“I wouldn’t mind staying, you know that right?”
“I know, Nick. But I’ll be fine, really. Most of my things are packed for tomorrow, and I’m just really tired, so I’ll be asleep before you know it. Just go home and escort the guys to the exit too, except for Alex. That is, if you don’t mind staying a bit longer?”
“Ofcourse I don’t mind. Now guys, she obviously likes me more, so get the hell out of here so I can have some quality time with the most beautiful girl on this earth.” A.J. said with a smirk on his face.
“Ewh Alex, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were flirting right there.” Howie laughed and hugged Wendy before he started walking towards the door, followed by Brian and Nick after they had hugged her too.
“Don’t be scared to call me if you need to talk or something.” Brian said before he closed the door behind him.
“So sunshine, why did you want me to stay other than the fact that I’m the cutest one?” A.J. smiled.
“I actually want you to go, and come back in about half an hour or so.” She laughed.
“Aww you can’t be serious. And now what do I tell the guys tomorrow? That you threw me out instead of making out with me?” A.J. pouted.
For the first time in days, her smile was sincere.
“Yeah I do, now go! Owh and can you please bring me a smoothie when you get back?”
“Sure, peach-strawberry-smoothie it is. I think I deserve a hug for it when I get back though.” A.J. smiled.
“You’ll get your hug, don’t worry. See you in about thirty minutes!”
~~In the storage room~~
She knew it had to be in here somewhere. Finally after searching for ten minutes, she had found what she was looking for: Xynelyxoniamide. This one would definitely do the trick. This was all his fault. She wouldn’t have to do this if he had just asked her out, if he had let destiny take it’s course. But by injecting this into Ms. Bitch’s veins, things were all going to change. For the better, ofcourse. Well, for me at least, she smiled, thinking of how she and Kevin would end up happily married and she would have his kids. Miss Bitch, on the other hand, might not be so lucky.
~~Forty minutes later~~
“Here you go, beautiful. One peach-strawberry-smoothie and I brought you a brownie as well.” A.J. said as he opened the door, carrying a paper bag from McDonalds for himself and a smaller one from a local store with her smoothie and brownie in it.
“Thanks Alex, you’re the best. How did you know I could really use some chocolate right now?”
“I’m telepathic these days. And besides, women always need chocolate.” A.J. winked, but then he noticed her red puffy eyes.
“What’s wrong, sunshine? Have you been crying?”
She nodded her head, not wanting to discuss this though.
“You should’ve called me, I would’ve been back before you knew it.” A.J. replied as he hugged her.
“I know, Alex. I just wanted to be alone for a bit. And besides, I would’ve missed out on the brownie then.”
She faked a smile and A.J. did the same. He hated to see her like this, and he hated Kevin for being the one who had caused all this.
After they had finished eating, she asked A.J. to sit on her bed. “Alex, will you please do something for me?”
“Sure, anything. Shoot!” he replied, happy she asked him for help.
“Can you please give Kevin this?” she asked as she gave him an envelope from her bedstand’s drawer.
A.J. sure didn’t expect this and he really didn’t want to go and see Kevin, but then he looked at her and saw the despair in her eyes. “Please Alex, I would do it myself, but I can’t. And I want to make sure he gets it.”
A.J. sighed but then nodded. “I’ll try honey, but he might not let me in.”
“Try to give it to him personally. Please do this for me Alex, it’s important. And please try to keep your cool,
I don’t want you see you tomorrow with a black eye or worse.”
“Allright, will do and will try.” A.J. sighed again.
He would rather walk to hell and back then go over to Kevin’s right now, but he could not say ‘no’ to her, he never could.
“Thanks Alex. Now come and get the hug I promised you.” She softly said with open arms. A.J. held her, thinking of just one thing.
Kevin will be so sorry for saying those things when I am through with him.
