Chapter Ten
As the group lounged around their hotel suite lazily, it was easy to see that they were all becoming restless and anxious. The trial had been going on for eight months, the search for Julian’s body in the Kentucky River still pulling up no evidence. They’d seen no more of Eric since his day on the stand, making them wonder what was going on with him behind the scenes, if anything at all. It was as if the witness had been there one day, and then disappeared in to thin air the next, Just as Julian had.
“I’m really getting sick and tired of this damned hotel room and waiting around,” AJ grumbled, speaking his mind for everybody else as he stared blankly at the evening news on the flat screen television. His posture was slumped, his demeanor grumpy, “I wish we could just up and go home already. It’s not like any of us believe him.”
“That’s besides the point,” Kevin sighed, running his fingers through his hair in distress, “We need to stick around through the end…just in case.”
“Just in case of what, exactly?” AJ challenged, his eyes narrowed to slits, “Eric saw him kill her- I doubt he’ll be found innocent.”
“In case they don’t find her or he really was seeing things. The possibilities are endless. I mean, yes, we all think that he’s hiding something and really did do something to her, but just in case we’re surprised by the outcome, we shouldn’t abandon him completely just yet.” Kevin debated, still feeling the need to defend his cousin to a certain extent.
AJ sighed, “That’s true…I’m sorry.” He guiltily replied, hating to sound so harsh and cruel towards his friend.
For the longest series of moments, nobody said a word. The truth was, despite what he’d said, not even Kevin knew why they were still there. After all, even he felt his cousin had gone over the edge in a sporadic moment of craziness. For some strange reason though, he felt the need to protect the man, even though deep down, he knew that it was a stupid and unworthy thing to do. A gut wrenching feeling came over him at the thought of somebody murdering his wife. He swore that if anybody ever did anything of the sort, he’d personally make sure that they were taken care of.
Everything had been so out of wack for the past few months. Days blended in to one another, countless trial dates that never seemed to bring anything new. It was an endless process that seemed to never have any answers. Nothing new was ever delivered, which was frustrating to a point of causing temporary insanity from boredom. Not to mention each one slowly, one by one, deciding that they didn’t know if they believed in their friend any longer. It hurt them and guilted them to doubt Brian, but nobody could deny that something just didn’t feel right.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the words BREAKING NEWS, LIVE flashed across the bottom of the screen as a middle aged woman came in to view of the cameras. Any of them could recognize the scene from anywhere, even in the darkness. From the wind lashing around her, the womans hair whipped around in every direction, the waters below her spashing ever so often. The look on her face was serious, somber. And then, she began to speak of a story all of them knew very well, delivering information that would hopefully answer some questions that they’d been dying to get answers to.
“We’re at the scene where Eric Walker, who earlier this month, reportedly stated that he saw Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys dumping what appeared to be a body in to the Kentucky River. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the investigation, Brian has been on trial over the past several months for the disappearance and murder of his girlfriend. There is good news and bad, for the search is officially over with a not so happy ending, the family of Julian Edwards finally getting some long awaited answers. Just about an hour ago, the body was recovered just under one hundred feet from the bridge where she was supposedly dropped from. Investigators say however, that this is in fact the girl that they’ve been looking for over the past month.
As of now, we don’t have any more detailed information, other than investigators will be working hard to determine if Mr. Littrell is in fact the cause of her death. Hopefully, there will be some answers soon. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more information. Again, I’m Kelly Morse, with channel eight news.
As the scene changed to a local traffic report, the four men just stared at the TV in disbelief. Not one said a word, nobody really knowing how to react or what to say, for everything was becoming real now. Julian had been found right where Eric had said she would be. The thing was, even though they’d all been pretty sure that she would be, it still came as a blow to all of them because it meant any inner hope, tucked deep away in reservation, had been taken away.
“My God…” Howie whispered.
“Holy shit…” AJ muttered, shaking his head, “He really did do it.”
“I can’t believe…” Nick’s voice trailed off, feeling a tremble coming about because his once best friend was a murderer.
Everything else went in slow motion around them as they tried to get a tight grasp on the situation, letting it all sink in completely. It was then that each slowly begun to realize how different things really were going to be from now on. That in a matter of just a couple more weeks, Brian would be found guilty. This was the last of them being a five-some of friends. It was now them against Brian. Now, Brian was truly alone in the world, with nobody to back him up because the truth was, nobody felt he deserved it.
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Flashback
December 31st, 2005/January 1st, 2006
“Awww…look whose under the mistletoe!” Nick chimed out, walking over to Brian and Julian who were casually talking, each having a drink in hand.
Both looked over to the blonde, the rest of their friends watching them as well. Brian shot them a look and Julian blushed, turning away. At the same time they looked up to see that they were in fact standing under their mistletoe, and then their eyes locked.
“Might as well, right?” Brian laughed.
“Yeah,” Julian agreed.
At once, they leaned in to one another, their lips meeting as all around them, coos and cheers were heard from their friends. Brian started to chuckle, shaking his head, the laughter disrupting the kiss only momentarily until he leaned in, ready to finish it off with passion and lust. Julian showed just as much eagerness, pulling Brian in to her and holding on tight.
‘Don’t forget to come up for oxygen.” AJ cracked after several long moments.
