"This is Alexandra." Xanda said into the phone. "Hey, girl!" AJ greeted. "Hey AJ...what's up?" She questioned. "Nothing. Busy?" He asked with a smile. "You know I am. But, if you want, you can rescue me from this hell hole." She laughed. "I was planning to kidnap you in about half an hour for lunch if that's all right with you." Xanda thought for a moment as she stared at the pictures covering her desk. "I think I can swing it." She replied. "Great! I'll see ya. Oh yeah, D wants to know if your assistant is taken." Xanda laughed for a moment. "Actually she's married with two kids but I'm sure she could use a good one night stand." AJ sat on the other line laughing while giving Howie the thumbs down sign. "If he was into that I'm sure he would be all for it. Bye!" Xanda continued to laugh as she hung up the phone. She and AJ had become the best of friends over the past three months, not once crossing the line of friendship. He respected her as a woman and a great friend and she in turn gave him all the space he needed. They both dated other people but they never felt the same connection with those people as they did when they were together. Not once during the past three months had they ended up in bed together. The furthest they had gone was heavy make-out sessions that usually ended when the other person pulled away reminding the other about being "just friends" or "one-day-at-a-time".

Xanda grinned when her assistant Susan walked in. "Hey! AJ and I were just talking about you." Susan was the newly hired assistant who made heads turn every where she went. "AJ? He's your tattooed boyfriend, right?" Susan said with a sly grin as she sat down across from Xanda with two cups of coffee in both hands. "Yes on the tattoos, no on the boyfriend." Xanda replied with a smile as she took a cup of coffee from Susan. "Hmmm...could have fooled me with these pictures of you two." Susan replied, pointing to the various pictures of Xanda with AJ and her friends that she had made over the past few months. "Okay...so what were you two talking about?" Susan asked as she slowly sipped her coffee. "His friend Howie likes you. He just wanted to know if you were taken or not." Xanda laughed when Susan's eyes bulged. She had been eyeing Howie ever since he had come to the office the week before to take Xanda out for a business lunch to discuss the market, something he had heavily invested in. "Well, I told him to tell Howie that you were married with two kids." Xanda replied. "Soon to be divorced and those aren't my kids. They came with the marriage. Ya know, buy one get two free." Susan laughed. Xanda rolled her eyes, "Suse, Howie's kinda family oriented." Susan smiled, "Xandra, I was kidding. They are my estranged husbands children but I'm still going to be a part of their lives. Their mother died when they were very young and I've been raising them for the past five years. I'm not going to give them up just because Jake and I are divorcing. So, does he still want to hook-up with me?" Susan asked eagerly. "Let me see what I can do." Xanda grinned. "Good! And let me know because it's been a while since I've been with a real man." Xanda watched as Susan stood up to leave the room and laughed. "Girl, you and me both!" Susan stopped in the doorway and looked at Xanda with concern. "You mean you and that AJ guy haven't...ya know..." Xanda frowned as she shook her head. "Nope...we're taking it slow." Xanda explained. "If I were you I would have jumped on him the night we met." Susan heard a deep laugh and turned around. "You two have a lot in common." AJ commented to Xanda. Susan turned slightly red because AJ had caught her but she was even more interested in AJ's comment. "Xandra?" Susan questioned slyly. "Yeah, okay, I did jump on him the night we met but that was because he...well, he...because he..." Xanda looked down while AJ and Susan laughed. "Tell me about it later." "Trust me girl, you'll hear all about it!" Xanda shouted as Susan walked back to her desk. "Girl talk." AJ groaned.

***

After lunch was over AJ drove Xanda back to her office. "So? What's on your mind?" She asked when she realized that he had been very distant. "Oh, nothing." He said quietly as he turned the radio up. "No, something's bothering you and you're not telling me." She replied, turning the radio down. "I've been thinking...that's all." He replied. "Thinking? That doesn't sound good. If it was, you wouldn't be so quiet." She observed. "I was just wondering if we're gonna be stuck in this 'friend' rut forever or if we're gonna take this to another level." Xanda looked AJ up and down as he kept his eyes on the road. "You mean sex." She said bluntly. AJ slammed on his brakes and turned to Xanda. "No! No, that's not what I meant at all. I meant us. What are we? We can't keep saying that we're gonna take it slow cause we have. It's been three months since we've met and we're still 'friends' who plan to 'take it slow'. I want more." AJ explained as he continued to drive. "So do I...I'm just confused. We've been playing that whole 'we're just friends' game for so long that I'm not sure how to be something else." Xanda said quietly. "Well, we can start next week." AJ offered. "Next week? Why next week?" Xanda grinned. "Valentine's Day." He stated. "Hmmm...I guess." Xanda replied. "You guess? No, no 'I guess'. You're SURE." AJ demanded with a smile. "Okay, okay...I'm sure." Xanda said. "So, what are we gonna do? I mean, this is going to be our first real date and all." She added. "I guess we can just go out to dinner and talk." AJ offered. "It would be easier if we went with another couple." Xanda suggested. "No, we are NOT going out to dinner with Nick and Krista. They are still fighting over Nick cheating on her. Anyway, he's going out with Sara on Valentine's Day." AJ explained as his thoughts drifted to Nick and his relationship problems. "No silly, I was thinking about setting Howie and Susan up." AJ did a double take and laughed. "She's married...he wouldn't go for it." He replied. "No, Susan is getting a divorce." She explained. "Fine. Sounds good to me. You, me, D, and Susan out to dinner on Valentine's Day." AJ confirmed. "No, dinner and a movie or the theater or ballet or opera. Your pick." Xanda demanded with a smile. "Ah, man! You're makin' me pick? D's gonna kill me if I pick something lame like the ballet so I guess it's dinner and the theater." He replied. "For your information D and I just love the ballet. It's you who thinks it's lame." She laughed.

