-AJ's Point of View-

So we pulled into yet another venue, in another city, on another night. Another sold out show in front of thousands of screaming fans. I loved my job, loved the fact that I got to go out on stage every night and do what I loved best, but still it felt like something was missing in my life. I'd seen the happiness that Brian & Kevin had gained over the past couple of years; meeting the loves of their lives and getting married. Brian had become a father, which I knew brought him so much happiness. I longed to be that happy. I longed to meet that someone who just took my breath away; someone that I could actually see myself settling down with someday. Hell, even Nick had found someone to put up with him. Don't get me wrong, Allie's a fantastic person, but why she puts up with Nick's shit is beyond me. Howie was the only one that seemed content with living the single life. I admired him for that, but for me the single life just wasn't cutting it. I needed something more.
-------

"Alright, we're here!" Kevin yelled. Did he always feel the need to yell and announce that we'd arrived? I groaned as I climbed out of my bunch, grabbed the small duffel bag that I'd laid just outside the bunk on the floor & began walking to the front of the bus. I heard similar groans and sighs by the other group members, as they slowly but surely joined me at the front of the bus. Luckily for us there were no fans around just yet, thought I'm sure that by the time we'd leave to go to the hotel there'd be a swarm of them. "Hey J, you doing alright? You don't look so good today." Kevin had always been the first to notice if something was bugging me or if I wasn't feeling myself. I just nodded my head and proceeded to walk off the bus. I sighed as I walked into the venue to begin yet another day of rehearsals. I was just glad that we didn't actually have a show that night; I needed the night off.

"Ok, so exactly how long to we have to rehearse today?" Nick asked. It was as if he were reading my mind. We were all exhausted from the tour already and knew we still had a lot of touring and promotional dates ahead of us.

"Probably just an hour or two, Nick," Kevin replied. "Just the basics, we'll have the full rehearsal tomorrow." Nick sighed. "Nick, I know you're tired; we all are, but if we get started then we can all just go back to the hotel and relax, okay?" We all nodded and made our way through the venue to begin rehearsals.

Rehearsals actually flew by that day, despite the fact that were there an hour longer than expected. I was just happy that I was done for the day and could go relax. I'd decided to take my bodyguard and head out to the closest McDonald's and pick me up some food. I was starved. Little did I know that my trip to Mickey D's could potentially change my life forever.
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Marcus and I walked into the McDonald's and surprisingly I went unnoticed by most everyone in the restaurant. The girl behind the counter was a little shocked to see me there and I could tell she was a fan, but she did a fantastic job at keeping it quiet. We ordered our food to go and as we stood at the counter waiting for it I caught a glimpse of a girl, who quite possibly could have been the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life. She was sitting across the room with a friend, as they chatted away. Something about her made me curious to know more, but I knew that because of who I was I couldn't just walk up to her; knowing my luck lately, she'd end up being some crazed psycho fan who'd attack me right then and there; though I can't say I wouldn't mind it. I'd managed to pull my eyes off of her long enough to look over to the counter to see that our food was ready. Marcus and I grabbed the food and began walking towards the door. Just as we were about to walk out the door I took one final glance at her, noticing that she was watching me too. I flashed her a smile and continued to walk out the door.

"AJ, you've been pretty quiet all day man, what's up?" Marcus asked as we sat in the car on the way back to the hotel.

I looked at him. "Nothin', everything's fine." Ever since we'd left McDonald's all I could do was think about her. How could I be so drawn to her when I didn't even know her name? I knew nothing about her, and frankly I was probably never going to see her again.

"I saw the girl at McDonald's, J. Why didn't you just go up and talk to her?" he asked bluntly.

"Uh, maybe because I didn't want to get attacked," I chuckled a bit.

"Well that certainly never stopped you before," he replied with a laugh. I nodded my head in agreement.

"I wanted to, I really did. It was weird though, I just couldn't get up enough nerve to just go up to her. There was something about her," I admitted. "I'm probably going to regret not talking to her. Chances are I'll never see her again."

He shook his head, "Never say never, man." I just laughed as we headed back to the hotel the rest of the way in silence.

____
-Aubrey's Point of View-

"Mac, did you see that guy that was just in here?" I asked my best friend as we sat there eating our lunch.

"The one that was totally checking you out? Yeah, I saw him," she laughed.

"I think that was AJ McLean," I said. She just looked at me with a confused look on her face. "As in Backstreet Boy AJ McLean."

"Bree, you honestly think that AJ McLean was just in here checkin' you out?" She questioned. I just nodded. "Oh come on, you can't be serious."

"Well, gee thanks, I love you too," I chuckled, sticking my tongue out at her.

"You know I didn't mean it like that. I just find it hard to believe he was just in here and I didn't realize it was him."