~~At Kevin’s place~~
Kevin got up from his bed and walked to the bathroom, almost scaring himself when he looked in the mirror. He hadn’t shaved in days, his eyes were dull and there were bags under his eyes. He hardly got any sleep and if he did, the nightmares kept him company, causing him to wake up about every hour. When he was awake, he kept listening to the messages she left on his voicemail. He loved listening to her voice, and just listening to it would not cause her any harm, so he considered this safe, even though it didn’t diminish his feelings for her. He worried about her and missed her so much it made him physically ill. Every time he tried to eat something, he threw up a few minutes later. Just as Kevin was about to take a shower, someone pounded on his front door. He decided not to answer it, but then he heard a familiar voice.
“Kevin, open this goddamn door!”
Kevin sighed, not planning on filling A.J.’s request.
“I don’t want to be here either, but Wendy asked me to give you something personally.” A.J. yelled. His patience was fading fast. That asshole, he thought. He was just about to turn around and give up, when Kevin opened the door. A.J. was shocked with what he saw. Kevin looked like shit! Even though he was still angry with him, he now began to worry about his former friend’s health.
“What is it that she wanted you to give me?” Kevin growled, trying to keep his act up for he didn’t want to explain his behavior to A.J. for he would not understand.
“What’s wrong with you, man?” A.J. asked him, startled with the angry tone of Kevin’s voice.
“Give it to me.” Kevin snapped. If only you knew, Alex, if only you knew what I knew.
A.J. was getting angry again, and he felt that he was going to break his promise to her. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong. You broke her heart, asshole. We spent the whole afternoon trying to reassure her that we weren’t going to abandone her like you have. She was inconsolable. I hate you for doing this to her. I HATE YOU!” he yelled. A.J. almost attacked the tall man standing in front of him, but was surprised by Kevin’s tired and soft voice saying: “Give it to me now or I’ll just close the door.” Kevin was exhausted and just wanted to get this over with. He needed a shower, he needed some sleep and he couldn’t handle the things A.J. was rightfully accusing him of. A.J. was so stunned with the sudden change in Kevin’s act, that he handed him the envelope without saying another word. “Thanks.” Kevin softly whispered as he closed the door and as he leaned into it, he broke down, falling to the floor on his knees, crying for acting the way he had. “I miss you, Wendy, I miss you so much.” he softly whispered to himself, running his hand through his dark and greasy hair, as tears were running down his cheeks.
On the outside, A.J. just stared at the door, all sorts of thoughts racing in his mind. Something’s seriously wrong with Kevin. There is more to it than he has told Brian. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. I have to tell the others. He turned around and started walking to his car, getting his cell out of his pocket.
“Howie? Hey, it’s Alex. We need to talk...No, she’s fine. We need to talk about Kevin.”
~~~~
“How come you want to talk to me about Kevin all of a sudden? This morning you wanted to rip out his heart with your bare hands, I could tell by the look on your face when we were at the hospital. What happened?”
“I went over to his place this afternoon.” A.J. replied, looking at his friend whose jaw dropped.
“You went over to his place?!” Howie was getting worried now, because he knew for a fact that A.J. wouldn’t go over there just to ask Kevin how he was doing. He himself had thought about doing so, but after seeing the state Wendy was in this afternoon, he decided not to. They should all focus on her right now.
“No, we didn’t fight if that is what you’re thinking. When all you guys left, Wendy asked me to give Kevin a letter, personally, and so I did.” A.J. sighed.
“Go on.”
“Well, at first he didn’t open the door, and I was about to head back to my car when he finally did. He just looked like a dead man walking, D. Bags under his eyes, pale, he probably hasn’t had a decent meal or rest in days. And he could use a shower too. It was kinda scary, seeing him like that.” A.J. shook his head. He was not even near ready to forgive Kevin for what he had done to Wendy, but now he also was worried about the guy who saved his life when it was going down the drain. For some reason, he knew that there was more to all of this than meets the eye. “At first he snapped at me when I refused to give him the letter, but after I yelled that I hated him, he just sighed, asked me to give it to me, almost whispering this time. He looked desperate, D. So I just gave it to him, he even thanked me and just closed the door. It scared me to see the strongest out of the five of us that fragile, that desperate.”
