The phone rang in AJ's room again. Molly, who sat on the couch, watched his every move, as AJ went to answer it. She could hardly believe how wonderful he was - from both the inside and outside.
"Hello?....Hey, Ray!....Yeah, of course she's here!....Just a sec!"
She listened to his side of the conversation, surprised that the call was for her. She walked over to where he was, taking the receiver from him. "Hello?....Oh, Race, it's you!....Ok, half an hour!....Mmh hmm!....Alright, babe, see you later!" She turned to AJ and grinned: "Ray?! Where does that nick come from?"
He just shrugged his shoulders, also grinning, and sat back down on the couch. His eyes invited her to join him there, so she sat down beside him.
"I have to go in half an hour", Molly told him.
AJ nodded: "It's getting pretty late." None of them had realized that it was already past midnight by now. They had been together for four hours now, talking and dancing and talking some more. Time had flown by too fast once again. "Speaking of leaving", AJ continued, his voice sounding very serious, "you know the guys and I will leave soon." Molly just nodded, looking down at her hands. He took one of her hands in his, saying: "I want to spend the whole day with you tomorrow! We have to tape something for a TV show before noon, but after that I only wanna be with you. ...If you want to?!"
She looked up at him again with a smile: "Yeah, I'd love to." The smile disappeared as she asked: "When do you leave exactly?"
"Tomorrow around 9pm..." Both let out a silent sigh. Everything happened too fast, it all just slipped through their fingers. And both didn't dare to move faster, although they knew they didn't have enough time. Not enough time to make it work. They hardly knew each other.
AJ looked into her eyes and knew he couldn't wait anymore. All he wanted to do right now was kiss her, and with it tell her that he wished he could stay, tell her that he wanted them to be together - and that's what he would do! His free hand caressed her cheek, before in one quick move he pulled her close, leaning in to kiss her deeply.
Molly responded eagerly. In this moment he was all she cared about, all she wanted, although her emotions had been mixed. She hadn't been too sure if what they were doing was right. Everything they did led to starting a relationship, but the few hours left wouldn't be enough. So was it right for them to kiss and fall in love? Wouldn't it be even harder afterwards?
"What the heck!" she thought. "At least I'm taking my memories with me. No one can take that away from me!" But probably that's what she was most afraid of - living on only memories, when AJ was gone. What if she wasn't able to forget?
AJ felt her body tense up and wondered what was wrong. In the short time they knew each other, he had learned that she was afraid to open up to him too much. She didn't believe - and this realization hurt him, although he also understood - in the two of them. She didn't believe that this could work and that he meant, whatever he told her.
He grabbed her hips and guided her over onto him. His hands wandered up, taking her head in them, as he stopped kissing her. He pulled her down, leaning her forehead against his. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.
"How can it feel", Molly thought, "like his hands are all over my body, when he's just holding my head?" In this moment she realized it was too late: he had become part of her. He was inside of her - heart, mind and soul - and she could feel him everywhere, always. She felt like crying...
She couldn't respond, knowing the lump in her throat would force her to cry, so instead she kissed him again, letting him know how she felt with this kiss. After they broke apart this time, AJ hugged her tightly. He tried to memorize every little thing about her - the scent of her body, the soft of her skin, the feel of her hair against his cheek - for he didn't know how long they would be apart, once he finally left Minnesota.
"Tell me you're not gonna forget me!" he heard her whisper. "Tell me this means something to you, too!"
He smiled, letting out a silent sigh of happiness. "How can you doubt that?" he asked softly. "I've spent half a year looking for you, thinking about you - now that I finally found you, I'm not going to let you get away again!" She tightened her grip around him. "I'm falling in love with you, Molly!"
She pulled away that much that she could look into his eyes: "I'm falling in love with you, too!" A smile broke out on her face. She gave him a kiss on the lips and AJ decided it was time to lighten the mood again. They both knew now how they felt about each other, and they knew they would try anything to stay together - if not physically at all times, then at least in their hearts.
"You know", he grinned, "I also really love that piercing of yours!"
She laughed. "What? This?" she asked, before taking one of the shiny silver balls of her piercing between her teeth, grinning at him.
"Yeah", he replied grinning, "I often thought about getting my tongue pierced myself, but I like it much better this way!"
"You haven't even found out what I can do with it", she joked. The look on his face was hilarious, causing her to burst out laughing once again...
~~~~~
"Brian?" Mandy asked softly. She was looking down at Brian, who seemed had fallen asleep on her shoulder, while the two were watching some comedy. They were half sitting, half laying on his hotel bed. She caressed the bridge of his nose with her finger lightly, whispering his name again: "Brii-aan!" He didn't react. "B-RokŪ?"
