Chapter 12
AJ held the door as Rachel slid into the front seat of Kevin's
four-runner truck. He closed the door and jogged around the back end and over to the driver
side. He climbed in and revved up the engine. Kevin had gotten his truck specially made so it
had manual transmission, meaning it had a stick shift. He claimed it made him feel more in
control, as well as giving the feel of a more powerful car.
"You ever driven manual
transmission?" AJ asked.
"Can't say that I have"
"You wanna give it a try?"
"Won't
Kevin mind?"
"What he doesn't know can't hurt him" he smiled back
"So then what do I have
to do?" she asked,
reaching to undo her seatbelt.
"Well you can stay in the passenger seat, cuz you can control
the car from there too"
"Ok, so what now?"
"Place your hand on the stick"
Rachel
couldn't help but laugh a little "Put my hand on the stick?"
"Yeah place your hand gently on
Kevin's stick"
"AJ!"
"Just do it silly"
She curled
her fingers reluctantly around the stick shift to her left side. "K, now slide it up a little,
you want your palm right on the top of it, or else you can't control it as
much"
Rachel slid her hand up so it was resting on the rounded top of the shift.
"Oh that
feels good baby" AJ moaned, pretending that she was touching the "other stick" in the
car.
"AJ, I'm not going to do this, now your making me nervous."
"You mean you've never
slid your hand down a stick before?"
"AJ!!"
"Ok,ok sorry, my bad." AJ became serious, for
Rachel's sake, and proceeded to show her how to maneuver the stick shift to adjust the gears.
Soon they
were driving towards the 24 hour supermarket, AJ at the wheel, Rachel at the
"stick."
Back at the party
Kevin carried Lauren down the hall and into the guest
room. Seeing two people going at it on the bed, he quickly turned around and walked back out.
He decided that some fresh air would probably be the best remedy, and
headed towards the front door. Although Lauren was incredibly light, Kevin found his arms
getting weak, and had to lay her on the floor of the elevator. Finally they made it outside into
the cool night air. As a soft breeze tousled Lauren's hair her eyes fluttered
open. Realizing she had regained complete conscieness, Kevin sat her down gently on a
bench
"Where am I?" she said groggily. Her head was pounding and she felt nautious.
"You
passed out, so I thought you might need some air"
"Oh" Lauren replied in a daze. "So what
should I do now?"
"Well what do you feel like doing?"
"Throwing up and
sleeping."
Kevin chuckled to himself "Well there's nowhere to sleep up at the apartment I'm
sure, unless you wanna join the people in the guest room."
Lauren laughed, even though she
didn't really understand the joke at the time.
Kevin could still hear the faint rhythm of the
bass coming from the
apartment."I'm sure you also won't like the noise with the headache I'm positive you have right
now"
"How'd you guess?"
"Experience. Look I'm going to go tell Howie or
Brian up there I'm taking you to a hotel. Don't move an inch" Kevin took a backwards
glance to see if she was still in the same place, before stepping back on the
elevator.
"Hey Bri" Kevin called to Brian, when he had spotted him in the
kitchen.
"What is it cuuuuuuzzzzzz?" Brian exaggerated the u and z on cuz (cousin),
and made a screwed up face before leaning against the wall and staring straight at him
with bloodshot eyes.
"Your trashed aren't you?"
"What does he win Bob?" Brian
said sarcastically. "You are right Kevin. Tequila, and Katie over there" he said pointing to
Katie with a shaky finger, who by now was worse then Brian."Are both very good friends of
mine"
Kevin
realized that telling Brian he was leaving was now useless, since he wouldn't remember,
let alone comprehend the message. "Well do you know where Howie is?"
Brian gave
him a confused look "Who's Howie?"
Brian wasn't being any help, and Kevin knew
he would have to get back to Lauren soon, so he went in search of Howie himself. He
found him by the couches talking to a woman who was laughing incredibly hard at
something. Her laugh was very annoying, as she sucked in her breath every so often
and snorted in a very unattractive manner. Howie looked relieved when Kevin pulled
him to the side. "Man that girl was beautiful until she opened her mouth" Howie said,
still watching her from the corner of his eye as she fell to her knees, laughing, snorting
and gasping all at the same time. He shuddered, and looked back at Kevin, "What's up
Train?"
"I gotta take care of some stuff so I'm going to leave. Just tell the other guys
they are going to have to find there own way home, oh and make sure B~Rok doesn't
drive, cuz he's wasted"
"No problem"
"Great" Kevin made his way for the third
time in 20 mins back to the elevator.
