-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.