"Mmh", he mumbled and stirred a little, "I'm wide awake!"
"Sure you are", she snickered. "If you're tired I'm gonna let you sleep. I'll go and find the others, so that..."
"No no no!" he said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Don't leave yet", he asked.
Mandy couldn't help it that her heart jumped with joy. She really didn't want to leave already. She leaned back against the pillows behind her, looking at him amused. "Ya know, you do look pretty cute when you sleep", she smiled.
"Only when I sleep?" he protested jokingly. "So you don't think I'm cute always?"
"Damn men!" Mandy thought. "Why don't they ever sense, when they make you feel uncomfortable with such crap!" She was honestly trying to feel only friendly emotions for him. She actually even managed to behave like that towards him, but he had to go and unconsciously rub it in her face again and again that she felt more for him.
"Only when you sleep", she answered dryly, to tease him.
"Oooh", Brian sat in a warning tone of voice, sitting up. "You're in for it, lady!" Before she could react he had attacked her, tickling her at her most ticklish body parts - God only knows were he knew those from. Probably it was just his unbelievable luck!
"NO! Brian stop it!" she squealed. "Oh no...", she started laughing and couldn't stop anymore. She whirled around on the bed, trying to escape his hands, but laughing took most of her energy, so it was no use trying to get away.
"You better not be messing with B-RokŪ!" Brian laughed along with her. Once he showed mercy and stopped, Mandy still needed a minute or two to calm down and stop laughing.
"I'll get you for that one", she promised, glad that she could breathe again normally.
"In your dreams", he replied, grinning.
"You just wait and see...", she smiled mysteriously. She changed the subject then: "So now that you're at least awake again, what do you suggest we could do?"
"Well", he smiled, "I always had a blast talking to you, so why not do just that?! Unfortunately we leave tomorrow evening, that's why I'll take every chance getting to know you better!"
Mandy didn't know whether to smile or cry. She was happy that he was so interested in anything about her, but the mention of the Boys' soon departure made her sad. "Why getting to know me better, when you have to leave anyway?" she asked, rather calmly.
"Umm...you know", he smiled, "a thing called telephone was invented quite a while ago. And there's such a thing called mail - letters actually are being delivered from one town or even country to another, and there..."
Mandy laughed, smacking him upside the head: "Don't make fun of me, Littrell!" She sat back against the pillows, eyeing him. "So we're gonna keep in touch?"
"Definitely!" he answered. "If you want to, that is!?" The smile on her face was answer enough for him...
~~~~~
"Are you cold?" Nick asked. He sat with Araysa on the balcony of his hotel room, with a blanket covering their legs. It was chilly outside and he noticed the goosebumps on Araysa's arm.
"A little", she answered.
"Come here", he smiled. He put one arm around her, hugging her close, while he pulled the blanket up to their chests with the other.
She cuddled up to him with a content smile on her face. It felt so good to be near him. She had never felt as safe as in his embrace, never as beautiful as in his eyes, never as happy as when she was with Nick. Her whole life long she had waited to find someone and something that was so wonderful. But as she felt the warmth of his body and listened to the beating of his heart, she also remembered that she would have to let him go. Not for good - but just thinking about the long period of time they would be separated made her so sad. The thought let a chill run through her body.
Nick felt her body shaking and rubbed her arms. "Do you rather wanna go in?" he asked softly. "You're really freezing, huh?"
Araysa shook her head. "No, it's ok - as long as you keep me warm." She wrapped her arms around him and let every feeling sink deep into her mind and soul, so that she could remember this moment whenever he was away from her. "Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"When do you leave?" she asked sadly.
"What? You wanna get rid of me already?" He tried to make her smile and succeeded.
"No, dumbass!" she laughed softly and lightly hit his arm. "I don't want you to go", she said, as she laid her head back onto his chest. The regular, soft beating of his heart was so soothing, so beautiful.
Nick kissed the top of her head, tightening the grip around her. "I wish I wouldn't have to leave either", he then said. "But we'll see each other again two weeks from now!"
Araysa's head shot up and she looked at him with a surprised but happy face. "Are you serious?" she asked.
Nick grinned and nodded. "Yep! We'll first go to New York and also some other place, I think, which I don't remember right now. Then we'll head back to Florida for a week, where more work is waiting for us. But after that we have almost ten days off, before we fly to Europe for promotion!" He gave her a quick kiss, before grinning: "And if you don't mind I'm planning to spent my ten days off here with you!"
"Wow!" Araysa happily exclaimed, falling into Nick's arms to hug him. "Don't you dare be somewhere else than with me!"
"My princess' wish is my command", he replied cheekily. Both laughed, before leaning in for a deep warming kiss.
