Five
Men, A Kid, And A Baby
Story by Daisy
~~*Chapter Seven*~~
“Backstreet Boy Has Secret Family?” AJ cried, rifling through the tabloid. He saw pictures of him, Hope, Ally, and Lexy running through the airport. They had captured when AJ had transferred a sleeping Ally over to Hope. He had to admit, it was pretty convincing.
“What’s wrong AJ?” Brian walked over to him, Ally on his hip.
“This is what’s wrong!” He shoved the tabloid to Brian who studied
the pictures closely. “This looks so real…”
“I know!” AJ ran both hands through his hair. “That is what’s so
frustrating about it! I’m not in a “secret family” and this”
he grabbed the paper. “Is not real!”
At that moment Lexy walked into the room, wearing one of AJ’s favorite
pair of sunglasses. AJ stalked over to her and ripped them off.
“Come on, Alexa. We’re leaving.” He grabbed her hand and her
backpack from the bed, packing it hastily. He handed it to her and she put it
on. AJ grabbed Ally from Brian’s arms and walked out of the hotel room and
towards the parking lot to his car. Just as he was about to step out the hotel
lobby, Hope came walking through the doors. AJ rolled his eyes. Great,
just who I wanted to see.
“Hey, AJ!” Hope stopped in front of him. AJ was seething.
“Hello, Hope.” His tone was bitter and she stepped back
instinctively.
“AJ, what’s wrong?” She reached over to play with Ally’s hair but
AJ pulled back with Ally in his arms. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You want to know what’s wrong with me, Hope?” AJ walked over to
the newsstand in the lobby, grabbing a tabloid with their picture on it. “This
is what’s wrong!” He cried, throwing the paper at her. He watched her
expression as she skimmed over the paper.
“Nothing’s wrong with this AJ. There isn’t one thing bad in
here.” She shook the paper at him. Lexy cowered behind AJ’s leg, afraid.
“Everything is wrong with that! They think I have kids and a wife!”
“You do have kids!” Hope was screaming now. She couldn’t believe how
she could ever have thought of kissing this man.
“Yes, and now they know. You
know what this could do to our image?” AJ adjusted Ally on his hip. “Two
kids show up out of nowhere into a Backstreet Boy’s life and the press are
going to eat it up. Now, they also think that we’re
married. That’s all we’ll hear about for the next two months. Not the new
album, not our world tour. We’ll hear all about my secret family.” AJ
uttered the last words so heatedly that saliva flew onto Hope’s face.
Tears began to well in her eyes as AJ pushed his way past her, pulling
Lexy along behind him. He buckled them into the passenger seat and got in. He
sped off, not knowing where to drive. They drove around aimlessly for half an
hour before AJ stopped at a phone booth. He grabbed the directory and looked
through it.
“Olsen, Omen…Orphanage!” AJ ripped out the page and got back into
the car. He drove to the street that the phone book said it was on and found it.
He parked and took a deep breath before getting out. He got the girls, carrying
Ally, leading Lexy with a hand on her back. He led them into the building,
cringing from the immediate smell that welcomed them.
“Stay here,” He whispered, motioning towards a bench. AJ wandered
around, searching for some type of office. He peeked in room after room and saw
the same scene repeated. Kids of all ages were moping around aimlessly with sad,
tired looks on their old-looking faces. AJ shuddered and turned back in the
direction he had come from.
“Come on, girls. Let’s go.” AJ’s voice was gentler now. He picked
up Ally and reached for Lexy’s hand, leading them out of the orphanage. They
walked silently to the car and got in. AJ sat with his hands on the wheel
thinking about what he had almost done. He turned to look at Lexy and found that
she was staring at him.
“Why did you go in there?” Her voice was soft and trembling.
“I…I don’t know, Lexy.” He answered honestly. “Do you wanna go
to the park?” She nodded and he started the car.
Later, he sat alone, watching Lexy help Ally down the slide. He took a
bite of his hamburger but didn’t taste it.
What am I doing with these two
kids? He thought. Lexy picked Ally up from the sand and dusted her off. AJ
smiled. Such good kids. Why did they have
to get stuck with me? Why did they have to have such a hard life? AJ stood
up as Lexy came running towards him.
“Ally’s crying and I can’t make her stop.” She was breathless. AJ
ran back to Ally and bent down in front of her, scooping up her little crying
body.
“Oh, Ally it’s okay.” AJ stood up and rocked her slowly, smiling as
the baby quieted. AJ walked over to a bench, motioning Lexy along with his head.
“Lexy, do you know why your mom gave you to me?”
“Because of Joey.” She said plainly, swinging her legs from the
bench.
“Joey?”
“Her boyfriend.” Lexy turned to him with dark eyes. “He used to hit
her. Then he started to hit us and Mommy brought us to the hotel.”
AJ couldn’t believe that some man could hit such good kids. AJ knew
then that he would keep these two girls, no matter what the cost.