March 17 – 4 PM

“Ms. Kimball, you’re set to go in for surgery March 24th. It will be very procedural, and there’s no need to be alarmed. Just make sure you get those insurance waivers signed here today before you leave, and be back on the 24th at 7 AM. You’ll be out by noon, and the results will be back by the middle of April.”

Kara closed her eyes at the news.

March 21 – 3 PM

Brian and Nick tried to hold back laughs as they drew pictures on AJ’s face. AJ, asleep, was unaware of what was going on.

It was the 5th hour of a 8 hour trip to New York, and they were getting desperate with boredom. It had been Nick’s bright idea to have some fun with AJ, the time bomb.

Brian drew a huge flower on AJ’s forehead, while Nick put ‘freckles’ on AJ’s nose with a red marker.

Kevin watched them every now and then, rolling his eyes sometimes, laughing other times. When Nick and Brian were done, AJ had freckles, a flower, a smiley face, and the words ‘I Love Britney Spears’ covering his face.

Nick and Brian hurriedly ran back to their seats and pretended to be asleep, unable to stop looking at each other and laughing every five seconds.

“Y’all are gonna give yourselves away,” Kevin warned.

“Oh, he’ll only be mad for a little while,” Nick reasoned.

AJ stirred, and opened his eyes. Brian shoved his head underneath his pillow, and Nick hurriedly closed his eyes and pretended to be sleeping. AJ scratched his head and turned to Kevin.

“How much longer until we get to New York?” he asked.

“A few hours,” Kevin replied, smiling.

“What are you smiling about?” AJ asked.

“Nothing,” Kevin said. ‘He’s going to die the next time he looks in a mirror,’ Kevin thought to himself.

It was a Wednesday, and the schedule for the rest of the week went as follows. The next night, Thursday, would be the Madison Square Garden concert. The night after that, Friday, would be the party. Brian would be arriving late with Michelle, because the two would be attending the premiere of her movie first.

The guys had decided to hold the party at AJ’s uncle’s huge 3-story estate in uptown New York. AJ’s uncle was rich, and the house would be perfect for the party. All of their friends and even people who weren’t their friends had been invited.

“WHAT IN THE HELL????!!!!”

“I think AJ found a mirror,” Kevin said.

Brian and Nick both burst out laughing as a furious AJ approached them.

“You… you…” It seemed as if the words couldn’t come out.

“You’re gonna regret that,” AJ said, scrubbing his face with a wet dishtowel.

March 22 – 12 PM

“How did you find out about this party?” Irene asked, excitedly.

“Word gets around, especially with the fans on the Internet,” Mandy replied.

“We’ll never be able to get it,” Irene said.

“Yes we will,” Mandy reasoned. “I’ve been to AJ’s uncle’s house before with Nick, and the guard will remember me. He got my autograph last time I was there.”

‘You have a fan?’ Irene scoffed in her head.

“So it’ll be really easy to get in, OK? And there we can get to Howie and Nick. Perfect? I think so!”

“What about their girlfriends?” Irene asked.

“Eh… minor details will be taken care of once we get there,” Mandy said.

“Yea! This is going to be fun!” Irene said.

“I’ll do anything to get the man I love back,” Mandy declared. “And I know he loves me 4too… he’s just in denial.”

‘You’re the one in denial, psycho,’ Irene thought. Then she said, “Of course he is, honey. Once we’re married to Howie and Nick, though, you’ll never have to worry about him leaving you again.”

“I know,” Mandy said. “Now, let’s start making those plane reservations to New York, and then we can go shopping for what we’re going to wear to the party!”

March 23 – 5 PM

“That concert last night was so awesome!” Kayla said enthusiastically to Kevin.

“Yeah, I know. The atmosphere was incredible… You did a great job, as usual,” Kevin said.

“Why, thanks,” Kayla said, grabbing his elbow. “You’re so sweet.” She smiled up at him.

Kevin suddenly felt self-conscious. “Uh, I think I’m going to call Lynnsey now,” he said.

Kayla frowned. “OK, tell her I said ‘Hi’. And that I’m sorry she can’t make it tonight,” Kayla said.

“I will,” Kevin replied.

He went up to his hotel room and dialed Lynnsey’s dorm phone number.

“Hello?” a female voice answered.

“Lynnsey?”

“No, this is Jess. Lynnsey isn’t here right now. Is this Kevin?”

“Yeah. Jess, could you tell her I called?” he asked.

“Sure, I’ll do that.”

“Thanks.”

Kevin hung up his phone, and sighed. He had wanted to talk to her before he got busy getting ready for the party. It started in a few hours.

Back at the dorm…

“So he believed you?” Lynnsey asked.