I laughed and nodded my head. "It was him, I'd recognize his sexy ass anywhere!" She started cracking up laughing at my choice of words. I was always one to just say what was on my mind. Maybe that was what people loved about me, I don't know. "I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow night before the concert since thanks to me we get to go backstage and meet the boys themselves!" I exclaimed. I had entered a contest a few months prior to this concert and much to my surprise I actually won. So my best friend, Mackenzie and I would be sitting front row at the Backstreet Boys show the next night and also going backstage before the show to meet them. I'd never been so excited before in my entire life! Now the question on my mind thought was, what was going to happen tomorrow night during the meet and greet if it was in fact AJ that was in McDonald's that day? It only made me that more anxious for the meet and greet.

I looked down at my watch realizing that I really should get going. We'd already been sitting there for an hour just talking and carrying on. I had so much to do before the concert the next night, not too mention a ton of schoolwork that I needed to get done.

"Well Mac, I guess I really should get going. I've got so much to do today," I told her as I started gathering up my trash to dump on the way out.

"Alright, well give me a call later. We'll get all the plans finalized for tomorrow night," she smiled. Mackenzie & I had been friends for the past 5 years and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear we had been separated at birth. We were so alike it was scary.

"I definitely will, this is gonna be so great!" I exclaimed. We both stood up and took our trash over to the trash can and then hugged each other as we always did and we both left to go home. Today had definitely been an eventful day, though I knew that tomorrow night was definitely going to be one to remember. I couldn't help but think about what would have happened if he would have came up to say something to me. I didn't blame him for not just walking up to say hello. I mean, I am just some random girl in a McDonald's and after all he is AJ McLean. I chuckled to myself as I drove thinking about how I probably would have made a complete ass out of myself had he said something. After all, I do have that little habit of saying the first thing that comes to my mind and talking to him I know it wouldn't have been some innocent little statement.

-AJ's Point of View-

"Ok guys, the meet and greet will be starting in about 15 minutes!" I heard someone yell from the hallway.  We were all in our dressing rooms, relaxing before the show that night.  It had been a long day of rehearsals and listening to Nick whine about how Allie wasn't there yet.  She was supposed to fly in that morning and join us on tour for a couple of shows, but her flight had been delayed several times in Orlando.  Thankfully, she arrived about an hour ago, so Nick finally shut up.  I sighed as my mind drifted back to yesterday, when I'd seen my mystery lady.  It was driving me insane that I didn't even know her name.  I was just hoping that I'd run into her again before we left New York to head to our next destination.

I must have been caught in a daydream or something because before I knew it Kevin poked his head into my dressing room.  "Come on, J, do you always have to be the last one to the meet and greet?"  He chuckled and I smiled slightly.  I was usually the one that was running late.  I looked down at my watch and sure enough the meet and greet was supposed to start 5 minutes ago.

I stood up from the couch and joined Kevin in the hallway.  "Sorry man, I guess I lost track of time again."  I laughed.  Kevin and I made small talk as we walked down the long white corridors to the room where the meet and greet would be held.  I smiled as I saw the small group of fans that had been chosen to receive meet and greet passes.  "So sorry to keep you all waiting," I apologized, not that the fans were really going to care that I was a few minutes late, all they cared about was that I was there.  The guys laughed.

"Well at least you're here.  Now lets get this started," Brian said.  We all five began talking with the fans and such.  I was talking to a young girl that had to only have been about 8 years old.  She was such an adorable little girl.  Once I had chatted with her and her mom for a bit, and took a few pictures I looked over to where Nick was standing and had to do a double take.  She was there, the girl from McDonald's was there, in the room only a few feet away from me.  I couldn't believe it.  Never in my wildest dreams, had I imagined that she'd be at the show that night, let alone at the meet and greet where I could finally get the chance to talk to her.  I excused myself from the little girl and her mom and told them that I hoped they had a great time at the show, and slowly made my way over to where she was standing, still talking with Nick.  I walked up tapping Nick on the shoulder causing him to look in my direction.

"Yes?"  He asked me.  I laughed.

"There's a little girl over there that is dying to meet you, Nick," I said, pointing to the young girl I had just been talking with.  He smiled.

"Well ladies, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I'll leave ya with AJ now," Nick said.  He hugged each of the two girls and then walked over to the little girl.  There I was standing face to face with her, she was just as beautiful as she was the day before.  I held my hand out to her.

"Hi, I'm AJ," I said taking her hand.  She smiled; she had the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

"Hey, I'm Aubrey & this is my friend, Mackenzie," she told me.  I shook her friends hand.  "It is so great to finally meet you, you have no idea!"

I smiled.  "Well it's great to finally meet you too."  Not realizing what I had said, she looked at me with a confused look on her face.

"Finally?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, well I saw you yesterday at McDonald's.  It's all really stupid actually, but since then I couldn't get you out of my head."  I told her.  She blushed and smiled.

"I knew that was you.  You should have come over and said hello.  I don't bite, ya know?  Unless you want me to of course," she said.  I couldn't help but laugh.  Oh yes, I was liking this girl a lot.  Luckily, Howie had come over and kept her friend company as I talked to Aubrey. Aubrey - What a beautiful name; it definitely suited her.

