Chapter 23"That's not a very polite way to answer the phone you know. What if it had been Angela calling?" Kevin asked.
"She wouldn't be calling. She's laying right next to me asleep. Why are you calling me so early?" Brian asked as he looked at the clock and saw that it was seven thirty in the morning.
"I just wanted to know what exactly you said to Kristin when you called her and told her to come here," Kevin said and he heard silence on the other line for a few seconds.
"So she told you huh?" Brian finally asked.
"Brian what exactly did you tell her?"
"What does it matter? What I want to know is what happened between you two last night because obviously you guys brought up the issue about you two being together or else you wouldn't be calling me this early."
"It's none of your business. You need to stay out of my personal life and just worry about your own."
"So you wake me up this early just to lecture me? I must be wrong. Things must have gone pretty bad."
"No. Even though I know you're never going to tell me what you told her I guess I have to thank you for whatever you did say."
"Huh?" Brian asked shocked. "First you lecture me then you thank me? I think you need to go back to bed or something. I'll talk to you later, bye."
"Bye," Kevin said hanging up the phone. He turned around to see Kristin standing behind him still in her pajama pants and a t-shirt. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Just a couple of seconds. I think we need to talk about what happened last night," Kristin said going and sitting down at the dining room table. Kevin followed her and sat down across from her.
"Kristin I'm not going to lie to you but I've wanted just to be able to kiss you like that for a few years now but I never wanted to ruin what we had. Then last night when I did I realized how stupid I was for not doing it sooner and not really trying to convince you to stay here and not move to California. I really hope you don't regret us kissing last night."
"Oh no, I didn't."
"Then what about last night did you want to talk about?" Kevin asked confused.
"I just think we should figure out what is going to happen between us now? Was last night just a kiss and are we still friends or are we more than that?"
"First off, no matter what we will always be friends," Kevin said reaching across the table and taking her hands in his. "Second," Kevin said getting up and walking around the table to Kristin and standing her up. He then pulled her close to him and kissed her. "As of right now I want so much more than just friends," Kevin finished saying as he smiled at her. Kristin just smiled back at him as she pressed her lips firmly against Kevin's.
At Lou Pearlman's studio, Kristen, Mandy, and Jasmine were in the dance studio with a choreographer and Lou practicing dance moves for the video they were going to make for "Making It Tonight" a week later. Mandy and Jasmine were wearing sports bras and warm up pants while Kristen was wearing a long t-shirt with warm up pants so that the scars on her stomach wouldn't be showing when they walked into the studio. "Kristen you are going to need to change into a smaller top like Mandy and Jasmine's because that is probably going to be what you are wearing in the video," Lou said.
"I'm sorry but I won't do that," Kristen said. "I will not wear a shirt that is showing my stomach."
"AJ sure did pick a shy girl. Listen, all female singers show their stomachs. It shows that they have feminine qualities and they don't wear baggy jeans and t-shirts all the time."
"Lou I don't mean to argue against you but I don't think you should make her wear stuff that she isn't comfortable with wearing," Jasmine said sticking up for Kristen. Lou just ignored her and continued to argue with Kristen.
"You three will be in a dance club grinding with some guys as the song says and..." Lou said when Mandy cut him off.
"I know you already talked to Nigel Dick for this video and all but just for the record I do have morals so I will not get really into this 'grinding' thing," she said.
"This has to be the most difficult group I have ever delt with," Lou said mostly to himself.
"Lou these three girls are all very respectable girls," Howie said butting in. "You can't make them do things that they don't want to. "I'm sure Mandy will grind with the guy in the video or whatever but she has her limits. Kristen has her limits too and that is to keep herself covered for good reasons."
"And what would these good reasons be? That she has morals?"
"Kristen, show him why you can't wear the sports bras alone and short shirts like Mandy and Jasmine are." Kristen obeyed Howie and lifted her shirt to reveal all the scars across her stomach.
"Oh my God," Mandy and Jasmine said in unison. Lou remained silent for a few seconds after Kristen put her shirt back down.
"Those have to go," Lou finally said. "I'm going to get you an emergency appointment to get laser surgery done tomorrow to remove those scars."
"Excuse me? Don't I have a say in this?" Kristen asked.
"Considering I will be the one who is paying for it? No, you don't. Now I'll be right back. I'll let you know what time your appointment will be tomorrow," Lou said leaving to go to his office to locate and call up a laser surgeon who could put Kristen into his schedule the next day.
"Lou can just go fuck himself," Kristen said grabbing her bag and running out of the building. Howie ran after her and caught up with her at her car.
