-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.