"Didn't know if you were some crazed fan or something, I didn't want to risk it," I said.  She smiled at me again.  We talked for the remainder of the meet and greet before the fans were escorted back to their seats.

The five of us made our way back to the dressing rooms for some last minute relaxation before hitting the stage.  I walked into my dressing room, followed closely by Kevin.  "What the hell was that, AJ" he asked me.

I turned to look at him. "What the hell was what?"

"You totally just blew off half of the fans down there to talk to one person.  Do you know how bad that makes you look?"  He lectured. I sighed.  Here we go again, another one of Kevin's lectures.

"Kev, why don't ya get off my back for once? I wasn't purposely ignoring the rest of the fans.  That girl, she just...I don't know, there's something about her.  I could've stayed there and talked to her all night."  I replied.

Kevin rolled his eyes.  "She's a fan, AJ.  A fan.  Don't get any crazy ideas."

"Why don't you just mind your own business for once?  I just want to get to know her better, is that a crime?"

"In all honesty, you're probably never going to see her again after tonight."

"Kev, you don't know that.  I actually saw that girl yesterday when Marcus and I were at McDonald's.  I didn't talk to her then, but I regretted that.  Then when she was there in the room today, I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass me by again."

Kevin sighed. "AJ, just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

I laughed.  "I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself." I began walking towards the door.  It was almost show time, but truthfully I just didn't want to listen to Kevin go on and on about what I should and shouldn't do.  "Three minutes, guys!  Let's get out there!" I yelled down the hall to alert the remainder of the group that it was almost show time.

-AJ-

"Great show tonight, guys!" Kevin told us as we sat in the van that was taking us back to our hotel.  He began rambling on and on about the show, but I wasn't listening.  Instead I sat there looking out the window aimlessly, thinking of her.  Would I ever see her again?  Even though I finally knew her name there was still no certainty that I'd ever see her again.  "Uhm, hello?  Earth to AJ..."  Kevin joked, pulling out of my train of thought.

I shook my head coming out of my trance and looked at him. "Huh?"

"Dude, he asked you a question," Nick chuckled from the backseat of the van, his arm loosely thrown around Allie's shoulders.  I sighed, obviously I'd been so out of it I hadn't even realized he'd been talking to me.

"I'm sorry, Kev, what were you saying?"  I asked quietly, before turning my head to once again gaze out the window.

Kevin hadn't exactly been the friendliest toward me that night, ever since the meet and greet at least.  I still didn't know what the big deal was.  So I met a fan that I actually enjoyed talking to, so what.  Maybe I enjoyed it because she didn't talk to me like she was a fan.  "I asked if you were going out with all of us tonight or if you were just going to stick around the hotel."

I looked at him again.  I thought about his question for a second, then opened my mouth to answer.  "You know, Kev, I think I'll just stay at the hotel tonight.  YOu all go out and have a great time.  You know that's not really my thing anymore."

"Yeah, we know.  We just didn't want you to feel left out," Howie said.  I had grown out of that stage of my life, that was the truth, but I also didn't want to go out that night because I had my mind set on finding her, finding Aubrey.  I looked back out the window, noticing that we had pulled into the hotel parking lot.  How the fans always seemed to make it there before us was beyond me, but nevertheless they were there, camped out in the lobby just hoping to get a glimpse of one of us.

-Aubrey-

I couldn't believe that Mackenzie had actually talked me into waiting in the hotel lobby to try and catch the boys before they went up to their suites, but here I was, sitting on a couch in the lobby surrounded by a dozen other fans who were desperate to try and meet at least one of the guys.  I sat there feeling kind of selfish since I'd already had the opportunity to meet all of them, but no matter how much I begged Mac to just let me go home she insisted that I stay there to see AJ again.  It made me feel like some sort of psycho stalker, and I'm sure that wouldn't come off great to him.  "Mac, this is ridiculous.  Can we please just go back to my house?"

She shook her head at me.  "No, you're going to talk to him.  I'm not letting you pass up this opportunity.  There is something there, Aub.  Trust me," she said quietly so that the other fans in the lobby wouldn't hear her.  I laughed at her.

"Mac, quit jumping to conclusions.  We just talked to each other at a damn meet and greet, it's not like we had some intimate moment or anything."

She smiled.  "But you will."

"You seem so sure of that.  I think you might be more excited about the idea than I am," I joked.  "Maybe you should just go out with him."

She grinned at me.  "Hmm, okay, but only if you insist."

I playfully slapped her upside her head.  "Mac! I was joking!"  We both burst out into a fit of laughter.  I happened to glance over toward the main entrance and noticed a familiar face walk in.  There he was, looking amazing as ever.  I tapped Mackenzie on the shoulder and pointed towards the doors.

She smiled.  "Well what are you waiting for? Go talk to him."

