Chapter Three: A.Day.With.No.Night

   "You guys look like complete fools, you know that?" I snickered, sitting down beside Kevin on the airplane. It was about 8AM and we were on our flight to Orlando. It had come time for us to take the Boys up on their offer to go to their video shoot. Hannah had left a day earlier.
        "Well excuuuse us for trying to be incognito..." he replied, through his blue sunglasses and brown floppy hat.
    "You're excused, dear," I smiled and lightly punched him for making a face at me. "Though you can take the stuff off, considering we're in a plane just for us, now."
    "Nice point. Don't mind if I do..." He took of his hat, and shoved it over my eyes.

    "Hey, you." Nick sat down by Julie, who was looking out the window.
    "Hey yourself," she smiled back, giving him a kiss.
    "I don't like these armrests," Nick complained, ramming into one when he tried to wrap his arms around her waist. "They separate me from yoooou! You know I hate plane flights...but I'm gonna hate it even more-"
    "Oh, you big baby, do you have to whine about everything?" she giggled and he nodded, pouting. She put up the armrest. "Better?"
    "Much." He put his arms around her and pulled her close.
    "I'm afraid you're gonna get sick of me by the time you start your U.S. tour..." Julie muttered after a few minutes of sitting in Nick's arms in silence.
    "Hey, I heard that," Nick tickled Julie as she squirmed and laughed. "Now how could I EVER get sick of you???"

    "So Hannah's already down there?" Howie asked, as Cathy put away a magazine beside him.
    "Yeah...all settled supposedly, ready for us..." Cathy replied, taking out another magazine. "It always takes forever for these damn planes to get off the ground!"
    "Hey, that's MINE!" Howie whined as Cathy put back her current magazine and took yet another one from the pouch in front of him. "You have an identical copy right in front of you!"
    "Well, then if you want to read it, be my guest...I have one in my hands, thankyouverymuch," Cathy laughed.

    "Hey Jenny - you wanna sit by meee...Brian, or Alex?" Chin asked.
    "Doesn't matter..." Jenny yawned, ready to sleep on the trip.
    "Fine then, I can tell when I'm not wanted..."
    "What? Oh, Chin, stop being like that!...It's up to you, k?" Jenny stretched.
    "Just kidding. But I'll let you sit with Brian - you guys have some catching up to do..." Chin smiled, shoving Brian, who was passing by, into the seat beside Jenny. He didn't catch the helpless look Jenny shot Chin.
    "Guess I didn't have much of a choice there, huh?" he grinned at Jenny, still in the awkward position he had fallen in, legs and arms draped over his seat. She smiled back and shrugged. "Need a shoulder to rest on, sleepy head?" he asked, smiling. Jenny hesitated. "C'mon, be my guest," he beckoned, straightening himself out in his seat.
    "Thanks, mister," Jenny sighed, giving in, leaning her head on Brian's shoulder. She closed her eyes.
    "No prob, lil' missy," he said and put a friendly arm around her as she snuggled into him.

    AJ realized that he was going to be sitting by Chin for the trip. He didn't know why he was upset. He had decided to forget about his feelings...right?...Right.
    "Hey, Alex - guess I'm stuck with you," Chin plopped down beside him. He smiled.
    "Stuck, huh?"
    "Aw, don't take that too harshly," she smiled.
    "Don't worry, I won't...just bothering you," he grinned. He liked being her friend. He could live with just being her friend...
    "I think yawns are contagious," Chin commented, stretching.
    "Why?"
    "Jenny did...and," Chin yawned, "Now I have... I guess then I'm sleepy..."
    "You can sleep, it's only a flight."
    "True..." Chin yawned again, as the motors of the plane began to start. The main lights switched off and the cabin was mostly dark; everyone had closed their windows in order to catch up on some lost sleep. Chin and AJ were in the back row of seats. "Alex...?" she whispered.
    "Hmm?"
    "Can you hold me again like you did that one night? It was comfy..." she murmured. AJ smiled in the darkness.
    "Sure, hon..." He hugged her. Chin started laughing softly. "What?"
    "I was just thinking about what someone had wrote on a humor website about you guys..."
    "What was it?"
    "That she didn't want to own any pillows of you guys...quote: 'if I'm sleeping on AJ, he'd better be the real thing'...well, I've got the real thing."

