Chapter One: **Stranger With a Smile**

 AJ sighed and pulled his hat lower to cover half of his face, nearly swimming in the large trench coat he’d grabbed that morning.  He looked at his watch and saw that he still had a couple minutes before he had to go into the building, up to the fifth floor and meet their new opening act.

 He leaned against the wall right outside of the building and grabbed a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and began puffing.  He’d quit tomorrow.  As he inhaled the first time, he felt the muscles in his body relax stared off into space.

 “Hey, don’t I know you?” a girl’s voice asked.  It was actually a very beautiful voice with a hint of an exotic accent, AJ thought as he looked over to see a girl only a little shorter than himself standing next to him. 

 He couldn’t really tell anything about her because, she had a large coat on, baggy pants and a baseball cap pulled low on her face.  AJ suppressed a sigh at her words, though.  He’d thought no one would have recognized him in this giant coat.

 “Maybe you do,” AJ said, using his trademark smile.

 “You’re that AJ guy, right? From BSB?” the girl asked, a grin spreading over her mouth, the only part of her face AJ could actually see and he spent a lot of time staring at it.  He eyed her cautiously.

 “You’re not gonna start a mob or anything, are you?”

 The girl obviously found that funny and laughed, leaning up against the wall next to him, shoving her hands into her pockets and staring down at the ground so the cap went even lower on her face.

 “No, not today,” she laughed and then asked,” So, what’s up?”

 AJ was a little surprised; the normal fan reaction was big eyes, autograph, tears.  This girl acted like he was a regular Joe and she were asking him what was up.  He thought about that for a second and then nodded.  He liked that.

 “Not much.  Gotta meet some people but taking a break before I do,” he couldn’t believe he was actually talking normal to someone he didn’t even know.

 “Opening act, right?”  The girl asked and AJ looked at her surprised.

 “Yeah! How did you know?”

 She shrugged and settled back against the wall.  They were silent for a moment and AJ took the time to take another puff.  Her hat tilted towards him.

 “You know those kill you, right?”

 “Yeah.”

“And you still do it?”

“Yeah.”

 She was silent for a second and then asked frankly,” Do you have ANY idea how STUPID that is?”

 AJ looked at the cigarette in his hands for a second before throwing it on the ground and grounding it with the heel of shoe.  He then leaned back against the wall with a small sigh.

 “Yeah.”

 “So who’s the opening act?”

 AJ made a disgusted face, “Some chick named Debelah Morgan or something like that.” He muttered,” Who names their kid Debelah, anyway?”

 “I’ve always liked the name.”

 “It’s OK, I guess.  The name doesn’t really bother me, though.  It’s HER.”

 “Really,” the girl said in what sounded like an amused voice. “Why?”

 “Well,” AJ said, talking lower, "don’t tell anyone I said this, but I heard she was a real bitch.” As soon as he said this, he mentally kicked himself. He could not believe he’d just said that to her. She could be some reporter for all he knew.

 The girl’s lips quivered for a second as though she was going to laugh but she quickly stopped.  AJ was beginning to wonder why she was hiding her face from him. 

 “Really? Hmm…and where did you hear that from?”

 “Well,” he edged,” I didn’t really hear it from someone.  I just KNOW it.”

 “Really? How?”

Oh, well. He’d already gone this far.  “Well, she's always smiling huge and being all hyper and bouncier than Nick half the time on the tour bus.  You just KNOW she’s fake.  I mean, NO ONE is THAT wired naturally.  And I cannot stand fake people.”

 “Me, either.  They drive me insane. So, are you going to tell her all that when you meet her?”

 “Probably not.”

 “Oh.”  There was some more silence and then she asked,” When are you supposed to meet her?”

 “Oh, in about-“he checked his watch-“two minutes ago.”  He said casually before leaning up against the wall.  AJ rolled his head to the side to look down at her.  “I shouldn’t even go. I mean, I don’t want to.”

 “But are you going to?”

 He shrugged,” Yeah, I have to or else Kevin will kill me.”

“Well,” she said, starting to walk towards the front door. Then, she lifted her head up slowly to reveal her face and AJ’s mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief.  She smiled impishly at him, her dimples showing.

 “See you upstairs, AJ.  That is-“Debelah paused just as she was about to open the door and looked back at him-“IF you decide to come up.”  She winked and then she was gone.

 AJ leaned back against the wall, raising one hand to his forehead and looked at the crowded streets blankly.

 I am such an idiot.