“Yep.”

“I just didn’t want to have to lie to him. Thanks for doing it for me,” Lynnsey said.

“No problem,” Jess said. “I wish I could be there to see the look on his face when you show up at that party tonight.”

“It’ll be great. He says that I don’t understand, but I’m going to show him that I do.”

“Well, you better get going if you want to catch your plane,” Jess said.

The two girls hugged. “I’ll see you in two days,” Lynnsey said.

“Bye.”

Lynnsey happily left the campus and went to the airport. Kevin was going to be so surprised!

7 PM

Brian clutched Michelle’s hand as she led him down the red carpet. Cameras flashed, fans screamed; he was used to all of it, but not to the fact that most of the screaming was for his girlfriend and not him. He didn’t mind it though, it was Michelle’s night to shine, and boy, did she.

The premiere for In The Air was a huge event, due to the amount of stars in the movie. Not only Michelle and Joshua Jackson, but Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, and Sigourney Weaver. All of them Brian had met when he and AJ had visited the set of the movie.

Brian and Michelle went inside the theatre, and as the movie began, Brian recognized scenes that he had seen being filmed. It all reminded him of the day he had met Michelle. He stole a sideways glance at her, and saw her face glowing at what was on the screen. She was obviously extremely proud of the project. He sighed. He did love her, and he was going to tell her. Tonight, at the party. How she responded… he would just have to prepare for it.

Getting ready for the party…

“Thanks so much for letting us hold it here, Uncle Mike,” AJ said.

“You think I have a problem with letting a bunch of celebrities running around my place? No way,” Uncle Mike said.

“Well, the DJ’s setting up, the guard’s ready, and the food and beer is out. We’re ready,” Kevin said.

The doorbell rang, and Uncle Mike’s butler answered.

“We’re here!” a voice called. It was Kayla, the guys from BBMak, Claudia, and some other people that worked for the tour.

8:30 PM

About an hour later, many people had arrived. Foxy Brown, Christina Aguilera, Puff Daddy and Jennifer Lopez, Bryan McKnight, Westlife, Carson Daly, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and LFO to name a few.

Soon, over 150 people had arrived. Absent was Gretchen, Kara, and Lynnsey. Brian and Michelle had also not gotten there yet. The music blaring, and the main room in which the party was being held foggy due to cigarette smoke.

“We still have about 5 hours left before people are going to start to leave,” AJ informed his uncle.

10:00 PM

Howie and Kevin danced with random girls, but did not forget in the back of their heads about their girlfriends. Howie especially could not forget that Kara was going into surgery the next day.

“Hey, there’s Brian and Michelle!” Kevin shouted to Howie above the music.

They went over and greeted the two, and Brian motioned to Kevin that he needed to talk to him. Brian told Michelle that he would be right back, and led Kevin to a room down the hall away from the music.

“I’m going to tell Michelle something tonight, and I don’t know how,” Brian started.

In the party room…

“I can’t believe you got us in!” Irene said, happily.

Mandy shrugged, and started to look for Nick. Something else caught her eye.

“Why in the heck are they serving Coke here along with the beer?” she asked.

Irene shrugged. “I hate the goody-goodies that go to parties like this and drink non-alcoholic drinks.” She smiled, evilly, and reached into her coat pocket. “And I have this nice bottle of Vodka here, and it’s a shame that I’ll get to drink it all and not share it with the people who have to drink Coke…” Mandy’s mouth dropped open.

“You wouldn’t…”

“I would.” Irene made sure no one was looking, and it wasn’t easy to see anyway with the dimmed lights and smoke, and she opened every single 2-liter of Coke, pouring a generous amount of vodka into each bottle.

“Irene!” Mandy exclaimed. “That’s… wrong!”

“You have no spine, Mandy,” Irene said.

“Yes, I do. Look, there’s Nick. I’m going to go talk to him.”

Michelle took a sip of her Coke. It tasted kind of weird. She had been mingling with different people for a few minutes, and Brian still had not come back.

‘I guess I’ll just have to go find him,’ she thought, drinking the rest of the Coke from her cup.

She headed away from the party room and down a hall, not knowing where she was going. She had never been to this house before.

She heard Brian’s voice coming from a room further down, and kept on walking. As she put her hand on the doorknob, she heard:

‘I don’t know how to tell her, Kevin. I mean, there’s the whole Leighanne thing…” Michelle froze at the mention of Leighanne’s name.

“Well, you’ve got to tell her sooner or later. If you don’t, it’ll just build up inside of you. Explain to her about Leighanne as well,” Kevin said.

Michelle put her hand over her mouth to control the scream that she wanted to let out. She had been right. Brian wanted to break up with her and go back to Leighanne.

