AJ was standing in front of Caroline's door, waiting for someone to open it. Kevin had woken him up early this morning to tell him that both of them had to be in the studio today - the Boys surely didn't waste any time to put the finishing touches to their recordings. It was a good thing AJ hadn't been drinking in the club yesterday, because it would have been harder to get up so quickly today. He had decided to make a quick stop to see Molly, before he would drive to the studio, so that he could ask her, if she wanted to have dinner with him tonight. He had thought up a little surprise for her that he was sure she would like.
"Hey AJ", Mandy greeted him, when she opened the door.
"Hi Mandy", he smiled, giving her a quick hug.
"I'm guessing you're here to see Molly?" Mandy asked.
AJ laughed. "Yep, what else?!"
"Well, she isn't here though", Mandy told him. "Sorry."
"Oh." AJ looked surprised. "Do you know where she is?"
Mandy nodded. "Caroline dropped her off at Brian's, they're hanging out today."
Now AJ looked even more surprised. "Brian, huh?!" It shouldn't have really surprised him, and if he thought about it he knew that the word surprise didn't describe what he felt. To be honest, it rather bothered him to know that Brian and Molly were spending the day together alone. He couldn't quite explain what it was, but something was still bugging him about Molly's and Brian's friendship. He said good-bye to Mandy and was on his way again soon.
AJ had been so occupied with his own thoughts that he also hadn't noticed that Mandy's eyes reflected the same disappointed expression as his own. Caroline had been on the phone with Brian this morning, before he had talked to Molly and asked her if she wanted to spend some time with him. He knew that AJ wouldn't be able to meet her anyway, so he wasn't stealing any of their precious time. Mandy understood that Brian wanted to spend time with Molly, especially because they had hardly had time to be with each other since they had met again. But Mandy couldn't help to feel a little disappointed that Brian hadn't asked her to join the two of them. But who was she to complain? She was the one who Brian had already spent most of his time with.
Araysa woke up early that morning, long before Nick did. She used the time to sort through her feelings and to let all the pictures of the past days fill her mind. Nick was lying next to her, strands of hair hanging into his face. She smiled at the sight of him. She couldn't believe how peaceful and serious he looked, when he was asleep. Although most people tend to look younger in their sleep, Araysa thought that Nick looked older.
She smiled contentedly, while she slowly ran her fingers through his hair, putting it back into place and being careful that she didn't wake him up. She had thought about getting up and making breakfast for both of them, but she wanted to be there, when he woke up. The day had begun perfectly for her, when she woke up in his arms today, and maybe Nick's would start good, too, with her there.
Araysa closed her eyes. The mere thought of what Nick and her had experienced last night let a comfortable shiver run through her. She chuckled lightly. If someone had told her three months ago where she would be today, she would have just laughed - hoping the person was right, but never truly believing it.
"What's so funny?"
Araysa opened her eyes and found Nick smiling at her, his blue eyes twinkling. "Morning, sweetie."
"Morning", Nick whispered and leaned in to give her a kiss. "So, what did you think of that made you laugh?"
"I think I'm just having a really good day", Araysa grinned. "Thanks to a certain someone lying here next to me..."
"I can return that compliment", Nick smiled. "Are you hungry?"
Araysa nodded. "After all the workout last night."
Nick laughed at that, then grinned: "Well, that's the kind of workout I don't complain about though."
"Nick, why are your eyes twinkling like that?" Araysa asked, grinning back at him.
He crawled above her and chuckled. "Why don't we delay breakfast, huh?" He lowered his head to her neck and began gently biting her flesh.
Araysa ran her hands up his chest and said: "I'd say 'delay' is the wrong word here..." She moaned at what Nick was doing and added: "But I willingly agree! God, I love waking up with you!" They both laughed, before passion quickly took over.
Without having really thought about it, AJ found himself taking turns to make the 20-minutes-drive over to Brian's house. He knew he could have as well called Molly there to ask about dinner, but for some reason he rather wanted to see her. Hesitantly he started asking himself, if he was driving over there to check on the two of them. Was he jealous? Of Brian?
He groaned, realizing how stupid he was. Brian would never do that to him, and as far as he could tell Molly wouldn't either. He couldn't put his finger on why he didn't like it that the two of them were so close.
When AJ pulled up at Brian's gate, he saw that Brian was coming out of the house, alone. AJ punched in the code that opened the gate and drove to where Brian's car was parked. Brian had of course seen him coming and recognized AJ's car, so he had waited for him with a smile. When AJ got out of his car, the two did their little ritual handshake, while Brian asked: "Yo, Bone, shouldn't you be in the studio?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way there actually."
Brian laughed: "Uh huh! That's why you end up here, right? Well, I'm guessing you wanna see your babe." They had walked up to Brian's door, that Brian then opened.
"Yep", AJ answered. "Is she here?"
"I think she's still in the kitchen. I'll be back in a few." He motioned for AJ to go inside, while AJ shot Brian a questioning look.
"Are you letting her clean up, or what?!" he asked amused.
Brian laughed again. "No. Just go and see what she's doing, I'm not quite sure. It had something to do with late breakfast. That's why she's sending me to the grocery store anyway, so...see ya later, maybe."
