Discovery



AJ woke up to the sound of knocking on the door. He nudged Michelle awake. When she heard the gentle knocking, she got up to answer the door. When she opened it, Nick was on the other side.

“Wow... I wish I could see you like this more often.” He said. She looked down at herself and she was only wearing a t-shirt and her underwear. She pulled her shirt down a little trying to cover her upper thighs.

“Sorry about that.” She said, a little ashamed.

“Hey, since it’s way passed breakfast time. I figured we could go get some lunch. Then we could just hang out for the rest of the day.” He suggested with a hopeful smile.

“Sure, I’d love to. Give me some time to shower and dress though, ok?” Nick nodded and Michelle shut the door. AJ was out of bed now. He wrapped his arms around Michelle’s waist.

“Just let me hold you for a while, Muffin.” He said. Then he took another risk and planted little kisses all over her face.

“Muffin?”

“Yeah, cause you’re sweet, soft, and I’m betting your pretty moist in some places too.” He said, raunchily.

“You better go. Nick would kill you if he knew you spent the whole night here.” He let her go and got down on his knees.

“And, but thou love me, let him find me here! For my life were better ended by his hate then death proroguéd.” He said. Quoting Shakespeare. Michelle loved Shakespeare and he remembered that about her. “Wanting of thy love...” He took her hand and kissed it tenderly.

“Get up, boy.” She pulled him to his feet. He gave her one more kiss on the lips and left her room with a satisfied smile.

After Nick and Michelle had eaten lunch, he was called back for an emergency meeting. Kev wanted to discuss certain routines they did on stage and whether they should change up. AJ kept making eye contact with Michelle, who was sitting in the corner of the room. He would wink at her, blow kisses, and sometimes lick his lips. None of his actions going unnoticed by Nick.

When the meeting ended, AJ approached Michelle and grabbed her behind. She spun around, a little startled.

“How’s your back feeling?” She nodded.

“Pretty good, thanks.” She answered.

“I told you it would. See you later, Muffin.” He winked at her again, then walked ahead, leaving the room. Nick caught up to her, desperately wanting to be filled in.

“Ok, what’s going on between you two?” He questioned.

“Nothing.” She really didn’t feel that comfortable discussing it with him.

“Oh, come on. Muffin?” She gave in.

“If you must know, we spent all last night talking.” Nick took her explanation and accepted it. Mainly because he just didn’t want to know if anything more happened.

“Oh... well, let’s go out. Anywhere you wanna go. You name it.” Michelle tilted her head towards the sky and thought about it.

“You know where I really want to go? We passed a row of old shops on the way into town. Let’s go there. It’ll be fun. You never know what you can find in an old shop.” She suggested. Nick took her hand in his and held it tight.

“Sounds like a plan, Shell.” He put his Nike baseball hat on, the bill low over his face. They left the hotel and caught a bus outside of the city.

Nick and Michelle were the only ones on the bus when it stopped at the row of shops. It almost felt like walking into a ghost town when they stepped off of the bus and it pulled away. Across the street from the shops was an old diner. Next to the diner was a pharmacy. And next to that was a small grocery store.

“This is so cute! I didn’t know they still had places like these.” Michelle said, overwhelmed by the periodic beauty of the place. She grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him toward a bookstore. When she pushed the door open, it triggered a bell above. The shop keeper, an older man with glasses sitting on his nose, appeared from behind a shelf of books.

“Hello! It’s always nice to see a couple of new faces here in the older side of town.” He said. Both Nick and Michelle smiled at the warmness of his Italian accent.

“Anything special you looking for?” He asked, looking over his glasses.

“No, nothing special. We just want to browse.” Michelle answered for them both. She shop keeper nodded and smiled again. Then he disappeared behind one of the shelves. Michelle went to the first aisle and started skimming through the books. Gently running her fingers across the spines as she read the titles.

Nick followed her. Picking up stray books on tables as he passed them. Then went through one aisle after the other. Michelle picked up various books and holding them in her hand. She came across one and pulled it from the shelf. It was leather-bound, red, with gold print. She opened it and blew the faint dust away from the pages.

Nick saw pictures in the book and writing at the bottom. Still, he was looking at it while standing in front of Michelle, so everything was upside-down and difficult to understand.

“It’s the Kama Sutra. And old version too. I wouldn’t be surprised if it traveled all the way from India. Look...” She turned the pages and exposed the colorful illustrations of people making love. “Ah... and look here.... it’s in both Hindi and English. This is so cool. I really want this.” She put the other books she carried in her arms down and studied the Kama Sutra book a little more.

