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"So, Lauren, you never told us where you're from," commented Kevin, as the six sat in a booth in Mc Donalds. "Yeah," chimed in Nick, "I mean, we barely know anything about you, and we've been sitting here eating with you! I mean, you could be some weirdo or something!"
"Good one Nick," remarked AJ, "remind me never to take you when we go and pick up chicks!" Lauren laughed and chewed on her french fry. "Well Nick," she said, "If you must know, I'm from Toronto and I'm here visiting." This wasn't a lie, but a feeling of uneasiness washed over her while saying this.
The boys nodded, as Lauren fiddled nervously with the straw of her drink. She tried to think of something else to say to fill the emptiness. "So what are you all doing after this?" she asked, hoping that this would start a conversation.
"Something with you, of course!" said Howie, winking at Lauren. She smiled happily. She hadn't even known these guys for an hour, and already she had impressions of them all. Howie was the charming 'ladies' man', Nick was the cutesy smiley one, Kevin was the quiet reserved one, Brian was the goofy one, and AJ was the outrageous one.
She had examined AJ on the car ride to Mc Donalds. She had marveled at the color of his hair, but was amazed at all his piercings! He by far had the most earrings in the group, and even had a tatoo! She wondered how many tatoos weren't visible to the eye!
"How old are you guys?" she said suddenly, even though she already knew how old AJ was. "I'm 23," offered Howie, then was followed by Brian, "I'm 22." AJ quickly added, "I'm 19," followed by Kevin saying, "I'm 25," and Nick saying, "and I'm 17!"
"Cool..." said Lauren, nodding her head, but then did a double take. "Whoah, wait a sec! Nick, you're 17?! You're only 17?!"
Nick nodded proudly. "Yup!" he exclaimed, puffing out his chest, "I know I seem much more mature and all...."
"Nicky, don't push it!" warned Brian laughing. They all laughed, as Kevin asked, "Lauren, how old are you?" Lauren answered, "I'm 20." The guys all nodded and continued eating. Lauren watched AJ out of the corner of her eye. She was beating herself up inside for not telling him they were brother and sister before, but now hardly seemed the right time. It also seemed weird that they could be related! He seemed so different, yet something was very familiar.
"So are you up for it?" asked Howie, as Lauren suddenly snapped back to reality. "Um, what?" asked Lauren sheepishly.
"She's in la-la land!" laughed Nick, his blue eyes sparkling. Lauren blushed and shrugged. "Will you let us give you a grand tour of the city?" asked Howie again.
"Of course," answered Lauren, this time smiling confidently. She glanced at AJ, who replied with, "Good," as he winked. Those same butterflies reappeared in her stomach. She wasn't quite sure what she was getting herself into.
"It's settled then," said Brian, "we'll pick you up tomorrow at eleven thirty in the morning...you better be ready!"
"Eleven thirty?" AJ whined jokingly, "how will I ever have time to fix my hair?!" Lauren burst out laughing, as AJ proudly patted his head.
The meals were soon finished and Lauren and the boys went their separate ways. "Remember, we'll be at your hotel at eleven thirty!" called Brian to Lauren, as she got in her cab. She nodded, smiled and waved.
As soon as she was out of sight, she let out a huge breath that she seemed to have been holding. 'Oh no,' she thought to herself, 'why am I getting into this? Maybe my mom was right....'
But then she thought of her mother back in Toronto, and how she had told her about her long lost family for a reason. 'I came here for a reason,' she concluded, 'and I don't intend to come home to Toronto without having a father AND a brother.'
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Lauren looked in the mirror, about two minutes before AJ, Howie, Kevin, Nick and Brian were scheduled to pick her up outside the hotel. "Why am I so nervous?" she said aloud to her reflection, "these are just normal guys!"
But the fact was, she was scared to death. It wasn't Nick or Kevin or any of the other guys she was scared of....it was AJ. She was scared to tell him....but she decided today would be the day.
She grabbed her purse and headed out the door to the elevator. On the way down she glanced again in the mirror on the wall of the elevator, this time examining her features.
When she had gotten back to the hotel from her outing with the boys, she had done a little research. She had gone across the street to the convenience store and seen, on the magazine rack, a couple magazines with their pictures on the cover. She felt ridiculous buying "Tiger Beat" and "SuperTeen", but she did, and took them back to her room.
There, she read all the Backstreet Boys articles and studied them carefully. "Nick's favorite food is pizza.....AJ owns 250 pairs of sunglasses...." these were just some of the facts the magazine dished out which Lauren found hilarious!
But there she was, looking at herself in the mirror in the elevator. For Lauren it was so apparent they were related; the more she looked at herself and AJ, she found more and more similarities. She had the exact same eyes as AJ did.....as well as Robert.
She got off the elevator at the lobby and walked outside to the driveway. As soon as the warm Florida sun hit her eyes, she saw the guys standing beside two cars. 'Well, here I go,' she thought to herself, as she took a deep breath and started toward the cars.
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