I looked at her wide-eyed.  "You're crazy! I can't just walk up to him and casually start a conversation with him!"

She laughed.  "Since when are you so shy?"

"I'm not shy...It's just he's...he's AJ McLean for crying out loud!" I responded a little too loudly causing the other fans that had gathered to notice that AJ and the other guys had entered the hotel.  They all seemed to jump up at once and swarm the front entrance.  "Oh shit, look at what I caused."

"Well we might as well just go over there now, Aub," she suggested standing up from the couch.  

I just looked at her and shook my head.  "You have fun, I'm staying put."

"Suit yourself."  With that she turned from me and walked over towards the guys.

-AJ-

"Sure, I'll sign tha for you," I said to yet another teenage girl in the hotel.  I didn't mind signing the autographs and posing for pictures, but at that moment I really didn't feel like it.  I had other things on my mind.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, so I turned around expecting to see another star struck teen.  "Hey stranger, remember me?" She asked me.  I smiled at her.

"Yeah. Mackenzie, right?" I asked just to make sure.  She nodded so I knew that I was right.  I also knew that Aubrey had to be there somewhere.  I watched as one by one the guys excused themselves from the fans and made their way upstairs.  "How did you and your friend enjoy the show tonight?" I asked her.

"It was fantastic!" She exclaimed.  "She's here too, ya know?" bsp;I looked at her and could feel the smile slowly creeping across my face.  "Just too chicken shit to walk up to ya."

I laughed.  "Where is she?"  I had to see her again, there was no question about that.

Mackenzie looked toward the couch and I saw her, sitting there, pretending she wasn't paying attention to the conversation I was having with Mackenzie.  "You should talk to her.  I can tell you want to."

I looked at Mackenzie again.  "I do, but I can't with all these other fans around.  Let me go upstairs and shower; by the time I come back down hopefully all of these other fans will pretty much be gone.  Just don't let her leave, please..." I practically begged her.  She laughed at my urgency to talk with Aubrey and nodded.

"Don't worry, AJ," she started, "I'm not going to let her leave without talking to you."

"Thanks Mackenzie," I said.  "I'll be back down as soon as I can."  She nodded and I headed up to my room to take a quick shower.

-Aubrey-

I quickly picked up a book that was sitting on the table in front of me when I saw Mackenzie making her way back over to me.  I didn't want her to think I'd been eavesdropping the whole time; even though I had been.  She plopped down in the seat next to me with a huge grin on her face.  I tossed the book on the table.  "What?"  I asked.

"Oh, nothing," she replied with a slight chuckle.

"Nothing my foot! Now tell me everything!" I demanded. I also knew what that shit-eating grin of hers meant, and it usually meant that she was up to something.

She laughed at my reaction.  "He really wants to talk to you, Aub." I didn't want to seem too excited so I just smiled and nodded my head.  "He said he'd be back down in a few minutes."

"Oh my gosh, are you serious? He's coming back down here just to talk to me?" I couldn't help but be excited.  Everything I'd ever dreamed of was slowly coming true.  She just nodded her head.  I wanted to scream with excitement, but decided against that since there were still a few fans lingering in the lobby.

"So what are you going to say to him, Aub?" She asked me quietly.

I shrugged.  "I have absolutely no idea, Mac."

"So you're just gonna pounce on him?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I could help but laugh at that.  "Oh honey, that thought has crossed my mind many times, but I think I'll take the not so psycho route tonight."

"Probably a good idea.  Don't wanna scare the poor man off."  I nodded in agreement and looked towards the elevator door.  It opened and a girl walked out; she looked vaguely familiar.

"Hey Mac, I think that's Nick's girlfriend over there."

"Interesting," Mackenzie replied. "You wanna go say hello?"

I gave her a strange look.  "Since when did you become such a stalker?" I laughed.

"I"m not a stalker!  Can you blame me for wanting to get to know the woman behind the man?" She chuckled.

"Oh gosh, you are such a dork."  I just shook my head at her.  I looked down at my watch, it had been about 10 minutes since AJ had went back up to his room.  Mac and I were the only fans remaining in the lobby, with the exception of a couple that had migrated into the hotel bar.

"Come on, Aub.  Aren't you the least bit curious as to what she's like?"

I rolled my eyes.  "You're not gonna give up, are you?"

She shook her head.  "Nope.  I'm gonna go talk to her."  She stood up and walked over to her.  I went back to sitting there thinking about what I was going to say to AJ when he came back downstairs to join me; and praying that I wasn't going to wake up and have this all be a very good dream.

-AJ-

"Seriously, Kev, what is the big deal?" I asked as we were all gathered in his hotel suite. I sat on the big plush chair in the sitting area as once more Kevin had decided to go all 'big brother' on me about Aubrey; this time with the help of the other guys.

Kevin sighed, "AJ, we're just looking out for you. You getting involved with this girl would just be wrong."

