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Chapter 18

warning...this chapter has a good bit of bad words and a sexual situation of sorts...so
consider yourselves warned!...Enjoy!

* Flashback*

“Hi, Lori.” Donna shook her hand and motioned for Lori to sit down. “Now I think I remember
you.”

“Um, yeah. I can’t believe you remember me. That was four years ago. I don’t even live in
Florida anymore.” Lori was amazed that Donna remembered her from the brief encounter
they shared when she was dating Alex. She wanted to ask her about Alex. If she knew what
had happened to the group that he was in, but she decided against it.

“Weren’t you dating one of my clients?” Donna asked her.

“Yeah. Unfortunately.” Lori gave a little laugh. She hated talking about Alex and she saw
that Donna sensed that. She dropped the topic and they started talking about the different
record labels that were looking for the future pop diva.

* end flashback*

“What a fucking bitch,” Lori muttered to herself. “She fucking used me.”

“Baby, what the hell are you talking about?” AJ asked her. He turned to look at his
girlfriend. They were on a plane headed to New York City for the album launch at MTV
studios.

“I was thinking about Donna. That’s all. Just realized something.” Lori wiped away the tear
that was sliding down her cheek.

“What do you mean? She used you how?”

“The same way she used you and Marissa,” Lori replied looking back down at her magazine.
“Denise tried to warn me during the tour but I wouldn’t listen. I’m so stupid. She didn’t try to
make my career work. She just wanted to make you more on your toes and isolate you from
everyone.” Lori glanced at AJ and then back down at her magazine.

“Baby, you didn’t know that at the time. You didn’t even know that I was in the Backstreet
Boys. Anyway, Marissa’s gone and Donna’s gone. So, we both win because we have each
other.” AJ gave her a kiss on her cheek and grabbed her hand.

Lori wanted to do something with her life. She was tired of basking in the fame of her
boyfriend and wanted a career of her own. She didn’t want to sing, so she was hoping to
kiss some ass in New York and maybe be able to swing something with MTV.

Unfortunately, Mandy was there too, to do the same thing. Lori hated Mandy more than
anything. She wished Nick would get tired of her and dump her ass. Lori didn’t like how
controlling she was. Plus, she was noticing the way Nick acted around her. He wasn’t
himself at all. He was at Mandy’s beck and call. He hadn’t even spoken to Lori the entire
plane ride. She also thought that Mandy must be doing something right for Nick to be
isolating himself from his best friend, not to mention the rest of the group. “God, I hate her.”

AJ looked at his girlfriend again and decided not to even say anything. He was looking
forward to doing Saturday Night Live and MTV the following day.

At that time, the seat belt lights came on and the plane started to shake. “Baby, what’s
going on?” AJ asked clenching onto his girlfriend.

“It’s just turbulence sweetheart,” Lori replied. “Put your seat belt on.”

There was a loud noise coming from down the aisle towards the rear of the plane. Lori saw
everyone’s heads turn towards the back of the plane.

The plane shook violently again and the next thing everyone knew, Jenn fell out of the tiny
bathroom with her skirt pulled up around her waist. Jenn was obviously intoxicated and
couldn’t get herself off of the floor. So, there she was, showing her stuff to the whole plane
and she was completely oblivious to it.

Another violent shake of the plane sent a half naked Kevin out of the bathroom as well.
Only, instead of him landing on top of Jenn, his pocket got caught on the door handle as he
was falling. Therefore, everyone also got a glimpse of his backside and his front side.

Of course this sent out comments from everyone on the plane. Lori whistled at Kevin and
Nick grabbed Howie’s video camera to record the whole fiasco.

Kevin struggled to get free from the door handle, but he was finding it very difficult to try to
free himself with one hand while trying to conceal his package with the other.

At this point, Jenn was still on the floor trying to regain some sense but everything was
spinning. She looked over toward Kevin and saw him struggling with his pants.

Only then did she realize that her skirt was up around her waist and she quickly sat up to fix
it. As she sat up and looked in front of her, she saw Nick with the video camera stuck to his
face. By that time, the turbulence had stopped but Jenn’s vision was still blurred and
spinning in all directions.

“Turn that fucking thing off!” Jenn exclaimed grabbing the camera away from Nick’s face
and shoving towards his chest. She got up and gave her skirt a final tug and ran her fingers
through her hair. She then looked at everyone and walked back to her seat not saying a
word.

At that time, Kevin finally got untangled from the door handle and grabbed his pants and
pulled them up. “Sorry,” he muttered, sounding very disturbed by the whole thing. He
looked at everyone and went back into the bathroom, where he remained for the rest of the
plane ride.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Oh my God! This is amazing!” Lori exclaimed looking out of the windows in the limousine. “I
can’t believe I’m here!” She had always wanted to go to New York City and here she was. “I’
ve got to go see everything!” AJ chuckled at his girlfriend and remembered back when he
first came to New York. He was fifteen and just as wide eyed as Lori was.

He was planning on giving her money to go out shopping with Jenn and then they were
going to have a romantic dinner later that night. AJ and the rest of the Boys had a meeting
at Jive head quarters until later that afternoon.

