Chapter Three

The next morning, A.J. woke up and looked over at Chris who was sleeping, she climbed out of bed and went over to the phone, dialing information so she could find out what hospital Ray worked out so they could talk. She sighed as the operator put her on hold and went over to her suitcase leafing through it to find her 'Ray box' again, so she could keep busy while she waited. "Who are you looking for?" the operator asked. "I'm looking for Ray Barnett, he works at a local hospital only I'm not sure which one. Could you tell me please?" Two minutes later the operator gave A.J. the information and she found a pen jotting down the address of County General Hospital and then wrote Chris a note, telling him she went to find a friend and she'd be back later. After brushing her teeth and grabbing her keys, she ran out the door and took the elevator down to the lobby where she called a cab and then left for County General Hospital in downtown.

Ray walked into work, his usually chipper mood was a little down and this didn't go unnoticed by the staff. "Hey, Ray what happened? All the groupies go home for the night?" Jerry, the receptionist joked. "Not funny, man. I'm not in the mood." Ray signed in and went in the lounge to change into some scrubs before Lewis bit off his head. As he changed, his mind reverted back to last night when he saw A.J. again for the first time in five years. God, how could she still affect me like this, Ray asked himself. Soon a voice in his head shot back, cause you still love her you idiot! You should have let her just walk out of your life! Ray shook his head and went back out to admit, picking up a chart when that small voice he knew so well, even after so long said, "Hey, Ray." Ray looked away from his chart and down to his side, meeting the soft, luminous dark brown eyes of one A.J. Parker. "Hey, Aubrey Jean, what brings you here?" A.J. cringed at hearing her full name and replied, "Well, since you've called me that I guess I'll have to drink this delicious frappachino along with my house blend coffee and the blueberry muffin I was going to give you along with my cranberry orange crush muffin. Oh, well. I'll see you later, Ray."

As she began to walk away, Ray reached out for her arm and in the process she slipped and fell, landing directly on top of him as her breath hitched in her throat from their close proximity. Ray noticing how close their faces were concentrated on A.J.'s lips, wondering if they were as soft as he remembered. As he began to lean in to see and she seemed like she was leaning forward, she immediately got up and scrambled to her feet, brushing herself off as she said, "Um, I hope you like your muffin and coffee. I just remembered that I have some, um things to do. Maybe we'll talk later. I gotta go. Bye, Ray." Ray just stood there in shock as the petite auburn haired girl practically ran out of the hospital like she was shot out of a cannon or had a firecracker up her ass or something. All day long while he was at work, all he could think about was their almost kiss. He knew that he had to talk to A.J. later, so he set out to find out where she was staying and her hotel room number. Ray walked out of the hospital and decided to ask Brett if he knew how to find out that kind of information, hoping that A.J. would talk to him about what almost happened.

A.J. was going into her hotel room, when she bumped into her tour mate the lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls, Johnny Reznick, falling backwards against the floor. "Whoa, A.J. slow down." He said, chuckling. "Sorry, Mr., uh I mean, sorry Johnny. I just have a lot on my mind." "You wanna talk about it? You seem pretty stressed." Johnny noticed, eying the young girl with concern. "Yeah, talking sounds good. Can we go like in your room or to the restaurant or something?" A.J. suggested. "I'm hungry so we'll just order room service. You want anything?" He asked, as he unlocked the door to his room, letting her in. "Um, a glass of milk and a grilled cheese with tomato soup sounds good. Thanks." A.J. looked around the room and took off her scarf, she smiled when she found a picture of him and the rest of the band with Chris, all of them smiling for the camera and looking so happy. That's when she remembered what almost happened between her and Ray; they almost kissed. She couldn't believe she almost kissed another guy when she had a boyfriend. I'm scum, a voice in her head screamed, Scum, I'm lower than scum. I'm the stuff that grows underneath scum! "Okay, Parker what seems to be the problem? Are you home sick?" Johnny guessed, wondering what would have the normally perky girl so down.

"No, I'm not. I um, ran into an ex-boyfriend last night at the show and I went to see him this morning he works at a hospital here and we joked around for a little bit," A.J. says, "Then he called me by my full name and I pretended to be mad and as I walked away I tripped and landed on top of him." Taking a deep breath she finished with, "Andthenwealmostkissed." "I'm sorry I didn't quite get the last part. You might want to slow down this time." A.J. groaned as she fiddled with the necklace around her neck and replied, "I almost kissed the ex-boyfriend." "Now I see your problem and I believe he's about 6'2 with blue eyes, spiky hair and a cocky smile." "Ding, ding we have a winner! Yeah, it's Chris. What am I supposed to tell him? I'm not in love with Ray anymore because I love Chris now, but how do I tell him I almost kissed another guy?" "Babe, that's something you'll have to figure out on your own. But the advice I can give you is you really need to be sure that you don't love Ray anymore because even if you love him just a little it's not fair to Keller." Johnny reminded. "Yeah, you're right. I'll take my sandwich and stuff into my room. Thanks for the advice, Johnny, it was sweet." "No problem. I'm here anytime you need me."

A.J. smiled and kissed Johnny's cheek before she took her room service tray into her room and as she was going to sit down to eat, there was a knock on her door. Ray stood out side room 123, hoping that he had the right room and that he wasn't knocking on some old rich guy's door or something. It had taken Brett some time but after calling almost every hotel in the city, he had finally come through and informed Ray that A.J. was staying in room 123 at the Four Seasons Chicago on the 5th floor. A.J. opened the door expecting to see Chris standing there telling her he forgot his keys or something, but she was wrong when she opened the door to find a sheepish Ray Barnett staring back at her. "Um, hi." She stuttered, feeling completely stupid about how she sounded. "Uh, can I come in?" "I guess so." Ray walked in, taking in the hotel room it was pretty upscale but he could see the little touches of A.J. all around the room and that made him smile. "What do you want?" she asked. "To talk about what happened at the hospital today."