"Why? Why is it so wrong?" I asked, standing to my feet. Kevin was pacing the room, obviously getting angry with me. "You seem to know it all Kev, so tell me. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't walk downstairs and talk to her?"

"J, Kevin is just concerned that she's a fan," Howie spoke up.

"Exactly, she's a fan! She's not interested in you for your personality, AJ. She's just interested in you because of who you are!" Kevin spoke, practically yelling.

"And how the hell could you possibly know that, Kevin?" I asked him. "Not all fans are obsessive and psychotic towards us. Maybe she's different, Kev." I had had enough of Kevin for one night. I made my way over to the door, turning before walking out. "If I get hurt, then I get hurt. Hell, it's won't be the first time." With that said, I walked out the door, slamming it behind me.

-Aubrey-

I may always say what's on my mind, but deep down I really am a shy girl. I did admire Mackenzie for just being able to go up and start a conversation with someone she'd never met before. I sat there just watching her interact with Alicia like that were old friends. I must have been zoning out because the next thing I knew I heard someone behind me clear their throat. I turned around and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi yourself." He made his way around the couch and sat down next to me. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. I guess he could sense that. He took my hand. "Why so quiet?"

I smiled. "I don't know. I guess this just feels a little surreal. I'm just waiting to wake up."

"You're not dreaming, Aubrey. This is very much real."

"So...why me?" I blurted out.

"Why not?" He shot back with a smile. I blushed. "So I hope that after we leave here that I can keep in touch with you. I'd love to take you out once this tour is over. We're not leaving for a couple days though, so maybe we could spend tomorrow together? I mean, I do have the whole day off." He sounded so cute and shy, I could barely handle it.

"I would love that." Like I would really say no.

"Great. Uhm, how about you meet me here around 11?" He stood up and helped me to my feet.

"That sounds good to me." Was this really happening? I felt like I needed to pinch myself. He leaned in and kissed my cheek. He let my hand go & started to head back to the elevator. I looked down at the small piece of paper her had left in my hand. It had his phone number and a note: 'Aubrey, I look forward to getting to know you better. -Alex'. I was almost giddy. I grabbed my purse & made my way over to Mackenzie, who was still talking Alicia's ear off.

"Oh, Aubrey, this is Nick's girlfriend, Allie." Mackenzie introduced. "And Allie, this is my best friend, Aubrey."

"Hi Aubrey, it's very nice to meet you."

"You too," I replied.

"So you're the one causing all the noise between Alex & Kevin?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not that I know of," I said. I really didn't know how to take what Allie had said. I'm sure she had figured that out by the look on my face.

She smiled. "Oh no, it's not a bad thing. Kevin is just a bit overprotective of Alex. Give it some time."

"Oh, well Alex & I are just getting to know each other, that's all." I told her.

She nodded. "Yeah, so were Nick & I." She winked at me. "It was great to meet you both, but I better get back upstairs. I'm sure i'll see you both soon though."

"Bye Allie!" Mackenzie said, waving as Allie walked away. "So that's a pretty good sign, Aub, if she even sees something between you two."

"Yeah, well I guess after tomorrow we'll find out. He asked me to spend the day with him."

"Oh my goodness! I am so excited for you!" She exclaimed & gave me a hug.

I laughed. "Thanks. Now let's get out of here, I'm going to need my beauty sleep." With that we headed out & I went home. If I thought today was the most amazing day of my life, I couldn't wait to see what tomorrow had to bring. One thing I knew for certain was that I would be having some sweet dreams tonight.

-AJ-

I sat in my hotel room the next morning, scared out of my mind really. I knew that I really, really wanted to go to lunch with Aubrey & get to know more about who she was as a person, because honestly all I knew was her name and that she was incredibly gorgeous. The things Kevin had said the night before kept echoing through my mind though; did she really want to spend time with me because of my fame, or was there something else there? I looked at my watch - 10:30 - I sighed. I wasn't supposed to meet Aubrey downstairs until 12:30 that afternoon. These were going to be 2 of the longest hours of my life. I needed to see her again, to talk to her, to know her....God, I just need her. Why I felt this way about a girl I honestly knew nothing about was beyond me, but it was a feeling I'd never felt before in my life.

Time slowly passed and I was deep in thought when I heard someone pounding on my hotel room door. I glanced at my watch again - damn, only 15 minutes had passed since the last time I checked. I sighed once more, stood up and made my way to the door. I rolled my eyes seeing Kevin standing there. I did not need a 'big brother' lecture right now, or ever for that matter. "Hey AJ, can I come in please?" He asked me. I slowly nodded my head and walked away from the door, leaving it open so he could enter the room. I collapsed into the chair I'd been sitting in moments earlier and he joined me in the sitting area after closing the door to my room.

I looked at him with a blank expression on my face. "What do you want, Kev? We're off today so I know there's gotta be something else. You and I aren't exactly known for hanging out together on our days off."

