"There's nothing about marriage in the contract," he says abruptly, looking straight into my eyes.
"What?" I ask nervously.
"I asked Howie and Brian. They both said that there is nothing about marriage in the contract."
"Oh," I say, not knowing how to respond. "Well, maybe A.J. was confused and he just thought there was," I say, trying to save A.J's ass.
"He wasn't confused," Nick says angrily. By this time, we're at our floor. We get out of the elevator and don't discuss the issue any further until we're both inside the hotel room. "He's studied the contract as much, maybe even more than Brian and Howie."
I sit down on the bed.
"Ally, is A.J. into to you? You know, in a more-than-just-friends kind of way?" he asks, trying to think of reasons why A.J. would stop our wedding.
"Uh," I can feel my heart beat faster. "No. Not that I've noticed. Nick, you're not thinking that A.J. interrupted our wedding because he's attracted to me are you?" I ask, trying to make him think the idea is ridiculous.
"Do you have any better ideas?" he asks, confusion and anger in his eyes.
"Maybe he truly thought it was in the contract," I repeat what I'd said earlier.
"That's not it," he says firmly. "You know, we don't have to keep guessing. I'll just go ask him." He walks hurriedly out of the room and towards A.J's door.
"Nick! Wait!" I chase after him and grab his arm. "Don't do this. I'm sure A.J. has a perfectly logical explanation. But you shouldn't confront him when you're so angry." I look at him pleadingly. "Please just wait until tomorrow, when you've calmed down, to talk to him about it?"
He takes a deep breath. "Fine," he says simply and we walk back to our room.
At around 2:00a.m. I decide to sneak over to A.J's room to let him know that Nick knows about the contract.
I get out of bed quietly and walk very softly out of the room. I close the door without making a sound and walk down the hall to A.J's room. I knock quietly, not wanting to wake the others, but he doesn't hear me so I knock a little louder. I can hear him walk over to the door and unlock it. He opens it, looking very tired.
"Ally, what are you doing here?" he asks, barely awake.
"Shhh." I push past him into the room and close the door quietly. "We have to talk, now."
"What about?" He rubs his eyes to clear his vision.
"Nick knows about the contract," I say simply.
"Nick knows what about the contract?" he asks dumbly, not thinking straight at such a late hour.
"He knows that you lied about there being something about marriage in it," I say firmly.
"Oh shit." He sits down on the corner of the bed and rubs his hands over his face.
"My sentiments exactly," I sigh and sit down next to him. "He's going to confront you about it," I explain. "That's why I had to talk to you tonight. You have to think of an excuse."
"Like what?"
"I don't know," I say in frustration. "He's already sure that you knew it wasn't in the contract. He said you studied the contract and know everything in it."
"I did study the contract," he admits. "Fuck. What am I supposed to tell him?" he asks, seeming very stressed. "That I stopped the wedding because I'm in love with his girlfriend?"
I blush at what he's just said. "I don't think we have many options here. You just have to convince him that you thought it was in the contract. Say you read something incorrectly and thought that it said all that stuff about marriage."
"I guess that's all I cando," he sighs.
"Well, I better get back to my room before Nick notices that I'm gone." I get up and walk toward the door.
"Ally?"
"Yeah?" I turn around to face him.
"I'm really sorry that I made things so complicated for you," he says sincerely.
I just look at him, not knowing how to respond. "Good night," I say, finally, avoiding what he'd said. I open the door
A.J. had avoided Nick all day even though they had had group interviews and photo shoots together. A.J. had managed to disappear every time they had a break, so Nick never got the chance to talk to him.
It was now around 8:30p.m. and we were boarding the bus to start on our way to the next city. Everyone was now on the bus, except A.J.
"Where's A.J?" Howie asks, wanting to stay on schedule.
"Oh, here he comes," Alissa says, looking out the window at A.J. who is running to the bus.
I had told Alissa all about what had happened and she had agreed to help me keep Nick and A.J. away from each other for as long as possible.
A.J. gets on the bus and goes straight into the entertainment room.
"What's up with him?" Brian asks of A.J's odd behavior.
"I'll go see," Nick says, making his move to confront A.J. about the contract.
"No Nick!" Alissa says, jumping up to stop him. "I'll go." She rushes past him into the entertaiment room and closes the door.
"God this is going to be hard," she sighs, sitting next to A.J. on the couch.
"What's going to be hard?" A.J. asks, not knowing that Alissa knows everything.
"Keeping Nick away from you on this tiny bus," she explains.
A.J. looks at her with surprise.
"Oh, don't worry. I know about everything that happened between you and Ally and the whole contract/wedding mess."
"You do?"
"Yep. Ally told me. Now I'm stuck with keep-A.J.-and-Nick-away-from-each-other duty," she laughs. "He's going to corner you eventually, I mean be realistic - we're on a bus. Just try to always have someone around you when he does. I doubt he'd confront you about the whole contract thing in front of someone. And if he asks to speak with you alone, say that you were just about to do something, like have a nap or get something to eat. Oh and he doesn't know that I know, so don't mention it," she smiles.
"Sounds like a plan," he smiles. "So you know about everything?"
"Yep. At least I think I do," Alissa replies.
"Do you think I'm an ass for chasing after my friend's girl?" A.J. asks, sounding sad.
Alissa sighs deeply. "I think some of the things you've done are ass-ish," she laughs. "But I don't think you're an ass." She pauses. "You're in love with her right?"
"Yeah," he says regretfully.
"Well your heart doesn't stop feeling just because Ally happens to be Nick's girlfriend," Alissa says wisely. "But you need to leave them alone because otherwise things are going to get really ugly," she advises. Alissa leans her head against A.J's and chuckles. "What have you gotten yourself into this time McLean?"