Sometimes It Does

"No! I'm not going! That's final!" I stated.

"Please?" Kevin wheedled.

"No! Kevin, did it ever occur to you that I
just might have plans tonight?" I asked, exasperated.

"Do you?" he queried.

I sighed. "No, but..."

"So you can come!" Kevin cut me off.

"Kevin! Get this through you head! I don't want to go."
I repeated very slowly, enunciating each word
very carefully.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Kevin promised.

"No it won't!" I replied incredulously.

"I've BEEN to one of these before. It's a bunch of
people kissing your ass cause you're a
Backstreet Boy and you have a lot of money.
It's anything BUT fun!"

"Well, you can help me make it fun." I could almost
see him grinning.

I sighed. "Why do you want me there
anyway?" I asked bluntly.

"Heather, you're my best friend. I want you
there to share this experience with me."
He explained sweetly.

I almost choked on the water I was
drinking. "Bull. Now what's the real reason?"

"I don't know. I just want you there." Kevin replied.

I sighed heavily in defeat. "Okay, I'll go."

"Good!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Wear the red dress. I'll see you at seven."

"Kevin, considering that you had to beg me to even go
I hardly think that you're in a position to tell me what to
wear. See you at seven, bye." Yet even as I hung
up the phone I was going through in my mind which
accessories would match the red dress.
It was always like that.

Kevin could ask me to do anything and I always would.
It never mattered whether I wanted to or not.
I could never tell him no.

Occasionally I hated myself for it,
but as hard as I tried I never could do it.

With a sigh of resignation I went to get ready.
Only Kevin would wait till an hour
before to ask me to go.

Of course there was a plan behind that too: the
shorter time before the event, the less time
I had to change my mind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The doorbell rang just as I was giving myself
one last inspection in the mirror.

A quick glance at the clock told me he
was right on time as usual.

Despite other faults, Kevin was always
infallibly prompt. "Kevin!" I smiled, opening the door.

"Are you ready? You look good." He
complimented, giving me a quick once over.

I rolled my eyes. "Hello to you
too." I said laughingly as he pulled me into a hug.

"Oh! Sorry!" Kevin apologized. "Hi. Now we
need to go."

"Okay." I followed him out to the limo.

The driver opened the door for us and a
chorus of catcalls and whistles came from inside.

I jokingly did a model twirl and then got in.
"Thank you, thank you. My adoring public." I giggled
at the applause.

Kevin rolled his eyes but grinned.
"Watch it, you'll get a bighead." He teased.

"Oh that's me, the egomaniac." I replied sarcastically.

Then I turned to the other guys. "Do any of you
know why I'm here?" Brian and Howie
exchanged a look, but Nick and AJ
appeared to be clueless.

"Um, because you wanted to go?" Nick guessed.

I laughed. "No. Nice try though."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Camera bulbs flashed around the room occasionally.

I stared into my drink completely and utterly
bored out of my mind.

Kevin hadn't talked to me the entire time we were
there. He kept looking around the room nervously.

Finally his nervous expression gave way to a
mix between longing and apprehension.

I followed his gaze to the door and my heart sank.
SoTHAT was why he wanted me to come;
he knew that Cara would be there. He also knew that
I hated her. For good reason too. She was a user to
the maximum degree, only dating people who could
help her image or financially. In Kevin's case
I supposed it was both.

I had to admit that they looked great together with her
height and auburn hair, but that was where the
compatibility ended. She was as calculating as they
came. Just as I had made up my mind to leave Cara
began to walk over to our table. I watched her come
with a feeling of dread in my stomach.

Why was she walking over to where we were?
I didn't have to look at Kev into see the look on his
face. I knew what he was feeling. It made me sick
to know that she could affect him in a way
I never would.

"Kevin how nice to see you." Cara cooed. She turned to
me, giving mean extremely fake smile. "And you...
Heidi was it?"

"Heather." I offered, trying not to let my dislike show.

"Whatever." She dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

"Likewise." I muttered, wishing I could disappear.

I might as well have been invisible for all
the attention Kevin and Cara were giving me.

"Would you like to dance?" Kevin asked her.

I tried to keep my emotions from showing.
I knew he was still hopelessly in love with her.

Why couldn't he see how cold she was?

"Sure." Cara accepted almost boredly.

I inwardly groaned in frustration as I watched them
move to the dance floor. Why couldn't he see me
that way?

Tears pricked my eyes andall of a sudden the room
seemed too small, the people too loud, theair stifling.

I had to get out of there. As quickly as I could I stood
and went outside. In the cool night air I took deep
breaths, trying to hold back my tears.
A type of despair and depression washed over me.

A door opened and I became aware that I wasn't alone.

"Heather?" someone asked.