"I'm worried about you. You haven't exactly been yourself these past couple of days," Kevin replied. I knew exactly why he was there; most likely to convince me not to show up to my lunch date with Aubrey. Why it mattered so much, I guess I'll never know, but for some reason it really got him stirred up to think I could have fallen for a fan.

"Kevin, I'm fine, really. I've just got a lot of stuff on my mind lately, but things have started to look up for me since we've come to New York," I told him. Why wouldn't he just leave me the hell alone? I'm 27 years old, clearly old enough to make my own decisions and take care of myself. Maybe when I first started with the group I needed his guidance, but eventually you just have to let go.

Kevin sighed. "Alex," He stopped. Oh, he called me Alex...he must be serious this time...."I know you made a date with that girl."

"That girl has a name, Kev."

"Please, just hear me out, okay?" He asked. I nodded and allowed him to speak his piece. "Listen, I know that you think that you feel something for this girl, but I'm just asking that you be careful with all of this. You know absolutely nothing about this girl and seriously, for all we know she could just be using you. I don't mean to jump to conclusions, AJ, but when we're in the business we're in we've got to be careful. I just don't want to see you getting hurt again." Again? You don't want me to be hurt again? I laughed silently to myself. I'd been hurt more times that I could count and believe me, I think I was becoming immune to the feeling.

I looked Keving in the eyes. "I appreciate your concern, Kev. Really, I do, but if that was some desperate plea to get me to cancel on her it didn't work."

"At least take someone with you. Maybe Nick & Allie will double date with you or something."

I laughed. "No thanks, Kev. I think I'll pass on that." Take Nick & Allie along? I could help but laugh at the thought. What kind of 'first date' would that be if I brought those two along?" Not that I didn't care about the two of them or anything; Nick is like the annoying little brother I never had & Allie is one of the most amazing people I've ever met, but I wanted this date to be special. Well, as special as it could be considering it was just a lunch date.

Kevin stood up quickly. "Fine, AJ, but when this girl hurts you, don't come crying on my shoulder because all I'm going to do is tell you 'I told you so'." He walked to the door & left. I stood up & grabbed a pillow from the couch, throwing it at the door and groaned, falling back on the couch. Sometimes Kevin just pissed the hell out of me, but it's something I've learned to live with over the years.

-Aubrey-

"Oh my god, Mac, it's 12:00....I have to meet him in 30 minutes....30 freakin' minutes and I'm going on a freakin' date with AJ McLean! What the hell do I say to him? I mean, what do I do? I'm so freakin' nervous it's ridiculous!" I rambled to Mackenzie as I was talking to her on the phone that afternoon. She was sitting there cracking up, while I was there scared shitless of what was going to happy on my date with AJ. This was seriously the most important day of my life, well maybe not the most important, but it was definitely near the top of the list. "Quit laughing at me! This so isn't funny! I mean, what if he gets to know me and decides that he doesn't like me and then he never talks to me again? Oh my god it'll be horrible!"

"Okay, Aub. I'm going to need you to calm down and take a deep breath," Mackenzie said, trying to stifle another laugh. "Ok, first of all, you need to stop worrying so much about what's going to happen if he doesn't end up liking you, because that's just going to make you all nervous and shit and we can't have that. Second of all, I don't think you have anything to worry about, he's going to like you even more once he gets to know you."

Mackenzie always had a way of calming me down. I chuckled to myself once I realized how silly I'd been acting. I just needed to stop telling myself that he was going to hate me. It was just a date, that's all, just a nice little lunch date. I'd be fine as long as I didn't keep associating him with the group because that only made me more nervous. I still couldn't believe everything that had been happening. "Thanks, Mac. I guess I should head over to meet him now. I'll definitely call you as soon as I get home."

"Oh you better, girl! I want all the juicy details!" She exclaimed.

"I will! I've gotta go! Bye!" I said, hanging up the phone before she could get a final word in. I looked at myself in the mirror, making sure I looked presentable, grabbed my purse and headed outside to my car. "Here goes nothing..." I said to myself. With that, I was on my way.

Chapter Six

-Aubrey-

I drove for what seemed like forever before finally reaching the hotel. I parked the car and had to force myself to get out and walk into the hotel lobby. I didn't see him when I walked in so I assumed he was still upstairs in his room. I took a seat on one of the lobby couches and waited for him to come down and meet me. I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and looked at the time. I was a few minutes early, so I figured it wouldn't be long until he joined me. I had been sittng there for about 5 minutes when I saw him get off the elevator. He saw me & smiled. I waved to him and stood from my seat. "Hi," he said to me, as he approached me.

I smiled. "Hey." Hey? That's all I can say? Geesh! He shocked me a bit by taking my hand in his, but I wasn't complaining.

"You ready to go?" He asked me. I nodded. "Grat, where to? I rented a car so we have a have a little bit of privacy. So we'll go wherever you little heart desires." He smiled at me again. Oh my God, was I dreaming? Somebody pinch me!