"I'm sorry that we had to leave already", Araysa said, as she was sitting in her car with Mandy, Molly and Sarah, "but Mandy and I have to drive all the way back to Winona."
"No problem", Sarah replied. She didn't mind that Araysa couldn't spend more time with Nick.
"You guys made plans for tomorrow?" Mandy asked everyone. "Brian challenged me to shoot some hoops with him. I guess I know who's gonna lose!" she laughed.
"AJ made some plans for us", Molly said. "He said he wanted to spend the day with me, I don't know what we're gonna do though."
"Nick and I are going out for an early dinner, before the guys have to leave. And he planned something before that, too, I think. We meet at 2pm tomorrow...umm, today!"
"Howie says he needs to go shopping AGAIN", Sarah said, "so Kaylee and I volunteered to keep him company."
"What's up with Kay and Howie anyway?" Molly wanted to know.
Sarah shrugged her shoulders: "I'm not sure. They decided to be just friends, I think, but they still give each other those looks, you know... They should give it a try! But...I guess they won't."
"Too bad", Mandy said, and the others agreed.
That night all of them, the girls and the guys, lay in bed with mixed feelings.
Kevin was watching a sleeping Caroline with both love and anger. He wasn't angry at her, he just hated the situation they were in. If only things would be different, his life could almost be perfect...
Caroline was tossing and turning in bed, the nightmares of reality following her into sleep. With all the worries she had and guilt she felt, she couldn't find peace, until Kevin pulled her close to him...
Nick was staring at the ceiling, a big smile never fading from his face. As much as he didn't want to leave Araysa now, he knew that two weeks were not too hard to handle. But before he would leave, he wanted to spend a really nice day with her. He went over the plans for tomorrow once again...
Araysa lay in bed, eyes opened. She felt a strange kind of calm inside of her that she had never felt before. Although she was sad that Nick had to go, she was sure that they would see each other again soon. She didn't doubt that he would come back. As strange as it seemed, she had a lot of faith in the two of them...
Brian was thinking about Leighanne - something it seemed to him he hadn't done in ages, although it was only two days really. He realized the void that their break-up had caused was about to be filled again. Although there was no new love in his life, there still WAS love - he had made new friends and won old friends back, which made him very happy. Life was good...
Mandy tried to fall asleep, but whenever she closed her eyes she remembered something funny Brian had done that day, and she giggled softly. Although he didn't return the feelings she had, Brian made her feel better than any other guy ever had. He made her believe she was beautiful and funny and good. She knew she had to be able to handle being just friends with him. No matter what happened, she couldn't risk losing this wonderful person...
Sarah was looking at her reflection in the mirror that hung above the sink in the bathroom. Was it too late to win Nick's heart? She probably wouldn't see a glimpse of him tomorrow and then he would leave. While Araysa would be able to see him again in a few weeks or months, she would be back in Germany, far far away from Nick. Was it too late? Was it wrong to even think about trying? No, it wasn't. She knew Nick longer than Araysa did, so how deep could her feelings be? There had to be a way...
AJ sat beside the opened window, smoking a cigarette and thinking about what happened in those last few days. Molly was more than he had expected, before he had met her finally. But he was a little worried about her feelings. After all she was a fan - did she really already separate the real him from the image she probably had? Did she think of him as a Backstreet Boy? He put the cigarette out, shaking his head. Never once had she appeared like a fan to him. The fact that she understood what his life was like would probably just make things easier in their relationship. She knew what she would have to handle...
Molly woke up every hour or less, again and again. She couldn't find any rest for all the feelings inside of her that had hit her totally unexpected. Every now and then she would reach up to her lips, still feeling AJ's on them. Whenever she closed her eyes his face popped up. It made her smile, but at the same time turned her inside upside down, like she was sitting on a roller-coaster. Was she ready for this ride? She had always been afraid of roller-coasters, for she had always been sick once she dared the ride...
Howie turned off the TV and sat in the darkness of his room. He hadn't paid attention anyway. His thoughts were still on Kaylee. She was so beautiful, not just her outside. It had been wonderful just to watch her tonight, laughing about something or seriously discussing some topic. It would be hard to be just friends with her, but he respected her wish. Who knows - once she realized that his life wasn't as complicated as she thought it was, she might want to give it a chance?! But even if not, he knew he had found someone special in her...
Kaylee had fallen asleep with a smile on her face. She had had so much fun with the new friends she had made, she knew she would miss them all badly once they had to go back home. But they would keep in touch and meet again - and Mandy and Araysa didn't live really far, so she could hang out with them from time to time. She was happy that Howie was so understanding about her wish to be friends. It was a shame that things couldn't have been "normal" - meaning: him being an average guy living in Minneapolis. Just her luck...
Back to chapter 14, part II
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