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Chapter 9

“There are some complications with Brian’s surgery,” the doctor started. “We repaired one
hole, but found another one roughly the size of a quarter. So, the operation will be another
couple of hours. And there was an instance where his heart stopped beating and we did
have to resuscitate him, but he is stable now.”

Jennifer and Jackie gasped and Jackie broke into tears. The doctor put his hand on her
shoulder and Jenn said, “Thanks Doctor. We appreciate the update.” The doctor left and
Harold put an arm around his wife. Jenn put her hand on Jackie’s knee and gave it a rub.
She got up and offered her seat to Harry, Brian’s brother, so he could sit next to his mother.
Jenn wiped her tears and walked towards where Kevin was standing.

“Hey, how are ya doing?” Jenn asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

“Not that great,” Kevin replied giving her a faint smile. “How are you holding up? I saw you
talking to Jackie over there.”

“Yeah, I’m doing okay. Just worried about my friend, ya know,” Jenn replied. “Jackie’s not
doing well at all, but I can’t really blame her. I hope Brian pulls through.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure that once Brian is back with us, then there will be some problems,”
Kevin said.

“What are you talking about?” Jenn inquired.

“Well, Lou Pearlman has pushed Brian more and more knowing about Brian’s condition.
Look, Brian was supposed to have this surgery six months ago, but instead Lou wanted to go
to Europe to tour,” Kevin said. He lowered his voice so only Jenn could hear. “This has got
to stop.”

Jenn looked up and saw that the doctor had returned and was talking to Jackie. “He will be
out of surgery and into a room in a matter of thirty minutes. He’s perfectly stable!” Jackie
exclaimed across the room to everyone. Everyone cheered and Jenn saw Lori and AJ walk
in as everyone cheered. Jenn was relieved to finally know that Brian was okay. Now, all she
wanted was to see him.


Lori gave Nick his Coke and gave him a hug when she found out about the news. She was
truly relieved. She apologized to Nick for taking so long and blamed it on AJ. Everyone took
their turns to go see Brian. Lori cried and Nick put an arm around her.

The hotel room was barely lived in. It had been a couple of weeks since Brian’s surgery.
Fortunately, Brian was doing well and recovering. Lori woke up one morning and went with
Howie, Nick and AJ to go say good bye to Brian. They were going to go ahead and fly back
down to Orlando that day. AJ said that Marissa had been bitching about him not being home
and he really didn’t feel like pissing her off even more. Lori had some more stuff to do to
finish up her album and Nick decided to get home to his Mom and Dad.

Now, Lori looked out of the window of the plane and was sort of excited to get home. She
was tired of the hotel room and wanted to sleep in the bed she had been sleeping in for the
past month. She thought about going back home to Charlotte and visiting her Mom and Dad,
but she had to get some stuff done with the album first.

“Lori, thanks for being there for me. I really appreciate it.” Lori looked at Nick and smiled.
She laid her head on his shoulder and went to sleep.

“Lori? Lori?”

She felt her body being shaken. She opened her eyes and saw AJ standing over her. He
looked different. His hair wasn’t a crazy color and he didn’t have his earrings in. He looked
like Alex, her Alex, only older now.

“Alex?” Lori asked. “What happened?”

“You fainted, I think,” he replied. “We were on our way to the church, in the limo and then
you fainted.”

“Church? Did someone die?” Lori asked.

“What?” he asked with a laugh. “It’s our wedding, Lori.”

Lori looked at him in disbelief and looked down at what she was wearing. She was in white.
From head to toe. “Oh my god. I’m marrying you? That can’t be right. You’re with Marissa
and we can’t just get married…”

Lori woke up with a jolt. Nick woke up and looked at her. “Are you okay? You’re sweating
really badly. I’ll get you some water.” He got up out of his seat and went to find some water.

“Lori, are you okay?” AJ poked his head over her seat and touched her shoulder.

“Ahhh!” Lori shrieked. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just leave me alone, Alex. I mean it.” She was
paranoid and he was the last person that she wanted to see at that point.

Nick came back with the water and Lori took a sip of it. “Was it a bad dream?” Nick asked.

“A nightmare,” Lori replied.

The rest of the plane ride was uneventful. Lori didn’t want to go back asleep again. She just
stared out of her window until they had landed at Orlando International. They got off of the
plane and Lori decided to go in a separate taxi to Jenn’s house. She just wanted to be alone
for awhile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the next couple of weeks, Lori had managed to put the finishing touches on her album.
She decided that she wasn’t going to go to Charlotte. She just wanted to relax because she
wasn’t too sure if she was going to go with Jenn and finish up the tour with the Boys.

“Well, I guess I can go with you for the rest of the tour,” Lori replied. She was talking to Jenn
on the phone. “I’m so bored here all by myself I could just scream!”

“Go visit AJ,” Jenn replied. “He probably could use the company. Oh and by the way, BSB
have no management as of right now, so yours truly and Denise are going to be calling the
shots temporarily.”

“Oh, how did you get stuck with that job?” Lori asked. She flipped the channel on the
television and saw it was yet again another infomercial.

“Long story,” Jenn replied. “I am way too tired to even go into it right now. It’s almost two in
the morning. I’m surprised you are still up. Are you done with your album?”

“Oh yeah. This totally sucks! My birthday is tomorrow and I can’t even spend it with anyone
because all of you guys are elsewhere.” Lori turned the TV off and laid her head on her
pillow.

“I’m sorry, Lori. Seriously, why don’t you and AJ hang out? You guys need to work out your
problems if you are going to be on tour together,” Jenn replied.

“Really? Like you and Kev?” Lori asked.

“Exactly like me and Kev,” Jenn replied. “Well, girl, I will let ya go and I will call you soon.”

“Give my love to Brian. Talk at ya laters,” Lori said, and then hung up the phone and placed
it on the receiver on her nightstand. “Nighty night Toby.” She pet the dog that was at her
side and turned her lamp off.

About fifteen minutes after she turned off the light, she thought that she heard a knocking at
the front door. She got up out of bed and crept down the stairs in the dark. She heard the
knocking again and as soon as she reached the front door, she saw a shadowy figure trying
to look into the windows.