“Kevin and I met about thirteen years ago in Kentucky. My family was on vacation and we were staying in the house next door to his. We met in the forest behind our houses, at this creek. We hung out all summer, and started dating about two weeks after we met. The day my family left, Kevin said ‘I love you’ to me for the first time, and I said the same thing. When I got back to NY, Kevin and I wrote back and forth. It was going great, until October. This is the part Kevin doesn’t even know about. We moved, and in the move his address was lost. I couldn’t receive any letters from him, and I couldn’t write him because I didn’t have his address. We lost all contact, and didn’t see each other for a really long time. This is the first time we’ll be able to talk since that summer.”
“Wow.” Nick sympathized, “That sucks.”
“So that was why you were so nervous about meeting the guys tonight, and why you got all pale and shaky when we heard Kevin’s car pull in?” Howie solicited.
“That, and you guys are one of my favorite bands…but yeah, mainly the whole Kevin thing.”
Kevin finally came back into the conversation, “Can we go inside, and talk, alone?”
The two disappeared into the house, and the others were left to wonder what they were saying.
“So that’s why you started yelling at her?” Nick turned to Brian.
“Pretty much…that’s when it dawned on me…I knew she looked familiar.”
“What do you think is going to happen in there?” Howie wondered, staring at the door the pair had disappeared into.
“Well,” Brian started, “I know for a fact that Kevin still has feelings for her. He knows it too. Kristen was his attempt at moving on, we’ve all seen how well that worked out. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that Lani might still have feelings for him, too, why else would she be so nervous?”
“I think the thought if his reaction would be enough.” Howie noted, “Especially when there are five of us, and only one of her. Something crazy could happen. Also, I think she was afraid she would ruin his life by coming back. Maybe she was afraid of what her own reaction would be to seeing him again.”
“That’s true.” Brian acquiesced.
Inside
“Why did you leave the concert?” Kevin demanded.
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of your reaction to seeing me, of my reaction to seeing you…”
“What about at TRL?”
“Same thing, mostly…I didn’t know what you felt, and I was afraid of being totally shut down.
“What about all of those other times…you can’t possibly have that many excuses.”
“Kevin, I was afraid, plain and simple.”
“When I talked to Howie on the phone, he said the contest winner almost didn’t come…why wouldn’t you have come?”
“Kevin…you are happily married. I didn’t want to come back into your life like that. I know that you saw me or felt my presence all of those other times, and I was afraid of what questions you would ask of my motives.”
“Lani…the song…I know you heard it…why wasn’t that enough for you?” Kevin was almost in tears, trying to drag out of her why she couldn’t have come back sooner.
“Honestly, the song scared me more than anything else. I was afraid you didn’t still love me, that you were really just very angry with me…I didn’t want to deal with your wrath. I still loved you then, Vin, just like I still love you now.”
Chapter Ten
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