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Ryder grins, not to admit right now that he had, in fact, taken down a few crocs. "Well, as long as you're not mad, then come on, bodyguard. Let's make sure the coast is still clear."

Heading a ways further down the trail, they come back to the calm river. Ryder leans up against a tree, scanning the bank and keeping an eye out the way they'd come, to ensure no one had followed. He squats down to check out the ground, making sure there were no new footprints, at least where their group had crossed.

Suddenly though, movement catches his eye. His instincts kick in, and warn him that the figure moving towards them was a foe, not a friend, and he stands.

Thinking quickly, Ryder reaches out and grabs Katie, bringing her in close to him. He could only hope she'd play along and not blow their cover. There were few reasons two people would be found out here in the middle of nowhere, and in the heat of the moment, only one came to mind. Wrapping his arms around Katie, he presses his lips to hers, keeping her firmly in his grasp. A feeling washes over him that he tries to ignore. Getting caught in this position might be the only way out of this, whether either of them liked it or not.


Phil grabs several bottles of water from the counter by the gas station register, along with a pack of gum. He'd made a quick run in the middle of setting up for the concert, to grab a few things they'd forgotten. Paying for the items, his eye catches a name on the nearby rack. What's Up? magazine showed off its list of articles on the front page. What was that? Phil squints. Kyle Mitts? What on earth...

He grabs the magazine to look at it more closely.

"Buying or gawking?"

Phil looks back up at the man behind the counter. "Uh... buying." Walking back out to his truck with a bag in one hand, his other flips open the magazine that he'd never paid attention to before. There was an article about Kyle? How? Why? Did he know it? Apparently... looked like he'd been interviewed. Who was Alice Whitt? Why hadn't Kyle said anything?


Kyle spins around, hearing Alice's voice. He swallows a mouthful of the Mountain Dew, a grin surfacing. "Well, if it's isn't the Whitty woman, come to join the chaos. Welcome."

Jen lifts her eyebrows. Though smiling, she wasn't sure who this woman was. "Yes, well... desperate times call for desperate measures." She laughs. "And any time with Kyle can make for desperate measures."

"But you love me, don't you?" Kyle teases. Moving to Alice, he slings an arm around her shoulder and drags her closer to the group. "Hey, y'all, this is Alice. Treat her nice 'cause she's a journalist and we want her saying good things." He stops and turns to look at her. "Come to think of it, treat her nice just because she's my friend, and that's a good enough reason right there."

Though still somewhat confused, Mike steps forward, extending his hand. "Hi, Alice. Glad to meet you."

Jen makes it over with her braces and crutches. "Yes, nice to meet you too. Have you known Kyle long?" She couldn't help her curiosity. She usually knew all of Kyle's friends.

"Long enough to write this." Phil comes in from the side, holding up the magazine. He wasn't upset, just confused, and maybe a little put out that they hadn't known about the article. He looks to his brother. "She the one who wrote it?"

"Wrote what?"

"Don't give me that." Phil hands the article to Kyle.

Kyle takes another swig of pop and lets his arm slide off of Alice so he can take the magazine and look at it. "Well, whadya know..." He elbows Alice as he scans the article. "She did talk about us."

"Thanks for letting us know," Phil comments dryly.

"Hey, sorry... didn't think it was that big of a deal." Kyle shrugs and sets the magazine down, taking note of where it was so he could come back to it later. He wanted to read it all the way through when he had time.

Phil roll his eyes and sighs. There was no point in fighting. Not tonight... this show would be hard enough. Instead, he turns to Alice. "Hi, you must be Alice."