~*~*~*~
(a few hours later)

    "My leg fell asleep..." Cathy whined, stretching as the flight touched down.
    "Oh, poor baby," Howie laughed.
    "You were so kind to wake me up with the blast of sunlight, Howard."
    "Opening the window just because I wanted to see the scenery doesn't mean I really meant to wake you up."
    "Scenery? Of the airport?" Cathy questioned. Howie shrugged innocently. "Is Joanne meeting us?"
    "Why do you ask...?"
    "Just wondering...I mean, in Spain you said you really missed her...and I KNOW for a fact, buster, that she lives in Florida, so THERE." Cathy pointed a finger at him. He sighed.
    "I guess I could call her...we'll see..."
    "Oh, no you don't. As soon as we get to the hotel, I will lock you in your room till you call."
    "Persistent, eh?"
    "You're just no fun when you're miserable!"

    "Still sticking with those stupid hats and all?" I asked a yawning Kevin.
    "You still have a problem with them, huh?"
    "I like your face, not your hat."
    "I see..."
    "Especially those dorky glasses..." I muttered.
    "Oh, I DID NOT just hear what I think I heard." He stood up, preventing me from getting to the aisle.
    "You just have bad hearing," I grinned, shoving my way though.

    "Jenny," Brian whispered. No response.  After leaning on his shoulder, she had fallen asleep for the flight. "Jenny," he whispered again, gently nudging her. She stirred a bit. Then her eyes slowly fluttered open. She blinked, looked at him, then shot up straight in her seat. "Whoa, you okay there?" he gently held her arm in concern.
    "Um, yeah..." She looked disturbed.
    "You sure?"
    "Yeah..." she went to check her carry-on bag. Brian paused for a minute, but decided not to push her.
    The fact of the matter was that she had had another dream...she never told anyone about them. They were the same one over and over...it kept repeating.
     She and Brian would be at a party, having fun talking to one another because they didn't know anyone else. A girl would start coming on to him, and he would shoot Jenny helpless looks, but she wouldn't know what to do. The girl flirting bothered her, but she wouldn't say anything. The setting of the party might be different, the conversation would maybe change, or the girl herself would change, but the dream would always be the same. Jenny would wake up, feeling helpless, unsure of what she felt, or how she felt about Brian. She didn't want to feel jealousy towards the girl; someone who wasn't even real, but just a figment of her own imagination. She didn't know if she wanted to like Brian - wouldn't it just mess things up? But she kept having the dream.
   When she had woken up beside Brian on the plane, for a moment, she had forgotten where she was...but she remembered. They were friends. As plain as day. And she didn't want to talk about it...especially not with him.

    "C'mon, Carter." Julie pulled Nick up.
    "But I don't wanna..." he whined. "I hate planes..."
    "But we're getting OFF..."
    "Oh."
    "Why do I even put up with you...?" Julie grinned.
    "Cuz ya luv meee." He wrapped an arm around her waist. She cocked her head to one side, gave him a look, and shook her head. "What??"
    "We say this mushy stuff too much..."
    "No we don't!"

