REMEMBER to send feedback to the author, Jennifer and Kelly C

» CHAPTER FIVE «

At the restaurant, Howie and Jenny talked about their lives and their families and friends. Then Howie brings up the subject of Jenny's parents.

"Jenny, May I ask you something?"

Jenny nods, "Sure."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. How did your parents die? Was it an accident?"

Jenny sighs and explains what happened.

"It was about 6 months ago, Kelly and I were living with my dad,... they were divorced." she explained.

Howie nodded and waited for her to continue.

"Well, anyways, My parents decided to go to a party. But the thing is... the party they went to was at a bar. They didn't know they were going to the same party until they got there. My mom was there first, and then my dad walked in. My dad saw my mom immediately and was about to leave, when his friends asked him to stay. My dad agreed, as long as my mom didn't bother him. He stayed and had a lot of fun, ...so did my mom...but then they bumped into each other, and they started to fight.  They were both drunk and it got a little loud, so the host decided to kick them out."

Howie looks confused.

"How do you know what happened at the party?"

"I got the information from the host of the party. He called saying, my parents were on the way home, and explained what happened, that's how."

Howie nods and waits for her to continue.

"My parents didn't believe in drinking and driving, so they called a cab. And since my mom's house was on the way to my dad's house, they shared one.  They were about five blocks away from the party, when..."

Jenny started to tear up. Howie gave her a napkin to wipe her eyes and held her hand to comfort her, waiting for her to continue.

"You don't have to continue..." he whispered.

Jenny shook her head and continued, "They were about five blocks away from the party, when they were hit by a commercial truck. You know those giant trucks that carry products to a company or store?"

Howie nodded and held her hand tighter.

"The cab was just about to turn the corner, when the truck came out of no where, and crashed into them."

Jenny started to tear up again.

"They were all killed instantly. The driver of the cab, my parents, and the truck driver. " She whispered.

The impact on the story got too much for Jenny, and she got up and went to the bathroom.  Howie looked after her, and got up himself.  He went to the bathroom, and knocked.  No one answered, so looking around, he went in.  Jenny was at the sink, trying to compose herself.  Howie walked up to her and gave her a hug.

He whispered, "It's okay, it's okay. Everything's all right now....."

After the restaurant, they decided to go to a dance club in town. They danced for a couple hours, and took a break. They continued to talk about Jenny's parents.

"Thank you, Howie."

"For what?"

"For listening to me, about my parents. I don't think I can talk about them without crying, even a little."

"Well, I sort of know what you're going through. I still can't talk about Caroline sometimes, without getting a little misty. It's only been a few months. I know you hear about this a lot, but,... it will get better."

Jenny nods, "I know. It's just a little early for me to talk about it, I guess I'm still in the mourning stage."

"What about Kelly? How is she, when the subject comes up?"

"Well, Kelly is sort of like the tough one of the family. She tries to hide it, when she talks about them, but inside,... I know it's killing her.  She doesn't really talk about it much, because she thinks it will break her, you know?"

Howie nods, understanding. A slow song comes on, Howie listens to it a little and realizes that it's one of the Backstreet Boys songs called, "Spanish Eyes". He gets up and offers his hand.

"You want to dance?"

Jenny smiles and nods. She takes his hand and they walk to the dance floor. They dance so slowly, it seems like they are just standing there, holding each other. During the song, Howie looks at Jenny. She looks up at Howie's face and sees something in his eyes, that seems so full of love. Howie looks so deeply in Jenny's eyes, and slowly lowers his head. He closes his eyes and kisses her so softly and lightly, that she hardly feels it.  Jenny smiles and puts her head on his shoulder, and they sway to the music. Howie closes his eyes and just holds her tightly. After the song ends, they walk back to the table, and instead of sitting across from each other. Howie sits next to Jenny and holds her in the booth.

Jenny, never wanting to leave...asks him, "What time is it?" she whispers.

Howie looks at his watch, "It's 11:30, do you want to leave?"

Jenny shakes her head, "No, but we better. Kelly and the others will probably wonder where we are."

Howie shakes his head, "It's all right. I have my pager, and I told the guys to stay with Kelly until we come home, and if something happens, they will page me. We can stay out all night, okay?"

"Okay."

They stay at the dance club, and they dance to songs and they chatted about whatever came to mind. Suddenly, Jenny sees someone bring out a karaoke machine. She moans. Howie looks and smiles.

"Let me guess, you don't like to sing, do you?"

Jenny looks at him smiling, "No, it's not that, I like to sing. I just can't sing very well. In fact, my family tells me not to sing on car trips. The only time I  sing is in the privacy of my own room, with no one around."

