbi stood in the middle of the guys, Alfie on her right, Theo and Sam on her left. Every one had their hands wrapped around one another as they stood facing the camera. They had just come off one of their first gigs as the Wild Wallflowers and Bobbi could see Sam still had his drumsticks clutched in his hands.

"Yeah but that night was special. We had our first date that night. Don't you remember?" Theo asked, looking down at her.

Bobbi turned a bit to look back up at him as she spoke.

"Yeah. Of course. But I don't think McDonalds on the roof of our hotel counts as a real first date."

"It does for me. What do you count as our first date?"

"When we snuck out past Alex and got burgers at 2 in the morning after the show in Phoenix. Remember? It was still so hot we ate by the pool with our feet in the water."

Theo smiled at the memory and dropped his hands from her waist. He left the closet and headed for his bedside table where his wallet, sunglasses and cellphone lay.

"That was a great night. And although it was our technical first as a couple, I still count the McDonalds run as our first date. At least for me it was."

He reached out and grabbed the photo from Bobbi and set the picture down on the bedside table where his phone had just been.

He reached his hand back out to her as he waited in the doorway and Bobbi took a few steps forward to wrap her hand in his.

"Yeah. But then we didn't date at all after that. We weren't even together for another 9 months." Bobbi said.

She followed him down the long hallway and found Alfie had joined Rosie and Sam in the kitchen when they arrived. He looked up from his phone when they entered.

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked.

"Teddy thinks our first date was the McDonalds we grabbed after the show at the House of Blues in Brooklyn. I say it was the Five Guys at the hotel in Phoenix during our first tour." Bobbi said.

Alfie groaned and leaned his head back so he was facing the ceiling.

"Oh, god. Don't remind me. Those were the worst 9 months of my life!"

"Hummhm." Sam hummed, nodding along in agreement with Alfie's sentiment.

Rosie's gaze jumped between all four of them, her expression reading confusion.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked.

Just as Theo opened his mouth to answer and lay out the situation that eventually resulted in him and Bobbi finally becoming a couple, in an even and calm manner, Alfie spoke first.

"It was so annoying!" Alfie exclaimed. "Theo and Bobbi tried to date during our first tour, when we were just openers. Then decided, 'for the sake of the band'," Bobbi shook her head at his emphatic use of air quotes, "That it would be a good idea not to. The label of course supported them. And so for the longest 9 months of my entire life, Sam and I had to watch these two idiots pine after each other."

"It was the worst." Sam muttered, nodding along.

"We finally had to sit them down during the start of our headlining tour and explain to them why them staying apart was the worst thing in the world and how it was only going to split up the band if they kept it up." Alfie continued.

"Were they really that bad?" Rosie asked, glancing from Alfie over to Theo and Bobbi.

"We were not that bad." Bobbi cut in, trying to defend herself and Theo.

Alfie turned and glared at her.

"Really, Bob? Really? You weren't that bad?"

"We weren't! You two are just being dramatic for Rosie's sake." Theo said.

Alfie shook his head and rested his head in his hand for a moment.

"Dude, every single song you wrote during that time had to do with some sort of Romeo and Juliet theme. And, when you weren't staring lovingly at her when she wasn't looking, she was staring at you when you weren't looking!"

Theo went to reply but then shrugged as he reconsidered Alfie's evidence.

"Okay, you might be right."

"What changed?" Rosie asked. This time Bobbi could actually see her typing out notes in her phone. She shook her head, laughing slightly, as she wrapped her arm around Theo. Theo squeezed her right back and looked down at her as Alfie finished his story.

"Sam and I finally just sat the two of them down. We were a few shows in to our tour. I think we were in Phoenix, weren't we Sam?" Alfie asked, turning towards Sam for confirmation. Sam nodded in reply. "And we told them they had to go out. They just had to. We said we could handle it as a band if they dated and things didn't work out. We were good enough friends that we weren't worried about anything like that. We just couldn't have them not date anymore. It was getting too annoying."

"That's adorable." Rosie said, turning to Bobbi and Theo. They both shrugged at the same time.

"We just had to make sure Alex didn't know about that first date." Bobbi said.

"Yeah, she was dead set against the idea of us dating, too gun-ho in making sure we stayed apart and followed the orders from label." Theo said.

"Sam and I distracted Alex while the two of them snuck out. We got in major trouble when she found out but it was seriously worth it. They stopped being so annoying." Alfie said.

Bobbi scoffed at his tone.

"You make it sound like being in love is such a bad thing."

