Should Christina Applegate and Johnathon Schaech give it another go? We dish the semislimy deets on the dude! Plus, what the screening-skipping Sean Penn is really up to, which boy's Lindsay Lohan hangin' with while Riley's away and how Jessica Simpson avoided a potentially sticky stud sitch!Clearly, Christina Applegate reads the Awful Truth. We said many weeks ago we thought the boob-tube hon was on crack, or somethin' equally whack, for having dumped stud-pup Johnathon Schaech, Ms. A's ex hubby, who just got done putting on a very convincing show of heartbrokenitis. Question being, was it an act on Johnny's part? Regardless, something worked, as C just up and changed her chilly ass mind and decided to revisit her ex, romantically speaking. All just went down at Les Deux, 'course.Didn't catch that one, did ya? Not sure it's really worth the trouble, for two reasons: (1) Don't think the Samantho Who? star is truly going back—she's just flirting instead of eating right now, that seems pretty clear; and (2) Johnathon, apparently, ain't as true-blue in his romantic blues as one might think. See, according to one of several chicks who have gone down this road before: “He's a very manipulative, albeit hot, piece of ass.” This from a babe who claims she caught J.S. working on other (very female) babes while they were an item.So says another sweetie who's dated Schaech, post-Applegate, and who's looked directly into (and benefited from a few sultry scenes with) the hunk's baby blues: “He's probably doing it to get a guest stint on her show,” the it being rehooking up with Christina. Such malice, gals! Ouch! What gives? Jealousy, perhaps, as it appears maybe, just maybe, C 'n' J will reconvene? Wouldn't sweat it, we advise. False alarm all around, we're sure. Read on for further romantic sitches worthy of a tricky dicky to decipher it all for us:Does Sean Penn have some 'splaining to do? Certainly seems that way. On Saturday, the directing dude missed a SAG screening of Into the Wild at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, where he was scheduled to appear for a Q&A session afterward. But Sean was a no-show. An organizer announced that Mr. S had suddenly flown back to San Francisco to spend time with wife-unit Robin Wright Penn, who apparently had just found out she'd be crazy busy shooting a bunch o' projects on location. “He wants to spend some time with his family, and we can respect that,” the organizer 'splained. We actually thought it was kinda sweet that Sean was puttin' family first. Shocking, but nonetheless sweet.But then Robin showed up just hours later at the Hell-Ay premiere of Beowulf, and Sean was nowhere to be seen. So, what gives? Did Sean really skip a screening here to jet back to San Fran for just one day? And if Robin was already headed here on Monday for the premiere, why wouldn't he just stay in town and spend QT with her here? Doesn't add up. Somebody's getting effed here, and it ain't...well, you decide.

Speaking of tawdry twosomes, Lindsay Lohan hasn't completely kicked her habit of smoking cigs. Now, we know tobacco isn't exactly heroin, but ultimately (and certainly statistically), it's more lethal. And not just to lungs, but to the friggin' furniture! Would you like to see the bills Ms. El's incurred, not exactly being nice to hotel rooms with myriad trashin' activities, predominantly including fag burns (the worst kind)? Any-tobacco-stained-ways, back to H'wood:L.L. was spotted puff-puff-puffing away outside Dolce Monday night, where she had dinner with Raoul Bova, her Dare to Love Me costar. Her boyfriend, Riley Giles, was nowhere in sight, but La Lohan was also accompanied by three other guys that apparently sober eve. Even more surprising than all the dining companions was the fact that relatively few paps were in sight. Is she slowly weaning herself off her addiction to attention? Safe to assume the few who showed arrived on their own accord—they weren't summoned by L2, as is most often the case.And lest we think that Linds will only be shopping at Forever 21 from now on, like she did at the Grove recently, we're happy to report she still has expensive tastes. The bleached-blond babe stopped at Crème in Bev Hills this week and picked up a pricey $110 Sweetees tank top. In addition to whatever beaucoup bucks she dropped at the cash register, Linds had another expense on her outing: a parking ticket waiting on her black SUV. “She thought it was pretty funny,” said one plastic-equipped pooper.

Hey, if Linds' latest trouble with the law is just a little parking ticket, then we think this gonzo girl's making some serious progress.

Jessica Simpson is probably glad she didn't attend the five-year anniversary of Butter in New York Tuesday night. She was supposed to hit the star-studded celebration after she finished up at the ACE awards, which were the very same night. But J. Simp was apparently “too tired” from the first shindig to hit the second one. And guess whom she managed to miss running into? Her ex boy-toy John Mayer and her new paramour, Owen Wilson. Owen arrived round midnight at Butter with two friends and spent nearly two hours talking to a “pretty blonde,” whom he later left with. The Butterscotch Stallion did his best to avoid being photographed inside the bash, but paps managed to snap him exiting the hot spot. Despite his disheveled appearance, fellow partygoers report O-man eschewed the Belvedere and Dom Pérignon being offered, opting instead for Evian. Whew!John Mayer rolled in later that night around one ayem, with several amigos. “He was very flirty with a cute brunette,” bubbled Desk Coquette, who couldn't tell if said sweetie was Minka Kelly, whom John's been linked to as of late. At one point, J.M. was even spotted at the very same table Owen had been holding down. Wonder if the two guys crossed paths and compared notes on Jess? Oh! Oh! Oh! As we mentioned yesterday, Lance Armstrong's quasi-religious family was at its conservative wit's end, trying to figure out why in semihottie heavens Lance-doll is cavorting with diminutive heathen Ashley Olsen. Essentially, he desperately misses the media attention he gained via diddling Sheryl Crow was the best Desk Armstrong could string together, and we bet that ain't too far from the truth. Nor is the following:See, we also quizzed Desk A on why in the world Lance, Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey ever became so buddy-bud. Was it just the lead role for the Armstrong biopic Jakey and Matty were said to be gunnin' for? Well, not entirely.“They all have mutual friends, and they get each other, isn't that cozy?” blabbed/surmised our insiders deeply ensconced within the Armstrong clan. Get? Um, how so, we wonder. Does that mean there's a naked trio that knows its way round a mean set o' bongos?