She stretched lazily, waking up slowly. She felt renewed, like she had slept for three weeks straight. She opened her eyes slowly… and froze. The events of the previous night suddenly hit her and she was looking into a pair of blue eyes.

"Uh-oh," she whispered. The face before her cringed as he heard her remark.

"I thought you might say that, Lily. So what happens now?"

"Good question. I'll write when I have an answer." A moment of silence followed.

"So, you're just going to leave it at that?"

"Why not? Seems safe."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" he asked her. She sat up, and noticed to her relief that she was wearing a T-shirt and that Nick was fully dressed, and avoided meeting his eyes.

"I don't know what I mean right now. Talk about inopportune timing…State of confusion, catching the drift?" she asked. Nick sighed, irritated that she decided to use this moment to be cryptic.

"Oh yeah, you've made it painfully obvious what the hell you mean. Look, I'll go. I'll see you later," he said abruptly, and stormed out of the room. Lilia sighed in frustration, and she fell back on the pillows, feeling used and discarded.

* * * *

Nick stormed down the hall, breezing past Howie.

"Nick, where you headed?" he called after the retreating form.

"Nowhere," Nick barked back, opening the door to his room and slamming it shut.

"What's his problem?" Howie asked baffled, directing his question to Brian who was beside him.

"I'll give you three guesses, but you'll only need one. I have a feeling it's about a certain someone he's been obsessing over since she showed up," Brian answered, revealing the unspoken truth that all of the Boys had known (except for AJ who was living in denial).

"Given that display of temper, it's gotta be female. Wonder what happened," Howie answered.

"Who knows? We'll find out soon enough," Brian said, unconcerned.

"Hey, wasn't he wearing that yesterday?" Howie asked, as Brian rolled his eyes and pulled him down the hall.

Nick paced around his room, frustration and anger making it hard for him to sit still. The T.V. was still on the same channel that he had left it on the night before.

The night before. Nick sighed as he thought about it. It had been an experience, to say the least. The more that he had discovered about Lilia, the more he was intrigued by her, and it was safe to say that last night's "experience" had meant more to him than it obviously had to her. In truth, she could astound and annoy him in the same second. She had an affect on him; she challenged him unlike anyone else did.

He was surrounded by so many people who let him get away with anything he wanted to, just because of who he was. A prime example was the hotel manager the day before, over looking their misdemeanours because of his status. But Lilia wouldn't let him get away with anything, and it was wonderful. He didn't doubt, for a second, that she really wanted to know him, not just his celebrity half, but all of him. He knew that she wasn't like a lot of other girls, interested in only one thing.

But then why did he feel like he had just been used?

* * * *

AJ set down his overnight bag in the lobby. It had been a long night, and he was exhausted. And he felt a great weight on his shoulders as he knew that this was the day that he promised that he would talk to Lilia.

And he knew what he was going to say. He had known what he was going to say before he even left, but he didn't really want to admit it to himself. He was rewording in his head what he had spent the entire flight preparing to say, and he walked into the lobby, and it all flew out of his head when he saw her walking towards him.

"Hey, AJ. I heard that you were back. How was your trip?" she asked brightly, trying to disguise her apprehension. She had been tossing and turning around in her head, trying to figure out how to express in words what she wanted to say.

"Tiring," was his blunt reply.

"Really? Isn't the point of going away to get rest?"

"Lilia, I really need to talk to you. About my 'trip', as you call it, although I'd hardly call it that, even though it involved a plane ride and baggage and all that good stuff, but it doesn't really qualify as a trip because I was only gone for one night and it wasn't…"

"AJ you're rambling."

"Sorry. But…we need to talk. Sooner rather than later, so I can just get this over with. It's been hanging over my head since before I left," he explained.

"Well, I'm all ears. But, that my friend, is the problem, considering that I'm not the only one. Why don't we go upstairs, privacy. Good concept?" she said, turning around before he could even answer, and marched off towards the elevator.

They reached the floor where her hotel room was and entered in absolute silence. She opened the door, let them both in, and they sat down across from each other on the twin beds.

"So…"

"So. Well, about this trip of mine. I had to see someone because what happened between us…" he paused for a second, debating how to word that.

"AJ, about that…That was a mistake. A huge one," she rushed in.

"Lilia, I-"

"No, let me finish. You just have to understand that I sang. I hadn't done that in…longer than I care to remember. But it was like finding myself all over again, and it was a moment that was so…exhilarating and joyful. I was feeling alive for the first time in forever and when I saw you, I just decided to…well, I wasn't thinking straight, which is why I went for you. But I knew it was just an impulse, nothing more," she said, biting her lip and waiting to gauge his reaction.

"So you felt nothing? That's great! Because, Lilia, I have to be honest when I say that I didn't, either. Except the feeling that I was kissing a little sister, and let me tell you, incest ain't my thing," he said.

"That is such a relief!" she breathed.

"I know. But it made me realise…well, I had just broken up with my girlfriend and I guess I was on the rebound. But I realised that I can't rebound from her, because there is still love there, we just let trivial things get in the way, and I decided that I was going to camp outside her door until she heard me out and we made everything cool again," he explained. She beamed.

"And?"

"It worked. She's going to wrap up some stuff with work, but then she's going to tour with us for awhile, so we can spend time together, to get to know each other all over again," he said.

"That is wonderful AJ. I just hope that we won't be awkward around each other at all, because that's just too weird. You're a good friend and I totally appreciate everything you've done," she gushed. AJ was a little embarrassed, and chose to be modest.

"Lilia, all I did was listen to you once in awhile," he said.

"AJ, you gave me back music. I can never thank you enough for that," she said sincerely. AJ frowned in confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about, Lilia?" he asked.

"Setting up everything at the arena, asking Paul to write that note asking me to meet him there early, and having the tape and everything set up. That was you, I know it was," she explained.

"Uh…no, Lilia. It wasn't me," he said. Lilia was surprised. She was so sure that it was him. But he continued.

"That was Nick," he finished.