"It is when the two of you just wouldn't admit that you loved each other. Sam and I basically had to throw you two together to make you stick." Alfie said.

Bobbi laughed.

"Well, thank you. I appreciate it. We definitely stuck, didn't we babe?" Bobbi smiled up at Theo. He nodded and planted a small kiss on her nose.

A car horn beeped out from the driveway out front and everyone turned towards the front door.

"Car's here." Rosie said. She jumped off her barstool and grabbed her leather jacket and purse, the first to make their way to towards the door.

Theo loosened his grip on Bobbi for a moment, turning to Alfie.

"Hey. Do you know who's driving tonight?" He asked.

"Frank." Alfie replied, following Sam and Rosie out the front door.

Theo grabbed Bobbi's hand with a nod of his head and followed everyone else out. Bobbi trailed behind and smiled when she saw the familiar face of their friendly driver.

"Hi, Frank." She said. She paused on the top step as Theo shut and locked the door behind them.

"Bobbi, darling. How are you, kid?" The stout bald man answered. He smiled under his drivers cap as he held the black SUV car door open for everyone.

Theo held tight to Bobbi's hand as they neared the car but stopped to shake Frank's hand before climbing in.

"Frank." He said.

"Theodore." Frank said, nodding as he shook Theo's hand. His smiling face turned to Bobbi and she leaned down to give him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Good to see you again. You our driver for good this time?" She asked, standing up straight again.

Frank nodded.

"Yup. Miss Alex requested I be assigned to you guys for as long as you're here in town. Always a pleasure to drive you kids."

"We're happy to have you, Frank." Bobbi said.

"Birdy." Theo nodded for her to climb in.

Bobbi sent one last smile down towards Frank then climbed in to the back seat where everyone else was already situated.

Then car started up, heading out the big black gates and towards the heart of the city.

*********

Like clockwork, exactly one hour into the party, Bobbi's feet began to hurt. Her smile did not falter though. It never did. The pain came and so did the beginnings of exhaustion at this point but she knew she still had a job to do and she kept her back straight and her smile wide. It was a job in her mind.

Her and Theo had agreed early on that these public appearances they had to make were for the benefit of the band and therefore a part of their job as band members. It seemed to help separate their actions while out in public from their private lives and the way they acted when alone and unseen.

At least for Bobbi it did. Every now and then she still saw that small flare of jealousy rise in Theo's eyes when she interacted with one of her dates. But it warmed her heart to see it. It meant that this wasn't ideal for him either.

She saw the tiniest flare of jealousy cross his eyes when they glanced at each other part way through the party. Aaron had leaned down to whisper something in Bobbi's ear.

Theo was standing ten feet away, as they had agreed on on their way into the city. Due to the chatty nature of their host, the distance of 10 feet was less likely to draw any attention to them. Anywhere else where they might have felt more comfortable interacting, they would have stayed within a five foot radius of each other. But at Justine's, in her penthouse apartment, with her ever watchful gaze and extremely loose tongue, they kept it 10 feet. It was more for the sake for Alex and Management, less fires for them to put out if they kept up the facade that they were indeed feuding.

Theo glanced over at Bobbi as she laughed at some joke Aaron had whispered in her ear. Her laugh was shallow and light, perfectly flirty for such an occasion but it sounded nothing like how it would have if Theo had been in Aaron's position. The flare of jealous passed and his jaw relaxed. His expression became one of concern as he barely lifted his hand in front of him, his pointer finger and thumb together to ask if she was okay.

She shrugged in answer but turned back to the crowd surrounding her to signify that she would be fine.

Aaron had been waiting outside the apartment building when they had driven up, the work of Alex, Bobbi had no doubt. She and Theo had exchanged their goodbyes at Frank's five minute warning, much to the disgust of the other occupants. Well, mainly to Alfie. He used to the sight of his little sister kissing his best friend but still found it hilarious to bag on the affection the two of them had for each other. Rosie exclaimed that they were simply the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

But Bobbi's expression of love had to quickly fade to one of a stony smolder as the car slowed and the flashing of lights erupted outside the window. She felt a quick squeeze on her knee before she opened the door.

She turned back and sent Theo a wink as he removed his hand and she grabbed her phone and clutch. Then she was out on the sidewalk and in front of the small mob of photographers all calling her name.

Alfie was barely out of the car, climbing out behind her, before Aaron had grabbed her upper arm and lead her towards the large revolving doors leading into the building.

