Kevin, Nick and AJ all waltzed into the house hauling bags from the truck “You think we got all we need? Nothing‘s missing?” Nick asked, chewing loudly on his gum.

“I don’t know but if you keep chewing that gum like that, you’re the one that’s going to be missing.” Kevin smacked Nick upside the head. “Quit it!” he demanded.

“Fine sorry…” he chewed even louder as he ran away from Kevin and out the door to the truck. “Ha…your too old you can’t run anymore.” Nick kept walking backwards till he tripped over one of Mason’s toys and fell on his ass.

“Yeah smart one big guy. Now quit playing around and help us damn it!” AJ snapped “I hope that Millie is ok? Howie said she had to stay in the hospital a couple of hours.” he grabbed more bags.

“She’s fine, Howie is with her. He’s the most responsible person…besides me. I would be worried if she was stuck with either one of you.” Kevin began to put the things away. “So your sure they will be here later tonight.”

“That’s what Howie said, that she was up and about so they were leaving. They should be about three hours away. I was thinking…maybe I should just marry her?” AJ said, letting out a big sigh as he cupped his face in his hands.

“What if Howie has feelings for her now. Who knows how many times they’ve been together AJ…don’t do it cause you want to be an ass!” Kevin lectured. “What about her…obviously she likes him…” AJ stared at Kevin a confused look on his face.

Howie looked over at Millie who was sound asleep, she had been asleep since they had left the hospital and now they were only a couple of hours away from Hollywood. If it was up to him, he would have turned around and started the trip all over again or better yet, had never given into AJ‘s request. He had no sense of remorse, but he didn’t want to feel the way he did.

She stirred and rubbed her eyes, a sleepy look on her face as she turned to look at him. She gave him a warm smile. Then realized that the sun had started to go down, that the last summer day that she was going to share with him was coming to an end. She bit her lip to keep the tears from seeping through her eyes.

“Are you ok?” he asked his voice was low.

Still feeling a little dizzy and the ringing in her ear she nodded her head “Yeah…still dizzy but I’m ok. Thanks.” she smiled again. “I’m guessing we are almost there?”

He nodded, “Yeah about two hours away from the Hills. Your dad called while you were sleeping. I told him what happened and he asked me not to wake you…he’s coming home tomorrow night.”

“Oh that’s great. Has my mother called? She should be home by now too. Anyways…so two hours away huh? It will all be over then?” she sighed loudly “Why does it hurt so much?” she turned to look at him, her eyes were teary.

He watched as they passed a ‘welcome to California’ sign. Then stared deeply into her eyes “What hurts?” he asked, feeling the reality of things settling in his stomach He looked away.

“Knowing that in less than two hours we’ll almost be complete strangers. That…” she took his hand and placed it on her face “I wont get to feel you touch me again…” she shed a couple of tears as she let go of his hand and turned towards the window “I guess it’s not as bad for you…since you don’t feel the same way.”

He blinked the tears that had nestled in his eyes “that‘s not fair…Millie. This wouldn‘t work out…AJ is my best friend you know.” he couldn’t let her know that it hurt him too, that the knots in his stomach were so intense, he felt he could hurl any moment.

The rest of the way was silent. Howie turned into the twisted hills leading to Kevin’s house, after a couple of minutes they parked in front of the gate. “I’m sorry Millie…” he took her hand and gave it a squeeze and honked twice. “I didn’t mean to hurt you…”

She leaned over her seat, placing her hand on his face and leaning in to cover his mouth with hers. The kiss deepened with every second that passed, but they parted as they heard the gate opening. He drove the car around to the doorway. Nick, Kevin and AJ stood at the doorway all smiles as they saw the twosome pull up.

“I love you…” she whispered one more time before he jumped out of the car. She had hoped that he would turn around and let her know that she was wrong, that he did love her too. Her ears still seemed to buzz and her body felt to weak to even open the door, let alone hop out.

Nick ran to embrace Howie who tried to keep a straight face, feeling his best friends arm wrap around him. He gave him a look, that let AJ know, he was feeling like shit. “How is she?” AJ asked opening Millie’s door “Hey Millie…” he looked at her pale face, he could see the tears in her eyes. “You ok?” he asked concern in his voice.

“I think I’m going to be sick again.” she heaved and covered her mouth.

Pulling her out of the car and helping her to the house, the rest followed. “She can stay in the room down the hall.” Kevin instructed as they all looked at each other, an awkward silence filled the room for a second as Kevin looked at Howie then AJ’s worried faces. Swallowing hard he turned to AJ “You should stay down here to…to take care of your fiancé.”

“Right” AJ answered dragging Millie to her room.

Howie wiped his face with the palm of his hand and watched the twosome disappear down the hall. “You ok D?” Kevin asked.

He faked a smile “Yeah I’m fine. So how was jail Nicky boy?” he continued to stare down the hallway.

“I was scared shitless…they made me dance to Hey Mr. DJ…and I couldn’t piss.” Nick ignored the tension in the air as he rambled on about his jail time.

In the bedroom AJ watched as Millie washed her face “So how was the trip?” he rubbed his hands together nervously.

“It was good…but I lost the dress. The whole purpose of coming here…and it got me thinking AJ” she cleared her throat as she paused looking at the carpet and twiddling with her fingers. It was now or never, she had to tell him.

AJ‘s heart began to pound , all this time he wanted her to let him know she didn’t want to marry him, that was the purpose of Howie being in the picture. So her guilt would could eat at her and she would be the one to call it off, sparing him the difficulty of having to tell her HE didn’t want to get married. But now looking at her twiddle with her fingers and watching her open her mouth to say it, he didn’t want to hear it “Did you get along with Howie?” after he interrupted he cursed himself for bringing him up again. He could see the pain in her eyes with the mention of the name.

She took a seat next to him on the bed, “It was fun and scary. A lot of shit happened to us that you don’t know about…because you never called me.” she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue with the ‘we don’t belong together speech’ but she was already fired up, “Is there something you want to tell me AJ?” she questioned him as she looked into his eyes.

He faked a smile “No, not at the time. It’s really late, you’ve been sick and I think you just need to rest. If you want we can talk tomorrow before the barbecue. Ok? I’m going to be across the room if you need me.” he kissed her cheek and walked out.

As soon as she saw him close the door, the tears began to spill from her eyes and down her cheeks. All she wanted was to see Howie walk through the door and stay with her, lay down next to her and caress her hair until she feel asleep, but she knew it wouldn’t happen again. Burying her face in her pillow she cried herself to sleep.