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Chapter 3: Cover for Me

Sleep had not come easily to AJ that night. After Howie had left his room, AJ continued to lay there on his bed, his mind wandering back to what he had nearly done. It was something he knew he would dwell on for quite sometime. But after several hours of constant tossing and turning, he was able to push himself into a restless slumber.

The sleep he had achieved in getting had done him no good though. When he woke up at 9:30 drenched in a cold sweat and stumbled into the bathroom for a shower, his mirrored reflection showed that he had developed awefully dark bags under his eyes, and his migraine hadn't let up yet. He debated going back to bed until he remembered that Jameelah was supposed to arrive with in a half an hour.

Though, he was relieved to find that his shower set him into a state of relaxation as the scalding water sprayed down upon his body, and as he lathered the soap onto his skin, he was able to imagine that he was washing away all of his worries. For that small amount of time, AJ felt like he was in pure bliss.

By the time he had finished with his shower, gotten dressed, brushed his teeth, and swiped a comb through his short, spiked hair, the clock read five minutes till ten. He had just enough time to sit down and relax before Jameelah was due to arrive.

That's what he now found himself doing. His back was propped against the hard wall as he sat admist the tangled sheets and comforter on the bed, which he had once again failed to make. 'Leave it to the hotel maids' he always thought.

He reached for the remote and switched the television on. Loud clapping and cheering rang through the cheap television and AJ recognized the show as being a re-run episode of the "Jerry Springer Show". He tossed the remote to the sheets and crossed his arms over his chest, keeping his eyes trained on the screen.

'Wonder what the topic is today...'

As if on cue, the camera zoomed in on Jerry just as the audience's clapping and cheering died down. "Welcome back," he began, holding the microphone up to his mouth. "For those of you who are just joining us, today's topic is 'My sister is sleeping with our brother', and my next guest is..."

AJ zoned out right about then, rolling his eyes. That show really was a bunch of crap. It was all fake, and every episode had the most rediculous topics AJ had ever heard of. 'Amazing Love Triangles','Love Within The family','Secrets Revealed'...just to name a few. So stupid...

He stole a quick glance at the clock on the nightstand.
Five minutes till ten.

Than...

AJ nearly jumped into the air as he heard the shrill ringing of the phone right next to him. At first he thought it was his cell phone ringing, but his cell was all the way on the other side of the room and the ringing tone was different then this one. It took him a second, but he finally realized that it was the phone on the nightstand. He reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mr. McLean, this is the 'Check-In' counter down in the lobby and there is a Ms. Jameelah Smithson saying she is here to see you."

'Shit, I didn't tell her my room number last night' AJ mentally scolded himself. "Could you send her up?"

"Yes sir."

AJ placed the phone back on it's reciever and stood up from the bed, stretching. He knew he had less then a minute before Jameelah reached his room and he needed to let someone know that he would be leaving for most of the day. He was about to walk out of his room and head next door to Howie's room since it was located right next to his, but Howie came pounding on the door before AJ could even open it.

"Morning bro!" Howie greeted cheerfully as soon as AJ opened the door.

AJ raised an eyebrow; he never had come to an understanding why his shorter best friend could always be so cheery early in the morning. He shrugged the thought off and replied, "I was just coming to see you."

"Well, I came over to make sure you were awake. We have to be at the meeting in fifteen min-"

"Meeting?!" AJ's eyes grew wide as he racked his brain, trying to think of any meeting him and the guys were supposed to go to today. He came up with none. "What meeting?!"

"The meeting with management," Howie answered, looking at AJ oddly. "You seriously don't know about the meeting?"

"No."

"Kev didn't tell you?"

"No, I guess he was too busy yelling at me to bother letting me know about it," AJ grumbled. 'Great, just great... now what am I going to do?' he thought, his eyes setting into a glare. Then he got an idea. "Listen D, I need a favor."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?" Howie groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up," AJ glared harded. "I need you to help me. I made plans yesterday to go out with Jaymee today-"

"Who's Jaymee?" Howie immediately questioned.

"I'll tell you later," AJ told him. "There's no way I'm breaking my plans with her, so I need you to cover for me at the meeting."

"You want me to be two people at one time?" Howie asked dumbly.

"No stupid, stop acting like Nick!"

"Whatever. You know Kev will be pissed if you miss the meeting."

"That's too damn bad. He should have told me about it last night. So, will you help me?"

Howie sighed. "Fine...what do you need me to do?"

"Um..." AJ bit down on his bottom lip as he looked down the hall. Jameelah would be walking down any second. "Just tell them that you came to get me and I was...sick in bed...with the flu."

"Gee Aje, how long did it take you to come up with that one?" Howie smirked.

"If you can come up with a better lie then be my guest."

"And you say I act like Nick..."

"And whatever you do, don't let Kevin or Nick near my room. Aight?"

"Why?"

"For one, Nick can't keep a secret. He'll blurt it out to Kevin or in front of him; and two, if Kev finds out I skipped the meeting to go out with some girl, he'll probably actually attempt to kick my ass this time and I don't feel like dealing with the evil wrath of Lord Richardson again."

"Man, if he heard you say that..."

"And you better not tell him either, or you're going to be in some deep shi-"

"Alex?"

AJ froze as he heard the shy voice call out to him from a ways down the hall. He turned in that direction and saw Jameelah walking towards them in a hesitated manner, her face showing a look as she felt she were intruding. "Jaymee! Hey!"

"Hi," Jaymee replied shyly, walking up to AJ and Howie. She gave a nervous look towards Howie, then looked to AJ. She bit down on her bottom lip. "Am I interrupting?"

"No, not at all," AJ answered, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Jaymee, this is Howie. Howie, this is Jameelah...or Jaymee."

"Most of my friends call me Jaymee..." Jameelah added quietly as Howie took her hand and kissed it.

"It's nice to meet you Jaymee."

"The feeling is mutual Howie."

AJ rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I was just telling Howie to let the guys know that I won't be making it to the meeting with management today."

"You have a meeting?" Jameelah asked, her face masking confusion. "I thought you said you had the day off?"

"That's what I thought, but it seems that Kevin forgot to let me know that there was a meeting, but don't worry about. It's not that big of a deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, D's gonna tell them I'm stuck in bed sick with the flu."

"And that's gonna work?"

"Probably not..." AJ muttered, shrugging. "But I don't care. I'd rather hang out with you at the moment then go to some meeting."

"That's sweet," Jameelah smiled.

"Aje, if you're gonna leave, then you better leave now. Kev is most likely gonna come up here to make sure I got you up," Howie spoke up, clearing his throat.

"Right...you have a car Jaymee?"AJ asked.

"Yeah, how else would I get here?" Jameelah teased.

"Walk?" AJ shrugged. "Let's go." He took hold of her hand, unconciously intertwining his fingers with her's, and started heading down the hall towards the elevator at the end. "Remember D, cover for me!"

"I will..." Howie mumbled, sighing. He knew he was getting himself in deep for lying for AJ. If Kevin found out that he was covering for AJ, he too, would have to suffer the evil wrath of 'Lord Richardson' as AJ always put it.

Just as AJ and Jameelah stepped into the elevator, the other elevator at the opposite end of the hall 'ding'ed and the door opened.

Kevin stepped out.