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Chapter Five

“Oh my god,” Kevin exclaimed, running a hand through his thick hair, looking Zaina up and down “What did you do to yourself?”

He didn’t know whether he liked what he was seeing or disapproved of it. All he knew was that it would take a little time to get used to.

Zaina looked at herself in the nearby mirror and fixed her hair. She had asked A.J. for his credit card and had gone out to a Salon nearby. She’d had her hair layered and highlighted to a color that could be called both light brown or dark blonde. She’d had a complete facial done, giving her a completely different look along with a bronze colored tan. She had also gotten a manicure and pedicure to go along with it and a massage. In fact, she’d visited just about every station at the salon to go all out and pamper herself. Not only did she feel more refreshed, but she felt better about herself and more confident. Not even she recognized herself. What gave her away to the guys were her eyes. They all agreed that she had the most beautiful green eyes. She was considering getting sky blue colored contacts though.

“Jeez, Zaina,” A.J. commented, “You looked good before. Now you look…amazing.” He stared her over for a moment then stopped, “How much did you charge onto my card for all of this?”

Zaina laughed, “Not too much.” She assured him, “Don’t worry. I didn’t charge you to your max.”

A.J. breathed a sigh of relief. He may be a millionaire, but he still had to manage his money like any other person. He just had a little more leeway than most.

The guys all complimented Zaina’s new look. She smiled at the attention, eating it all up like a cat laps up milk. She wasn’t used to it all. They all told her she looked stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, lovely and about every other glamorous term that there was. She was sorry that it had taken her about a week to get an appointment in at a salon in the area that they would be at. She had no regrets though. She wasn’t sure that anywhere else could’ve done a better job. All that mattered was that she had gotten it done and it her makeover was complete.

“Hey, guys,” A.J. suddenly announced, “It’s been exactly one month since Zaina has joined us.”

Zaina blushed a little as all eyes turned to her. She started to fidgited with the bottom of her shirt, a nervous habit that she’d developed.

“Consider your little project a one month anniversary gift from me,” A.J. joked with a wink.

“Let’s go out tonight before the show to celebrate,” Nick suggested, “There’s a really nice Italian restaurant here in town that I saw when we were on our way to the hotel to check in.”

The guys all agreed and Zaina blushed.

“You really don’t have to do that,” she protested.

“But we want to,” Kevin assured her, and she decided not to argue.

If Zaina knew one thing, it was that if she acted unappriciative of their wanting to do a good deed, it would bruise their fragile male egos. She felt special that the all wanted to do something nice for her, even if it wasn’t exactly what she would call a special occasion. It was just something that would put attention on her. That was something she didn’t want. Zaina just hoped that the guys wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her or make the night extremely uncomfortable.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zaina sunk lower into the booth seat as a string of ten waiters and waitresses walked over to their table holding an enormous vanilla cake singing. She wanted to evaporate into thin air right then and there. Fifteen minutes before, A.J. had excused himself to “use the mens’ room”. She realized now that it had been an excuse to gather up the hired help of the restaurant to humiliate her in front of the crowded dining area. All eyes were on her, exactly what she did not want. One especially good looking waiter set the cake down in the center of the table at the end of the song and they all scurried away to continue serving the other guests.

“What do ya think?” Nick asked eagerly.
Zaina slowly sat back up, looking around self-consciously. She glared at the five guys, planning out a special revenge for each one of them.

“I told you all not to embarrass me,” she started, “At least five times. And what do you do? Embarrass me anyways.”

“We got free dessert,” Nick pointed out, reaching over to cut the cake for all six of them.

“Guys,” Zaina muttered and rolled her eyes, “Is that all you ever think about? Food? We could’ve gone out for something cheap at McDonalds or something.”

Nick made a face, “McDonalds is good, but not good enough to treat a princess like you to.”

Zaina rolled her eyes and shook her head. She couldn’t believe the line that Nick had just fed her. Sure, she knew that the guys were all attracted to her, but a princess? Puh-lease. She wasn’t about to fall for it. She looked over at A.J. and caught him staring at her. He smiled and she smiled back. Things weren’t going as quickly as she had hoped for with him, but with time, she was confident that they would become an item. She had already overheard Nick and Kevin talking about how much of A.J’s type she was and that they suspected that he liked her. That was all she needed to be convinced that none of the guys would mind if she dated A.J.

