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Chapter Three

Howie smiled at Gloria as he took her hand in his, kissing it gently. She laughed lightly, the sound just like music to his ears. He loved her laugh and wondered how he’d gone his entire life without hearing it. She was gorgeous to him, and he wanted to keep her all to himself now that he’d finally found happiness in a life partner. He seriously considered her to be that in the short amount of time that he’d been seeing her. He’d even go as far as to consider her being ‘the one’, as silly as that may have sounded.

“You’re so sweet, you know that?” Gloria told him, pushing a strand of her honey blonde hair behind her ear. Her jade eyes glowed happily as she stared in to his chocolate brown ones, just content with being with him.

Howie had met Gloria at a meet and greet for one of their shows. She’d been alone and last to come up to them. Her fiery, bubbly personality had caught his interest and he’d conjured up the courage to ask her out before she’d gotten away. At first, Gloria had been hesitant, questing his intentions. After all, what would a huge, successful male pop start want to do with a common girl? It didn’t make sense and she had bluntly asked if he was just looking for a relief for his sexual tension. Howie had laughed at that, promising that he wasn’t that way. She had accepted and soon found that he had honorable intentions, truly looking for a long-term relationship instead of a fling. They’d been together ever since, a month and three weeks later. Things were still strong though.

“What did I do?” Howie laughed at her compliment, kissing her lightly on the lips, “I don’t understand...” his voice trailed off.

“Just being you.” Gloria stated, “You are sweet in general...and the best damn boyfriend I’ve ever had.” she sighed, looking in to his eyes. Before she realized what she was saying, the words, “I hope that it lasts.” popped out of her mouth.

Howie chuckled at her, “It will...” he promised, “Because I want it too.” and he did. He always had been the big romantic of the group, falling hard for women when he was actually given the chance to. This time was no different, although this time on his part, he’d fallen a little faster and a little harder than usual. Howie smiled at the thought of his friends always teasing him that he had the emotions of a girl. Maybe they were right, but it was always what made him connect so well in his relationships...and then crushed so hard when she ended it, “You’re incredible.” he let her know.

“As are you.” Gloria sighed, completely content with how things were, “I can’t believe you picked me...of all of the gorgeous women in the world,” she stopped and looked at him for a moment before asking, “Why did you pick me?”

“Because you stood out.”

Gloria blushed, ducking her head slightly to hide the reddening of her cheeks. He was always saying the sweetest things to her on top of pampering her with the best of everything, even though it was against her wishes. She wanted to be treated as if he were any other man besides somebody rich. He insisted though, using his power to spoil her rotten. He had never tried to take advantage of her either in any way. Not once had he mentioned anything past the sweet relationship that they shared. He’d never tried to pressure her in to anything, taking things slow, getting to know her for who she was. It was the way a healthy relationship was supposed to be, but many took advantage of the further steps forward as soon as they could. She appreciated that, for it showed that he was genuinely in to her as a person instead of just some ass to tap.

The couple continued to walk down the moonlit beach, and Howie let go of her hand, snaking his arm around her waist to pull her in closely to his side. His arm went around her perfectly, as if they were made for one another. For the first time in his life, Howie felt as if he had something special, and now knew what Nick, Kevin and AJ saw in their girlfriends, or in Nick’s case, ex girlfriend. He finally understood why they all had fallen so deeply in love and why they went out of their way for them. All of his prayers were answered when Gloria had come in to his life, showing him the emotions and feelings that Anna and Jaime showed his best friends. Stephanie, on the other hand, was treating Nick how he never wished to be treated himself.

“When will I get to meet your friends?” Gloria asked softly, breaking the silence as well as his train of thought, “You know, hang out with everyone? I’ve heard so many stories from you about everyone...” her voice trailed off as she looked up at her boyfriend and smiled, “I want to be a part of that. Anna, Jaime and Steph seem great too.”

Howie laughed, shaking his head. He knew that he conversation would come up eventually. After all, every time he saw her, they were meeting somewhere private, away from the rest of the gang. When they went out, he always made reservations in restaurants in private rooms in the back. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed, for Howie wanted to show her off to the entire world. It was the fact that he didn’t want the precious girls face plastered all over the tabloids with rumors spread about her. The secrecy was to protect her. Plus he didn’t want the Boys hassling him and teasing him, trying to invade his own privacy. Howie knew that their relationship couldn’t go on forever like that, but for the time being, it was nice.

“I kind of like keeping you all to myself,” he teased, stopping in the wet sand as gentle waves splashed against their ankles to pull her completely in to his arms in a hug, planting a huge kiss on her lips. He then turned serious though, gazing deeply in to her eyes, “Honestly though...I’ll introduce you to them soon. I promise.”

Gloria smiled shyly, “I’d like that a lot.”

