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Chapter 12

All of the Boys just looked at him, and Jenn and Lori covered their mouths with their hands.
“Oh my god, Howie,” Jenn said. She reached over to hug him. “Let’s call someone and get
this arranged.” They both went to the back room and the rest of the people scattered and
talked quietly amongst themselves.

Lori just stood there for a second. She was feeling terrible for Howie. She couldn’t believe
what he had just said. When she finally moved, AJ was behind her. “Go get your stuff. We’
re stopping at a hotel for the night and then we all are going back to Florida for a week or
so. Howie’s leaving as soon as we get to the hotel.”

She looked at him and without saying a word she went to her bunk and started to pack
again. She sneezed and coughed. She felt really bad. She was thinking about going back
to Charlotte instead of going to Florida. She didn’t want to be alone in that house again.


Jenn looked at Kevin and sighed. She was actually feeling good about her life again and
then Howie about ready to lose his sister just brought back a flood of memories. She tried
to shut out the painful emotions of when her parents died. She was only eighteen at the
time. It was only a couple of months after Kevin had left her to go to Florida. And here she
was, twenty-five years old, feeling like that scared and lonely eighteen year-old.

“Kevin?” Jenn asked. Kevin turned away from the television and looked behind him.

“Yeah?” he asked. He could tell that she had been thinking about a lot of things. She didn’
t respond to his question, but he quickly turned the TV off and sat on the bed next to her.
They had been in there rooms for about an hour or so. Jenn had insisted that her and
Kevin go with Howie to the airport and see him off. He was going directly to Raleigh, North
Carolina where his sister lived. “Sweetheart,” Kevin started while wrapping his arms
around her. “You have been so strong for many years now. Maybe you should let some of
that stuff out and not keep it bottled up inside anymore.”

“Yeah right, Kevin,” Jenn replied wiping a tear that had ran down her cheek. “There are a
lot of events that surround my parents’ deaths and I know for a fact that you don’t want to
relive it. And I certainly don’t want to relive it either.”

“Well, okay. I just thought that maybe it might make you feel a little better that’s all.” Kevin
and Jenn laid back in the bed and closed their eyes.


AJ basically had to carry Lori to her room. She was about to pass out when they got off of
the bus. Marcus offered to carry her, but AJ knew that he had to take care of her. If she
wasn’t going to go see a doctor then he was going to do everything that he could to help
her get better. He figured that once she woke up and saw him in her room, she would yell
at him and tell him to leave her alone.

She had been asleep for a couple of hours. Nick had come in to check on her. The same
with Brian. Even Jenn and Kevin made an appearance. AJ didn’t even let them beyond the
door. He didn’t want her to wake up. She had been complaining about being tired a lot
lately. He knew that she must not have gotten any sleep the night before, because he
woke up to the sound of her coughing in the bunk next to his. He wanted to go over there
and wrap her in his arms and tell her that he would make it better somehow, but then he felt
guilty about “the night” and decided that it would be best for him not to interfere.

“Now, I don’t know how to feel,” AJ muttered to himself as he placed a cool rag on Lori’s
forehead. She was burning up and had beads of sweat on her forehead. He knew that
there was a special bond between them, but he also felt very guilty for taking advantage of
her the night that he and Marissa broke up.

“Alex?” Lori asked. She opened her eyes and looked at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t worry. I will leave,” AJ said as he got up to get his coat.

“No, wait,” Lori replied. She sat up and held out her hand. She felt a little better than when
she was on the bus. “What happened? How did I get here?”

“You were about to pass out on the bus, so I carried you into the hotel and up to your
room.” AJ wanted to stay with her and take care of her, but he didn’t know if she would
want him to because the last time she trusted him with her, he did the unthinkable.

“My hero,” Lori said softly. Then she smiled. He hadn’t seen her smile in a really long time.
He smiled back at her and walked back over to the bed. “Stay with me, Alex. I really need
someone right now.”

“I’ll stay with you as long as you like,” he replied. “I think that you might have the flu.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Lori replied. She laid back down and put the rag on her forehead
again. “Alex, why are you being so nice to me? I mean, you have been here taking care of
me. How can I repay you once I get better?”

“You don’t have to,” AJ said. He took her hand and sat on the bed next to her. “But I’ll
have to think of something if you insist.”

“Okay. Fair enough,” Lori said giving his hand a squeeze. There was a knock on the door
and AJ got up to go see who it was.

“Hey, here’s the Theraflu that you asked for,” Nick said walking into the room. AJ muttered
a thanks and Nick came over to the bed to talk to Lori. “Hey sweetheart, how are you
feeling?” He grabbed her hand.

“I’m feeling a lot better since Alex has been taking care of me,” Lori replied. She smiled at
him and said, “Thanks for getting that stuff for me.”

“No problem,” Nick said giving her the Carter smile.

“Nick, that smile of yours would get anyone better,” Lori replied. She stroked the side of
his face and Nick got this overwhelming feeling to kiss her, but not only was she sick, he
had already told her that he didn’t think that they should go that route again.

“Yeah right, Lori,” Nick said. He gave her hand a kiss and left the room. AJ had been just
starring at the back of Nick’s head the whole time he was in there. He knew that there was
something between them. He left that whole topic alone though. He didn’t want to have
those jealous feelings anymore.

Lori wanted to kiss Nick so bad, but she knew at that instant that Nick would never be hers
again. She was okay with it though. They had bonded so much over the past year that she
couldn’t even remember how it had been between the two of them when they actually
dated.

“Thank you for caring so much about me, AJ,” Lori said. She never called him AJ and for
the first time, he felt connected to her on a different level. “You surprised that I said AJ
and not Alex?”

“Um, yeah,” AJ said. “Lori, I’m glad that you are happy about me being here with you. I
mean, we’ve been avoiding each other ever since your birthday and I really feel bad about
that. I hope you aren’t mad at me about that.”

“AJ, I’m not mad at you about that. Okay?” Lori said. “We both did it. I can’t blame you
without blaming myself. I thought that maybe you might be mad at me because I feel like I
used you some how.”

“I thought that I used you,” AJ replied. “You thought that you used me?” AJ laughed and
Lori smiled.

“Well, I guess that’s cleared up,” Lori said. “I’d hug you, but I don’t want you to get sick.”

“I understand.” AJ smiled to himself and turned the television on. “What do you want to
watch?”

“I have no idea,” Lori replied. She took AJ’s arm and scooted him closer to her. “ABC
works for me.” AJ put the remote down on the nightstand and put his feet up on the bed
and sat next to Lori. Halfway through the show, Lori grabbed AJ’s hand and held it. They
were both asleep by the time the credits were rolling.