Back in the kitchen
"Wow what
was his problem?"Katie asked as she watched Kevin march off. "He is..." Brian didn't
remember what he was going to say, so instead took a sip of beer. "Ok, one more shot of
tequeeeela I declare" he shouted. Some other people in the room gave him an odd look,
but he was oblivious to them. "Yay!!!" Katie clapped her hands like a 4 year old and
joined Brian's side. "You grab the salt shaker, I'll grab the lemons." Brian slurred.
Katie
sprinkled a little salt on her arm (the smooth side) and was about to lick it off with
her tongue, when Brian grabbed her arm, and did it for her. She let out a giggle as his
tongue tickled her forearm.
"Its more tasty like that" he said with a grin. He
proceeded to swig some tequila and suck on the lemon."Ok your turn" he dabbled some
salt on his arm and held it out for her to lick. She was about to do this, but he suddenly
grabbed her face and pulled her lips to his. With them both being drunk, not having
control or knowing exactly what they were doing, the kiss lasted for a couple minutes,
and was rather messy, tongues everywhere.
"Get a room" a disgusted on-looker
yelled.
They pulled away and looked into eachother's eyes."I know a great place we
can go" Katie sung. "Lead the way" Brian called.
Nick was about to turn to go
into the kitchen, but crashed head on with someone coming out of it.
"Oh my God
I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going"
"Obviously not! Oh no my new
shirt. Shit!"
Nick was now facing his mystery girl and her shiny red halter top that
was now covered with her drink. Korrie laughed the whole time at the girl's misfortune.
Nick shot her a dirty look, and she immediately became quiet.
"Kristen what
happened?"Julie asked coming up behind the two of them."Uhh, I knocked into this guy
and spilt my drink"
"I'm really sorry" Nick cut in.
"Oh I'm sure it was an
accident, don't worry about it" Kristen said half smiling half frowning. She had no clue
who this guy was, and didn't know she had even danced with him earlier that
night.
"Hey Kris, I'm sure Rachel's got a shirt upstairs you can wear"Julie
offered
"Maybe you're right. I'll go upstairs and change"
"Here let me help you!"
Nick said quickly without thinking. All three girls gave him surprised looks."I
mean if you want I can try and wash that Champaign off your shirt. Kristen's expression
lightened at his fast correction, but before she could say anything Korrie pulled Nick by
the hand.
"Nick I'm sure uhh...Kristen or whatever...and her friend here can help
themselves. Besides you promised me a drink."
Nick was more than annoyed that
Korrie had just spoiled his chance to talk to Kristen, but he had said they would get a
drink, so he regrettably followed Korrie into the kitchen. He looked back one more time,
but Kristen wasn't looking back at him, and a minute later she disappeared behind the
hallway wall. His attention turned back to Korrie as she handed him a drink.
"Nick
come on forget about her she has a boyfriend"
"How do you kn-" Nick didn't finish
his question remembering the guy Kristen had been kissing earlier on the dance floor.
Korrie must have noticed to. Maybe she was right, he thought to himself. Again Korrie
interrupted his thoughts.
"You wanna go somewhere, like maybe the beach or
something?"
He hesitated for a minute before agreeing. He was a sucker for woman,
it was a weakness he cursed everyday, and so he followed Korrie out of the party and
away from a girl he couldn't have. Kristen.
Howie was feeling a little sick from
the smell of the smoke and was tired from being out late with Kevin the night before. He
decided to head home and reached into his pocket for his cell phone to call the cab
company. As he headed down the deserted hallway he wondered what had become of
Mary. She had left her post by the bedroom door by the time he had returned from the
bathroom. He was a little disappointed they hadn't run into eachother again that night
since he had been hoping to talk with her a little more. He pressed the down button for
the elevator and stretched his neck to the right and then the left. Something caught his
eye and he quickly looked back to the left. He was surprised to see Mary sitting in a
corner by herself with an un-opened bottle of White Zinfandel.
"Are you ok?" he
asked curiously, a little disturbed by the picture he was seeing.
"Fine" she lied. She
had been sitting there for about 40 minutes, and had been contemplating whether or not
she wanted to actually drink the whole bottle of wine herself.
Howie looked at her a
moment longer, but stepped into the elevator as its doors were starting to
close.
"Wait!"
Howie slammed his shoe between the doors before they
completely shut, and winced as they squeezed his foot before deciding to open again. He
poked his head out and smiled "Yes?"
"Nevermind"
"Are you sure?"
