Chapter Fifteen: ** Green Grapes **

“Well, we had the concert last night, and tomorrow morning we’re moving on,” Kevin explained.

 “Damn, the LOOK on his face!” Nick exclaimed. Everyone started laughing. They were in Brian’s room cuz Deb had wanted to talk to guys after she got out of the shower. AJ had helped put new bandages on her, passed on the cold shower and was now laughing with everyone else scattered about the hotel room.

“Okay, okay. I got to know something, guys,” Deb said, trying to stop laughing for a second.

“What?” Kevin asked.

She smirked,” How bad did he get it?”

This started a new bout of laughing which lasted a few minutes and left several of them wiping the tears from their eyes.

“Broken nose-“Brian started.

“-black eye-“ Nick said nonchalantly.

“-two broken ribs-“Kevin interrupted.

“one helluva scar from when you kicked him in the stomach-” Howie laughed.

“-and a concussion that knocked him STRAIGHT out!”  AJ finished, grinning.

Deb’s jaw dropped and she stared at them, “Serious?” When they nodded, she was silent before she burst into laughter again. “Sucker,” she choked out, which only made them laugh harder and for Roz to fall off the bed.

“Ow, side,” Deb moaned, grabbing her side as it hurt from her laughing. She then CONTINUED to laugh. I mean, think about it. Knocked him STRAIGHT out! It was funny.

*              *              *

The tabloids were amusing to Deb and she joked about having them framed, much to the surprise of the guys who thought she would have been upset. She especially liked the one with the headline: ‘This Girl Kicks Ass!’ and it was really positive. Most of them were.  Roz had showed them to her after the laughing had died down. Skimming over the headlines to the stories and pictures themselves, she started to laugh.

“I didn’t know they had a photographer in the club!” she exclaimed. They had a picture of her punching Dave, him punching her, him holding her leg straight up in the air, and then her spinning in the air and her foot connecting with his head. There were also pictures from the press conference, her performance, and one of AJ and her holding hands at McD’s with both of them looking each other in the eye. A little caption below the last photo speculated on her relationship with him.

Deb showed this to AJ. “You know, if I’d ever gotten around to making that stupid scrapbook, I might just have put this in there,” she remarked. After a few more minutes of talking, Deb and AJ went back to her room and did indeed order room service.

“Strawberry waffles, French fries, French vanilla cappuccino, vanilla milkshake with M&Ms in it, mozzarella sticks with that red dipping sauce stuff, a side salad and a twelve pack of Mountain Dew with a bowl of green grapes,” AJ spoke into the phone. He paused, and then said, “And for my order, I’d like..…”

Deb giggled, remembering his face when she’d told him what she wanted to eat. She was still confused on why he didn’t get that the green grapes went IN the Mountain Dew. I mean, where ELSE would they go? Really. And, hell, she hadn’t eaten in two days. She was hungry! She flipped through the pay-per-view channels, trying to find a movie they could watch. She sat cross legged on the bed, wearing large, baby blue drawstring pj pants and a black tank top. She stopped when she saw the channel for House on Haunted Hill and waited til Alex was off the phone to ask him.

“I can’t believe you’re going to eat all of that,” he shook his head as he hung up the phone.

She looked at him puzzled, “Why?”

He opened his mouth to say something and then just shook his head again, “Never mind.” He watched her sitting on the bed for a second before saying seriously, “You shouldn’t sit on the bed like that.”

“Why?”

“Because evil minded men could just come along and-” he leapt on the bed, wrapping his arms around her and falling back on the bed with her-“ATTACK you!”

She started to laugh and then gave him innocent eyes, “And are YOU an evil minded man?”

He smirked, his face above hers, “Maybe.”

“Good,” she grinned and gave him a kiss. “Wanna watch House on Haunted Hill with me?” she asked in a little kid voice, tapping the end of his nose.

“Hey!” he frowned, trying to grab her finger but she smirked and shoved both of her hands behind her back.

“Ha!” she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh, so that’s how you want to play,” he said, a wide grin splitting his face. Before Deb could think about what he meant, she found herself rolling with laughter as he tickled her, careful to avoid the bandages.

“Okay, okay!” she exclaimed through laughter. “I give! I give!  SEE!” she put both of her hands out in the air to prove her point.

Alex nodded, satisfied and grabbed one of her hands to help her up. While she grabbed the controller to order the movie, he looked at her seriously for a second and asked out of the blue, “Why didn’t you tell the press about us going out?”

