Brian crept up the stairs with AJ close behind, both giggling like school children as they plotted their surprise attack against Angela and Nick. “You know,” Brian said momentarily serious. “They have been up here a long time – you don’t think they’re doing anything, do you J?”
“THIRD door on the LEFT,” Sandra whispered loudly up the stairs as she waved them on.
AJ looked down the stairs at Kim Ann, Sandra and Howie and smiled wickedly. “Brian, I don’t care if they’re at orgasm levels in there, this is just too good. Besides,” he added, pointing down at the audience. “Do you really wanna ruin it for them?”
Kim Ann scowled and pointed for them to continue.
“Guess not. Don’t wanna deal with THAT,” Brian said, laughing. “Okay, gimme it.” He held out his hand for AJ to give him the key ring he was clutching.
“I wanna do it,” AJ retorted, holding it out of Brian’s reach.
“Come on,” persisted Brian. “Let me.”
“I’M the one who dug through her purse. I get to do it,” AJ argued back.
“I’ll tell her I did it,” Brian reasoned. Now GIVE ME IT.” Brian grabbed AJ’s arm and tried to pry the key ring from him. They started wrestling slightly and Brian got louder with each tug on AJ’s arm. “Will……you…..GIVE……ME….IT!” He said through gritted teeth.
“Will you shut the fuck up?” AJ hissed back. “You’re gonna ruin it.” Reluctantly, he gave up his prized possession to Brian. It was better than not doing it at all. They’d been bored downstairs, and when Nick and Angela became the topic of conversation (after Kevin and Tori), they’d decided to scare them with Tori’s personal alarm. It was fitting for Nick because he’d been the one to try it out over the hotel phones, blaring it in the ear of whoever answered the phone. Paybacks were hell in Backstreet World.
Brian crawled up to the door and peeked into the room, motioning for AJ to follow him. “They’re sleeping,” he whispered in AJ’s ear, snickering. “I can’t believe they’re SLEEPING.”
“You are a fucking dead man, B-Rok,” AJ said, stifling his own laughter. “Nick is gonna come runnin’ outta there like a mad bull.”
Brian studied the alarm for a moment, then pressed it down and threw it into the bedroom. He and AJ bolted down the stairs, not even lingering long enough to see Nick and Angela’s initial reactions.
Outside, Tori and Kevin were close enough to the house to hear her alarm going off. “Well, Nick’s obviously downstairs now,” she said, laughing. “You would think I bought that damned thing for HIM, as much as he uses it.” They moved at a slightly faster pace to the house and arrived just in time to catch the shouting match the alarm had triggered.
“I don’t think it’s FUNNY you stupid FUCK!” Nick yelled at AJ. “I oughtta kick your ASS.”
“I didn’t DO it!” AJ shouted back. “BRIAN did.”
Brian grinned at Nick and Nick’s tone softened noticeably. He couldn’t yell at Brian the same way he could AJ. “Did you do it, Brian?” he asked, adding, “And don’t EVEN cover for dickhead over there.”
Brian shrugged. “I cannot tell a lie. I did it.”
Nick pointed at AJ threateningly. “YOU’RE lucky.” He was still pissed and he had to take it out on someone.
“I was so scared,” AJ said in a lisp. “I reawy thought you were gonna hurt me.”
Nick tried not to, but he couldn’t help but laugh. “Fuck you.” He wouldn’t have minded the whole incident so much if it hadn’t have scared Angela half to death. She’d about jumped out of her skin.
“Tori’s here,” Howie announced. He’d noticed her presence right away but didn’t say anything. He could tell she was highly amused that Nick had finally paid for his antics with the alarm. “I just want to know who got in my purse,” she asked.
AJ looked over at Brian expectantly and Brian smiled. “AJ,” he said, still smiling at him. “Why did you get in Tori’s purse?”
AJ’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You lying piece of shit!” he shouted, pointing at Brian as he looked at Tori. “It was Brian, Tori. BRIAN got it out. BRIAN threw it at Nick, too.”
Tori tried to maintain a stern look, but couldn’t help but hint at a smile. She said nothing and held out her hand to the group. “Can I have my key ring back now?”
