When I woke up the next morning I was so comfortably wrapped up in Kevin’s body that I almost opted to skip my morning ritual of watching the sun rise.  We’d waited out the fire until it had lost most of its heat and we’d worked up our own heat by making out like teenagers.  It was like when I was with Kevin I couldn’t keep my hands off of him.  Like I had to try and touch every inch of his skin all at once, which of course is pretty much impossible to do despite my attempts.  I was head over heels crazy in lust with the man and it showed.

Despite the urge to stay wrapped up in Kevin and go back to sleep, I couldn’t resist the idea of coffee and a perfect excuse to put Kevin’s sweatshirt on so I rolled out of bed quietly.  After picking up Kevin’s sweatshirt from the floor and sliding it on over my pajamas I made a quick pit stop in the bathroom and then headed to the kitchen, the smell of coffee happily filling my nose. 

I opened the fridge and looked at my rather obnoxious collection of flavored creamers and paused to consider which the flavor of the day would be.  Settling for my newest favorite I grabbed it and let the door of the fridge close while I moved to the cupboard that held my six point two million coffee mugs.  I’ll admit it; I collect coffee mugs, okay?

I chose a mug that simply said “Novelist’s Fuel” on it and closed the cupboard only to realize that I was no longer alone in the kitchen.  I almost dropped my mug to its destruction on the floor as I jumped and tried not to scream.  “Jesus Christ…”

AJ laughed and held his hands out in front of his body, “I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I held the mug to my sweatshirt covered chest taking deep breaths, “Holy shit, AJ…”  I set the mug down with a trembling hand and then laughed, “Make more noise next time okay?”

He made a cross over his heart and smiled, “Promise.”  He looked around the barely lit kitchen and rubbed his hand over his messy hair, “Tell me something, though?”

“Sure…” I nodded and poured the perfect amount of creamer into my mug then followed it with coffee.

“Why the hell are you drinking coffee in the middle of the night?”

I smiled and took a long sigh-producing sip of the coffee before leaning against the counter, “It’s not the middle of the night anymore, it’s just before sunrise and I’m drinking coffee so I can go watch it.”

“Watch what?”

“The sunrise…”

“Oh…” he said skeptically and stretched.  “Weird.”

“Have you ever seen a sunrise over the Atlantic?”

“Can’t say that I have…” he told me shaking his head.  “Seriously, what time is it?”

“Very early…” I chuckled.  “Coffee?”

He stood there looking like he was seriously confused and maybe not quite awake.  I tried not to laugh at him.  “Got creamer?”

I giggled then and opened the fridge, “French Vanilla, Crème Brule, Chocolate, Blueberry Cheesecake, Hazelnut, and…” I said as I pointed to the bottle on the counter, “Raspberry Truffle…”

He laughed, “Holy shit…”

I shrugged, “I’ve got milk too if you’re into just plain milk and sugar.”  I made a disgusted face that he smiled at. 

“I’ll uh…” he looked at the creamer factory in my fridge door and made a thoughtful face.  “I’ll try the Raspberry Truffle I guess…”

I sighed happily, “It’s heaven…”  I let the fridge close again and then opened the mug cupboard again and considered the mugs.  “Now to pick the perfect mug for our resident rock star…”  AJ chuckled and stood next to me as I looked over the mugs.  “I could be a smartass and pick the pink one that says Princess…”  We both laughed.  “But…” I said and moved a few mugs around looking for one in particular.  “This one is better…” I told him with a grin as I held a mug out to him.  It was a black mug with a photo of Animal from the Muppets on it.  He was holding his hands up in that “rock on” hand position that people do and then under it were the words rock on.  I’d gotten it on one of my many trips to Disney, I was a sucker for all things Disney and Muppets.

AJ smiled a huge grin and graciously accepted the mug, “Perfect…”

“Meet me out on the deck, okay?” I said and when he nodded while preparing his coffee I smiled and walked into the living room.  I unlocked Vinnie’s dog door so that when he woke up he could let himself out and then I stepped out onto the deck and took my favorite seat in the double Adirondack chair.  I inhaled the fresh scent of the morning and smiled before taking another drink of my coffee.  Moments later AJ joined me with his own hoodie covering his arms.  I patted the open spot next to me and he sat down with a smile.

“So why exactly are we watching the sun rise?” he asked and set his mug on the arm of the chair.

