"What do ya mean?" Sarah asked.
"WHAT?!!" Molly blurted out, this time sounding really pissed because of Sarah. "God, ya know - it's not like something happened half a year ago! It's not like last time we've seen 'em we ran away! No problem - let's...Geez, just do whatever you want!" She turned her head the other way, so that she didn't look at Sarah.
"Why are you overreacting like this?" Sarah asked annoyed. "Brian didn't look like he wanted to chop off your head, did he?" Molly didn't say a word.
Araysa put her hand on Molly's shoulder and said: "They're happy to see you guys again, don't worry."
Molly turned around to Mandy and Araysa and forced a smile, squeezing Araysa's hand: "I just wasn't prepared for this."
They drove the rest of the way to the mall in silence, all of them thinking about what to say to the five guys, when they would arrive.
* * *
"I can't believe it!" Kevin said with a smile. "Was that really them?"
"That was her, I'm sure", AJ said and the others laughed.
Brian had one hand on his head, where it had hit the car. Nick punched him playfully and said: "You didn't think it would hurt to see Molly again, huh?!"
"Ha ha", Brian said sarcastically. Then he laughed again: "I'm so glad to see them again. This is so crazy. I mea..."
Before Brian or another one of them got any further, AJ loudly said: "Stop it!" All eyes were on him. He motioned them to be quiet, then whined: "I need someone to tell me what happened. Otherwise she'll think I'm a total jerk cause I've NO idea what's going on." Again everyone laughed. So Nick began telling him the whole story, while the other three guys always added a thing or two he would forget.
"HUH?!" AJ looked at them in total disbelief. "What kinda friends are you?! You're hanging around with hot babes and NONE of you tries to force me to go to that club with you? Man..." - Laughter again! - AJ put on his smartass-smile and joked: "I know, I know - you thought you'd have no chance with one of them when I'm around. Well...you were right!" Howie smacked AJ upside the head, while the others let out some "OOH"s and "Gee"s.
They arrived at the mall sooner than expected. Howie and Kevin were probably the only ones that were not nervous as they met on the parking lot.
Nick greeted Sarah with a hug, both were smiling widely. They seemed like old friends. Then Sarah introduced Mandy and Araysa to the rest of the guys. Everyone started talking about how queer and funny this whole situation was and they were all in a good mood - except for Brian and Molly.
They had been silent while Nick and Sarah hugged, but kept eye-contact. When Sarah began introducing everyone, both Brian and Molly started walking towards each other and still silently walked away from the group together. Brian soon stopped her, stood in front of her and just smiled brightly. That made Molly feel a lot better. She looked up at him.
"We gotta talk, huh?!" she said with a grin.
"Yeah, we gotta talk - after this", Brian laughed and hugged her. After that they told each other how happy they were to meet again. Molly explained that she was too afraid to call and that she didn't know if he wanted to talk to her, and Brian told her that he had waited for her call or a letter or whatever. Then they saw that everyone else was on the way to the mall, so they followed them, but kept some distance. In the mall Brian and Molly found a place to sit down and talk, not far away from their friends.
"I can only tell you again that I'm really sorry for telling you lies, Brian", Molly started. "I didn't mean to fool you or upset you..."
"I know", Brian interrupted. "I could see from your reaction that you didn't play a bad joke on me and that you meant what you said."
Molly blushed slightly: "Yeah, I'm also sorry for running away."
He took her hands in his and said: "I talked to Nick about the whole thing, not just once, and we both think we got your point. We understand your reasons and... man, I gotta say Nick surprised me about all this. He made me look differently at some things and I'm sorry, too - for the way I reacted when you told me and for being such a jerk. I hadn't told you the truth before myself, about the band and all."
"Brian, you're no jerk and I could perfectly understand you. From your point of view it must've looked like I..."
"That's the difference", he jumped in. "You did look at it from both sides, while I was just stubborn and didn't try to see it from your point of you."
"Gee, I had much more time to think about it! Now that you had time to think it through you did the same. So...did you forgive me?"
"Yes!" he laughed. "So can we go back to before we said good-bye?"
"No", she replied. Brian was shocked at that and she saw it, so she quickly explained with a smile: "We'll...NO, I will do it better this time! No lies this time, k?!"
Brian was relieved. "Promised - no lies this time!" Both put two fingers first to their hearts, then held them up, just like Molly had done way back then in the hotel. They laughed and hugged one more time.