They all had decided to go eat lunch together before the Boys had to go to the meeting. AJ
told Lori that he wanted to go out and have fun with Jenn that afternoon, but she had to be
back at the hotel by five that night.

“What are you planning now?” Lori asked him. She knew that he was up to something. He
was actually starting to act like the Alex she once knew a long time ago. He’s the one that is
so easy to fall in love with. “AJ?”

“It’s a surprise, baby,” AJ answered. “We’re going to dinner, so buy something really
beautiful today.”

“Right,” Lori replied. “Is there something going on? You haven’t been real talkative at all.”
She had noticed that he kept staring off into space throughout the lunch and even some on
the plane.

“I just have a lot on my mind. Nothing real major,” AJ lied. Deep down he was really excited
about his alone time with Lori. He couldn’t think of a better place to be anyway for this
moment. He had to ask her a really important question that evening.

~*~*~*~*~*

After a long day of shopping, Jenn collapsed onto the bed in the hotel suite that she shared
with Kevin. Lori knew how to wear a girl out. The combined shopping and sight seeing all
day was enough to make Jenn so tired that she just wanted to crawl into bed and not
resurface until the next day.

Kevin came into the room ten minutes later to find a sleeping Jenn surrounded by
shopping bags. He had never seen so many bags at once. She even had AJ beat. Kevin
could only imagine the amount that Lori had. He kissed Jenn on the forehead and removed
the bags from the bed. He walked out of the door and closed the door behind him.

Kevin left the hotel room and went to Brian’s room to talk. He was planning on taking Jenn
out to dinner that night. He was also thinking about asking her to give their engagement
another try.

He saw that Brian’s door was open and he walked in. Brian was on the phone and it was
obvious he was talking to Sara. Brian got off of the phone and turned towards his cousin.
“What’s up, cuz?”

“Hey, um, I just wanted to talk to you about Jenn.” Kevin sat down on the bed.

“What about her? Ya’ll fighting again?” Brian asked. He had this funny feeling that Kevin
was going to bring up the past.

“Well, I was wanting to ask Jenn to marry me again, but I didn’t know what really went wrong
the first time.”

“Maybe it was the fact that you moved to Florida for like a year?” Brian asked sarcastically.

“Besides that, man. I mean, um, I was thinking that maybe it had something to do with
another guy. I mean, you were there. Did you see her with anyone else?” Kevin asked his
cousin.

Brian felt like he was going to pass out. He broke out into a cold sweat and wiped his hands
on his jeans before he answered. “Why don’t you ask her? Why ask me?”

“Come on Brian. You would know. You guys were inseparable. You’d notice if she was
seeing someone else.”

“Well, she acted the same around me. So I can’t help ya, Kev.” Brian got up and looked out
of the window. He could feel Kevin’s eyes burning into the back of his head, but he didn’t
turn around to face his cousin. He was too scared that Kevin could see the truth on his
face. Brian never was a good liar, especially when it came to family.

“Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it.” Kevin got up and walked out of the room. His cousin’s mood
changed rather quickly.

When Kevin got back to his and Jenn’s room, he noticed that Jenn was in the bathroom. He
went into the bedroom and changed into an outfit for dinner. When he emerged from the
bedroom he sat down in one of the chairs and watched TV.

Jenn came out of the bathroom in her robe and changed into the black dress that she had
bought earlier that day with Lori. She had also found the perfect shoes to go with it as well.
She was looking forward to what lay ahead for her and Kevin that night.

~**~**~**~**~**

“This place is great, AJ,” Lori said sitting down in the chair that AJ had pulled out for her.

“Kevin suggested it,” AJ replied sitting down. “You want a drink?”

“I’ll have a Coke,” Lori replied. She unfolded her napkin and put it on her lap while AJ
ordered.

It was after dinner when AJ decided to make his move. “Lori, I’ve been wanting to talk to
you about...”

As AJ was going on with his speech, Lori couldn’t help but wonder why he was talking like
he was. He was talking a lot about how committed he felt and how he loved her so much.
His eyes were really bright and she could tell that he was really excited about this
conversation.

“Lori, would you be willing to take this relationship a step farther?” AJ asked suddenly.

Before Lori could answer AJ’s cell phone started ringing. “D, this is a bad time man,” AJ
growled into the receiver. Lori couldn’t help but laugh. Poor AJ. He tries to be serious and
something always seems to happen. AJ finally got Howie off of the phone and made sure
that his cell phone was off this time.

“Howie called to tell us that he finally remembers meeting you in 1992. I can’t believe he
called to tell me that.”

“AJ, breathe, Baby. It’s okay,” Lori said. “It’s about damn time Howie remembered meeting
me. I know he has a picture of the three of us somewhere.”

“He said that he found it,” AJ stated. “Anyway, back to what we were talking about. What do
you think?”

Lori went to answer again when her cell phone started ringing. “Oops. I didn’t turn it off,”
Lori said smiling to herself. AJ looked irritated.

“Jenn, didn’t I tell you that AJ and I were going out tonight?” Lori paused as Jenn told her
the reason why she called. Lori’s face went pale and AJ started getting worried about what
could have happened. Lori hung up the phone and looked at AJ. She had a shocked
expression on her face. It was starting to scare AJ.

“Jenn’s on a plane back to Orlando. Someone burnt down her house.”