Rhonda's View

I was folding laundry when AJ called me from rehearsal. "I got a great idea. How about we get everyone together tomorrow night and go to Howie's new club? Why don't I call Amber and invite her. What's her number?"
"Nice try AJ – If you want her to go, I'll call her," I laughed to myself at his efforts.
"What's the matter? Don't you trust me with your friend?"
I laughed out loud at his efforts this time, "Uh, no!"
"Why not? I'm a swell guy. It's my image that you don't trust, right?"
"Well, I've heard about you and your image."
"What? Anything that Howie has said cannot be proven in a court of law."
"Well, Howie can't lie remember?"
"Oh yeah. I guess you got me on that one. Well, why don't you give her number to Nick here and Nick will call her." AJ threw Nick on the telephone.

"Uh, hello? This is DJ Kid Nicky, who is this?"
"Nick, its Rhonda, put AJ back on the phone."
Nick covered the phone for a minute but I still heard AJ talking to Nick. "Um, I'll put AJ on the phone once you give me Amber's number so I can call her and invite her to the club with us…was that right Bone?"
"Yeah that will do," AJ shouted in the background.
Howie grabbed the phone from Nick. "I'm sorry about them honey. I told them I didn't know Amber's number and they didn't believe me."
"That's okay – I'll call her and invite her."
I could hear AJ in the background "Do you need a pen to write the number down?"
"Uh, no, I have a good memory AJ, I think I can remember seven numbers," Howie said. I heard AJ making happy noises in the background.
"You do know that he's going to kill you once he finds out that you don't have her number, right?"
"I said that I could remember the numbers, I didn't say that you were giving them to me."
I laughed at the thought of Howie telling that to AJ.
"Tell AJ that I'm going to finish the laundry then I'll call Amber."
"Okay – I hope AJ doesn't get too pissed off. I'll see you later. Love you!" Howie said.
"I love you too."
I went back to folding my laundry and laughed thinking of how persistent AJ was.

Amber's View

Driving across town I decided I needed to do something to relieve some of the stress I was feeling. "I know just the thing." I reached over and grabbed one of my Kid Rock CD's, slid it in, hit the random select button and turned up the volume.

I'll take you higher, higher
I'll take you lower, slower
I'll make you talk that talk and walk that walk hoe

This wasn't doing it! All this was doing was making me think of AJ even more. Why couldn't I get this guy out of my head? It wasn't like I needed a guy in my life right now, so why was I thinking so much about him? I didn't want to deal with this right now so I hit the forward button and the strains of 'Born to Be A Hick' started to do the trick that the previous song hadn't done.

I finally reached my apartment and headed upstairs. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. This was such a nice apartment, a lot nicer than some of the ones I had before, but there was something about it that made me sad. Maybe it was the fact that it was just me living here. I was just going to have to get used to being alone again. I think that is one of my least favorite words in the English language – alone.

The phone ringing thankfully stopped me from continuing with these thoughts. It's probably Maria with a question about the gallery. The grand opening of my art gallery was supposed to be in three weeks and it seemed like everything still needed to be done.

"Hello," I said expecting to hear a list of today's newest shipment problems.
"Still up for that challenge?" said a raspy voice on the other end of the line.
"AJ?"
"The one and only," he replied.
I froze in panic. "How did you get my number, it's unlisted?"
"I know, you don't make it easy for an interested guy to get a hold of you. Luckily, it turns out we have quite a few fans at the local phone company."
"They shouldn't give numbers out that easily."
"There was nothing easy about it! I had to sing to four different operator girls before they believed it was me, and then I had to promise to send them autographs."
"You shouldn't have done that," I said in a weak voice.
"I'm sorry - I just wanted to talk to you again and Rhonda wouldn't give me your number," he apologized. "Hey are you o.k.?" he asked with concern in his voice.
"Yeah – I'm fine," I stuttered. How could I explain it to him? How do you explain the constant worry of someone trying to find you? How do you explain a guy like Steve, and the fear that your situation will evolve into one like Rhonda's? "So," I said trying to make my voice sound as casual as I could, "what was your challenge?"

