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“I didn’t think you were coming back,” Cassie’s voice sliced into AJ’s thoughts quite suddenly. Where had she come from?

“I just had to get something,” he answered while trying not to look at her. That, however, was proving to be harder than he expected.

“Oh.”

Concentrating on his iPod was becoming harder to do when he realized Cassie was lying on her side staring at him. Focus, McLean, he told himself.

“So, J, are you up for some catching up time?” Cassie asked casually with an almost seductive smile.

“Catching up time?” AJ repeated, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yeah. You know… it’s been so long since we’ve seen one another and I just thought it might be nice to go somewhere and talk. Privately,” her smiled was enchanting as she leaned over and placed her hand on his forearm. “What do you say?”

“Well,” he hesitated unsure whether he wanted to open that can of worms or not. He decided to answer truthfully, “I really don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Cassie.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a short nod as she stood up and turned to walk away. Before she got more than a few feet away, she turned around and smiled. “For the record, I’m not trying to set you up for anything. I just thought it might be nice to talk.”

AJ watched as she turned back around and sauntered away. Her last comment fluttered back into his mind and before he could stop himself, he was on his feet going after her. “Cassie,” he called just as she was almost inside the hotel.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“You know, you’re right, we haven’t seen each other in a while and it would be nice to talk.”

A slow smile spread across Cassie’s pretty face. “So are you up for dinner tonight? 7:30 sound okay?”

“Sure,” he nodded and returned her smile, the plans he’d already made completely slipping from his mind.



Resting her head on her left hand, Bianca impatiently drummed her fingernails on the table. AJ had planned to meet her at Cili at 7:30 and it was nearing 8. She was sure she looked quite pathetic sitting by herself; it had to be obvious she was waiting for someone that wasn’t going to show up. With a sigh she checked her watch again to see that only three minutes had passed. Pathetic.

“Can I bring you and appetizer?” the waiter appeared and seemed to be giving her a most sympathetic gaze.

“No thank you, I think I’ll just be going,” she answered and placed some money in his hand.

“You ready to leave now?” Madd Dawg questioned as she walked quickly past.

“Yeah, you just wanna hit McDonald’s or something?”

“Whatever you want,” he said simply. Once inside the car he turned to look at Bianca, “Are you okay?”

“Peachy.”

“Maybe something came up,” Madd Dawg knew it wasn’t the best thing to say to try and make her feel better, but he was willing to give AJ the benefit of the doubt. “Things happen.”

“Sure. But we’re also talking about AJ and he has a tendency to do some things out of spite.”

“You don’t—”

“He stood me up,” Bianca tried her best to sound nonchalant and act as though she didn’t care. But the truth was that she DID care and it had hurt her to be treated like this. Of course, part of her couldn’t blame AJ at all, but still, she thought maybe they were past petty bickering and childish actions. She wanted to move past the tension and try and get back to where they had been before everything that happened in New York a year earlier.

“Look, I know you don’t want to hear this, but AJ is still really hurt. When a man’s ego is bruised as badly as his was, he will take extreme measures to pick himself back up. And I’m not taking his side, I’m just trying to let you know why he might have done this even though that doesn’t make it right,” he placed his hand gently over hers, “Just give things a little more time, I’m sure everything will get back to normal.”

Bianca smiled through tear filled eyes. Somehow Madd Dawg always knew what to say to make her feel better. He may have been her bodyguard, but right now, he was the best friend she had.



“Oh, I haven’t laughed this much in a while,” Cassie giggled holding her stomach. Grinning, she playfully shoved AJ and kept walking toward the hotel.

“Me neither,” he laughed along with her. “I had fun tonight.”

“Me too. I’m glad you decided to come with me.” An awkward silence settled between them as they neared the Bellagio entrance. “Well, Mr. Man Whore,” she laughed and traced a finger across the words on his black t-shirt, “I’m a little tired so I’m gonna go up to bed. See you tomorrow?”

“Okay,” he nodded and smiled.

“Good,” Cassie leaned forward and softly placed a kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Night.”

As Cassie disappeared inside the hotel AJ checked his watch. 11:25. He wasn’t really feeling tired at all because he had relaxed most of the day and he didn’t want to go back to his suite yet. “I wonder if I can watch the fountains this late?” He hadn’t even thought about watching the fountains and didn’t know when the show times were or when they ended, but it was worth checking out. To his good fortune, a fountain show was just beginning.

He was relieved to see that there weren’t many people standing and watching the fountains this time of night. There was a young couple (probably newlyweds) standing close together and occasionally leaning in for a soft kiss. The only other person he saw was a young woman who didn’t really seem to be watching the fountains. Walking up to the rail, AJ leaned over on it and cast a quick glance at the woman. His closer look told him that the woman was crying (only leaning over to make it less obvious) because he could see her just barely see her shoulders shaking. Every now and then she would reach up and brush a stray hair out of her face as she wiped her eyes. He felt like he might have been intruding, but seeing her so upset bothered him. What if something terrible happened and she needed someone—albeit a complete stranger—to talk to.

Stepping closer, AJ leaned in and whispered, “Are you all right?” He was taken completely by surprise when the woman turned sharply and he saw that it was Bianca. She had indeed been crying, her eyes were red and puffy and tearstains were prominent on her cheeks. “Bean, what’s wrong?”

She quickly wiped her face even though she knew it was no use. “Nothing.”

He narrowed his eyes and took a step closer. “I’m not buying that. Now what’s the matter?”

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t patronize me AJ. You don’t have to stand here and pretend like you care why I’m upset,” her tone was harsh and she turned to walk away but he stopped her.

Taking her arm in his hand he shook his head furiously. “Don’t even try and make me look like a bad guy for no reason, Bianca.”

She jerked her arm from his grip and narrowed her eyes. “Look, I said I’m okay now if you’ll excuse me…”

“No!” he took her arm once again. This time his voice was urgent, “Did something happen? You’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”

Bianca’s gaze softened for a moment at the sincerity in his voice, but she quickly pushed away her feelings of forgiveness. “No, AJ, nothing happened.” A blanket of silence fell over them and they both just stood staring at the beautiful fountains. It was minutes later before either of them spoke again. “You know, I really thought we were past our harsh feelings,” she finally offered quietly.

“What are you talking about?”

“AJ, you know what I’m talking about. This childish desire to get back at me for what happened… I thought it was gone and we were gonna be able to move on. I guess I was wrong because you obviously had an urge to humiliate me tonight.”

AJ started to question what she was talking about when he suddenly remembered his promise to her earlier in the elevator. He had planned on meeting her for a 7:30 dinner, but then he’d made plans with Cassie and completely forgot. “Oh god, Bean, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“I really didn’t mean to stand you up. I met up with… with an old friend and forgot. I swear, just because I’ve been upset with you that doesn’t mean I would just not meet you somewhere I said I would.” She only nodded. “I’m serious, Bean. I just wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered softly. “I guess I’m just being stupid and blowing this all out of proportion.”

“I really am sorry,” he said sincerely. “Can I make it up to you?”

“I guess,” she nodded and felt him take her hand.

“Okay,” he smiled. “How about breakfast?”