AN: Thank you guys for the reviews! They really help since this is my first fanfict. Keep them coming.

Umm…Chapter 6

BUZZ!

I'm dragged from my rather cozy nap with Andrew by an annoying vibration against my thigh. I felt my pocket first and came to the conclusion it wasn't my cell. It was AJ's. I sat up and moved carefully to sit on my knees next to him, resting my hand on his stomach to balance so we wouldn't topple out of the hammock. I searched for the place he'd hidden his phone.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

I finally found it and reached into his pocket. I looked at the front of the green phone and realized it was Lily calling. I answered hoping she wouldn't question me on why I had her brother's phone.

"Hey, Lily!" I looked down at AJ and willed him to wake up. Of course he didn't and I was starting to panic a little bit. I glanced around the yard as if anyone was there to pass the phone to.

"Rose?" Lily's voice was confused and I was slightly irritated at her for thinking I was Rose.

"No. It's Abrielle."

"Oh. My bad. I thought it'd be her since she's on a man hunt for him." Her voice now sounded happier and less hostile. I looked down at AJ again and this time he was awake. He was still waking up though, I could tell by his half smile and sleepy eyes. "Where is my brother anyway?" The hammock moved and I gasped afraid of knocking us both over. I felt AJ's hands grab my hips as he gingerly sat up next to me, but he didn't let go. I was distracted by him and he knew it. With a smile he nodded at the phone encouraging me to answer Lily.

"Ummmm…..he's….ah…" I didn't feel like explaining today's events to her or anyone else. I looked at him again pleading with my eyes, and AJ reached for the phone.

"He's right here. What is it?" He asked in a grouchy voice. I heard a few muted words but I couldn't piece together the conversation. He face hardened and he frowned. "Tell her she's outta luck and to quit calling and asking about me. I'm not lost; it's called avoiding crazy people. I have a girlfriend anyway." He looked up at me with a question in his eyes. I knew he was asking if our agreement was still valid. I nodded and drew a question mark in the air. The voice on the other end of the line ruined our silent chat. "Tonight? Are you serious?" He seemed annoyed. He snapped the phone open and pressed a button while he held a finger to his lips. Lily's voice was clear in the empty yard.

"Yes, I am serious Andrew Jay Clark! I want to know who this girlfriend is before you bring her over here tonight! It better not be another idiot bimbo like that, Lacey girl. You know how the 'rents act when you bring those home. And Rose will be here too! Could you have picked a worse time?" Lily was trippin' out and I was unsure if I should smile or be worried. I looked at AJ and his grin spread to a full blown smile.

"You really wanna know Lily?"

"No. I'm freakin' out for no reason over here. Of course I wanna know you fool!"

"Talk to her hun." He said looking at me. I froze with wide eyes staring at the phone.

"Hi, Lily." I said shyly while biting my lip and still looking at AJ.

"Hi. Who is this?" Lily seemed confused again.

"Guess." He said sliding the phone back to its normal self and holding down a side button. I thought he was shutting off the speaker but then I heard a click and Lily started talking again demanding a name. "I wonder about you sometimes Lil. It's not a hard guess. I'll send you a picture so you can see since you can add up two and two." With that he hit 'END' and opened the phone again.

"You could have done that with out hanging up on her." I said watching him pick out the picture he'd just taken of me. My hair was tucked behind one ear and the rest hung over my shoulder to my collar bone. It looked slightly wild, like I'd just woken up. My eyes where intent on him behind the little camera so it looked as if I was actually ready for the picture. And worst of all I was biting the inside edge of my lower lip. "You can't send that! I look…not like me."

"I love it. You look beautiful in it. I think it's gonna be my wall paper too." He grinned as the text sent and flashed me his phone so show me the wall paper was in fact me. I groaned and looked back at his phone when it buzzed again. He answered and put it back on speaker.

"Do you have a death wish?" Lily's voice sounded panicked. "Please tell me that wasn't Abrie."

"Yeah. It was me." I answered in a slightly angry voice. What the hell? Did they pair AJ and Rose off at birth? I don't think so, so why is everyone spazzing?

"AJ, are you sure this is a good idea? Does John know? And Rose is gonna-"

"Rose can find some one else to stalk. I'm sure of that."

"And John can relax. He hasn't had anything to say about my love life for the last sixteen and a half years, so he can keep it that way." I said. Lily was quiet then she sighed.

"It's close to five. The party starts at eight."

"We'll be there." AJ answered and ended the call. "Well this will be interesting. Who knows maybe if John doesn't kill me and I can keep Rose off of you, then this may actually work out."

"Why would John kill you?" I asked with a frown. "You're my boyfriend. Not his and not Rose's. Mine. They shouldn't have a say in any of it." He smiled and shook his head.

"You obviously weren't raised by the Club. Everyone has a say. Ever since they were young they've been in each other's business. Now their kids have no say, because they try to create this perfect life they never had for us."