Mary
thought about the question looking as if her life depended on it, but slowly nodded
"no".
Howie shook is head and slightly laughed "Ok, good luck." Again put his head
in the elevator and pushed the "door close" button.
"There certainly is alot of wine to
drink, and I'm sure I won't be able to down it all. What a waste!"
This time Howie
stuck his hand out and flexed his strong muscle so the doors re-opened, not wanting risk the
injury of his other foot. "Is that an
invitation?" he asked turning towards her. He left his arms outstretched on both doors so
they couldn't close. Again she didn't say anything but this time nodded her head
"yes."
"Good cause I'm getting killed by these doors. He stepped into the hallway and
walked towards her, and glanced at the bottle of wine."Do you want me to go get some
glasses from the party?"
"No, drinking from the bottle is more fun and
satisfying."
"Alright" Howie didn't know whether or not she wanted him to sit down
next to her or what so he simply stayed where he was.
"You can come sit down you
know, I'm not going to bite"
"Uhh sorry" he said and sat down promptly."Real
smooth Howie" he thought to himself.
Mary picked the bottle of wine and took a
long sip."Ahhh, tasty" she sighed and handed it to Howie. She was surprised to find
herself feeling better in his company. Something about his presence was soothing."You
smell really good"
"Thanks" was all he replied. Her comment had caught him off
guard, and he couldn't think of anything else to say. It was silent for a few minutes,
before Howie decided to start a conversation. "So was there something you wanted to
talk about?"
"Well....." Mary thought for a moment and all of sudden burst into tears
before spilling the whole story about her and Jake. Howie sat and listened quietly while
she talked. He formed his words carefully in his head before giving her the best advice he
could, "Rejection is one of the hardest things a person can be faced with. God knows I
know what it feels like almost everyday. Anyone who goes on fan-websites knows I'm the
butt of every joke. I'm the one with the least votes of everything, the least cutist, the worst
hair. Or its that I'm gay, and that I'm only in the group so I can be with 4 guys everyday,
all day. But anyone who really knows me knows I want nothing more than to fall in love
with a woman, and some day settle down in my own house in my own little world. But
you know, for the thousands of people out there who don't like me, there are another
thousand fans out there with eyes only for me. And the fact is, is that I'd rather have a few
fans who liked me for my voice, my personality and not worry so much what I look like
on the outside, than millions of fans who only like me for what I look like. So you see
with this guy Jake, I mean he didn't love you for all you were. Only the material things.
You stopped satisfying his physical needs? Well it sounds to me that he liked you first for
your looks and physical appearance rather than what was in your heart, and when a fresh
face came along, he decided he no longer wanted what he knew he could have, and went
for another challenge. I hate guys like that. AJ sometimes does that with women. I mean,
don't get me wrong, the guy has a big heart, and is normally sensitive towards his
relationships, but sometimes, he's strictly in it for the looks."
"Do you think he's
interested in Rachel for her looks?"
"No, he really.....found something special in her I
guess. He's hooked. I've never seen him like this actually.. over a woman that it...but
anyways, back to you. I think you just need, to enjoy yourself while your here, and say
"To hell with Jake, I can get another man, just as quick as he got a woman" and not give
another thought to it. You deserve that you know. Every woman deserves to be loved for
who she is, inside and out."
"You really believe that?"
"From the depths of my
soul"
"Your really not like other guys are you?"
"One of a kind"he said smiling
confidently
Mary
laughed. She lifted herself up closer to his face and kissed his cheek."Thank you for your
advice, you're a sweetheart. I feel alot better."
"Anytime" Howie said, shyly
smiling.
You know I really don't feel like finishing this wine anymore," Mary said,
staring at the half empty bottle of wine."You?"
"Nope"
"Then you wanna go
back to the party. I saw you dancing earlier you're pretty good"
"I hope so. I don't
practice for hours on end every day for nothing."
"So you wanna teach me some
steps?" Mary sniffled and wiped her cheek which was still wet from her tears.
"I'd
love to Mary, really, but I called for a cab like 20 minutes ago, and since they know it
was me who called, the taxi driver is expected to wait unless the order is
canceled"
"That's not very fair" Mary laughed
"Yeah well what can I say, it ain't
so bad being a celebrity after all"
"I guess not. So then I'm on my own
again?"
"I'm not trying to get away from you. Look, if you ever need to talk, here's
my number" Howie said sympathetically while pulling his card out of his back
pocket."You guys have your own cards?"
