Alexandra woke up to a thud and sat up quickly. She looked around her dark room as she tried desperately to remember where she was. "I'm not in my room, that's for damn sure." She muttered as she made out the image of a clean room. She softly felt the right side of her bed and sighed with relief when she didn't feel anyone else with her. She leaned over her nightstand and flipped on the light. "Hotel. Huh?" She questioned. She crawled out of bed and shivered when the ice cold breeze that came from the powerful air conditioner met her skin. She sluggishly walked over to the window and threw back the curtains. She quickly regretted doing that when the bright sun flooded into her room and caused her to squint. "Fuck. I'm in Florida." She sighed. She walked back over to her bed and grabbed her purse off the floor. Alexandra pushed her hair out of her face as she flipped through her daily planner. 'Find House' was all over the calendar for the next two weeks. "I guess I gotta find a house." She told herself. She grabbed the realtors card that John had given her and picked up the phone. Before long she had an appointment with a local realtor at noon giving her two hours to get ready.

***

"Hey, let's do something today." Nick said to Brian as soon as he answered the phone. "Sure, like what?" "What else? Let's shoot some hoops." Nick said as he smiled into the phone. "You're ass is grass, man." Brian replied with a chuckle. "Whatever, Bri. I picked up some pointers while in New York. Ya know, I went down to Brooklyn and all." Nick gloated. "Nick, shuddup. You only wish you could play as good as me." Brian shot back. "Yeah well, we'll just see about that won't we? I'll be over in an hour." Before Brian had a chance to protest Nick had already hung up.

****

"I'm gonna be late!!" Alexandra shouted as she threw things out of her suitcase left and right. "Here it is!" She stated as she popped a birth control pill in her mouth. "Like American Express...never leave home without it." Alexandra joked as she swallowed. She grabbed her thin black jacket off the back of a chair and looked herself over in the mirror before grinning at the image she saw. She wore her favorite black clog sandals that gave her another 4 inches and a short black skirt with a thin, violet, see-thru, button-down shirt. Her hair was in a tight French twist and her makeup looked perfect. "God, I love this place already." She said to herself in the mirror. 'It's definitely time for a fresh start.' she thought to herself as she grabbed her purse and walked out of her room.

Two hours later Alexandra was standing in the living room of a large 5 bedroom home. "Do you like it?" The realtor asked. "I love it but how are the neighbors?" She asked as she continued to look the house over. "Quiet. On your right is a man who uses his house for the summer only and on your left is a man who is never home. He's out of town on business a lot so you shouldn't have any problems finding peace and quiet." She explained while Alexandra nodded as she continued to walk around the house. She reached the back sliding glass door and smiled when she saw the pool. She quickly turned around and laughed, "I'll take it!"

****

"Hey Bri? Looks like you're gettin' a new neighbor." Nick joked as Brian stopped in the middle of the game to look over at the young woman getting into the realtor's car. "Made you look!" Nick shouted as he stole the ball from Brian. "Oh you're gonna pay for that!" Brian shouted as he tried to block Nick from a shot. After twenty more minutes of playing ball the guys decided to call it quits. "What are the other guys doin' today? I haven't seen them in a couple of months." Nick complained as they grabbed their water bottles off the ground and walked into the house. "You know them. They've got their own lives and friends." Brian explained. "Yeah..." Nick mumbled as he plopped himself on the couch. "Hey Bri, call them up and see if they wanna come over tonight and chill." Nick said out of the blue while Brian watched the realtor outside his kitchen window placing a sold sign on the house. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Might as well make it a party." Brian joked as he grabbed the phone to make a few calls. "Yeah! Let's do it! I haven't been to a kickin' party in a long ass time!" Nick shouted as he jumped out of his seat. Brian looked at him with a funny smirk knowing that Nick never liked to attend parties in the past before he nodded his head in agreement with a party. "Well, you might as well go home and get ready. It's gonna take me a while to make these calls then I gotta go get some food to feed them all and get the house ready." Brian explained. "That means you gotta cover all the furniture with plastic and put away all the valuables." Nick joked. "You know it." Brian mumbled as he flipped through his address book.

