Molly woke up the next morning with a whole new spirit. No bad thoughts about her exams, no bad memories on how she had parted with Brian in Germany anymore, no bad anything. She hadn't felt this carefree in a long time and she enjoyed her new-found happiness totally. A grin had been plastered on her face, since she had got up. When she came downstairs to help Caroline with preparing their breakfast and one by one all the other girls came down as well to help, she saw that they were just as happy as herself. Probably the Florida-sun had that effect on your system?! But most likely the cause were some certain Florida-guys...
"Do you all have made plans for today?" Caroline asked, sipping her coffee.
"Yeah, AJ's picking me up at 10.30 and then-"
"Your kidding!" Caroline interrupted, her eyes wide. Molly just raised her eye-brows as she looked at Caroline confused. "Did I just hear you say 10.30?"
Molly nodded and slowly answered: "Yeah, 10.30! Why?"
"The dude usually sleeps 'til noon if not longer! Christ - you surely have a good effect on him, Molly!" Caroline grinned.
"Well, I can say the same about him", Molly grinned back. Then she turned to Araysa: "I think you know what I mean!"
"Oooh yeah...", Araysa replied smiling with sparkling eyes. Then she let out a happy sigh.
Mandy laughed: "Stop gushing - I'm having breakfast! You guys make me wanna...never mind!"
"Yeah", Sarah murmured.
"Are you doing something with Brian today?" Caroline asked Mandy then.
"Yeah. Brian and Howie are Sarah's and my personal tour guides today. I can't wait to see more of Florida. And it's so great that the weather here is so warm already."
"I think you'll like Florida", Caroline told the girls. "When is Nick coming to get you, Race?"
"Around twelve!" Araysa smiled.
Caroline just nodded, before she glanced at Molly once again. She shook her head and mumbled: "10.30! Unbelievable..." Everyone laughed.
When breakfast was over the girls helped to clean up everything, of course. They all loved Caroline's house already and it was easy to feel comfortable there.
Caroline went to open the front door, when the door bell rang, expecting Nick there. Molly and AJ had already left an hour ago, and Brian, Howie, Mandy and Sarah were getting ready to go.
"What a commotion", Nick commented grinning as he entered the house. The girls were running around grabbing their purses and whatever else they needed, while Brian and Howie were putting their caps and jackets back on. Nick walked over to where Araysa was standing. "Hi princess", he said, before greeting her with a kiss on her lips.
"Hi Nick", she smiled back up at him, as he put his arm around her waist.
"You ladies ready to go?" Howie asked Mandy and Sarah.
"Yep", Sarah said, coming back downstairs from her room.
"Double yep", Mandy said.
Nick looked around, then asked: "Where's Molly?"
"AJ has already kidnapped her", Caroline answered.
Nick looked at her suspiciously: "He isn't supposed to even be up yet..." Caroline just cracked up, while the rest of the girls chuckled at that. The boys gave each other a look, shrugging their shoulders because they had obviously missed something there.
"Alrighty now", Brian then said, "Orlando is waiting, girls!" Mandy and Sarah cheered, said good-bye to Caroline, Nick and Araysa and were off for the day.
Caroline turned to the remaining two: "What are you two planning for the day?"
"Packing", Nick grinned brightly.
Araysa shot him an irritated look: "Huh?!"
"Don't ask, just do it", Nick replied, already dragging her up the stairs to her room.
Two hours after AJ had picked up Molly, they sat down in a not too crowded café, enjoying the nice day. Both didn't feel like hanging around inside, so after AJ had picked her up they had decided to stroll through the city.
"So, is there anything I'm supposed to do if you get attacked by a mob of girls? Like...laughing my ass off, before taking off with your car?" Molly joked.
"Oh, I see. You'd leave me here, knocked down and bleeding and naked... Well, that's good to know", AJ replied, joking as well.
"I'd try", Molly laughed. "But then again - YOU naked? That might keep me here!"
"You can get plenty of that, if that's what you want", AJ said, wiggling his eye-brows. Molly kept her mouth shut, but smiled at him slyly, her eyes wandering up and down his body.
