I looked back at AJ and started shaking my head from side to side. How could I of fell for this again! Am I the dumbest bitch in the world or what? I started backing up trying not to fall on the clothes he had all over the floor.
"AJ ... how ... how could you?" I managed to sputter out.
He reached his arms out to me, "I ... I'm ... wait!" He said as I turned and ran to the door. I pulled it open but he slid in front of me and slammed it shut.
"Get out of my way AJ!" I said trying not to scream at him.
"No it's not what you think..." "It's not what I think?! Not what I think! Come on how fucking stupid do you think I am? Get out of my way!"
"Let me explain!" he said grabbing both my arms with his face two inches from mine. I loosened up so he knew I was going to listen. Besides I was too tired to struggle.
"I have no idea what she is doing here. I haven't talked to her in like two and a half weeks. But believe me I'm going to find out what the hell she's doing in my bed." I rolled my eyes, like he didn't know. But I was willing to find out what he was going to do next.
He looked at me; "Okay I swear I'm not lying. Please just believe me." He was so sincere.
"Alright A.J," I said slowly and dull. "Let's find out." I reluctantly walked to the bed with him.
"AMANDA!" He shouted angrily. She just rolled over and snorted. "AMANDA!!" He shouted he was fuming and I could tell he must really have been telling me the truth.
She sat straight up, "AJ!" she sounded surprised to see him. "I was wondering what took you so long." She said glancing at me.
"How the hell did you get in my room?" He said trying to calm down.
"You know you always leave extra keys on top of the soda machine in case you lose your first one," she said getting up and slipping her pants on.
"What makes you think you have the right to come in here and expect me to take you back?"
"Look I'm leaving. Save your breath. If I knew you were back with ... her, I would have never came here and you know this." She pulled her shirt on and picked up her purse. She started to walk away but came up to me, "You're a lucky woman. Treat him well or I will be back." With that she turned and walked out.
I looked at AJ. I saw worry in his eyes. I knew he was wondering if I was still going to leave. He looked so worn out. He didn't deserve this. Especially right now when he was so busy promoting their new album. He didn't say anything; he just searched my eyes. I slowly walked over to him and took him in my arms. He felt so fragile right now. He hugged me back tightly, "I'm sorry." he said gently said.
"So am I AJ. I know I need to let you explain things before I turn into Miss Mad Woman."
He started laughing. I joined in, "AAHHH! I'm so tired!" He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his clothes, "Don't worry. I'm keeping the boxers on." I giggled. I changed into my gown and lay next to him. We fell fast asleep in each other's arms. We didn't bother to say anything else about what had just happened.

"Answer that," Nick grumbled as he rolled over and nudged Vanessa. The phone was ringing.
"Hello?" She answered. "Oh. All right. Bye" she nudged Nick. "Nick, AJ told me to tell you it's 5:30 and to get your ass up." She rolled over.
"Aww, shit!" he jumped out of the bed and rummaged through the drawers for something to wear. "I totally forgot! We have like an autograph signing at some record store at 6:00."
He threw on pair of jeans and a football jersey. He held his arms out, "Well how do I look?" he asked Vanessa who was pulling on a pair of jeans and a light pink sweater.
"Uh, I suggest you do something with that fro!" she said running a brush through her hair. Nick rushed to the bathroom and smoothed his hair down.
"Now?" he asked.
"Gorgeous!" she said.
They rushed down stairs where I and AJ, Brian and Leighanne, Kevin, Howie, some bodyguards and a couple hundred-screaming fans greeted them. They rushed us into limousine. Brian looked at his watch; "You barely made it by him 30 seconds," he said looking at Nick.
"You guys wouldn't of left without me," he said with a grin.
"Oh really?" Kevin asked giving Nick a sharp look. Nick made a face at him then looked away. Vanessa giggled.
"It's nice to see you guys again but it's been too long," Howie said looking at Vanessa and me.
"I agree," Vanessa said.
"Okay," one of the boys' management people said. "The boys will be let out in the front. Leighanne and you two will be let off in the back. We don't want to bum out a thousand girls. Especially the ones who really dislike the boys girlfriend, understand?" She looked at the three of us. We nodded; Leighanne seemed used to it. I looked at AJ and he had his bottom lip giving me a puppy dog look. I smiled and he started to laugh. We pulled up and the boys got out. They immediately disappeared in the thick group of girls that had come to greet them.
Leighanne, Vanessa and me got out of the limousine. "Don't worry, you guys will get used to going in everywhere through the back way. Although sometime Brian insists that I go with him through the front," she said smihng. We went in and stood in the crowd. Girls were going wild. A few minutes later the boys sat down at the table. The fans went crazy. I smiled. The boys turned on their charm. Brian making funny faces and voices. Nick..well just being his regular goofy self. Howie all smiles and AJ, well he knew how to get the fans going. I looked at Vanessa. She was glowing. Last month it would have been us screaming and jumping. "AJ...l love you!" a girl in front of me screamed. "Kevin said he liked my shirt!" a girl to our left said. "I heard Nick broke up with Mandy!" one girl squealed to her friend.
I looked around. The crowd outside was getting bigger. The girls inside were anxious to meet the boys. It continued this way until lunchtime.