He pulled Bobbi in close, seeming to try and protect her from the flashing lights and array of questions being thrown at her. But Bobbi found she was nearly dragging him along as his pace was much slower than hers.

She made sure to smile up at him as she glanced up and saw that his attention remained out on the cameras, the hand not wrapped around her waving to the on-lookers.

She did her best to get them inside as fast as she could and out of the chilly night.

But she paused outside the elevators to wait for the others. Only once she saw Theo enter the lobby behind the rest, always the last one to exit the car according to protocol, did she follow Aaron into the elevator.

Theo extended his hand towards Aaron in greeting just as he reached to rest his hand on Bobbi's lower back. Luckily Aaron talked with his hands because he didn't try to reach for her there again until they had reached the penthouse and had found a group to chat with.

Aaron's hand quickly learned to keep off of Bobbi. Every time he reached out to touch her in someway, she adjusted or coughed or moved, causing his hand to fall back to his side. And within half an hour the two of them stood side-by-side, chatting it up, both of Aaron's hands occupied with his holding his drink and nowhere near Bobbi's ass.

She chatted along with the best of them all night, doing her best to make sure she stayed smiling and engaged in all conversations. After so many years, she had perfected the art of smiling and nodding along with someone while they were talking and not actually really paying attention to what they were saying. She had found out early on that she really could not pay attention to anything anyone tried to say to her in conversation when Theo remained in her eye sight. So she learned how to keep the conversation going by continually asking her companions more questions about what they did or just barely paying attention to the questions they asked her. That way she could still steal glances over at him every time she took a sip of her drink and not lose track of the conversation.

After so many years of having to keep their relationship a secret, Theo and Bobbi found ways to make it work under the public eye. They quickly found out which socialites had the loosest tongues, which were the more discreet and were able to gage every party on how much they had to act like they were actually feuding by the guest list. Luckily Alex was one of the most well connected managers in the industry and got them said list for them to review every time they attended any kind of function.

Tonight was Justine's own personal post-Grammy party. The list was exclusive, huge names, A-list celebrities, giants in the industry. Most of the people Theo and Bobbi wouldn't have had to worry that much about because most of them had enough secrets of their own to protect that they didn't care that two rock stars were more flirty and friendly than the media suggested that they should have been. Most people at the party wouldn't have even been aware of what the media would be saying about Theo and Bobbi since they knew that the media lied about themselves just as much as it lied about everyone else.

The problem lay in the host, and Theo groaned when Bobbi broke the news to him on their way over that it was in fact Justine's party.

Her penthouse apartment was large enough and so was her guest list that Bobbi really only had to plan for one interaction with her all night.

And that one interaction came early in the night.

Aaron had Bobbi held close to his hip, barely letting her out his arm's reach all night so far since they stepped off the elevator together and entered the room side-by-side.

The group of A-listers Aaron had casually invaded, with the excuse that Bobbi was his date and therefore he was just as much their peer as anyone else, started to disperse. It was then that Bobbi saw Justine headed her way. She had locked eyes with her before she could look away and pretend not to notice her.

Justine's eyes were wide and a bit manic looking as she nearly hurried her way over to where Bobbi stood, her long wavy blonde hair trailing behind her.

Bobbi had just enough time to lock eyes with Theo where he stood in her eye line and lift her eye brows and cock her head in Justine's direction. He followed her gaze and sent her a small nod of understanding as he sipped his drink.

Justine arrived just as Bobbi turned her gaze back to her.

"Hi! Bobbi! It's so good to see you, girl! How are you?!"

Justine had her arms wrapped around Bobbi in a tight hug before Bobbi quite knew what was happening. Just as Bobbi tried to at least wrap one arm around her in return, Justine had already straightened out. She kept hold of Bobbi's arms and gave her outfit a once over.

Her eyes widen a bit at the sight of Bobbi's shirt and seemed to start to make a comment but a look of uncertainty flashed across her face and she pressed her lips together to keep herself from speaking.

Bobbi smirked at the of uncertain look of recognition on Justine's face, remembering that she too had been in attendance at last years AMA's. She even pulled up her buttoned sleeve a bit to show off her bird tattoos, letting them peek out at the end in plain sight, just to mess with Justine's suspicions.

"I'm doing good." Bobbi replied. "Thanks for having us."

"Of course, girl." Justine's eyes rested for a second on Bobbi's tattoos, but then quickly glanced up at the tall form she only just noticed attached to Bobbi's hip.

"And who's this one, Bobbi?" She asked, looking up at Aaron.