Michelle stumbled away from the door and back towards the party room. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Brian and Kevin’s conversation continues…

“So, I’m going to tell her I love her, and tell her that I am totally over Leighanne. I just want to be friends with Leighanne, and am glad that she’s been supportive of our friendship,” Brian concluded.

“Right,” Kevin said. “Now, I’m going to go get me some Coke. You go find Michelle.”

30 minutes earlier…

AJ searched for Jen. He had lost track of her when he had started dancing, and now he was getting worried. He felt kind of tipsy, having had one too many beers, but didn’t mistake what he was about to see.

He headed out onto the balcony, and looked over onto the backyard.

Jen was there, by the fountain, and someone was with her. Curtis.

All he saw was Curtis’s lips on his girlfriend’s.

AJ turned and went back inside, anger consuming him. He had been right. She still liked Curtis.

Back outside…

“Get off of me!” Jen exclaimed, pushing Curtis away.

Curtis was drunk. “You love me,” he said, slurring his words.

No, I don’t. I love AJ. You mean nothing to me,” Jen said angrily.

Inside…

AJ stumbled down one of the hallways, looking for the bathroom. The alcohol was taking over, and he had suddenly forgotten how to find it.

He opened the door to a room, and found that it wasn’t the bathroom. He was about to close the door and continue looking when he noticed a figure by the window.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“Me,” a teary voice said.

“Michelle?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, I’ll leave,” Michelle said. The last thing she wanted was to have an encounter with a drunken AJ after all that had gone on already with Brian.

“No…stay,” AJ said, his vision blurring for a minute. He forgot that he had no interest in this woman, that she was his friend’s girlfriend, that he still had a girlfriend, though he believed that she was cheating on him. All he could remember was that he needed some comfort, and that this woman here was beautiful.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, coming over to her.

“My entire life, that’s what’s wrong. You let someone in, you start to love them, and what do they do?” she asked. “Break your heart.”

“Exactly,” AJ said, falling onto a chair.

“See, you understand,” Michelle said. “I don’t like you, but you understand.”

“And I don’t like you,” AJ said. Michelle didn’t know what was coming over her. She hadn’t drank any alcohol, just Coke, but she felt drunk. All she knew was that she was hurt, and she wanted to make the hurt go away.

“Come s-s-see,” AJ said, slurring.

Michelle obeyed, walking over to him. She stood in front of him, and he pulled her on top of him.

“I don’t want to hurt anymore,” she whispered.

“This isn’t going to hurt at all,” AJ said back.

He kissed her on her lips, hard, and she winced. This wasn’t tender, it wasn’t loving. It wasn’t at all like Brian kissed her.

Brian.

The thought of him made Michelle unfreeze and start kissing back.

‘What am I doing?’ she asked herself. ‘I don’t like this guy.’

But yet, she let AJ’s hands run over her back, let them travel down to her hips, massage her thighs. His lips never left hers.

The Party Room…

“Have you seen Michelle?” Brian asked Howie, who was having a conversation with a girl he vaguely recognized. Irene or something.

“I think I saw her go looking for you that-a-way,” Howie pointed to a hallway.

“Thanks,” Brian said.

He had to tell her soon. He had to tell her how he felt.

What he felt when he opened the second bedroom door tore his heart up.

Michelle looked up from on top of AJ on the chair. AJ’s lips and hands all over his girlfriend.

“Michelle! What are you doing!??” he exclaimed.

“Brian…” Michelle said weakly.

AJ, still half-drunk, blinked a few times.

“I’m going to KILL you!!!” Brian screamed, charging at AJ. AJ held up his hands, and didn’t even see it coming when Brian punched him. AJ fell back on the floor, only partly because of the punch.

Brian turned to Michelle, his eyes filled with tears.

“How long has this been going on?”

“It hasn’t – .”

“How long have you two been lying to me? Was this all just a big lie? Were you two pretending to hate each other to hide it from me? What was it?”

“It wasn’t like that, Brian! I don’t even care about him! I care about you, I LOVE you, but you care about Leighanne. That’s why what just happened with AJ happened!”

“I DON’T care about Leighanne! I thought I loved you! Now I’m not so sure,” Brian said, turning away.

“Brian!”

Michelle grabbed his arm. He pulled away.

“It is one thing to cheat on me, Michelle. But it is quite another to cheat on me with one of my closest friends. I am never going to forgive you or him. So stay the hell away from me.”

“Brian, I love you,” she pleaded.

“It’s too little, too late, Michelle. Goodbye.”

Michelle collapsed onto the bed and sobbed.

Brian turned and walked away, out of the house, starting to drive back to the hotel.

AJ lay on the floor, confused and out of it.