-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.
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"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.

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-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.