WestFiction- "Creative Dreams" by Rae

Rachel was halfway up the road when she heard someone call her name. She turned back around. It was her brother Justin. "Wait up!" he yelled running after her.

"What?" she asked him.

"Mom, wanted me to come with you. She didn't want u walking alone. I'll leave once u get to Mark's." he said.

Rachel rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

"I'm here to protect u from rabid leprechauns." Justin smiled. Rachel laughed.

"Thanks Justin."

~~~~~~

That night...

"I miss Meg." Michelle said to Rissa as they got drinks from the bar.

"I know, she's not here drunk falling all over herself like usual." Rissa joked. Michelle laughed.

"Oooooh myyyyyy love. My darlin'..." Sang voices she recognized. Sure enough there was Rachel and Mark singing Karaoke on the stage in the back of the pub.

Rissa laughed as her and Michelle walked back to the table where Michael, Shane, Mel and Kian were.

Just as Rachel and Mark were about to finish singing "Unchained Melody" Mel grabbed Michelle and headed for the stage.

As soon as they were done Mel drug Michelle on stage and made Mark sit down. Then she seized the mic.

"Okay, us three would like to sing a song. This goes out to those guys back there that we came with." Mel smiled pointing at them.

Then the music came in. Kian started laughing immediately, while Mark and Shane waited until the girls began to sing.

"I wanna know, who ever told you I was letting go of the only joy that I have ever known...." Mel sang.

Mel took Shane's first verse, Rachel took Mark's parts, and Michelle got Shane's second verse.

The girls did the song surprisingly well. When they were done they walked back to the table.

"Well I can honestly say I think you all could give these guys a run for their money." Michael said to them. Everyone laughed.

"We're good, huh?" Rachel asked seating herself on Mark's lap.

"Well I'd hope so..." Mel added.

Just then Rissa's cell phone rang. She stood up. "I'm gonna go outside it's too noisy in here. Be right back." she said walking outside with her phone.

As soon as Rissa left Rachel took advantage of the situation. "So Michael what do you think of Ris?"

Everyone laughed. "What?" Rachel asked leaning back against Mark.

"Just be blunt about it why don't you?" Michelle asked.

"So I'm loud and I'm blunt...I have a big mouth...get over it." Rachel said.

Mel laughed. "There ya go Rach. You tell her."

"Like you expected her NOT to tell me. God forbid she keep her mouth shut." Michelle said.

"Uh-oh..." Kian said as he watched the girls argue.

Rissa walked back to the table. "Creative Dreams, we have a problem." Rissa said standing at the head of the table.

"We do?" Mel asked.

"Meg just called..."

"Come on Meg's not THAT bad. It's not really a problem. I mean she IS annoying but..." Rachel started.

Everyone laughed.

"Our lawyer called. Our manager filed a lawsuit against us for breach of contract. A multimillion dollar lawsuit."

Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing.

"We...we...don't have that kind of money." Mel stammered.

"Yea and he of all people would know that. I think that's the point." Michelle said.

Rissa nodded.

"What are we gonna do?" Michelle asked.

"Fight it. We have too. We'll get all 'N Sync on their asses." Rachel said.

The girls smiled a little at her comment.

"Anyway...we still have our vacation to enjoy..." Rissa stated.

Mel rolled her eyes. "Good luck to me on that."

~~~

"I don't think I like horses..." Rachel said nervously as Mark led her into the stable.

"Sure you do." he smiled. She just looked at him.

Mark went up to one of the horses and waved Rachel over. She slowly approached the horse.

She laughed a little. "We don't have many horses in Pittsburgh."

"Come on let's saddle up." he said patting the horses back.

"Haha...no." Rachel said walking away. Mark grabbed her arm. "Come on..."

"But I've never even touch a horse before and you expect me to ride one. Are u feeling well?" Rachel said feeling his forehead.

"I'll teach you." he smiled.

"I'm learning impaired..." She said trying to get out of it.

"It'll be fun."

"I'm not in a fun mood. I'm in more of a... buying new shoes mood. How about we do that instead." She suggested.

"Your not getting out of it." Mark said finally.