“We’re sorry we embarrassed you,” Howie said out of nowhere.

Zaina tried to act mad, but couldn’t. They were all just too cute to stay upset with, “Oh, that’s ok,” she said, “I guess that I can forgive you guys. But don’t ever even think about trying to pull something like this again.”

“We won’t,” Nick said with honesty, crossing his fingers behind his back. She had become an important part of all of their lives. If the opportunity came up to pamper her on a special occasion, then they would. He knew that deep down she liked being recognized even if the girl never would admit it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A.J. sat in his hotel room staring at the poster of Zaina before her makeover. He had seen it fluttering in the wind and picked it up. He had quickly tucked it away under his jacket not wanting anybody to see it. If they did, then they would say that the right thing to do was return her to her family. The poster had obviously gone through a lot. He couldn’t make out any of the writing and could barely make out Zaina’s face. It was her eyes that gave her away. Those vibrant green eyes that glowed. Even in photographs they sparkled. Too bad he couldn’t make out her name on the picture. Then they could call her by what she had been known as from wherever she had been from. He had found the poster a few counties away from the show in Chicago, where they had found her at. That was a month ago. A.J. smiled at the vision of Zaina’s face just hours before at dinner. She looked like she had been ready to slaughter all of the members of the band.

Glancing back down at the poster, he realized that it was very wrong of him to keep something like this a secret when he knew that she was with them, safe and when she was being searched for by friends and family who loved her. But he couldn’t bear to take a chance of…no…definitely losing her. She had become so much a part of their lives and he wasn’t going let her go. He was positive that he wasn’t the only one who had grown to love the tiny girl. Whoever was looking for her would have to do without her. She had amnesia and didn’t remember anybody anyways. She had started a brand new life with him and the rest of the Boys. She knew their customs and lifestyle. She didn’t know anything from her past. Why confuse her by thrusting her back into that and away from the only thing that she knew?

A.J. tucked the poster safely away back into his backpack that he took on the busses with him. He couldn’t take the chance on somebody walking in on him with it out or anyone seeing it. If Kevin saw it, especially, Zaina would be gone, on the next flight back to where she lived to reunite with her family. He had always been Mr. Honesty. And if Zaina saw it, then she would wonder who was looking for her and want to go back to people who had known her for her entire life. They would never see or hear from her again. He was sure of that. He wasn’t going to take any risks. Even having the poster was a risk. He decided that the next chance he got, he would throw it out somewhere where nobody would ever find it or know what he did and wished that he didn’t.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex sat on a large boulder behind his and Abrianna’s waterfall. He picked up a handful of pebbles and plucked them through the flowing stream of down-pouring water one at a time. A light mist from the water sprayed his face and body, but he wasn’t worried about getting wet. He was used to it from all the times he had been there since he and Abrianna found it. He missed his girlfriend more than anything and wished that she were right there with him, in his arms. He ducked out from under the fall, out into the open and looked up to the sky and sighed. It was a clear night. He could easily make out all of the stars, planets, and constellations. They had always had fun making out their own pictures in the starts. She had found some that looked to form a heart and he had found a cluster that could be looked at as a flamingo.

“Where are you,” he asked aloud, “I love you and would do anything to bring you back to me.”

A tear formed in his eye. He let if fall, followed by many more. Nobody was around, so he didn’t have to worry about keeping up his jock image. At the moment, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve cared who’d seen his grief even if he’d been in a crowded room. To be honest, he was sick of acting like an insensitive jerk with no feelings in front of his football buddies. Again, Alex sighed. Bianca and Darcy had been trying so hard to get a hold of him to talk but he always avoided their calls and never returned them. He figured that they would understand when he felt like talking and explained. He wished that for one day, he could block out all thoughts of his lost girlfriend. The memories were too painful. Part of him wondered if this was all some sort of a sick joke because she had wanted to break things off with him and couldn’t do it to his face. But Alex knew that she wasn’t that cruel.

