I woke up the next day and went to take a shower. After I was all ready to go I went to wake up Charlene. I opened her door to see her under the covers. I yanked them off her and turned on her radio.
"Ok..gawd..I'm up." She groaned under the covers.
"Are you going to Barnes & Noble with me later?" I asked referring to meeting AJ.
Her head popped out."What do you think?" She asked in a smart tone.
"Fine..meet me out front at 2." I said then looked at my watch to see it was 8:30. "I am going to work now."
"OK..bye." She said and layed back down.
"See ya." I said and left to go to my car. I worked at the mall in Sears. It was right by Barnes & Noble so I could meet him on time. It was now 1:30 so I said I was going to lunch and headed for the book store. I was early so I decided to look around before meeting him out front. I went to the Mystery section and looked around. I noticed a book and looked at the back cover. 'Charlene would like this.' I thought since the only books I got her to read were Mysteries. I walked around a little more and got a book that told you what your dreams mean and went to go pay. It was close to the time so I headed outside with my purchaces. I looked outside to see a man with a cowboy hat. I looked at his clothes and saw he was wearing black baggy jeans and a white muscle shirt under a button-up yellow shirt. He had yellow shades to match his shirt. I stood at the opposite side of him and looked around. I waited a couple of more minutes until I heard someone speak to me.
"Are you Jess?" The man in the black cowboy hat asked. I looked at him and smiled.
"That would be me..your Alex?" I asked him. He grinned.
"Yup." He said looking me up and down. I was wondering if my black jeans and purple low-cut shirt were best for meeting him in.
"Are you as uncomfortable as me?" He asked after a moment of silence. I laughed.
"Yea." I said. Just then I saw Charlene running up to us in her blue jeans and baby blue shirt.
"Hey Jess..sorry I'm late." She said when she got up to me. "Hi..I'm Charlene." She told AJ sticking out her hand. AJ took it and kissed the top.
"Nice meeting you..in person." AJ said with a smile. Charlene blushed.
"I'm sorry about getting hostile before.." She said looking at the ground.
"Not a problem..don't worry about it." He said. Then he looked back to me.
"So..do you have anything planned? Do you wanna go somewhere?" He asked me.
"Nope..I'm free. Charlene?" I asked not leaving her out. She looked from me to AJ.
"Uhh..I have to meet Sandy at her house then we are going to go pick out a car for her. You guys go have fun." She said backing away.
"If your sure..." I said looking at her funny.
"Yea..I'm sure..bye." She said turning around to walk away.
"Bye Charlene." AJ said to her retreating back. She looked back and waved.
" That was weird.."
"You know your her favorite BackStreet Boy?" I asked him as we walked towards his car.
"Really? That's cool. Why did she act so strange?" He asked me.
"I guess cuz I am here and she doesn't wanna get in the way.."
"In the way of what?" He asked innocently. I looked at him to see him trying to hold in a laugh.
"Shut up!" I said and hopped in the passenger side. "Where are we going?"
"You hungry?" He asked.
"I could eat." I said loooking at him.
"How about...McDonald's?" He asked looking hopeful. I laughed.
"Ok."
"So..since you don't like BSB..what kind of music do you like?" He asked me.
"Rock mostley. Offspring..Pushmonkey..Kid Rock..Metallica.." I said listing off my favorites.
"That's cool. Have you ever heard our music though?"
"Not really..I always leave the room if Charlene starts to put it on." I said looking at him, making sure what I said didn't hurt him. He laughed.
"Can you turn on the radio for me?" He asked keeping his eyes on the road. I did as he asked and the opening chords of "Larger than life" filled the car. After the song ended I looked at him and asked who sung that. This made him laugh again. I liked his laugh..it was deep and raspy.
"That was..US!" He said laughing harder.
"No way." I said and he looked over at me.
"Why would I lie about that??" He asked looking serious for a moment.
"Well..I guess I have to get your album if your songs are like that." I said. AJ just smiled and chatted with me interested in what I had to say.