“Mo, I want you to come with me to this dating thing.” My friend Casey said to me as she walked into my house. I looked at her kind of funny.
“Why would I want to go to that with you? Why are you even going?” I asked back to her.
“Well, I’ve never been to one, and I here they’re pretty funny…you know the people that go in there.” I nodded.
“That’s what I see on TV. I guess I’ll go for some laughs.” I grabbed my purse and we left. We got to the place and there seemed to be a lot of people in there already, and some of the men were pretty good looking. It’s weird how they don’t have anyone. They must be really weird.

“Alright, everyone take a seat now, we’re going to start.” The woman at the microphone said. I sat down and a man sat across from me and he sighed. I looked up at him, and it was AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys. I was a little stunned. I was just looking at him and he smiled at me. I laughed.

“What are you doing here?” I said after I laughed.
“I’m…well here with a friend. You?”
“Same, we wanted to just see what it’s like…This is kind of embarrassing.”
“I was thinking the same thing, but what's your name?”
“I'm Mo...Who are you here with?” He looked around and pointed to a guy who was with my friend.
“My bud, Chris.”
“Well…your bud Chris is with my bud Casey.” We laughed together.
“We wanted to see what it’s like too. I don’t really have a problem with dating.”
“How flattering. Me neither though.” We both smiled. I looked at Casey. “I think she likes him.” AJ looked too.
“I know Chris likes her, she’s his type, for sure.” I smiled wide.
“Is he nice?” AJ nodded.
“Yeah, he’s been my friend for years now.”
“Same with me and Casey.” Casey was indeed a pretty girl. She was a tall blonde with brilliant green eyes. She weighed practically nothing, and she worked out every day. She worked at a gym, so she got a lot of discounts on memberships. We’ve been friends since we were freshman in High School and we’re now 23. I don’t really know what I’d do without her. She’s been there through so much with me, and I the same with her. I was there when her parents went through a horrid divorce that ended in tons of therapy for Casey, and she was there for me when my first love died in a car accident. I was broken apart by it, I still think about him sometimes…I wonder how different my life would be.

“So, what do you do for a living?” He asked me.
“I own my own recording studio on Shelburne.”
“Oh, Dim Lights Studios?” I nodded.
“That looks like a really nice studio, who do you get in there?”
“TI was just in last week actually. Other than him, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Britney, Soldja Boy, T-Pain, and Taylor Swift.” He nodded.
“That’s extensive.” I agreed.
“I love it, it’s the best thing I think I ever did in my life.” He smiled.
“That’s good…I’ll have to ask if we can record there one day.”
“I’d be honored if you came in.”
“I think the boys would be ok with it…you know I’m in a group right?”
“Who doesn’t know the Backstreet Boys, AJ.” We laughed together.

“Alright, switch!” AJ and I stood up and looked at Casey and Chris, they both walked over to us.

“Did you guys have each other?” Casey asked me, and I nodded. “So that is really awesome.”
”Indeed, I think I’m done though…It’s no fun when you meet someone who wants to work at your studio.” I whispered to her.
“I’m done, Chris and I are going on a date this Friday!” I high-fived her.
“That’s awesome!”
“I know, but AJ is cute, why aren’t you going to go out?”
“I think he’d be a great friend…” She smirked.
“Right.”

“You guys want to go to lunch maybe?” AJ asked as Chris agreed with him. “Our treat.”
“Well, I’m not saying no to food when I’m not paying.” Casey said. She walked over to Chris who put his arm around her. I laughed and walked out with AJ.

“Thanks for asking.” I said to him.
“Anytime, it’s the least I can do.”
“You still have to pay to use the studio.”
“Damn…” I laughed at him. “Just kidding, I knew that. I just like to be nice sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“Ok…I’m nice 85% of the time.” He said when we got to his car.
“That leaves a lot of room for mean AJ.” He shrugged at me.
“Can’t be this awesome all the time.”

