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Chapter 13

Jenn was working overtime. She felt like she was going crazy. “Denise, remind me again
why we decided to take on being management?”

“I wish I knew,” Denise replied. Both women laughed and Jenn ran out of the door to go
talk to the Pay-Per-View people. The Boys were going to be doing their first televised
concert in the US. Luckily, it was the last show of the tour and it was New Year’s Eve.

“Jenn, why don’t you go take a little bit of a break before the pre-show taping starts and I’ll
cover everything here,” Denise said as she came up behind Jenn.

“Are you sure, Denise?” Jenn asked. “I know you have family here and I’m sure that you
want to see them.”

“Oh please, I will see them on the break,” she replied. She shoved Jenn out of the door
and shut the door behind her. Jenn ran to the Boy’s dressing room and knocked on the
door.

“Anyone naked?” she asked before opening the door. “Better not be.” She opened the
door and walked in. She saw Lori sitting on the couch and noticed how remarkably better
she looked. Unfortunately, Jenn hadn’t had the time to see how Lori had been recovering
from the flu. She knew that AJ had been taking care of her, so Lori was in good hands.
“Hey Lori. You look a lot better.” Lori returned her smile and started talking to Nick again.
Jenn hadn’t noticed how close Lori and Nick had been getting as well. They were like best
friends now. Jenn figured that it would better that way anyway, Lori was only six months
younger than Nick and they seemed to have a lot in common.

“Sweetheart, I just wanted to say have a good show and I will meet you back here after the
encore,” Jenn said as she gave Kevin a kiss. “Hey, have you guys figured out where we
are going to go to spend New Years tonight after the show?”

“My house!” AJ yelled from the adjoining room. “We all have to get drunk by midnight.” He
walked into the room where the others were. He knew tonight was the night for him and
Lori. He could feel it in the air. They had been getting closer and closer since September,
but now she was well and he wanted to tell her about all of the feelings that he had been
denying for so long. He smiled as she looked over at him from the couch.

Lori shivered from the butterflies in her stomach. AJ had just smiled at her and she knew
that she was grinning from ear to ear. Nick noticed her doofy grin and rolled his eyes. Lori
hit the back of his head and he yelped, “Ow! Why did you do that?”

“Be careful, Nick,” Lori replied. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.” She turned her gaze back to
AJ and decided that she was going to tell him how she felt about him.

The guys soon headed off for their show and Jenn sat down next to Lori on the couch.
Jenn was exhausted and she just wanted to leave the arena. The girls chit chatted about
nothing in particular as the show progressed. They decided to leave a note for the guys
and go ahead and get ready at their house.

Kevin gave Jenn a call when everyone was at AJ’s house and the girls headed out the
door. They both had changed clothes and were ready to celebrate the New Year. “Well,
good luck with AJ,” Jenn said turning to Lori after she parked her car in the driveway.

“Yeah, I’ll need it I’m sure,” Lori replied nervously.

“Right, he’s crazy about you. Everyone knows it,” Jenn said as they made their way up the
driveway towards the front door.

It was already eleven thirty when Jenn and Lori got to the party. Kevin met Jenn at the
front door and handed her a drink. Lori laughed at Jenn and Kevin as they ran over to the
table with all of the food. She walked into the living room and spotted AJ talking to Howie
on the outside patio. She wasn’t sure when she should bring up the topic to AJ. But she
knew it was definitely going to be that night.

“Hey, what’s going on?” AJ asked Lori when she walked up to him. “Looking good, as
usual.”

“Shut-up AJ,” Lori replied. She blushed and stuck out her tongue at him.

“Hey, nice tongue ring,” AJ replied with a smile. “Going all out tonight.”

“Yeah, you know how it is,” Lori replied. “The record company trying to keep your
wardrobe half way normal and all. But, I just can’t stand not having my tattoos showing or
my piercings shining.”

“What else you got pierced?” Howie asked. Lori lifted her shirt up a little and showed
Howie her naval ring. “Wow. Matches your tongue ring.”

“Always,” Lori responded and pulled her shirt back down. “So, where’s Nick at?”

“He’s picking up Mandy and her friend and they should be here any minute,” Howie said.

“Oh, so I’m guessing this one is a keeper then?” AJ asked Lori.

“What? Nick’s new girlfriend?” Lori asked. “Why are you asking me?”

“Well, you and Nick are really close these days, so I figured that you would have some
inside knowledge,” AJ replied. “I was just wondering how serious this relationship is
going to be.”

“Well, I haven’t ever seen him this excited over someone, ya know, since…” Lori said.

“Since you?” AJ asked finishing her sentence for her.

“Um, yeah,” Lori said quietly.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Howie said that he would go answer it. That left AJ and
Lori alone. She was feeling nervous again. The butterflies had returned.