"Eh, its a promotional thing. I normally
give them to people for the whole real-estate thing I do. For potential buyers and stuff like
that"
"Right. Well thank-you."
"No problem. If you wanted to talk face to face
I'm free next week, say Tuesday."
Mary thought about it for a moment. She wasn't
sure if it would be the best idea since she had only met this guy 3 hours ago. Plus she still
was hurting about Jake, and didn't really want to forget him so fast. But she agreed,
knowing she could trust Howie, and would at least have one guy in her life who wanted
to listen to her.
"Well I better get going" he said as he hopped in the elevator for the
50th time.
"Bye Howie"
"Good-bye" He winked his little wink as the elevator
doors shut.
Mary leaned against the wall and glanced at her reflection in the shiny
metal doors, but took two steps forward when she noticed something odd. "Oh...no"
There were big black smudges around her eyes and a streak of black running halfway
down her cheek. "My mascara!" she moaned. While she had been crying it must have run,
and Howie sat there saying nothing about it the whole time while she looked like a
freak."Sometimes Mary,
sometimes" she muttered to herself and headed towards Rachel's
apartment.
"Here we are" Katie yelled. Brian and her stood in front of a
large swimming pool on the apartment complex grounds.
"What are we down here
for?" Brian asked, the pitch of his voice rising and falling. The effect of the tequila had
now set in full force, and Brian and Katie were completely smashed.
"Why do you
think silly? Cause we were kicked outta the party"
"For doing what?"
"I don't
remember anymore"
Brian tossed his head back and laughed, but he lost his balance
and fell backwards into the pool.
Now it was Katie's turn to laugh.
"What's so
funny?" he asked, a little confused at how he had ended up in the
water.
"You!!"
"Oh yeah well laugh now" he pulled and yanked on the bottom of
her pant leg, sending her flying over his head into the pool creating a big splash. Katie
came up spluttering.
"You're a bastard!"
"No, I have a dad"
Katie was angry
for a minute but then the tequila took action again and she shook her head and swam over
to Brian who was floating on his back and singing to himself in a odd way, kind of
mumbling and mixing all different songs together.
"Briiiiaaan" Katie
cooed.
"Whhaaatttaaa"Brian cooed back.
"I think..." she paused, forgetting her
words and then began again."I think I rememmemmber what those persons in the upstairs
at the place were kicked us out for"
"What?" Brian asked not quite understanding her
mixed up sentence.
She didn't repeat her question, just said "This" and lowered her
open mouth on his and kissed him deeply.
Brian closed his eyes, and sort of blanked
out, and the next time he opened his eyelids he was standing on the floor of the pool and
was kissing Katie's neck. His shirt was now gone and was floating off towards the deep
end. She had her arms around his neck and was slightly groaning. His mind felt thick and
cloudy, and his whole body was numb except for the places where their bodies were
touching (just his mouth on her neck people, don't think dirty thoughts.)
"I want you
now" she cried.
"I'm all yours" he mumbled raising his mouth from its spot on her
cheek.
"Shouldn't we get out of the water?" she asked, but rethought her question,
and giggled"Nevermind"
Brian lifted her out of the pool anyways onto the edge of
the plastic siding, "Well I can't get at you with these tight wet clothes on, can I?" he
began unbuttoning her shirt and threw it off into the bushes. He grabbed her waist and
pulled her back down at his level and pressed her against him, fiddling with her
awkward bra strap.
Katie slipped into a deep abyss of her own, but was still slightly
connected to the outside world only because of Brian's slurring words and tender
touches.
Kevin walked back outside with a cold glass of water for Lauren, and
groaned when he saw the bench he had left her on earlier was empty."Oh no, where the
hell did she go now?" A cough from the bushes gave her away. He ran over to a group of
shrubs and found Lauren leaning into them throwing up anything and everything she had
been eating that day, including the alcohol.
"Uhhhh, I do not feel well" she
moaned.
"Yeah, you are a mess" he said. He knew he couldn't leave her like that, and
didn't want to in the first place."Here let me help you" he said sympathetically holding
her silky hair back. He was use to this kind of thing. The guys sometimes had little beer
busts on tour and riding the buses down some of those rough country roads in Europe
wasn't to good for a stomach full of liquor. So he had spent many nights in the tiny
compartment they liked to call their bathroom helping Brian or Howie or whoever it was
that had drank to much.