"All of us are going out to Howie's club tomorrow, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? Although I still want that first challenge too."
"Are you asking me out?"
"Duh!" AJ said laughing at me.
"Sorry. Guess I'm out of practice at this first date thing."
"That's o.k., we'll just pretend it's our third date."
"That sounds like a good plan."
"Good, then you'll go?"
"Yeah, I guess so – I'm kinda interested in seeing all the stuff you claimed you could do earlier," I said jokingly.
"Baby, I'll do all that and more. By the end of the night I'll have you purring."
"We'll see."
"I'll pick you up around 9 and when Rhonda calls to invite you, and she will, tell her I beat her to the punch."
"O.k. I will. But I don't think she'll be too pleased about it. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Till tomorrow. Oh and baby…"
"Yeah," I said loving the way he called me 'baby'.
"Practice your purrs," and with that he hung up the phone.
"Puuuurrrrr," I thought as I went to hang the phone up. He was so damn sexy! I bet he could definitely make me forget.

I had just put the phone back in the cradle and was standing up when the phone rang again. My knees buckled underneath me and I had to sit down. There went that stupid irrational fear – there's no way that's him, I covered my tracks well this time. It's probably Rhonda or maybe just maybe it's Dan calling to apologize. That last thought made me turn and grab the phone back off the cradle. "Hello," I said.

"Hey there, how are you doing?"
"Hey Rhon, I'm doing fine – the same as I was last time I talked to you today," I joked. "So what's up?"
"Nothing. Me and the guys decided to go to Howie's club tomorrow and I wanted to know if you wanted to come." I started to laugh so hard my side hurt. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"I'm supposed to tell you, you were beaten to the punch."
"What are you talking about?"
"AJ already called and asked if I wanted to go."
"How the hell did he call you? I wouldn't give him your number."
"Yeah, he mentioned that. Obviously there are a lot of Backstreet fans that work for the phone company."
"That must have freaked you out. I'll have to yell at AJ about that."
"Yeah well it seems it doesn't take a lot to freak me out nowadays. I know Steve's not as bad as Cal was but…there's a thin line that I'm afraid he's on the verge of crossing. I don't know how you deal with it all."
"With the help of a good friend watching out for me and don't worry you have one watching out for you too. Now as you say on to brighter subjects – so are you going tomorrow?"
"Yeah. He said he was gonna pick me up around nine. It's been a long time since we went to a club together." I said mentally going back to the first time we had gone out together. "I know this time will turn out a lot differently."
"Oh no doubt about it! I guess I'll see you tomorrow then right."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," I said, "see ya tomorrow."
"Bye"
"Bye"

I sat there on my couch for awhile before once again reaching for the phone and dialing. "Bell South how can I help you?" "Yes, I would like to have my phone number changed."

The next night found me standing in front of my closest trying to figure out what to wear. Sexy, definitely, but not slutty. In college I had learned the fine art of dressing the part – I guess some people considered me a little wild back then. I guess maybe I was a little bit, but I was also a hard working student too. "This is perfect!" I said pulling out a short black skirt and putting it on. Next I grabbed a shiny, short sleeved, leopard print top that left just a hint of my stomach exposed. "Now for the final touch," I said as I grabbed my knee-high lace up boots from the floor. I stood back and glanced in the mirror across the room. "Nice," I thought, "I feel almost like the old me."

The doorbell rang and I took one last look at my hair and makeup in the mirror and raced down the hall (as fast as one can race in knee-high lace up boots). I glanced out the peephole on the door – old habit – and saw it was AJ. He looked rather annoyed and I wondered what was up.

"Hey," I said as I opened the door.
He didn't say anything back he just stood and stared at me with his mouth open. I guess I had done a good job in picking out the clothes. I smiled.
"Hey! Come on - she doesn't need you to drool all over her floor," Nick said as he pushed past AJ to get into the apartment.
As I looked into the hallway I realized that all of them were out there. That seemed a little odd, from the conversation I had thought AJ was gonna pick me up and we would meet the others at the club. I didn't know what exactly to think about this group thing but I had a pretty good clue of whose idea it was. I shot Rhonda a look, which she chose to ignore.

"Wow! You look hot!" AJ said still staring.
"Thanks! I'd say I passed the first challenge wouldn't you."
"No you passed the second challenge…you still have to pass the first," he said wickedly. "Hopefully you will later."
"AJ behave yourself," Kevin said as he walked in.
"What's with the group thing?" I asked, "I thought you were going to pick me up."

