CHAPTER TWO~ Harsh Reality
“Was everything alright babe?” Howie asked Elle as he put an arm around her shoulder.
“Yeah, he just said he couldn’t get to sleep last night. He’ll be out soon.” She turned her head back in the direction of the tour buses and then back to Howie. “D?”
“Yeah?” He turned to face her taking both of her hands.
She looked up into his eyes, “I hurt him didn’t I?”
He looked at her solemnly and nodded, “ But that was a long time ago. People change.”
“Yeah.” She nodded back.
“You gonna be alright?” He searched her wandering eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Alright baby, I hope so.”
“You’re always so understanding.” She gave him a hug and rested her forehead on his.
“That’s because I love you.”
She smiled and he saw it. He lifted her chin up with his finger, “Anything for that smile.” He smiled back and gave her a quick kiss.
“Alright, I’m fine, lets go.” She laughed. But as she left she stole a look back at the doors.
***
Rehearsals were their usual, long, drawn out, and repetitive. Howie couldn’t wait to see his Elle. She had gone out shopping with Kristin and Leighanne, and it seemed like forever before he was going to be able to see her again. After rehearsals he went to go look for her backstage and he found her collapsed on a couch fast asleep. He smiled to himself, wondering how she could even be tired. But he didn’t know she got little to no sleep the night before.
***
AJ walked back into the arena tiredly after his shower. His jeans fit loosely around his waist, his boxers showing. His tighter t-shirt hugged his body perfectly and showed off his tatoos. He went backstage and said hey to all the guys, except Howie who was no where to be found.
“Hey Age.” Brian greeted him.
“Hey.” He gave a false smile, but Brian didn’t catch on.
“Where’s Howie?” AJ asked as he poured himself a huge cup of coffee.
“Where do you think dude?” Nick replied sarcastically.
AJ shrugged, “Where?”, even though he knew he was with Elle.
“With his girlfriend.” Nick said seriously this time.
“Oh,” AJ replied half heartedly.
Nick looked at Brian and then Kevin and then back to AJ, “AJ is everything alright?”
AJ looked up from his coffee to see that the three men were looking back at him. “Yeah,” He replied, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“It’s Elle isn’t it?” Kevin jumped in. Kevin sure did talk slow but he knew exactly what was going on.
“Elle,” AJ thought to himself, “Its always you.” He turned to Kevin, “Why would it be Elle?”
“Don’t give me that AJ, something’s definitely up. That something is Elle, Elle and Howie specifically.” Kevin stated. Brian and Nick started to catch on.
“I’m fine.” AJ lied.
“Yanno AJ, I don’t really blame you for being upset. I mean she’s your best friend’s girlfriend, that’s got to hurt. You haven’t even said anything about it all this time. Nick said.
AJ didn’t know wether he should tell them how badly he wanted Elle back, he hadn’t even told one person.
He sighed, “I just miss her.”
The three men all looked at each other and nodded knowingly.
“You’ve got every right in the world to miss her. I’m surprised you’re not angry.” Nick said.
“I couldn’t be angry at someone who doesn’t love me, especially Elle.” AJ looked down at his coffee again. The room was silent. Everybody knew that this wasn’t like AJ at all. AJ usually didn’t let anyone or anything get to him, but he had loved Elle all his life. He had taken care of her, protected her, and showed her how to love someone.
“Don’t any of you speak a word of this to either one of them.” AJ looked at them seriously.
“We won’t” Kevin promised.
“Thanks.” AJ walked away with his coffee, already getting tired of being around people.
***
Elle woke up hours later in the same room. She could hear the Boys’s pounding music coming from the arena. She sat up abruptly realizing she had forgotten to give Howie a kiss good luck before he went on. She composed her self and hurried down the hallway to the backstage area where she could see them offstage. She could see her Howie smiling and singing to the crowd and she found herself grinning. She saw Nick trying to touch every young girls hand he possibly could. She saw Brian belting out the lyrics and Kevin waving at fans way in the balcony. Then she saw AJ. A lot had changed from this morning when she saw him. He looked great, although she thought he looked his best right in the morning; all scruffy and sleepy. She didn’t know why she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. His dancing, his singing. All these years however, she was always in awe of his performances. She always caught her self staring at him during his concerts. She could hear the music end and fans screeching and she realized the song was over.
“Baby!” Howie ran up to her with kisses.
“Aww, hey. You look great.” She smiled.
“Thank you. I gotta go! Don’t leave!” Howie gave her one more kiss and ran farther backstage to change for the next song. Somehow she had completely missed seeing AJ come back from the stage. She searched around where she was standing and realized he was standing only feet away from her getting his microphone checked. They were supposed to be best friends, but they hadn’t even had a real conversation for months.
“Age,” Elle walked over to him quickly before he had to go on again.
He looked surprised to see her, but he smiled, “Hey.”
“I was wondering if we could catch up after the show, I mean its been a while.”
“Of course. I’ll meet you....here...afterwards.” He smiled at her again.
“Thank you.” She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then said, “You look great out there.”
“Thanks Elle.”
The music started back up and AJ gave her another smile before running on stage.
New Stories by Abbey
