After Ashleigh left, AJ sat on the couch in silence. He felt so empty, so alone. At least when he was on tour, he was busy, he was having fun. He was surrounded by people that liked him and he didn’t feel so lonely.
He got up and walked downstairs to shoot some pool. As he approached the couch next to the pool table, he lifted up the couch cushion revealing the familiar tattered and torn blue envelope. He picked it up and slowly ran his finger over it.
“Damn it,” he scolded himself, “What the hell is wrong with me??!”
He sighed and sat back on the couch still clutching the envelope. He opened it and read it over again. He didn’t know why, he knew every word it said off the top of his head.
"I can’t do this to myself anymore, I have to talk to her. I have to apologize for upsetting her.”
He picked up the phone and dialed her number.
“Hewo?” a small voice answered after a couple rings. He knew immediately that it must be Cassidy’s son. “Hi there. Is your Mommy home?”
“No, Mommy went bye-bye on airplane.”
AJ’s eyes lit up, remembering that Cassidy had told him that she was going to be in Orlando. Just then he heard a female voice in the background.
“Kyle, I told you to leave that phone alone!” She took the phone from him. “Hello?”
“Yes, hi. Is Cassidy there?”
“No, she’s not here right now. Can I ask who’s calling?”
“Um, this is Alex. Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“She’s out of town for a few days, she should be back Friday. I’ll tell her you called, though.”
“Okay, thank you,” he answered then hung up the phone.
“She’s here,” he smiled to himself. “But, how do I find her? I don’t even know what she looks like.”
He sighed and sat back on the couch, trying to figure out what to do next. He felt like an idiot, he didn’t know why he was going so crazy over this. Something inside of him told him that Cassidy wanted to meet him as much as he wanted to meet her, though, regardless of what she told him. He had to find out what it was about her, what had him so crazy, so distracted that he could barely think of anything else but her.
He looked down at his watch.
“1 o’clock. Jim will be here soon to pick me up. I think I’ll have him swing by that hotel that Cassidy mentioned when I talked to her. I wish I could remember the name of it, I’d call and see if she was there.”
He bolted up the stairs to take a quick shower and change his clothes. He jumped out of the shower and put on a pair of faded blue jeans with a tan wifebeater. Not feeling like doing much with his hair, he threw on his baseball cap, backwards, of course, and finished off the look with sunglassses. There was a knock at his front door. He ran down the stairs and opened the door. His limo driver was standing there.
“Hey Jim, what’s up buddy? Come on in. I’ll be ready in a sec.”
Jim walked in, closing the door behind him. “Take your time sir, we’re not late, yet,” he laughed.
“How many times have I told you not to call me that?” AJ said, getting irritated. “Call me AJ, call me Alex, call me Bone. God, call me ANYTHING but DON’T call me ‘Sir’!”
Jim laughed at him. He had known AJ for years, he was probably the most down to earth person he had ever met. He couldn’t figure out how he ended up with someone like Ashleigh. Sure, she was beautiful, but her attitude was terrible and she treated everyone, including AJ, like crap. He shuddered just thinking about her.
“Hey, I want to make a stop on our way to pick up the guys,” AJ called from the kitchen.
Jim looked at his watch. “We better get going then,Sir, oops, I mean, um ‘Bone’” he laughed. “So, where do you need to stop?” Jim asked as they headed out the door.
“I want to drive by that hotel on the corner of Vine Street. I can’t remember the name of it.”
“Maslyk Suites?” Jim asked, puzzled, “I just took a young lady there this morning. Ashleigh gave her a hard time at the airport and I felt bad because she couldn’t find a taxi, so I offered to give her a ride.”
He closed the car door behind AJ, then got in the front seat and started the car up. “Wait a minute, you did what?”
“Well, I had time to kill and I felt bad for her. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“No, not that, back up. Did you get her name??” he was practically in the front seat in anticipation.
“Oh yeah, she wouldn’t get in the car until she at least knew my name,” he chuckled, “she was certainly no pushover, as a matter of fact, I think she’d give you a good run for your money.”
