Part 57
The meeting ended and as the five men walked out, Kevin asked, “What’s Chelsea up to today?”
“She and Michelle are hanging out at the house watching videos of us.”
Howie grinned, “Being fans?”
“Uh huh!” laughed AJ. “I gave them what I had before I left.”
“Wonder what they would do if all five of us showed up?”
Nick posed the question to the other four and they all exchanged looks.
“I don’t know, Nick,” said AJ. “She was kinda embarrassed when I was teasing her about being a fan.”
“Come on, ‘J’,” coaxed Nick. “It’s what every fan dreams of…us singing to them in person.”
“She loves being sung to,” added Kevin who clearly liked Nick’s idea.
“And you KNOW Michelle’s a fan,” piped up Brian.
“She’s gonna kill me if I bring you guys in.”
Nick was ignoring AJ’s protests as he formulated the plan. “Call her now to see what they’re doing. Tell her we’re gonna be in the meeting for several more hours that way she won’t suspect anything and we can catch them.”
Kevin saw Alex wasn’t going with the idea so he pulled out his cell phone and dialed, waited, then said, “Hey baby! What ‘cha doing?.......Cool. So, is Annie home yet?......Sounds like she’s going to be home before we’re done……I thought Dee and I would come by and see how her day was….Nah, we’ve got a couple more hours here……He’s talking to management about something….I'm sure he’ll call as soon as he can, while he takes a smoke break……How about dinner? AJ and I can grab some steaks…..okay, but don’t do anything. We’ll handle it all. See you in a few hours.”
As Kevin closed his phone, Nick asked, “Well?”
“She doesn’t suspect a thing. She and Michelle are still watching videos and Annie and Hillary aren’t gonna be back until almost dinner time.”
“What are we gonna sing?” asked Brian.
“Not sure,” said Nick. Turning to AJ, “What’s her favorite song?”
“Guys, I really don’t know about this.”
“It’s PERFECT, AJ,” said Nick. “She’ll be so excited that we sang to JUST her that you’ll get whatever you want.”
“I don’t NEED to do anything to get whatever I want.”
Howie had been watching AJ the whole time and knew that he wasn’t thrilled about the idea. “Maybe we should go with AJ’s instincts. We don’t want to cause any problems.”
“Come on, AJ….you call Chelsea your ‘Beautiful Woman’,” said Nick. “We can do that for them and then we can do dinner…..or, we can clear out so you two can do ‘the nasty’.”
“She’s expecting us for dinner,” said Kevin.
Giving in, AJ said, “Okay, but if Chelsea gets pissed, you clowns clear out without question.”
“No problem,” they chorused.
“You need to call her,” said Kevin.
“I will.”
“And NO tipping her off,” cautioned Nick as AJ pressed the speed dial number for his house.
AJ shot Nick a glare but it changed to a smile hearing Chelsea’s voice, “Hey, ‘Beautiful’. You and Michelle having fun?....A couple more hours, unfortunately…….Are you up for company?......Yeah, I know but I thought it would be cool to have all the guys join us……No, you and Michelle don’t have to do anything. We’ll handle it all……I love you too, Chelsea. I’ll call you when we get ready to leave here.” Cutting his pone off, he looked at the guys, “Okay. Let’s go. We’ll have to go in through the garage into the kitchen so we can surprise her and we’ll do ‘Drowning’.”
All five guys headed to their cars but as AJ started to get in, Howie stopped him.
“What’s up, ‘D’?”
“Are you okay with all this?”
“I guess so.”
“You can tell them ‘no’.”
“I know, but Kevin is so sure she’ll enjoy us doing this.”
“Kevin hasn’t seen Chelsea in seven years. She’s changed over the years and isn’t the same girl he knew. You’ve been with her 24/7 for the last month. I think you know her for who she is NOW and if you think us crashing her ‘fan time’ is a bad idea, then you need to say so.”
“That’s just it, Howie. I’m NOT sure. I’ve never thought to sing to her so I don’t KNOW if it’s a good idea or not.”
“But you DO know she was embarrassed this morning when you said something about being a fan.”
“Yeah, but when I told her I thought it was cool, she was okay. The only way I know what I can and can’t do is to actually do it and see what happens. I WANT to sing to her, Howie.” AJ paused and he got a sappy, love-sick look about him. “I want to sing all the romantic love songs to her and give her everything she’s ever dreamed of and more.”
Howie smiled, “Slow down, AJ. You two have plenty of time together. How about I ride with you and we can talk some more about you and Chelsea?”
“That’s cool but how are you gonna get your car later?”
“I’ll get Nick to drop me off.”
“Why don’t you give Leigh a call and get her to join us?”
“She’s out of town for the week.”
The ride to AJ’s house was filled with conversation about Chelsea. AJ told Howie about Sarah’s visit and they talked about AJ proposing to Chelsea.