Howie had already suspected that there was more to Kevin’s ridiculious behavior, but seeing how it was affecting Brian and Wendy, he had pushed those feelings to the back of his mind and focused on being there for the others. While his mind was processing what A.J. had told him, A.J. was staring at him, waiting for Howie to speak up, but he had no idea what to say.
“Now what do you suggest we do?”
“I don’t know, Alex. I doubt it Nick and Brian are willing to listen to what you just told me. You saw how Rok was with her. And Nick would probably kill Kevin if Wendy didn’t need him as much as she does right now.
We should try though.” Howie sighed. That sure wasn’t going to be easy. Not easy at all.
I could start by asking you how you are, but for some reason, I already know the answer to that one.
I have one other question which I doubt I will ever get an answer to, but I have to try and get through to you somehow,
otherwise I will always blame myself for not trying to understand.
I by no means want you to feel guilty, sad, angry or whatever emotion these words might trigger,
if they even trigger one at all.
Why Kevin?
That’s all I want to know since Brian’s told me about the conversation you and he had.
Just why..
You are the only one that can tell me the reasons if there are any.
I hope you’ll be able to open up to me about this someday.
It might not be tomorrow, it might not be next year
And that’s okay with me.
I can wait.
If it’s something I said or did,
I’m sorry.
I never meant to hurt your feelings
Or cause you pain in anyway.
I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me
I know it hasn’t been easy
You’ve done more for me than you can imagine by just being there
Thank you for being my friend..
If there’s one thing I believe
I will see you somewhere down the road again..
Until that moment arrives,
Goodbye, not farewell..
Wendy
Kevin closed the letter after trailing the words with his fingers as if he could hold her by doing so. At the bottom of the piece of paper, he saw some stains, probably made by teardrops that fell while she was writing him this letter. Her apology sent a shiver down his spine. She had never done anything wrong, except for making him feel whole again. Making him feel worthy to be loved, like Stacey had loved him before. Stacey..
Kevin sighed and closed his eyes. After thinking about Wendy’s message for a while he made a decision. He had to call her, he had to make clear that none of this was her fault. He had a whole lot of explaining to do. He wouldn’t tell her about his feelings for her though, that was still something he’d keep locked up inside. He decided to call her the following morning. Right now, he really needed that shower and a couple of hours of sleep, so he got up and walked towards the stairs, heading for the bathroom to take a long, hot shower after which he would go straight to bed.
~~At the hospital~~
She had everything with her as she walked up to room 358. The Xynelyxoniamide, a needle and a really good excuse to inject it was all she needed to make sure Kevin would visit Wendy again. She smiled with the idea that he would finally be her man, her husband in the future and Wendy would no longer be around to claim his attention. They would be perfectly happy, perfectly in love. When she approached room 358 though, she heard voices. It seemed to be the tall blonde guy, what was his name again? Rick? Nick! That’s it. When she walked by Wendy’s room a few minutes earlier, no one except for the bitch was there. Now the little brat was ruining her plan, making her furious. She leaned towards the door, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“You didn’t have to come check on me, Nick, I’m fine. It’s sweet you did though.”
“Hey, I’m not here to check on you. Brian kicked me out of his house, and I was feeling lonely.
A.J. and Howie said they were busy with God-knows-what, so I had nowhere else to go.” Nick pouted.
“Sure, Nick.”
“Really! Rok kicked me out because he wanted to take Baylee and Leighanne out for dinner. So now here I am.”
“Awww poor you..” Wendy replied.
Awwwwww.. Her voice was enough to make Debra sick to her stomach. And now Nick was ruining everything.
She turned around and walked towards a rest room.
“I’ll be back, you little bitch. I’ll be back later tonight.”
