Once again Keely was woken up by something other than her choice of songs or natural waking.

Not bothering to open her eyes she groaned, mumbling something illegible under her breath and smacking away the CD she must have fallen asleep on before rolling over to the other side. But when the CD came back again, her eyes snapped open, most inanimate music cases didn't move around.

But all she saw was brown in front of her eyes.

Frowning, Keely she shoved a hand through her ginger bangs, scattering them away from her eye line before shoving herself upwards.

The moment she saw the warehouse, she remembered where she'd fallen asleep the night before, but what she didn't remember was the knit blanket that had fallen off the top of her body as she sat up.

“You can be happy you don't snore.”

Giving a short chortle in the back of her throat, Keely rubbed her eyes tiredly. “That is exactly what I needed to know, it's been the mystery of my life up until now.”

Sending her an amused glance, Seth just sipped on the disposable coffee mug in his hand calmly, leaning against the wall. His hair was messier than normal, sticking up in places, yet somehow managing to look stylish at the same moment. He had to be born with the talent of his hair always looking good, Keely observed, hers always looked like a rat's nest.

“Glad to be of service,” he replied simply, and she couldn't help but notice that those dark circles beneath his eyes had been alleviated just a bit. Holding a hand out from his mug, he pointed towards a rickety end table, saying, “There's some coffee if you want it.”

Instantly Keely was throwing off the quilt and crawling off the large couch.

Taking a huge swing from the disposable mug, she let out a satisfied sigh when she found that it was exactly the way she liked it, two creams and one sugar. “You're officially my favourite person on the planet right now,” she proclaimed, still focused on the coffee.

Seth gave a short – but real – laugh, returning, “And how long will that last? Forty minutes?”

Pretending to ponder the question, she answered him, “Probably thirty five if you're really lucky.”

“Oh, I feel so blessed.”

Ignoring his sarcastic comment, Keely continued to sip on her coffee, beginning to take in her surroundings more studiously. Only then did things start falling into place. Coffee, a blanket, sun shine flooding through the windows, even if it was murky, Seth looking well rested for once. Eyes wide, she looked back to him, “What time is it?”

“I was wondering how long that would take you,” he replied, smirking at her, “And you said you weren't unobservant.”

“Seth!”

He just waved away her exclamation with his hand. “It's about ten on Monday morning, welcome to the world of the living.”

Digesting that information, she just held the cup loosely in front of her. That meant she'd managed to sleep the whole night, but not at her hotel room. And, oddly, the thing that bothered her the most was the time. “We have the studio in a half an hour.”

“Yeah, I know,” Seth answered, watching her with that same amused expression. “That's why I woke you up, rebel.”

“Ah...” she breathed, “You were the CD.”

“Huh?”

Brushing back the bangs that had obscured her vision again, Keely just said, “Never mind.”

“Okay, well, there's breakfast.” Once again she found him pointing to the rickety table she stood by, and after closer inspection, she found that there were two bagels lying on it. “And now we really have to go before we're late.”

Agreeably Keely snatched up her bag, grabbing the bagels as well as she followed Seth out the garage door, allowing him to shut it behind them before handing him one of those bagels.

“You're being surprisingly civil,” he observed, unwrapping the food.

Snorting she took a bite out of said bagel, swallowing it before answering, “Give me a few minutes and I'll be back to normal.”

Seth looked at her, opening his mouth to speak, but a single abrupt flash stole the words from his mouth.

Having been too focused on both her bagel and Seth, Keely gave a loud yelp in response to the flash, and then sheltered her eyes when the flashing became consistent. Only when she heard the boy beside her swear loudly did she peak out from beneath her arm.

For a split second, Keely found that she was almost disappointed, seeing as the only time she'd seen paparazzi up close had been at the movie premiere she didn't know what they'd look like, all the other pictures taken of them had been from a distance. She'd had a picture in mind of a person in a black and white movie, fedora and trench coat. But the man was just normal in his slacks, pull over sweater and bald spot. The only thing that set him apart from the crowd was that they were in a pretty down trodden neighbourhood, and the camera in his hand didn't look exactly cheap.

