"Aah MAN!" Brian exclaimed a little angrily, as he bend down to pick up the pieces of broken glass from the bottle he had let slam down to the floor.
"Yo Rok", AJ said, coming up behind him. They had just ended an interview and were about to drive back to their hotel. He playfully punched Brian's shoulder and grinned: "What's up with you today? You're naturally clumsy, but today you're just ridiculous!" AJ was just kidding of course, but Brian really was extremely clumsy since he had woken up this morning. And only Brian knew why...
He had woken up from a dream that morning, a dream that included Mandy. A skimpily dressed Mandy to be honest! Ever since he didn't seem to function too well, because his mind would always go back to that. Brian felt bad for having such a dream, and he felt even worse for bringing Mandy into such a situation like they had been in, when he had burst into the bathroom and seen her in her bra and panties. But he blamed that he dreamed about it on the fact that Mandy had been the first girl he'd seen almost naked after breaking up with Leighanne.
"I don't have that kind of feelings for her", he was convincing himself. But he couldn't stop remembering how good and beautiful she had looked yesterday...
"I'm just a li'l out of it", Brian told AJ. He looked at him suspiciously and asked: "Why are you so cheerful anyway?"
AJ laughed under his breath and replied: "I'm in one of my fave cities, I'm in love and I wanted to talk to you guys 'bout something. I know Nick will agree, but I thought I'd check with all of you."
"What is it?" Brian inquired.
"I'll tell you later - meeting in my room for late lunch at two!" AJ smiled and walked away.
* * *
"Hey Sarah, you wanna come along today?" Molly asked after lunch. She had told Sarah that Araysa and Mandy would show her around campus today because Molly considered studying in Minnesota for a few months, once she would start her studies. So of course she was interested in seeing as much of the college as possible.
"Nah, I can't", Sarah said. "Dawn wanted to introduce me to some of my folks here that I haven't met already."
"Oh", Molly said a little disappointed. "Do you want me to come with you?" she offered.
Sarah gave her a puzzled look: "Why would you?"
"We haven't really spent much time together, while the guys were here and I thought we could catch up on our ladies' talk... I can see the campus another time. It will be fun to meet some of your relatives. The ones we know already were pretty cool." She grinned: "Maybe you have more cousins like Kaylee?!"
Sarah's eyes lit up, while Molly was talking. She had missed spending more time with Molly and was happily surprised that she felt the same way. Now she felt bad for doubting their friendship. It seemed that this vacation wouldn't change as much as she had been afraid of. She smiled and said: "No cool cousins today, only some queer aunt. You go and hang out with the girls, that's ok. But we could all meet up later, right?!"
Molly was just as happily surprised as Sarah was. "Yeah, of course we will meet up later! Maybe we can go clubbing again?!"
"That would rock. Ask Mandy and Araysa and call me later this afternoon!"
"Will do", Molly said and hugged Sarah good-bye. "I've gotta call Race and tell her when I'll be there! Bye, hon!"
* * *
"Ok, Bone, spill the beans", Kevin said, "what's this secret meeting about?"
"It's not a SECRET meeting", AJ replied, "just a meeting!"
"Yeah, whatever", Nick chimed in, already curious because AJ had told him he would like this. "Get to the point."
"Well", AJ started, smiling at the four guys and Caroline, "I had an idea and wanted to know what you thought of it. Umm...you all know that the girls are all on Spring break now, so I thought we could, probably, umm...invite 'em down to Florida?!" He shut up, awaiting their responses.
There was a moment of silence, then Nick was the first to comment: "YEAH!" He, too, had a grin plastered across his face now.
Howie shrugged his shoulders, considering a few things. He knew Kaylee had to work, so she wouldn't come along. But probably she could take some days off... "Good idea", he finally said, smiling.
"For how long would that be?" Caroline asked.
"Molly and Sarah would have to leave in ten days, I don't know about the others though", AJ answered.
"They could stay with me for that time", Caroline offered. She got questioning looks from all the guys but Kevin. Knowing what they thought of, she quietly added: "The house is empty for another two weeks..." She glanced at Kevin, who looked sad. Then the manager in her appeared: "Besides - the press would find it way too interesting if you suddenly had female room-mates. And I better not trust you guys with the girls!" She was grinning at AJ and Nick, who just laughed.
"Do you think Mike and Dawn will be alright with this?" Brian asked. "They promised to take care of Sarah and Molly. Well, at least of Sarah. And knowing Molly she won't leave Sarah alone in Minnesota!"
"Slow down, Rok", AJ said. "We haven't even asked the girls themselves yet..." That was the part that AJ was actually most worried about: that the girls could turn the offer down! He hoped they would like his ideas as much as he did. All other problems could be worked out later then.
* * *
"I just know that it feels wrong, when I'm away too long, it makes my body hot..."
Molly and Mandy walked into Araysa's room to find their best friend singing and dancing through the room along to Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much". They all laughed when Araysa noticed them.
"I tell your mama, I tell your friends", Molly started lip-synching, taking a brush that lay around near her.
She threw it over to Mandy, who continued: "Send it in a letter, baby, tell you on the phone..."
Then they all yelled together: "I'm not the kind of girl who likes to be alone! I miss you much!" They started laughing again, rolling their eyes at each other.
"What a fitting song", Araysa commented.
"Murphy's law", Molly grinned. It happened to her again and again.
"Are we ready to give the grand tour, Race?" Mandy asked. Of course they were. Araysa turned the radio off, grabbed her purse and they left.
