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Chapter 4

“Y’all are coming to the party, right?” AJ asked taking his sunglasses off and setting them down on the table.

“When?” Kevin asked sounding annoyed, as usual.

“Today at four. Let’s just say that it’s a little pre-tour celebration,” AJ joked. “Everyone has to come. It’s a barbecue
and Lori’s trying to make a desert. Don’t know how that will turn out, but be prepared to get drunk and ready to party.”

“Thank you, Mrs. McLean.” The delivery driver turned around and walked away.

“I swear I can’t cook for shit,” Lori muttered to herself. “That’s what caterers are for.” She smiled to herself and took
out the assortment of deserts and finger foods. She set them up on the table outside and then waited on her husband
to get home from the meeting.

The party was going rather nicely. Nick and Howie were the only ones that didn’t bring a date. Lori and AJ were excited
about making their announcement that night. No one else knew about it. Hell, they’ve only known about it for a couple
of days. It also seemed to Lori that no one even noticed that she wasn’t drinking.

“Lori, are you going on tour?” Jenn asked. All of the ladies were sitting by the pool while all of the guys, with the
exception of Nick whom had disappeared, were all in the pool making fools of themselves.

“Hell no! I have better things to do with my precious time,” Lori replied. “Sara, you’re doing promo for the movie, right?”

“Um, yeah,” Sara replied. “I’m leaving that morning. Brian’s leaving for the tour, and then I’m getting on a plane.”

“I guess I will be the only female then. That sucks.” Jenn took another drink of her Pepsi and sighed.

“Why are you even going?” Lori asked. “I mean, won’t it be difficult with Matt?”

“Yeah, but Kevin is kind of making me go,” Jenn replied quietly. “Believe me. I would stay home with Matt.” She looked
at Kevin in the pool and then back down to the ground.

“He’s making you go?!” Lori exclaimed loudly. Kevin looked over in her direction. “What a fucking asshole!” Lori was
yelling these things out across the backyard and everyone was staring at her. Jenn just slunk down in her chair. “Look
girl, you got to show him who wears the pants in the family. Say, fuck you Kevin. I’m going to do what I want, when I
want. Isn’t that right, Baby?” AJ had walked past the girls at that point and nodded his head.

Sara giggled and Jenn smiled. She knew that she was going to be bitched at later that night.

“Nick? Why aren’t you in the pool with the rest of the guys?” Lori asked him when she got up to refill her cup.

“I forgot my swimsuit,” Nick replied.

“AJ has tons of them. Do you want to borrow one?”

“Um, yeah right. Like my fat ass will fit into his suit.” Nick laughed and continued to look at the ground.

“Well, AJ likes everything baggy. It won’t be a problem,” Lori replied. She noticed that Nick was acting kind of strange.

“Seriously, Lori.” Nick gave her a look that told her not to push the issue anymore.

“Here Nick. Have a drink.” Lori mixed him up a Jack and Coke extra strong, and walked off. She hoped that that would
loosen him up a little bit.

“Okay guys! Get out of the pool!” Lori yelled walking over to the edge of the pool.

“Mommy! Do we have to?” Brian whined. This raised some laughter.

“Get your asses out!” Lori yelled back at them. “AJ and I have something to say!”

Everyone gathered around Lori and AJ on the patio. “Um, well, first off. I’m glad that everyone could grace us with their
presence today.” There was some laughter, then silence again.

“We just wanted to announce that we are having a baby!” Lori exclaimed. “Can you believe it?!”

“With the way you two do it?!” Nick yelled in the background. Everyone laughed and gave them their congratulations.
Lori saw that Sara had burst into tears and ran off, Brian running after her. Now, what was that all about, she wondered.
AJ’s kiss on her neck though, brought her out of her thoughts and she was soon enveloped in the new love she felt.

Brian wrapped a towel around his waist as he quickly walked through AJ’s house, searching for his wife. Boy, was he in
for it now.

He found her sitting on the front porch, biting her lip with those familiar tears washing her face. The man wasn’t sure
what to do. Maybe Sara needed to be alone but maybe she needed him. Brian ended up following his instincts and
walking out to join her.

“Hey…” He whispered, his right hand twisting his wedding band around.

She only nodded to acknowledge him and then stared straight out into yard. There was so much in her head that she
wanted to say to him, tell her how she felt. But, he knew. Brian knew her better than anyone. Of course, lately, she had
been having her doubts.

“I thought you said y’all weren’t goin’ to start families until after the tour. That’s why you thought we should wait.” The
silence had to be broken and it was the first thing that came into her mind. Sara found that she couldn’t look at him
though. If she looked at him, her heart would break all over again.

“They didn’t do it on purpose, Sar. You know AJ and Lori, always doing it.” He sat down beside Sara.

“When was the last time we made love, Brian?” She asked unexpectedly, still not looking at him.

“What? I don’t.. know.. I..”

“Isn’t that sad?” Her brown eyes looked dully at him. “Isn’t it sad that you can’t even remember the last time? Isn’t it
even worse that you don’t really miss it?”

“Sara…Don’t…”

“You don’t Brian! You haven’t even kissed me in the longest time. You know, kisses that meant something, that weren’t
just to satisfy the public.” She shook her head and pulled her knees to her chest, looking back out into the yard. “I miss
you.”