"AJ?" I couldn't really tell, but that was who
it sounded like.

"Yeah. What are you doing out here?" AJ asked.

"I had to get out of there." I replied softly.
I didn't feel like I could tell him everything right there.

"Well, Nick's um, not feeling well so I offered to
take him back to our place. Do you wanna
come?" he offered.

I wanted to hug him. "Yes. That would
be great. Thank you!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, well the limo's over here." He ushered me into
the vehicle and I sank against the seat, sighing heavily.

I could feel AJstudying me from his seat.
I still didn't want to tell him what he
wanted to know though.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Twenty minutes or so later we arrived at the
apartment AJ was sharing with Kevin and Brian.

He had offered to drop me off at my place,
but the thought of being alone was a little too much.

I helped him drag Nick, who was looking a
little green, inside and deposited him on an extra bed.

Then I went back into the living room and sat down
on the couch, replaying the night's events in my head.

AJ joined me. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I knew better than to tell him 'nothing'.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

AJ gave me a 'look'. "It's Kevin isn't it?" he guessed.

I couldn't even answer. I just nodded as tears
rolled down my face.

AJ didn't say anything.

He just pulled me into a comforting hug.

After a while my tears slowed and I was okay again.

"Why can't he see?" I asked bitterly.

"See what? That you're in love with him?" AJ asked
gently.

"That and what Cara really is." I replied.

"He'll figure it out soon enough." AJ assured me.

"I hope you're right." I sighed heavily.

"The way things are going right now I'm beginning
to think that it'll never happen."

"It will. I promise." AJ told me.

I smiled slightly. "Thank you AJ." I whispered.

He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off
when the door opened.

My heart stopped when Kevin walked in.
I wasn't ready to deal with him yet.

AJ squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

"Um, hi Kevin." I said in a small voice.

Kevin just stared at AJ and me with an
unreadable expression. Then he fixed us with
a stony gaze.

"So this is why you left early." He
finally said in a cold tone. I winced.

"Kevin..." I began.

"I don't want to hear it." He told me stonily,
turning and leaving the room.

I watched him go in disbelief. I hadn't even done
anything wrong. Granted, I was still leaning against
AJ's chest and his arms were still around me but we
were both fully dressed. Wait, why was I even
feeling guilty? He was the one jumping to conclusions.
Even if something was going on with AJ and me,
what business was it of his?

"I'm gonna go talk to him, okay?" I said with a sigh,
standing up.

"Okay." AJ nodded. "Good luck."

With a deep breath I went to Kevin's room.
Without knocking I walked in.

Kevin was laying on his bed.

He didn't even look up when I came in the room.
I watched him for a moment.

"What's wrong with you?" I finally asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied coldly.

"I mean that little scene in the living room! Where do
you get off telling me how to live and judging my
actions before you even know what the hell
they are?!" I exploded.

It felt good to get mad at him. It was so much better
than crying over him.

"All I know is what it looked like." Kevin returned
defensively.

"In fact," I continued my previous thought
line. "why do you even care Kevin? I thought that
you'd be with Cara."

Kevin's face darkened. "I don't think that's
any of your business."

I threw my hands up in disbelief. "And AJ and
I are your business?"

"Yes." Kevin replied.

"Arrgh! Kevin, there isn't even an AJ and I! We're just
friends. Could you BE any more aggravating?"
I asked in frustration.

Kevin sighed and ran his fingers through his thick
dark hair. "I'm sorry." He apologized. "I guess
I was just...jealous."

"Jealous?!" I screeched in disbelief. I caught the
look he gave me and calmed down some to
listen to him.

"Yes, jealous." Kevin continued. "See, I thought I
wanted to be with Cara. I asked you to
come with me as support and also to make
her jealous."

I gave a snort of disbelief. "Oh yeah, THAT worked
really well!"

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't a very well thought out
plan." Kevin conceded. He continued before I could
comment again. "But it worked in a way I hadn't
planned. See, when I was with Cara I couldn't help
but keep thinking of you. In fact I left her on the dance
floor to go look for you."

"I would have loved to see her
expression." I giggled at the thought.

Kevin chuckled. "Yeah, she was pretty pissed off.
But anyway, I went back to the table to tell you how
I felt but you were gone. I decided that I didn't want
to be there anymore so I came back here and
found you and AJ." Kevin concluded.

"And we weren't DOING anything!" I reminded him.

"Wait, you went back to tell me how you
feel? How do you feel?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Kevin admonished
lightly. "I love you."

I stared at him in shock. There was no way, but...

"You love me?"

"Yes!" Kevin answered emphatically. "How about you?"

I hugged him. "I love you too." I replied, staring up
into his green eyes happily.

Maybe this would work...

THE END!!!