"Okay you need to stop running out of there every time you get a little frustrated," Howie said.
"A little frustrated? Having no say in getting laser surgery done is not what I would call being a little frustrated. A music group shouldn't be based on looks making sure they don't have one flaw on their body. It's about the music."
"I know that but..."
"Well then you go tell that to that dickhead in there. I'll see you later. Tell Jasmine and Mandy that I'm sorry about walking out on them," Kristen said as she got in her car.
"I'm sure they will understand," Howie said as she shut the car door and drove away. Kristen got home and found AJ sitting on the couch watching a movie.
"Hey, you're back early," AJ said when Kristen entered the house.
"Yeah, ain't that great," Kristen said sarcastically as she went into her and AJ's room and slamming the door shut behind her. AJ got up knowing that something was wrong. He picked the lock on the door since Kristen locked him out and entered the room to see Kristen throwing clothes out of the closet and onto the bed.
"What exactly are you doing?" AJ asked as he continued to watch her.
"Can you just get me a box?" Kristen asked with an attitude as she threw all her bikinis on the bed and wiped her eyes of tears that were beginning to flow.
"Why are you throwing this stuff out?" AJ asked picking up one of the bikini tops. "You look good in this." AJ then noticed that everything on the bed were shirts that she had that showed her stomach naturally or showed her stomach when she lifted her arms up. "You don't think you're fat do you?" AJ asked questionably since that was his first reaction.
"Think about it AJ! When was the last time I wore any of that?"
"Okay now you're confusing me considering you wore this purple shirt last week," AJ said holding up a shirt that would only show Kristen's stomach if she lifted her arms up above her head.
"Look at me AJ!" Kristen yelled at him as she took her shirt off so she was in a sports bra.
"I am and I'm definitely liking what I'm seeing," AJ said looking at her body.
"For once stop telling me what you think I would like to hear. I want to know the truth. What do you actually think of me?"
"I think you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," AJ said honestly looking her straight in the eye. "What is bringing this up?" AJ asked still confused about the way Kristen was acting.
"You can't honestly tell me that this is beautiful," Kristen said pointing to her stomach. AJ looked to where she was pointing and finally figured out what Kristen was getting so worked up about.
"So you have a few bad scars. That doesn't take away any beauty from you."
"Then why does Lou Pearlman think that it does?"
"What the hell did he say to you?" AJ asked beginning to get pissed off at Lou.
"I got a lecture about how I have to wear short shirts to show off my feminine qualities. Then he scheduled me for a laser surgery appointment tomorrow to get the scars removed."
"Well do you want the scars gone?"
"I don't know, but I..."
"But you do and I know that you do," AJ said interrupting her and wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "If you didn't then you wouldn't be getting so worked up about it. I also know that you want to be able to wear shirts and not worry about the scars on you stomach showing when you raise your arms."
"Would you rather have them gone so you could see me in short shirts around you again?" Kristen asked.
"I don't care. I would be plenty happy either way but I know you aren't happy because every time you look in the mirror when you're only in your bra and pants or whatever you look at the scars and trace them with your fingers wishing that they would go away. I see you do that all the time. Why don't you just go through with it? Get the laser surgery done."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I refuse to let a laser near my body. It freaks me out AJ. And when Lou said I didn't have a choice in the matter I got worried and I'm so mad that I have to live with these scars and the only way to get rid of them is with a laser."
"Listen I'll make you a deal. I know you want the scars gone so if you go under a laser then so will I," AJ suggested.
"What scars do you have to get rid of?"
"I won't get rid of any scars. I'll get rid of one of my tattoos of your choice that way you don't have to go through the whole ordeal by yourself. And I'm more afraid of needles and lasers and all that shit so it would be more of an ordeal for me than you."
"You're actually going to do this with me?" Kristen asked surprised.
"Yeah."
"And I get to choose which tattoo?"
"Yes so choose right now."
"I choose.....this one," Kristen said putting her hand up AJ's shirt and poking him in the belly button.
"Oh no you can forget the '69' tattoo. That stays for life."
"You said that I could pick any tattoo."
"So I lied. Choose another."
"That big, colorful dragon that's on your left shoulder blade."
"You don't like that tattoo?" AJ asked upset. "That's one of my best ones."
"It's ugly and I hate it. If you think I should get the scars removed then I think you should get that tattoo removed."