Next week was hard on the guys. They had a performance to tape on May 11th for the Disney Channel. They had to make sure they knew the new songs and had to learn all the dance moves Fatima threw at them. We went with them to every rehearsal. There was something interesting happening every time. Fatima had a hard time keeping their attention sometimes.
"Nick ... Nick! Nick!" she clapped her hands and stomped her foot. "Howd do you plan on doing this routine in two days if you're busy running around?" "I was looking for..." he started but she didn't wanna hear it.
"AND ONE AND TWO AND..." she drowned Nick out and everyone jumped into the routine. "And left arm, right arm ... uh ... come on Brian ... uh, uh ... AJ! Get off the floor!" Vanessa and me giggled. The boys had been rehearsing for three hours straight. They were exhausted and their attention span was running short. They needed a break and she knew it.
"All right see you in two hours guys!" she grabbed her water bottle.
Vanessa walked over to Nick who was now sprawled out on the floor breathing heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead. She sat down next to him Indian style and took his towel and dabbed his head. He closed his eyes; "I have the biggest headache! I can't find my bag to get some aspirin," he said.
Vanessa stood up and saw his backpack lying under AJs jacket. She rummaged through it and found some Tylenol. "Here you go babe," she said handing it to him.
He sat up, "Thank you so much."
I went and joined AJ who was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall. "You hungry?" he asked looking at me with an exhausted look on his face.
"Yeah, sorta." I looked at the clock it was 1:30. The guys had been up since 5:00 am. They let Vanessa and me sleep in and around 8:00 woke us up to bring us to see their rehearsal. AJ got up and started putting his things in his gym bag.
"We have another busy day tomorrow. We have to go bowling and do other things for the Disney Special. Then the next day we have sound checks and dress rehearsal then the concert..." he sighed.
"Let's go to Mickey D's." That's when his eyes lit up. Brian and the other guys had left to do other things already.
"You guys headed to Mickey D's?" Nick asked.
"Yep. You wanna go don't you?" AJ said picking up his bag.
"If you don't want us to we have our own car. We don't need to go with you guys you know," Nick sarcastically snapped.
"Hey don't get all defensive. But you do want to take my truck right," AJ said laughing.
"I guess," Nick said. Vanessa shrugged.
When we got outside AJ threw the keys to me, "Drive, baby I'm really tired."
"Sure."
The day didn't end until about 8:00 p.m. and we didn't get back to the hotel until like 10:00 p.m. and didn't actually get up to the room until about 1:00 p.m. because the guys stopped to sign autographs for the girls waiting outside.

AJ was right. The next day was wild. We woke up at 5:00 am (again!) the guys had to meet some people and stuff. By 8:00 me and AJ and Howie were out shopping. I of course had to hang out in the background but I didn't mind.
Vanessa went off with Brian and Nick to play some basketball. She sat against the fence. Around 11:00 am everyone met at the bowling alley where we ate lunch. Vanessa and I played on our own lane a couple lanes down.
"I wonder where Leighanne is?" I asked Vanessa as we watched Nick make a gutter ball.
"She's getting ready to leave tonight. She's been here for like three weeks already. She said she has things to do back in California."
"Oh," I said. I swirled my straw around in my soda.
"What's wrong now?" Vanessa sighed and asked.
"Oh nothing much ... I don't know...I mean ... I'm not sure. I think I'm a little homesick."
"Are you serious?" she looked surprised.
"I'm not sure." I think I was just tired mostly. I had to get used to this whole 'celebrity' life AJ led. I mean I never had a famous boyfriend before. I guess I just kinda wondered what it would be like to have him all to myself. Pretty selfish to think about though so I erased the thought.

That night we all went and had dinner before Leighanne caught her flight.
"Isn't your birthday coming up soon?' A.J asked. I blushed I hated when everyone made a big deal over my birthday.
"Yep. Three more days, it's on the 13th."
"Don't we have a radio interview to do that day?" Howie asked.
"Yeah but that's not until 7:00 that night," Brian answered.
"Well we have to do something for you then!" Kevin said.
"Oh, no ... no thank you," I said shyly.
"Come on," "Don't be a party pooper," "It's your birthday" everyone started saying at once.
AJ stayed quiet though. Then he turned to me and said, "I can take you out ... I mean just me and you ... if you want. We can even go to a club later that night."
"We'll see how that day is like first. I mean not if you're too tired or anything."
"No. We just have that one radio thing that night so we can sleep in and shit."

We all went back to the hotel after dinner. Except for Brian who went to see Leighanne off at the airport.

"Nick! Where the hell did you put my brush?" Vanessa called from the bathroom. She was shufflmg through the drawers and looking under piles of clothes.
"I don't know. Maybe if you didn't leave it lying around every where!"
"Nick, we seriously need to think about cleaning this room."
"You know something?" he said stretching out on the bed and looking at the clutters of messes all over the floor. "I think you're right!" They started cleaning the room, which took them about an hour and a half. They fell right to sleep after they were done.
Around 2 in the morning the phone started ringing. Nick started mumbling curses as he reached for the phone.
"Hello ... and this better be good," he said.
"Nick... (sniffle, sniffle) it's me, Mandy," she said in a quiet voice. "Nick, I need you more than ever right now."