Nobody had replied to the posters that Darcy and Bianca had hung up all over Chicago and surrounding areas. He had seen them up all over the place and felt bad for not taking part in making them. It almost made it seem like he didn’t care if she was ever found or not. The thing was, he cared so much that he couldn’t stand the thought of putting posters up. It made the whole situation seem all the more real and he still wasn’t willing to face the fact that Abrianna was still gone. He preferred to think of it was she was just on a very long vacation and would come back soon. But as much as he liked thinking that that was it, he knew deep down that it wasn’t. Alex hoped that Abrianna came back so that he could propose to her and they could get married, live together and have a happy life together. But if she never showed up, he prayed that she was alive and safe. He hoped that somebody was kind enough to take her in and take care of her, and made a silent thank you to whomever that someone may be just in case it was what everything really boiled down to.

“I hope you know how much I love you, Abrianna,” Alex whispered, “Wherever you are, I hope you know that.”

Alex went back under the waterfall and pulled a blanket up over him that he’d brought. The night was peaceful and would give him a good opportunity to think. He planned on spending the night out there where nobody knew where to find him and bother him. He didn’t feel like putting up with it. The way he figured it, the world could do without Alex Paiotti for one night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zaina was distracted from the magazine she was reading from a knock on her hotel room door. The group had decided after their dinner to crash there instead of their busses for the night. She got up and padded across the room in her baby blue pajamas. Opening the door, she saw A.J. standing on the other side. Her heart stopped in her chest at the sight of him but she calmly composed herself. A.J smiled sheepishly and waved.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Zaina smiled, “Can I help you?”

A.J. shrugged and looked around a little. He seemed to be slightly uncomfortable with being there. She could tell that something was on his mind even through his bloodshot tired eyes.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he explained, “Can I come in?”

Zaina opened the door wider inviting him in without words. They walked over to her queen sized bed and sat. They sat there in silence for a few moments. Zaina squirmed a little in nervousness.

“Thanks again for tonight,” she said, “I appriciate everything you guys have done for me. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know where I would be.”

A.J. smiled, reaching out to touch her hand in a friendly gesture. A tingling sensation shot up her arm and fireworks went off inside of her.

“Do you remember anything yet from before we picked you up?” A.J. asked out of curiosity.

Zaina sat thoughtfully for a moment, thinking. She was trying so hard to remember something from before the past month but nothing came to her. Whatever old life she had had was completely gone from her memory.

“No,” she finally said softly, shaking her head, “I remember nothing. It’s like my brain was fried.”

A.J. chuckled softly. Their eyes met for a moment but Zaina quickly looked away and then scolded her self for it. She wanted to be with him, but was avoiding something as simple as eye contact. What was wrong with her? She wanted to know why her heart fluttered whenever he was near and why she felt weightless in his presence. She wondered if this was what love felt like.

“Zaina,” A.J. said, “There’s something that’s been on my mind ever since I first laid eyes on you.”

Zaina looked up, meeting his eyes again and forcing herself to keep her gaze. Her heart thudded in her chest hoping that what she thought was about to happen really was after a month.

“Yes?” she replied, smiling.

“The thing is, I think you’re…you’re really attractive,” A.J. stuttered, searching for the right words, “You’re sweet and funny too. You’re nothing like my ex, who was a vindictive bitch. I have to admit when you first joined us, I was a little weary that you might run us around and try to change us. I was wrong though. You’re nothing like that. I can’t help but feel…”

A.J. was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. He tired to continue, but the knocking continued with shouting coming through the door. Zaina held her finger up for a second telling him to stop.
“Hold that thought,” she said, getting up and going over to the door to see who was there this time. She flung it open and saw a frantic Kevin on the other side.

“Have you seen A.J?” he asked, “He’s not in his room.”

“I’m right here,” A.J. said with a laugh, getting up and going over to the door to meet with his friend.

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, “I was worried. I went around to every ones room to remind them of the shoot tomorrow, but you weren’t there.”

“Sorry,” A.J. told him, “I couldn’t sleep, and chicks stay up late, so I thought I would come and talk to Zaina.”

A.J. turned to Zaina and smiled, hugging her goodnight and then left the room to go back to his own. Kevin hugged her too, telling her to get a good sleep because they would have to wake early. She told him that she would go right to sleep soon enough and shut the door behind then men. She walked over to her bed and laid down. Disappointment came over her. She had been enjoying her talk with A.J. Putting her pillow over her head to muffle out her voice, she screamed as loud as she could in frustration before throwing the pillow across the room. It dropped to the ground with a soft thump. He had been so close to telling her he liked her. She was almost sure of it. Or was she imagining where the talk had been heading? She didn’t know but now it was too late to find what he had been getting at and maybe she never would.