"That's twisted." I muttered. He nodded and sighed. He was holding back something but I wasn't about to push him for information. Instead I looked at him. I mean really looked, and to my surprise he wasn't what I'd written him off as, but actually very handsome. I'd thought his looks were the basic well groomed rich kid format but I'd been wrong.

His eyes were a dark brown that seemed to lighten or darken with his mood. His skin was flawless and smooth except for the slight shadow of stubble along his jaw. Then I noticed his sculpted nose looked like it had been broken and there was a scar running through his left eyebrow. Every imperfection seemed to escalate his looks and I kept looking for more. There was a crescent shaped scar on the top of one shoulder and a large jagged one running down his rib cage. When my eyes wandered back up to his face he had noticed my inventory I had been taking. I felt oddly embarrassed, but I smiled at him.

He didn't smile back, but took his own inventory of me. I watched his eyes move over my face, and I worried about my own scars and imperfections. Did he see the scar on my neck from getting burned the Independence Day party when I was little? What about the tan birth mark on my arm? I sat and thought through every little bruise or bump. I looked anywhere but at him.

I was inspecting an ant hill a few feet away when his hand gently turned my head and bared the other side of my neck.

"Where is this from?" He asked as he gently ran his fingers over the smooth pink scar that ran across my neck a few inches above my shoulder.

"I was five and my mom's boyfriend gave me and a few other kids those giant sparklers at a Fourth of July party. The boy next to me thought his was a dud so he tried to light it at the middle. The way he angled it and the place where I was standing….it just ended up getting my neck." He nodded and I looked back at his ribs. "Where did you get that? It looks bad." He looked down and frowned.

"We didn't always live out here. Claire lived here with her husband Allen. Brian lived in the better part of Chicago. My family wasn't very rich…..more like dirt poor. My dad was having trouble finding a job, because he blew out his knee in college and most construction companies see that as a liability. My mom was an artist by night and a secretary by day. I went to a bad school and I got into a lot of fights. Finally one day in, I think it was seventh grade, a kid pulled a knife on my friend Amir. I jumped in to save the day like an idiot and I got cut up. Most of the scars went away but this stayed." He said it so easily, like being poor and going to a school where kids pulled knives on each other wasn't a big deal. I knew where he was coming from. Half the time it was my mom's boyfriends paying the rent and I was in trouble a lot at school because of me attitude. I simply nodded and touched the scar.

"We moved not long after that. It's not like it helped much though. We still all went to the same high school. Amir is still one of my good friends and the kid who pulled the knife got out of Juvie last year on good behavior." He let his gaze run over me again and his fingers brushed over a scar on my thigh. He looked up at me and I knew his question.

"I played softball from the time I could catch. It's from sliding over the years. The rocks in the dirt cut up your legs."We sat in silence facing each other in the hammock. I ran my hand through my hair. I kept avoiding his gaze and he knew it. Finally I decided that I wasn't going to sit there like an idiot all day.

"I'm going to take a shower before we go to the party." I said as I scrambled off the hammock. I looked at him as he easily slid off in perfect grace.

"Need any help?" He asked cheerfully as he stepped beside me.

"No. I can walk by myself."

"Not what I meant." He said flashing a grin.

"I think I can shower by myself today." I said when we reached the porch. I slid open the door and climbed the stairs to my room.

"What about tomorrow? I've heard I'm pretty impressive with-" He followed me the whole way and sprawled out on my king size bed.

"I've got it covered, so relax. Stay." I ordered as I left and went to the bathroom in the hallway for my shower.

The warm water was exactly what I needed. I tried to relax all of my muscles but it was a tough task. What are you doing? I thought it over and over again. A real boyfriend? I laughed at myself. I sounded like some little innocent girl. I had had guys before, just none I felt like bestowing that title to. Mostly skater punks or guys from different bands in the area, but never had a jock-like type crossed my path. And all of them stayed in the friends-with-benefits area. I had learned a lot from my mother and father's relationship. I'd also seen way too much heart break from my mother's later relationships to find anything good about commitment. I wasn't about to become a googly-eyed, dependent, no-life loser. That's what boyfriends meant to me. They also meant trusting someone other than you, and that was just something I'd learned to never do.

I rinsed my hair and enjoyed the smell of passion fruit and jasmine. That made me think of the way AJ smelled. A mixture of Old Spice and clean linen and fresh air, and for some strange reason I found it a comforting smell. Almost like the way chocolate chip cookies when they are baking remind you of home and people who love you. Only with the way he smelled and the way he felt when I was with him reminded me of being safe, like nothing bad could happen. I smiled when I thought about falling asleep with him in the hammock, but my mind quickly brought me back to reality. Idiot. You sound like all the girls you hate. With that thought I quickly finished up and towel dried my hair, then I grabbed a large fluffy white towel and wrapped up in it. Enough thoughts about him. I need to get ready.