[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Ten

“That movie was so amazing!” Anna exclaimed with a smile as she and Gloria walked down the stairs of the movie theatre, “I can tell I’ll be buying it when it comes out.” she rolled her eyes at herself, “The ever-growing list of movies I want to own.”

Gloria laughed, “It was pretty good.” she shrugged, “I don’t know. I prefer more action...blood, guts. Horror.”

Anna shook her head as they continued to make their way outside. It was just past one in the morning, the movie they’d seen being a late one. The thing was, neither of them were tired in the least. In fact, they’d talked about heading over to the college coffee house hang out that was open all night that was next to the movie and it seemed they were headed in that very direction as the forming friends ventured down the sidewalk.

“I’m surprised that Howie and you get along like you do. He’s such a sweetheart and a romantic and you’re all for the drama and gory shit.”

Gloria laughed again and shrugged, “I like romance in a relationship. I love how Howie treats me. I love him. He’s more than I could ever ask for.” she smiled and bowed her head in a blush, “I still can’t believe he chose me of all the girls he could have...and well...” she sighed, not really knowing what to say next.

With a smile, Anna understood exactly what she meant. Romance was amazing and if a girl wanted somebody who went all out, then Howie was the man for that. Gloria was just one of the lucky few who got the opportunity to experience it first hand. Anna had known Howie for over a year now and knew more than most of the world that he deserved this refreshing, great relationship. And only knowing Gloria for a few weeks, she could already tell the upbeat woman was the perfect person for the man.

“Hun, believe it. Howie is crazy about you. I mean, he’s always been a positive person but since you’re in his life...gosh.” she smiled, “There’s just more to it than before.”

A blush actually arose on Gloria’s cheeks, but she hid it as she dipped in to the coffee house with Anna following close behind. They made their way in to the line which only had one person in front of them. The place was nearly empty due to the time of night it was. That was fine by Anna though. She preferred it to be empty because it would make it much easier to just talk without having to shout above rowdy students goofing around. The two waited until they had their drinks ordered and they were seated in a small booth in a far corner before either of them spoke again.

“So,” Gloria asked as she took a sip of her strawberry-banana smoothie, “How are things with you and Kevin?”

Anna sighed as she nibbled on her lip for a moment, thinking of the best way to answer the question. Kevin’s moods and personalities were shifting quite often lately. He was still himself in many ways, being sweet and kind towards her. There was just something different about him though. Something a little darker. He had changed in the most recent weeks, and Anna didn’t know how to explain it. All she knew was that it worried her.

“I don’t know...” she finally spoke, “He treats me like gold. He’s never said a mean thing to me and he’s always so great.” she shrugged and smiled sadly, “I think he’s slipping back in to a funk again and I just..worry.”

“What do you mean?” Gloria asked patiently.

“I don’t know...” Anna laughed lightly, feeling slightly embarrassed for bringing it up, “Just...some things have happened recently that has kind of gotten him down I guess. Like at his most recent doctors appointment...and then at the restaurant we went to about a week ago, he got some looks and all...” her voice trailed off slightly and worry crossed her face, “He was doing so well for awhile and now it seems that he’s falling again. I love that man so much. I don’t want to see him sad.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much yet,” Gloria advised with a reassuring smile, “Just show him that you’re there for him and not going anywhere.”

Anna smiled at her new friends advise. She knew deep within her heart that it was all she could really do anyways. Kevin was going to be depressed weather she wanted him to be or not if he was going to be. She couldn’t do a thing about it. All she could do was show him that no matter what happened she would love him and be there for him to turn to. Anna definitely had every intention of that too. She was in this relationship for the long haul, for better and for worse.

“I just hope he doesn’t think that I’m only sticking around because I feel sorry for him or something ridiculous like that.” Anna mentioned, “With as paranoid as he has been lately...” she was cut short by her phone ringing loudly within her purse, “I wonder who’s calling at one’ thirty in the morning?”

Gloria shrugged her shoulders, looking as if she wondered the same thing as Anna brought her purse up from the floor, digging her cell out of a front pocket. Looking at the display screen, she saw that it was Kevin. Laughing, she shook her head with a slight blush that he was calling yet again for the second time in a couple of hours.