    "How was the real thing?" AJ asked a sleepy-eyed Chin.
    "Huuuuuuh?" she mumbled, not comprehending the fact that she was on an airplane - she had just woken up.
    "Never mind..." AJ muttered.
    "No, tell me," Chin rubbed her eyes, and stretched. But AJ didn't reply. "Yo, Alex, speak." She lightly nudged him.
    "Lost the moment..." he grinned.
    "Huh?"
    "You know, when something makes sense one moment, but won't the next?"
    "Uh, yeah..."
    "Well, this is an example. If I say it now, you'll be all 'Oh...k', so there's no point."
    "Tell me!" Chin was awake now. AJ crossed his arms and shook his head. "Oh, stop being stubborn!" she nudged him harder; he made a face of mock pain and rubbed his arm.
    "Ch-IN...the fans don't want a bruised AJ taping Larger Than Life!"
    "You WIMP. Just tell me!"
    "Tell you what?"
    "I dunno, you never told me!"
    "Oh...well...I forgot..."
    "OOHHH don't give me that!" she playfully punched him.
    "OW, Chin, don't be like Jenny! You're seriously hurting Alexander James McLean, here."
    "SO? Tell me!"
    "You have no patience."
    "You are just difficult."
    "I never said I wasn't."
    "Just tell me."
    "What?"
    "I DUNNO! YOU tell me!"
    "You are the one who's difficult...not even knowing what I'm supposed to tell you in the first place!" AJ pointed a finger at her nose. Chin crossed her eyes to look at it, then made a face. "You're lovely when you're mad," he grinned.
    He was telling the truth, in a way...she seemed so beautiful to him now, why hadn't he noticed that before? Was he accepting the fact that he liked her? No. He couldn't...but she was just, so...it was unexplainable. Perfect? Yes, perfect.
    But did she think he was joking about her being lovely...? - She made another face. - Apparently so.
    "So, so, so???" she said, poking him.
    "You're so abusive!" he laughed. She crossed her arms, slumped in her seat, and pouted.
    "I'm NOT getting up till you tell meee..." she threatened.
    "But we have to get off the plane soon."
    "So? I'll just go wherever it's going. Have a nice video shoot."
    "Chiiiin..."
    "Aleeex..."
    "It'll sound stupid now, can't we just drop it?"
    "No, then there would have been no point to this whole argument!"
    "There was a point?"
    "TELL ME!"
    "I FORGOT!"
    "NO, YOU DIDN'T!"
    "Fine, fine...before you went to sleep, you told me about the thing someone had said on the net about the BSB pillows, about if she was sleeping on AJ, it had better be the real thing...and you said, you had the real thing. So all I asked was, how was the real thing?" AJ spit out.
    "I KNEW you didn't forget..." she smiled. She was about to say "Oh...k", but didn't want AJ to say he had predicted her response. "Well, I'll have you know, that the real thing was MUCH better than pillows." She hugged him.

    The ten of us finally got off the plane.
    "JULIEEEEEEEE! SAAAARAAAAAAAH! CHIIIIIIIN! JENNYYYYYY! CATHYYYYYYY!" we heard yelling. Distinctive yelling - the screams of Hannah. We saw her and there was a massive group hug that sort of resembled a football huddle, if you could call it that. The Boys stood aside, waiting for the reunion to be over with.
    AJ coughed.
    "Oops, sorry," I apologized, breaking the huddle.
    "It's not like you guys haven't seen each other in years, or anything!" Howie exclaimed.
    "So? We missed our buddy!" Jenny laughed.
    "It was, like, THREE days!" Nick stated, playing along.
    "Okay, enough of this...the guys have stuff to do, and so do we," Cathy broke in.
    "We do?" we girls asked. Cathy grinned and nodded knowingly.
    "Yeah...but let's first go to the hotel," Kevin mentioned.
    "SUITE!?" Jenny asked, excitedly.
    "Um..." Kevin and I exchanged looks, smiling.
    "YEAH!!!" Hannah and Jenny high-fived.
    "Can we go now??" Nick asked impatiently.
    "Big baby," Julie took him by the arm.

~*~*~*~

    The lobby was quiet; there was no bustling of activity that was usually expected of a lobby in such a hotel. It was around 3 or 4PM. The luggage was sitting in carts, ready to be sent to our rooms. We were standing, having formed two little groups in the lounge, with the keys to the rooms, deciding on the accommodations. The Boys' bodyguards were in the vicinity, but not close enough for us to really take much notice.

