* Chapter 9 *

‘These really look good together,’ I thought as I looked at my outfit in the bathroom mirror before I reached up and took my hair out of its high pony tail. I had already finished putting on my make-up so it was time to do my hair. I decided well ahead of time that I would curl it a bit and leave it down. After all, I hadn’t been growing it out for two years for nothing! When I got it cut two years ago it was only to my ears, but now it was to my waist. My hair always did grow fast. After brushing through it a few times, I grabbed the curling iron and started curling. It usually only took me about 5 minutes to curl my hair, but this time it took me about 10 because I wanted everything to be perfect.

"Hello?" I heard a male voice say at the other end of the line.

"Hi. Is Court there?" I asked confused. I decided to call her after I was done getting ready. "Do I have the right room?"

"Yeah, you have the right room," he replied sweetly. "Hang on. Let me get her."

I heard him softly tell her that the phone was for her as he put his palm over the mouth piece of the phone.

"Hello?" Court said.

"Hey Court...Let me guess...Howie came back?" I asked.

"Bingo," she said in reply. "I’ll tell you later," she whispered into the phone.

"Ok. Anyway, AJ and I are going to drive around town for a while, so I guess we’ll meet you at the club or wherever we’re going," I told her.

"Alright. I’m hoping that you-know-who will call me and tell me when to be ready," she said softly so Howie wouldn’t hear.

"I bet he will. Anyway, AJ is supposed to be picking me up in like 5 minutes," I responded excitedly. "I’ll let you and Howie get back to what you were doing," I teased.

"Oh yeah...watching a movie...just what I wanted to be doing..." she said sarcastically.

We hung up after saying our good-byes so I could get my things put away and so she and D could get back to their movie. After grabbing a little black purse filled with all the necessities (compact, lipstick, lip gloss, pain pills, the key card, a small comb, and a few quarters for emergencies) and checking myself in the mirror one last time, I finally left my room and headed towards the elevator.

After walking out of the elevator, I stopped in the little lounge at the top of the stairs and looked over the railing of the balcony to see if AJ was there yet. I didn’t see him, but I decided to start my descent down the long staircase anyway. After stepping down a few steps with my dress and purse in one hand and my other on the railing so I wouldn’t slip, I looked up and noticed AJ making his way through the door that the doorman held open for him. As I got closer to the bottom of the stairs, I could sense that he was watching my every move.

"You look amazing!" he said with a big grin as he took my hand and escorted me towards the doors. "Absolutely amazing!" he repeated as we walked out the doors of the hotel and onto the street.

"After you," AJ said to me after opening the passenger door of his metal-flake gray Limited Edition Expedition.

I gave him a shy smile and gracefully got in, waiting for him to get in the driver seat.

"Thank you for the beautiful roses," I said looking into his big brown eyes after we were both buckled in.

"You are always welcome," he replied gently with a smile. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman."

I could feel myself blush at his comment before I broke eye contact and looked out the window as if I was mesmerized at the people walking down the sidewalk.

"So where are we going?" I asked quietly as I kept my eyes looking out the window at nothing in particular.

"It’s a surprise," AJ replied as he glanced over at me to see that I was still looking out the window, so he looked back to the road.

"That’s fine," I said shifting my glance to the road ahead. "I don’t mind surprises."

"Good," he said with a smile on his face and kept driving as I looked over at him.

‘I love his smile,’ I thought as I studied his face while he continued to keep his eyes on the road. ‘He has gorgeous eyes...a definite plus...He is a gentleman...plus number two...He’s taller than me...a must...he dresses well...and he obviously knows how to be himself’ I thought as I looked him over and checked my mental list for potential male interests.

"What?!?" AJ asked in a pleading voice, turning his eyes to mine. "In case you haven’t noticed, you’re like staring at me."

"Nothing," I said trying to keep a straight face as he took his hand off the wheel and pretended like he was going to tickle me.

"Please don’t tickle me," I said laughing. "If you do, I’d just have to tickle you back."

"Ok, fine," he said as he stopped teasing me and reached for something that was in-between our seats. "Here. Look through this and pick something out," he told me as he handed me a CD storage binder.

"Alrighty then," I said as I opened it up and started looking through it.

I have to say that I was really surprised by some of the CD’s that were in there. Some were not exactly the type of music you’d think AJ would listen to. Like the Titanic soundtrack for instance, the Temptations, or Shania Twain’s ‘Come On Over’. I finally found the one that I thought would be fun to listen to and handed it to him. I began to sing along as the music started playing through the huge woofers in the back. ‘Everybody...rock your body...everybody...rock your body right’ was all I could sing because AJ caught me off guard when he burst out singing the next few words.

"I never really believed it when I heard that you listened to your own music," I said out loud to him as I laughed quietly. "But I believe it now."

"Why wouldn’t you believe it?" he asked in a sly voice with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, I don’t usually believe everything I read or hear on the net...It’s almost a given that it’s more than likely not true..." I trailed off.

"I see," he said slowly. "So, what do you say we play a little game while we drive around?"

"Like what," I asked.

"Sort of 20 questions, but about each other...I ask you a question that you have to answer about yourself, then you do the same to me," he explained.

"Ok...you first," I agreed.

"Hmmm," he said while we turned right, then kept going straight. "Ok...How old are you?" he asked thoughtfully.

"I will be 20 on June 10th...still a few months, but I can’t wait," I answered happily. "What’s your favorite color?"

"It’s yellow," AJ said happily. "What’s yours?"

"Now that’s a hard question," I said sarcastically. "Just joshin’ ya...I don’t really have a favorite. I like mostly dark colors...dark green...dark blues...purples. My turn again...what was your favorite class in school?"

"That would be English," he replied with pride. "I always loved English. Anyway, what kind of CD’s would I find in your collection?"

"Well, I hope you don’t want me to name them all."

"Just a few."

"Ok. I’ll name a few...Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz, Smash Mouth, Hootie & the Blowfish, Savage Garden, Mariah Carey, Boyz2Men, Reba McIntire, Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Britney Spears, Tim McGraw, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, a couple of musical CD’s, and of course Millenium, both your US and Canadian self-titled, Backstreet’s Back, and a bunch of singles," I said quickly. "Enough for ya?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Nice variety..." he said sounding pleased.

"Thanks," I said. "Umm, let me think for a sec," I told him while I closed my eyes and tried to remember a question to ask. I’d told all of my online buddies that if I ever got to meet the guys, I’d ask them that question, but I can’t remember what it was. I thought about it for a few minutes, then gave up.

"What is the biggest misconception that people have of you?" I asked bluntly.

"Well people, mostly adults and critics, think that I’m like this bad boy rebel who does drugs and drinks and gets into trouble," he explained. "Which is totally not true."

"I don’t see you as a bad boy," I said. "I see you as a person who expresses himself freely and doesn’t worry about stereotypes."

"Thanks. I’m really glad to hear that," he said looking over at me with a smile. "So, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No," I said sort of depressed. "Never had one either..." I said before turning to look out the window as if it would change the subject.

"What?!?" he asked not believing what I had just said. "No way. It’s not possible for a beautiful girl like you to not have a man by your side."

"Thanks, but it’s true," I said sadly. "So how about you? You going out with anyone?" I asked to hopefully cheer up the conversation.

"Well, I was going out with a girl that was very special to me, but it turns out that she just liked the title of being ‘AJ McLean’s girlfriend’ and I didn’t want a girl who only wanted me for that," he explained. "So technically, I’m single."

"Oh...I’m sorry..." I started.

"Don’t be," he cut me off. "She really wasn’t worth all of the pain. Besides, now I can have fun with ladies like you."