"Uh, Taco Bell's good with me," I replied. He laughed a bit.

"I offer to take you anywhere and you pick Taco Bell?" He laughed.

I smiled & nodded. "Yup, I'm just easy to please, I guess."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, I'll have to remember that," he said with a wink. I laughed. "Alright then, Taco Bell it is for the little lady. Let's go." And with that, we left the hotel to begin our 'date'.

-AJ-

I couldn't help but glance over at her as I was driving. She looked so beautiful, just sitting there in the passenger seat, looking out the window. "So tell me about yourself, Aubrey," I said. I figured I had a lot to learn about her, and not much time to do it in so I'd better get started.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her look over at me for a second. "Well, what would you like to know?" she asked me.

"Everything."

She laughed. "Well, that could certainly take a while."

"I just realized I don't een know how old you are or where you're from. How about we just start with the basics?"

"Ok, well I'm 18 & I'm from right here in New York. I've lived here all of my life," she replied. I pulled the car into the Taco Bell parking lot.

"You're only 18?" I asked.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I could tell she was nervous.

I laughed, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "No, you just looked older than 18."

"Oh ok."

I got out of the car and walked around to her door, opening it for her. I took her hand again, and we walked inside. Thankfully there wasn't anyone else eating in there at the tiem so the chance of me getting recognized was very slim. We ordered our food and sat down at a table in the back of the restaurant. We talked about anything and everything for about an hour, just sitting there in the Taco Bell. "So are you glad you came today?" I asked her.

She smiled. "Of course. I'll admit before I left my house I was a little nervous and scared of how things would turn out, but it's been great."

"Yeah, I went through the same thing back at the hotel. Then Kev came in and tried to talk me out of coming," I said before taking a sip of my drink.

She looked at me. "Really? Allie said that this whole thing has caused some problems between you two. I really don't want to be the cause of all that."

I just looked at her in shock. "Aubrey, don't you worry about all of that. Kev's just...well, he's just Kev, and sometimes...alright...most of the time we don't agree on a lot of things. He'll be cool with us eventually, it'll just take time," I told her.

-Aubrey-

Us? AJ & I are and 'us' now?

He came back over and sat back down. "So?"

I smiled, "So what?"

"When can I see you again?" He asked me. Yes! He was asking me out on a second date, could I be any happier?

"Oh no, you can't put that decision on me now. You're the one that's going to have to decide that, you're the one that's going to be travelling the country. So it's really whenever you have time," I laughed. If it were up to me, I'd already want to see him everyday, but I knew that wasn't going to be possible, so I'd have to deal with seeing him whenever.

"I guess you do have a point. Wow, this is going to be really hard, isn't it?"

"You're just now realizing that?" I laughed. How could he not realize this was going to be tough? Long distance relationships aren't my ideal kind of relationship, but for him I'd make an exception. I mean, ever after he was off the tour we'd still be on opposite ends of the country. I smiled. "We'll make do though."

"Can I see you again tonight? The guys will probably go out, but that's not really my thing anymore. We could spend some more time together. That is, if you want to."

"Of course, I want to," I replied quickly. "Tonight sounds great."

I swear the look on his face was priceless, like a little kid on Christmas morning or something. "Great! I guess we better be headed back to the hotel."

I still couldn't believe all of this was happening to me. I felt like I could wake up at any moment, but for now I was going to enjoy the dream.

Chapter 7

I walked into my apartment and threw my purse down on the couch. I picked up the phone & dialed Mackenzie's number. "Okay girlie, spilll! How was the date?" She said when she picked up the phone.

"Well hello to you to, Mac," I laughed.

"Hi...okay, now tell me! How was it? Are you going out again? Did he kiss you goodbye? Details! I need details!" She exclaimed.

"Calm down! This isn't a game of 20 questions, ya know?"

"I know, I know. I'm just so excited for you!"

I walked around and took a seat on a chair that was sitting in my living room and proceeded to tell her about the events of the afternoon. "He is seriously the most amazing man I've ever met in my entire life!" I mean, I thought he was great before all this, but after this afternoon I love this guy so much more."

"Aw, that's great."

"I'm seeing him again tonight," I gushed. I couldn't help it. I had wanted this for so long and now it seemed like it was finally happening.

"Yay for you! This is so great!"

"I know, right?" I laughed.

"So did he kiss you goodbye today?"

"No, but honestly I didn't expect him to. It was just lunch." I told her.

"Yeah, but still, I had to ask," she laughed.

"Of course you did," I said. I grabbed the television remote and flipped on the TV. "So you wanna have out for a little bit before I go meet back up with AJ tonight?"

"Sure. I'll be over in a bit." She said, hanging up the phone. It was only 3 o'clock and I wasn't supposed to meet up with AJ until later on. I was assuming that since he didn't give me a specific time that he was just going to call me; we had exchanged numbers before we left Taco Bell. I got up and sat the phone back on it's charger and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink.

