~August 20, 2002~

"Wake up sleeping beauty."

"Beth!  Go away!" she whined as she buried her face deeper into her pillow, trying to shut the world out.

"Time to wake up," he continued to coax her.

"Go a-" her words cut off when the voice registered in her brain.  That was most certainly not Beth...unless she'd started taking testosterone and her voice was deepening.  Doubtful.

Katie cracked her right eye open slightly to see who it was.  Sleep still blurred her vision, but she could definitely tell it was not Beth.

"Get up Katie!" Beth called from the living room, "I think you'll enjoy this!"

Katie opened her eye a little farther for a better look.  Definitely not Beth.  Then it clicked.  It couldn't be!  Katie's eyes flew open as she snapped up into a sitting position.  She was face to face with him.  The man she'd only ever dreamed about meeting.  The man she'd begged her best friend to arrange a meeting with.

"What...why...you..." Katie stammered, "Beth!  Get in here!"

Beth came running into the room laughing, "What's up buddy?"

"Umm...I'm not seeing things, am I?  I'm not going crazy.  Please tell me I'm not going crazy and seeing things!  Please God tell me you see him, too?"

"I'm not God, and...see who?" Beth laughed harder.  She was quite amused with herself.

Katie tore her eyes from him just long enough to glare at her best friend.

"Of course I see him!  I sent him in here!  What seems to be the problem?"

Katherine and Bethany, or Katie and Beth as they were better known as, were best friends and roommates.  They knew everything about each other, down to the ridiculous fantasies they each had.  Beth knew that Katie had fantasized about being woken up by a Backstreet Boy...AJ to be exact.  Or Alex as she called him.  They were on a first name basis now, didn't you know?  Beth thought it was ridiculous.

Katie was having a rough few months, so Beth thought she'd do something nice for her best friend.  Beth had connections; she was Nick's cousin after all, so she set this little meeting up.  Nick had owed her, so she was calling in on her debt.  And Nick readily agreed, of course.

"Why?" Katie finally asked.

"Why what?  Why did I send him in here?  I thought it might be better than your alarm clock, but...I could always just send him home.  Thanks anyways Age, but it looks like she's not interested..."

"Don't you DARE!" Katie yelled at her friend, "I just...couldn't you have chosen a better time?  Like maybe when my hair was brushed, and..."

Katie trailed off as she remembered her sleeping attire-a tank top and pajama pants.  Not such an issue for most, but her bruised arms were in clear view now since she'd popped up like she had.  Not to mention the fading bruise on her cheek.  Not much she could do about that without her make-up, but one bruise was easy to explain.  Explaining a bruised cheek and arms was a more difficult task.

"Bed head suits you," AJ finally spoke up.  He'd been quite entertained by the exchange between the two girls.  It was as if they'd been having a conversation half out loud and half telepathically.  It was a girl thing.

He watched Katie as she pulled the blanket up to cover herself more.

"Well...I'm going to finish my cleaning now, so have fun!" Beth exclaimed as she scurried from the room.

"I...wow.  Never thought I'd be woken up by you."

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"No.  Not at all.  Just...unexpected.  Do you think you could give me a minute?  I just want to go run a brush through my hair.  Maybe change?"

AJ nodded as he stood up.  He took another look at her and left the room, allowing Katie to ‘do her thing'.

Katie got out of bed and went through her drawers, pulling out a long sleeved blue t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts.  Quickly changing her clothes, she went into the bathroom and pulled her short honey brown hair into a pony tail of sorts and applied some make-up.  She made sure to cover the fading bruise on her cheek with cover-up and do one last check in the mirror before going out to the living room.

"Ah, here she is.  So what are you taking my friend to do this afternoon?" Beth grinned.

"As long as we don't get mobbed by screaming teenage girls...I was thinking lunch.  Maybe at the boardwalk.  Just hang out for the afternoon?"

Katie nodded.

"Yeah, I thought it might be nice if AJ hung out with you for the afternoon since you have this major crush-"

"Thank you Bethany, that'll be enough now!" Katie glared at Beth again trying not to blush too red.

AJ smiled at the two girls, "Crush, huh?"

Katie blushed harder, of course, "She's just kidding..."

"I'm just surprised she didn't scream when she saw you in her room.  You are like her fa-"

"Bethany Joy, shut the hell up!" Katie scolded and in an attempt to get out before Beth made any more blush inducing comments she turned to AJ, "Are you ready?"

AJ just laughed and followed Katie out of the apartment.

"Oh, if Dane calls...I'm at the store or sick or something," Katie called back.

"If he comes over here I'm calling the police!" Beth called to the closing front door.

Katie and AJ got into his rented car and drove down to the board walk for a nice lunch.  They chose a restaurant serving a wide assortment of typical boardwalk food and sat down outside in the nice, fresh summer air.  They started eating in silence, watching the kids playing in the sand, chasing the birds, building sand castles.

"So you probably know everything about me," AJ broke the silence, trying not to sound conceited, "but I know nothing about you..."

"Not true.  I know basic facts.  Stuff any fan could get off the net.  Half the time I'm not sure some of that stuff is true.  Anyways, I don't really know you, Alex, I know AJ."

"Wow, that's rare.  It's weird to hear someone say it like that.  A good weird."

"Just the truth.  I'd love to get to know you, Alex, though."

"How about this...we trade questions.  I ask one, then you ask one.  But you have to catch us up to even."

"What do you mean?"

"You know my favorite color..."

"Yellow."

"And my middle name..."

"James."

"And my birthday..."

"January ninth."

"But I don't know any of that about you."

"Okay.  Blue, Faith, and March twentieth."

"Nice.  Right to the point.  Katherine Faith Sullivan.  It suits you."

"Suits me?  Is that a good thing?"

"Very.  Beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

"Well thank you."

"Question number one then..." AJ decided to choose his questions carefully, trying to figure out what he could possibly ask without getting hit or ditched, "Who's Dane?"

"Uh...he's...my boyfriend."

"Is he the one that gave you those bruises?"

"My turn, one question at a time," Katie avoided answering the question, "Does your girlfriend know you are hanging out with some random girl?"

"Ah, girlfriend.  Don't have one of them right now.  Even if I did, I can hang out with whoever I like.  Does Dane know you're having lunch with a Backstreet Boy?"

Katie shook her head no.

"Your turn," he prompted her.

"Is it hard to keep a relationship going when you're on the road?"

"Can be.  But if you want it to work, and it's supposed to work...it will.  Just takes work.  I haven't wanted to work hard enough on any of the relationships I've had in the past," AJ was trying to decide how to get back to his question about the marks, but he didn't want to piss her off, "I..."

Katie knew he was trying to figure it out.  Everyone did.  So she helped him along, "The bruises?"

AJ nodded.

"I'm just clumsy, and I bruise like a peach."

AJ could tell she wasn't telling the truth, but he chose not to push it any further.  So the two sat eating and trading questions, learning about each other's lives.

"Thank you," Katie said after a few minutes of silence.  They had finished eating and were now walking along the boardwalk.  They had fallen into a comfortable silence, not having exhausted conversation, it just felt right.

"For what?"

"Being you.  Hanging out with me this afternoon.  Not pushing the subject of Dane."

"So it is him?"

Katie nodded slowly, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes.  AJ stopped and turned towards her, wrapping her in his arms.

"This is how a man should touch a woman.  He doesn't deserve you...and you don't deserve that."

Katie let him hug her for a few minutes before they stepped apart and she wiped the tears away.

"I know.  I'm working on it."