They were about to land when AJ spoke up,
"You need a ride to the hotel? Where are you staying anyway? You should come stay with us." Nick shook his head as he buckled his seatbelt,
"Lexi is picking me up...I'm staying with her." AJ frowned,
"Lexi? Who the heck is that?" Nick smiled,
"Remember the last time we were all in LA recording? I met her then." AJ nodded,
"Ah, ok, I remember now. Howie told me about that." Nick rolled his eyes,
"Why is my business group business and no one else's is?" AJ laughed,
"Because no one else gets into shit like you do." Nick rolled his eyes and looked straight ahead. He wasn't angry he was just tired of being the one who fucked up. Tired of people not being surprised when he found himself in yet another situation. Tired of feeling stupid for doing something that no one else did, at least not any of the fellas. AJ looked over and saw the look on Nick's face,
"I didn't mean it like that." Nick smiled half-heartedly,
"Yes you did but it's cool."
"So what does this chick do? Another wannabe pop star?" Nick turned and looked at him,
"Another wannabe pop star who only wants to be with me to get famous...that's what you meant right?" AJ's eyes grew wide as he shook his head,
"That's ...that's not what I meant." Nick raised his eyebrows,
"Yeah, yeah it is." That was the second time AJ stuck his foot in his mouth and Nick decided to let him off the hook,
"It's cool man, just messing with you." He flashed the smile he usually gave the girls and female reporters and AJ bought it, it seemed to work on everyone though. The truth was AJ did make him feel bad but there was no reason for them both to feel bad about it because he knew AJ didn't mean to hurt his feelings. He felt bad after getting used and it was even harder to know so many people knew it. He had a lot of practice over the years masking the hurt of jokes that were told at his expense. First the guys told jokes amongst themselves then they joked in interviews which seemed to give the fans a green light to say things to and about him.
"She's in international business." AJ seemed to be impressed and spoke up after a minute,
"You know...you date some pretty smart girls. You know that?" Nick smiled as AJ continued,
"You dated that nurse, the architect, you messed around with that chick who was studying to be a lawyer, Shayna is a computer geek and now this chick." Nick smiled as he thought about what AJ was saying,
"Not bad for a dumb guy like me huh? But maybe that's why they never worked out." AJ shook his head,
"You're not dumb. You're not the smartest guy in the world but neither am I. Although you WERE arguing with Aaron about purple ketchup."
They walked off the plane and Nick led AJ over to Lexi. He dropped his carry on bag and hugged her before they began to kiss until AJ cleared his throat,
"Oh sorry. Hi AJ." He smiled,
"Hi sweetheart, you must be Lexi." She nodded,
"Yes, nice to meet you." Sarah walked up and into AJ's arms. After all the introductions they walked to luggage pick up where Lexi saw a group of French tourists, obviously distraught, in the middle of a frantic conversation. AJ, Nick and Sarah watched as Lexi joined the conversation,
"Did you know she speaks French?" Nick smiled feeling proud at that moment watching her,
"Yeah, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese too. Sometimes in bed she'll-" Sarah interrupted, her hands over her ears,
"Ahhh, I don't want to hear this." AJ chimed in,
"Hell, I do." They laughed as Lexi made her way back over to them,
"What's so funny?" Nick shook his head,
"Nothing, had to be there." They waited for their luggage as AJ looked over at Lexi,
"So, Nick tells us you speak a few languages." She smiled as she briefly looked over at Nick,
"Yeah, my mom is French, I studied Spanish in school and Italian in college. If you can speak Italian and Spanish Portuguese comes naturally." AJ whistled,
"Wow, impressive." She shrugged,
"I love languages and other cultures, and it helps with my career, but get me in Biology class and I'm dumb as rocks." They gathered their luggage and parted ways after their good-byes with Nick and Lexi promising to make it over for dinner before Nick left town.
Home
Full Circle
Chapter 64