"Ok we're gonna go now" he said helping her up. Just than he
remembered AJ had borrowed his car."Damnit AJ!!" But just as he was about to kick
himself for letting AJ take the car, two headlights stared him in the face, and his truck
pulled up right in front of him. Both AJ and Rachel jumped out of the truck holding two
bags each and laughing, but stopped when they saw Lauren with her arm dangling limply
over Kevin's shoulder and her head down swaying slightly.
"Damn Kev, what did you
do to the poor woman, spike her drink?"
Kevin answered with a dirty look, and
shifted his weight so he was more comfortable."Hey Rachel, your sister passed out
temporarily at my feet, so I thought maybe I should take her to a hotel
room."
"Alright Kev, your not in highschool anymore. Yeah, maybe you were the
only one out of the five of us who had, in school, girls fainting at the sight of a pretty boy
like yourself, and you could afford to then take them to a hotel room and screw them, but
this is Rachel's sister we're talking about here. Let's show some respect." AJ said
disapprovingly, with his arms crossed across his chest. "No your right AJ, except that's
you, not me, who does that type of thing. And its not my fault this girl is a drunk, she had
to much liquor and just brought it back up over in those bushes, you should be happy I
wanted to help. So stay out of it, AJ. God!" Kevin was wondering if helping this girl had
been worth it in the first place, but immediately dismissed this when he felt Lauren stand
up, swing her other arm around his neck, and rest her head against his chest."Look
Rachel, umm I know I know your sister even less than I know you, but I really think she
would be better off in a hotel room than at your place, since the party is still going
on."
Rachel finally was able to put a word in about what should be done "Well,
Lauren would kill me if she woke up with a hangover in a hotel room all by herself. She
hates staying alone in hotel rooms as it is."
"Oh"
"Well Kev" AJ began, coming
up with a plan."You know what AJ, I'm sick of your shit for tonight so just keep it for
another time"
"Would you hold on a fuckin minute! I was going to suggest that you take Lauren
home
with you" he turned to look at Rachel and continued "Kev's got a huge place Rachel, and
I'm sure Lauren wouldn't mind waking up in one of Kevin's guest rooms, opposed to a
hotel room."
Kevin silently thanked AJ in his thoughts for his quick thinking."Good
idea. Is it ok with you Rachel"
"I guess, since there is no other option."
"I'll bring
her home tomorrow afternoon, ok?"
"Sure" Rachel smiled uneasily. She wasn't so
sure if Lauren would like the decision in the morning, but Kevin's eyes looked so hopeful
she couldn't help but trust him and know that he would take good care of her.
"Ok,
don't worry, she'll be fine." he smiled, and hobbled over to his truck with Lauren in tow.
He picked her up gently and placed her in the car "You think you can hold off throwing
up before we get to my place?" AJ and Rachel heard Kevin asked. They both laughed, and
waved as he pulled out to head home. When the car disappeared in the distance AJ and
Rachel walked slowly towards the door."You know we better get back to the party, AJ,
people will begin to wonder where the birthday girl went"
"Can't we stay out here for
a little while?" he asked sweetly.
"Well, that party is tempting so what will you do to
keep me here?"
"Ummmm"
"You're losing precious time" she teased. He grabbed
her by the bottom of her shirt and pulled Rachel against him. "Now try to leave"
She
pushed against his chest with feeble arms, not really wanting to go.
"Well I guess you
have to stay no matter what"
"I guess so"
He kissed her softly on the mouth, and
then proceeded to get deeper into it. She shivered as he held her, and he stopped
abruptly.
"Are you cold?"
"Yah, a little"
"Well that's easily fixed." He held
her tighter and kissed her neck.
Rachel had actually shivered because she didn't know
if kissing him was such a good idea after all. Everything had gone too fast it seemed, as
if he had jumped into bed with her, and hadn't given it another thought. But he hadn't left
her had he, and he was here with her now, right? She didn't want to stop there relationship
but.....
"AJ"
"Hmm," he asked not looking up from his kissing.
"Maybe we
should slow it down a little"
He immediately looked up into her eyes "Why?"
"I
just....I haven't been able to just breathe for the last few days, everything with you and the
job, and the party, it just kind of swallowed me whole, and not that I didn't like it, but I
just feel like everything needs to slow down a little" she quivered slightly, thinking he
might be angry, or think her a tease, but he didn't. He stood there for a moment, and then
gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Maybe you're right" he pulled away, and grabbed her
hand."Come on let's get back up to that party huh?"
Rachel smiled,"Thanks for
understanding AJ. But you know, giving this thing more time, means I get to savor you
even more"
He smiled devishly at her and proceeded into the building.
Chapter 13
INDEX