“He really is paranoid,” she laughed, taking a moment before flipping the phone open, “Probably is freaking out thinking I am out with another man.” Gloria laughed at this as her friend took the phone to her ear, “Hello?” she paused for a second before saying, “Kevin...please...slow down. I can’t understand you, baby. What’s wrong?”

This caused Gloria to look at Anna in confusion, knowing that something was going on and it wasn’t a good thing. By the way Anna’s face paled, she knew something serious has happened. Especially when the girl told her panicking boyfriend that they would ‘be right there’ before hanging up the phone, her hands shaking.

“We have to get to the hospital.” was all she said as she stood up already rushing towards the door with Gloria at her heels, both wondering exactly what had happened, as neither still didn’t know any details. There would be plenty of time to find out though. For now, they just had to get there, and fast. Something about the tone in Kevin’s panicked voice told her that this was a huge emergency.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin and Nick both sat in the waiting room of the hospital in paled fright. They’d been there for almost two hours already without having any word on Lauren. They didn’t know what had happened nor why or if she was even alive. Both men were shaken beyond belief though, and had been since Nick’s realization that the infant was not of normal coloring. Everything since that moment had gone by in a blur and then they were there at the hospital. Everything in between, neither man could remember. Every time he closed his eyes though, Kevin would see the flashing lights of the ambulance coming up to the house in a clear picture and he had to open them again to rid of the haunting image. He wondered if Nick was having the same effect.

“Have you gotten a hold of Aje or Jaime yet?”

Kevin looked up to see Nick sitting staring straight ahead. His eyes were red rimmed, his face blotchy from fallen tears. At first, Kevin wasn’t sure that Nick had spoken at all. After a few seconds though, the blonde turned to face his older friend making Kevin realize that he had spoken. The man looked like hell and Kevin knew that he probably didn’t look much better...if not, worse. This was an absolute nightmare. What made it worse was that they were being tortured by being forced to wait for any news. Shouldn’t there be something by then? Realizing he had spaced out, Kevin decided to finally answer Nick who was still waiting.

“No...I haven’t.” he replied softly, “How about you? Any luck?”

Nick shook his head, “I keep getting sent straight to voice mail. I guess they have their phones turned off.”

“Perfect.” Kevin muttered, putting his head in to his hands in distress.

All was silent for what seemed to be the longest of time. Both men had things running through their minds. Haunting things. Kevin for one wished more than anything that the parents of the child would answer their phone. True, they were on their romantic get-away. This was a real, honest to God emergency though. Who nowadays left home without keeping their cell phone on just in case they were crucially needed in instances such as this? He was in panic mode feeling close to having a complete meltdown. Feeling as if he could have an anxiety attack at any moment, knowing that Anna and Gloria would be there at any moment was the only thing keeping him sane.

“I wonder if they’ll even tell us anything?” Nick mentioned meekly, “Since we aren’t her parents or blood-related.”

“Like hell we aren’t related,” Kevin grumbled subconsciously without even thinking really, “As far as I’m concerned, we’re pretty much her uncles...” his voice trailed off as suddenly, he wondered if there would be complications with any word being delivered.

Another few minutes of silence passed. Nick tried to speak, but Kevin wasn’t in a very talkative mood, ignoring him. Finally, the younger man let up, just sitting in the shadows of the hospital waiting room with antsy anticipation. Both men had a different way with dealing with their fear though, which was making the wait even more difficult. Kevin preferred to just sit and think, no talking, no noise. His way of dealing was keeping everything tucked deeply away within him. Nick, on the other hand, had to chatter away and spill everything. He was comforted by noise because it kept him still and calmed. The silence was causing him to become stir crazy, shifting over and over again in his seat just to keep busy.

The seconds continued to tick away slowly. Kevin felt as if he were suffocating within time. Without even realizing it though, Anna and Gloria came running down the halls. Both girls were out of breath, frantically looking for the two Boys as they wondered what had happened and what was going on. Kevin looked up, startled at the loud thundering of footsteps and was surprised. He didn’t know why, for he’d been expecting the women. The only explanation was that he’d forgotten in his own misery.

“Oh my god,” Anna breathed as she bent down to hug Kevin, kissing him on the forehead. She pulled back and searched his eyes for anything. They were blank though other than a shimmering within them, “What happened? What’s going on?”

