Chapter Nineteen

****Two weeks later****
	
“ Guess who has to be getting up so he can fly to New York and start his tour?” 
“ I am awake,” AJ mumbled into the phone, rolling over and peering at the digital clock
next to his bed.
“ Yeah, sure you are,” Nat mocked, laughing. 
“ Speaking of which, what are  you doing awake at five am?”  He stifled
another yawn and pushed the covers off of himself.
“ I’ve got a reading at nine; I like to do yoga to get me spiritually relaxed...”
“ You are so full of shit, Natalie,” AJ chuckled as he got up, nearly tripping on the
luggage strewn across the floor.
“ Like you’re not.  Ok, fine, my brother’s flying in from Seattle and I am gonna go pick
him up,”
“ Fun.  Did you offer or what?” 
“ Offered.” He heard the apprehension in her voice and paused.
“ I’m sure you guy’sll manage without arguing or anything,” He comforted, unsure of
what to say.
“ Sure.  So are you awake yet?” 
“ Of course, I’m actually attempting to take a piss without you realizing,” He joked,
trying to lighten the air.
“ Shut up, AJ.  Well, listen, I-”
“ Hang on, you’re gonna go to the airport right? How about we go and get some
breakfast and then you can ride over with me?” 
“ Ok.  What time do you need to be there?” 
“ Um...I think the flight’s at like 8:20,”
“ And you need to be there earlier?” 
“ Well, what we could do is we go get food and take it to the airport and wait,” 
“ Allright, yeah.  Ok, go get ready and I’ll meet you outside in 45 minutes,” 
“ Sounds good. Thanks for the wake-up call, Nat,”
“ Sure, AJ, I’ll see ya in a little while,” They hung up and AJ tossed the phone on the
unmade bed before walking into the hallway.
“ Nick!  Are you up?” He bellowed, wondering if his voice carried downstairs.
“ Yeah!” Was Nick’s response and AJ, satsified with the answer and not seeing the need
to tell Nick about Nat bumming a ride with them, walked into his bathroom and
proceeded to get ready for the month-long promo tour for their new single...


	
	*****
	Natalie smoothed her light khaki pants and waited for AJ outside by their
mailboxes.  Forty five minutes had turned into fifty and fifty soon to an hour.  Getting
impatient, she  walked up to the front door.  Ringing the doorbell, her finger lingered on
it and the front door opened suddenly.
“ Jesus fucking Christ, I heard you the first time, Natalie,” Nick thundered, pushing
the screen door open and coming out with his luggage.
“ Where’s AJ?” She asked, not caring much for his attitude.
“ How am I supposed to know?” 
“ Well you live with him, don’t you?” She snapped, opening the glass screen door and
entering the house and leaving Nick to mumble to himself outside.
“ AJ, we’re gonna be late!” She called up the stairs, glancing at her watch.
“ Hold on, you’re not coming with us are you?” Nick inquired, his tone hostile.
“ As a matter of-”
“ Hey, guys, ready?” AJ came bouncing down the stairs in unusually good spirits for six
in the morning.
“ Yeah.” Nick muttered, shooting a look at Natalie who rolled her eyes.
“ How childish are you acting?” 
“ I didn’t say anything,” Nick retorted and walked out of the house.
“ I’d say he’s in a pretty good mood for this early,” AJ joked, grabbing his suitcases and
walking outside after her. 
“ What time is your brother landing?” He asked, once settled in the limo. 
“ His plane lands at 9:40.” 
“ So what are you gonna do for that hour?”
“ Probably think up ways my manager’s gonna throw a fit for me not bringing along any
of the security guys.”   
“ Great, we’ve all been there.”  An awkward silence ensued,  Nick staring out of the
windows yet giving off that resentful attitude he had for Natalie.  The ride to the airport
was a mere twenty minutes but it seemed to last a lot longer when they finally reached
it.  
“ Let’s go get some breakfast,” AJ told Nat once finished with checking their luggage
and the usual, grabbing her wrist  and glancing behind to make sure one of their
security guys was following.
“ Ok, where to?” 
“ Is he always such a jerk?” Natalie asked, distracted.
“ Um...I’m not really sure...Well, not really, he’s usually well-trained,” He managed a
cheap crack yet failed to get a smile out of her.
“ There’s a Cinnabon,” She pointed out.
“ What do you want?” Aj and Natalie both stared at the lady at the counter once inside,
her tone quite sharp.
“ Umm...” Aj stole a look at Natalie before inquiring,
“ What would you like, Natalie?” Suppressing their laughs, they quickly placed their
orders and moved to wait.
“ Jesus Christ, what happened to customer service?” Nat commented quietly so the lady
wouldn’t hear, letting off a laugh.
“ Aw man, she should definitly hook  up with Nick, he’d be like her slave...dog...” He
finished awkwardly.  Natalie stared at him before cracking up.
“ What the hell? ‘Slave dog’? Christ, AJ!”
“ Hey, I ran outta ideas, ok?” He defended, glad her  bad mood had curbed.  They
looked up when their food was placed on the counter.  Retrieving it, they left the store
to go back to where the rest of the Backstreet crew and Boys were waiting.
“ You’ve met everyone else, right?” AJ inquire before they stepped into one of  the
VIP/Personal  waiting rooms. 
“ Yup, at that banquet thing,” 
“ Hey, everyone,” There came a chorus of hello’s as they walked in and took a seat off
towards the corner of the room.  
“ So what events have you planned for your brother once he gets here?” Aj asked
through a sip of coffee a few minutes later.
“ To be honest, I have no idea.”
“ Is he dating anyone?”
“ Why?  Are ya intrested, J?” 
“ Funny, dumbass, it just so happens that if he isn’t, you can hook him up with one of
your friends and then, he’ll suddenly have a ton of things to do and you can
doubledate,” He finished, looking crafty.
“ Great idea, AJ,” She remarked dryly.
“ I don’t know what we’ll do...Do you think he likes picnics? Or dinner parties?” 
“ Well...Listen, babe, I don’t think the picnic idea is a good one for a few reasons. First
of all, you would never  last on a picnic, second, you don’t take your brother out
on a picnic unless you have a ton of other people there or ele it’ll seem very...wierd.  And
a dinner party? That would seem like work, I don’t think he’d like that on a general
tone unless your brother is into that kinda thing.”
“ So do you have any ideas?” 
“ Take him to a baseball game.” 
“ Baseball?” She looked dubious as she bit into her cinnamon roll.
“ Or ask him what he wants to do,” 
“ I guess,” The hour was passed quickly through talking and finishing their food and it
was time to board their flights.
“ Well, I wish you all the luck with your management and with your brother,” AJ said,
standing and turning to her.
“ Thanks, and good luck on your tour,” She smiled at him as they noticed Nick staring
in their direction.  They hugged rather quickly, being their first actual contact since
that drunken kiss a few weeks ago and avoiding Nick’s meaningfull glare.
“ We’re gonna be late, AJ,” He snapped and AJ rolled his eyes.
“ Ok, I’ll give ya a call, babe,” He planted a kiss on her cheek and she said her goodbyes
to the rest of the guys.  With a parting wave, they left.
“ Ms. Trevante?  Perhaps you would like a room nearer your brother’s terminal?” Asked
one of the airport workers.
“ Yes, please,” She followed him to another waiting room and sat to await the arrival of
her brother...






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