AJ paced the room, glancing every couple of minutes at his watch. He'd been doing this for the last hour and it was about to drive Howie insane. "Dude," he said tossing the magazine onto the table. "You are driving me crazy."
"Well, she should have been back by now," AJ said glancing at his watch again.
"AJ, she's with Nick. Nothing is going to happen to her."
"Nick is going to happen to her," AJ grumbled sitting down. Clasping his hands together, he tapped his fingers a couple of times and unclasped his hands.
"Do you really think Nick is going to do anything?" Howie asked looking over at AJ.
AJ sighed. "You never know with him." Standing up, he started pacing again.
"If you were so godawful worried about Nick making a play for Kyn, then why on God's green earth did you let her stay with him?"
"Shut up D. You aren't making me feel any better."
"Didn't realize I was supposed to be," Howie ran his hands down his face in frustration. "Look, don't you trust her?"
"I don't trust Nick." AJ stopped pacing long enough to glance down at his cell phone to see if he'd possibly missed a call from Kyndall.
"You're being ridiculous," Howie pointed out. "I can't believe that I'm putting up with this. I should be with Carmen," he shook his head. "Instead, I'm here with you, listening to you make up ludicrous situations for your girlfriend and one of your best friends."
AJ looked at him and laughed. "You're right. What am I worried about? It's Nick. Kyndall can barely tolerate being in the same room with him for an hour." He sat down in the chair across from Howie and grabbed the magazine Howie had been reading.
The telephone rang, and Howie was promptly plowed over in AJ's rush to answer it. "Hello?" He asked, his eyes bright with expectation. "Oh. Yeah," he said handing the phone to Howie in disappointment.
"Hello?" Howie asked, trying not to laugh at the pitiful expression on AJ's face.
"Hey baby," Carmen said softly. "He still there?"
Howie nodded. "Yeah. And I don't think he's leaving until Kyndall gets back." He watched with grim amusement as AJ started pacing again.
Carmen was silent for a minute. "Oh. Well, I was going to see if you wanted to get a movie or something."
"Well, if you don't mind Bone hanging around, you can come here and we could get one," Howie suggested. So they made plans for Carmen to come over and watch a movie with them. As soon as he hung up, the phone rang again. "Hello?" he answered looking over at AJ.
"Howie? Is AJ there?" Kyndall asked.
"Umm…no," he shook his head. "AJ jumped off the balcony in a fit of jealous rage."
AJ glared at him as he jumped up and took the phone away from him. "Kyndall?"
"Hey sweetie," she said softly.
"Where are you?" he asked more harshly than he intended.
"What?" she said with a small laugh. "I was with Nick. I'm back in the room. Thought I'd call and let you know." The tone of her voice was distant, and he could tell he'd hurt her by his unspoken accusation.
"I'm sorry baby, I was just worried," he tried explaining. "You were gone for so long and didn't call me or anything -"
"Didn't realize that I had to call and check in."
"Dammit, that's not what I meant. Look, I'll be there in a second," he mumbled.
"Whatever," she replied hanging up the phone.
"Looks like you just made a complete ass of yourself," Howie commented as he flipped through the movies on the screen.
"Shut up D," AJ said as he grabbed his hat and walked out the door.
"Thanks for wearing a hole in my carpet," Howie called after him as AJ slammed the door shut.
Nick had driven Kyndall down to a relatively secluded part of the beach. From there, they made their way to a pier, where they sat and talked. Well, Kyndall listened mostly as Nick rambled about anything that popped into his mind. Surprisingly enough, there were many thoughts that went through that blonde head of his. A large variety of things, ranging from deep and dark topics, to simple childlike musings. His mind was too complex to map in a single conversation. But every subject that they got on eventually led to Catlyn, leaving Kyndall with the impression that his feelings for the girl were by far greater than anything he'd ever felt for anyone. She had known that he cared deeply, but she never would have guessed just how much.
So in return for baring his soul to her, Kyndall divulged some information that she had sworn never to share with anyone. She told Nick what it was that made Catlyn so afraid to love. What it was that made her push him away. It wasn't out of disrespect for Catlyn that she did it. It was more out of concern for what Catlyn was doing with her life, fear of what would happen if she kept doing what she was doing. Kyndall never would have done what she knew Catlyn would consider betrayal, if she didn't think it was what was best.
And it helped Nick understand some about the way Catlyn acted. It helped relieve some of the pain he was feeling. He now had it in his head to figure out a way to get her back. To make her realize he wasn't going to let anything hurt her again. To let her know he'd be there to protect her from the ugliness of the world. He just had to devise a plan that would allow that to happen. Because although Kyndall had told him about Catlyn's past, she didn't give him a clue as to where she was so that he could set whatever plan he came up with into motion. And she wasn't going to. She'd done enough; it was now up to Nick to find his way there.
