“Hey, wow, I’m so glad you could make it!” Howie kissed my cheek as I handed him the bottle of wine. “I didn’t think you would get here!”
“Work was hell but for you’d I’d cross the devil himself.” I hugged Howie hard and kissed his cheek. “How are you, best friend of mine?”
“Good…busy…this music thing is crazy! We’re really gonna hit it big here, you watch,” he said, his brown eyes sparkling cheerfully. “Let me introduce you to the important people.”
He took my hand and led me through the crowd. The tiny house he was renting was packed with people. This party was to celebrate the first American tour for the music group he was a part of, named The Backstreet Boys. Four young men were standing and talking in the corner. “I think you’ve met everyone, right? This is my best friend, as you rascals know…this is AJ, Brian, Kevin and Nick.”
I looked from one to the other. Seventeen-year-old Nick gave me a shy grin. Kevin was around my age and he gave me a warm smile. Brian, Kevin’s cousin, gave me a, “Hey, how ya doin?”
AJ McLean looked at me and grinned. I couldn’t help but blush. I said hi, then told Howie I needed something to drink. He immediately took my hand and led me to the makeshift bar. I shivered as I thought of Alexander McLean. The first night I had met him, three weeks earlier, he had cornered me in the bathroom of Howie’s house and we had had hard quick sex on the floor. Protected sex, thank goodness, but still not something I normally did. I never did someone so quick…not even when I was incredibly lonely, as I was then. I knew the names and addresses of everyone I had ever had sex with. Anal retentive, I know, but I wasn’t about to just fuck and go. I needed vitals. Still, as I looked back at AJ, I couldn’t help but smile. At eighteen that boy knew about how to please women then any mature man I had ever met.
“Hey.” I felt a hand on my elbow and turned.
“Gary. Hi.” I hugged a friend of Howie’s that I had dated for a while. “How are you? This is a surprise. How’s Deana and the baby?”
“I was in town for business. The family is wonderful. How are you?”
We made idle chitchat until Howie brought me my drink. “Hey, Gary. C’mon. I have a few other people from the office that I want you to meet.” Howie wove me through the group, throwing so many names in my face that I soon became dizzy. He kept introducing me as “his other half” or “the one that got away.” I finally dragged him into a corner and smacked him.
“Howie, stop it! We dated for what, six hours when we were thirteen? People will think…”
“People will think I’m an idiot for letting someone as wonderful as you go,” he interrupted, kissing my cheek. “I’m just playing with you. Hey, I gotta talk to someone. You okay alone?”
“Yes, Dad,” I said, sighing. He grinned his sweet grin and went to mingle. I saw AJ across the room. He toasted me with his beer and I sighed. The whole idea of underage drinking was totally foreign to AJ. Any age was the right age to drink, according to him. He tapped someone on the shoulder and the man turned around. My heart stopped. This was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen.
The man and AJ approached me and my heart still refused to beat. He had broad shoulders, jet black hair and aquamarine eyes. Oh God. Black hair and blue eyes. My dream combination. His smile revealed icy white teeth. “See? This is her…the sweetheart I was telling you about. This is a good friend of mine, John.”
She can account for all the men in her life/Where they are now, who they married, how many kids they have/She knew their backgrounds, family and friends/A few she even talks to now and then/But there is one she can’t put her finger on/There is one who never leaves her thoughts…
And she thinks his name was John…