"Fine, it's a deal," AJ said pulling her closer and kissing her. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed moving all the clothes onto on the floor. "You know since your stomach is probably going to be sore for a while after tomorrow we are going to have to make up for that lost time right now," AJ said with a wicked smile as he grabbed the waist band to her tear-a-way pants and pulled them off her throwing them on the floor. He then took off her bra and panties then allowed Kristen to completely undress him. "You know that no matter what you will always be the most beautiful girl to me right?" AJ asked. Kristen just smiled as AJ kissed her allowing his hands to roam all over her body. Just then the bedroom door opened silently and Nick and Toni stood in the doorway.
"Oh...my...God," Toni said slowly as she saw AJ's naked body on top of Kristen's as he positioned himself over her to enter her.
"What the hell?" AJ asked turning around half way off of Kristen.
"OH MY GOD!" Toni yelled when she then saw the front side of AJ naked. Nick grabbed Toni and covered her eyes with his hand.
"Whoa!" he yelled when he saw Kristen laying on the bed naked. Kristen grabbed AJ and pulled him back on top of her to cover her body since they were on top of the blankets on the bed.
"Get the fuck out!" AJ yelled at them. Toni's mouth was about dropped to the floor and Nick grabbed her and left the room closing the door behind them. Once the door was closed Nick started laughing while Toni started crying her eyes out.
"What is wrong with you? Why are you crying?" Nick asked as he controlled his laughter.
"I just walked in on my best friend having sex with AJ! I thought walking in on them making out was bad but I just walked in on them having sex! I am traumatized for life! I will never be able to look at them together again!" Toni yelled still crying. Nick wrapped his arms around Toni to hug her when she pulled away and started smacking him.
"Ow! Knock it off! What the hell was that for?"
"For yelling when you saw Kristen naked! How dare you look at a girl other than me!"
"You saw AJ and started making your little 'oh my God' comments!"
"I don't care! I'm allowed to! Your not!" Toni said going into the living room to wait for Kristen and AJ. Nick just followed her confused as hell. In the bedroom AJ put his pants back on and Kristen put hers on and her sports bra. She sat on the middle of the bed and began crying. AJ got on the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her allowing Kristen to cry into his bare chest.
"Kristen it's okay," AJ said trying to comfort her as he rubbed her back.
"No it's not. This is so embarrassing. Nick just saw me naked. He never saw me naked even when we were dating."
"It's not your fault it's Toni's and Nick's. They should be more respectable and learn how to knock."
"I don't care. I am never facing Nick again."
"Alright, listen you stay here and I'll go talk to Nick and Toni," AJ said and Kristen nodded her head against his chest. "I'll be right back," he said kissing her on the forehead and grabbing his shirt off the floor putting it on as he walked out of the bedroom closing the door behind him. He went into the living room to see Nick and Toni sitting on the couch. "I hope you two are very happy now that you embarrassed the shit out of Kristen."
"Come on bone, like we knew that you two would be getting it on. You should have locked the door," Nick said.
"No, I don't need to. This is my house and Kristen and I are the only ones living here so we don't need to lock our door when we have sex. Toni this is the second time you've walked in this house catching me and Kristen either making out or having sex. Just because our front door is unlocked does not mean it's an invitation to come in. And it certainly doesn't mean you can come in our bedroom," AJ lectured.
"Oh like this is better for me? I just walked in on you guys! This is like traumatizing for me okay!" Toni yelled back at him with more tears in her eyes.
"You know what just forget it. What the hell are you doing here anyways?" AJ asked.
"I told Toni about us leaving for Germany in about a week and she wanted to know if you had told Kristen," Nick said.
"What the hell do you think a phone is for!" AJ yelled at them. "And no I haven't told Kristen she just got home. You know what, you two leave. I don't mean to be rude but just leave."
"Fine, come on Nick," Toni said pissed off as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out the front door. AJ went back into the bedroom and took off his shirt as he laid down on the bed next to Kristen and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close to him.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"No. Did they leave?"
"Yeah I kicked them out. They were here to see if I told you about Germany yet."
"What about Germany?" Kristen asked looking up at him.
"In about a week me and the guys have to leave for Germany for about a month."
"You're not starting another tour are you?"
"No, we were asked to do about 3 charity concerts there. It's like one every week and a half or so, so we are just going to stay the whole month there so we don't have to keep flying back and forth. I'd ask you to come with me but it's better if you stayed here because of the group," AJ explained.
"That's fine but I expect a call every day or I'll get divorced papers filed," Kristen said smiling at him.
"Agreed," AJ said as he held Kristen in his arms and kissed her.
