Chapter
4
“AJ… AJ, wake up.”
AJ awoke to the sound of Bianca’s voice as she gently shook his
shoulder. He rolled over and found her
kneeling on her side of the bed, wearing nothing but a towel, a smaller towel
turbaned around her head.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” she said, offering him a tiny smile. “Sorry to wake you up, but it’s after noon,
and you have to be at the arena in like an hour.”
“Oh… thanks,” AJ said groggily, forcing himself out of bed.
“AJ, I’m sorry about last night,” Bianca said. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”
Last night. The events of
the previous night and that morning immediately came back to AJ, and his heart
sank as he realized what he had done. He
had cheated on Bianca. He had betrayed
Howie. He had disrespected Krystle. He was a horrible person.
“No, no, don’t be sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m the one that should be sorry. I overreacted.” And did a lot of other things that were
even worse, he added in his head, refusing to meet Bianca’s eyes.
“Yeah, you did. But it
takes two people to have a fight. I got
all defensive with you.”
“It’s okay, Bean,” AJ said.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.
You were right. I was just being
overprotective. I started it all. I’m sorry.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he quickly added, “Let’s just leave
it at that. It’s all over and done with,
so let’s just forget about it and move on.”
Bianca nodded. “I love you,
AJ,” she whispered, pecking his cheek.
“You go take your shower now, and I’ll get dressed out here.”
“Alright,” AJ said and hurried into the bathroom. He shut the door, took off his boxers, and
started the shower water. He climbed in,
enjoying the sensation of the hot water rinsing his body, and just stood there,
thinking.
What was he going to do? He
couldn’t tell Bianca, could he? That
would hurt her even worse, knowing what he had done. But how could he not tell her? How could he kiss her and make love to her
and know that he had done the very same thing to Howie’s girlfriend? He knew the weight would be lifted off his
shoulders if he just confessed, but then what would happen? Bianca would dump him. He would lose his girlfriend. Howie would find out. He would lose his best friend. That would cause tension in the group. After all they had been through, that was the
last thing they needed. The only reason
they had made it through all their troubles was the fact that they had each
other. If Howie found out, their
friendship would be destroyed, and the Backstreet Boys would be fractured. It was better if no one found out what had
happened, if it was just kept between AJ
and Krystle. AJ just hoped
Krystle felt the same way. It would be
even worse if Howie and Bianca heard it from her than from him. Then they would think he was a cheater, a
backstabber, and a liar.
“AJ!?”
Bianca was calling his name and pounding on the bathroom
door. AJ was jerked out of his thoughts
and suddenly realized he had been standing in the shower for quite some time.
“AJ, hurry up, we’re going to be late!” Bianca shouted.
“Coming!” AJ called back, quickly washing his body. He finished his shower and climbed out of the
tub, wrapping a white towel around his waist.
He wiped off the foggy mirror and stared at his reflection. His eyes looked dull and bloodshot, and there
were circles under them. He looked like
hell.
AJ quickly towel-dried his hair, slathered some gel into it, and
spiked it. Then he brushed his teeth,
decided he had no time to shave properly, and ran out into the hotel room in
his towel to get dressed.
Bianca was now fully dressed and hurried into the bathroom as soon
as AJ came out to finish getting ready.
She emerged ten minutes later with her hair curled out and her makeup
on. “You ready?” she asked AJ, glancing
at the clock. “It’s about time to meet the
others.”
“Yeah,” AJ said, pulling on his shoes and grabbing his bag. “Make sure you get your suitcase and all your
stuff. We’re not coming back to the
hotel after the concert.”
This would be their last concert in Miami. They were driving
through the night to Fort Lauderdale, where their next two nights of concerts
would take place.
“I think I’ve got everything,” Bianca said, taking a quick look
around the large suite to make sure.
“Okay. Let’s go then,” AJ
said. He slung his sport bag over one
shoulder and picked up his suitcase in one hand and Bianca’s in the other.
“I can get that,” she said, grabbing her suitcase out of his hand.
AJ had to smile. Bianca was
very independent and could be very stubborn as well. She liked to do things for herself and
refused to let him carry her bags for her.
Together, the couple carried their things out of the room and into
the hall, where they met up with the others.
***
That night, after the concert, the group stopped at a McDonald’s
on their way out of town for a late dinner, and then they were on their
way. Bianca was excited about spending
the night on the tour bus. It had all
the luxuries of the hotel suites they stayed in – a kitchenette and dining
area, living room area, bathroom, and a bedroom area with a queen-size bed in
the back. It had a TV, VCR, DVD player,
Playstation, Nintendo, stereo system, everything. You name it, that bus had it. Bianca had been impressed enough with AJ’s
Florida mansion when she had first seen it, but the fact that such luxury and
technology could be put into a bus was unbelievable.
While AJ played around on his laptop computer, Bianca flipped
through the collection of tapes and DVD’s stacked by the TV. “Wow, you’ve even got some classics,” she
commented, holding up the video cassette of The Sound of Music.
AJ snorted. “Not like I
watch them,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey, don’t diss musicals,” Bianca, who had seen all the classic
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, warned.
“Oh, it’s Carousel, Aje! Remember
when we went to see that?”
AJ remembered it well; it had been their third or fourth
date. “Yup,” he said with a grin. He
began to hum “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” one of the classic songs from the
musical.
“When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high…” Bianca
sang softly.
“And don’t be afraid of the dark,” AJ joined in, smiling at her.
“At the end of the road is a golden sky-“
“And the sweet silver song of a lark…”
The couple looked at each other for a moment, then burst out
laughing. “Damn, Aje, we could star in our own musical,” Bianca commented,
giggling.
“Or we could just pretend our life is a living musical. And then we could, you know, randomly break
out into song and everything, and all the people around us could start singing
the background vocals and dancing,” AJ replied.
Picturing that, Bianca laughed even harder, her grayish-blue eyes
sparking. Her eyes always sparkled like
that when she was happy. AJ just watched
her for a moment, taking in everything about her. He loved her so much. And he knew she loved him like that too.
A wave of guiltiness suddenly hit AJ. If only she knew what he had done. Would she still love him like that? Or would she be unable to look him in the eye
without thinking about Krystle, the way he could not look at her without
thinking about it?
I’ve got to do something about this, AJ thought
miserably. But he did not know what.
***
