~Chapter 5~ "Are you guys done playing kissy face in there?  We wanna eat!"  Nick said from behind the door. "Yeah."  I said.  We walked to the door and opened it to find everyone standing there. "Ok were you guys out here the whole time?"  A.J. asked. "Well....no."  Howie said.  Everyone else looked away with little grins. "Yeah....right."  I said. "Well let's get some food.  I couldn't touch that plane food.  It looked pretty bad."  Vinessa said. "Yeah same here."  said Leighann. We all walked to the elevator and got into one.  When we got down stairs we went out side.  We had decided to go to a small restaurant so the guys wouldn't get noticed as easy.  It was pretty close to the hotel so we decided to walk. "Here it is."  Kevin said pointing to a little brick building.  It was old but in really good shape.  We walked in and saw that there weren't too many people there.  We sat at a big table in the back. "So how was your trip here?"  Howie asked when we all sat down. "Ok.....but it got really annoying cause we couldn't move around much."  Leighann said. "Yeah now you know how we feel."  Nick said.  "Hey Brenda, you ok?  You look like you're gonna fall asleep."  A.J. said. "Yeah.....I didn't get much sleep."  I said.  I had just begun to realize how tired I really was.  While we ate I was awake because I was actually doing something but after that I started to doze but then Vinessa kicked me to wake me up. "Brenda we must be really boring you huh?"  Brian said laughing a little bit. "Oh yeah."  I said. "Ummm.....I'll be right back."  A.J. said and got up and walked out side. "What was that all about?"  Nick said. "Don't know."  I said putting my head back onto the table. "Well at least you didn't fall asleep in your food."  Leighann said.  I didn't move.  "Well you are loads of fun tonight!" "I'm sorry I'm just really tired."  I said with me head still on the table.  A few minutes passed by with me still half asleep and everyone else talking about the past few months, what they all did and everything. "Hey where is Bone anyway?"  Howie asked looking around. "I'll go look for him."  I said getting up. "She lives!!!!!"  Brian said looking amazed. I ignored his comment and walked outside.  Maybe I shouldn't have been the one to go look for him.  What I saw was something that I never thought I would see again.  The sight of A.J. kissing that tamp Karen. ~Chapter 6~ "OK who are you and why do you keep following us?"  Karen asked annoyed. A.J. turned around fast and saw me standing there.  I wasn't crying this time.  I was too mad to cry. "Karen this is my real girlfriend Brenda, I've already told you who she was before..........Now.......Will you please leave me alone?"  A.J. said turning back to face her. "A.J. give it up.  You ass hole!  I trusted you!  So did you get the guys to stand up for you?  I can not believe this!"  I took my ring off again and threw it at him.  It hit the ground right in front of his foot.  I stormed off back into the restaurant.  "I'm going back to the hotel.  I'm going to go home tomorrow."  Before anyone could say anything I walked back out side.  When I got out there A.J. came running after me. "Brenda.....just listen to me."  he begged. "No!  I don't want to talk to you.  I don't ever want to see you again.  You could have told me you know.  It would have been better than to come all the way here to find out for myself!"  I started running.  He ran after me.  It had gotten dark out.  It was kind of hard to tell what hotel we were in.  All I knew was that I needed to cross the street.  But the street was really busy.  I didn't want to stop running because I knew A.J. was still right behind me.  I decided to just run across the street when I thought it was safe.  I turned and started running across. "Brenda!  Look out!"  A.J. yelled.  I saw bright head lights coming right at me, and I hit the ground hard. ~Chapter 7~ I got up to find that I wasn't hurt at all.  Except for my arm when I fell on it.  I heard groaning from behind me. "Oh my god A.J.!"  I ran to his side. "I pushed you out of the way.........Karen doesn't mean anything to me."  A.J. choked out. "Please believe me..."  And with that he he was gone.  Not dead.  Just unconcious. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't see you!!!"  Said a young man getting out of his car.  He looked to be in his early 20's. "Get help!"  I yelled.  Tears started streaming down my face. "I already did!"  Yelled a man from accros the street.  "They should be here soon." I nodded and turned my atention back to A.J. "This is all my fault."  I said softly. "A.J.!  Oh my god is he ok?"  Karen asked running to us. "No he's not!  Will you please go away?!"  I said glaring at her. "No I don't think so girly."  she replyed. An amblulance pulled up next to us.  They put A.J. in a stretcher and put him inside.  They let Karen and I come with them.  I cried the whole way there. "I'm sorry but you two are going to have to wait in the waiting room."  Said one of the EMT's when we got into the hospital.  Karen and I went into the waiting room and sat in oposite ends of the room.  I couldn't think straight.  ~I have to call the guys~  I thought.  I got up and went to the pay phone.  I called Howie and Vinessa's room.  It was the only room number I could remember. Howie picked up the phone.  "Hello?" "Howie."  I said crying again. "Yeah?  Brenda?  What's wrong?"  There was a long silence. "Brenda are you there?  What happened?" "A.J."  I managed to choke out. "Oh my god what happened?  Is ok?  