"Hey Nick," Roz called, "you seen Lex lately? I can't find her." Nick looked around then at the other guys.

"Nope, haven't seen her." Brian shrugged, and Howie shook his head. "Hold up. Where's AJ?" Nick exchanged a look with Brian, Kevin and Howie that Roz didn't like.

"Hey, don't even think it. You guys are bad!"

"Hey, it's AJ, not us."

"Augh!" Roz turned on her heel to continue looking.

"Lexi!" I didn't realize how long AJ and I had been talking until I heard Roz call for me.

"Rozzie, hey. What's up?" I noticed the concern disappear from her face as she realized I was with AJ.

"Oh, nothing, I just wondered where you were. The guys were wondering about you AJ. Sorry if I interrupted something." I looked at her and then at AJ.

"Uh, no. It's okay. We shouldn't be so anti-social anyway. Come on AJ."

"Oh no. You two can stay over here, it's okay, no big deal. It's cool that you're getting along." I gave Roz a strange look and I heard AJ mumble something under his breath.

"Let's go Rozzie."

I was sitting on the deck in the backyard the day before I was leaving for home when Roz came out to join me.

"Lex, you got a few minutes?" She sat in the chair opposite me.

"Sure, you're the one who had me come out here, so of course I"ve got time."

"Good, what's up with you and AJ?" I rolled my eyes.

"You always did get right to the point. And if I'd known that was your question I wouldn't have had time." I chose my words carefully. "Nothing's up. We're just hanging out, talking, having fun." Roz didn't look satisfied with my answer.

"You've been out with him every day."

"So?"

"So, you're not like going out or anything?"

"No. I told you, we're friends. Why does it have to be anything else?" Roz sighed.

"Maybe because you had a crush on him for like 3 years, and I figured . . . "

"Rozzie, don't bring that up. It was a crush on a guy I didn't know. Now I'm friends with the guy I do know. That's it." She didn't say anything else for a minute.

"You're going home tomorrow right?" I nodded. "Well, what are you gonna do then?"

"About what?" I could tell Roz was getting as frustrated with my answers as I was with her questions.

"AJ!"

"Told you, there's nothing to be done. We're friends. Like you and me, Jackie and me, Hilary and me. And there's this thing called a phone." I laughed for a second. "And we both know how much he likes to use those." I remembered all the interviews I'd read, saying that AJ's phone might as well be surgically attached.

"You are avoiding my questions." I shook my head. Just because I wasn't giving the answers she wanted, I was avoiding the questions. "But you're happier than when you got here, so I won't say anything else." I grinned at her.

"Thank you."

"I guess Nick and Roz's plan didn't work the way they wanted it to huh? They never did get us together." I tipped my head to the side, as I thought.

"I don't think it really mattered that much after a while. Roz was just happy because I got over Scott. Although I do still get asked THE question once in a while." I shook my head at the thought of Roz's never waning hope that we'd get together.

"Nick's always asking. And the other guys. It's a hard question to answer." I nodded because I knew. It was strange that once I got to know AJ, I was happy being his friend and nothing more. The crush I'd had seemed to disappear in the face of friendship. That was a hard concept to explain to my other friends though.

"Rozzie, what are you doing? I didn't expect to hear from you."

"We're in Detroit, for three days. You have to come see us."

"You're kidding! All of you? Why didn't you tell me, I'd have met you there."

"I'm telling you now."

"I'll be there in three hours."

In three hours I was sitting in a hotel room, catching up with Roz on everything We'd done for the last several months, when there was a knock at the door.

"I've got to get that, Nick's supposed to be coming to get me." She ran to the door. It was so cute, how excited she always was to see him. I could see Nick in the doorway and I thought there was someone beside him, when I heard what confirmed it.

"L! Girl, when did you get here and why didn't you tell me?" I was instantly engulfed in a hug.

"Aje, darlin'. Can you let go now? You're suffocating me." I heard Roz snicker at my tone, when AJ let go of me. I regained my breath and looked at him.

"Nice to see you too. And to answer your questions, I just got here and I hadn't had a chance yet." I knew Roz and Nick were amused by the greeting playing out in front of them. "What are you two laughing at?" I glared jokingly at Roz and then at Nick.

"Just observing." I knew Roz was jumping to her familiar conclusion, by the look on her face.

"Stop that! Don't go there." I wasn't sure if AJ knew what she was thinking or not, until Roz responded.

"Ya, ya, I know. You're just friends. I know." She turned to Nick and mumbled, "Whatever." She turned back towards me. "We were gonna go shopping, you in?" I nodded.

"When am I not in for shopping?"

Roz and I were looking around in the Warner Bros. Store when AJ and Nick joined us. AJ leaned on my shoulder as I looked at something, and Nick and Roz goofed around with the stuffed animals. I shook my head, and mumbled �children,' which drew a glare from Nick and then Roz. Then AJ spoke.

"Got something for ya." I turned, surprised.

"You what?" I knew Roz had overheard AJ and was just as anxious as me to find out. I watched curiously as he pulled a small box out of a bag and handed it to me. "What are you doing?" He shrugged, and motioned for me to open the box.

