Finally! A free moment to myself, I thought as I stretched out on AJ’s huge, comfortable couch. We had only been in Orlando for two days, but we had already done three photo shoots and two interviews. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell AJ that Amber was gone. So much had happened in the past two days that I had to call AJ.
I checked the clock on the wall. 4:00; he should be at the apartment. I reached behind me, grabbed the cordless, and dialed. Someone picked up on the fourth ring.
"’Lo, talk to me," Sandee’s voice answered. A small wave of homesickness hit me.
"Hey, is Heather there?" I asked.
"Yeah, hang on a sec. Is this Alex?"
"Yeah."
"She mentioned you’d called before. It’s nice to finally get to talk to Heather’s mystery man. You her cousin?"
"Yeah. Our families hadn’t been talking to each other for years, and they reconciled just a while back," I lied.
"Okay, let me go get Heather," Sandee said. She then disappeared. It felt good to hear Sandee’s voice again, even if it was for a short period of time. A few minutes passed, then my voice came over the phone.
"Hello?"
"AJ, hey! I finally got a free moment, and I had to tell you all the stuff that’s been happening to you lately," I said with a smile. I stretched my long, thin legs out and leaned my head against the other end of the couch.
"Why does that scare me?" he asked, but I could tell he was smiling.
"Because it’s me talking," I returned. "Okay, to begin with, Amber is now officially out of your life."
"What?!" AJ sounded shocked. "What happened?"
"She was a gold digger, AJ. There was no way I could let her ruin your life. I actually kind of like you."
AJ was quiet for a minute. "Well, I suppose I owe you a thanks, then, don’t I? Seriously, Heather, thank you."
I smiled as I sat up. "Anytime. Hey, I owed you one for RD."
He laughed. "No, you didn’t. Getting rid of RD was purely my pleasure. The guys here in North Carolina aren’t all that great, are they?" he observed.
I chuckled. "What do you mean? You’ve only met two of them?"
"Well, I’ve now heard about a third one. Sandee has a date this weekend." The last sentence was said completely without emotion.
I perked up with interest. "She does? What’s his name?"
"His name is Matt, and he’s some guy she met in one of her communications classes," he explained. After a short pause, he added, "I don’t trust him."
I laughed. "AJ, you haven’t even met him yet."
"It doesn’t matter. After the disastrous date with Patrick, and then the confrontation with RD, I don’t trust any guy around here. Well, except for Sandee’s brother Mark. And I haven’t even talked to him all that much."
I laughed even harder. "AJ, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re jealous."
"No," he muttered. Then he paused, apparently searching for the right excuse. "I’m just…I’m just looking out for her, that’s all." It wasn’t a very good excuse, but I let it go at that. I thought it was cute that he was jealous.
"Oh, I met your mom the other day. She’s very nice," I said, changing the subject.
"You did? How is she?" AJ’s voice seemed to perk up. "She was too sick to go on the last tour."
"She seemed to be doing better. I think she suspects something is wrong."
AJ’s voice grew thoughtful. "I miss her."
For a moment, I felt the same homesickness that AJ had in his voice. I ran my hand through my hair, missing the long strands that I usually liked to play with. "I know what you mean. It’s been fun being someone else, but I miss everyone. AJ, your life is hard."
"Well, yours is no piece of cake," he commented.
I smiled. "Oh, another thing. I met Missy, Nick’s girlfriend." It was getting rather sad, so I decided to change the subject.
"Oh, you did, huh? Maybe I should have told you that we don’t get along." The homesickness vanished from AJ’s voice, leaving a playful undertone.
"Yeah, maybe you should have. I tried to be nice, but she just kept saying nasty things. I couldn’t believe some of the things she said to Nick!"
"I know. That’s one of the reasons we don’t get along. Nick is so nice and so trusting that he can’t see how terrible she is. Brian, Kevin, Howie, and I almost came to blows with her one day, but Nick stopped us. We couldn’t help it. He’s our little bro; we’ve got to protect him," AJ explained. I could hear him changing positions on my bed and trying to keep the edge out of his voice.
I shook my head. "No offense, AJ, but y’all have no idea how to pick girlfriends. You need some help."