Did you get into another fight?"  He asked. "He...He got hit by a car........It looked pretty bad.....I don't think he will be ok." ~Chapter 8~ "I'll be right there."  Howie said and hung up the phone.  I walked back into the waiting room and sat down.  I didn't have to call everyone else.  I knew Howie would tell them. "Well.....Brenda.....You're A.J.'s girlfriend." "Yeah I guess."  I said looking up at her.  She didn't look too upset.  "Well he must really love you.  The way he kept pushing me away.  I didn't really think he had a girlfriend.  I was wrong.  You win.  He's all yours."  She got up and started to walk away. I jumped up.  "You bitch!  How can you act like nothing happened?  A.J. is in bad shape and you are acting like nothing happened!" "Well we don't really know that he's in bad shape now do we?  A.J.'s a strong boy he'll make it." She gave me a half smile and turned and walked away. ~I'm such an idiot!  This is all me fault!  If only I had just listened to him.  If only I didn't walk out the door of the restaurant then.  If only I had waited a few more minutes.  He would still be ok.~  I began to think of all that happened that day.  Too much for one day.  I sat back down and I noticed all the blood on my hands.  I didn't even notice all the blood that surrounded his body.  That covered his face.  I didn't notice anything except the fact that he was hit by a car.  I went into the bathroom and washed it all off.  I looked in the mirror.  The person I was staring at looked nothing like me.  I had blood shot eyes, my hair was all messed up, I just looked like crap.  I walked back to the waiting room to find everyone standing there.  They all looked scared. "Hey guys."  I said. "Oh my god.  What happened?"  Brian said.  "I saw A.J. kissing Karen again....and I ran across the street.....A car came and he pushed me out of the way and he got hit."  I was crying really hard now.  Brian pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me.  Just then a doctor came into the room. "Are you all here about A.J.?"  He asked. "Yes."  Kevin said.  "Is he going to be ok?" "It would be good if you all went to see him now.....I'm sorry......I don't think he is going to make it through the night." We all started crying.  I was crying the hardest. "It's all my fault."  I kept repeating. "I can....show you his room.....if you'd like."  Said the doctor. We all followed him to intensive care. "We don't usually let so many people come in here........But this may be the only chance you get to see him again.....There's his room."  He said pointing to the closes door to us. When we walked in, we saw him laying in the bed with many different things hooked up to him.  I walked over to him and took his hand.  Everyone else gathered around him. "Hey A.J."  Nick said.  "How's it goin?"  There was no reply.  We all we talking to him as though he were awake.  Suddenly his her fluttered opened.  Everyone sighed in relief. "Hey."  I said. "Hey."  He said very faintly.  "Karen....." "I know.  I talked to her."  I said. "Good.  Hey guys......why such......sad faces?"  He asked.  Everyone looked away.  We all knew he wasn't going to make it.  Even he knew it  He was in really bad shape.  He had a concussion, a spinal cord injury, along with many other things.  Even if he did survive, he would be paralyzed. "I love...all you guys."  He said.  It was really hard to hear him now.  We knew he was slipping away.  We all cried a little more. "Aww....Don't cry....over me.......I'll be fine."  There was a long pause.  "Brenda....I just wanted to let......you know........that.......I have....an engagement ring..........for you...........it's in my pocket.......would u have?" "Of course A.J." A faint smile appeared on his face.  "I love you."  He said. "I love you too.  Always." And then he was gone. ~Epilogue~ ~One week later back in Orlando~ "I miss you so much A.J."  I said while putting flowers on his grave.  I read his tombstone.  It read: Here lies Alexander James McLean He brought so much music to our hearts May he always be remembered. "I miss you too Brenda." ~No!  It can't be~  I turned around and saw A.J. standing there. "No way...You're...." "Dead?  Yeah I am.  I couldn't just let you see me last with all the crap stuck to me.  Well alive anyway.  Funerals don't count.  So you would have said yes?"  A.J. said. I looked at the ring that I had on.  It was the engagement ring.  "Yes of course!" "That's really nice to know.  I've had that for a long time.  I just never actually saw you to ask you.  When you came here I was going to ask you then.....But God chose a different path for me....For both of us."  he said. "How am I going to live without you?" "You have to get on with you life Brenda.  It's not your fault I died.  And I know that's what you think.  I jumped in front of that car to save you.  I'm sure you would have done the same for me." "Yeah I would have." "I'm happy I died for a good reason.  I have to get going now." "I love you A.J." "I'll be waiting for you."  He said.  "Then we can be together forever."  He turned around and disappeared.  But I heard three faint words.  "I love you." "Hey Brenda!  You ready to go?" Nick called out running over to me. "Yeah."  He gave me a hug. "I'm gonna miss him a lot too."  As we walked away from A.J.'s grave all I could ask myself was if he was really there or not. "I know what you're thinking."  Nick said.  "I saw him too."  He put his arm around my shoulder and we walked to his car in silence. The End Chapters prologue-4 Back to Fanfic Back to Main Page