AJ could just reply an "Ok", before Brian jumped into his car and was on his way.
Inside Brian's house AJ just had to follow the distant sound of Molly's voice to find her, and it did lead him into the kitchen. He had to smile when he saw her. She was cutting different types of fruit for what was obviously going to be a fruit salad. It immediately reminded him of the barbecue in Minnesota, which had kinda been their first date.
Molly had her back turned towards the door from which AJ was watching her, so she didn't realize he was there. The radio was playing EnVogue's "Don't Let Go" that she was singing along to. Brian's dog Tyke was laying lazily at the end of the table Molly was working at. AJ saw that Molly was standing there with bare feet, only in jeans and a top, and he couldn't believe how at home Molly looked right there in Brian's house.
AJ stepped forward to enter the kitchen. That was when Tyke spotted him and immediately jumped off the kitchen table to greet the new guest and friend.
"See Tyke, that's why I warned you", Molly laughed, not paying attention where the dog was running to because she was slicing apples and didn't want to cut herself.
"Warned him of what?"
Molly startled, even though she recognized AJ's voice right away. She turned around with huge eyes. "Damn, Alex, you scared me!" she said, taking in a deep breath. Then she smiled happily and laughed: "What the heck are you doing here?"
AJ laughed, as she rushed to him after putting the knife away and she wrapped her arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her as well and murmured "Hi", before he leaned down to greet her with a kiss.
"Hi", she smiled, after they pulled away from each other. "B. said you'd be in the studio until some time this afternoon."
"Yeah, that's where I should be. I just came to ask if you'd like to have dinner with me later."
Molly smiled brightly. "Of course!" Then she knit her eyebrows together, and asked the one logical question that AJ had already been asking himself: "Why didn't ya just call?" She laughed shortly, then added: "Not that I mind having you here..." She gave him another kiss, and AJ responded by holding her a little tighter. They stood and kissed like this, until Tyke started barking at them. Molly groaned. "You guys have awful dogs", she joked, before she picked Tyke up and held him in front of her face. "What?" she asked the dog. "You're a spoiled brat, Tyke!"
"We call him Brian's spoiled rat", AJ grinned, as Molly let the dog down again.
She turned to AJ with her arms on her hips: "You better shut up. I don't know what it is with Backstreet Boys and dogs, but it seems they gotta be as tiny as possible and without manners. At least your two exhaust-pipe-cleaners are somewhat cute, whereas Nick's pugs are plain ugly and Tyke...well...has his cute moments, but those large eyes are..." She let out disgusted tone.
"My what?" AJ exclaimed, laughing.
"Exhaust pipe cleaners. That's what we call mini-dogs like yours in Germany."
AJ laughed again, before he grinned: "You never answered my question. What did you warn Tyke about?"
Molly smiled sheepishly and answered: "I told him I couldn't sing. I thought that's why he ran away from me." She chuckled.
"Who said you couldn't sing?!" AJ replied.
Molly just started laughing and stated: "Oh, nice try, but no flattering about my voice. I know it sucks!" When AJ wanted to protest, she cut him off: "Don't even try, babe. I'm an awful singer."
AJ laughed along with her and pulled her into his arms again. "Well, I'm not saying you could make it into the Top 20, but..." He kissed her neck lightly, before he continued: "You'll sound great singing your kids to sleep one day."
Molly looked up at him, her eyes showing her surprise. "Wow, that was probably the best compliment about my voice ever", she told him.
AJ grinned. "You'll get plenty of that, baby." After they shared another kiss, he asked for confirmation of the evening plans: "So we're gonna have dinner together?"
"Yeah", Molly nodded. "Have you planned anything?" AJ just smiled mysteriously. Molly sighed: "I won't push you to tell me what it is, just tell me if I have to change into better clothes later!"
AJ shook his head. "Nope, jeans are just fine", he smiled.
"Are we going to McDonald's?" she laughed.
"No", he promised. He leaned in for another kiss, before he sighed: "I gotta go. Kev will kill me if I get there any later."
"Tell him if he touches you I'll have his body buried next to yours!" Molly replied, as she brought AJ to his car.
"Will do", he smiled and gave her another kiss, before he was on his way again.
Sarah sat in one of the deck-chairs by the pool of Caroline's house. But instead of enjoying the beautiful day, she was simply pissed.
After they had come home last night, Caroline had told them that Araysa wouldn't be back that night because she was spending the night at Nick's house in Tampa. Sarah couldn't believe that Araysa had actually won Nick over. "Who knows how she convinced him..." she thought angrily. Nick was supposed to be hers. Ever since they had met in Cologne he was supposed to be hers. At least that's what Sarah wanted to believe. She told herself that yes, she had made mistakes, but most of all she had given Nick the chance to control the pace of their relationship. "But then Araysa had to come along, running Nick over with her attitude and speed. She didn't even leave him time to think about everything and just took him away from me!"
Sarah clenched her hands into fists. If only she could do something about the two of them, if only she would have an idea of how to break them up. But nothing came to Sarah's mind. Little did she know yet that she would get her chance soon.
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