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When I woke the next morning, for a split second, I expected to
find
Steve lying next to me. I turned my head ... to find AJ sprawled
out, the
sheet not quite covering him decently, his black hair providing a stark
contrast to the white pillowcase. Memories of the previous day
came
flooding back to me -- I blushed, and irrationally pulled the sheet
up to
cover my breasts, even though there was no one there to see me.
Quietly, I stood up and rummaged through my suitcase for a shirt
and a pair of shorts to wear. The sun was shining around the
edges of the
curtain ... I looked at the clock and saw a red ‘7:43’ displayed.
We’d have
to leave fairly early ... with all the time we’d lost the day before,
we’d have
to book it to get AJ to Philadelphia the next day.
I sat back on the bed and shook his shoulder. “Hey, wake up ...”
“Five more minutes,” he mumbled.
“Okay, but we have to get on the road,” I told him.
He muttered
something unintelligible and turned over.
Shrugging, I sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed the TV remote.
We’d watched a bit of television the night before, and quickly realized
that
this hotel didn’t have much in the way of channels -- just the local
broadcast networks, ESPN, HBO, and MTV. When I flipped it on,
I
realized that for once, MTV was actually playing music, so I turned
the
sound down to a polite level and kept it on. It had been ages
since I
watched MTV, anyway.
As a TLC video played, I busied myself by re-packing my suitcase.
AJ stirred every once in a while, but always buried his face back in
the
pillow. I just didn’t have the heart to drag him out of bed ...
to be honest, I
couldn’t keep my eyes off his body, which was now completely exposed
after he kicked the sheet to the foot of the bed.
Soon, TLC finished singing, and another video began while I was
in
the bathroom. I recognized the song ... it was that Backstreet
Boys song, “I
Want It That Way.” Sarah was a fan of theirs, I mused ... she’d
played me
this album over and over during the summer, and I’d grudgingly admitted
it
wasn’t bad. I’d never seen this video, though -- when I was through
brushing my teeth, I wandered back out into the main room to watch,
just as
the second verse started.
I looked at the TV ... no, to be more specific, I stared at the
TV, and
listened to the voice singing. “Am I your fire, your one desire
... yes I know
it’s too late, but I want it that way ...” It took my mind
a moment to
register what I was seeing and hearing.
Slowly, I turned around, to find AJ sitting up in bed, watching
me
watching the video. After a moment, I stated the obvious.
“That’s you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re one of the Backstreet Boys.”
“Uh-huh.”
I turned back to the video in time to see a bunch of screaming
teenage girls having fits over them. “Holy shit ...” I said finally.
“Tori ... you okay?” he asked.
As the video ended, I turned back to him and sat on the bed.
“Okay?
Why wouldn’t I be? That’s just ... not something I expected.”
“I know ...”
“Were you planning on telling me eventually?”
He shrugged. “I would have had to explain something when
we got
to Philly and I directed you to the arena, where there’ll probably
be a mob
of girls hanging out.”
I was on the verge of asking him why he hadn’t told me earlier,
when it clicked ... he’d told me why the night before. I never
would have
related to him the way I did if I’d known he was famous. Oddly,
I felt
myself smiling. “Why don’t you take a shower first,” I
said, changing the
subject.
AJ looked at me strangely as he walked into the bathroom.
I knew
what he was thinking, but couldn’t find the words to reassure him.
I didn’t
want to treat him differently ... I wanted things to be exactly as
they were
the previous day. It was just going to take me a little while
to digest the fact
that I was traveling with a pop superstar.
