"Haven't seen you guys in a while," A.J. says to Nick and I as we walk up to where the bus is waiting.
"Hey man," Nick says as they hug in that guy-hug kinda way.
"Hey Ally," A.J. says to me, testing my reaction.
"Hey," I smile, not wanting to make it obvious to Nick that there's tension between A.J. and I.
"So who's this friend that you're bringing?" A.J. asks.
"You'll see," I smirk.
We all get on the bus where Kevin, Howie, Alissa and Brian are already waiting.
"Hey guys." I say as we get on the bus.
"Hey," they all reply.
"Leighanne and Jess aren't coming?" I ask.
"Nope," Kevin replies.
"Work again," Brian explains.
"Oh. Alissa, will you wait outside with me?" I ask.
"Oh, for your friend?" she asks.
"Yeah."
"Sure."
I get off the bus and she follows.
As soon as we're both off I grab her arm and pull her aside so that the guys can't see us from the bus windows.
"What's going on?" she asks, seeing the nervousness on my face.
"Liss, I've got to tell you something and you have to promiseto keep it a secret."
"Of course," she promises.
"Even from Howie," I say, making sure we're clear.
"Ally, I won't tell. I promise."
"OK." I take a deep breath. "A.J's in love with me."
"What?!" she says rather loudly.
"Shhhh. Keep your voice down."
"Sorry," she whispers.
"What do you mean A.J's in love with you?" she asks, rather shocked.
"It all started a little while ago when he and Carolyn were about to break up," I explain. "He kissed me and I admit I kissed him back. And then he just blurted out that he's in love with me." I put my hand on my head.
"Does Carolyn know all this?"
"No of course not!" I answer rather abruptly. "Do you think I want to lose one of my best friends along with my boyfriend?" I say, making it rather obvious that the whole situation is stressing me out. "Anyway, I'll fill you in on all the details later. Carolyn's going to be here soon."
"What? Carolyn's coming on tour? Does A.J. know?"
"No. I asked Nick to ask the guys if I could bring a friend. I never told them who it is."
"A.J. is notgoing to be happy," Alissa shakes her head.
"I don't care if he's pissed off. She misses him and I need to get them back together so that he'll forget about me and won't ruin my relationship with Nick," I explain.
"But Ally, he doesn't love Carolyn anymore... apparently he loves you. Besides, A.J's a good guy, he'd never purposly ruin your relationship with Nick."
"I know he's a good guy and it might not be on purpose, but if Nick ever found out that we kissed - " I shake my head, not wanting to think about. "Alissa, he could totally ruin everything I have with Nick, in a second." I look at her with desperation. "He flew to Vegas for god sake to stop us from getting married," I accidentally blurt out.
"You and Nick were going to get married?" she asks, surprised.
"I'll fill you in later, here comes Carolyn."
"Hey Carolyn!" Alissa waves.
"Hey!" Carolyn runs up to hug us both. "Oh, I've missed you two," she smiles. "So do the guys know that I'm coming yet?" she asks.
"No." I look up at the bus.
"Hey, is your friend here yet?" Nick asks, getting off the bus. "We've gotta hit the road - " He stops when he sees Carolyn standing there. "Hey Carolyn," he says, with a questioning look on his face.
"Hi Nick," she says, as he gives her a friendly hug.
"Is she the friend?" Nick asks, looking over at me.
"Yup," I smile nervously.
"Hmmm," he smiles. "Well we should get on the bus, we've gotta leave."
Nick and I get on first. "A.J. is not going to like this," he whispers into my ear as we get on.
"Well, I didn't invite her to make him happy," I whisper back. "She's my friend and I wanted her to come."
"Hey guys. She's here," I say as Carolyn walks up behind us.
"Carolyn," A.J. says, very surprised to see her.
"Hi," she says nervously.
The other guys are equally surprised to see her but try to not make her feel unwelcome.
"I hope you're not mad that I'm here," she says to A.J. "Ally invited me. I hope it's OK."
"Of course it is," he lies and gives her a hug. "We're still friends right?"
"Yeah," she smiles.
The bus starts moving and we all get settled. A little while later, while everyone is doing their own thing, A.J. asks to speak to me.
"What?" I ask rather coldly, once we're alone in the entertainment room.
"What are you trying to pull?" he asks angrily.
"What do you mean?" I pretend not to know what he's talking about.
"You know what I mean. Why the hell did you invite her?"
"She's my friend," I say snobbishly. "And according to you, yours too."
"How would you like it if I invited your ex-boyfriend to live on a tiny bus with you for over a month?"
"How would you like it if I flew to Vegas to stop you from marrying the one person you love the most in this world?" I shoot back.
"Oh, so that's what this is?" He crosses his arms. "Payback?"
"No A.J, this is not payback," I say more calmly. "I just wanted her here and I'm sorry if you have a problem with it. Listen, I'm not out to hurt you but what you did in Vegas was stupid! You're just lucky Nick never questioned marriage being in the contract, because if he had everything that's happened between us would be forced out into the open. I know you have feelings for me - "
"I don't just have feelings for you Ally. I love you," he interrupts.
"Fine A.J. whatever you want to call it. I used to have feelings for you too but I forced myself to put them behind me. You gave me your word that you were going to move on, and you haven't."
"It's not as simple as you make it out to be," he says defensively.
I sigh loudly. "A.J." I put my arms around his neck and hug him. "I really care about you as a friend and I don't want to lose that friendship because of this."
Just then there's a knock at the door. I break away from him quickly and open it.
"What's going on?" Nick asks, seeing A.J. in the room.
"Oh nothing. We were just talking."
"About Carolyn coming on tour?" Nick whispers.
"Yeah," I reply. "Anyway, we're finished so go ahead and hook up your XBox," I say, seeing it in his hands. I look back at A.J. and walk out of the room.