    "Are we going to be separated from the girls?" Kevin asked.
    "But I was thinking..." Nick started.
    "Sure. I mean, it's not like we're going to be in our rooms all the time, we'll see the girls anyway," Howie agreed.
    "But you guys..." Nick continued.
    "I thought it'd be nice to share with them but yeah, I guess I see your point," AJ nodded.
    "You Guuuuys! I want to room with Julie!" Nick finally broke in, whining. The Boys paused, looked at their youngest member for a moment, shook their heads, and continued talking.
    "Where's the shoot tomorrow?" Brian asked, changing the subject.
    "But-" Nick interjected.
    "Nick, shut up," AJ said.
    "I'm not sure, we'll have to find out," Kevin answered.
    "But-" Nick tried again.
    "Nick, shut up!" Howie repeated AJ.
    "But..."
    He was ignored.

    "So, Hannah, I guess you already have a room?" I asked.
    "Yeah. Is that alright with you guys?"
    "Of course!" said Chin.
    "Okay...since we DON'T have a suite," Jenny sighed, as she and Hannah tried to look heartbroken, "... the rest of us have eight rooms to share, including the guys, that is."
    "Since the guys paid for the rooms, they should get singles and we should pair up," Cathy decided, as Brian popped his head into our conversation.
    "Nick wants to share, so I guess we can share with you girls," he informed us, grinning. "Anyone want to room with me?" Brian asked, looking at Jenny.
    "But you guys need to get your own rooms since you paid," Jenny replied. Brian made a face.
    "Well, be that way," he acted hurt and started to walk away, but then whipped around. "Are you sure?"
    "Yes, we're sure," Julie smiled. "It's only fair that you guys get single rooms. We can rough it and double."
    "Nick won't be happy with that reply," Brian warned in a sing song voice, walking back to the group of boys. Julie rolled her eyes as we all cooed sympathetically for Nick.

~*~*~*~

KNOCK KNOCK
    "Yes?"
    "Hey it's me, can I come in?"
    "Sure, the door's open."
    "So how come you didn't want to room with me?" Nick plopped down on the bed. "And where's Cathy, by the way?"
    "It's not that I didn't want to room with you..." Julie looked up from unpacking her bags. "... Cathy is with Howie, trying to make guess who call Joanne."
    "Why is she bothering Howie?"
    "Because she cares," Julie said as she sat down beside him, "and won't let him give up that easily..."
    "Hey, you never answered my question." Nick poked her lightly.
    "I thought I just did." She poked him back.
    "No," he replied. "Why didn't you want to room with me?"
    "I told you...." Julie looked away smiling shyly. "It'd only be fair."
    "Uh-huh." Nick crossed his arms. "I believe you."
    "Oh, don't give me that." Julie made a face.
    "I think you were afraid that I wouldn't behave," Nick smirked.
    Or afraid we'd get sick of each other, they both thought.
    "I didn't say anything." Julie looked at the ceiling, trying not to smile.
    "What, were you afraid I would do this?" Nick got up and started to go through her suitcase, not looking for or at anything in particular, but just rummaging through it to see what she would do.
    "Excuse me," Julie began as she got up, pretending to be annoyed with her hands on her hips, "but that's my stuff." She snatched something out of Nick's hands. Nick's grin turned to a sheepish one when both realized what she had snatched was a bra. Nick's blushing was becoming deeper as she shook her head and put it back in her suitcase.
    "Oops," Nick muttered.
    "Sure, Carter, that's exactly what I was afraid of, mm-hmm," Julie laughed as they sat back down.
    "You sure?...You weren't afraid of this?" Nick grinned again and started tickling her mercilessly. Julie squirmed and both fell back on the bed. Nick stopped to let Julie catch her breath. Once breathing normally again, Julie looked up at Nick in apprehension, wondering what he would do next.
    "Thank you for actually letting me breathe," she smiled. "Got anything else I need to be afraid of?"
    "How about this?" he smiled as he leaned over and kissed her.