“I’ll be home in a few weeks though, honey.” His eyes narrowed at the imaginary sun. Truth is, he didn’t want to cry. Not
now. He knew that wasn’t what she meant. Why did he keep purposely hurting her like that? He wasn’t sure anymore.
Bad habit.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Sara looked down to play with her toe ring. “I.. I just want to know what happened to MY Brian.
You know, the guy that would stop anything just to make me happy. That would leave random notes on the pillow or kiss
me at the weirdest moments. The one…the one that made me fall in love with him everytime he looked at me in that
goofy way, like we were sharing some kind of secret.”

Brian wrapped an arm around her. “Baby, once this tour is over, we can…”

“NO! We can’t!” She jerked away and stood abruptly. “I just wanna know one thing, Bri. What does work have that I don’
t?”
“Nothing, Sara.” He shook his head, standing with her. Desperation was audible in his voice now, as much as he didn’t
want it to be.

“Oh yeah they do, Brian.” A sarcastic smile crossed her voice as new tears welled up in her eyes. “They have you.” She
blinked. “The only thing I wanted to have the most of.”

With that, she turned and left Brian standing on the porch, his mind spinning in a million different directions. Where had
her Brian gone? He was standing right there, wasn’t he?

Standing there, wishing he could answer the question himself.

Jenn bid her farewells to Lori and AJ as she headed out the door. She looked towards the car to see Kevin helping
Howie into the backseat. Over the last two hours of the party, Howie had managed to get smashed. No one had ever
seen Howie get this drunk, but nobody seemed to think twice about it, except for Jenn. She knew deep down that there
had to be something bothering her best friend.

Jenn got to the passenger side door and took her seat. She turned around to see Howie half passed out across the
seats. She let out a deep sigh and returned her attention to her husband as he backed out of the driveway. At first he
had said no to driving Howie home, but Jenn had been able to convince him to.

Howie began to ramble random things which caused Kevin to roll his eyes, “Could you just shut up D.” He muttered.

“He’s drunk Kev, he’s not gonna stop. Lets just hurry up and get him to his place.” Jenn said cautiously.

The car was filled with silence from Jenn and Kevin for the rest of the ride to Howie’s. When Kevin pulled up to the
house, Jenn made the move to get out of the car. “I’ll take him inside.” Kevin said as he stepped out of the car. When
he saw Jenn step out of the car he got mad at her. “I told you I got him, you stay in the car.” He was looking at her dead
in the eyes.

The look in Kevin’s eyes caused her to back off. She angrily sat back down in her seat and waited for him to return.
When he did return she didn’t even look at him. He let out a huff when he saw she was ignoring his presence. He
quickly pulled the car into reverse and squealed out of the driveway.

“Jesus Christ, Kevin, are you trying to kill us?!” Jenn said as she was flung around in her seat.

“You really piss me off, you know that?!” Kevin exclaimed.

Jenn flinched back at his tone, “Whatever Kevin.” She didn’t even feel like talking about that at the moment.

“So tell me, what in the hell was that at the party. Telling Lori that I’m making you go on tour.” Kevin asked.

Jenn looked at him like he had grown a second head, “Well it’s the truth!” Jenn quickly yelled back in reply. She held
onto the door handle as Kevin suddenly slammed on the brakes, coming to a quick stop.

Kevin quickly put the car into park and turned to face her. Before he knew it, his hand was raised, as if to strike her.
He looked into her eyes, and saw them filled with fear. Inside his mind was telling him to hit her, but his heart was
saying the opposite. “I should really hit you right now, put you in your place. But I know if I bruise that face of yours,
your Latin lover would notice that.” Kevin said through his teeth.

Jenn looks down at the floor, “Kevin…please…” She is still tensed up, incase he is to strike her.

“Jenn just don’t…” Kevin quickly interrupts her. He turns away from her and looks back at the road ahead of him. He
doesn’t want her too see the tears that are about to fall. He just drives, not looking at her again for the rest of the trip.


"AJ, before you leave tomorrow, I would like to discuss something with you." AJ looked at his wife from the closet. She
was already in bed and he quickly joined her.
"Baby? Is something wrong?" he asked her. He put his hand on her stomach and looked at her with a worried
expression.
"Oh no AJ!" Lori laughed, hitting him with a pillow. "I knew you would get like this! Overreacting to everything
concerning this pregnancy!"
AJ smirked at her and said, "Right. Well, what do you want to talk about then?"
"Well, I was thinking that if we are going to bring a child into the world, then I think that we need to live by example.
Which means, no drinking, no drugs and no partying to all hours of the night." She looked at him and paused. He sat
there expressionless. So, she decided to continue. "I’m vowing to you that I won’t participate in that life style from here
on out, but I also need that from you." She bit her bottom lip and waited anxiously for a response from her husband. She
wasn’t sure how he would react, but she did notice that he drank a little too much at the barbecue the day before.
"Sweetheart, for you I would do it," AJ replied kissing her. "I’ll do whatever you think is best for the baby." He smiled at
her and said, "Now you better give me something that will keep me happy for the next six months." He turned off the
light and kissed Lori passionately.

The next morning, Lori woke up to the dogs barking. She tried to get up but fell right back down in the bed. "Baby?
Something wrong?" AJ muttered to her when he felt the movement beside him.
"Damn AJ. You sure know how to show a girl a good time. I’m so sore right now. I feel like we just consummated our
marriage again." Lori laughed and barely got to the bathroom before she was throwing up. "I hate throwing up."
"Comes with the territory, hon," AJ said from the other room.