Aaron extended his arm towards Justine.

"Aaron Porter."

"Nice to meet you, Aaron. How long have you, uh, known Bobbi?" Justine asked, glancing out of the side of her eye at Bobbi, her lips up turned in a sly smile.

"For awhile now." Aaron said, glancing down at Bobbi. She smiled up at him, her cheekbones remaining in place and her lips sealed together.

"Oh really? How did you two meet?" Justine was digging and Bobbi let Aaron occupy her attention. This was how the gossip machine worked. It was not her job to try and get in the middle of it and make sure only the truth was spread.

"She had seen my Instagram account and contacted me directly. She liked my model shots and wanted me to audition for their music video. We met on set." Aaron said. He had one hand in his pocket, the other gripping his drink, very casual about their tale.

It was all true. But Alex had reached out to Aaron, not Bobbi. And the most they had interacted on set was Alex introducing the two of them as Bobbi watched them shoot a scene she wasn't even in.

"Really?" Justine said, eating all of it up. "I saw you two at the Grammy's the other week."

"Yeah, she called me after the shoot and asked me out. I didn't think our first date would actually be the Grammy's." Aaron said, leaning forward a bit as he laughed.

Justine chortled along with him, snorting a bit.

Bobbi nodded along, letting Aaron tell the version how he knew it to be. He was embellishing a bit with the doe-y eyed look he was sending her as he talked about their instant connection and how beautiful he found her. But she knew this was technically his fifteen minutes of fame and she wasn't going to be the one to take that from him.

Alex had shown her some of his photos on Instagram and pleaded his case to her as a possible love-interest for the media. He was up and coming in the modeling industry and being seen with Bobbi would give him a leg up.

Bobbi went along with it because she thought he had some potential as a good model. Too bad the only pleasing thing about him was his face.

With the limited time Bobbi had had to spend with him so far, she was less than impressed. But his constant need to talk about himself kept conversations going and made it easier for Bobbi to zone out and steal glances at her hunk of a boyfriend standing just a few feet away.

Theo's graceful movement caught her attention as she saw him headed her way.

Her eyes glanced up at him and he gave her a slight nod, his face set hard and firm, almost angry.

Bobbi tried not to smile as Theo's stern acting face only made him look like a little boy who didn't get the toy that he had wanted. It was the exact replica of some of the faces she had seen in the baby pictures his mom had shown her so many times before and had displayed through out their house back in Boston.

Bobbi turned her eyes back to Justine and nodded along with whatever her and Aaron were talking about. She saw Theo approaching closer and closer and set her own face in a stern expression, bending her knees a bit, preparing for impact.

It came in the knock of the shoulder, Theo's tall frame bumping lightly into her's. In reality, they barely bumped but both of them reacted as if they had ran straight into a brick wall. Bobbi's arm went to her shoulder and her drink splashed out a bit as she shook the arm that Theo had knocked. She didn't let the drink spilled go too far, barely missing Justine's tight little dress.

There were other nights when Justine had been been extremely nosey, her questions hitting too close to home as she tried to get Bobbi to divulge on her relationship with Theo, and Bobbi had been fine letting her vodka soda land all over Justine. Bobbi glared up at Theo and she was met with his set scowl, the annoyed look he had dawned before even running in her.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Bobbi said, her tone hard and annoyed.

"Sorry, princess. Don't want to ruin a perfect night between you and your date here." Theo huffed as he nodded towards Aaron.

His expression read the stereotypical look of annoyance and frustration but the corners of his eyes were softened with concern and his hand resting lightly on Bobbi's lower back to keep her from stumbling back spoke only of love and protection.

He gave her side a quick affectionate squeeze before storming off in a huff. Bobbi made a show of returning her attention back to Justine and Aaron, sighing loudly and shaking her head. She even muttered a few incoherent phrases under her breath for an added affect.

Justine's eyes were almost glowing with excitement at the sight she had just witnessed. In those moments, Bobbi worried for Justine's mental health as they replayed the same ploy in front of Justine nearly every time the three of them were in attendance at the same party. But it seemed it fill Justine's gossip tank every time, nonetheless.

Bobbi and Theo had originally worried they would have to switch things up but Justine seemed only more convinced of their animosity towards each other every time they ran the sketch on her.

Luckily Justine considered herself the socialite queen of the young Hollywood scene and felt it important to keep moving along to chat it up with her other guests. The show Bobbi and Theo had put on for her had been enough for her to spread her gossip and she could move on to another hot topic.

