Part 556
They had been best friends from the very beginning and for the first time, AJ was nervous about talking to Howie. All through dinner, he had watched Howie trying to figure out how to ask him to be his best man. Now, as Howie stood deep in conversation with Brian and Kevin, Sarah beside him with her head on his shoulder, he decided to let it go for a little while longer.
Starting out the door, AJ was surprised when Sarah grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his.
"Where you going, Alex?"
"To my bus."
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing. Why do you ask?"
"Cuz you were unusually quiet during dinner and you stared at Howie more than I did. Someone might think you’ve got a thing for ‘D’."
AJ laughed, "Shh, don’t tell anyone."
"Our secret," teased Sarah squeezing his hand. "Ride with us so you two can talk."
AJ shook his head, "Not now, Sarah. I’m not ready to ask him."
"Alex, stop it. Howie loves you and he’s gonna be honored but you have to ask him first."
"You sure? I mean, I don’t wanna interrupt anything with you two."
"You aren’t gonna interrupt anything. We did that after the video shoot," grinned Sarah. "Come on."
The two headed to Howie’s bus talking about the video and Sarah told him what she had discovered about the song.
Climbing on the bus shortly after AJ and Sarah, Howie found Sarah stretched out on the couch with her head on AJ’s lap and his hand on her belly. They were both quiet but the look on AJ’s face was priceless.
"Hey, so this is where you two took off to. What’s up?"
"Feeling the twins move. Hush!"
Sarah grinned at Howie who gave her a wink. He went to grab a bottle of water before sitting at the other end of the couch taking Sarah’s feet in his lap.
"You riding with us, ‘J’?"
"Don’t mind, do you?"
"Nah…it’s been a while since we hung out."
Sarah sat up with Howie’s help and gave him a kiss. "I’m gonna take a nap and give you two some time to bond. Wake me when we get to the city limits?"
"Sure, ‘Angel’. You okay?"
"I’m fine, ‘D’. Alex, see you in a few."
"Later, ‘Tigger’…and thanks."
Sarah leaned to give AJ a kiss too and then headed to the back of the bus.
As the door closed behind Sarah, Howie opened the bottle of water, took a sip, then reached for the remote. "Sarah got a couple new movies. Wanna watch one?"
"Doesn’t matter, ‘D’," shrugged AJ as he picked at the arm rest cover.
Howie remembered what Sarah had told him about her conversation with AJ during the video shoot and he could tell it was still weighing heavily on his friend’s mind. "Talk to me ‘J’. What’s got you so uptight that you stared at me during dinner more than my wife did?"
AJ looked at him. "I need to ask you a favor but if you say ‘no’, I’ll understand. I mean, I’m not sure why I’m even bothering after what I did to you and to Sarah." He had to stop because his voice broke and he looked down at the floor.
Leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, Howie said, "Alex, we’ve talked about this. I’m NOT pissed at you. Yeah, then, when it happened, I wanted to beat the hell out of you but when I calmed down and Sarah had a chance to deal with it, I was calmer. I’m not saying it was okay…just that I understood exactly what the drugs and alcohol were doing to you. To be quite honest, if Sarah had NOT been able to understand, it would have had a far different outcome."
Howie’s voice trailed off and the two men knew exactly what would have happened.
"I guess there’s a good thing about Sarah’s past," mumbled AJ.
"There are a couple things…Jesse for one…but yeah, her past drug addiction and knowledge of what you were going through was a good thing. She cares about you a great deal and so do I. Let it go, Alex. Its over and we’ve moved on. You’re my best friend and you can ask me anything."
AJ looked into Howie’s eyes. The love, the trust, and the friendship they’d developed over the years were clear and he relaxed. Smiling, he asked, "Would you be my best man?"
"I’d be honored on several conditions."
"You’re gonna put conditions on it?"
"Yes," smirked Howie. "First, Sarah and I wanna do the rehearsal dinner for you and Ali."
"No problem. I’m sure Mama would really appreciate it."
"Second, I get to throw your bachelor party…alcohol free of course."
"I can handle that."
"Last, and this is a huge one. If Sarah goes into labor, I will NOT be there."
AJ laughed, "If ‘Tigger’ goes into labor, I won’t be there either. There’s no way I’m letting you two go through this alone. I know how scared Sarah is about the possibility of having to have a c-section."
"I’ve never seen her quite like this," said Howie leaning back and running his hands through his hair. "I don’t even have to bring it up and she gets this terrified look in her eyes. No matter how much I reassure her, she’s still scared."
"Sarah’s tough. She’ll be okay because she’s got you. Have you thought about tomorrow night?"
"Yeah, sorta, but I don’t know what song we should do to introduce her."
"How about we do ‘Angel’?"
"By Shaggy?"
"Yeah, it’s perfect. You do this part…Girl, you’re my angel, you’re my darlin’ angel, closer than my peeps you are to me, baby, Surely, you’re my angel, my darlin’ angel, Girl, you’re my friend when I’m in need, lady," sang AJ. "I’ll do the other part."
Howie thought it over and then said, "Works for me. You know, she set you up, don’t you?"
AJ smirked, "Yeah, I know. So what movies did she get…" and the two settled in for the trip to Vegas watching one of the movies Sarah had gotten Howie and talking about music, the tour, and what they were going to do when the tour was over.