"Damn." Rachel said.

~~~~

Mark went over to Rachel's for dinner that night.

"I think my mother is warming up to you...a little." Rachel whispered to him. Justin heard her. "We can't be sure she didn't poison his food though."

Mark laughed.

Just then the phone rang. "I got it!" Hannah yelled.

"Hello?"

"Is this Rachel Holmes?" a man asked in a British accent.

"Is this Rachel Holmes? I dunno are we in the ninth circle of hell?"

Mark started laughing hysterically. Rachel got up.

"Give me the phone you little brat." she said grabbing it from her.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Rachel?"

"Um, who's this?" she asked.

"It's me Abs."

"Oh my god..." she said. "How'd u get this number? I mean nice to hear from you."

Abs laughed. "I asked around...I have my ways. Anyway, I 'm in Dublin for a few days and I thought maybe I could see you."

Rachel felt like laughing. "Um...I'm kinda busy."

"Oh, come on....please." he begged.

"How about if I brought some friends and we met at a club?" she asked.

"Okay, sounds cool. I'll call you tomorrow." he said hanging up.

Rachel got off the phone and sat back on the couch.

"Who was that?" Mark asked.

PART-48

"BLAH BLAH BLAH!" Meg said flipping through a copy of Creative Dreams contact in front of her.

'This is useless Meg, we're never gonna find anything if we don't even understand this crap." Mel said pushing her copy across the table. It got caught up in the breeze and flew off the table on to the grass. She and Meg were sitting out back the Sligo house Mel and her family were staying in.

"We have to find some way out of this." Meg told her leaning over and picking up Mel's copy and tossing it back at her.

"And you didn't have to drive all the way out here again just to look at this thing." Mel said waving the contract in the air.

"I needed another day off from my parents." Meg joked.

"Any plans for tomorrow?" Mel asked her. Tomorrow was Meg's birthday.

"You know how it is Mel....." Meg rolled her eyes. Megs birthday always seem to pass right by every year with not much more than a few happy birthday wishes. Either her parents were to busy doing their own thing or Meg was out on the road.

"Maybe it will be different this year." Mel said hopefully.

"I wont bank on it....especially with this lawsuit." Meg frowned.

"Even us worry worts need a day off from reality." Mel told her smiling.

~~~~~~~~

*the next night*

Mel was right, Meg's birthday had been better this year. She'd had a nice day with her parents and had just gone out to diner with Bryan. She sighed happily letting her head fall on he window on Bryan's car as they drove back to her house. At least thats whre she thought they were going.

"Bry....you missed my turn" Meg said noticing they had driven right past the road to house she was staying at.

"Ive got one more place to take you." he said smling over at her

"Where?" she asked turning in her seat to look at him.

"Its a suprise, and that's all I am saying." Bryan told her refusing to say anything more.

"Oooooooo I love surprises!!!" Meg said looking out the window again trying to figure out where they were going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They'll be here any minute!!!!!" Rae said grabbing Michelle, Kian, Rissa and Michael. The girls, along with Meg's parents, and Bryan had planned a surprise party for her at an old castle outside of Dublin. They'd spent most of the afternoon stringing lights, tieing down balloons, and bringing in the food and drinks. They were please with all they got done with so little time to plan it all out. They'd also invided a large amount of people, but some how two times that large amount had shown up. Now the castle was crawling with people as the music played loudly through out the old stone walls of the castle.

"Quite a turn out!" Mel said walking up with Shane.

"Do you know any of these people, because sure dont." Rae said to them.

"See what happens when you let Bryan and Kian do the inviting!" Shane told her.

"Have you seen Bria and Nicky? Meg should be here any minute...and where are her mom and dad?! And I lost Mark!"

"Calm down Rae.' Mel laughed, she'd never seen Rachel so frazzled.

"We'll go find them ok, chill. Michelle said grabbing Kian and walking off to search for the missing.

About ten minutes later everyone lost was found and assembled by the main entrance to surprise Meg when Bryan brought her in. The look on her face was priceless as they all yelled "SURPRISE!!!!" the second she walked thought the doorway. By eleven the party was in full swing and even more people had arrived. Everyone was dancing and drinking and just having a good time. There was even a little bit of a cake fight.

Rachel had lost Mark, yet again when she heard a familiar voice behind her say hello.

"Abs!" she said surprised to see him. She'd forgotten all about him being in Ireland.

"Didn't think I'd let you forget about me that easily did you?" He said with a smile.