“Then your wish will be granted, sweetheart.” Howie smiled, tucking some of her hair out of her eyes as he cupped her cheek within his palm, sealing the promise with a kiss with enough passion and power to shake the universe.

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Kevin sighed as he pulled on his workout clothes, ready for another day of physical therapy...his first since his return home. Although it wasn’t doing any good yet, and he didn’t feel he was even close to ever walking again, he knew that it had to be done. The therapy, after all, was keeping him from becoming stiff and his muscles deteriorating completely. When he looked in the mirror, he could see just how much his body had changed over the past year, and not for the better either. To himself, he looked weak, gangly and way too thin. More than anything, he wanted to get his muscle back, but didn’t know if he was wishing for something impossible or not. It sure seemed like he was. Every time Kevin started to get discouraged and felt like giving up, that was the one thing that kept him going; knowing that if he gave up completely he’d be in even worse condition than he was already in.

That and he didn’t want to let Anna down. She had so much faith in him, encouraging him all of the way. Never once had the precious woman ever indicated that she didn’t believe in him or downsized him. She’d never sent him negative vibes. She was the reason he was even alive, for he’d fought so hard to get better for her. Anna had saved him right after he’d shot himself, and even though he’d been in a coma for so long, he knew that he was meant to live. She loved him unconditionally and he loved her more than anything. Disappointing his Anna would be about the worst thing in the world. It would be worse than being paralyzed for the rest of his life. Kevin knew that he could live with that. He could not, however, live with knowing he had let down Anna.

“Hi baby.”

Kevin looked up to see Anna coming in to the room. He smiled, seeing her making his heart leap. Her chestnut locks were swept up in to a high ponytail, her beauty showing through the small amount of makeup she had on her face naturally. Sometimes, Kevin wondered why she stuck with him and put up with him after all the extra baggage that the relationship came with that hadn’t been there from the start. Hell, she’d agreed to give things a chance after things had started to go down hill. Never once had he questioned her feelings though. He had Anna and that was all that really mattered to him. Showing his weakness and low confidence in himself would only be unattractive.

“Hey darling,” Kevin greeted with a smile, raising his eyes in quizzical confusion when he saw her purse strung over her shoulder, “Are you leaving?”

Anna laughed, “Yes...you always ask me to leave during your sessions.” she looked at him somewhat bewildered.

Kevin chuckled as he leaned over, struggling only slightly to put on his socks and then shoes. He’d come so far in what he was able to do for himself in the past year and some months. Even if he didn’t see it, Anna definitely could. It was incredible to her and she was so proud of her boyfriend in so many ways, just watching him with a smile on her face. Amazed was putting it mildly at how she felt about his progress. Sure, he couldn’t walk, however he could near master everything else in his life without the help from anybody. Kevin agreeing to tour, and then doing so fantastically, had been a huge step in showing that he was healing faster than anybody realized or chose to see. Everybody but herself and the Boys, that was.

“I was thinking that maybe it’s time you start sticking around.” Kevin offered, “It’s a new start in our lives...what do you say?”

Anna raised an eyebrow, “But I though...I mean you were always so embarrassed...are you sure?” she stammered, wondering why Kevin was having such a sudden change in attitude about things.

“Darlin,” he grunted, looking up and straightening himself in his wheelchair after tying his shoes, “We’ve been together for just over a year now, right?” Anna nodded, “Why not? I was being stupid and petty before. You’ve helped me so much...you should be a part of everything. That is...if you’d like to be.”

Anna just stared at Kevin for a long moment, wondering if she’d heard him right. The look on his face said that he was serious, however what if the look was for something entirely different that he’d said. After all, she had been known to only hear what she wanted or take something and make it in to something else with her lack of listening skills...aka blonde moments.

“Well...” Kevin asked after a moment when she didn’t reply, “What do you say? Want to be a part of it? Who knows...maybe if you see what Richard does, you can take over and be my personal physical therapist.”

Anna was only in silent shock for another minute before saying in enthusiasm, “Are you kidding me? I’d love to.”

Kevin laughed at how excited she was over something so seemingly small. It was adorable and she looked like a teenager again. Kevin absolutely loved it when her brown eyes sparkled when she got excited over something. And the smallest things did that to Anna too. That was why their relationship was so strong and great. It didn’t take a whole lot to keep her happy. All she truly wanted was to be loved, shown affection and treated with respect.

“Then why don’t you stay and watch,” Kevin offered just as the doorbell was sounding announcing that Richard was there.

“Okay...that sounds good,” Anna agreed, figuring joining the girls would have to be postponed to another date. She bent down and kissed him before going towards the door to let the therapist in to their home so they could get down to business.

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“Where do you want me to put this?”

Stephanie looked up at Jaime to see her holding up a box containing her extensive CD collection. She sighed, thinking for a moment before pointing to her dresser after looking around for a proper place.

‘Just set them on top of there...til I find my CD rack thingamabob.” she stated.

