Chapter
Six
A frazzled AJ opened the door in reply to Howie’s
knock.
“Late night?”
“And then some. What time do we have to go?”
“Half an hour. Are you okay, man?”
“No. I’m rattled. How could I have gotten
so ..so…”
“Smitten?”
“Smitten? What the hell kind of word is
Smitten?” AJ walked away running his hand through his hair.”
Howie looked at AJ and smiled. “Oh. Let’s
see. Smitten. What does it mean? Maybe, you want to be with her all the time.
You can’t think of anything but her? You think you will die if you
don’t see her soon?”
AJ turned and looked at his friend. “I’m
smitten!”
“No shit!” Howie said sarcastically. You
looked wonderful together on the dance floor, like you connected
instantly.”
“You saw what I was feeling. And
Howie?”
"Yeah?”
“It only got better when we came up here.”
“Sorry AJ, you have it bad don’t
you?”
“Didn’t you say the word was
…..smitten?” AJ rolled his eyes and smiled at his friend.
Howie put his arm around AJ’s shoulder and said,
“Come on man, We have business to attend to, then you can be smitten.”
They left for the interview.
AJ was more quite than usual during the interview.
The guys were concerned about him, but knew he would tell them if he wanted
to. Until then, they would leave him alone.
As it turned out, they had to leave town right after
the interview. They had unexpected concert come up and had to go prepare
for it. AJ was miserable. He was missing Tessa. Only Howie knew about what
had happened. Although the other guys were trying to give him is space, it
was getting hard. AJ was getting more depressed every day.
Weeks went by and Nick had had just about enough of
AJ’s mood.
“Look, man. Either get over it, or tell us what
this is all about and let us help. Our tour starts soon and you can’t
go on like this. Giving you your space has not helped, so now…..
Spill.”
AJ finally told the guys about Tessa. Not all the intimate
details, but enough to let them know that she had had a real affect on him.
“Guys, I saw them on the dance floor.” Howie
added, “They were amazing together. I’ve never seen anything like
that. They danced like they had been dancing together and had been lovers
for years.”
“Oh yeah, Howie, that helped me feel a whole lot
better.” AJ said as he paced and ran his fingers his hair.
"AJ, we have got to get you with her again. You need
to be with her. Either to get her out of your system or build a relationship.
You cannot go on like this.” Howie said.
“What the hell can I do?’ I don’t know
how to find her. Howie? Did you get Jill’s number?”
“No man, sorry.”
AJ looked at Howie and raised an eyebrow. Howie just
held out his bent arms palms up and gave an “Oh well ….enough
said” look. AJ dropped the subject and sat down on the couch.
Nick went to AJ and sat down beside him. “We are
going back there in six weeks for a concert. Remember? You can call her then
and go see her.”
“She didn’t give her phone number or address.
I already told you, I do..not… know how to get a hold of her.”
AJ just slumped down further into the couch.
“You got her last name though, right?” Nick
said confidentially.
“I already checked the phone book. There are a
ton of “Masters” in the phone book. It’s impossible, I can’t
find her.”
Kevin stood up and walked to the other side of the
room. “I’m going to say this from over here, because you are not
going to like what I am about to ask. Did she sleep with you because of who
you are?” Kevin held up his hands indicating that he meant no offense.
“No man, I even accused her of that when she was
leaving without telling me and that did not go over very well. I truly believe
her. Besides, I came on to her. All she wanted to do was dance.’’
Nick stood up and started pacing back and forth. “No.
no, No Kevin, that is not what happened. If she had done it because of that,
it would have been all over the Internet by now. I’ve been on a lot
lately and there has been no mention of anything like that. Well at least
not in that city.”
AJ’s head popped up. “What? Oh no, more rumors
about me? What did I do now?”
“You had an orgy in a girls dorm room in
Indiana.”
“Oh, Lovely.” AJ held his head in his hands.
“How many?” Asked Brian trying to break the
tension.
AJ cut him a look.
Brian just wiggled his eyebrows at him.
“Back to the subject at hand, did you get her
last name.” Nick prodded.
“Yes damn it. I did.. So what?”
Nick got up and grabbed AJ’s laptop. Sitting back
down next to AJ he said,
“Let me show you something.” And chuckled.
* *
* * *
* * *
* *
Jill and Tessa had sworn to each other, that they
would never tell anyone about the that wonderful night, as much as for their
sakes as for the guys. Jill didn’t want anyone to know that Howie had
not even asked for her phone number. So she readily agreed to keep silent.
Besides, who would believe them?
Tessa was miserable. Her life was beautiful for one
night and then had gone back to be sucky. It had been weeks and all she could
do was think about AJ. She was lonely. Jill found a boyfriend and they were
together all the time, which was okay with Tessa. She really didn’t
want to be around anyone. So Tessa went on with her dreary life during the
day and dreaming about AJ at night.
That day had been a miserable day at work. Her boss,
Roy, was such a jerk. He was always coming on to her. He was disgusting.
She had to type his legal dictation and he would say dirty things to her
over the Dictaphone. If he it wasn’t for the weekly paychecks, she would
quit. But she couldn’t afford to start again somewhere else at the bottom
of the ladder. He was harmless enough, he was married, but he was annoying.
He wasn’t a very scrupulous lawyer, she knew that, but it was a job.
It paid the bills.
It was storming outside. It was black as pitch and
raining hard. She was just sitting down to a Healthy Choice dinner, yuck,
when the door bell rang. She looked through the peep hole and could not believe
her eyes. She opened the door and looked at a soaking wet AJ standing in
the rain with duffel bag in tow.
“How? How did you find me?”
“I Yahooed.” He said with a sheepish grin.
Tessa dove out the door and into his arms. They stood
in the pouring rain kissing.
