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Author's Chapter Notes:
Well readers, this is the final chapter for this story...check out the next story in the series, "A Whole New Life". Thanks for reading!!

* Chapter 47 *

My hand turned the handle on my bedroom door and swiftly swung it open. I had just finished talking to my dad and I was now going to take a short walk to try and calm down. No decision that I had had to make before was ever this hard, but that was because they weren’t going to change my life completely. My eyes were a little red and I sensed everyone’s eyes on me as I briskly walked to the front door, but stopped in front of it while facing the handle. I stood there for about 10 seconds before I turned around to speak.

"Cynthia...Melanie...will you two come with me for a few minutes?" I asked in a quivering voice.

They stood up, grabbed their jackets, and followed me out the door into the hallway. I didn’t say anything to them until we were in the elevator with the doors closed.

"You two have known me since we were little and I need to hear what you two have to say because I value your opinions very much. Do you think I should go?" I asked with a pleading face.

Cynth spoke first.

"You know that I love you like a sister and I always want what’s best for you...I know how important music is to you. I think I always knew that you’d do something that had to deal with music," she explained with a comforting face. "I think this could be the single best thing you could ever do to start down the road to your dream."

The doors opened and we walked out into the car garage that was under the building.

"I have to say that I totally and completely agree. You’ve always been the one that has pushed me to fulfill my dreams and now I wanna do the same for you. This is the perfect opportunity for you! Please take advantage of it," Mel said as we walked over to their car.

"Thanks guys! Hearing what you had to say really helps me out A LOT!" I thanked them before I gave them both hugs.

I watched them climb into their car.

"We’ve got an hour drive ahead of us so we’re going to head home. Happy birthday!" Mel explained.

"Thanks again...for everything!" I told them before they shut their doors and took off.

I went back up in the elevator and slowly walked to my door. Everyone looked up from what they were doing when I walked in the door. I gave them a half-hearted smile before I walked into the kitchen.

"Jane...do you and Airboy have a place to stay tonight?" I called out while I filled a cup at the tap.

"Well, I was just going to get a hotel room at the place where the boys are staying," she replied from the living room while I took a drink of the water that was in my hand.

"You can stay here tonight if you want to. It’ll be a little easier than trying to find a room."

"That sounds nice. Thanks," she said from her new position in the kitchen doorway.

I turned around and gave her a smile and then headed to my room to get some spare blankets and pillows to use with the spare blow-up bed with a built in pump that my parents gave me a while back. I carried the pile of stuff into the living room and dumped it on the empty spot on the couch. The TV was on and the tape that I had made of ‘Alexandria the drag queen’ was playing. AJ walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my sides before he started lightly kissing my neck a little.

"Stop...that tickles," I whispered.

I shouldn’t have said anything, ‘cause instead of stopping, he did it more. I pulled away and sat down on the couch with AJ plopping down next to me. Kev and Arti were out on the balcony AGAIN. Curly D was sitting at my desk with Meg on his lap while they both typed something on my computer. Nick and AC were sitting on the floor between the coffee table and the TV, watching the home-video attentively.

"Have fun?" my voice came from the TV

"Oh yeah..." AJ’s voice responded.

The looks that were recorded on the tape were priceless! It was a few seconds before we heard anything else.

"Wanna get some really funny looks?" could barely be heard in AJ’s low raspy voice.

"Oooooohhh yeeaaahhh," my voice replied quietly.

Nick and AC burst out laughing at the outrageous looks that were coming from people walking by the camera.

"Geez...what’d you guys do to make ‘em look at you like that?" Nick asked curiously with a sly smile.

"That’s for us to know and for you never to find out," I teased.

"Yeah..." AJ chimed in. "What she said."

Bri walked out my bedroom door and started singing...

"That’s what she said..."

"No man...that’s not what I said..." AJ told him with a laugh.

Bri shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the bookshelf by my desk. Kev and Arti walked in the sliding door a few seconds later.

"Listen guys...I think we should be heading back to the hotel. We’ve got to get up in the morning and pack," Kev said as he stood in back of the couch with Arti by his side.

Nick and Bri followed Kev to the door. Howie and Meg got up from my desk and went to the door too. AJ gave me a kiss on the cheek before he stood up too. I stood up to give him a goodnight hug before he left.

"I’ll call you before we leave in the morning," he said as he pulled me into his arms.

