"How about this one?"

"Nope!"

"This one…?"

"Nuh-uh. I don’t like it."

"Damn! I’m running out of ideas here, Xanda. Well, how about this one? It’s sexy." Nick stated as he held up an elegant dress for Xanda to see. "NICK! My god, boy! How do you expect me to wear that thing!?" Xanda shouted in horror. Nick shrugged with a small grin on his face. "You just wear it." He replied. "Unfortunately that dress wouldn’t look good on me. I was blessed or cursed with large breasts depending on how you look at it." Xanda explained. "Blessed." Nick mumbled as Xanda overheard him and replied with a slight smack in the chest. "Like I was saying, I can’t wear that thing. It’s too small in the chest." Nick looked Xanda up and down before looking back at the dress. "You can wear this! It would look good on you! Besides, it’ll give AJ a heart attack while confusing Brian. You two may not get along but he’s still male, ya know, and he hasn’t gotten laid in a while for that matter. Imagine the looks on both of their faces!" Nick exclaimed as Xanda ignored him while she continued to look over other dresses. "C’mon, Xanda! Just try it on." Nick begged. "Let me guess…AJ told you to find me a hot dress that would look good on his bedroom floor after the awards, right?" Xanda accused. Nick blushed slight as he put the dress over his shoulder. "Put me up to what? He didn’t put me up to anything." Nick quickly replied. "Bullshit! Nick, you couldn’t lie to save your life!" Xanda shouted before she started to laugh. "Okay, if I confess that he made me promise to find you a hot dress would you at least consider this one?" Nick questioned as he held out the dress to Xanda. "Only if you confess and I will ONLY consider it." Xanda replied as she stomped her foot down to show that she meant business. "Okay, I confess. Since AJ had to do that interview today I promised him that I would make sure that you bought the hottest dress that Gucci has to make. Well, this is it!" Nick exclaimed as he handed the dress to Xanda. "Oh, all right! I’ll try the dress on but then what? If I get it something might pop out during the awards ceremony." Xanda complained. "Well, I guess you do a prayer after you put the dress on cause baby, there ain’t nothing that dress can hide!" Nick laughed. "Thanks, Nick, for reassuring me." Xanda laughed as she strolled into the dressing room of the Gucci store. Nick walked around the store enjoying the cool Miami Beach ocean breeze that came in through the open door of the store.

***

AJ shifted his weight as the interviewer from Rolling Stone mentioned the information that she had found on the internet the night before. "AJ, these are some pretty strong accusations. What do you have to say about them?" The interviewer questioned. AJ thought quickly, totally unprepared for what was just thrown at him. "I don’t know the girl or what she is talking about. I have never had any kind of sexual contact with more than one woman at a time, especially women who were self-proclaimed virgins before we hooked-up! If I was dating a virgin I would NEVER pressure her for sex. Honestly, this is the first time I have heard this story and trust me, I have heard many!" AJ said with a nervous laugh. "You seem a little uncomfortable all of a sudden." The interviewer noted. "Shit! Wouldn’t you be? I mean, here I sit thinking that this is going to be a normal interview and all of a sudden you throw these accusations at me! You bet I’m uncomfortable! As I sit here I’m thinking ‘If I sit and talk this way then it’s going to look like I’m trying to hide something but if I sit and talk another way then it’s REALLY going to look like I’m hiding something. Just act normal, but if I do then it’s going to look like I’m trying to ignore the subject’. So, yes, I am uncomfortable." AJ said with an undertone of bitterness. "Since you were not prepared for that question I’ll throw it out of the interview." The interviewer stated. "Thank you." AJ replied as he lit up a cigarette to calm himself down.

