They had met at the recording studio in early July. She had been visiting her cousin, David, who was one of the recording engineers. She walked into the booth with Dave, who introduced her to BSB. AJ was instantly drawn to the tall, slender well-built beauty; she had an easy smile, long reddish-black hair & dark green eyes that seemed to draw him in against his will. He knew he had to find a way to know this young woman better.
“Guys, I want to introduce you to my cousin, Jessica Synklaire.”
The Boys introduced themselves, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet all of you,” Jessie said in a soft voice, with a smile on her lips that also reached her eyes. AJ could tell she was a fan; but it was nice to meet a fan that wasn’t tackling him or screaming in his ear.
She stayed for only about fifteen minutes, then said to Dave, “I have to go, Hon, I have an appointment this afternoon. Why don’t we meet for dinner tonight?”
“Sure, no problem. How about 7?” Dave asked.
“7’s fine.” She turned to the Boys, “It was good to meet you guys,” she said with a shy smile.
“It’s our pleasure, Jessica,” Kevin said with a smile. “Maybe you can hang out longer next time?”
“Maybe,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll see ya’ll later,” she turned at the door & waved to them, smiling, then left.
**********
The next day, after a lot of persuasion, Dave relented & gave in to AJ’s questions about Jessica. “Dave, I have to see her again. Do you think you could ask her if she’d meet me for lunch, or dinner? I won’t do anything stupid, I promise!” he said, giving a scout’s honor.
“Against my better judgement, AJ, I’ll ask her. But it’s HER choice if she wants to see you, you understand? You break her heart, Alex, your ass is mine.”
“Absolutely; her decision. And I promise I won’t break her heart,” AJ said, smiling.
**********
Twenty minutes later, he was surprised when his cell phone rang.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Is this Alex McLean?” a soft voice asked.
AJ recognized the voice immediately. “Yes.”
“Hi, it’s Jessica, David’s cousin; we met yesterday?”
“Yeah, I remember,” he said, smiling.
“Dave said you wanted to meet me for dinner? I thought I’d call to let you know that I would like that very much.”
He couldn’t believe his luck! She actually was going to go out with him. “Great! Would I be overstepping if I asked you to go to dinner with me tonight?”
“I’d like that, Alex.”
“Is 7:30 ok, with you?” he asked.
She agreed, “That’s fine. I can meet you someplace,” she started, but was interrupted.
“No, I would be honored if you let me come pick you up & take you to dinner myself.”
“Then I expect you at 7:30, on Dave’s front steps. See you then, Alex McLean,” she laughed softly, as she hung up.
***********
AJ had shown up promptly at 7:30, with a single rose; a Peace Rose, which he had found out through Dave, was one of her favorite flowers. He had also found out that her other favorite flowers were StarGazer Lilies & African Violets. At the flower shop, he had debated whether to get a bouquet of the lilies & roses, but had decided that he didn’t want to scare her off before they had even had dinner.
During dinner, he found that she was very easy to talk to. She was truly interested in him as a person, not as AJ of the Backstreet Boys. The more they talked, the more they found in common. She loved to go dancing & had a decent singing voice; she was an only child, born to an older man & young wife, and raised in a very strict & religious environment; she loved musical theater, but had acted very little. He had noticed that she had a small tattoo on the inside of her wrist – a stargazer lily.
“So, I see you don’t have a fear of tattoos,” he laughed turning her wrist over to get a better look at the small tattoo.
“Not at all; I have several, actually,” she smiled.
“Oh?” he asked, surprised.
“Yep. I think the ones that hurt the worst, tho, were the two on my back. Another one that kinda hurt was the one on the back of my neck,” she explained, pulling her hair over her shoulder to show him the tribal sun & pentacle design on her neck.
“So you have 4?”
“Actually I have six; I have a wolf on my left hip, & a bird of paradise on my right leg up to my hip.” She couldn’t help but laugh at his look of complete surprise. Just looking at her, he never would have guessed that this woman would have six tattoos, all with a massive amount of color.