She thinks, and smiles. "In fact, I wouldn't call it singing."

Howie looks at her confused. "What do you mean?"

Jenny nods, "I think I can show you, let me talk to the D.J. and see what I
can do. You stay here."

Howie watches as she walks to the D.J. and explains what she wants to do. The D.J. smiles and nods. Jenny walks on stage. The D.J. makes an announcement.

"Attention everyone, I have a special treat for you. As you know, this is karaoke night, well... we have someone who will be doing something a little different. Watch Jennifer as she signs "I Want it That Way"."

Howie, looking shocked, watches Jenny, she smiles at him and winks. The music starts. The D.J. played a c.d. with words involved.

"Yeah....You are...my fire." she starts to move her hands in the air, making signing motions as the music plays. She mouths the words, but doesn't use her voice. After the song, the audience applauds for her and Jenny bows. She thanks the d.j. and walks over to Howie.

"Well, what do you think?" she smiles.

Howie stutters and shakes his head. "How do you know how to do that?"

"I had a friend who is hard-of-hearing, and she taught me how to sign. I love to sign to the music. It's sort of my own personal way of dancing."

It was around 12:30 in the morning, and they were getting pretty tired, so they headed home. When they get to Jenny's house, they see the guys sleeping in the living room. Kelly fell asleep with them, on the floor. It looks like they were watching a movie, when they fell asleep. Jenny smiles as Howie walks in the room, seeing the guys. He smiles too.

"I guess, you're sleeping over tonight. I'll get some blankets for them." Jenny suggests as she walks to the hallway closet.

She gets some blankets and starts to cover the guys and Kelly, being careful not to wake them up. Howie helps. After they were all covered, Jenny and Howie goes to Jenny's room, and they find The Outsiders and they watched it on Jenny's bed. They fell asleep together.

While Howie and Jenny are on their date, The guys and Kelly are at the movies.

"What movie do you want to see?" Kevin asks.

Kelly shrugs, "Nick?"

Nick shrugs, "Brian?"

Brian shrugs, "Kevin?"

Kevin shrugs, Before Kevin can call out someone's name Kelly breaks the chain.

"Hang on guys, we could be here until the movie ends. How about we go see the new movie 'Big Daddy'? "

The guys nod and they buy tickets.

After the movie was over they walk out and laughs about there favorite parts.

"That was hilarious." Kelly exclaims.

They walk to the limo when a bunch of teenagers walk over to them.

"Hey, You guys are the Backstreet Boys aren't you?" The leader asked.

Brian nods. "Yeah, that's us. If you excuse us we're kind of busy."

He leans inside and the guy pulls him out. He throws him on the ground. Kevin gets angry and pushes the guy away. The gang gets into fight mode. Kevin stops and helps Brian up.

"Are you ok man?" Kevin asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Brian stands up.

Kelly gets out of the car to see what's happening.

"Hey, what's going on?" She looks at the gang. "Is everything alright?"

The rest of the group come outside with her. Kevin glares at the gang.

"Everything's fine. Get back in the limo."

The gang leader sees Kelly and grabs her.

"Who's this? Your girlfriend?"

He tosses her behind him and the gang holds her.

"Let her go!" Nick yells.

"Or else what?" The leader taunts.

Nick pulls out his phone and dials a number. A muffled ring comes from the limo and then a really strong guard comes from the car. The gang lets go of Kelly and she runs to Nick. The gang turns around starts to walk away.

"This isn't over." The leader growls. "You guys suck, Chain Skulls is better."

They walk away and go into an alley. Kevin watches them until they are out of sight.

"Lets go home, guys." He walks into the limo.

"Are you ok, Kelly?" Nick asks.

Kelly nervously nods and gets into the limo. They go home.

The gang members look to see if they are gone.

"Max, Why are we bugging them?" a gang member asks.

"They are ruining Chain Skulls chance to be number 1 in the music charts and winning the best music award." Max, the leader, replies.

"So, what are we going to do to them?" Another member asks.

"We'll play a little prank on them and they will be so upset that they will take a vacation and it will give Chain Skulls a chance to get the goods." Max says.

"What's the prank?" The member asks, worried.

"You'll see," Max grins evilly. "You'll see."

When the boys and Kelly get home, Kelly is too scared to sleep so they decide to watch a movie.

She sits on the floor and Nick sits beside her, wrapping his arms around her.

Kelly feels safe and she leans her back into him. They fall asleep.

When the movie was over, AJ turned off the lights and went to bed on the couch. The guys all fall asleep, just as soon as Jenny and Howie walks in.

¤ Chapter 6 ¤
REMEMBER to send feedback to the author, Jennifer and Kelly C