-AJ-

"Welcome back from your 'date', AJ," Kevin said from behind me. I was standing outside of my hotel room just about to go in. I rolled my eyes and turned to face him. "So did you have a good time? Was she everything you'd imagined she would be?" He asked sarcastically.

No. I wasn't going to let him get to me. Not this time. For once I was happy and I'll be damned if he's going to screw that up. "Everything and more." I said to him plainly. I started to turn back around to go into my room when he reached out and grabbed my arm, forcing me to turn back to face him. "Seriously, Kev, just leave me the hell alone for once, okay?"

"J, she's going to screw you over. I know her type," Kevin lectured.

"Oh yeah, Kev, do you? Do you really?" I asked, my voice gradually getting louder with each word. I really didn't want to get into it with Kevin, confrontation and I just didn't go well together, but Kevin was crossing the line. "Because you know if I do recall you said the same damn thing to Nick when he and Allie started dating...and you know what? You were wrong! You were wrong then and you are wrong now! Now if you don't mind I'm going to go into my room and relax." I didn't give Kevin a chance to respond, I quickly turned and went into my room, slamming the door behind me. I walked through my hotel room and collapsed on my bed with a sigh. Why the hell did it seem like no one wanted me to pursue my relationship with Aubrey? They didn't even know her. I picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" Allie said, picking up the phone.

"Al?"

"Uh, yeah, I'd hope I'm the only girl answering Nick's phone," she replied with a laugh. "What's up, Alex? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah...no...well, sorta..."

"Oh no, you're stammering, this must be pretty serious. You need to talk about it?" She asked. Even though she was dating Nick, she & I were very close and got along great - like brother and sister. She could always tell when something was bothering me.

"Yes, please." I said.

"Ok. Do you want me to come to you or do you want to come to my room?" Allie asked. I chuckled at the wording of her question.

"You know, if I weren't having this crisis right now a line like that could be taken a completely different way," I told her with a laugh. "Especially in my mind."

"Alex, you're too much! I'll be right over," she laughed before hanging up the phone. I did the same and waited for her to knock on my door. Allie had been through all of this when she and Nick started dating and I knew that if anyone was going to understand it, it would be her. I sighed and closed my eyes. I guess I must have dozed off because I was startled to hear Allie pounding on the door. "Hey Alex. Are ya okay?"

"Well, yes and no," I told her.

"Okay, well let's talk about it. You know I'm here for you."

She and I wakled over to the couch and took a seat. "Well, it's just all of this stuff with Aubrey. I'm so happy, and everything is going great, but Kevin is just blowing this all out of proportion. I just thought maybe you'd be able to offer some advice, since you and Nick went through the same thing."

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, Kev did give me a hard time, didn't he? But I mean, now things are great & we all get along. Mayeb you just need to give all of this some time to sink in and let him see that this girl is for real, and not just using you. I met Aubrey in the lobby last night and she was such a sweetheart. I'm sure it won't take long for him to accept her."

"But what do I do until then? I mean, the way he's acting is making me afraid to bring her around," I explained.

"You have to bring her around, Alex. Otherwise Kevin will never get the chance to find out for himself how wonderful she is and that she's not going to hurt you," she started. "Look, Kristin is coming into town tomorrow to see Kevin, maybe you can set up some sort of dinner and you can take Aubrey. I mean, you know Kevin's not going to go off on you with Kristin there. Nick and I will go to if you need us to. I mean, Nick is very supportive of this whole situation too."

"You think it'll work?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Okay, well I guess I'll talk to Kevin about it then," I told her. "You and Nick will go too? Really"

"Sure, if you need us to."

"Thank you, Al. You're the best." She and I both stood up. I gave her a hug.

"I know. I try," she said. "I better get back to the room before Nick wonders where I wandered off to. Just call and let me know the plan for tomorrow, okay?" I nodded. "Okay, and don't worry. Everything is going to be alright." I walked her to the door and she left. I went back and took a seat, flipping on the television. I had some time to kill before I called Aubrey, even though I wanted to pick up the phone and call her right now. I also knew that I'd have to have another Kevin encounter before the night was over to invite him to dinner the next night. That was one phone call I was defnitely dreading, I'd had just about enough of Kevin for one day. I sat there for a minute and then thought, why not just get it over with. So I picked up the phone and dialed Kevin's room number.

"Hello?" He said.

"Kev...it's me..." I responded.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I was calling to see if you and Kristin want to go to dinner tomorrow night with me & Aubrey."

I guess he was contemplating his answer because he was silent for a moment. Finally, he spoke up. "Do you really think that's a good idea?" You know how I feel about this."

"Kevin, I want you to get to know her before you judge her. She's really a great person. Just please, come to dinner with us tomorrow," I practically pleaded with him.

"Ok, fine."

"Thank you, Kev. I promise, you'll love her," I said.

"Yeah, we'll see," he said, hanging up.

***