He grinned at her, making Keely blink in surprise, did paparazzi usually smile? “Go back to the shocked face, sweetie, it'll make the whole rock star cheating on his girlfriend story even easier to believe.”

Before even thoughts could be formed in response, Keely had to grab at the coffee and bagel shoved into her hands along with her own. Shocked, she hastily juggled the contents, attempting to hold onto the food and drinks without spilling the scalding coffee on herself. But a blur of motion in front of her managed to get her eyes looking straight forward again.

And it was just in time to see Seth shove the man back a step, the camera luckily – or unluckily, however you wanted to look at it – being on a strap when it fell from his hands, and swung back a step.

“Oh, wow, that's just hilarious,” he snarled, giving the man another violent shove back.

The man's eyes had widened, and comparing the inches Seth had on him, plus the vital part of age and not to mention that man with the camera had a bloated pouch at his stomach where Seth obviously didn't, it wasn't rocket science to figure out who had the advantage if it came to a fight.

With one more shove, Seth sent the man almost tumbling to the ground over the curb, but he grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragging him back up before he could fall.

Still in shock, Keely simply held tightly onto the coffees in her hands. Sure, what the man had said wasn't exactly complimentary, to either of them, but did it really warrant that? But one look at his eyes had her blinking, they looked far away as he glared at the man, as the eyes darkened dangerously on the man.

“You really don't want to mess with me,” Seth growled, dragging the guy closer.

Seeing the boy's hand tighten, Keely hastily exclaimed, “Seth! Stop it!”

What surprised her the most at that moment was the fact he did stop, Keely hadn't expected her words to have any affect upon him. Yet, it happened right in front of her eyes. Seth blinked at the guy, still clenching the man's shirt inside his fist before letting go abruptly, making the man stumble back a step.

His mouth turned in a tight smile, one that perfectly spelt go to hell as he patted the man on the back. “You better hope I don't see you next time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You proved your point,” Keely mumbled, stepping in between the two men and shoving Seth's coffee and bagel into his hands in hope that it would deter him from any further action. “Can we go now, please?”

When he didn't move, she resorted to giving a firm shove in his stomach. “C'mon, let's go.”

Finally he turned around and continued in a straight line to the car, making Keely hurry her step into almost a jog so she could keep up with him.

The clicking behind them started again, but this time there was no flash.

“I hope you enjoy an assault charge!” the man called from behind them.

Seth spun around, and she found herself thankful that she was behind him so she could shove him towards his car again. “Perfect!” shouted Seth clearly over her head, gaining that go to hell smirk on his mouth again.

Rolling her eyes, Keely gave him another shove, ordering, “Get in!”

Agreeably he dropped into the car as she hastily rounded the hood, hoping that Seth wouldn't decide to get out of the car and punch the camera man anyways.

Clambering into the passenger's seat, Keely glanced in his direction only to see her companion smirking back at the paparazzi, giving the man a sarcastic little wave. Yes, she was back to thinking that Seth had to bipolar, that was really becoming on of her few theories that was still making sense. Drugs too, though, especially with that juvie slip the day before.

As the camera man was still taking multiple pictures of them, Keely started speaking, she didn't know how long the taunting Seth would win out over the punching one. “I don't know how I'm going to deal with the paparazzi,” she said at random, slouching back in the seat.

Snorting, Seth gunned the engine. “You get used to it.”

“Because that seems to working so well for you,” she snapped sardonically.

He didn't answer that, just smirked without humour through the front window as he spun off their spot next to the sidewalk.

“Yeah,” she sighed, taking a sip of her coffee before leaning back against the seat, “I think I might just go for the paper bag on my head. Simple and classic.”

“Let me know how that goes for you.”

“Hello?” Keely called out loudly.