“Jim!! What was her name??” AJ yelled impatiently.
“Cassidy, from Indiana,” he answered, puzzled, as he started to drive off.
“Holy shit! STOP!” AJ exclaimed. “I’ll be right back”.
He jumped out of the car and ran in the house. He grabbed the phone book from his hall closet and looked for the number of the hotel.
“Maslyk Suites, Maslyk Suites,” he whispered to himself, running his finger down the page.
“Damn it! Where are you?” he yelled starting to get frustrated. Finally he spotted the number and quickly dialed it.
“Thank you for calling Maslyk Suites. How can I help you today?” a voice answered.
“Yes, hi. I need Cassidy James’ room, please,” he answered with his fingers crossed, hoping that it was indeed her.
“One moment please, I’ll connect you,” the voice said after a brief pause, then phone started ringing.
He had butterflies in his stomach, he hoped she was there. The phone rang a few more times then someone picked up, AJ held his breath in anticipation, waiting to hear the angelic voice he remembered.
“The person you are trying to reach is not available right now. If you would like to leave a message, press 1.”
“Fuck!” AJ exclaimed.
He didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave a message. He didn’t want her to think he was some kind of whacko. His finger, however, pressed the button on the phone as if it had a mind of it’s own. He heard a beep in his ear and instinctively began to speak.
“Hi, Cassidy? This is Alex. I, um, I-I don’t want you to think I’m stalking you or anything, really, I’m not a whacko, I swear. I called your house earlier because I wanted to talk to you and they told me you were out of town. I remembered you telling me that you were gonna be coming down to Orlando. Ironically enough, my driver is the one who took you to your hotel this morning. He happened to mention you and I just thought that it was so strange, almost like fate,” he chuckled, “Um, I just wanted to say hi and, umm, s-see if maybe you wanted to meet for lunch or something while you’re down here. I know you said that you didn’t want to meet me, but I was hoping you changed your mind. I j-just, um, wanted to thank you for your letter, and hopefully get to meet you in person...” his voice trailed off.
He didn’t pay much attention to his rambling or the fact that he had probably just spit out the longest run-on sentence in history.
“Well, anyway, I have to get going, I’m already late and Jim probably has called the loony farm to take me away, but, um, my cell phone number is 407-784-8356. Call me anytime, I hope to hear from you. Talk to you later, bye.”
He hung up the phone and headed for the door. He still had butterflies in his stomach, he felt like a teenager.
“God, I need help,” he said to himself as he shut the door behind him.
Jim was standing outside the limo with a puzzled look on his face. He glanced down at his watch.
“I’m not even going to ask what that was all about,” he laughed, “but we are now officially late.”
“Sorry man, it was important.”
He opened the door and AJ jumped in the car. He hurried around to the other side, got in and drove off.
As they drove AJ stared down at his cell phone. He prayed for it to ring. Jim glanced at AJ in the backseat and noticed that he looked deep in thought. He wondered why he had acted like that when he mentioned that girl he took to the hotel, Cassidy. How did AJ know her? She lived in Indiana. Regardless, he got a good vibe from Cassidy when he met her. He knew that she would be perfect for AJ, as much as it was a longshot, especially with Ashleigh still in the picture. Still, he knew AJ was miserable with her, and he deserved so much better.
“Sir? Um, I mean, AJ?”
“Yeah?” AJ answered, snapped out of his daydream.
“Would you like to know what Miss Cassidy looked like?” He gave him a knowing smirk then looked back at the road.
AJ thought for a minute. He did want to know what she looked like, he wanted every detail, from the color of her hair to the color of her eyes to what she was wearing to what kind of luggage she had...but it wasn’t important. If she liked him for things other than his money and fame, he didn’t want to make any decisions based on her looks. As tempting as it was...
“No man, that’s okay,” he smiled, “Thanks though.”
Jim shot him another knowing glance. “Sure, just let me know if you change your mind.”
“Hopefully I’ll find out on my own,” AJ answered quietly then turned his concentration back to the spell he was attempting to put on his quiet cell phone to make it ring.

Chapter 6
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