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“Mandy.” He waited. When she made no response he sighed and continued. “I don’t really know what to say, but I’m going to do the best I can. Bear with me here. Okay?” He ran his fingers through his hair then grimaced at the nervous gesture. “First of all, no one here is going to hurt you. I promise you that. I can understand why you’re scared, and want to leave. But think. Do you really want to go back to where you came from? To your boyfriend? AJ emphased the last word, not sure if he had guessed correctly about the abuse. Mandy’s sudden but small jerk told him he had.
“I’ll take that for a no. I’m giving, excuse me, we’re giving you a chance to leave all that behind. Why don’t you want to take it?”
Sensing she had to say something, Mandy said, “And what chance is that?” her voice soft but full of anger. “To follow you and your dipstick friend around? No thanks. My life might be crummy, but it’s my own.”
“Is it?” AJ asked gently.
“Of course. It’s...” Mandy trailed off. Was it? Had it ever been?
“Dan, I’m going shopping. I’ll be back in time to make dinner.” She had just
opened the door when a hard hand clasped around her wrist. It was the
only warning before his hand came flying at her face.
“You don’t tell me. You ask me.” Dan looked down on her with contempt.
“Besides, we’re all meeting here tonight. The whole gang. You need to go
fix up something good. You don’t have time for your shopping.”
“Anyway,” AJ said, returning to her question, “Nick and I have a job opportunity for you. It’ll take you away from this town. What do you say?
“I, I don’t know.”
“Good!” AJ jumped up suddenly, startling Mandy. “If you don’t know, all we have to do is convince you. But I gotta call Nick in here first, cuz we have a lot of explaining to do.” He picked up the hotel phone a pushed a few digits. After one ring Nick picked it up, snapped, “I’m coming,” and hung up. AJ shrugged and sat down in a chair near Mandy.
“Why?” Mandy asked after he had settled himself. “Why are you doing this?” Her voice was full of honest confusion.
“Well,” AJ paused, not sure how to answer. “Partly because I hate to see people in bad situations. Especially when I think I can help. There’s also the fact that you’re a minor and female. Two things that make it hard to survive alone.”
It was then that Nick burst into the room, cutting off anything else AJ might have said.
“Okay, I’m here."
“We noticed,” AJ said dryly. “Maybe next time you could try to be a bit louder.”
Nick frowned at him and threw himself onto the couch, opposite of Mandy. “Have you told her yet?”
“Not really. I was hoping you could help.”
“Call me in do to the dirty work, huh?”
“I wouldn’t...”
Nick cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Just playing.” He paused, “So you haven’t told her anything?”
“Only that we’re offering her a job.”
“Okay.” Nick turned his focus to Mandy, deciding to take charge of this situation. “Well, AJ and I are in a band, with three other guys. Lately we’ve been really busy and showing up late or missing gigs. As a band, we decided that we need someone who’s in charge of our schedule. You know, making sure we’re where we need to be when we need to be there.”
AJ picked up where Nick left off, “And Nicky-boy here had a chat with me, and we thought that it would be perfect if you were that person. See, that way you’d be able to get away from here and whatever trouble you’re in, while still being safely secure. You’ll be making a paycheck, and traveling constantly.”
Nick, who had frowned at AJ’s play on his name, said, “And after all, there really is no reason to say no.”
Mandy’s eyes had darted between the two as they spoke, and now, sensing it was her turn, she inquired, “But, how do you know I’m qualified?”
AJ grinned. “That’s the best part. We just wrote the job description so we know everything you’re required to do, and can help you out. Not to mention, I’m sure anyone with slight organization skills will be fine.”
“Uh, it doesn’t sound like this is a very, necessary job.”
Nick shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I mean, AJ wants you to come with us, and this way you’ll actually be some help. Scheduling isn’t difficult, it’s just that we have so many other things to think about, we forget. Actually, more often then not, we don’t even know about the plans, and someone else forgets.”
Mandy licked her lips. This was a big decision. Nick was right, she didn’t really have a reason to say no, and just the fact that it would take her out of town should prompted her to say yes. But it felt like she was missing something important. “How can you afford to pay me? I mean, most bands barely scrape by. You know, the whole ‘starving artist’ thing.”
AJ shifted in his chair and looked at Nick, who was pretending he hadn’t heard the question, which forced AJ to answer. “Well, our band is pretty well off.”
