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“Hey, AJ?”
AJ looked up from the random magizine he’d been flipping through, “Yeah?”
“I think we have a problem.” Realizing they had a lot more than just one problem, she corrected herself, “I mean, we have another problem.”
“Yeah...” AJ said, waiting for her to go on.
“I’m suppose to wear this,” she gestured to herself, “to dinner? It’s not exactly formal dining wear, it’s not even decent day wear. And,” Mandy blushed, “I don’t have anything else with me.”
AJ scanned the scruffed up jeans and rumpled long sleeved t-shirt which clung to her body. He hadn’t thought about clothing. Oops. The guys wouldn’t get a good impression if that was the first thing they saw her in. They could just run across the street and buy something... No. Stupid idea. They only would they be mobbed by fans, there just wasn’t enough time.
“Well, I guess you could....” AJ scratched his head, puzzeled.
“If it’s not a problem, we could just eat up here, and not worry about being formal,” Mandy suggested tentatively, not sure how he would respond to her idea. Dan, after all, would usually hit her when she talked as if she knew something.
“Great idea! I’ll just call all the guys and tell them that we’ll have pizza up here in my room. Of course, you’re still pretty scruffed up. Why don’t you take a shower, and I’ll lend you some of my clothes? That way it’ll just look like you’re dressing comfortably in baggy clothes.”
“Uh, okay.” Mandy headed over to the bathroom to freshen up.
After she had left, AJ picked up the phone and began calling the rest of the band. He called Nick last. Although his brother had been annoyed at the plan changes, he agreed, saying it was better than spending all that time alone with Mandy. Annoyed, AJ pointed out that he’d be spending a lot of time with her in the future, which prompted Nick to snap that he lived in the present and slam down the phone. By the time that was over, AJ noticed he couldn’t hear the shower anymore. He got up and gathered a pair of green flannel pajama bottomsand an Ohio State football hooded sweatshirt.
He was heading to the bathroom door when he heard a light knock and an “AJ? Do you have those clothes?”
“Yeah. I’ve got them right here.”
The door crept open and a small wet arm reached out, palm outstretched for the garments. AJ placed the clothes in her hand, trying not to picture what was obviously connected to that wet hand. “Take your time, we’ve got half an hour.”
Although she didn’t respond, AJ figured she had to have heard and retreated back to his magazine. Fifteen minutes later Mandy emerged. Her hair had been blow dry and pulled back in a ponytail. AJ hadn’t even heard the blow dryer, apparently he had been more interested in that article on Carson Daily than he thought. His pants weren’t that large on her; they were about the same height and although his sweatshirt was baggy, it didn’t look outrageously so. As she came closer, he smiled as he smelled his cologne on her.
“When are they going to be here?”
“I don’t know, ten minutes to half an hour. Depends if they decided to be late or early.”
“Okay.”
“And I ordered the pizza: one cheese, two pepperoni and one everything.”
“That’s a lot of pizza.”
AJ laughed. “Trust me, it’ll get eaten.”
Mandy sat down and turned on the tv. Every couple of seconds she would glance at the clock and door. AJ watched for awhile before speaking up, “Are you nervous?”
“Huh?” Mandy looked at him. “No, of course not.”
AJ grinned. “Yes, you are.”
Mandy frowned. “I am not. Shh, I’m trying to watch this.”
“Oh come on, you were not really watching tv. You were worrying about meeting everyone.”
“I was not worrying. I was contemplating how the conversation would go.”
“Oh really?” AJ asked with a smile. “And what did you come up with?”
“That they are going to be suspicious.”
“Of what?"
“The whole cousin story.”
“Oh. Actually we were planning on tell the guys the truth.”
“You were? Were you planning on telling me this?”
“Yeah, I forgot. Sorry.”
Mandy glared at AJ. “It would have sounded a bit stupid if I introduced myself as Nick’s cousin when you were planning on informing them that I’m not.“After the words had left her mouth, she winced. Although AJ seemed nothing like Dan, she couldn’t help imagining what Dan’s reaction would have been to her disagreeable reply. It would have been no where near AJ’s, which was a: “I know, I know. I’m sorry, okay?”
“It doesn’t matter. Who are the guys I’m meeting? I don’t want to sound stupid by not knowing who is who.”
“Good question. You already know that there are three others besides me and Nick. Nick is the youngest, then me. Brian is the middle child at twenty-six.He’s on the short side with slightly curly blonde hair. He jokes around a lot and is pretty close with Nick. Well, we’re all close with each other, but him and Nick are really close. Howie is second to oldest. He looks Latin and has curly brown hair. Of course, it won’t look curly because for some demented reason he straightens it. He’s a retard. And the daddy of this little group is Kevin. He’s as tall as Nick with really dark features. He’s the one who holds the band together, a real stickler for details. But he can be a dick, so watch out.”
“That’s everyone?”
“Yup. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me, they’re all really nice.”
“You said Kevin was a dick.”
“Can be a dick, but a nice one.”
“Okay,” Mandy agreed right before someone knocked on the door. Her eyes widened and she smoothed her hair. This was it.
AJ opened the door, and in walked Nick.
Mandy rolled her eyes and slouched back into the couch.
Nick cocked an eyebrow at her reaction to him and asked, “What’s her problem?”
“Don’t worry about it. She’s stressing over meeting everyone.”
“I’m not stressing. God. I just want to make a good first impression, okay?” Mandy sighed in exasperation, turning the volumn up with the channel changer.
Nick watched her amused. She was stressing. If he wasn’t so annoyed with the whole situation, he might have found it cute. Instead, he chose to annoy her by plopping down beside her and throwing an arm around her shoulder, and said, “I’ll make sure the big bad bandmates don’t eat you.”
Disgusted, Mandy shurgged out of his embrace. She was about to call him some unfriendly names before she caught herself, realizing it probably wasn’t a good idea to insult the people who were, in theory, helping her. However, AJ didn’t have to worry about that, and didn’t mind telling off his friend.
“Nick, stop being an ass. Go do something useful, like getting some plates from the kitchen.”
Grumbling, Nick got up and headed towards the kitchen.
There was another knock at the door, and this time, instead of waiting for someone to answer, the door burst open and three nosy men filed in.
“No, I don’t know what’s going on. I told you that already!”
“Are you sure? Because usually it seems like--“
“No, no, no! Nick didn’t tell me anything. Why don’t you harass Howie? AJ tells him everything too,” the short blonde told a much taller man.
“What? Don’t bring me into this,” a dark-skinned man protested.
“I... oh. Hi Jay.”
“Hey guys. The pizza should be here any second. Why don’t you all sit down and I’ll introduce you?
New Beginnings