~~~~~
Two hours later they were back at the dorm and in Araysa's room. The girls plopped down on her bed or the floor, still laughing about some joke. Araysa's e-mail alert went off suddenly, so she checked her mail. Mandy and Molly remained silent for a minute, laying around with smiles on their faces. It was kinda weird, but being without the guys was not as heart-breaking as they thought it would be. Of course they missed them - a lot - but they were not constantly whining about them being away. Instead they tried to keep each other's minds off the heartache and make each other laugh. Surprisingly enough it worked pretty well.
Molly played with the rings on her finger and started giggling.
"What?" Mandy asked grinning, wondering what Molly was so amused about.
"Alex", Molly laughed, which was answered by a queer look and a giggle from Mandy. She held up her right hand and showed Mandy the ring on her ring finger. "For a second he thought I was married", she grinned.
"Well, it looks like a wedding band", Mandy commented smiling.
"It IS one", Molly laughed, remembering the scene that had taken place with AJ. She began telling Mandy about it...
~~~~~
AJ was playing with the rings on her fingers, gently stroking her hands and intertwining his fingers with hers every now and then. She noticed that he was especially concentrating on the golden wedding band on her ring finger.
"You know", he smiled, "people might think you're already married, when they see this ring on you. It looks like a wedding band."
"Alex, it IS a wedding band...", she had replied, keeping a serious face.
He looked up with a shocked expression on his face. When she didn't continue he raised his eyebrows at her: "What do you mean by 'it IS' one?"
"I mean that it is a wedding band..." She was able to keep up a straight face for another few seconds, but her shaking shoulders finally gave away that she started laughing, so she just laughed out loud, as he backed away from her a little. "Honey", she grinned, placing her lips on his quickly, "this is my mom's wedding band. See..." She took the ring off to reveal her dad's name engraved on the inside.
AJ looked relieved, but wondered: "Why are you wearing your mom's ring?"
~~~~~
Molly turned serious there, while she was telling the story to Mandy.
"Did you tell him?" Mandy asked sympathetically. Molly nodded, remembering the rest of AJ's and her conversation...
~~~~~
"Brian didn't tell you?" she asked.
"No, what?" AJ said, shaking his head.
Molly took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn't ruin the nice mood they were in: "My mom died, when I was seventeen..." She could see the honest shock in AJ's eyes.
He thought of Denise and how she meant the world to him. Just the thought of losing her someday almost killed him. Knowing that Molly must've gone through so much pain hurt him, too. He wanted to just take her in his arms and hold on to her right now - and let her hold on to him.
"I'm wearing her ring since then", she continued. "So I always have something of her with me and I hope it brings me a little luck." She smiled a little.
"I'm so sorry", AJ said. "I don't really know what to say."
"That's ok", she replied, "you don't have to say anything. People rarely know how to react to something like that, but..." - she smiled at him - "don't treat me like a raw egg now or avoid that topic, k?! It has taken some time, but I've learned to live with it and how to talk about her without crying. Actually, by now I like sharing stories about her, she was a really fun person!"
He looked at her amazed and with respect, as Molly laughed, probably remembering something funny about her mom. "OK, I won't!" he promised. "Brian knows?" AJ asked. It still felt kinda weird to him that Brian was so close to Molly, although he hadn't shared more time with her than AJ had. But AJ often had the feeling that Brian knew so much more and he felt a little jealous, although he knew he shouldn't be.
Molly nodded: "Yeah, you know - Brian's always talking about Lexington and his family and stuff, so of course one time he asked me about my family and I told him." She smiled again: "I'll tell you about her some time."
AJ nodded and gladly embraced her as she leaned in for a kiss...
~~~~~
When Molly returned to the present, she noticed Mandy smiling at her. Molly smiled back and mouthed "Thank you".
"What for?" Mandy asked.
"For being my friend. For being you." Molly stood up and hugged Araysa from behind, who sat on a chair in front of her computer monitor. "Thank you, too!" she said. Araysa smiled up at her and squeezed her arm.
Mandy joined them at the computer and said: "Race, go check out the club, will ya?!" The next hour was spent surfing around the net, the place that had brought them together. It was a pretty funny situation to surf together in one room for the first time and they joked about it more than once... :o)
Not much later the phone rang and Araysa picked it up.
"Nick!" The happy look on her face would've told Mandy and Molly who was on the phone even without hearing Araysa exclaim his name. "How are ya, cutie?"
Molly and Mandy rolled their eyes and giggled. Those two were just too...cute!
"No, Mandy and Molls are over here", Araysa then said. After a short pause she added in a sarcastic, but only joking tone: "Oh, great - would you rather talk to them?" Nick replied something and she laughed.
Mandy and Molly turned back to the computer, so that Araysa could talk kinda privately with Nick. Their attention was abruptly drawn back to the phone conversation, when Araysa exclaimed: "Are you SERIOUS?" The other two raised their eyebrows at each other, curious. "Nick, you're not kidding, right?"
Mandy couldn't wait any longer. She turned to Araysa and asked: "What's going on?"
"Nick, hold on a sec, k?!" Araysa covered the receiver and excitedly told the girls: "They are inviting us to Florida for a week!"
* * *
Sarah threw a quizzical look at Mandy, Araysa and Molly, when she opened the door to the Wolsburn's house. They had rang the doorbell twice more than necessary. The three looked pretty fidgety, which made Sarah snicker.
"What's up with you guys?" she asked grinning.
The reply came chorused: "Are Mike and Dawn home??"
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