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The night waned and Nick sat in the coolness of the dark. His shirt still stuck to his skin with sweat, but every so often a breeze trickled through giving him temporary relief. The noise and constant stream of girls asking him to dance got tiring and he moved outside hoping for some relief. Howie and Brian were already sleeping upstairs, Kevin, not wanting to be mean to anyone was still dancing, he had lost track of A.J. but what did that matter he was probably trying to get cell phone reception again hoping the moon would provide some kind of extra boost.

Closing his eyes as a breeze drifted over him again, he sighed in contentment. A few feet away he could hear hushed voices talking. He strained his ears to pick up the conversation.

“I know that it’s not getting done child, this is not the first time it has happened.” A female voice spoke.

“But if we could find someway, we could stowaway as they leave.” A younger voice answered back.

“You know John…” A loud noise next to Nick cut the rest of the sentence off. His eyes flew open falling on Shelby.

“There are clean towels if you’d care do take a shower tonight or in the morning.” She said going back inside almost immediately. Nick strained to hear the conversation again, hoping to catch what he might have missed. There were no voices anymore; in fact he was starting to think that Shelby purposely came outside when she did. She could have told him about towels when he went inside to go upstairs and sleep.

Sighing to himself he stood and turned to go inside. A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he quickly turned to look. Two lone figures, a man and a woman walked away from the side of the building towards the meeting house where dancing was still going on. He watched until they disappeared inside and then went inside and up to his room to lie on his bed.

*****

A.J. walked with only the moon giving off any light. He was staring to wonder what he was doing with Allison. Yes, he thought she was pretty, yes, he was lonely and could use the company in his bed at night, but did he really want to get involved with a widow? She’d been married before, it’s not like he had not slept with married women before, they would throw themselves at him just as much as the young girl fans, but it just was weird to think of her as a widow. There was also something strange going on in the town. Everyone seemed to cower to John, A.J. knew that he was in charge from the beginning but he did not think that people would actually be afraid of this man.

He turned to go back towards the hotel when a lone female figure started walking towards him.

“A.J.” Allison’s voice called out. “I was hoping to find you; would you care to join me for a walk?”

They walked in silence for awhile until Allison broke the silence. “So tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” He asked, unsure if she wanted to hear about the famous A.J. or Alex, the boy from Florida.

“Where are you from? What is your family like? Where do you see yourself in a few years? Do you really enjoy traveling and performing?”

A.J. was taken slightly aback, he wasn’t sure anyone in the town knew that the five guys with the broken bus were anyone famous.

Allison chuckled. “We aren’t all in the dark here. My husband and I managed to rig an antenna to reach radio stations from the closest city. I’ve heard of you.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought that John wanted us to perform tonight when he started talking.”

Allison growled slightly. “Let’s not talk about John. I want to know about you.”

“Well, I’m from Florida, my mom and grandparents raised me.” He sighed, thinking about his grandparents made him long for home. His mother would be waiting for them at the next concert venue; she was probably fuming at management and their inability to find her son and his friends. “I love my family, I don’t know where I’d be if I did not have them in my life.”

Allison nodded. “What about your career?”

“I love performing, but I see myself having a solo album in the future. Don’t get me wrong. I love the other guys, they truly are brothers, as cheesy as that sounds, but I can’t seem myself in my thirties and beyond still going by the group name that ends with “Boys”. The biggest bummer about being on the road is not having my grandma and grandpa with me.”

She looked at him expecting him to continue. When he did not she turned to look up at the moon.

“What about you?” He asked. “How did you come to be here and what about your…” He couldn’t find the words to continue to ask about the death of her husband.

She shrugged. “Perhaps another time.” She said and then quickly jogged off in the distance.

“There you are,” Kevin called out. “We were all wondering where you were. We all need to get some sleep, there is more to do tomorrow.”

A.J. kicked the dirt in front of him and slumped his shoulders, following Kevin back to the hotel. “Feels like they wrecked us just to do their chores.” He sighed and took one last look at the moon before going inside to sleep.