****

Alexandra signed all the paperwork for the house and handed the realtor a check from her firm for the full amount of the asking price. "When can I move in?" She asked with a smile. "Um, I guess today since you're don't have to go through escrow or a bank." The realtor replied with a shocked expression as she stared at the check in her hand. "Good! So the furniture is mine, too?" "Yes, the house is fully furnished. The people who used to own it have been trying to sell it for almost a year and they were desperate enough to leave the furniture." She explained. "Great!" Alexandra shouted with happiness. So far, her move to Orlando had been going better than she expected. Within 24 hours she had a killer car and a fully furnished home that she owned. "Now I have one thing left to do." Alexandra stated as the realtor shook her hand. "Oh?" She asked. "I have to take this car back. I have $200,000 left over to do whatever I want with." Alexandra replied as she stood up. "Well, here are your keys to the house and all your paperwork plus instructions for the pool system, the intercom system, the stereo system, TVs, VCRs, cable system, and security system." The realtor explained happily. "Thank you so much! I finally get to sleep in my own bed tonight." Alexandra joked.

****

Brian put a few CDs in the stereo system and turned the volume up. He moved some of the furniture off to the side of the living room and den and started putting away all the framed photos and small valuables that could break. He called a friend earlier who was a caterer and was putting the food out that his friend had brought over. He placed hanging lights in the backyard in the trees and put a few floating candles in the pool for the few couples who would end up in the backyard later that night. He laughed at the sight of his house. "Looks like I'm gettin' ready for a date." Brian said as he jogged slowly back into his house. He looked himself over in the mirror and decided to put on some baggy jeans, a white t-shirt and a black snow vest over it. After getting dressed he heard a car door slam and looked out the window. He saw a pretty young woman unloading a new BMW. She heard the music obviously and turned on her heel to glare at the house. "Ah, the new neighbor." He cooed with a smirk before laughing to himself. Parties were always one of his favorite things and he was already feeling the rush. He grabbed his Nike hat and put it on backwards and ran down the stairs to make sure everything was ready. He knew Nick would get too drunk and probably pass out in some weird place, AJ would run off with some pretty girl if he didn't get too wasted to move first, Howie would get too drunk and hang from the ceiling fans before being dragged off willingly by some pretty girl, and Kevin would get slightly drunk but end up helping him get rid of the other guests before cleaning up.

Brian was in the dancing mood and noticed that it was only 5 o'clock. The sun was starting to set and he knew that Nick would be showing up sometime soon to help him finish moving the heavier furniture. "Jam on cause Backstreet's got it..." He sang as he danced around the partially cleared-out living room. "Gotta move...gotta move..." he changed songs to one he had just made up as he squatted down in front of the stereo system. He decided to put on Daft Punk's "Da Funk" and laughed when he remembered AJ dancing to that song at a party that happened at the end of their last tour 4 months earlier in July.

****

Alexandra walked around her living room and was annoyed that the supposedly quiet neighbor was blasting the stereo. "Nice stereo system...too bad I can't ram it up his ass!" She shouted as she saw the walls tremble from the bass. She sat down at a small desk and tried to write down some of the things she needed to do in the next two weeks but couldn't hear herself think. She was tired from all the stress of moving and finding a new house and all she wanted to do was sit down, watch a little TV, and get a good nights rest. 'That's not happening tonight.' She thought. She decided to try and check her voice mail but knew it would be difficult with all the noise. "Hey Xandy, it's mom. Just checking on you. I haven't heard from you since July. Call me." Alexandra exhaled deeply and decided not to call her mother back. Ever since her mother moved to Cairo, she had no desire to speak with her. "Xand, it's John. Just wanted to see how the house hunting's going. Call me back. Bye." Alexandra laughed at the idea. "Hence the word 'bye', John." She stated. "Xanda!! Xanda!! I need someone to party with and you're not here. Ugh! Sorry, just called to say that I missed you. John called to find out how you've been and sorry girl, but I told him off. I've been dying to do that since the day you know what happened. What a prick! Anyway, I miss you! You better call me back or I'll have to hurt you. Luv ya! Bye!!" Alexandra hung up her cell phone and laughed. Keely always made her feel better but Xandra had a feeling that their friendship would be gone soon. She wanted a fresh start and anyone with any connection to her past had to go with it. At the thought of all the crap she went through while in New York, she became angry and bitter. The loud music didn't help and Xandra was close to killing the new neighbor. She quickly stood up and checked herself over in the mirror. Her hair still looked perfect, her makeup looked flawless, and her skirt looked too short as her high shoes made her legs look longer.

****