"None taken. I’m learning that we all have been blinded by the wrong woman at one time or another."
"Well, all I know is Nick had to take Missy away before I did anything drastic. She was saying all sorts of mean things. If they hadn’t have left, they would have wound up in the middle of your pool."
"What happened?" AJ asked, his voice sounding very interested.
I stretched out on the couch again and prepared to tell AJ the story. "I guess Nick was worried about you and your ‘faulty memory,’ so he stopped by the house with Missy yesterday. When I opened the door, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Nick was standing there asking me how I was, and Missy was standing there beside him checking her nails. I figured I would be nice, so I invited them in. Since it was warm, we walked out to the pool and sat down in the lounge chairs. Nick and I talked while Missy whipped out her mirror to check her hair. She didn’t look up until I asked Nick if he wanted something to eat.
"She said, ‘Nick, honey, you don’t need to eat anything else. Remember, you need to lose weight.’
"I just stood there and looked at her. Then, I couldn’t resist. ‘Missy, where does he need to lose weight?’
"She looked at me for the first time since she got there. ‘You know, AJ, this is none of your business. I’m just trying to make sure that Nick doesn’t get any fatter. All of that extra weight is causing him to be clumsy on stage.’
"I looked over at Nick and saw that he was just staring at the pool. He looked so sad. Before I could say anything else, he took her hand and told me they had to leave. I was able to remain clam enough to say goodbye to him, but ooh!"
"Personally, I think you should have tossed her into the pool," AJ commented.
I smiled. "Yeah, but Nick probably would have never spoken to me, or you, again. Besides he needs to find out how mean she is for himself before we can do anything drastic."
"Yeah, I guess so," AJ sighed. He then changed the subject. "You’ve got a performance tomorrow night, don’t you?"
"Yeah," I answered as I began twirling on my clothes. I stopped as soon as I realized I was doing it. When did I start that habit? "Jay Leno has been filming The Tonight Show all week in Orlando, and we’re one of the guests tomorrow."
It sounded like a smile had spread across AJ’s face. "Great! I finally get to see you perform."
"It might literally bring tears to your eyes," I deadpanned.
He laughed. "Ah, it can’t be that bad. You’re doing ‘Larger Than Life,’ right? You know the routine, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then there shouldn’t be a problem."
"I hope not, but I’m still a little shaky on the feet movements." I started twirling on my shirt again.
"Well, I’m looking forward to it. I’ll get to see it from the other end."
"Don’t hold your breath for a great performance," I sighed.
He laughed again. "Don’t worry; I’ve got faith in you."
It grew quiet for a minute, then AJ broke the silence. "Heather, I need to talk to you about something while I’ve got you on the phone," he said, his voice serious.
I grew worried. "What? Is everything alright?"
"Well, when you mentioned Mom, it reminded me. It’s been over a month now, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever switch back. I mean, it’s been fun being someone different, being you, but I miss my life, you know. I miss the guys and the performing and the craziness," he said.
I took in everything that he said, and a little bit of homesickness crept into my stomach. He was right. What if I would never see my friends or my family again?
"Heather?" he asked after I didn’t say anything for a while.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about what you said. We need to find some way to tell everyone and make it sound believable. Then we’ve got to find some way to reverse it."
"Well, I could probably do a little bit of research in the library," AJ offered.
Right then, I remembered something. "Wait a minute! EmmE!" I blurted out.
"Who?"
"EmmE. You probably haven’t met her yet. She’s Amy’s friend from Raleigh, and she’s into all of this weird, witchcraft-type stuff. See if you can get in touch with her; maybe she can help," I suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea. I’ll give it a try. Well, I’ve got to go. Sandee wants everyone to get together and watch All Access tonight. This should be interesting."
I smiled. I wished I could have seen what AJ’s reaction to the girls watching the Boys would be. "Okay, call me if you get in touch with EmmE." True, I could have warned him about the girls, but it would have taken all the fun out of it.
"Alright, bye."
"Bye." We hung up the phone, and I leaned back. I stared up at the ceiling. Maybe hope was just around the corner.