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Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Andrea stood in the doorway of her hotel room, her gaze moving from her cousin to AJ to Nick and back again. She had no idea what to say.

“Annie, can I talk to you for a second?” Andrea asked, motioning for the two of them to go into the hallway.

“We’ll be right back,” Annie said, smiling at AJ. AJ smiled back at Annie, and gave her two thumbs up. Annie knew what he meant by his gesture, but Nick had no clue. When the girls shut the door to the hotel room, Nick turned to AJ with an inquisitive look on his face.

“What was that all about?” he asked.

“The thumbs up, or the question I asked?” AJ inquired.

“Both, I guess. Did you ask Annie to go with you to Pittsburgh? Did she tell you the two of them are on a road trip together? How can you expect Annie to go with you and leave her cousin by herself to drive to Chicago?”

“Whoa, slow your roll a minute Nick and I will explain everything,” AJ said, a little stunned by the conviction he heard in Nick’s voice. “First of all, while you and Andrea were doing whatever you were doing, Annie confided in me about some things that have been going on in her life. Most of it pertained to Andrea, but I am not at liberty to tell you what we talked about. There are some things that Andrea will need to tell you when she is ready, but just know that it’s not something that you should be afraid of. She’s not psycho or anything like that, so don’t worry. Secondly, I am really into Annie, and you know as well as I do, that the only way to spend time with someone in our line of work is to bring them along wherever we go, so I asked her if she would like to get to know me a little better and come on the road with us for a little. Since they were planning on being on the road themselves for a few weeks, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch. And third, Annie said that she saw something in your eyes and in Andrea’s eyes when you two looked at each other, and she thought the only way the two of you could see if there is anything there is by the two of you doing what her and I are doing,” AJ stopped to catch his breath, and for Nick to have time to interject.

“Wow, that’s a lot of information to process this quickly,” Nick said after a minute to take in what he had just heard. “So, you and Annie are trying to set me up with Andrea?”

“Of all the things I said, I knew that would be the one thing you paid attention to,” AJ laughed as he punched Nick in the shoulder. “You are so one track minded!”

“Ouch!” yelped Nick. “I know, but you didn’t have to hit me Dawg!” They continued to goof around until they heard the door open and saw the girls walk back into the room.

 

 

“What is going on?” Andrea asked, once she and Annie were out of the guys’ earshot. “Did you tell Alex we would go with him to Pittsburgh?”

“Well, yeah, I did,” Annie said, a little concerned from Andrea’s reaction that maybe she shouldn’t have. “But I didn’t do it just for me; I did it for you too!”

“What do you mean you did it for me too?” Andrea asked. By this time she was fuming. “This was supposed to be our trip together, just the two of us, like Thelma and Louise, remember? This was going to be my turning point, my ‘crossroads’ as you put it. This whole thing was your idea and now you are changing it!” Andrea continued to yell. She was so flustered, but the more she ranted and more she realized that it wasn’t toward Annie, but rather towards the reality that this meant she would be with Nick more. It was at that moment she realized what Annie was doing, and she knew this would be her “fork in the road”.  She just had to decide which path to take.

She looked up at Annie, her expression softened, “I know what you are doing, you sneaky little minx,” she said to her cousin, giving her a devious, yet accepting look.

“I can never get anything by you, can I?” Annie teased back. She was relieved that her cousin had calmed down, and she was happy Andrea knew why she did what she did. “Are you sure….” Annie started to say, but she stopped as soon as Andrea jumped up and wrapped her arms around her neck, hugging her.

“Thank you,” Andrea whispered as she hugged her cousin. “For everything.”

“Yeah, whatever, you’re welcome,” Annie said, trying to sound disgusted. “Now get off me,” she joked. “You know I don’t like being touched!” Andrea just laughed. Her cousin had never liked to show affection, although she never understood why. Andrea was the only person, with the exception of her own mom, that Annie let get close to her. And for that reason, Andrea hugged Annie every chance she got.

“Yeah, I bet you won’t be telling Alex to get off you!” Andrea taunted, as they started to walk back into the hotel room. Both girls were laughing uncontrollably as they re-entered the room. Annie walked over to AJ, and he leaned over and whispered into her ear.

“How did it go?”

“Fine,” Annie responded, loud enough for everyone to hear. “When do we leave for Pittsburgh?” she asked the guys, smiling at Andrea.

“Yeah, when do we leave?” Andrea asked, copying Annie, only her smile was aimed at Nick.

“As soon as you guys get your crap out of this room and into your car,” AJ laughed. Andrea and Annie quickly threw the things they had taken out of their suitcase earlier back into them and zipped them shut.

“Ready!” yelled Annie, letting her excitement show. She knew this was going to a trip she would never forget. She was so rapturous about spending more time with Alex, and she didn’t care who knew it.

“Shouldn’t we change into clothes or something, instead of wearing our pajamas?” Andrea asked, laughing at the way her cousin was acting. Andrea was always the one to ask the practical questions.

“No, you guys are fine,” Nick said as he picked up Andrea’s bags. “We are just going to take your car back to our hotel and get on the buses. You’ll want to be comfortable for the ride.”

“Okay, but what are we going to do with our car?”

“I already talked to the hotel and they said you can leave it there until we come back through on our way to Chicago. They will keep an eye on it,” AJ responded. “Are you girl all set then?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Andrea. “We just have to stop by the front desk and checkout. You guys should go out to our car before us though, because the girl at the desk will never let me leave if she knows I am going somewhere with the Backstreet Boys,” Andrea said as she started laughing. Nick and AJ just looked at each puzzled.

“I’ll explain it you on the way out to the car,” Annie laughed as they all walked out of the hotel room.

As they made their way down to the elevator Annie told them all about the nosey from desk clerk. When they entered the lobby, Annie and the boys walked out first, and avoided making eye contact with the Samantha. Luckily, she did not recognize any of them. A few seconds later, Andrea walked up to the desk and told Samantha they needed to check out.

“Is anything wrong with the room? Where is Annie? How was the concert?” and the questions just kept coming. Finally Andrea interrupted her and told her they were in a hurry and she needed to get going, without answering any of Samantha’s questions.

“Okay, well I won’t keep you,” Samantha said, her voice burning with more questions she wanted to ask and have answers to. “Are you sure though that there wasn’t anything wrong with your room or the hotel?”

“I’m sure Samantha, everything was fine. We are just moving on,” said Andrea, knowing she meant herself more than she meant her and Annie. “Thanks,” she said as she collected her receipt and walked away from the desk and out the door. “I’m just moving on,” she said quietly as she walked up the car that Annie, AJ, and Nick were already sitting in waiting for her.