“Destiny!”
“Nickers!!”
He cringed at the nick name she gave him. She laughed at his reaction.
“Nicky, I’m not going to stop calling you that until you give me a good reason.” She said with a smile.
“I’ll give you a reason .” He paused for a while. Destiny looked him in the eye patiently.
“It uh, it reminds me of a chocolate bar.” “And since when don’t you like chocolate?”
“Since now.”
“Right...and that’s why you’re holding a chocolate bar.”
“That’s not mine it’s AJ’s” He said quickly shoving the half eaten chocolate bar into AJ’s hands.
She chuckled, “Nice try Nicky. You’re not a very good liar by the way”
“Okay fine dawg, I’ll tell you the truth.”
“This should be interesting” Brian said.
“It’s another friggin word for UNDERWEAR...”
Destiny thought about it for a while and started cracking up.
“You’re right.”
“Thank you.”
“Still I ain’t going to stop calling you that.”
“But i gave you a reason!”
“Please?” She pouted
“Fine, fine.” he finally gave up.”I’m still waiting for a hug.” Destiny got up for a hug. Nick welcomed the hug and gave her a peck on the cheek.
AJ had jealousy in his eyes. He was observing their every move and even the way they looked at eachother. Brian was the only one who noticed what he was doing. It puzzled him. He was trying to make sense of the whole story but It just wasn’t working.

He looked over at Destiny. It didn’t surprise him that Destiny never really told him or the other guys about her crush on AJ. Destiny was always quiet when it came to talking about her own problems and feelings. Destiny was just a real hyper, cheery person. She wanted people around her to be happy and she thought the only way she could achieve that is by being happy for them. Never cry about silly things. Never complain to her friends about her problems. That’s the way she dealt with things. Although when people wanted to talk to her about their problems, she was always there for them. The guys opened up to her often for two main reasons: First, she was a great listener and always gave good advice. Second, they wanted to make her feel comfortable with them. They thought that if she knew everything about them, she’ll start talking to them. Even though she didn't do this very often, they knew that if something was deeply wrong or if she felt really strongly about something, she would tell them. They trusted her to do so.

AJ, on the other hand, was very talkative. AJ talked about everything. He was probably the most talkative person Brian knew. He remembered the nights when they finished their concerts and all they wanted to was go to sleep but AJ insisted on talking about everything that he experienced that night: the fans, the banners, the songs they sang and the way the crowd reacted to them. They literally had to drag him out of their rooms to be able to get some sleep. The way that he hid all of this was very suspicious. He knew that AJ must have felt really strongly about this since he was so quiet about it. If he just thought it was not important, it would have probably come out in one of their many conversations. But he kept it quiet, to himself, deep down in his heart. Then it all hit Brian, he realized that AJ did have feelings for Destiny, even if he himself didn’t know it.

“Yo Brian, wake up.” Nick said while nudging Brian.
“Sorry. I guess I’m just tired. Dozed off for a while.”
“Took a nap with your eyes open?”
“Yep Des, It’s the only way to do it.”
“I bet. Do you do that during interviews and stuff?”
“Course he does Dessy, why do you think his eyes are always facing the floor lately.” Nick said
“Oh...so THAT’s the reason.” she laughed. AJ was feeling uneasy. He hadn’t said a word since they saw Destiny. He just sat down in one of the chairs and listened to their conversation quietly. He knew he had to talk to her. Heck, he wanted to talk to her but he just couldn’t find the right words.

“You know what Nicky? I’m hungry.” Brian said
“I got some stuff in my bag you could have.” He said pointing to one of the bags on the chairs.
“Nah, that’s junk food. I want some real food.”
“Like what?”
“There’s a McDonalds downstairs.”
“and McDonalds isn’t junk food?” He starred at Brian with disbelief. “Nah Nicky, McDonalds is the GOOD STUFF.” He said with a goofy smile.
“Aiight, I ain’t complaining. Wanna come Destiny?”
“Nah it’s okay. You don’t have to come with us. We’ll get you something, you too AJ.” He quickly said and dragged Nick’s arm towards the stairs.

Destiny sat back down in her chair and turned her attention back to the planes landing and departing the airport. AJ quietly got up and removed the bag from the chair next to her. He sat down and started talking.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Can we talk?”
She didn’t reply to his question, nor did she turn around to face him.
“Okay, if you don’t want to talk just tell me.”
“No AJ, it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you.” She stood up and looked down at him. “It’s just that you waited too long. I wanted to talk to you for months. You have no idea how long i waited for you to ask me if wanted to talk to you. But all you did is act like an ass towards me and ignore me and make me feel worse than I did. You made me feel like I did something wrong. And I’m not blaming you, I’m blaming me because I kept making excuses for you. I’m letting you take over my life. I can’t even go back to a tour which I loved. Even now I just want to forgive you. And you know why? Because I love you. But you made it more than clear that you don’t feel the same. Bye AJ.” She said quickly as tears formed in her eyes. She walked quickly towards the stairs, trying not to make a scene as went to seek comfort in her two best friends.

When she reached the food court she looked around trying to remember where the McDonalds were. As she turned around to look on the other side she nearly bumped into the two men. “Dessy, whatcha doing here?”
“Just couldn’t wait for my good. Did ya get it?”
“Yeah...A big mac with a large coke. I can’t believe you actually eat all of that.” He said whle pointing at the greasy bag he was holding.
“Sure do. “
“See i told ya she does, Bri.”
“But you’re so tiny!”
“Your point is? You should know I always pig out” She tried her best to smile.
“Okay, well we can start eating if we just go back to where we were sitting.”
“Why can’t we eat here?” She asked.
“Because we got some food for AJ too.” Brian explained
“Yeah...I guess so. But all our bags are there, wouldn’t want to mess that up. Kev would be mad” She cringed at her answer. She wasn’t the best person when it came to lying or making excuses
“Okay...well I’ll go up and tell AJ to come down here.” Nick said.
“No need to do that.” A voice said from behind them.
The 3 of them turned around to see AJ.
AJ’s eyes were locked with Destiny’s and he slowly said “I love you too.”

Home