"Will you and your mom be spending the holidays at your grandparents' again?" Brian asked AJ after they had finished this year's last meeting with their managers.
"Umm, no", AJ hesitantly answered. "Mom is gonna be there, I...probably won't spent Christmas with them this year."
"What?" Brian looked at him wide-eyed. "Where are ya gonna be? Man, you've never spent Christmas without them if you could make it home!"
"I know", AJ shrugged. "If...things don't go as planned" - in his mind he added that things would most likely not turn out as planned - "then I'll be home again soon enough. But..."
"Where are you going anyway?"
"Up to Canada", came AJ's short answer.
"Canada?!" Brian asked incredulous. "You mean Canada as in north from the States, at this time of year cold and snowy Canada?"
"Yeah?!"
"Bone McLean and snow - what's wrong with that picture?" Brian asked. "AJ, you hate snow, what the hell are you doing in Canada over Christmas time?"
"Visiting an old friend", AJ replied, and sadly added: "If she wants to see me that is!"
"Wait a minute...", Brian grinned. "No way, wait!" He grinned even more. "Alyson was from Maine, not Canada, right?" When AJ squirmed a little under Brian's stare, it was answer enough for his friend. "You're gonna meet Alyson in Canada?!"
"Yeah, so what?" AJ hadn't told anyone about his plan to see her because he was afraid the guys could kill all his hopes about the trip or even talk him out of it. He knew best that Alyson probably just wanted to whoop his ass or slap him hard across the face for dumping her so unexpected. But he knew he had to see her again. Even if she told him to go to hell, he at least had to explain and apologize for the way everything had ended.
"I never knew you were still keeping in touch with her. I've never heard you talk about her again after...when was it?"
"'Bout a year ago. And we're not in contact still", AJ murmured.
Brian let out a whistle: "She's so going to kill you, you know."
"Can we change the subject?" AJ asked, a little annoyed. He didn't want to hear it, he knew it himself. But if he was going to hear it from anyone, in the end he might not have the guts anymore to go and see her.
"No way, now I want the whole deal", Brian grinned. "How did you find her? I mean, how do you know she's in Canada and where?"
"I had tried it at her home, but didn't reach anyone. Then I remembered what she had told me about her uncle, that he's an architect and works in Boston and so on. So I called his bureau and asked him, where I could reach her. I bet he thought I was some freak, who wanted to stalk her or something like that. Anyway, he gave me the number of her apartment that she shares with some friends or just other students, I'm not sure, but not without adding that she isn't there anymore and I should call again in January, when she would be back. I tried anyway and one of her mates, who was naive enough, told me exactly where I could find her."
Brian snickered: "Well, I bet they've been mates for the longest time!"
AJ glared at him. Then he nervously asked: "You really think she'll be so mad to see me?"
"Hey", Brian started, "I don't even have a clue what was going on between you two. You've never been gossiping much about Alyson. I tried getting something out of Howie, but I got the feeling not even he knows the whole story." Brian grinned. "But seeing how everything ended from one day to the other I'd say she won't be too pleased. At least not without a slight warning ahead."
Suddenly AJ got curious: "Why do you remember Alyson anyway, after all that time?"
"A - because there was only one girl after Alyson, and that didn't last very long. Howie just mysteriously said it had to do with "something unsolved" and I figured that could mean Alyson. B - because you've never been gossiping 'bout her. That made a lasting impression. And finally C - because you still have that picture of you and her in your purse."
"How the heck do you know what's in my purse?" AJ asked.
Brian just laughed: "Bone, you know how it is: Backstreet Boys have no privacy at all!" He put his arm around AJ's shoulder: "Come on, let's have dinner. I want to hear the whole story now and then I can give you some advice on whether you should wear a bullet proof vest when you see her or not! So, let's start at the beginning. How did you two meet?"
AJ had a dreamy expression in his eyes, as he began telling Brian about his and Alyson's meeting: „I had seen her on the street and immediately fell head over heels. I had started following her for half an hour, just watching her. She's so beautiful. She was taking pictures of old houses or so, when I finally made my move..."
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