The waitress came to bring their orders, and after she had gone Molly picked up her previous question, not joking this time: "But seriously now. How are we gonna handle this? What when people see you and me together - am I the girlfriend, the cousin, the good friend? What?"
AJ took one of her hands in his and said: "We'll say whatever you feel comfortable with. As far as I'm concerned, I don't give much about the media right now. It's alright for me if I open the papers tomorrow and see a pic of you and me with a headline saying you're my girlfriend. 'Cause you are, no matter how fresh this is for us. But I'm more worried about you then about me. I'm used to the attention and I've learned how to deal with it. So...I want you to tell me what you want."
Molly nodded. "To be honest...it's not like I don't want to shout it out and tell the whole world how happy I am, but if we could keep this on the down low for a while then I'd be glad. It's difficult enough as it is, to handle the fact that I have a boyfriend I'll have to leave in a week's time. To handle the fact that I have a boyfriend. Period. Right now all I want is to concentrate on you and me and not care about anything else. Is that ok?"
"Of course", AJ answered and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. Suddenly a grin appeared on his face again and he continued: "I think I just came up with a good plan on how to keep us incognito!"
Molly rolled her eyes and grinned, not sure if she wanted to hear whatever crazy idea he had in mind. "How?" she finally asked.
"Well, if we get really close", AJ began, and pulled his chair closer to Molly's, "and I mean really close" - he put one arm around her waist and his nose was almost touching hers now - "and we do this..." Both snickered as AJ placed his lips on hers and kissed her deeply. They enjoyed the kiss for a moment, before AJ stopped and finished: "Then we might just be close enough to hide our faces from anyone walking by and we can forget about the world." He looked at her expectantly, wanting her to comment on his "good plan".
"I'd say 'forget' was the key word here", she purred, while putting her arms around his neck. "Sorry, but...what have we been talking about? That kiss just blew my mind completely..." She grinned as AJ got the goosebumps because her fingernails were gently scratching his neck. She loved that reaction.
"Damn", AJ muttered, "you sure enjoy teasing me, huh?!"
"Uh huh", she just replied, claiming his lips for another long kiss.
"Hey girls, is it ok if we just do a quick stop somewhere, before we give you the tourist-guide of Orlando?" Brian asked from the passenger seat of Howie's car. He was looking at the girls in the backseat expectantly.
Mandy and Sarah shrugged their shoulders. "Yeah, of course", Mandy said.
Howie laughed: "Who knows, Rok, they might find it awfully interesting. After all, they are fans!" He flashed the girls a bright grin in the rearview mirror to let them know he was just kidding about the fan comment.
"Hey, I'm not a fan", Sarah protested, mocking disgust. "At least not officially", she added with a grin.
"Where are we going anyway?" Mandy then asked.
"To the studios where we record", Brian answered. "We're still putting some finishing touches on a few songs, B-sides mostly", he explained. "We figured we should use the time we have here and do it now instead of in a few weeks or so. Our schedule changes so often, we'd never know when we could do it instead."
"Oh, that's ok", Mandy said. She smiled: "And you're right, Howie. I do find it awfully interesting."
They arrived at the studio soon and both Mandy and Sarah were taking in everything with excitement. They had never been to a recording studio before and they agreed that they liked the atmosphere of it. Howie and Brian sat down with them in one studio and listened to two songs there. When they were finished the girls stood speechless for a moment.
"That song was awesome", Sarah said.
"Exactly", Mandy agreed. "I love it."
Their jaws practically dropped as Brian and Howie shook their heads, concentrating deeply. "We'll have to do the background again", Howie said to Brian, who nodded.
"Yeah", he said, "we could try the changes Kevin came up with then also. Oh well, more time in the studios", he sighed. "I'll tell the others later."
Mandy and Sarah raised their eye-brows at each other, wondering what the hell the boys thought was wrong with the song. Then they just rolled their eyes and laughed.
"Ok, we won't bore you no more", Howie promised. In an announcer's voice he added: "Let's discover Orlando!"
Mandy snorted - that sounded awfully familiar to her. She had the Boys on a video tape, showing the five of them doing a commercial-kinda thing for a TV show called "Discover Orlando".
"What's so funny?" Brian asked, as they walked out of the studios.