***

"Fuck! I hate Levi’s!" Xanda shouted as she hopped around the dressing room while trying to take off her jeans. Once she finally got them off after taking her shoes off first, Xanda quickly unbuttoned her violet collared shirt and tossed it on the ground. She slowly stepped into the dress and pulled it up over her hips. "There go the panties!" She laughed as she kicked them off. The lines were too obvious. "And the bra!" She added as she unhooked her bra and tossed it over the dressing room door. "Ouch!" She heard Nick yell. Xanda quickly pulled the top of her dress up and held it under her arms before tossed the dressing room door open to find Nick standing there holding his eye. "I’d like to meet the person who said bra straps weren’t dangerous." He stated. "Oh god, I’m sorry! Are you okay?" She questioned as she peered up at him. "I’ll be fine, I just wanted to see…holy shit, thank you god!" Nick shouted when he realized that Xanda was barely dressed at all. "Oh, um, I guess I should say thank you." She mumbled as she looked down at her body. "Maybe I should finish putting this on." She said as she stepped back into the dressing room. "If you want…" Nick offered. "I want!" Xanda said firmly.

After tying the top of the dress behind her neck Xanda looked herself over in the mirror and grinned. Her morning runs with or without AJ seemed to be working in her favor and her friendly games of basketball with Nick didn’t seem to be hurting. "What color would you consider this dress?" Xanda asked Nick as she continued to look herself over in the mirror. "I guess black/gray." Nick replied. "That’s two colors. Give me one." Xanda demanded as she adjusted the lower back of the dress. "Okay, then I would say black since the awards will be indoors." Nick said. "What about when we arrive and it’s sunny? What color? Gray?" Xanda asked. "Yes, but why do you care? It’s dark, it’s sexy, it’s gonna end up on AJ’s hotel room floor." Nick stated. "I’m just trying to accessorize, Nick. You know, purse, hair gems, shoes?" Xanda explained. "Oh, girl stuff." Nick moaned. "Yes, girl stuff." Xanda repeated.  Xanda felt the thin, smooth material all over her skin.  The dress may have been a dark material but it was still thin and it barely covered anything.   Her legs were completely covered except for the slits that went straight up to her hips.  The back of the dress was cut out and the neck of the dress plunged much further than Xanda was comfortable with.  The only security she had remained with the small metal clasps at the neck of her dress.  If those went her breasts would be exposed to the world.  "How does this look?" She asked as she stepped out of the dressing room. "It’s cold, isn’t it?" Nick smiled. "Nick!" Xanda scolded as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Ya gotta love that personal thermostat that women are built with." Nick swooned.

***

"According to some fansites out there, you have a girlfriend." The interviewer stated. "Yes, I do." AJ confirmed. "Who is she? Is she part of the music community?" The interviewer pried. "No, no she’s not. She’s a normal girl, no, woman who works hard. She worked hard through college to get to where she is today." AJ stated with almost a hint of pride. "And that would be?" The interviewer coaxed. "Um, she’s the head of a brokerage company in Orlando. I don’t want to say too much because we’ve never talked about how much information the public is allowed to know about her yet. To be on the safe side all I’ll say about her is her name is Alexandra and she’s my age, beautiful, smart, funny, and she makes me happy." "Can we safely say that this is serious?" AJ thought for a moment about the past 4 months. "I’m not too sure. Sometimes I think we are and sometimes I’m not sure. If ‘serious’ means that we’re not dating any one else, then I guess we are." AJ replied. "Will the fans see you two together any time soon?" Again, AJ took his time to think the question over before a thought popped into his head. "Actually, yes! She’s agreed to be my date at the Grammy’s. She is shopping for a dress with Nick as we speak." AJ stated. "Nick?" The interviewer questioned. "Yeah, he actually met her before I did. She took to him like a little girl to a puppy." AJ said with a serious face, desperately trying not to crack up. "A puppy?" The interviewer laughed. "You just called the most popular guy of the group, and maybe the most famous twenty-something on the planet at the moment, and one of your best friends a puppy." She continued to laugh. "If you knew Nick the way I do, then you’d agree." AJ replied. "He’s a typical guy, then?" She questioned. "A dog!" AJ laughed. "No seriously, they have a brother-sister relationship. He goes to her complaining about his girl problems and she smacks him around and tells him to grow up, stop whining, and take it like a man." AJ continued to laugh.

***