“It’s a habit of mine…” I said with a shrug.  It was freaking me out just a little bit how much AJ reminded me of Sean.  Their eyes were similar and something in AJ’s voice sounded just like Sean, or at least what I thought I remembered him sounding like.  “Don’t worry, afterward we can go back to sleep until my mom wakes up and fills the house with the smell of French toast.”

AJ groaned happily, “She can cook for me any day…” I chuckled and nodded.  “Do you cook like her?”

I shrugged again, “I can… Some of her specialties I can’t get right just yet but I’m pretty good, I guess.”

“I suck at cooking…” AJ said and laughed at himself.  “Kevin’s pretty good with a grill though. He’s always the one in charge of Backstreet Cookouts…”

“That’s good to know…” I said with a smile.  We sat in silence for a moment then I looked at him, “You sleep okay?”

“Like a baby…” he told me.  “Your couch really is like sleeping in a bed…”

“Best couch I’ve ever had…” I said and nodded.

“I love your house… it’s like being in a Pottery Barn catalogue or what’s that other one?” He paused and I smiled watching him think.  “Robb & Stuckey…”

“I love Robb & Stuckey…” I said and sighed.  “I should be a stockholder there by now, I shop there so much.”

“I’ve never bought anything there, but whenever I’m in Florida and I see the commercials I always think about going there…”

“I’ll give you a catalogue… I have a bunch of them.”  I explained to AJ about the no talking while the run was rising rule and we sat silently watching the sun come up.  When it was over I looked at him and grinned.

He smiled right back at me, “Very nice… thanks for sharing it with me.”

“You’re welcome… thanks for scaring the shit out of me and almost making me break my favorite mug…” I laughed and he did too.  “So, where do you live?”

“LA…” he said and reached into the pocket of his hoodie.  “Do you mind if I smoke?”  I shook my head, “I can get up and move away if you want…”

“No it’s fine…” I said and leaned my head back against the chair looking up at the sky.

“Cool…” he said and lit up his cigarette then mirrored my position putting his own head back to look up.  “Why’d you ask?”

“Just wondered…” I said and watched a cloud above us as its shape morphed.  “It figures though… I meet someone who is cool who I could easily see myself being friends with because he doesn’t call me crazy when I ask him to watch the sun rise with me, and it turns out he lives on the other side of the damn country.”

AJ chuckled, “Don’t you ever come out to LA?”

I shrugged and rolled my eyes, “I hate LA.  I can’t stand it out there.”

“But you must have to visit occasionally right?  Surely you have book stuff that you do out there…”

“Yeah…” I said and he laughed at my disgusted tone of voice. 

“Well now that you know me when you’re in LA you’ll not only have someone to have dinner with but you can even hang out at my place…”

I smiled and rolled my head to the side to look at him, “Thank you.  You’re welcome here anytime as well…”

“Thank you…” he said and smiled. 

“Didn’t you used to live here?  I seem to recall watching you years ago on Cribs living in some huge house in Orlando.”

“Yeah I had a house here for a long time…”

“And then you moved to LA…” I said and groaned but smiled. 

“True but you know what?” he said with a grin.  I shrugged and he smiled a little brighter, “I’m going to be in New York while you’re there next week…”

“Shut up!” I said with a smile as I smacked him in the arm.  “Really?”

He rubbed his arm and laughed, “Yeah, it dawned on me yesterday when Christian was talking about you two going up there for your book release.  I’ve got this charity event to go to.”

“How long will you be there?”

“Four days or so… I dunno.”

“Do you know what would be fabulous?”

“If you’d be my date to the event so I don’t look like a loser?”

I chuckled and blushed, “You don’t have a date?”

“Nope… Wanna go?  There will be a bunch of famous people there…”

“None as famous as you, I’m sure…”

He rolled his eyes, “Seriously though, the ticket is yours if you wanna.  It’s an ASPCA thing, I figure you love animals too…”

I nodded, “I do… Do you know what night it is?”

“Thursday…”

I thought about my New York schedule, “I actually have that night off.”

“Oh yeah?” he said with excitement in his voice that I couldn’t help but smile at.  “So do you want to go?”

“Yeah…” I said with a nod and big grin.

“Sweet…” he said and took another drag of his cigarette.  “Now I can tease Kevin that I’m taking his woman on a date…”  We both laughed again.  “But hey, I cut you off… what were you going to say would be fabulous?”

“You should stay with us in New York… Josef has this amazing place right in the City and there’s plenty of room.”

“Nah… it’s cool I don’t need to impose.”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s not imposing if you’re invited.  Seriously, you should…”

“How can you invite me somewhere that doesn’t belong to you?”