***

After AJ had dropped Xanda off she skipped into the office, glowing. Susan was quick to notice the change in attitude. "Oh someone got LAID!" She shouted causing the other coworkers to look at the person Susan was yelling at. "NO I DIDN'T!" Xanda shouted to everyone in the office causing a few of them to grumble under their breath that she needed to. "No I didn't." Xanda whispered to Susan. "Uh huh...then why are you so damned perky? It's making me sick." "AJ and I finally decided to go out on a real date...well, I real double date but it's still a real date." Xanda explained. "Oh double date! With you?" Susan asked with a large smile. Xanda's mini love life was like a soap opera to Susan compared to her own. "Oh, ya know, with Howie." Xanda informed as she glanced at the clock on the wall. She still had ten minutes left of her lunch break. "Howie!? Oh, who's the lucky bitch?" Xanda rolled her eyes before looking straight at Susan with a serious expression. "What, Xandra! Don't look at me like that...it's annoying and at the same time it's almost scary...it's like, oh shit!!" It finally dawned on Susan who Howie was taking with him on the double date. "No way!" Susan shouted. "Way!" Xanda laughed back. "Oh my god! What do I wear? What's his favorite color? Oh my god!" Susan was rambling incoherently. "First, we haven't told Howie. He may not go for it cause you're not officially divorced. Second, you wear a little black dress and third, his favorite color is purple if I remember correctly."

***

After work was over Xanda walked by Susan's desk and dropped a note on it. "What's this?" Susan asked as she finished signing a few papers. "Oh, nothing important. Just the phone number of a friend of mine." Susan quickly opened the note and squealed with delight. "Oh my god! I love you!" Susan shouted. "Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know." Susan continued to look the note over and glanced back up at Xanda. "When do I call him?" Xanda giggled as she walked toward the elevator. "After he calls you first." She said over her shoulder as she stepped on to the elevator to leave.

***

"Okay, so I call her right? But she's still married." Howie said. "Yeah D, she's still married. Just go out with her that one night. Xanda's nervous about the whole 'official date' thing. She needs a friend or two with us." AJ replied, semi-annoyed. "Are you sure it's not just you who needs a friend around?" Howie accused. AJ shot Howie a glare as they sat around AJ's den. "I have no problem with us being alone." Howie smirked by what AJ truly meant. "And I don't mean it that way." AJ added, reading Howie's mind. "Sure you don't." Howie smiled. "Anyway, will you do it?" AJ asked. "Yeah, I guess. The fact that she's still married bothers me but it's just one night." AJ smiled at Howie with appreciation. "Thanks D, I owe you one." "If I added up all the times that you've said that..." Howie trailed off as he picked up the cordless phone to give Susan a call. Howie decided that he needed more privacy than AJ would allow. "Yo AJ! I'm gonna go home. I'll call you and fill you in on the phone call with Susan." Howie grabbed his jacket and laughed at himself. 'I can't believe I'm gonna go on a date with a married woman for my best friend.'

***

After Howie walked in his front door he decided to just call Susan and set up the date to get it over with. No need to stress out about something so minimal. Howie grabbed the piece of paper and re-read what AJ had written down. Howie repeated the number as he dialed. "Hello?" He asked quietly into the phone when a woman answered in almost a whisper. "I didn't wake you, did I?" Howie asked. "No, I'm awake. The kids are asleep, that's all." Susan explained. Howie felt very awkward talking to a married woman with children. After talking for half an hour their conversation went from the basic small talk and discussion about their Valentine's date to the situation with AJ and Xanda. "With our career, I think AJ's worried that she won't be able to handle it." "Well, what do you guys do? Xandra never tells me much about AJ. She usually avoids the subject all together." Susan explained. "You don't know?" Howie asked with surprise. "No. I don't know anything about you guys. I hardly know Xandra." Susan stated. "Oh...well, we're singers. We're always on tour and we're never home. It's kinda hard on our relationships. I guess that's why AJ never has real relationships. He's so used to not having to commit. But, I think Xanda's gonna change him." Howie smiled at the thought. "Singers? On tour? Exactly how successful are you guys?" Howie was shocked that Susan honestly didn't know anything about him. "Successful? Well, we do all right." Howie replied, skirting the subject. "No, not all right. You're being modest, I can tell." Susan said. "Okay, we're successful. Ya know, Grammy's, Billboard awards, that kind of stuff." Howie replied, grinning at how well his life had gone. "oh." Susan said quietly. "Oh? That wasn't the kind of reaction I was expecting." Howie said with a slight nervous laugh. "Well, I thought you guys were normal. Oh, well..." Susan sighed.