*********
He walked her to the front door when he took her back to Dave’s. “I had a very nice time, Alex. Good night,” she smiled at him, then leaned forward and placed a simple kiss on his lips.
When she turned & started to walk through the door, he caught her hand, stopping her. “Jessie, I’d like to see you again. Please?” he asked, looking at her with hope in his eyes.
“I can’t resist it when a man gives me puppy eyes,” she laughed. “Yes, Alex, I’d like to see you again.”
*********
For the next two weeks, they saw each other whenever they could; they went to dinner or dancing at night & he even succeeded dragging her along on one of his & Howie’s shopping marathons. He was always on his best behavior with her, not wanting to hurt her in any way. He found, to his surprise, that being with her brought out his need to protect. He didn’t know how, but he knew that he would do anything to see that she was always safe.
He also found out what a jealous idiot he could be.
They had all gone out to dinner then decided to go to a nightclub for some dancing. Jessie barely stopped dancing from the time they arrived. She didn’t want to leave the dance floor when AJ took a break, so Howie asked to join her. “You don’t mind do you, Bone?” he asked.
“No, if Jessie doesn’t mind. I just need to sit out a couple,” he laughed.
“I don’t mind, Howie, come on!” Jessie said, dragging Howie out to the dance floor.
Ten minutes later, AJ found himself getting mad seeing how close his best friend was dancing to Jessica. “Oh, hell no! He ain’t gonna be the Latin Lover with her.” He stood up before Kevin or Brian could stop him, walking quickly towards the dance floor. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, D!” he demanded, as he came up to the two. Howie quickly backed away, startled by his friend’s anger.
“Alex, it’s ok, we were just dancing. It’s nothing,” Jessica said quickly, placing her hand on his arm. He turned toward her, then realized that he had acted like an idiot.
“Damn, I’m sorry.” He turned hurt eyes to his friend, “D, man, I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s ok, man,” Howie said with a smile. “It’s already forgotten. I guess I blame myself,” Howie said, as he turned and walked back towards the table, only to be stopped by a couple girls wanting to dance.
“Jessie, I’m an ass; I’m sorry,” he turned towards her. He was surprised to see her smile. She moved closer to him, putting her arms around his neck.
“Like Howie said, it’s already forgotten,” she said as she moved against him & placed a kiss on his lips, but he didn’t allow the kiss to stop. He wrapped one arm around her waist & put his other hand behind her head, effectively pinning her to him & deepening the kiss.
She was a bit surprised, but not enough to push away. She was just happy that his anger & hurt had dissipated. After AJ broke the kiss, they walked back to the table, but when they got there, they realized that one chair had been taken away. AJ took it all in stride, sitting down in the one vacant chair & pulled a laughing Jessica down onto his lap. "Make the best of the situation, right?” he laughed.
**********
Neither one of them wanted the two weeks to end, but neither had a choice in the matter. She was going back to start her last semester at the small community college; he had to finish up the recording of the new album, then go into rehearsals for the new tour. He drove her to the airport that morning, wanting a little more time with her. As they walked hand in hand to the terminal gate, they were quiet, neither wanting to say goodbye.
When she walked back over to him after receiving her boarding pass, he saw the tears in her eyes. “Babe, don’t cry,” he said gently, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He put his arm around her shoulders & pulled her to him in a tight hug, not wanting to let her go.
“I can’t help it, Alex. I just don’t want to go home.” She looked up at him through her tears. “You showed me that there are good guys left in the world. You don’t know what these two weeks have meant to me,” she said through her tears.
“Yes, Baby, I do. It’s meant the same to me,” he said softly as he lowered his lips to hers for a gentle kiss. He broke the kiss, saying, “We go on tour in 6 weeks, Jessie. We should be in North Carolina in the next few months or so. Please tell me you’ll go to one of the shows so I can see you again.”