“So, where are we going?” Casey asked.
“How about Lé Café on 50th?” Chris asked everyone. Everyone agreed. “You ladies can leave your care here and just come with us.” We said ok. AJ opened the passenger seat door for me. I got in and he shut it. Chris and Casey got in the back to talk and get to know each other more. AJ got in and looked back at them, then to me and he smiled and laughed a little. I did the same. We drove past my studio.

”Hey Chris, Mo here owns that studio.” He pointed to it.
“Really? You’ve kind of always wanted to record there.” I looked at him.

“It’s a badass studio. I told him he could bring in the boys anytime he wanted.”
“Well it’d be more for my solo album.” He said looking at me for a second.
“Oh, well then you can come in whenever you want.” We all laughed.

We got to the restaurant and talked a little more. Casey and Chris had really hit it off by now and we were really becoming close. AJ and I however were becoming great friends. We had a lot in common including our tastes in music, love for tattoos (though I had none at the moment), and that in our spare time we loved to be with family and friends. We shared stories about family happenings and he talked to me a little more about his solo work, and his work with the boys.

“I happen to love your group. I mean…the music is so real.” He sipped some of his coffee.
“That’s what we go for. It’s a lot of experiences we’ve had, and some of it is what we’d like to have happen, you know?”
“I totally know…sometimes I wish that I had followed through with my childhood dream of singing so I could put my life through song and inspire others…but I always enjoyed behind the scenes stuff a little more. Meeting people is much cooler than being the person someone wants to meet. I wouldn’t get the same rush as I do with my studio.”
“It’s a miracle how awesome you are.” He high-fived me. I laughed with him. I was so comfortable with him it was unbelievable.
“You and I need to hang out some more I think.”
“I definitely agree with you. What should we do?”
“I don’t have any idea…I’m redecorating my house so I don’t know how much time I have free between that and the studio.”
“Why don’t I come with you to pick out some stuff for your place, I have a friend who helped me with mine.”
“Where is your place?”
“Hill Drive.” I thought.
“Can I come see your house to see what it looks like, maybe it’s what I’m going for.”
“Totally, how about after this?” I agreed. We finished there and took Casey and Chris back to my car. I told Casey to take him home if she wanted but take the car back to my house, and I left with AJ. We drove up to his house. When we got there I remembered all the time I had listened to his music and how often I thought about what it would be like to marry him. I was a huge fan of his, but for some reason I forgot about it when I met him. I guess I was just so used to working with famous by then. I felt like a little girl all the sudden. I got out of the car and walked up to the door with him. He unlocked it and we walked in. It was a beautiful rustic feel, all the wood seemed older than it was, and the artwork was unbelievable.

“AJ…this is so gorgeous.” I touched the fireplace lightly and looked at the art.
“Thank you. It’s home.” I looked back at him.
“You know, I was thinking about how awesome of a friend you’d make…but I might just sleep with you to be in this house more often.” He laughed.
“I’m not going to turn that down.” I laughed at him.
“I’m just kidding…I’m…well I’m waiting, if you get me.” His eyes got big?
“You’re a virgin?” I put my hands on my hips.
“Do I look like I’ve slept with someone?”
“Well no, it’s just that it’s not often you hear that stuff.” He sat on his couch. I sat down next to him and we talked some more.

NEXT DAY

I’m working at my studio thinking about yesterday with AJ, it was everything I had ever dreamed, but for some reason I wasn’t as excited as I should be. I heard the bells on the door. I looked down from my office and saw AJ walking in and up to the receptionist. My phone buzzed and I answered it.