Jaime did as told, setting the box on top of the dresser, looking in to it to see if there was anything of interest to her as she did so. She and Anna were always swapping CD’s back and forth, burning them off of each other. She wondered if Stephanie had anything that she could swipe off of her. Much to her distaste, their music interests ever extremely different, giving up after three rows of alternative bands.

“This is really starting to give me a headache,” Stephanie sighed, rubbing her temples in small circles to prove her point, “Moving and unpacking is a pain in the ass.”

Jaime laughed. Didn’t she know it. Moving from her old home in to AJ’s had been a real nuisance. It was done and over with now and they were living comfortably, plus baby. Jaime smiled at the thought of Lauren...six month. Just the night before, she’d taken her first few wobbly inches in crawling. She’d felt heartsick even leaving Lauren because she as starting many firsts in her life. AJ was with her though. AJ was definitely a great father to their daughter, loving her and taking care of her like any father should. Jaime found it incredibly sexy when a man took care of his child the way AJ did. She was lucky enough to have found one of them.

“Just think...when you’re done, you’ll have your own cute little condo all to yourself.” Jaime tried to encourage her friend.

Stephanie smiled, but sadness was seen behind it. Anybody could detect it even though Stephanie always tried to act tough and untouchable. She still loved Nick, but would never admit it. Her pride and ego weighed out her heart and soul’s emotions by a mile. Stephanie even giving Nick a chance had been a miracle in the first place because she had strict rules against dating. She’d caved though, and dating the man had only caused points to be proven on why she had refused to for so long.

“Yeah, lets hope...” her voice trailed off, “I’m going to turn in to a cat lady...I can just see it.” she teased in attempt to lighten the mood, “I’ll get one to keep me company and end up with like, twenty.”

Jaime laughed at this, for some reason finding it humorous as she took shirts from boxes, placing them on hangers. She placed each thing on top of the other, forming neat piles to be picked up and hung in the walk in closet easily and at once when the time came for that. Organizing things had always been something that she found to be fun. Most found her small hobby odd, however she didn’t care. Neatness was a pet peeve of hers. She swore, sometimes because of that quality, she wondered if she was more suitable for Kevin...

“This place is really cute,” Jaime offered, looking around, “I’m kind of jealous. I’d always wanted to get a place of my own, but mommy dearest held me back...and then I moved in with AJ right away. I never did get to experience living on my own or renting out with you and Anna.”

“You’re always welcome to move in with me.” Stephanie pointed out, and although it was just a suggestion, Jaime knew that her friend was lonely and wanted more than anything for her to live with her.

“I would...but I don’t think AJ and Lauren would like that too much.” Jaime stated, trying to sound genuine. She was, yet she knew that she could never leave the two. She had a family now. She wanted to keep that.

“I’d never expect it,” Stephanie stated as if reading her mind, “You and Anna have your own lives. It isn’t your fault that mine isn’t working out like the damned cards said.”

Jaime wasn’t sure what to say, so she just continued unpacking boxes and bags of clothes as Stephanie started to put them away to rid of some of the clutter around her house. She knew that given a month, things would be thrown haphazardly around the floors, however for now, she wanted to start out organized.

As she went to pick up a pile of clothes, a small piece of paper caught her eye though. Looking at it, she bent down and plucked it up, starting at it for a moment. Brad. She read, with a number scrawled beneath it. Stephanie raised an eyebrow, wondering where the number had come from and who it was. She racked her brain for any possible explanation or memory of it, but nothing came to her. Nothing until...

Brad! Suddenly, she had it. The server from the restaurant. The gorgeous man with the hauntingly sad eyes but friendly personality. The one who’d hit on her in some way yet pried information from her. He’d had a certain nature about him that had made it okay to trust him with everything. The memory of the day came back to her and a sour taste formed in her mouth. Right after her lunch, Stephanie had come home to find Nick cheating on her with Willa. It had been the perfect ending to a day which should have been exciting, catch the sarcasm. Had she not been dating Nick, Stephanie was positive that she would have accepted Brad’s invitation and date him. The thought had crossed her mind, but over the months, she’d forgotten all about the mysterious man with the piercing green eyes. That was, until that moment.

“I forgot I had this...” she muttered aloud

“What?”

Stephanie looked up at Jaime’s confused face and realized she’d thought out in spoken words that could be heard. She just shook her head, dismissing it all. None of it was important. The past was past. Almost four months had passed. He wouldn’t remember her even if she wanted to call him.

“Nothing.” Stephanie stated as she crumpled the paper up, tossing it in to the trash bag next to her so that the memory would be gone forever, “Nothing at all.”

Thanks to those of you who've left feedback. It means a lot to me. Here is Chapter 3. I have 4 outlined...and should be back next week with it. In the meantime....I will also have a chapter of Not So Bad out likely by tomorrow! Please review!