"Aah! You got me my music note charm. Thank you." I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, then noticed the little smirk on Roz's face.

When we got back to the hotel, Roz and I went to her room, to change to go out that night. As soon as the door shut, she started asking questions.

"Are you sure you two are just friends? I mean, he's buying you stuff, and after the reaction when you showed up . . . " Her voice trailed off under my gaze.

"Roz, how many times have I bought you stuff? And of course he reacted to see me, I haven't seen him in months!"

"I guess I just thought . . . "

"Are we gonna have to have this conversation EVERY time we get together? AJ and I are just really good friends. We're close. That's it!"

"Guess I shouldn't ask that question anymore, huh?" I nodded.

"Good idea. I'll make you a promise though. If anything more ever happens, you will be the third person to know. Until then, no more questions."

"Uh, I don't know. I never really thought about it." Truth was that I'd spent a lot of time thinking about it, but I'd never come to any conclusions. "Besides, we've both been with other people, and I guess it was just never meant to be. I've been pretty happy this way though." I saw AJ nod at my answer and then wince as he tried to move his leg. "Do you want something? I'll get it."

"I don't want you fucking waiting on me."

"Like I was offering to be your slave for life. Geez. You're in a hostile mood."

"You'd be happy if you were me?" After thinking for a minute, I shrugged.

"I'd probably take advantage of all the lovely people who are willing to do stuff for me. It's not often that people are willing to wait on you, y'know. It's nice once in a while." I heard him grumble, and then I continued. "Besides, this whole thing, got your bestest friend in the whole world to come see you on really, really short notice. Isn't that enough to make you happy?"

"Normally, maybe." I pretended to be insulted at his sarcasm.

"Jerk!" I laughed.

"I'm just playin'. You know I always love to see you."

"Ya, ya, try to make up for it now. At least now I know what you really think." I knew he was only kidding. We'd always acted like this with each other. I was silent for a few minutes as I noticed that he was lost in his own thoughts. "Aje, what are you thinking?" It took him a minute to look up, and when he did I noticed something different in his eyes.

"Would you give me an honest answer, if I asked you a question?"

"Of course, I'd never lie to you. What is it?" Something about the way he asked made me nervous about what he was going to say.

"Have you ever thought about us?"

"We already talked about . . ."

"HONESTLY." Sometimes, I thought he knew me too well. I took a long time before I answered.

"Of course I have. You're the only guy who's been constant in my life in the last two years. I wondered why I couldn't find somebody like you." I stopped realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Maybe you have." I looked at him, knowing what he meant, but not wanting to admit it. "I wondered the same thing. About you. Maybe Roz and Nick and everybody else has been right. We just didn't see it."

"Or didn't want to believe it." I sighed. "We've been kind of stupid, haven't we?" Neither of us spoke for what seemed like a long time. "Do we really want to risk what we have, for what could be?"

"How do we know what could be, unless . . ."

"I suppose you're right." Another pause. "Gawd I hate when Roz is right!" I heard him laugh. "She's so . . . ugh, it's just annoying!" He chuckled again. "Hey, I need to get back to why I came here in the first place. You can't just ditch the guys for the tour. They need you. And besides, I don't know if I'd wanna be going out with somebody who'd ditch on his friends."

"Damn, I knew I should have waited for this discussion." I grinned.

"You bet, I'm gonna use it against you now. Now, are you gonna go or what? You don't wanna disappoint all those AJ fans who bought tickets just to see you do you?" I could tell from the look on his face that I was not going to like the deal he was going to make.

"I'll go. If you'll come with me." I was stunned.

"I have a job, babe. What do you expect me to do, quit?"

"Why not? You can do our PR or something. You won't need the money."

"Gawd, you drive a hard bargain. I don't want to live off you. But that's the only way you'll agree to go isn't it? How can you do this to me?" I saw him motion for me to get closer to him.

"I can make it so you can't refuse." Before I could react, he kissed me, and I knew that I couldn't say no.

"Oh, Aje. Fine, I'll go. We have to let the other guys know about you going on the tour. And I have some news to tell Roz. As much as it pains me to tell her. You have crutches or something around here right?"

I called Roz and told her to get all the guys together, and then we left, headed for Nick's place, where Roz said they'd all meet. I pulled into the driveway, and stopped the car, and I could feel AJ looking at me.

"What?" I laughed thinking about the first time we met again. "Never mind. Let's just go in. You ready?" Instead of answering, he kissed me again. "Guess so."

Nick answered the door, and immediately asked, "So, you're going on the tour right?" AJ nodded in the affirmative, and I looked around Nick to find Roz.

"Nicky, where's Rozzie?"

"In the house, you can go find her." I walked past him quickly, and found her in the kitchen.

"Hey Roz!"

"You convinced AJ to go on the tour already? You are good." I smiled, wondering how to tell her the rest of the story.

"Uh, yeah, I'm goood." I heard her giggle. "You remember a few months ago, when I said you'd be the third person to know if anything changed." She had the cutest expression of confusion I had ever seen, but I couldn't stop myself to explain what I was talking about. "Well, now you know." I turned and headed back to where I could see AJ and the guys sitting in another room, before I heard her shriek from the other room.

"I KNEW IT!"

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