“I will. I promise,” she said. They stood a few more minutes in each other’s arms til the P.A. announced her flight.
He watched her walk to the gate, then after she waved goodbye & boarded the plane he turned and walked out of the airport.
********
Over the next few weeks, he called almost every day & sometimes in the early evenings. He even made a very quick trip to see her a week before the tour started.
When he arrived at her house (thanks to the address & directions he had gotten from David), he wasn’t expecting a grilling from a retired Army Drill Instructor. He was grateful that he had decided to wear a long-sleeve black dress shirt that covered his tattoos & black slacks. Her father wanted to know everything about him: his family, friends, job, if he had a criminal record, etc. Her father was five minutes into the questioning when Jessica walked into the house.
When she saw AJ, she dropped her book bag & ran to him. “Alex! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming in?” she asked, hugging him.
“I wanted to surprise you,” he said nervously, hugging her back. “Your father & I were just talking & waiting for you to get home.” He said it with a smile on his face, but she could tell that he was very uncomfortable.
“That’s nice, Alex,” she said with a tight smile, then turned to her father. “Daddy, you promised you would be nice to my friends,” she scolded. AJ almost laughed; it was almost too funny to see a 5 ft 8in, slender woman scolding a 6 ft 5in, muscular ex-Army DI. To make it even funnier, the man actually looked like she had just slapped him.
“Well, Alex,” she turned back to him, “if you don’t mind trying my cooking, you can stay for dinner.”
“That sounds good to me; it’s been awhile since I had a good home-cooked meal,” he smiled.
“Great! I see Daddy was too busy giving you the 3rd degree to offer you anything to drink. What can I get you?” she asked.
“Anything, as long as it’s not liquor. I have to catch a late flight tonight to get back to Orlando. The guys kinda don’t know I left,” he grinned.
“Alex, you should’ve at least told Kev or Howie. Anyway, I’ll be right back,” she smiled at him, kissed his cheek and walked to the kitchen.
When she walked back into the living room, the tension was almost unbearable. AJ saw her put a smile on her face, for his sake, as she walked over and gave her father a beer, then handed him a soda. “Sorry, soda’s the best I can do.”
“That’s fine, Jessie,” he assured her.
“Jessica, why don’t the two of you go out to dinner? I can eat leftovers.” Her father looked directly at AJ, with an unreadable expression. Jessie didn’t miss the look and decided that it was the best choice to get AJ out of the house.
“Ok, Daddy. I’ll just cook for you tomorrow night, then.” She turned to AJ, saying, “Let me run upstairs real quick to change. I’ll be back in about five minutes.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be here,” he said.
As they drove to the restaurant, Jessie apologized for her father’s actions. “He’s always been over protective, Alex. After Mom died, it’s just got worse. I’m truly sorry I wasn’t there when you got there. I could’ve warned you about how he is if I had known you were coming.”
He took her hand in his, raising it to his lips & kissed the back of her hand. “Like I said, I wanted to surprise you. It’s a good thing I decided to dress conservatively, huh?” he laughed.
******
He dropped her off at her front door two and half hours later. They had had a nice candlelight 4-course meal in the Biltmore Village. “I wish I had more time to spend, Babe. But as I told ya earlier, none of the guys know I left Orlando. I even turned off my cell phone,” he laughed. “When we come to Asheville, will you still be at the show? You promised me I would be able to see you again.” He gave his best innocent look, complete with sad puppy eyes and a pout.
“I’ll be there, Alex. I don’t break promises. Unless something comes up between now & then, you have my solemn promise.”
“That’s all I wanted to know,” he said softly, then gently kissed her good-bye. “I’ll call you in a few days. I promise,” he said as he walked to his rental car. He waved to her as he drove away, but it wasn’t til the plane was in the air, that he realized he still hadn’t told her how he truly felt.