Kevin shrugged, “I don’t know...” his voice was monotone as he stared blankly ahead. He felt some relief that his girlfriend was there now, however just seeing her made him remember why they were all there and he swallowed back tears, “They haven’t told us anything about Lauren.”

“Nothing?” Gloria breathed in disbelief as she took a seat in one of the hard, uncomfortable seats next to Nick. Her eyes widened in fright then as for the first time they knew the person that they were there for. Her eyes locked with Anna’s, whom held the same look, “Wait....Lauren is here? Do Jaime and AJ know?” she asked a logical question.

Kevin shook his head while Nick answered this time, “They wont answer their cell phone. We woke up in the middle of the night and...and...” Nick just swallowed, unable to complete his sentence. He didn’t have to though for Anna and Gloria to know that something definitely was not right. Something horrible had happened.

Anna looked to Kevin who looked so completely helpless and lost. His mood proved what she’d talked to Gloria about earlier right. He was different. Only this time, he had good reason to be. She wondered what was going on behind closed doors with the emergency personnel. Having half a notion to breeze through the doors and demand what was going on, Anna started to head in that direction, but Kevin stopped her as he reached for her hand to stop her.

“Please don’t go.” he asked with pleading emerald eyes, “I need you.”

Anna smiled softly at him, “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Just hold me?”

Anna felt her heart melt at his request, knowing that she couldn’t turn him down. So as Kevin pulled her in to his lap, she didn’t argue. She just sat, hugging him close to her and kissing him on the mouth once. Kevin forced a smile of thanks, just holding his girlfriend close. She was his comfort, his security. As long as she was there, no bad could come...right? God, he hoped so. Kevin didn’t know if he could take another disaster to the group. They had been though so much and had just survived yet another with himself. It was too soon for something else to go wrong. They’d been through too much for the group to crash and burn now. At least, he hoped. He hoped that God would deliver some sort of miracle news to them.

With nobody saying anything, Anna looked over to Gloria. She had a look of uneasiness about her. She wondered if it was because of nervousness or because she had some sort of instinct about what was going on. With a sigh, Anna leaned in to Kevin as she sensed his distress. His mood was solemn and worrisome. He had reason to be. It was then that she noticed that her boyfriend was trembling. In fact, he was full out shaking. She pulled back and looked in to his eyes. It was apparent that he was trying to hold back tears, but was failing at that attempt, for a few wet streaks were forming along his complection.

“Kevin?” she asked ever so softly, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Kevin looked at her, trying to muster the courage to swallow away his emotions and tell her that he was fine. He hated to break down like this in front of Anna. He liked to be strong and show her that he wasn’t weak. It looked like that wasn’t going to happen though. Instead of denying his fears, he shook his head.

“I’m just afraid.” he said quietly, wondering where Howie, Brian and Gloria were. Nick had insisted on calling them and Kevin hadn’t had the energy to argue even though he felt that their large group shouldn’t bombard the waiting room like a pack of wolves, “I don’t want AJ and Jaime to hate me.”

“Kev, they won’t hate you...”

“Their daughter was hurt in my hands...” he cut her off but then suddenly didn’t know what to say, “They won’t even answer their phone...I don’t know what’s happening or why. I feel like all of this is my fault. Nothing is going right any longer,,,”

“Kevin, slow down.” Anna soothed, reaching up to comfortingly caress his face within her hand, “You don’t know anything yet and you’re already on the verge of a mental breakdown. Just try to calm down and wait to see what the doctor says, okay?”

Kevin swallowed and nodded, taking in a few deep breaths to try and calm himself as he attempted to do what his girlfriend said. What he didn’t know was that on the inside, Anna was freaking out just as much as he was. They all were. Only time would tell what was going on, but until a white-coated man emerged from those doors looking for them, that time would go by ever so slowly. All they hoped was that when it came, the news would be something positive that they all wanted to hear.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaime’s eyes fluttered open upon smelling something heavenly. She squinted as sunlight poured through the curtains which were drawn open about half way. With a smile, she closed them again as she snuggled in to the blankets, dipping her face in to the soft pillow upon the bed. She say there for a moment to allow herself to wake up a little bit more before rolling over on to her back, staring up at the ceiling. Turning her head to the side, fully expecting to see AJ still lying beside her, she was surprised to see that she was in the bed alone. Letting out a moan, Jaime sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

The candles from the night before had long since gone out. She assumed that AJ had blown them out at some point to ensure that they wouldn’t burn the place down. All of the rose pedals still remained however, scattered absolutely everywhere. They were like velvet to the touch of her feet as she stood, making her feel as if she were in some sort of fairy tail living it out in the real world.