“Yes.”
“Mo, AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys is here to see you.”
“Send him up, please.”
“Yes, ma’m.” In a couple minutes there was a knock on my door.
“Come in.” I stood up and welcomed AJ with a hug.
“Hey hun.”
“Hey.” I went back behind my desk and he sat down at a chair in front of it.
“I hope it’s ok that I told the boys to come a little later to check out the studio.” I nodded.
“That’s just fine. I’m a little slow today. But tomorrow should have me filled…The Jonas Brothers are coming in. My street is going to be filled with fans.”
“Just get some guards out there.”
“No way, I told them to bring their own if they want the privacy. I’m not responsible for anyone but my building and staff.”
“That’s a good way to run a business. You seem to really be serious about this place.”
“It’s my baby, I built it from nothing and have brought in huge names…” He smiled innocently at me. I heard the bells again and saw the rest of his crew come in. My phone buzzed again.

“Mo, it’s the rest of the Backstreet Boys.”
“Ok, I’m coming down now.” I hung up and AJ and I walked downstairs. I walked over to them and shook their hands.

“Hi guys, I’m Mo.”
“Hi Mo.” They all said back.
“So what do you guys want to do while you’re here?” I said clasping my hands together.

“Well we’re working on a new album called This Is Us, and we’ve been working with the same studio for ages and we’re not inspired by it anymore…We barely finished up our last album with inspiration. We heard from Britney that this place has different themed rooms and she wrote Blackout here.” Brian said.
“She did write it here…She put the studio in her thanks you’s, which was awesome. I really hope you guys can get inspired here, not all of our rooms are themed though, people like TI just like to get work done so we have a couple regular foamed rooms.”
“That’s fine.”
“Awesome…do you want to start today?” They all looked at each other. “Or you could take a look around the rooms and see what you like.” They agreed on that. AJ got pulled back by Brian. I continued to show the other two the rooms.

“So Mo, how long have you run this place?” Nick asked me.
“Since last year. It was a run down studio at first, and I spent nearly half a million to fix it back up.”
“Dang, that’s a lot of money.” He said.
“It has been more than worth it. To meet the people I meet, and hang with the people I hang with…it’s a blessing.” We got to the first room and AJ and Brian joined us. “This is our movie room. It’s got posters of older movies and newer movies. It’s popular for the artists because they like to write love songs in here.” I opened up the door and they walked in. “It’s also our biggest room.” The boys just looked around in awe at it.
“I have never seen a room like this…ever.” Nick said starring at a poster of Gone with the Wind.

“We could definitely use this room.” Brian said as I clapped a little.
“Perfect! Should we go on?” They all nodded. We left the room and I locked it back up. We went down the long hallway to the next room on the right. “This is my favorite room, the paparazzi room.” I opened it up. There were pictures of models walking around paparazzi snapping pictures. “You can imagine that Lady Gaga wrote Paparazzi in here. Which is my favorite song…ever.”

“I love this room…” AJ said to me.
“Thank you.” I winked at him and he grinned back. “Alright, moving on.” Across the hall was another room.

“I’m in love with this studio thus far, Mo.” Howie said.
“That is the best thing I could ever hear…trust me.” I laughed a little at him. “Ok, this is the beach room.” I let them in.
“Ok, this room…is awesome!” Howie said looking at the beach scene.
“Yeah, it’s a favorite of others too, a lot of… ‘I’m here for you’ songs were written here. It’s just a calming place.”
“I can imagine.” He said back to me.

“Now, the next room is rarely used because it’s hard to come up with something.” I walked them to the next room and opened it. “It’s called the Masquerade room.” It’s a gold room with purple accents with a bunch of Mardi Gras masks added to it.
“I think we can definitely get something in here…” Nick said to me.
“Yeah, it’s got great atmosphere to it.” Brian added.


I finished showing them the rest of the themed rooms and included the regular rooms.

“Mo, we will definitely be coming back to do some work here…Thank you so much for taking time out to show us.” Brian said hugging me.
“You guys are so welcome, I love this group and I’ll do anything to get you guys to work here.”
“We’ll be back, don’t you worry.” I hugged Nick and Howie and those three left. AJ stayed behind and came back to my office with me.