    Brian opened the door and walked in. He spotted me sitting on one of the twin beds, writing in my journal.
    "This day was that eventful?" he asked, plopping down beside me.
    "Huh?" I looked up as the bed moved.
    "Hello to you too," Brian grinned.
    "Sorry, just sorta absorbed in writing," I smiled.
    "You've always been the observant one," he grinned. I gave him a look. "But that's ok," he replied. "Can I read?" He strained his neck playfully to read the pages over my shoulder. I put my journal up to my chest and leaned away.
    "I don't think so."
    "Oh, come on," he pouted. "I bet you wrote something about me in there, huh?"
    I shrugged... There was something in there, actually. It was concerning Jenny being confused about her friendship with Brian. She thought she was getting too worked up over it, but she couldn't help it.
    "Hey, Sarah-" Jenny came out in a robe, brushing her wet hair. "-OH, hi, Brian." She was a little startled.
    "Just dropping by and filling you in on the latest news, but I can leave if you want," Brian greeted.
    "What are the plans?" Jenny walked past us and to her suitcase.
    "Tonight we're free, but tomorrow we begin shooting the video. It'll take maybe 2 or 3 days. You guys can come in and go as you want - we'll give you passes - but we'll be stuck there all day," Brian explained.
    "So, are we having dinner together tonight? For Howie's birthday?" I asked.
    "Sure, why not? We can suggest it to everybody, " Brian shrugged. "It's around 5:20," he stated, checking his watch. "Would around 6 be okay?"

KNOCK KNOCK
    "Yeah?"
    "Guess who?"
    "Come in, Alex."
    "So why are you aallll alone in this room?" AJ opened the door and stepped in.
    "Why not?" Chin was going through her purse at the desk.
    "Did everyone ditch you?" AJ smiled and sat in a chair.
    "No, it's just Hannah is my usual roommate, but she came early and has her own room. We had three rooms between five remaining girls, so I opted to be alone."
    "I hear we're going to dinner, sorta for D's Birthday" AJ changed the subject.
    "Yeah." Chin picked up the phone.
    "And you would be calling?..." AJ asked.
    "Oh, Jack asked me to tell him about the hotel, because he might come here for a vacation and he wanted to know how it was."
    "Oh..." AJ trailed off, getting ready to get up. Why couldn't she tell him after they got home?
    "No, stay." Chin grabbed his hand as he got up. "It won't be that long of a phone call. I'll just tell him I'm here and I'll scope out things for him," Chin insisted. AJ sighed, gave in, and sat down. How could he say no to her? "It's busy, guess I'll call later," Chin hung up. "Glad you stayed?" she smiled, looking at him.
    "Yes. Now we can pick out your outfit for dinner." AJ wiggled his eyebrows.
    "Excuse me?" Chin looked at him with her hands on her hips.
    "You heard me," AJ grinned.
    "Who says I can't pick out my own clothes?" Chin got up and went to her suitcase defensively.
    "I never said anything of the sort. For tonight, you're just not allowed to." He got up from the chair, gently pushed her aside, and started rummaging through her stuff. Before Chin could complain, he whipped out a casual blue dress. "Perfect," he stated. "Now tell me you brought the right purse and shoes for this little number."
    "Well, what are you gonna wear?" Chin crossed her arms and looked at him.
    "That, my dear," he said as he handed her the dress, "is for me to know and for you to find out. Now, I think we're meeting in the lobby at about," he checked his watch, "Well, it's almost 5:40, so that gives you 20 minutes. I expect you to be punctual, dah-ling," he grinned. Chin laughed at his attempted accent. He tipped his glasses as a goodbye and walked out of the room.

Chapter Four: I've.Tried.To.Hide.It.So.That.No.One.Knows
.If.I.Don't.Have.You. Index
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