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Chapter 27

Chapter 27

 

            Nick lowered his cell phone from his ear slowly, trying to comprehend and cope with the phone call he just received.  He stood in one spot, his mouth hanging open, shaking his head back and forth in confusion and disbelief. 

 

            “What’s wrong man?” AJ asked as he looked up from his magazine and saw the look on Nick’s face.  “What was that phone call about?”

 

            “It was Caryss,” he said so quietly AJ almost didn’t hear him. 

 

            “Caryss?  Are you shitting me?  What did she say?”

 

            Nick took a couple steps forward towards the couch and threw himself down on it dramatically.  AJ, his curiosity peaked beyond control now, leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees, looking intently at his friend. 

 

            “I still don’t know what she said Jay.  It didn’t make any sense.  I don’t know if she couldn’t come up with anything better to say when she called me or what is going on.”  Nick lay on the couch, baffled by his phone call.  He couldn’t understand why she would call and not have anything better to say, especially after he opened the door for her with all his calls and messages to her for the past four and a half months. 

 

            “No offense dawg, but you’ve never been that great at understanding women,” AJ said laughing.  “Just tell me what she said to you and maybe I can help you figure it out.” 

 

            “Yeah, because you’re such a girl and you only know what they mean because you think like a woman,” retorted Nick with a smirk.  AJ grabbed a throw pillow off the couch and chucked it at him. 

 

            “Seriously Nicky, do you want my help or not?”  Nick stopped laughing and nodded his head. 

 

            “She said that she needed to know if anyone in my family has ever been born with Down syndrome.  I told her I would have to get back to her on that and then she hung up on me,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders a few times.  AJ sat there quiet for a minute, trying to sort out the various assumptions and ideas flowing through his mind. 

 

            I suppose there could be any number of reasons why she would want to know that information, but after not talking to him for four and a half months and calling him out of the blue to ask him that, there is only one good reason I can think of….

 

            AJ did not share his epiphany with Nick; he wanted to find out if he was right first.  Nick and the rest of the guys did not the kind of bad publicity a situation like this would bring if it got out that she was pregnant but turned out to really not be.  AJ didn’t realize he had been quiet for almost two minutes until Nick jostled him.

            “What do you think man?  Why would she call me and ask me that of all things?” 

 

            “Maybe she’s doing a research paper on the likelihood of celebrities’ babies being born with birth defects or something?”  Nick shot him a look that said “I don’t buy that line of bullshit” and AJ just started laughing.  “Dude, I don’t know.  But you do have to call her back and tell her if anyone in your family has, so you will get to talk to her again.  Maybe she won’t hang up on you this time and you can ask her why yourself?”

 

            “Gee, man, thanks for all your help,” retorted Nick sarcastically, shaking his head from side to side and rolling his eyes.  AJ snickered quietly as he stood up and filled his pockets back up with all the items he had taken out of them before sitting down.  Once his wallet, cell phone, car keys, cigarettes, Zippo, and ipod were tucked safely into his pockets, he started to walk to the door. 

 

            “Where are you going?  The guys are going to be here any minute!”

 

            “Well Mom, I have something to do.  I will be back later tonight and if anyone needs to get a hold of me, tell them to leave a message on my cell phone and I’ll call them back when I have a chance, okay?”  AJ turned and walked out the door of the studio, feeling bad about ditching the song writing session, but knowing that what he had to do was way more important. 

 

            “I better call the little lady and tell her what’s going on,” AJ said out loud as he walked to his car.  He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed number one.  The phone rang several times but no one picked up.  “Come on Lizzie, answer the phone.”  Her voicemail picked up and told him that she was in a meeting until eleven thirty but to leave a message she would get back to him as soon as she could. 

 

            “Lizzie, it’s me.  Caryss called Nick today and asked him something very odd, and I don’t want to get into it on your voicemail, so just give me a call when you get this.  If you get my voicemail, leave a message, my phone will be turned off for a little while.  Don’t worry and I love you.” 

 

            Five hours later AJ returned his seat to the upright position as the pilot came over the loud speaker, informing the passengers that he was beginning the decent and would be landing at O’Hare International Airport shortly. 

 

            “The temperature on the ground in Chicago is a balmy eighty-seven degrees and the sun is shining brightly,” the captain finished with. 

 

            Thank God it’s not the middle of winter, thought AJ to himself as he shoved a couple pieces of gum in his mouth to keep his ears from popping as the plane lost altitude.  He laid his head against the back of seat and closed his eyes until he felt the bump of the wheels landing on the runway. 

 

            As he exited the plane he turned his cell phone back on to check his messages.  One from Kevin asking him where he took off to and if he realized he has a commitment to the band, so typical, AJ thought as hit the delete button.  One from the designer that was making a suit for him for a party asking him if he decided what color and type of material he wanted, that’s why you’re the designer, not me, he thought as he deleted that message too.  And one from his mom, just checking in and seeing how he was doing.  I’ll call her back later, I’m probably going to need her help with this situation anyway.

 

            “I wonder why Liz hasn’t called yet,” he thought out loud as he tucked his cell phone in his pocket and began his trek to Avis. 

 

            He walked through the enormous airport towards the car rental agency.  As he stepped up to the counter, a very flamboyant man in his early twenties almost went into anaphylactic shock when he realized who was standing before him needing to rent a car.

 

            “Oh my God, AJ McLean, I can’t believe it,” he gushed in a higher pitched voice than most males have.  “I am such a huge fan, you have no idea!” 

 

            “It’s very nice to meet you and thank you for being such a great fan,” AJ said sincerely.  “I am in a very big hurry though and I really need to rent a car.”  AJ held out his credit card for the man to take. 

 

            The man behind the desk nodded his head ferociously and began typing like a madman on the computer.  Exactly eighteen seconds later, the man looked back up at AJ with a smile and thrust a set of car keys into his hand. 

 

            “You’re all set Mr. McLean, I upgraded you to a deluxe model, no charge of course, and if you’ll just follow Michelle over there,” he said, pointing at a pleasant looking young woman standing by the door, “she’ll take you to your car.”  He handed AJ his credit card back and gave him the most alluring smile he could.  “If you ever switch teams, give me call.”

 

            “I’ll keep that in mind,” laughed AJ as he walked away from the counter.  He followed Michelle out to the parking lot and was very pleased when she led him to a black Cadillac Escalade. 

 

            “Here we are Mr. McLean.  I hope this suites your needs.”

 

            “It’s great, thank you.”  He hopped into the SUV and pulled out of the parking lot quickly.  Once he was on the highway, he pulled his cell phone out again and called information.  They gave him the address of Caryss’s apartment and he drove there as quickly as he could.