Nick edged up as if he were scared to get any closer than he had to, exaggerating every step. When he neared Tori, he held his arm out and dropped the key ring into her hand and bolted back behind Angela, holding her in front of him. “Mommy!”
“Don’t get ME in the middle of all this,” Angela said, giggling. “You guys all ready made me deaf.”
Nick shoved her playfully. “After I threatened to kick AJ’s ass, I get THIS as a thank you?”
“Hey, man, YOU’RE the one always blastin’ us over the phone,” AJ reminded him, making sure that Angela understood that it was a well-deserved prank. “Don’t go playin’ all innocent just ‘cause you’re tryin’ to impress a honey.”
“Just drop it, guys,” Kevin interjected calmly. “I don’t want to deal with this crap all day. Call it even and forget about it.”
“Even, my ass,” Nick grumbled.
Kevin pointed at him and repeated his request. “Drop it, Nick.”
“Well,” Tori mentioned, looking at her watch. “It’s getting late.” She could tell Kevin had reached his limit. It wasn’t that he minded the fun, but rather the ensuing arguments that followed. “Let’s get back to the house and get to work. That ought to cool your jets.” She turned to leave and Nick noticed her backside stained with grass and traces of dirt. “Hey Tori!” he called out loudly. “What happened to your butt?”
Everyone looked and AJ added his two cents worth. “Yeah, Tor, what HAPPENED?” He gasped loudly and pulled his hand up to his mouth.
All eyes were on Kevin as they waited for a response and he scowled at them for behaving like he knew they would. “I hate to disappoint you, but Tori slipped in the ditch. I know it’s not as illicit as what you’re wanting to hear, but sadly, it’s the truth.”
“Uh-huh, suuuuuure,” Nick teased, punching at Kevin playfully. “That sounds like somethin’ I would say.” Kevin smacked back at Nick, but didn’t say anything in rebuttal. He didn’t want to come across as defensive, either.
“I think Sandra and I should get a break from working at the house because we did the dishes,” Kim Ann announced, changing the subject as if she’d planned it purposefully. She was more concerned about the work part of it, though.
“Kim Ann!” Sandra protested. “It wasn’t THAT big of a deal.”
“I just don’t think it’s fair that we’re down here slaving while Nick and Ange are upstairs SLEEPING,” she argued back at Sandra. “That’s a bunch of bull. They could’ve at least been making out or something.” She turned to Angela and smiled at her, waiting for her to say something.
Nick answered instead. “Just because we were sleeping when you guys interrupted us, doesn’t mean we were sleeping the whole time.” Angela just shook her head, blushing, neither confirming nor denying either side’s case. She just knew she didn’t want Kim Ann to know that Nick had spent another private moment being less than the stud Kymmi had assumed he’d be.
“Yeah, right,” Kim Ann snipped back. “I believe you.” Her eyes darted back and forth between them, and even though Angela didn’t flinch, she was almost positive they’d done nothing – again.
Tori looked at Kevin and he shook his head unnoticeably, just enough for her to see. “I don’t care who did what,” she threw out into the conversation to ward off another senseless squabble. “I just know that play time is over. Come on, let’s go.” She stood in the doorway, waving everyone through like a mother duck.
“Uh….try to watch out for the Amish folks on the way, Nick,” Sandra teased back at Nick as she slipped by Tori. “I thought you were gonna take out that family on the way here.”
“Hey, man, they need to get the hell off the road,” Nick quipped back, pausing to grin at Tori before he continued through. “I won’t be so nice next time.”
“That’s because you’re not driving,” Kevin said, dangling the keys in front of Nick’s face.
------
Tori sighed and looked at all the furniture still displaced in the living room of the Peace House. “We really should clear that out, don’t you think?” she asked Kevin as she tugged on her hair thoughtfully. “I mean, I want some place comfortable to put my things, and there’s no desk or anything.”
“We’ll find something,” Kevin replied. “You can always stay at Angela’s house if we don’t.”
“What? And miss all this madness?” She wasn’t about to leave them alone another night in the house. Everyone was a little on edge this morning and she could imagine how bad it would be by evening.