Mandy tried to keep from chuckling and just mysteriously replied: "A bath-tub that flies..."
"Oh, great", Araysa exclaimed as a "Beastie Boys"-song came on the radio. "Can I turn it up?" she asked Nick, who was driving.
"Sure", he replied smiling. "So you like the Beastie Boys, huh? What's it with you and bands that start with a B and end with Boys?" He laughed at his own joke.
"Ha ha, very funny", Araysa commented, but snickered herself. "You know, did I tell you how much I love the Beach Boys?!" she then joked back. Both started laughing. When they had stopped, Araysa asked: "How long are we driving to Tampa?"
That was why she had had to pack up some of her stuff. Nick had invited her to spend a night over at his house in Tampa with him. Of course she had happily agreed to go and told Caroline to let the girls know she would be gone until tomorrow. Before Nick and her had left, she had added: "If I'm not back to dinner-"
"I'll call the cops", Caroline had finished the sentence.
"Hell no", Araysa had exclaimed. "Order us pizza to Nick's house. We're probably too busy to do it ourselves!" Nick had turned bright red, which had Araysa cracking up. "Get your mind out of the gutter!" she had laughed. (Author's note: One word to Hanna & Manu: LOL!)
"It depends on the traffic", Nick answered her question about the drive. "I'd say, today it looks like we'll make it in about two hours." He glanced at her and saw that she was smiling at him. Both were obviously looking forward to arrive and to spend quality time with each other - and their first night together!
Being the addicts that they were, Molly and AJ had stopped at the nearest McDonald's, getting something from the drive-in, before driving home to AJ's. Molly let out a whistle, as AJ drove the car up to his house. She had seen it on pictures already, but it was quite a different sight to have it right in front of herself. A lot of emotions were mixed into one, as she took in her surroundings. In her old days as a "regular" fan she had never thought she would actually get to go into that house, but now she wondered if she would ever come back once this week was over. No one knows what the future holds, but she was determined to look into the future positively. What she and AJ had wouldn't fade in just two weeks. What they had wouldn't fade just because they couldn't see each other for a while.
"Wow... Mr. McLean, I'm pretty impressed!" Molly then said, shaking herself free from deep thoughts, as AJ parked the car. "Quite a big house for a single man, huh?" AJ just kept quiet. They got out and Molly took a minute to admire the house. She was already curious how AJ's unique flavor had influenced its interior design.
"Are you done gushing about the house?" he suddenly asked, annoyance audible in his voice, as he was already a few feet ahead of her.
"Oh - excuse me on complimenting you on your house", Molly replied in the same tone of voice. She threw her empty ice cream tub at him, which hit his shoulder. "Jerk!" she added dryly.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"What was that damn look for?" Molly retorted. "Don't you start your superstar-bullshit on me. I wasn't looking at your house wondering how fat your bank account must be, alright? Normal people do stuff like that: admiring other people's houses and making some comments about it, alright? So...if you think I'm here because of your money, then I'll better leave again right now, AJ!" She stressed his name at the end to make him realize that she didn't see the Backstreet Boy in him anymore, when she called him Alex.
They were just staring at each other for a moment, before AJ apologized: "I'm sorry, honestly. It's just still kinda weird for me sometimes...when I'm just trying to be as normal as everyone else, but then all the things around me come back at me...it's..." He shrugged his shoulders.
Molly walked over to him and grabbed his shirt slowly. Still serious she looked into his eyes and softly said: "Alex, in the past days you've already proved to me that you're a regular guy at heart. But fact is that you don't lead a regular life and you can't shut that out, especially not from me, as much as you would like to probably. But it's no use if we try to ignore your life as a Backstreet Boy, ok? That's something you have to live with and something that will effect me as well. That's the way it is. All I can do is earn your trust so that you know I'm here for other reasons."
AJ's arms around her waist pulled her close into a hug and Molly ran her fingers through his short hair, knowing that he liked that. "I already trust you enough", he whispered.
She grinned as they pulled away: "Probably more than you should!" She winked at him and he grinned back.
Taking her hand, he said: "Come on, I'll show you everything!"
Molly bent down, picking up the ice-cream tub, before she reached for his hand and they walked into the house.
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