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***RECAP: "What do you think the future will bring? Do you think you guys will ever stop being friends?"
"Never," answered Kevin. "Yeah," chimed in Nick, "we’ll always be the Backstreet Boys....we’ll always be together." And the four others nodded in agreement.***
Lauren switched off the video. She looked at Nick, who had traces of two lonely tears which had crept their way down his face. She looked at the other boys, who basically said the same thing with their expressions.
"Where did you get that video?"
AJ’s voice was rampant in the silent room. Lauren looked up at him surprisedly, not expecting to hear his voice. "I don’t think that’s the important thing, AJ," she answered, noticing the tears in his eyes, "what’s important is that five years ago, you five made a pact.....and that pact was that you would always be together.....the Backstreet Boys will always be around whether you like it or not....it’s just whether you choose to ignore it."
"Damn it, Lauren!" AJ exclaimed, standing up, his chair falling to the floor, "that’s not true...."
Nick stifled a sob from his spot on his chair, as Lauren’s face turned really, really dark. "Ya know what?" she said angrily, "I don’t care anymore.....I came back here from Toronto to fix things, not to deal with your stuck up attitude! I went to your mother, AJ, to get this tape....she wants you to be happy...just like I do! Can’t you see that?!"
AJ cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes. Lauren sank back down into her own chair as tears welled up in her eyes for the second time that day. "I just don’t know," she sobbed, "I tried...."
Just then, Nick stood up. Lauren looked at him....this boy standing in front of her crying his eyes out...and she just felt terrible. Terrible that she had ruined his life. She didn’t know if she could take anymore. She stood up and walked over to him. "Nicky," she whispered, "I’m sorry." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and began to walk out of the room.
"Bitch," she heard someone say under their breath. The voice was unmistakably AJ’s. She stopped dead in her tracks. She tried not to get angry, but she couldn’t help herself. "That’s IT!" she screamed, spinning around and marching straight over to AJ. She walked right up to him, close enough that she could smell his cologne. "I hate you, Alexander!" she cried, as her hand made direct contact with the side of his face.
He stood there for a moment, stunned. She, herself, was stunned as well. She had never slapped anyone in her life. All of a sudden, Brian began to giggle. Lauren turned and looked at him, just as stunned as she was when she hit AJ. He tried to stop, but he kept laughing uncontrollably. "Man, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?" AJ retorted sourly.
Lauren noted that that was probably the first word any of them had said to each other in weeks.
"Nothing," he said, between giggles. The other three also looked at him like he was crazy. "Dude," exclaimed AJ, "why the fuck are you laughing at me?!"
"Because," he said, trying hard to compose himself, "you two are fighting like you’re sister and brother!"
Another silence filled the air. Lauren didn’t even know what to say. She was all out of words....everything had already been said. However, that’s when it hit AJ hard. His lower lip began to tremble and the tears overflowed from his brown eyes. "Oh God," he cried, as he kept saying that over and over. Lauren didn’t even know what to do. She had never seen him cry like this, and she was confused. She looked to Kevin for help, but he shrugged, just as confused as she was.
"Lauren," he finally sobbed, "I’m sorry."
The tears continued tp fall from AJ’s eyes, and Lauren’s began to mist up again. "AJ," she said with a wobbly voice, "I know what I did was wrong, and I didn’t expect you to be able to handle all this news easily....I can’t justify what I did, but all I want is your acceptance.....I love you, AJ, and I want you to be my brother."
AJ sniffed loudly and wiped his eyes messily. "I just came to such a realization a second ago....I realized that you ARE going to be my sister, no matter what....I’m just so sorry for everything that I put you through....I KNOW I was being an asshole, but I couldn’t help it...for some reason it felt satisfying inside when I hurt you."
Lauren nodded, stepping closer to him. "I understand that," she said, "I totally do.....but if it’s alright, I’d want to start over....remember that day when we met in this very room? I wanted to say everything that very minute...but I chickened out...so here it is....AJ, I’m your sister."
AJ nodded and smiled through his tears. "And I’m glad," he answered, giving her a huge hug.
Lauren sighed happily in his arms. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders....and she was glad to be rid of it. But there was still something that needed to be resolved.
She stepped back from the hug and looked at the four other boys, now standing in the middle of the room. They all looked happy, yet Lauren could feel a sense of lostness among them.
"I’m really sorry for everything that’s happened," she started, feeling as though this was the twentieth time she had apologized today, "do you think there’s some way we can all get past this?"
"What do you mean?" asked Howie.
"Do you think maybe you guys would wanna become a group again?"
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