“Well, we are alone now,” Lori started. She didn’t know how to put what she wanted to say
into words at that minute. She was all twisted up and when she wanted to speak, nothing
came out.

“You want to dance or anything?” AJ asked. He was a bit nervous about that night, but
then again, it was New Years. He wanted the chance to start over. He wanted to start a
new life with Lori. He didn’t want to screw this up this time. That made him nervous
because he always was the one that messed up.

“Sure,” Lori said. AJ turned on the stereo that was out back and they started dancing. AJ
looked at his watch and said, “Damn. It’s almost midnight. We better get in there.”

Lori smiled at him and he grabbed her hand and they headed into the living room to watch
the ball drop. Everyone was huddled around the television when they got in there. Lori
didn’t see Jenn or Kevin, but she figured that they were busy celebrating their own way.
Lori also noticed that Nick and Mandy were there. There was a brunette standing next to
Brian, quietly talking to him. Lori figured that that was Mandy’s friend that she brought with
her. Maybe it was a blind date or something.

Everyone chanted the countdown with Dick Clark as the ball in Times Square dropped
closer and closer to 1999. When the countdown ran out, everyone cheered and grabbed
their dates they had brought with them. Lori made her way around to all of her Boys. When
she got to Nick, she just grabbed his face and kissed him. “Happy New Year, Nick.” The
look on his face was just too priceless and she wished that she had a camera at that time.

After Lori got done kissing Brian, she introduced herself to his lady friend. “I’m Sara.”
Sara stuck out her hand and Lori shook it. Lori spent a little while just chit chatting with
Sara and just getting to know her. It seemed like her and Brian was getting along quite
well and they had planned to go out by themselves sometime that week. Lori was happy for
Brian. She knew that his break up with Samantha had been a tough one and it had taken
awhile for him to get over it. It turned out that Sara was in college trying to get a degree in
psychology. She seemed very intelligent and when Lori excused herself she gave Brian a
thumbs up.

She walked out onto the patio again and sat down in a chair by the pool. AJ always had the
pool lights on and it looked really beautiful at night. She still had no clue when she was
going to talk to AJ. She did hope that he would feel the same way about her that she did
about him. She felt an arm going around her shoulders and she saw AJ beside her.

“Happy New Year, Lori,” AJ said.

“Right back at ya,” Lori replied smiling at him. “AJ, I never hear you say Zang anymore.”

“Wow. I haven’t used that word since we dated,” AJ replied. Lori noticed how he could say
that so casually. Neither him nor her had talked about it, but both had it on their minds
twenty-four seven.

“Well, I use it all the time,” Lori replied. “I mean, it’s the only Cantonese word that we will
ever know. We sound smart.”

“I don’t think taking a word from Wayne’s World, and believing that zang is the Cantonese
word for excellent is very credible.”

Lori rolled her yes at him. “You used to say it with me. Oh wait, I’m sorry. Alex used to say
it with me.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and she saw him crack a smile.
“Hey, AJ, um is there anywhere we can talk privately.”

“Yeah,” AJ said. He sat his drink down on one of the patio tables and grabbed Lori’s hand.
“I got to talk to you anyway.” He led her down through the yard and onto the dock. When
they got to the docks AJ noticed something and ran out towards the end of the dock. He
peered out into night.

“What’s wrong?” Lori asked running up behind him.

“One of my jet skiis is gone,” AJ replied. “I see it. Out on the water.” He pointed out into
the darkness. Lori squinted her eyes and tried to see what he was pointing at. It took her
a couple of minutes, but she finally saw what he saw.

“Wait, that’s Jenn and Kevin,” Lori said. A second passed before she saw them in the
light. “Oh my god! They’re naked!” Lori covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

“Oh, man. That’s gross, dude,” AJ replied. He wasn’t laughing at all. “Damn! Now I’m
going to have to sanitize the seat on that thing!”

“They better be careful. I’m sure they’re pretty drunk,” Lori said putting her arm through
AJ’s. They looked out on the water. Lori figured that she would make her move and say
something to AJ.

“AJ…” Lori said at the same time AJ had said, “Lori…” They turned towards each other and
looked into each other’s eyes. Lori brought her hands to AJ’s face while AJ wrapped his
arms around her waist. Lori brought AJ’s lips to hers while AJ pulled her closer.

They pulled apart and embraced. They both knew at that instant that they had the same
thing to say to each other. They wanted to be with each other and nothing was going to
stop them. “That was easier than I thought it would be,” Lori said. AJ chuckled he
released her from the embrace. They held each other’s hands and AJ scanned the water to
make sure that Kevin and Jenn were alright. He looked around for a minute and he had a
confused look on his face. “Do you see them?” Lori asked.

As soon as she asked that there was a loud noise and the next thing Lori remembered was
darkness.