They didn't know that AJ had watched them all the time. He didn't know what to think about it because he had no idea what kind of relation Brian and Molly had. Although Nick had told him the whole story and never mentioned anything about flirting or love, he still wasn't sure, especially now that Brian and Leighanne had broken up. Brian and Molly sure did look close. AJ even felt somehow jealous as he watched them hug or hold hands. He wished that she would smile at him the way that she smiled at Brian. But then again...
"You're crazy, man", he told himself. "It might turn out that you don't like her at all - you've never spoken a word to each other! Yeah, there's something about her...but that could be your hormones!" He had just decided to stop starring at them and start shopping, when Brian and Molly joined the others again.
Molly went to greet the guys with a hug because she didn't do it before. AJ took the opportunity and was quickly at Brian's side. He pulled him away from the others just a little bit.
"What's up, Bone?"
"Erm, B. ...I wanted to ask you...umm..." AJ wasn't quite sure what to say. He was afraid Brian could also be interested in her. Brian had known her first, so AJ wouldn't make a move, that was for sure. But he felt that she could be special... But what if SHE was interested in Brian?
Brian suddenly patted AJ's shoulder and said with a grin: "You wanna know if Molly and me are in love?"
AJ looked at him surprised: "Well...yeah, kinda!"
"Don't worry, you can try to win her with your charms! She's a great girl - that's why she probably won't fall for you!" Brian laughed. "Just joking, man! You'll like her." Then he pinned one finger onto AJ's chest. "Just don't hurt her, ya hear me?! Otherwise you and me will have a big problem. Got it?"
AJ nodded: "Got it!" They laughed.
"Now you better tell me who that cute blonde girl is!" Brian said.
"Oh, you mean Mandy?"
"Hmm, Mandy..."
Suddenly Kevin joined them, arm in arm with Molly. Brian and AJ glanced at each other and tried not to laugh. They just hoped that neither Kevin nor Molly had heard anything of their conversation.
"I can't believe the day has come", Kevin said smiling. "You two finally meet!" He winked at AJ. "Molly, may I introduce you to our wild child? This is AJ. Bone, this is Molly!"
"She's giving me that smile...", AJ thought. He suddenly felt like a teenager, who has his first crush. What is it about her?!
Kevin and Brian quickly left them alone - it was obvious that something was just about to start between those two. AJ and Molly started talking and followed the others as the shopping journey started.
~~~~~
Nick and Araysa walked ahead of everyone. When Nik had heard that Mandy and Araysa were from Minnesota, he had asked Araysa to be his shopping guide because she knew where all the shops were that he wanted to go to. Of course that was just an excuse to spend a little more time with her. He was too shy to make it any more obvious than it already was, but he still felt stupid. He couldn't help it, he was just too shy around girls he liked or could like. Those eyes...
Araysa was so happy, but also as nervous as Nick. Here she was, shopping with the man of her dreams. She wouldn't have believed it if anyone had told her so a day before.
"I always knew there has to be a reason for living in Minnesota", she thought and giggled under her breath. "I can give Nick Carter a tour across the Mall of America!"
When Nick and Araysa disappeared into the first shop, the group split up. The guys decided it would be a lot safer this way, although they wore caps and sunglasses as disguise.
Sarah watched Araysa in envy as she left with Nick. Now that they had met again, Sarah's feelings came rushing back, as strong as when she had just fallen in love with Nick. "He just needed a shopping guide", she told herself and quickly joined Brian, Kevin, Mandy and Howie, who formed one group.
Kevin soon noticed that Brian and Mandy got along really well. Not that others didn't, but he saw that Mandy had totally drawn Brian's attention to her. So he decided to give them some time on their own. Kevin really wanted Brian tofind a nice girl and be happy again, now that Leighanne wasn't part of his life anymore.
"Hey Sarah, what do you say - would you be so kind to give Howie and me some female advice while we shop around?! Besides I think this group is still too big." Howie smiled knowingly at Kevin. It seemed he had had the same thought about Brian and Mandy.
"Umm, yeah sure", came Sarah's reply.
Mandy and Brian were so lost in their conversation that they didn't even notice them leave...
"I just hope our three lovefools" - Kevin referred to AJ, Nick and Brian - "won't forget about the time", Kevin jokingly said to Howie. The boys had a deal about their shopping tours: when they had to be back at the hotel at a certain time, they would meet at the car an hour before. Which meant the three "couples" had three hours to get to know each other.
Sarah knew she would have so much fun with Howie and Kevin, but she still felt sad. Why didn't Nick ask her to come with him and Araysa? Could it be he was mad about what had happened in Cologne? But he didn't say a word and didn't seem to be angry. On the other hand she had never apologized...
"I'm gonna make him love me", she thought. "At least I'm not gonna let Araysa take over!"
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