Raising an eyebrow when he didn’t expand, she pushed a little farther, “How well off?”
“Well off enough that we can pay for you traveling expenses on top of your paycheck. You have nothing to worry about.”
Mandy rolled her eyes, they weren’t getting it. “I’m not worried about being paid. I’m wondering about what I’m about to get myself into. This is all just a bit odd. Being taken to your hotel room drunk, dragged back here by him,” she jerked a thumb in Nick’s direction, “practically kept captive in your hotel room, and then offered a job? How unrealistic is that?”
Nick, who personally agreed with her, shrugged at AJ and acknowledged, “She’s got a point Jay.”
“I would think,” Mandy persisted, “That most people wouldn’t want to go through the hassle. For God’s sake, you kept me from climbing down a balcony and made sure I didn’t sneek away. Wasn’t that a lot of wasted effort? I think I’m missing something here.”
“I told you before why I was doing it. That hasn’t changed. If you’re nervous about the band thing, don’t be.”
“Easier said than done. What is your band, by the way?”
“The Backstreet Boys. Ever heard of us?”
Mandy ran the name through her head. “Nope, I don’t think so.” Not that Dan let her listen to music, she mentally added.
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t matter.”
“So you agree to take the job?” Nick asked, jumping back into the conversation.
“I thought you didn’t like me,” she directed at Nick.
“Yeah, well, you don’t seem too fond of me either." That, Mandy figured, was spoken by a man skilled at avoiding questions. But he was right.
“So you’ll take the job?” AJ asked again.
“I guess,” Mandy said slowly.
AJ’s face broke out in a wide smile. “Great!”
Nick, however, didn’t seem as thrilled and decided to remind them of one small detail. “There is one other thing.”
“What?” Mandy asked suspiciously.
AJ felt his face fall as he remembered. “Uh. Well you see, we had to explain how we knew you, and if we told our managers that we just found you on the street, they’d never agree to hiring you. And even if they did, they’d do all kinds of background checks and research your resume. So we, umm, told everyone that you were Nick’s cousin. Not a biggie,” he added, hoping that she wouldn’t mind much. “Now they won’t worry about looking into your life history and qualifications.”
Mandy stared at AJ, then slowly turned toward Nick, who gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. “Him?” She managed to choke.
“Yeah, you look more like him than you do me,” AJ supplied, still waiting for her reaction.
Mandy kept her eyes on Nick. He was much taller and more built than she was. Besides their blonde hair, they looked nothing alike.
“Besides, cousins don’t always look that much alike,” AJ pointed out helpfully,as if reading her thoughts.
Her eyes traveled until they reached Nick’s face. He couldn’t be that much older than her, according to the slight pout in his rosy lips. “How old are you, Nick?”
Nick, feeling slightly uncomforable under her gaze, replied,“Twenty-one.”
That’s only four years older, Mandy thought. Realizing she didn’t know how old AJ was she asked him the same question. Twenty-three. Six years. Three years younger than Dan. Not that it mattered, Mandy told herself.
“So, he is my cousin,” she said flatly. “Any other surprises?”
AJ flinched at the tone in her voice. “Just one more. To prevent, complications, you’re going to be sharing a room with him.”
She shook her head back and forth.
“Mandy, you have to. At least for awhile. It’ll make things a lot easier.”
“No.”
“Mandy, am I really that bad?” Nick said, “The rooms we stay in are huge. It’s not like we’ll be sharing a bed. Come on, I’ll make sure we’ll have an adjoining room with AJ.”
Mandy paused. Why did that make a difference? She didn’t know AJ any better than Nick. Then again, maybe she was making too big a deal out of this.
She sighed. “Fine. Happy?”
AJ let out a crooked grin. “Now all we have to do is introduce you to the rest of the band. We’re planning on doing that tonight at dinner, if that’s okay withyou.”
Mandy shrugged, “I don’t think I have a choice.”
“Sure you do,” AJ said.
“Whatever.”
“So anyway, I thought it would be best if Nick went down first and...”
“Nuh-uh,” Nick interrupted, “You’re explaining this to ‘em. Not me.”
Not wanting to get into an argument in front of Mandy, AJ agreed. “Okay. I guess I’ll go down first then. I’ll head downin forty-five minutes, and ten minutes later you and Nick can come down and meet everyone. That cool?” When no one objected, AJ checked his watch. “Well then, Nick’ll be back in about an hour to escort you to dinner.”
New Beginnings