But all that returned was her own voice, echoing just the slightest from the high roof of the warehouse back to her.

Stepping inside she hastily closed the garage door behind her, hearing that familiar grating noise as she did so. Tossing the key the boys had given her into her habitual bag, Keely dropped the bag carelessly upon the ground with a loud smack, although she took the time to snatch her laptop out of it first.

Yes, she was making use of the key for the warehouse, she'd been using quite a lot to be truthful. It was much easier to write music there then in her hotel room where she was trying to keep quiet as to not disturb the other people staying there, she liked the hotel for the most part and was very much against the idea of being kicked out. She might have tried to write at the studio too, but her time there was much for focused on actually recording since Maureen wanted them to finish as much as the album possible at the base studio because it would be more expensive to record on the road.

For a moment Keely looked at the couch, chewing on her lip considering. But the thought of sitting there was discarded quickly, anyone walking in could see what she was looking at on her laptop from that vantage point. A quick glance around the room proved her best place to do the research that had been bothering her for a few days would be by the canvases in the corner of the warehouse, there was even an old leather ottoman kicked in front of the paintings.

Yet on her way there, something caught her eye. Pausing, Keely picked up the tabloid, the words: “Rock Star Day List: Cheat, Assault, Cheat More” written in huge lettering across the top.

Giving an incredulous laugh, she put her computer down to pick up the magazine. There were pictures of her and Seth all across the cover. The before picture showing them walking into the warehouse in the morning, hair perfect and clothes unwrinkled with Seth's arm around her neck casually, the after picture them walking out, and, for lack of better term, doing the walk of shame in their rumpled clothes and messy hair.

Flipping to the page it said the story was continued on, Keely laughed again. The writing was fairly poor, but the point that the reporter was trying to get across was made all the same, according to this person Seth had put a camera man in the hospital for taking pictures and Keely was the latest person he was cheating on Rachael with. There were more pictures since they were apparently being stalked by paparazzi, but Keely just threw the tabloid away from herself, shaking her head.

It was getting harder and harder to believe anything Haley had ever told her about celebrities from magazines now that she was on the other side of the issue. Because she was certain Seth hadn't put the man in the hospital since he hadn't even punched the ass.

The thought of Haley brought Keely back to the task at hand, and she hastily grabbed her computer and made her way over to the canvases.

Usually she would have done the research back in her hotel room where she'd be less likely to be interrupted, but she was supposed to meet the boys here for practice for her performance anyways. She just came early than normal.

Taking up her seat on the ottoman, Keely opened her computer and typed two words into the search engine: Seth Ryan.

It was really started to get on her nerves, how he had mentioned being in juvie, yet that had never been mentioned before in the tabloids from what her limited knowledge told her. Because from what she'd learnt about the reporting people did on celebrities since she'd met them in real life was that most stories weren't made it up, they used a seed of what had really happened and then blew it up into a manner that made it ridiculous.

Too many websites came up in response to her search, so she simply pressed on the first one that appeared. It turned out to be a fan site. And Keely found her eyes widening at the board where people simply wrote about their love of Seth Ryan, some people bridging over the line of creepy to worthy of a restraining order when they started posting pictures of shirtless Seth at a pool, his classic Ray Bans covering his eyes.

Quickly she left the site, going to the next one that popped up. But it was another fan site, she even found some people trashing her on the sight, making her eyes bulge. According to some of the people she was just a cheap skank who was ruining Rachael and Seth's relationship. But she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that some people were defending her.

Abruptly scowling, Keely left that sight too. She shouldn't care what people were saying, good or bad, none of it was true anyways!

After a few more fan websites that were making her skin crawl, she changed her search to add biography.

Yet even as she scanned through the articles – thankfully less creepy – she found nothing she didn't know about him already. He'd had two multi platinum albums with NSR, in the top ten of the sexiest men list ever since the age of seventeen, this past year he'd gotten number three on the list, he was the notorious bad boy of the record industry, had a few mishaps with the paparazzi, punching a few on occasion, had been arrested for assault more than a normal person would ever get away with, abused alcohol, was a producer on many high selling albums and was now working on the third NSR album with fellow band mates Colton Neilson and Marco Stevenson.