The annoyed look reappeared on his face. "Yeah, that's what I thought too, but it seemed like all of a sudden everybody wanted to go together and they wouldn't take no for an answer." I looked around at the group and wondered what was going on but they were all standing there with innocent looks on their faces.
"Well come on," Howie said trying break the mood – Rhonda had told me he was that way. "Let's go!"

The club was going strong by the time we arrived. The Latin dance beat could be heard all the way in the street. I headed out towards the end of the dance floor while AJ went to get me a drink. I started to dance by myself, I couldn't help it, I loved to dance. It was something about the rhythm, when I heard it my body just automatically starts to move. I don't know, maybe it was because I was part Hispanic, I had Salsa in my blood.

By the time AJ returned with the drinks, I was surrounded by three guys trying to dance with me. I looked over at him, winked, and did a sexy grinding move with my hips to the music. AJ immediately handed the drinks to Rhonda, who was headed up into the VIP section of the club, and made his way towards me on the dance floor. I'm not quite sure how long we were out there for but soon we were covered in sweat and we decided that we needed a break. We went to the bar and ordered fresh drinks. "I'm gonna have to watch tonight," I thought as I sipped my fuzzy navel, "too many of these and things may happen that I can't stop." "Yeah but would you want them to stop?" that pushy second voice of mine asked. Hmmmm that voice may have a point.

As we finished up our drinks AJ started leaning in closer to me, his eyes gazing directly into mine. I moved my face in closer to his never wanting a kiss more in my life. "Hey guys what are you up to?" Kevin said walking up to the counter and interrupting us. Ahhh! I couldn't believe he did that! Couldn't he tell he was definitely interrupting a moment?

"Nothing now," AJ said sending Kevin a look that could kill. 'Don't you have something else to do right now?"
"Nah, not really," Kevin replied.
"Well we do. Come on lets dance some more," AJ said as he pulled me out towards the dance floor again.

The DJ was playing a slow tune. AJ pulled me into his arms. He held me tightly against him as we swayed to the music. "This feels right," I thought, "No it can't feel right. He's probably gonna get back with his girlfriend again and I don't need or even want any kind of committed relationship right now. But this feels so right." Even as I was thinking these thoughts I looked once again into his eyes. Here it was -another moment – he leaned down towards me, his lips inches from mine.

"May I cut in?" a voice asked from the side.
I looked up to see Nick smiling next to us. "What the fuck?!" wasn't anybody going to let us kiss. What was this a plot? 'Maybe you should stay away from AJ - I don't want to see you get hurt' "Rhonda!" I thought, "I'm gonna kill her!"
"No you may not!" AJ said as he grabbed my hand again and led me off the floor. I could tell he was really getting pissed off.

We went up into the VIP section to find a secluded spot to talk and to finish our drinks. I think we both decided to give up on the kiss idea, for now, so we started talking about everything. He asked me about my life in New York and I told him that I used to work for a well known art dealer but had moved to Florida to start my own business and invited him to the grand opening in a couple of weeks. I answered the questions I could and avoided the ones I didn't feel comfortable enough to answer yet. AJ left a few times to get more drinks. "I shouldn't drink anymore," I said starting to really feel the alcohol's effect.

"Why, you afraid I'm gonna take advantage of you?" he laughed.
"No, I'm afraid I'm gonna let you," I said laughing back.
"I would never take advantage of you. In fact, I definitely want to get to know you better."
"What about Amanda?" I asked.
"What about her?" he asked a cold look coming over his face at the mention of her name.
"I just heard that you guys were always on again/off again. I just don't want to be in the middle if it goes on again," I said trying to explain where I was coming from.
"There's nothing to worry about there," he said coldly. "We are definitely off for good."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring up a painful subject."
"That's alright," he said the coldness melting away, "you didn't know."
"I should have."
"What about you? What is your situation?"
"I don't have a situation," I said becoming a little nervous. "I broke up with my boyfriend, and I moved here to start my own business."
"O.K." he said knowing there was more to the story but also knowing not to push it.
All of a sudden I could feel one strong effect of the alcohol. "I have to go to the bathroom," I said trying to stand up. Why was the floor spinning so much?
"Do you need some help getting there?" he asked suddenly realizing that I had too much to drink. "No," I said steadying myself, "I can manage." And with that I walked down the stairs to where I saw the big neon sign saying 'restrooms'.