chapter four
< Beep > < Beep > < Beep >
I blindly reached over and shut my alarm off. I droggily sat up and rubbed my eyes, remembering the day before. I stumbled out of bed and walked over towards my closet. I dug out my satrapy white tank top and my lavender Capri pants. I went into my bathroom and took a cold shower to wake me up. I nearly forgot I had a cast on, and almost got it wet. After I dressed , I went in the kitchen, only to realize I had no appetite whatsoever. I looked at my watch. 7:45. I remembered I never called Howie. I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the piece of paper he gave me. He picked up in a few rings.
"Hello?"
"Howie, it’s me Jen. Did I wake you?"
"Oh no. I’ve been up for awhile."
"Well , I just thought I would get back with you and tell you that I decided to try and make it through the day at school - you know - since finals are coming up. So I guess , you could pick me up around 3:00 out side the school, would that be okay?"
"Yeah - of course."
As we were about to hang up - it hit me.
"Wait. I just remembered something. I don’t have my car - I hate to ask you this since we just met - but could you please give me a ride to school?"
"Sure - no problem, I’ll pick you up in a couple minutes, okay?"
"Okay - thank you."
"No prob, bye."
I hung up with him and went searching for my shoes. I finally found my satrapy white stilettos underneath my bed. Just as I came back into the living room, I heard a honk from outside. I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked out to his car. As I hopped in I turned to him.
"You’re a lifesaver." I said as we drove away.
We made small talk until we finally pulled up in front of the school.
"Good luck today - if you need to leave, just call."
"Thanks - I will - and if AJ wakes up , tell him I’m okay and will see him later. And if anything - you know - bad happens , call the school and come get me ASAP."
"I will. And I’ll tell him he’s lucky to have a girl like you care so much about him."
I blushed. "Thank you. See you later."
"Bye."
I got out of his car and walked up the school lawn, where I saw Danielle sitting in our normal meeting place. She took one look at me.
"What happened to your arm, where’s your car , and who is that hot guy that dropped you off?"
"I broke it, it’s probably in the repair shop, and that’s Howie - my friend, before you get any ideas."
She gave me a confused look. "OK - I take it this all has to tie in with your ‘story’."
"Yeah - I’ll fill you in at lunch."
I walked into the school and immediately some girls from our clique rushed over to me, asking if I was okay, and about Josh, etc. I walked past them, not caring to elaborate any of my life problems. I found my locker and opened it to find a rose with a note attached. I picked up the rose and read the note. It was from Josh. * Why is he making this so hard for me?". I leaned my head against my locker. Moments later I felt two strong hands on my shoulders.
"Jen?" a too familiar voice said.
I turned around to find myself looking into the gorgeous hazel eyes into which I had looked so many times before. I stared at the ground.
"Josh, why won’t you leave me alone?" I pleaded.
He took my chin between his index finger and thumb and raised my head so he could look deep into my eyes. I began to tremble as a tear slid down my cheek. His strong arms moved to wrap around me, and part of me wanted to let him hold me in his arms again, and make everything better - but I knew I couldn’t. I pulled away from him.
"Josh - I’m sorry. I just can’t let you do that to me."
I started to turn around when I felt his hand on my shoulder.
"Jen , I am truly.."
"Goodbye Josh."
I shoved the rose into his hands and walked away. I couldn’t help but to glance back at him, and I saw him still standing there - the rose dropped at his feet and tears in his eyes. *Why is he making it so hard to walk away?*
No sooner had the bell rang for first hour, than an announcement came over the intercom. "Mr. Johnson - could Jennifer Baker please come to the office?"
My eyes got big. *Oh God. Please don’t let it be about AJ.* I gathered up my things and practically sprinted to the office. The secretary looked up at me. "You have a phone call." I breathlessly picked it up. "Hello?"
"Jen - it’s Howie."
"Oh my God - what’s wrong with AJ? Is he okay? What happened.."
""Whoa - calm down - nothing bad happened." I let out a sigh of relief.
"He woke up about an hour ago, and has been asking about you. He really wants to see you. I can pick you up in a few if you want to come see him now."
"Of course I do - thanks."
We hung up and I went out on the school lawn, where Danielle, not having a first hour, was still there.
"Leaving me already?"
"Yeah - I have to go see AJ."
"Who’s AJ?"
I gave her a shortened version of everything that had happened.
"Well - for your sake - I hope this AJ guy get’s better soon," she told me. Howie’s car pulled up. "Check ya later," I told her.
I got into his car, and we quickly arrived at the hospital.
"Go on up - I’ll meet you there." he told me.
