"Dammit," she grumbled as she walked back in and picked it up. "Hello?"
"You'd have to speed like a demon, but okay."
He started laughing, "Cool. Kay...guess I'll let you go to work. Bye sweetie."
"Bye," she said hanging up the phone. Shaking her head, she left for work. When she got there, the mall was dead. There was only about 20 people wandering around. Sighing, she walked in the store. "Hey Cyndie," she said to the girl sitting at the bench working on a watch.
"Hey Lesh. Some guy called here looking for you."
"Yeah. He called me at home." Alesha again looked at the lack of people in the mall, "Has it been like this all day?"
Cyndie glanced up and around, "Yeah...for the most part. I've been kinda steady, although I'm not as fast as you or Jim. Ya'll probably would've been bored out of your minds," she said laughing.
Alesha grinned, "So, you gonna stay until Jim gets in, or are you gonna leave?"
"I thought I'd stay. If that's okay," she said.
"Not a problem. Will give me a chance to catch up on some paperwork."
So Alesha went about her business with her paperwork, helping the occasional customer that Cyndie didn't quite get to. At about 1:50 a familiar voice said softly, "Hey Lesh."
Turning around with a smile Alesha said, "Nick! What did you do fly?"
"Well, I thought about it...but I didn't want my arms to get too tired," he grinned.
Shaking her head at that stupid joke, she said, "Nick, I'd like you to meet Cyndie. She is my excellent part-timer that would have mine or Jim's job if we weren't here."
Cyndie looked up and her eyes grew wide, "You're..you're...oh my gawd..."
Laughing, Alesha said, "Yes. It's Nick Carter. Wow. Didn't think you'd pass out."
Getting control of herself, yet still very nervous Cyndie said, "Umm...hi. Nice to meet you."
Nick smiled, "Pleasure to meet you too. I'm sure you have a helluva time keeping her," he pointed at Alesha, "in line."
Cyndie smiled, "Ummm...sure. She's a terrible trouble maker."
Alesha laughed, "Whatever. You ready?"
Nick nodded, "Yup."
Alesha looked at Cyndie, "Jim should be here any minute. You can leave whenever he gets in. Kay?"
"No problem. Talk to you later."
Alesha walked out of the store and looked at Nick, "Do you mind if we drop my car off at my apartment? I don't really want to leave it here."
"No, not a problem," he said with a smile. "Obviously, I'll have to follow you. I have no clue where you live."
"Where are you parked at?" she asked.
"Ummm...in back."
"Me too. Cool."
So they went out the back doors and got in their cars. Nick followed Alesha to her apartment. Getting out of her car she looked at him, "I'm gonna change into something a little more comfortable. You can come inside if you want. Just be prepared for a cat attack. She's not very friendly to strangers. She really doesn't like most people. Especially guys."
He nodded and they went inside. Shiloah wasn't anywhere to be seen. He sat down on the couch and Alesha went into her bedroom to change. When she came back out, he was looking at the mural Shiloah had broken and was talking to her like she was a real person. She was curled up next to him purring away.
"What did you do to my cat?" she asked laughing.
"Nothing. She just jumped up here and snuggled up to me. I have no clue," he said looking at Shiloah. Pointing at the mural, "Did you do that?"
"Yeah. Was bored one day," Alesha shrugged. "Another wacky hobby of mine." The mural was a comic strip of the Backstreet Boys. It was an ongoing story in black and white that she had drawn, inked, and written herself.
"Impressive. You should publish this," he said smiling.
Alesha looked at him like he was crazy, "First of all, you are one of the few people to have actually seen this. Second of all, I don't have ya'lls permission to publish it."
He laughed, "True. Anyway, what do you want to do?"
Alesha shrugged, "Thought you had the plan."
He looked at her, "Does it matter to you what we do?"
She shook her head, "Nope. I just don't want to be bored. And I have to be to work at 1:30 tomorrow...so some sleep tonight is all I ask for. Other than that...no preferences."
He grinned, "Kay. Well, AJ is throwing a party over at Kissimmee...didn't know if you'd want to go or not."