“AJ?” she called out as she padded her way lightly through the cabin. She peeked in to a couple of rooms along her way to see if he was in an of them, “Aje?”

“In the kitchen.” AJ answered her.

Jaime rose an eyebrow as she headed towards the kitchen. The scent became stronger and sure enough, upon reaching it, there was AJ standing over the stove. She smiled at the scene before her eyes as she watched her fiancé scoop up an omelet from the skillet over the electric stove. He placed it on a plate that already contained a Belgian waffle topped with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate chips. Jaime could feel her mouth watering at the looks of it as cheddar cheese oozed out of the sides of the omelet, specks of pink poking through to tell her that AJ had put in some ham. He’d made her favorite, adding some icing to an already perfect weekend.

‘Good morning, my love.” AJ teased in a corny British accent that he was doing a horrible job at imitating, ‘Did you sleep well?”

Jaime nodded as she stood in place, just watching as he picked up two plates of breakfast foods, carrying them over to the table that already had glasses of orange juice poured, likely pulp free. He set them down at the set table that was done perfectly with three tall, thin candles burning in the middle to set a romantic vibe even early on in the morning...or rather gong on eleven.

“How long have you been up?” Jaime asked, knowing that this couldn’t have taken just a few minutes. He’d obviously gotten up some time ago to surprise her.

“Since about nine or so.” AJ smiled, “I wanted to do something special for you this morning...since we head back this afternoon.”

“You’ve already done plenty.” Jaime told him in disbelief, “I would have been happy with a piece of toast.”

AJ chuckled as he pulled a chair out, “Have a seat.” he motioned.

Jaime smiled as she took it, sitting down gingerly in her silk royal blue pajamas that hit her mid thigh. It was another something AJ had gotten her for that weekend. He definitely had gone all out to make sure that it was exceptional. She figured it was because it was unknown when they would get the change to do something like this again. She hoped that it was soon, but it was difficult to do things now.

‘Thank you.” she leaned over and kissed AJ tenderly once he too was seated, “It looks...incredible.” as if to prove her point, her stomach let out a low rumble that caused both to laugh, “I guess I’m hungrier than I thought.”

“Then eat up.” he motioned to the plate, “It tastes better warm.” he winked.

Jaime tried to refrain from rolling her green eyes, but it being such a habit, she found herself doing it anyways. As she picked up her fork, she cut in to the eggs with the side of it, picking up a dainty bite as she stuck it in to her mouth. She closed her eyes as she chewed, the taste like nothing she’d ever had before. She wondered if it was because AJ had made it out of love or if he had a secret recipe to make it that way. Wither way, it was incredible.

“I can’t believe that this is all almost over.” Jaime mentioned with a sad smile, “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself.” AJ replied, “I’ve had fun too.”

“I honestly can’t wait to be married to you. These four months are going to drag.”

“I know!” AJ exclaimed, “But it will be all worth it in the end.”

“Definitely.”

Their eyes caught as both just ate their breakfast for a moment. Every bite was just as good as the last for Jaime as she discovered that AJ was an amazing cook. She’d always envisioned him to me more of a ‘pick it up from McDonalds’ kind of guy. This just proved her wrong though. If only she could do this for him without burning down an entire building...

“How’s the waffle?” AJ asked, distracting her from her thoughts.

“Amazing!” Jaime assured him, “Better than any restaurant.”

AJ chuckled at her enthusiasm “I thought the whipped cream was a nice touch.”

Jaime grinned, ‘Definitely.” she stuck her finger in to the large pile of it atop the waffle, licking it off.

“Kinky.” AJ laughed as he mocked her, getting a generous sized amount on the tip of his forefinger.

Without a moments hesitation, Jaime reached over and took his hand in hers, bringing the finger to her mouth. Placing it inside, she sucked on it, licking around until every bit was off, continuing on afterwards for even a little bit. She enjoyed watching AJ’s eyes widen in pleasure as he moaned in delight. It was obvious that they would be engaging in some after breakfast dessert, if they even made it that far because at the rate things were going, they’d be engrossing themselves in those activities much sooner than either expected.