"Ok," I said as he walked towards the door where the other guys were standing.

Jay had left a little while before so the guys and Meg were the only ones leaving. AJ stopped when he got to the door and turned around to look at me. I couldn’t stand it anymore so I walked up to him and he enveloped me in a tight hug. He didn’t say anything as I buried my face in his shoulder and took a deep breath of his cologne. I pulled back after a few minutes and looked at his face for a few more minutes, trying to memorize every detail of it. He leaned in and gave me a sweet innocent kiss on the lips before he let go of me and walked out the door. I stared at the door until I was sure they were gone, not wanting to move in hopes that they would come back. I knew that they wouldn’t come back so I turned around and walked over to the couch, pulling the airbed off the couch before I plugged it in. When it was full of air, I spread a blanket on it and told Jane that it was done. Airboy got up and sat down on it before he swung his legs onto it and laid down.

"This is kinda comfy," he said in a happy voice.

I smiled at him and then turned back to talk to Jane.

"I think I’m going to go to bed now. There’s blankets and stuff on the couch for you and AC to use. Arti’ll be sleeping in my room so you won’t need to worry about her," I explained while I let out a sigh of exhaustion.

"Ok hun," she said with an understanding smile. "Good night."

"Good night," I called out to them as I walked to my room, closely followed by Arti.

I quickly changed into my pajamas and hopped into bed. I had pulled the extra mattress out from under my bed earlier so Arti could set up her bed. She climbed under the covers and laid there while I turned off the light.

"Good night," Arti whispered.

"G’night," I replied before I closed my eyes and rolled onto my side.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ The Next Morning ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

I sleepily rolled over and opened my eyes a sliver as the sunlight poured in through the thin curtains that covered the windows on the other side of the room. When my eyes were adjusted to the light, I sat up and brushed my hair back from my eyes before I got out of bed. I walked around to the other side of the bed expecting to see Arti still sleeping on the extra mattress, but instead all I saw was the bare floor. The mattress had already been put away and the blankets were folded up neatly into a pile by the wall. Her bags were gone along with all of her stuff. I quickly changed into some clothes before I headed to see if AC and Jane were awake yet.

"Everyone up yet?" I called out before I walked into the kitchen.

I didn’t hear a response so I walked out and looked into the living room to find everything put back and again the blankets and pillows were in a neat pile on the couch.

"They left without saying good-bye?" I asked myself in a sad voice.

My eyes caught sight of the note that was sitting on the table inside the door so I walked over and picked it up. Jane had left a note and Arti had added a message of her own on the bottom.

Sorry we didn’t wake you, but we felt that you needed the extra sleep. Thank you for letting us stay in your apartment last night. Please think about the tour and call me at the phone number below if you need to talk about anything. Jane

I glanced at the number before I went on to read Arti’s note.

Thanks for letting me stay with you Liz...I had a blast! Please consider coming on tour with us. Yes...I will be going too. Kev asked me to come and help Denise out with some of the promo stuff and of course I said YES! I mean, how could I not?!? Anyway, promise me you’ll think about it...it’s going to be the opportunity of a lifetime. I’ll miss ya, Arti

I set the paper back on the table and looked up at the clock that was on the wall by my desk.

"Geez...11:19 already?"

I went in my bathroom and finished getting ready for the day when I suddenly remembered that AJ said he’d call. I walked out of the bathroom and out to my desk. The red light on the base of my phone was blinking so I knew I had a message. I pushed the ‘play’ button and listened.

"You have one new message. *pause* Thursday, June 11th...10:22am."

There was a short pause before the message played.

"Hey Liz. I’m missing you already," AJ voice said. "Listen, our plane leaves at noon so will you come and see us off? Gate C39. I’ve got to go...the guys are waiting for me in the lobby. Love you...bye."

‘Noon? Crap!’ I thought to myself as I ran to the door after I grabbed my truck keys from the table by the door. I practically ran all the way to my truck, hoping that I would make it to the airport in time. The drive to the airport seemed to take hours when in reality it only took about 25 minutes. By the time I parked my truck in the short-term parking lot, got past security, and then made my way towards the gate, I was too late.

"No..." I cried out softly with my head up against the glass as the plane started to pull away from the gate towards the runway. "I missed them by like two minutes..."

I sat there looking out at the plane as it pulled away and then eventually turned and ran down the runway. A lonely feeling came over me when I realized that I was alone...again.