Deb paused, her finger accidentally hitting the wrong button and she cursed, “Great, with my luck, I probably just ordered some porno or something.” She turned to Alex, her eyebrows frowning, “I didn’t know if YOU wanted to tell the press.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked.

“I don’t know! I just thought it might’ve been nice of me to make sure if you were cool with telling the press about us. If there IS even an ‘us’!”

AJ immediately went rigid, “What do you mean ‘if there is’?!”

Deb took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and then faced him, “Alex, I love you. You know I love you. I’ve only known you for awhile and I know I want to be with you. My feelings for you are so strong it scares me sometimes. The ‘us’ thing is just that..….well, I’m not saying you have to…..it might make sense if you did-”

“What!” he exclaimed.

 “Am I your girlfriend or not?” she asked point blank, staring him dead in the eye.

“Girlfriend? Well..…yeah, you are.”

“I am? Since when? I want to go out with you Alex, I just wish you would have, you know, ASKED me,” she started to get a little impatient.

“Well, what if I asked you!?” he exclaimed.

“Asked me what?” she yelled back.  

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he shouted.

“Yes!” she yelled, both of them still looking a little angry. They took a couple of deep breaths and Deb blinked, realizing what had just happened. And then she smiled.

“Girlfriend, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said lowly, taking a step forwards.

A knock on the door interrupted them and Deb raced towards the door like a little kid. “FOOD!!!”

And as they sat on the bed watching the scary movie, the food spread out before them as they ate and stared at the screen, making comments here and there.  AJ suddenly went quiet. Deb, realizing this, looked over suspiciously and asked, “What?”

He looked her dead in the eye and said honestly, with regret in his eyes, “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

She cocked her head at him, smiling yet again as she realized once more how lucky she was to find someone like him after Dave, “Me too.”

*              *              *

Dave was put in jail on charges of abuse, harassment, blackmailing, stalking and attempted rape- he had admitted the last one to the police smugly, telling them his intentions for when he cornered her in the studio. Debelah could still remember the looks on the guys’ faces when the officer had read the charges. In fact, they’d had to be restrained by the police to not attack or murder Dave, whichever one they were thinking of as they lunged at him in anger after the shock form hearing the last charge wore off.

As for Deb, she was just happy to have gotten rid of Dave. Her bruises faded and she grew happier by every day with AJ. She had taken everyone out that night- after Dave had been sentenced- as a sort of thank you. They’d asked what she was thanking THEM for and she replied that she wanted to thank them for being there for her and helping her through everything.

Yes, things were going pretty good for Deb. A couple of weeks passed of the tour and each performance was just as- if not more- exciting and energetic as the one before. She and AJ grew even closer and they both told the press about them going out, which sparked a sea of rumors and gossip in the tabloids and on MTV. The fans were a different story. Though most of the BSB fans supported them, there were still those who held up mean signs at the concerts and who sent Deb hate mail for taking away ‘their’ AJ.

Roz and Deb went shopping and hung out tons, trying to make up for lost time, though Roz made sure she never left Brian for TOO long- the two were really inseparable. Staying up all night and talking was a given between the two, though Deb admitted she slept best when she knew AJ was nearby. He gave her a feeling of being safe even in her sleep.

Nick became Deb’s partner in crime and one of her new best friend. They both played pranks on the other tour mates and played video games and basically acted like little kids whenever they were together. Deb beat him in Mario Kart again, but this time Nick couldn’t blame it on her cheating.

Howie was her confidante, who she went to when she needed to talk to someone and get advice. More than once, she found herself asking his opinion on something. He would always listen to her and try to help.

 Brian, her ‘older brother’, and her were tight but she had already given him the speech of everything she would do to him if her EVER hurt Roz. Brian had been afraid to be near her for days after that speech. Roz had given AJ the almost exact same speech, though Deb didn’t know about that yet just as Roz didn’t know about her and Brian’s talk.

Kevin was protective, concerned, and always making sure she and everyone else was alright. When Deb told him he was like the ‘father figure she never had’, she could have sworn his eyes misted over, though he never would tell her if they had or not. She couldn’t really tell with the big bear hug he’d given her after that.

Yes, things were going PRETTY good. But the trouble started up again a little more than two weeks after the tour had started. It was right after her performance at a large stadium concert that she realized not everything was pretty good…...

A/N- Hey, ya’ll!! Yes, I’m still here. I know it took me awhile but I got it up!! Hope you like it and keep on reviewing!!