I laughed, “Christian and I share everything and he shares everything with Josef.  I invite people to stay with me there all the time.  They’re totally cool with it and I’m sure Christian would run around like a kid on a sugar high if he knew you were going to stay with us…”  AJ chuckled and looked at me like he was trying to figure out if I was shitting him or not.  “If it makes you feel better…” I said and put my hand on his arm, “When Chris wakes up later we’ll officially ask his permission…”

“Okay, if we ask him then I’ll consider it…”

I grinned and took a drink of my coffee before putting my head back against the chair.  “Chris and I tend to regress into crazy college students again when we’re in the City.  It’s fun… we hit all of our old hang outs and make fun of the students.” 

AJ chuckled listening to me talk.  I told him about the assorted things I would have to do for my book release week while in New York and he asked me all sorts of questions about being a writer.  When I sighed talking about having to be on television he looked at me with a curious look, “What’s the sigh for?”

I kept my eyes on the clouds up above picking out shapes and shrugged, “I’m writer, I’m not supposed to be on television.”

“But you’re a natural conversationalist… I’m sure you’re amazing in interviews.”  I shot him a look and he laughed, “That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.”

“It’s really not as bad as I make it out to be…” I admitted.  “It’s just hard being in New York sometimes.”

“How come?”  I sighed again without even knowing it and he bumped my arm with his, “Spill it…”

I looked at him and smiled.  Those eyes that reminded me so much of Sean stared at me and my own eyes welled up.  I tried to fight the tears by looking back up at the sky but it only made the tears fall down my cheeks.  I wiped at them and shook my head, “My brother was killed there.”

“Oh geesh…” he said and put his hand on my knee.  “I didn’t know he was killed… I guess I just assumed he was sick or something.  Shit, Kel, I’m sorry…”

I nodded and put my hand on top of his.  “I love New York… Living there was amazing and I have all of these great memories up there like being with Christian in school and all of the time I spent with Sean there.  So when I’m up there it all comes back to me and it’s great, but it also brings back his death and the fact that he’s gone.  I’m usually okay after the first day or so but when I first get there I’m always a little…” I paused looking for the right word.  “Emotional…”

“That sucks… but Christian will be with you, right?”

“Yeah… he’s pretty much required by law to be with me when I have to go to New York…” I said and smiled. 

“What about Kev?  He’s going to go up too, right?”

I sighed again, “I don’t know…”

He laughed, “Why not?”

“We haven’t talked about it…” I mumbled which only made AJ laugh. 

“Do you want him there?”

“When he was in Kentucky over the weekend, I was miserable,” I admitted sheepishly.  “It was like two and a half days and I could barely stand it.  A week and a half without him might kill me…”

“You’ve got it bad…” AJ said with an approving smile.

“You know how sometimes if you put a magnet next to another magnet they push against each other and you can’t make them stick?  But then other times you try to put two magnets together and instead of them pushing apart they have this force field pulling them together and it’s hard to keep them apart?”

“Sure…”

“Well when I’m with Kevin it’s like I can’t be around him enough, I can’t get enough of him.  Our magnets match.  I’m pulled to him by this invisible force field and when I’m not with him I can still feel the tug…”  AJ smiled and shook his head.  “What?”

“I’m just thinking that I seriously need to read your books.”

“What?” I asked and laughed. 

“If you write anything like you talk, I’m going to love reading your books.”  I groaned but he kept talking, “I’m serious… you just made this totally cool picture appear in my head about you and Kev being like magnets.  I love the way you put together words.”

“Whatever… just do me a favor and don’t buy my books.  Borrow them from Kevin, he’s insisted on buying them all.  Or, I have extra copies, I can give them to you.”

“Cool… and I’ll give you Backstreet CD’s so that you can study up.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes, “Bite me.”

“Whatever…” he said and laughed.  He’d found out the night before courtesy of Christian about my former love of Justin Timberlake and all things N’Sync.  AJ had then teased me unmercifully about it for the rest of the night. “Seriously though… talk to him.  I’m sure he’d love to go to New York with you.  If you can feel that tug when he’s not around I’m sure he can too.”

I tipped my head and rested it on AJ’s shoulder, “I hope so…”

“He does… trust me.”

I picked my head up and looked at AJ with a smile, “If Kevin goes to New York with me, what happens when it’s time for me to go to the charity event with you?”

“Easy…” he said and shrugged.  “He can go with Christian.”