As Justine left, Aaron dragged Bobbi along to another group of A-listers to mingle and network, working hard to make it obvious that they were together.

Normally Bobbi would feel she had to work to make her dates feel appreciated and special, like they were actually capturing her attention in a way and not just a distraction for the public as her heart lay in the hands of the man who always stayed with in a ten foot radius of her at all times.

Not with Aaron. He was of a different breed than the others. His self-obsession and driven greed made Bobbi's job easier as he was just as eager to be seen with her as she was to have people see her with the new boy of the month.

It had been awhile since she had been seen with a boy toy. Tour had caused her rumor mill presence to dip slightly. But Aaron did a great job making sure they were seen by and talked to everyone in attendance.

Theo was busy enough himself that night.

Half an hour into the party, he caught Bobbi's eye and nodded towards the door.

Bobbi looked over and saw a girl who looked vaguely familiar enter the room. It took Bobbi a minute to remember where she had seen her but it struck her as Theo made his way over to her and greeted her with a hug.

She was his current candidate for a new fling. He had found her through social media and was enthusiastic about her potential as a musician. Bobbi had agreed that she had quite the voice and stage presence. She even encouraged him to reach out and invite her to the party to get the ball rolling.

She laughed as she watched him lead her further into the room, the girl starkly contrasting Bobbi, as was the technique.

Just as Aaron stood only a few inches taller than Bobbi, with bright blonde hair and bright blue eyes, opposing Theo's own dark looks, so this girl acted as Bobbi's foil.

She was a few inches shorter than Bobbi and curvier. Her curly blonde hair bounced around her shoulders where it was cut short. She was even wearing clothes that contained color, solidifying the contrast.

Theo handed her a drink and Bobbi watched as they started to chat. Her bubbly personality seemed to almost immediately overwhelm him. And just as he had worried about Aaron being too handsy, so Bobbi worried about this little cheerleader getting to comfortable with her man.

During the first twenty minutes, as Bobbi spent the majority of her energy working hard at seeming like she was paying attention to the conversation flowing round her instead of watching Theo and his date out of the corner of her eye, this blonde tried to touch Theo at least ten times.

Every time, she would reach out to touch his forearm or his bicep or even just his hand, her main technique for flirting seemingly through touch. And each time, Theo coughed or moved or adjusted his tee-shirt, any movement to wrangle himself seamlessly from this girls touch.

Bobbi had to stifle as laugh as his expression seemed to near a look of desperation.

An popular upbeat song came on through the speakers a bit later and Theo shot Bobbi a look of help as his eyes widen, the girl grabbing his wrist and leading him towards the dance floor.

He helplessly followed after setting down his drink. He passed by Bobbi and she smirked as he was lead out onto the dance floor set up in front the DJ booth.

He turned back towards her as he was lead out and gave her a small shimmy to the music, chuckling slightly.

This was too much to Bobbi and she let out a small laugh.

She felt her cheek go red at her mistake and immediately shot her glance up at Aaron, who only smiled down at her. He had just in the middle of telling what he considered to be a very funny joke but was in reality, hella boring. Bobbi's laugh only encouraged him and he grew in his confidence, standing up straight and using his hands to embellish his tale of a photo shoot at the zoo.

Bobbi kept her gaze locked on him to solidify his belief that she had indeed laughed along with him at his story. But when she felt it safe to glance over at Theo, she saw him staring straight back at her, shaking his head a bit, his mouth in a hard grimace as he looked like he was in physical pain. The girl was an enthusiastic dancer and made circles around him, crying out how it was her favorite song. Bobbi smirked at the sight and shook her head slightly. Theo had had enough when another song came on and the girl continued to dance. He led her out off the dance floor and back towards the bar to get another drink.

*********

As the evening dragged on and Bobbi's feet continued to ache, the level of alcohol consumed in the surrounding occupants only rose and the quality of conversation plummeted.

Aaron kept his wits about him enough but even he was starting to slur his words a bit. Once he became slap happy, Bobbi started glancing around to check on the status of her bands mates.

Sam was engaged in a conversation with several girls at once but even they seemed more wasted than Aaron currently was. As Bobbi heard him try to explain to them a philosophical theorem once again and was only met with giggles, he locked eyes with her and shook his head slightly, annoyance radiating out of his flat expression.

Bobbi saw Alfie headed for the bar, several empty glasses in his hands. He was nearing the end of his capacity for such crowds as well.