I nodded, and walked through the front doors. I climbed up the stairs and went through the hallways until I found his room. I hesitantly knocked on the door. A guy with sandy brown hair and sparking blue eyes opened the door. I bit my lip. "Is AJ here?"
He nodded. "Come on in - you must be Jen," he said with a southern drawl.
I walked in to find two other guys there also. A tall dark guy introduced himself as Kevin, and a tall blond teenager introduced himself as Nick. The guy who had opened the door told me his name was Brian. I looked over toward AJ’s bed and saw him sitting there smiling at me. I went over to him.
"We’ll leave you two alone for awhile," Brian said.
As they left, AJ scooted over and motioned for me to sit next to him on his bed. I did , and he took my hand.
"AJ - I’m so sorry all of this had to happen - it was all my fault, I never should have swerve..…."
"Baby, don’t you be apologizing to me. I’m fine and you’re fine - that’s what matters."
I smiled at him. "I was so worried about you."
"I was worried about you too. All those times in the ambulance and in the room, I could hear you and I could tell you were so scared. I wanted to tell you everything would be alright - but I couldn’t."
"At least it’s all over now."
I turned towards him and he brushed his hand against the side of my face. I looked into his eyes and immediately got lost. Slowly, we moved closer and closer until our lips found each others. We hesitantly moved away from each other, unsure of what had just happened.
"Jen - I don’t know what’s going to happen - but I care about you a lot. And if an accident is what brings us closer together, then we’ll just consider it a bumpy ride," he told me.
"I care about you too - but AJ - you have a girlfriend, and I just don’t think I can let myself feel this way, knowing..."
"Don’t worry - I’ll take care of everything. You are the sweetest, funniest, most caring person I know, and I think I might be falling in love with this person. I’m not going to let anything stand in the way of finding out."
"AJ - I feel bad. I don’t want to come between you and your girlfriend, I..." He raised his finger to my lips to quiet me. I smiled and leaned back against the bed. I carelessly played with his hair as we lay there together.
*This is so perfect. Nothing could describe what I’m feeling right now - it’s just so incredible. I think I know what people mean when they tell tales of love at first sight - only now it couldn’t be more real.*
There was a knock at the door. "It’s open," he yelled.
The door slowly opened and a girl walked in the room. She had sunshine blond hair , vivid green eyes, was wearing a baby blue tank top with such a low cut I thought her breasts would fall out. I stood up abruptly - assuming this was AJ’s girlfriend. Of course, I assumed right as I hear his voice call out,
"Kalli - what are you doing here? I thought you were in Malibu."
"I was," she said in a teasingly girly voice, "But when I heard about you getting hurt, I rushed over here. I was so worried about you - I was afraid you were gonna die."
She looked me over and held out her hand.
"I’m Kalli - AJ’s girlfriend."
She just HAD to remind me of that - like I didn’t already know. I held up my casted hand. "I’m Jen."
"Oh! You must have gotten hurt too! Gee , that looks like it hurt."
I was trying my best to keep the fake smile plastered on my face. "Yeah."
She went over and sat next to him, and placed her hand on his chest. The sight of this was really beginning to make me feel queasy. I went over towards the door , figuring I’d just wait outside till she left. AJ spoke up, "Jen - don’t leave."
"I’ll just be outside - I’m not going anywhere."
I gave him a little smile as I slipped out the door. *Stupid little bimbo.* I looked around and the other guys were still sitting out there. The blond one looked at me, "Hey, can I sign your cast?!"
"Sure - whatever."
He scrimmaged up a marker and scribbled in bright blue ‘Nick Carter’. All the other guys , including Howie , who had joined them , took turns writing messages on my cast. I got up and walked down the hall a little bit , not really wanting to be around everyone, just wanting to think about AJ. Howie came over to me and put his arm on my shoulder.
"So I take it you met Kalli."
"Yeah - unfortunately I had the luck of her gracing my presence."
"By the way - what is going on with you and AJ? I talked to him earlier , and he really cares about you. I’ve never heard him talk about someone the way he talks about you. He told me you mean more to him than Kalli ever could."
I stared at the ground. " I care about him too - so much I don’t think he and I could ever be just friends."
We were interrupted by a door being flung open violently. Kalli stormed up to me, "Your pimp wants you in there , you little slut," and she smacked me across the face. My hand flew up to my face which was now stinging and red as she walked away. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Howie put his hand on my back as he led me towards AJ’s room
"Don’t you listen to her - she’s just jealous because you’re going to be with AJ now."
As I walked back into his room , AJ must have noticed something was wrong with me, because he looked very concerned.
