Chapter 53

 

AJ slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the bright morning sunlight that came through the window of his bedroom.   He groggily rolled over and came face to face with a sleeping Elyssa.  Smiling, he leaned close to her and kissed her nose.  Elyssa’s eyes fluttered open and focused on him.

 

“Good morning, babe,” he said.

 

“Morning,” she replied tiredly.  “What time is it?”

 

AJ rolled over to look at the clock beside his bed.   “Noon,” he replied.

 

“Noon?!  Wow, I never sleep that late,” she commented.  “I must have been really tired.”

 

“Well, I bet you were, after the night we had,” AJ said, grinning seductively.

 

She laughed, as the events of the night before came flooding back to her.  Valentine’s Day.   AJ had treated her to a candlelit dinner, cooked by him, and shortly after, they had gone to bed.   But they did not sleep.   Instead they had shared an intimate experience Elyssa knew she would never forget, for it had been her first. 

 

Elyssa let out a happy sigh and forced herself out of bed.  She found her purple satin negligee in a heap on the floor to one side of the bed, exactly where she had carelessly tossed it the night before.   She grabbed it up, quickly wrapping it around her bare body. 

 

AJ got out of bed too, lazily putting on a pair of boxers.   “How about breakfast?” he offered.

 

“That sounds good,” she said.  “I’ll make it.  You cooked dinner last night.”

 

“Okay,” AJ said with a shrug.  Then he furrowed his brow and asked suspiciously, “Why?  You didn’t like my cooking?”

 

Elyssa laughed.  “No, it was great, honey,” she said sincerely.  “I just thought we could share the duty.  I make awesome crepes, you know.”

 

“I’m just kidding,” he laughed.  “Go on.  I’m hungry.”  He grinned, pulling her in for a kiss before she headed down to the kitchen.

 

***

 

Two months later

 

You say that you love me,

That you’ll never let me go,

But are you really being true,

Will I ever know?

 

Love me for who I am,

Not for my good looks,

Not for my check books,

Love me for who I am,

Not for my name,

Not for my fame,

Just love me for who I am.

 

I don’t wanna be with you,

If you don’t wanna see me through,

You care about the car I drive,

Do you care about me inside?

 

Love me for who I am,

Not for my good looks,

Not for my check books,

Love me for who I am,

Not for my name,

Not for my fame,

Just love me for who I am.

 

I don’t wanna be the girl,

Of a shallow guy like you,

I want a boy whose love for me,

Will really be true.

 

Love me for who I am,

Not for my good looks,

Not for my check books,

Love me for who I am,

Not for my name,

Not for my fame,

Just love me for who I am.

 

“Love Me for Who I Am” Ó 2001 by Julie Lewis

 

“That’s all I have so far,” Jenna said, as she finished singing the song she had written for the other girls to hear. 

 

“That’s great, Jen!” Serena said enthusiastically. 

 

“Yeah, it really is.  It’ll be a great song to have on our next album,” Ashalyn agreed.  “Different sounding than our old songs.”

 

“Thanks, guys,” Jenna said, smiling.  

 

The four girls, along with their management, had decided it was high time they got to work on a follow-up album to their first, Jadeite, which had debuted a year and a half earlier.   Ashalyn had flown from Atlanta to Orlando to stay with Jenna and Nick and work on writing and recording songs with the other three girls. 

 

Jenna glanced at Elyssa, who sat tucked in the corner of Jenna’s couch.  She had barely said a word the whole session.   “Hey, Lyss?  What do you think of the song?” she asked.

 

“Huh?  Oh, it’s great,” Elyssa said absently.

 

Jenna frowned, hurt by Elyssa’s lack of enthusiasm.

 

“Hey, Elyssa?  You still with us over there?” Ashalyn asked lightly, studying her friend. 

 

“Yeah.  I’m just tired, and I don’t feel that great,” Elyssa muttered in reply. 

 

The other three girls exchanged worried glances.   Elyssa had been known to exaggerate illness many times before, but ever since she had been diagnosed with leukemia, they worried about her at the slightest complaint. 

 

“You coming down with something?” Serena asked, gazing at Elyssa with wide brown eyes.

 

Elyssa shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’ve got a headache, and I feel really nauseous too.  I, uh, don’t want to scare you guys, but for almost a week, I’ve been throwing up at least once a day.”

 

“Oh, my God,” Ashalyn whispered.  “That doesn’t sound good.”

 

Another shrug from Elyssa.  “It’s probably just the flu,” she said lamely, but they were all thinking the same thing – last time Elyssa had gotten “the flu”, it had turned out to be leukemia.

 

“Does AJ know about this?” Jenna asked.

 

“Not about all of it.  I’ve tried not to show it in front of him.  I don’t want to get him worried about me.  You know how protective he is,” she said.

 

“Yeah, but still, Lyss, you should tell him.  You should go to the doctor too,” Ashalyn said seriously.  “Just in case.”

 

Elyssa sighed miserably.  “Yeah, I know.  I’ve just been putting it off.”  She looked up at them with worried blue eyes.  “I’m scared.”

 

***

 

 

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