“Wanna check out the upstairs? There’s a bunch of closet organizers up there that I started putting together yesterday,” Kevin suggested. “Or maybe we can clear out people from one of the rooms and give you a little privacy.” He was hell bent on finding Tori a quiet place to work. He knew she’d changed her busy schedule to be there with them and he wanted to make it as painless as possible for her to continue working, despite her casual surroundings.
“I really want to get changed,” Tori replied, stretching. “I can’t stand having this dirt all over my ass.”
Kevin snickered to himself, remembering how Tori had looked when she’d landed. “I can understand that,” he said to her, smiling. “There’s a bathroom down here and there’s one upstairs.” He led her to the bathroom and then went on upstairs to check out the closets himself. The others stayed downstairs shuffling furniture around and joking around. As he ducked down and leaned into the first closet, he noticed a door hidden at the back end of it. Curious, he wiggled the doorknob to open it and it opened easily. To his surprise, there were steps up to what probably was an attic area. “Cool,” he said out loud as he headed up the stairs.
The attic smelled kind of musty and had lots of boxes in it, but it wasn’t TOO bad. He surveyed it for spiders and other bugs, but couldn’t see any. In fact, it wasn’t dirty at all. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light from a small window, he noticed a bed propped up against the wall. It must’ve been one that Kenneth had been wanting to use for the house before they’d stepped in and bought some. Kevin checked it for signs of damage and smiled when he found it was in good condition. He pieced it together and placed the mattress on it, checking again for cleanliness. Hell, even Howie would probably sleep on it….but he wondered if Tori would. She could be finicky at times. Yes, but now she would be more willing to give in about such things…if it meant privacy. He couldn’t wait to surprise her with his discovery.
-----
AJ hid in the bathroom with Kevin’s cell phone, calling The Alley. He hoped that Gary would be able to get him in touch with Lexi so she could come and rescue him early from any potential hard labor. He also hoped that she’d forgotten about the whole Nick thing, since he and Angela were obviously getting along quite well. He just wouldn’t mention it.
“Uh, hello?” he said when someone answered. “May I please speak to Gary, the owner?”
“This is him,” Gary replied.
“Gary, mah man,” AJ said as friendly as he could sound. “This is AJ, from last night.”
“The one that Lexi met, right?” Gary asked. “She told me all about you.”
“Cool….cool…” AJ answered. “Uh…..do you know how I can get a hold of her? We had some plans for tonight and I wanted to talk to her about it.”
“Yeah,” Gary replied. “She mentioned that. She had to go pick her friend up at the airport, but I think she should be back by now. You got a pen?”
AJ wrote down the number and thanked Gary. After he hung up, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to talk to Lexi. He started dialing, but was interrupted by pounding on the door.
“AJ, that you?” Nick called out, snickering. “What ya doin’ in there? Takin’ a shit?”
“What if I am,” AJ snapped back. He knew Nick would ruin his getaway if he said anything about calling Lexi.
“Well hurry up, man, I have to pee,” Nick replied, still snickering. “I’m not gonna die or anything, am I?”
“You are if you don’t get the fuck away from the door,” AJ threatened. “I’ll sit in here all day if you don’t give me some peace.”
Nick cracked up loudly and AJ could hear him yelling to everyone. “Hey, everybody, AJ’s takin’ a crap!” as he walked away.
AJ laughed, too. He was mad, but he still couldn’t believe how easily amused Nick was about the littlest things. “Oh well,” he said as he dialed. “I hope it’s as funny while you’re paintin’ and I’m chillin’.”
Lexi was happily surprised to hear from him. She agreed that it should just be them for the night and even said she could pick him up in 45 minutes. AJ couldn’t believe his luck. He hadn’t even had to come up with excuses about Nick being a no-show. He exited the bathroom, whistling, and was greeted by an air freshener being sprayed at him.
“Don’t worry, ladies, I’ll take care of everything,” Nick shouted out as everyone stood behind him laughing. “I’m goin’ in!” Nick ran passed AJ and into the bathroom, still spraying the freshener at him and laughing.
AJ rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I wasn’t even takin’ a crap,”
he
said to Brian before heading upstairs to get around. He could hear
Nick
yelling as if he were dying from the stench in the bathroom and
chuckled
to himself. “Dumbass.”
Links to other sites on the Web
Get your own Free Home Page