CHAPTER 3
AJ awoke to the shrill ringing of the telephone the next day. Stretching across the bed to the nightstand, he answered it. "Hello?" His voice came out low and thick with sleep. "AJ! You still in bed, man? Its 3 o'clock, we have to do sound check and prep for the concert tonite! Get up and get down to the arena!" Nick squealed into the phone. AJ mumbled and hung up the phone.
Rolling over, he fell out of bed, got dressed as quickly as possible and headed down to the arena for rehearsal. Hopping onto the stage nearly an hour later, he grinned, belting out a line from Disney's 'Tarzan'. "The fun has arrived!" He shouted, throwing his arms into the air. The excitement was back in his eyes...
That night, the guys prepared for the usual meet-and-greet backstage. They were dressed in casual clothes this time as opposed to the normal space suit costumes. The fans filed in. AJ, Nick, Brian, Howie and Kevin sat lined up at a table to sign autographs, etc. One by one, they went down the row. Signature after signature after signature... "Okay..." AJ sighed, gazing down at the VIP pass and photograph he was about to sign. "Who do I make this out to?"
"Echo." The voice replied. AJ looked up. "Excuse me?" He asked, peering into the silver eyes that mirrored his own. "Echo." She said again. "My name is Echo." The pen in AJ's hand dropped with a clink to the table. It was the girl. Nick saw her at the same time AJ realized who she was and momentarily forgot what he was doing in order to worry about how AJ was doing. "How'd you get here?" AJ asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I drove. How about you?" Echo replied with a smirk. "I saw you the other night..." AJ said...still in disbelief. "I know. I was there." Echo replied with another smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I've seen you in other places too..." AJ's voice trailed off, not wanting to sound stupid... "...in your dreams..." Echo whispered, leaning close to him across the table. "...in every one of your dreams..." An audible gulp escaped his mouth as he swallowed hard. "What'd you say?" AJ asked with a shaky voice, picking up the pen and scribbling on the VIP pass as the other guys turned to see what was holding up the line. "You heard me." Echo replied, her perfume wafting over him with every intake of breath. "How'd you know you were in my dreams?" AJ stammered, handing the pass and photo back to her. "Because you've been in every one of mine..." Echo whispered, her face inches from his, before backing up and walking off. AJ leaned back in his chair heavily, unconsciously signing the other passes etc, that came through the line.
The evening passed in a blur until that night. "Come on, AJ!!" Nick whined in his ear. "I wanna go clubbin'...pweeeeeezz?" "Yeah yeah, fine. Let's go." AJ said, still in a daze. "We'll be back. Later." Nick didnt talk till they got into the cab and out onto the street. AJ sat gazing out the window as he had done before; breathing and watching the clouds form on the window. "AJ...I saw that girl again. What'd she say? What'd she want?" Nick asked, snapping his fingers to get AJ's attention. "She said she knew I had dreamed about her, cause she had been dreaming about me." AJ mumbled, spinning his rings round and round on his fingers.
"Whoa. Deep stuff..." Nick smirked. "There is something strange about that girl..." AJ said, turning and facing Nick. "Her eyes... are like mirrors. You cant see into them like I can with you. Its like, you look into them and see yourself, and into your own eyes. Then, man, everything about her.. its strange. I feel like I'm seeing something else, someone else... but all over again for the first time." Nick sat there, looking at AJ dumbfounded, totally confused by every word he had just said.
"Oh- we're here." Nick announced, hopping out of the cab, dead set on finding some random girl to take back to AJ's room, rather than his own. Obviously, right now- AJ was the one in withdrawal. The music was loud, as usual, and AJ recognized the feeling of not being able to think as much. He smiled at Nick. "Thanks for bringing me here." He shouted over the music. Nick nodded, giving him the thumbs up sign as he took after a short brunette. AJ stood there, content to be alone momentarily. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He was about to turn around when a pair of arms snaked around his waist from behind. "You following me, Dreamer?" The voice asked. AJ identified it as Echo's and shook his head. "I wasnt following, but I was hoping to find..." AJ replied, turning around, wrapping both arms around her. "I've wanted to touch you for so long..." Echo silenced him with a kiss that nearly knocked him out. It was almost too potent...
....To Be Continued....
