AJ tossed and turned in the bed, irritably throwing the covers to the floor. The airconditioning was turned on, and he quickly had to get them again, but they were sweaty, cold and too warm at the same time. He tried closing his eyes, but that just made him even more hyper sensitive to every sound in Nick’s house. He heard a car pull up, a door slam out on the driveway, a feminine laugh and soon there were people talking in the house. He looked at the alarm clock. 2:30 am. He sighed. Part of him wanted to go all Kevin on Nick, but he just couldn’t bring himself to get up. This was Nick’s house after all, and he had every right to bring guests home whenever he pleased. Ten minutes passed, and the house grew quiet again. He turned on his side, shuffling the pillows until he felt somewhat comfortable and closed his eyes. What the… Oh hell no. He got up quickly, pulled on a pair of sweats and ran out through french doors to the generous balcony outside.  A screamer? Really, Nickolas? He shook his head with a chuckle and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, lighting one as he slid down onto a bench.

He had to do something about this, he concluded as he blew smoke into the night sky. He couldn’t keep living with mr. ”I say I have 16 girlfriends who might disturb you and I ain’t kidding”-Carter. Bless his heart, he had a type. More beauty than brains, the more vulgar the better. The louder and dumber they were, the more happy he seemed. This one seemd to be taking home the prize for loudmouth of the year though. He cringed at the sound that could either be a blonde with enough tits and ass for an entire town climaxing, or someone strangling a cat.

To drown out the noise he reached in through the french doors and pulled out his guitar. He spent an hour or two trying to make sense of the lyrics brewing in the back of his head, but was unsuccessful. Alanna was on his mind again, constantly. He was becoming obsessed, and it wasn’t good. Finally he heard the front door open, a giggle and what sounded like a light slap on a butt cheek. A wail, and more giggles ensued as a cab pulled up at the curb. Scooching forward he snuck a peek at the girl as she walked down the driveway. Yeah, he’d been right. A huge curly blonde mane of hair, tiny waist and a ginormous ass, barely covered by a pair of daisy dukes. Legs for days finished with mile high stilettoes. He’d never hear the end of this. Sighing he got to his feet, placed the guitar back in it’s stand and smoked another cigarette before he crawled into bed. This time he actually fell asleep, and woke up with a gasp and his heart pounding when Nick knocked on the door to let him know ”It’s ten am, the sun is shining and we’re going to the studio!” He was gone again before AJ could throw a pillow at his face to shut him up. Still groggy from sleep he got out of bed and into the shower, hoping the steaming hot water would wake him up.

Ten minutes later he entered the kitchen where Nick was drinking his coffee while talking on the phone, bouncing a small basketball and reading something on his laptop. ”Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe. Dunno. Aha. Yup.”

Shaking his head AJ filled the mug that was set out for him and brought it to the table where he plopped down opposite Nick. The sun was shining, a little too bright for his surly mood, and he looked around wishing for some darker colours, something to give his eyes some rest from all the bright white, blue and more white. Sighing as Nick continued his choppy conversation on the phone he got up and walked through the open patio door. The day was warm, he heard waves crashing against sand and could feel the smell of sea. It was a beautiful spot, for sure, but it just wasn’t him. Before he could change his mind he got out his phone and punched in the numbers he’d memorized.

”Summers Real Estate, Alanna Whitman.”

”Hey, it’s Alex… AJ. AJ McLean. We met a couple weeks ago, and you said to call if…”

”AJ!? Oh, hi! Wow, I… I can’t believe you’re actually calling me!”

”Well, the thing is, I need a house.”

”Oh, okay! What do you have in mind? Size, style, price range, location?”

”Um… Not too big. 4-5 bedrooms maybe? Cozy, lived in, if you know what I mean?”

”Not a fan of white and brushed steel?”

”No, not exactly. Price is less important. I wanna be close to the beach, but not on it. Close to down town, but a bit secluded.”

”I’ll check around, see what we have to offer.”

”Sweet. Thank you, I appreciate that!” He paused for a heartbeat, with a now-or-never, sinking feeling in his stomach. ”So… How’ve you been?”

”Good, thank you. It took like a week to come down off of the rush of that show!” She laughed. ”You?”

”I’m okay. It’s just… ”

”What?” she asked as he fell silent.

”Nah, nothing. Will you call me if you find anything?” He gave himself a mental facepalm.

”Oh, of course. I’ll make it my priority to find you the perfect house!”

”Thank you!” They said their goodbyes, and as he ended the call he kicked a chair so hard that it fell over, landing almost on Nick’s feet.

”O-kay? Now what the hell was that for?”

”Nothing, sorry.” He put the chair back on all four legs, and rounded Nick as he walked back into the kitchen, his toe hurting like a motherfucker. He drained his mug of luke warm coffee in one gigant gulp and looked at Nick. ”Are we going or what?”

”Sure, sure. Damn man, sunshine’s got nothing on your morning brightness.”

”Whatever.”

”So, you’re getting a house?”

”Seems like it.” At Nick’s confused look, he shook his head. ”Sorry. That was Alanna on the phone. She’s a real estate agent, and she’s gonna find me a house.”

They walked together out to the car. AJ took the keys and got in behind the wheel.

”So, you finally got your balls back and decided to call her?”

”That’s one way of putting it. Or, one could say that I got sick of spending my nights on the fucking balcony playing the guitar so I don’t have to listen to you fucking your sixteen girlfriends, and decided to get a house. Last night I thought I was gonna blow an eardrum or something. How did you survive, did you wear earplugs?”

Nick laughed. ”I didn’t, and I think you’re lucky, cause you’re talking in my good ear right now. This one,” he said, scratching the other ”has a weird ringing sound to it today. Drowns out everything. I didn’t hear a word mom said on the phone this morning!”

Unable to withstand any longer AJ broke down laughing. ”You’re crazy, bro.”

Nick smiled and shrugged. ”So, you’re seeing her? Alanna?”

”I guess. She’s gonna call when she finds something that fits the bill.” He pulled up outside the studio, got out and locked the car. ”I guess we’ll see.”