Two more articles told her the same thing, and she found herself frowning in frustration. Didn't it occur to anyone that they reported nothing of his life before the age of seventeen? The only thing it said was that he'd been good friends with Colton and Marco since childhood and she'd known that already. It was as if he didn't exist before he was seventeen.

Hearing the tell tale grating of the garage door opening, Keely hastily exited out of the browser, looking up hastily, trying to look innocent.

“You're here early,” Seth said, frowning at her from the doorway, light shining in behind him.

Closing the computer in an attempt to look casual, Keely responded, “You are too.”

He sent her a distracted nod, stepping inside the warehouse to pull the door down with his left hand, holding a guitar case in his other hand. “Why are you here so early?” he asked, tossing his guitar onto the couch before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his grey sweater. “Colton and Marco aren't supposed to be here for another hour.”

“I didn't want to sit around at the hotel doing nothing,” she replied, giving a shrug. That really wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth.

Shrugging, he turned back to the guitar. “Might as well get practising,” he pointed out, pulling one of his many guitars from the case.

Sighing, Keely stood up, leaving her laptop behind her.

Scowling Seth looked up from his guitar half an hour later, his hands falling away from it so the only sound around them was the dying note that reverberated through to the amp. “Why'd you stop singing?!”

“Because my voice is going to give out if we keep going like this,” Keely retorted fiercely, shoving her hair away from her eyes, “And we still have practice with Colton and Marco.”

He stared at her through narrowed eyes for a moment, but then sighed, holding his hands up in surrender.

Once again, Keely was surprised when he actually listened to her argument, let alone agreed, but she wasn't complaining. It was true, the way Seth made her sing her voice wasn't going to survive doing an acoustic set with him and then moving on to practising with the boy. No one's voice would be able to survive that.

In relief she sighed, turning around on the rickety piano bench so she faced the keys. Singing Joplin was never easy, and her voice was feeling just a little rough already. Absentmindedly she ran her fingers along the smooth keys, it felt like forever since she'd played the piano. Yes, she'd played the keyboard at one point with Marco, but it was far from being the same thing, at least in her mind.

Hearing a scuff, Keely looked over top of the old instrument to see Seth propping his guitar against the amp. “Do you want a water?” he asked gruffly once he saw her gaze on her.

Mutely she nodded, sending him a small smile as she looked back to the gleaming keys in front of her.

“Here,” said Seth moments later, holding a bottle in front of her.

Gratefully she took it, twisting off the cap. Unable to help herself, she found her eyes following him as he walked around the piano, only to lean on the side looking back to her. Any other time she might have slapped herself, she hated the fact that she was that interested in what was going on with him, it wasn't as if they were friends. She was starting to blame it on the fact that he wasn't sharing, it made it all the more tempting to find out the truth.

Seeing his mouth move, Keely blinked, having been too caught up in her thoughts to hear a word that had left his mouth. Staring at him blankly, she held the heat that threatened to flood her cheeks as she asked, “What?”

He smirked, taking a gulp from the water bottle. “I was asking if you played the piano, rebel.”

“Uh, yes, yeah I do,” she answered sheepishly. And before she could stop herself, she seemed to have that tendency when it came to him, Keely blurted, “Why does no one know anything about you before your first album?”

The smirk on his face broadened and she found herself glaring at him across the top of the wooden piano. “So you are stalking me now.”

“It's your own fault,” she snapped, scowling, “You like being mysterious, don't you?”

“You think I'm mysterious?”

Losing patience, Keely flung the lid of the water bottle at his head, but Seth just grabbed it out of the air. “You know what? I take it back, I take it all back. I don't care, you're not mysterious and you can keep all your secrets to yourself, I don't give a crap.”