Alesha looked up at him, suddenly very nervous, "AJ? AJ from the Backstreet Boys AJ? Anyone else gonna be there?"
"Skill," he said grinning and shaking his head. "Yeah...Howie and Kev I think. Brian's with Leighanne somewhere," he grumbled that part.
"AJ, Kevin and....Howie?" she asked.
"How is that you can hang out and talk to me no problem, but I mention D or the other guys and you just about fall apart?" he asked smiling.
She shrugged, "I'm not falling apart. And besides, I met you under different circumstances. Plus the fact that, please don't take offense to this, but I think that Howie is the most beautiful and perfect male in all the world."
Nick started laughing, "Howie? Perfect? Hahaha." He shook his head, "Nah, Howie is a pretty cool guy. Very sweet. Hence the "Sweet D". So, he's your favorite, huh?" Nick pouted a little. "And here, I thought I was. Sigh."
"Didn't we have this conversation before?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I thought maybe you had changed your mind," he said grinning.
"Whatever. C'mon you."
Pulling out of the apartment complex, Nick turned on the CD player. Metallica started blasting through the speakers.
o~/Hey/I'm your life/I'm the one who takes you there/Hey/I'm your life/I'm the one who cares/They/They betray/I'm your only true friend now/They/They'll betray/I'm forever there/I'm your dream/Make you real/I'm your eyes/When you must steal/I'm your pain/When you can't feel/Sad but true/~o
He glanced over at Alesha. "You okay? If you don't like this, we can put something back in."
She had been staring out of the window, but at the sound of his voice, she turned and smiled at him, "I'm okay. Just listening. This is one of my favorite songs. I love Metallica. One of my favorite groups."
He grinned at her and said, "Chalk that up as another similarity."
She smiled and looked back out the window. She was soon lost in her thoughts again. "What is it about him that makes me forget who he is, who I am, and where we are?" she asked herself silently. "Of course there is the physical attraction. GAWD! He's gorgeous. But there is something else..." And that is what was bothering her. There was something about her relationship with him that scared her. Not because she thought it was a bad thing, but because she couldn't identify it. The fact that she thought about him all the time, and was worried about him right now concerning his friend Emily...the fact that she already regarded him as one of her closest friends, a select group of people that she would do anything in the world for...this all bothered her a little bit.
"Hey," Nick said, touching her arm. "You sure you're okay? We don't have to go if you don't want to. I didn't even think that it might bother you to meet the guys. You seem so relaxed and stuff around me."
"What? Oh, no, I wasn't even thinking about them," she smiled. "Yeah, I'm a little nervous about meeting them. But not because of who they are. I'm over that part. I always get nervous when I meet new people. I was just in my own world. Sorry."
"It's okay. I was just a little worried. So, what WERE you thinking about?"
"Oh, just how crazy life is," she said smiling at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Just how things turn out completely different from what you expect. I mean, last week, I woke up completely infatuated with Howie. He was my "obsession" for lack of a better term. I go to work, look up and there you are at my counter buying a battery from me. I go home that day, and there is an email from you. Then we start talking and stuff, and now I'm hanging out with you like we're old friends. I'm getting ready to meet Howie, who by the way, I'm still completely infatuated with," she said grinning. "But I'm not even thinking about that, or as excited by the idea as I thought I would be the day it happened, if it ever did."
He smiled softly, "It's that whole connection thing I told you about." Shrugging he said, "Besides, Howie's single right now...who knows what might happen. We might just have to hook you two up." He flashed his mischievous grin at her.
Alesha started laughing, "Nick Carter. You just keep your nose out of this business. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't then it doesn't. No trying to force it to happen. That's unfair and breaking the rules and someone ALWAYS ends up hurt."
"I wouldn't be forcing it...just giving it a push in the right direction," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. She could tell this was going to be an interesting night...one not to be forgotten any time soon. The events of tonite were probably going to have a major impact on the rest of her life. And she wasn't REAL sure if she was prepared for that...
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