"Sweetie, what’s wrong?"
"I just had an encounter with the famous Kalli , PUNKIN."
"Sorry bout that SUGAR."
"It’s okay, HONEY BUN."
"Damn straight!" he said and slapped his butt, which made me laugh. "Hey - I want to sign your cast!" he exclaimed. I handed him the marker they were using earlier. He scribbled a message and I read it aloud.
"Jen, Hope your arms heals as fast as your heart will when I’m through with you. Love, your ‘Wild Thing’ , AJ aka Boner." I looked at him with a sly smile. "And how did we get that nickname, Mr. AJ?"
He teasingly raised his eyebrows at me, "Give you one guess... . just playing! - Actually the guys gave it to me cause I’m so skinny.
I ran my hand over his chest and whispered in his ear in my fake sexy voice, "You sure about that?," I playfully teased him.
His eyes got big, and a grin found it’s way onto his lips. "Well...now that you mention it.."
I giggled and kissed him softly on the lips. Just then, all the guys walked in. Brian , the comedian as I had discovered earlier , backed up against the wall. His eyes got big as he covered his mouth with his hand in an ‘oh my god’ expression.
"Oooooh!," he said , "I saw you!"
I played along with his little gag. "What? Me? No. I don’t know what you’re talking about!"
We both broke into a laugh. I felt AJ’s hand silently reach for mine.
Smiling to myself, I gladly intertwined my fingers with his. I saw Howie looking at us, with a small smile on his face. My lips curved into a smile also.
"When are they going to let you out?," Kevin asked, in his usual serious tone.
" Looks like I might be able to bust outta here today."
I looked at him, "And you mean to tell me you didn’t even break a single bone? Boy - you better not be messing with us!"
He gave me a puppy dog face, "I would never ever mess with my baby!"
I gave him one in return, "Okay Honey Bun!"
We both laughed and the rest of the guys gave us a weird look. "Inside joke," I told them. A few minutes later a doctor came into the room.
"Looks like you’re free to go, after we get these IV’s outta you."
"Oh yeah!"
"He doesn’t like being confined in small places - it cages him in." I explained to the doctor. "kinda like a wild animal."
I grinned at AJ and he smirked back at me. We all went outside while the doctors finished talking to him and he changed clothes. I couldn’t help but smiling knowing AJ and I were together. Brian scared me by snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"Earth to Jen.. I repeat.....Earth to Jen....do you copy?" he said in a astronautic (is that a word?) voice.
"Yeah, Roger, I copy all right."
He flashed me a charming grin which caused his blue eyes to light up like the sky. Just then the door opened and out came AJ , back to normal again. He slapped hands with all the guys, and we all started to head outside.
"Go on guys - we’ll meet you out there.," he told them.
We walked into an empty hallway hand in hand. Finally we stopped and stood to face each other. He held my hand up and leaned in close to me.
"Jen, I just want to tell you that I know how bad you felt when Josh broke up with you. But I will never ever do anything to break your heart - I will never put you through that."
I smiled and I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist.
"You don’t know how much I wanted to hold you while I was lying in that bed."
"And you don’t know how much I wanted to be held."
I leaned my head against his chest as he pulled me closer. He ran his fingers through my hair as I breathed in his sweet scent , undeniably AJ. For those next few moments, time seemed to stand still as we stood there. It was almost as if we were in our own little world, and I never wanted to return to reality. Our little daydream was interrupted by a voice.
"Hey - you wanna go sometime today?"
We both turned to face Nick standing there, his hands on his hips.
"We’re coming - we’re coming." I said.
We walked out into the parking lot where all the guys were waiting for us. We made plans to go over to Brian’s house and hang out for awhile. AJ , Howie and I hopped into his car, while the other guys went in Brian’s. In the car , I couldn’t help but notice Howie seeming a little too quiet. From the back seat I leaned up, "Howie - what’s wrong?"
He looked back at me with a fake smile, "Oh nothing - just a little bit tired."
"Okay - if you’re sure."
AJ returned his arm around my waist as I sank back down in the seat. I felt his hand venture to my ribcage, and without notice, began tickling me.
"AJ!," I yelled as I squirmed and giggled, trying to get away. "I’m going to get you!"
I fell on top of him and started tickling him back. Soon we were wrestling trying to get up from each other. We finally sat upright , and when we looked out the window, there was an old couple in the car next to us giving us an extremely weird look. Laughing we both looked at each other and ducked down from their sight. We looked up again when we felt the car come to a stop, and we had arrived at Brian’s. Everyone piled out of the cars and we all went into Brian’s.