Brian pulled away, just shaking his head in distaste at his friends, but he couldn’t help but smile, and after looking at Julian, she was doing the same. Brian was just thankful that it hadn’t been Julian under the mistletoe with anybody else, or else he’d be having to kick some ass, out of jealousy. Jealousy that he would never admit, but none the less…jealousy. And from the way his friends talked about how gorgeous they thought Julian was, he knew that they would enjoy that kiss too…
“You two are too sweet together,” Kevin’s wife, Kristin smiled, “It reminds me of how Kev and I were in the beginning.”
“And still are,” Kevin jumped in, wrapping his arms around his wife from behind, kissing and nuzzling her neck.
“Yes, and still are.” Kristin laughed as she reassured Kevin, shaking her head at the man who wanted to let it be known that they were still treating their relationship as if it were young and fresh.
Brian looked at his cousin and his wife, then back to his own girlfriend. He hoped that they were as happy in another five years, and ten, and fifteen. Kevin and Kristin had been together for as long as he could remember. Long before the group had formed. If things continued to go the way they were, Brian could see himself definitely having the same type of relationship. It was written in the stars for him.
Taking the girl by the hand, Brian felt his heart flutter. They’d made it almost a year together. They were making it in to a new year, and he felt his love for her grow stronger by the day. He could only hope that she felt the same for him. If she did, his live would be complete…
“Two minutes til midnight!” Nick called out, breaking his chain of thought.
Brian looked to the TV and sure enough, the big clock in Time Square said that there were less than two minutes until it was officially 2006. Pulling Julian in closer to him, the entire group gathered around the big screen TV to watch the ball drop in celebration. Although the tradition was somewhat juvenile, and was the same each year, it was still exciting to watch and say that they’d made it, living another full three hundred and sixty five days.
When the clock got down to ten seconds, everybody on the TV started to count down, along with the group of friends, and finally, the ball dropped, flashing as it fell and everybody cheered, doing a toast for the occasion.
“What are everybody’s resolutions?” Kevin asked, turning his attention away from the TV as the partiers that were actually at Time Square continued to dance and drink the night away.
“Don’t have one!” Nick laughed, “Other than to umm…to…be on time to studio recordings for our next album.”
“Haha!” AJ cracked, ‘That’ll happen.” Nick scowled, “Mine is to quit smoking…”
“Now that is not going to happen.” Nick laughed.
“Let me finish,” AJ held his hand up, “For at least January…and if I can’t do that, cut back to half a pack a day.”
“Still a long shot, but…” AJ rolled his eyes at Nick’s picking on him.
“How about you, Brian?”
Brian looked up, distracted from his preoccupied thoughts. He shrugged, his cheeks flaming up as all the attention was put on him. Was it obvious that he was thinking something important? Could they read his mind by the smile on his face? Brian didn’t know, but he figured the time had come to do what he’d had planned all along. His heart started to pound even more intensely and he had to swallow away his nerves from chickening out completely.
“I ah, I don’t exactly have a resolution, but there is something I’d like to ask you…Jules.” He smiled shakily, digging in to his pocket to pull out a small black box made of velvet. He knelt down, his knees wobbly, having to take a second to compose himself so he wouldn’t tip over, “You mean the world to me. You’ve been there for me through the thick and thin, ups and downs…stuck with me while I was on tour. You complete me, and I don’t think I ever have and ever could love anybody as much as I love you. I’d love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you there by my side…as my wife. So Julian, would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
The room grew so silent that one could have possibly heard a pin drop. Julian stood frozen, a small gasp escaping her lips as Brian opened up the box to reveal an extravagant diamond ring, probably more expensive than anything that one could buy in even the best of jewelry stores. Looking up in to his girlfriends eyes, Brian could see a blank, as well as stunned expression. His heart, which had originally been beating in excitement, was now turning in to a nervous rhythm, and in the not so good way. His smile was fading, and all eyes were still on the two of them. What was she thinking? If only he knew…
“Jules?” he laughed nervously, “Will you marry me?”
Julian took in a deep breath, her eyes tearing up slightly, but it was obvious without a doubt that it wasn’t from happiness.
“Brian…I love you too…but…everything…its just happening so fast.” Brian’s heart cracked a little, knowing where this was going, “I can’t marry you right now…I mean, we just moved in together three days ago…you just asked me a week ago…and now marriage,” she inhaled deeply, it paining her to hurt Brian.
“What are you saying?” Brian asked, embarrassed that his proposal was being turned down, and in front of all of his friends yet, “Are you saying we should break up?”
“No…no…nothing like that,” Julian explained quickly, looking down at Brian who was still kneeling on one knee, “Just…spend some time apart…while you finish up the tour.”
“We just spent five months apart…you were supposed to go with me.” Brian begged.
Julian sniffled, watching Brian tear up as everything started to sink in finally, her own eyes blurred by tears, “I’m sorry…” she shrugged, knowing Brian was leaving in the morning, “Good luck on the tour…” her voice trailed off as she ran from the room, sobbing loudly as soon as she reached the door.
For another long moment, Brian just stayed low to the ground, shocked at what had just happened. Nobody said anything, afraid that it would set their friend off, who didn’t know what to think, what to feel, but after what had just happened, Brian was numb, not knowing how or if he would ever feel anything again.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for the reviews on 9! Here's 10 for ya. And it gets closer to the mystery being solved...*evil laugh* I do a lot of evil laugh's, lol.