Rosie was starting in on her round of puns with the crowd she was chatting up with and was would soon be out of all comedic material.

Just as Bobbi swung her head around to try and communicate to Theo to round the rest of the gang up, she felt Aaron grab her hand and start to pull her towards the open glass doors. Aaron nodded towards the cool night and the empty balcony outside. His grip was tight and Bobbi had no choice but to follow.

She glanced back and locked eyes with Theo. He saw where she was headed and nodded in understanding, making parting remarks to his small blonde companion as he headed over towards Alfie at the bar.

Bobbi followed Aaron out onto the empty balcony and walked over to lean against the railing. The cool night air felt nice against her face and she relished the comfort of having something to lean against. The tall buildings surrounding them glowed in the darkness, their lights bright under the dark sky. Car horns rang out from the street far below and Bobbi let her gaze follow a few of them as they made their way to the high way that wound its way through the city.

Aaron started to approach her from behind, leaning in. Bobbi grabbed her attention right back from the moving cars down below to the balcony around her and her companion. She turned around quickly and moved to slip out from underneath him. She smiled up at him as he regained his loss of composure, a bit slower than she was sure it usually would have taken him. But she had seen him down at least three drinks by that point in the night and guessed that he was moving a bit slow. It helped her because she could see where he was trying to go before he even knew where that was.

He stared down at her as she leaned against the railing, her arms crossed in front of her. She looked back up at him, her lips pressed tight in a hard line. In the daytime it would have been seen as a grimace but in the low romantic lighting and with Aaron's foggy head, Bobbi hoped he saw it as a smile.

"I had fun tonight." He finally managed to say. He tried his hardest to keep a steady gaze on her.

"Yeah." Was all Bobbi let herself reply, nodding along.

"You look very beautiful tonight." He said. He leaned in closer.

"Thanks." Bobbi broke the staring contest and glanced down at her shirt, unconsciously running her hand along her arm and the birds still peaking out.

Just as she looked up again, she saw Theo approaching, his jacket already on, hers in his hand.

She sent one last look up at Aaron to seal the deal. That sent a smile to his face and cemented the facade Bobbi had been working on all night.

And just at the right moment, Theo cleared his throat, loudly and harshly.

Both Bobbi and Aaron turned to face him at the same time. His face was stern and hard as he extended her jacket to her.

"Come on. Time to go." He said, nodding back towards the inside.

"I'm right in the middle of something, Theo. Can't you just wait?" Bobbi said, her tone going annoyed.

Even as she was verbally protesting his request to leave, she had stood up straight and away from the railing, slowly making her way towards him.

"No. I can't. The car's down stairs and everyone's all ready to go. Now come on."

Bobbi let out a huff for dramatic effect and turned back to Aaron and she continued to head back inside.

"I'm sorry. I have to go." She paused as he leaned down and let him kiss her lightly on the cheek. She moved before he could linger and sent him a small wave before turning and following Theo back into the party.

Theo helped her into her coat as they made their way towards the door leading to the elevators. Bobbi sent a quick wave over her shoulder when she locked eyes with Justine but exited the penthouse out into the hallway before the hostess had a chance to run over and say goodbye properly.

Rosie, Alfie and Sam stood waiting as Theo and Bobbi walked up. Before anyone had the chance to say anything, the elevator dinged and the doors opened up. Theo placed his hand lightly on the small of Bobbi's back as he followed her inside, the last to enter.

As the door shut, giving them a small amount of privacy, Bobbi reached out for his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. He squeezed her hand in his, turning to place a light kiss on her head.

"Almost there, Birdy. Just a few more steps and then we're free."

At his words, Bobbi sighed and stood up straight but kept her hand in his.

She dropped it once the doors opened up and she stepped out into the lobby.

The same cameramen from before had remained outside and they started up their flashing assault once she stepped through the revolving doors out onto the street.

Frank stood waiting, with the door to the car open and the seats leaned forward so Bobbi could climb right in and head straight for the back. The rest clambered into the middle and Theo was the last to enter, joining Bobbi. Once assured that everyone was settled, Frank pulled the car back out into the flow of traffic and headed for their hotel.

Once a block away from the flashing lights, Bobbi let her head fall to the side and land on Theo's shoulder.

They both scooted down in their seats and cuddled into each other, her arm wrapped around his as she leaned against him, his head leaning against the top of hers as her head rested on his shoulder. Within seconds of settling into one another, they dozed off into a light sleep, only to be stirred once they reached their hotel and were lead, half-asleep, up to their rooms.