"Sorry about that...I've just been so busy with everything and-"

"Its alright love. If you have a dance with me I'll forgive you." He said cutting her off in midsentence. A slow song was playing, but against her better judgment Rae said yes anyways, still not seeing Mark around anywhere. The song playing was "This I Promise You." Meg's favorite-song-of-the-moment, which Bryan had arranged for the DJ to

play. They were dancing not to far from where Rae and Abs were.

"Happy Birthday sweetheart." Bryan whispered into Meg's ear as they danced.

"This has got to be the best birthday I've ever had." Meg said looking up at him.

"They all couldn't have been that bad Meg." He said wrapping his arms tighter around her.

"Compared to how perfect right now is.. yes they were." She said placing her head back on his chest.

PART-49

Rachel was dancing with Abs, his arms were locked tightly around her. She looked around for Mark, but she spotted Kian first. She waved her hand at him so Abs wouldn't notice. Kian just smiled and waved back. Rachel rolled her

eyes, "Help me." she mouthed to him. He gave her a weird look and mouthed back, "What?" as he shrugged his shoulders. "Help me." she mouthed again. It finally dawned on Kian that it wasn't Mark she was with and he nodded and walked over.

"May I cut in?" Kian asked.

"I don't think..." Abs began.

"Yes!" Rachel said quickly. "Uh, I mean sure that'd be okay as long as it's okay with Abs. Yea? Okay." she added taking Kian's hand.

"Hi." Kian laughed as he took her other hand.

"Just smile and dance away...away...quickly, quickly." Rachel said through clenched teeth.

Kian smiled and danced her over to the bar clear across the room.

"Hey Mark! Look what I found..." Kian said to Mark who was standing by the bar talking to some guy.

Mark looked at him. "There you are. I couldn't find you anywhere, where were you?" Mark asked walking over to her. Rachel just smiled.

"You'll never guess where I found her." Kian said still smiling.

"Where?" Mark asked looking at him.

Rachel shot Kian the nastiest look but obviously he didn't get the hint or he just didn't care because he said it anyway.

"She was dancing with Abs."

"What?" Mark said looking surprised.

"Well...who invited him? It's not MY fault...he's just always...there. What was I supposed to do, the guy is impossible." Rachel defending looking back and forth between Mark and Kian.

"Well I'm off." Kian said walking away.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Mark was still just looking at her, he hadn't actually reacted yet.

"What?" she said to him annoyed. "If you weren't so damn hard to keep track of then we wouldn't be having this problem would we? So see it's really all your fault so don't look at me like that mister."

Mark smiled. "I don't quite know how u managed to make it my fault, but I don't really care. Would u like to dance?" he asked.

Rachel laughed and took him up on the offer.

"Alright we're cutting Meg off." Rissa joked.

"No more alcohol for the birthday girl." Bryan said laughing.

Meg smiled. "Shut up. I hardly even drank a thing, geez."

"We're just joking with ya Meg. We know that 12 step program really helped you." Rissa said.

Michael, Bryan, and her started laughing.

"Funny..." Meg said rolling her eyes.

Just then the lights all went on in the castle. "I think it's cake time Megz." Rissa said looking around.

Then the DJ announced: "Alright everybody we're going to attempt to sing Happy Birthday to Meg, on her 21th birthday."

"Wow Meg your old." Rachel laughed coming up behind her.

Meg smiled.

"Hey girl you can legally drink now." Mel said.

"Like it mattered." Michelle added.

Meg laughed. "Enough drinking jokes, my family is here."

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candles.

"One more time in Espanol..." Rachel said. "Feliz Cumpleanos a ti...I remember that from Spanish class." she said proudly.

"And she knows how to ask for a beer in Spanish...what's that say." Meg added.

"Una servasa por favor." Rachel recited.

Everyone laughed.

"Hey I can asked where the bathroom is, and say the whole Hail Mary in Spanish too... so ha!" Rachel defended.

"She's a genius...after 4 years of Spanish that's what she knows." Mel said.

"And ur French is any better missy?" Rachel asked.

"True." Mel laughed.

Just then all the lights went completely out in the castle.

"This can't be good." everyone heard Meg say.

"Ow..." Michelle said. "Someone stepped on me."

"Whoops...sorry to whoever I just hit." Rissa said.

"That was me." Kian replied.

"Mark?" Rachel asked softly.

"Over here." he said.

"Like that helps me any..." she said.

"Is that you Rae?" a familiar British accent asked.

"Abs?" she asked.

"Yea."

"Geez..."

PART-50

Rachel blinked her eyes open. A few rays of light broke through the heavy curtains in the room. They were at the castle they'd rented for Meg's birthday. They had rooms on hand so people could stay over night. Rachel looked next to her and there lied Meg.

"That's certainly not who I expected to see." Rachel thought to herself. She looked around the room as her eyes adjusted. About eight people were scattered around the room asleep on the floor and couches. Rachel scanned the room again but couldn't find Mark. She couldn't remember exactly how they all got this way, in this exact room. Meg opened her eyes. "You are so NOT Bryan." she said to Rachel.

Rachel laughed softly.

"I'm going back to sleep." Meg added as she turned over.

Rachel realized she didn't recognize half the people in the room. She decided to check out the other rooms for Mark. She quietly walked out of the room into the dark, stone hallway. This was exactly what Rachel always thought a castle would look like. She went to the next room and pushed open the heavy wooden door that had motifs carved onto it. She looked around the room. She saw Bryan, Bria, and Michael, but no Mark. Rachel closed the door slowly and walked to the door across from the one she'd just opened. She was about to open the door when Rissa came up behind her.

"Looking for something?" Rissa said.

Rachel jumped. "Geez u scared me." she said turning around to face Rissa.

"I have that effect on people." Rissa smiled.

Rachel laughed. "I'm looking for my boyfriend. I like saying that. I'm looking for my...boyfriend." she smiled.

"Your such a dork." Rissa said walking away.

"What?..." Rachel said watching Rissa walk away.

Rissa just shook her head.

~~~~ Later that week

"Our parents are gone..." Mel started.

"Thank God." Rachel added as they all sat around a big picnic blanket in the park.

Mel laughed.

"I must say they were pretty well behaved." Meg added looking at Bryan. They, along with Bria and Nicky had come to Sligo from Dublin for a few days before the girls headed home.

"Yea... they were." Rissa nodded.

"My parents are never well behaved." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"They weren't that bad!" Mark yelled from the grill.

Mel sighed. "I don't wanna go home." Shane hugged her tightly.

"We're gonna have to go to court to get out of our management contract..." Rachel faded off.

"You girls will be fine...u always get what u want." Bria smiled. "And I'll be there cheering you on."

Michelle walked over from the swing set with Kian.

"We will be fine... Bria's right." she said kneeling on the blanket.

"Yea, then we'll finish recording the new album and kick some butt." Meg smiled.

"Oh u know it." Rissa agreed.

Everyone was quiet for awhile.

"I guess we should tell you now but I'm afraid Shane's... made an honest woman out of me." Mel said holding out her hand.

All the girls screamed and the guys were shocked.

"Since when!?" Meg asked.

"Two days ago. We're gonna have a big wedding but we're waiting until after the baby is born." Mel smiled.

"That's great you two." Nicky smiled.

"I'm so happy for you too..."

"That's amazing..."

"You make the best couple I swear..."

~~~~The next day.

Mark and Rachel had just finished having a romantic dinner and were on a moonlit walk.

"I leave in one day... you'd better miss me so much or else." Rachel smiled.

Mark laughed. "You don't have to worry. How could I not miss you?"

"I dunno, I asked myself the same question... I mean how could I not miss YOU?" she said squeezing his hand.

"I'll see you in... 2 weeks. It's not too long. We're coming there then for a day or two." Mark said.

"Oh Mark..." Rachel began.

"I know..." he said stopping and kissing her. "I love you."

Rachel smiled. "I love you too."

"Good... because I have to ask you something." he said looking into her eyes.

Rachel just looked at him.

Mark took a little black box out of his pocket and got down on one knee. Tears already started to stream down Rachel's face.

"I love you so much. You are the most amazing, beautiful, smart, funny, caring person I've ever known. You mean the world to me and I can't stand being away from you. I can't imagine my life without you. Your my angel and I would love the honor of having you as my wife. Rachel will you marry me?" he asked, his eyes were watery and he held out the ring as he looked up at her.

Rachel was crying and nodded her head because she couldn't get the words out. Mark slipped the ring on her finger and stood up.

"I love you so much." he said wiping away her tears.

Rachel kissed him, "I love you too."

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