“What are you gonna do with that thing?” Nick asked, knowing the book was about nothing but different kinky sexual positions.

“I don’t know. Use it for reference, I guess. I know what you’re thinking. And it’s more than just an old porno book. It’s like a guide to perfect love-making. It teaches on how to tap into you’re partner’s emotions. It teaches one how to please another with the utmost skill and deftness. And overall, it brings two lovers closer. And if that’s not reason enough to buy this book, I don’t know what is.” Nick was blown away. She made what he thought to be some foreign book of smut seem like a book about the art of love. It almost made him want to buy a copy.

“Well, who will be the lucky person you use it on?” Nick enquired. Merely kidding, not expecting a serious response.

“Uh... I don’t know... someone special. Someone who deserves this kind of treatment.” She closed the book and added it to the top of the stack she had already collected. She kept looking through he books until she spotted something else she wanted.

There was a display of journals, covered in suede. She remembered seeing them in bookstores back in Charlotte, but not like this. These looked like they were hand made with care. She opened it and inside was a fancy pen to match the blue suede. The pen looked like it was made of marble and lined with silver. She immediately fell in love with it. So she put it on top of the Kama Sutra book. Nick followed her to the front counter. There she tapped the service bell and waited for the shopkeeper to reappear.

“Ok, I see you did more than just browse.” He took the first book from the pile and pecked the price into his old-fashioned cash register. He continued the procedure until he reached a total price.

“Alright, darling... 64 dollars and 43 cents.” Michelle reached into her purse and pulled out her checkbook. Just as she was about to write out a check, Nick placed his hand on the checkbook.

“It’s cool. I got it.” He stepped in, pulling out his wallet and giving the shopkeeper a credit card. The old man accepted it and went through the necessary procedure for credit card payments.

“You didn’t have to do that. But, thanks.” Nick shrugged before getting his card back.

“No problem. Let’s just call it a gift.”

Once they left the bookstore, Michelle wanted to go to the novelty/gift shop next door. A lady who looked like she was in her mid forties ran this store. Michelle saw a camera like professionals use sitting on a shelf as soon as she walked in the door. She pointed it out and Nick got it down for her. There were photo developing kits near it as well as stylish photo albums.

“I could take some of those black and white pictures with this. Develop them myself. Just create a whole album of black and white pictures.” She put the camera and everything else that was associated with it on the counter. The woman, who seemed very preoccupied, quickly started ringing up the items.

Michelle saw a unique necklace inside the glass counter that she pointed out to the lady. The lady opened the glass and removed the necklace, giving it to Michelle to examine closer. The pendant on it was of a dagger and a rose growing around it.

“I’ll take this too.” She said. The lady added the cost of the necklace and gave Michelle a total. After she paid for everything, she put the necklace around Nick’s neck. He looked at the pendant, then at his friend with a puzzled expression.

“What’s this for?” He asked as they left the store.

“I think it’s beautiful. And I want you to wear it always, to remember me when I’m not around.” They walked across the street to the diner.

“How could I ever forget you?”

“Well... whenever you look down and see it, you can think about me, and how I gave it to you, and what a good friendship we have. Just wear it! Ok?” She said with a huge grin. He tucked it into his shirt and they went into the diner.

Later that night, Michelle had allowed AJ back into her room. He was lying on her bed tossing one of her scrunchies into the air when she showed him her new camera. She loaded it with film and pointed it in AJ’s direction. He smiled big, posing.

“No. I don’t wanna take pictures like that. I want my pictures to be artistic and creative. Now, look at the wall over there. And pay no attention to me.” She took pictures of him, of his bare chest and tattoos. Some of his blank expression, and then some of his hands alone.

“These will turn out great.” She said, sitting the camera down on the bed. AJ picked it back up and pointed it at her.

“I took a photography class once. Let’s see what I can do.” He made Michelle move to the bed and sit down. Then he brushed the stray strands of hair away from her face.

“Take your clothes off.” He instructed her.

“What?!?!?!”

“Take your clothes off. Get naked. I wanna try something with you.” Michelle gave in and pulled her shirt off. Then she took off her bra and panties. AJ stopped and looked at her. Reaching out to touch the soft skin of her thighs, then her stomach. He then pulled a sheet away from the bed and gave it to her.

“Now, wrap this around your body. Just a little to cover your... you know.” She wrapped the sheet around her chest, then let it fall between her legs. He gently pushed her back on the bed. Then he turned the lights off, opening the Venetian blinds and letting the moonlight shine on her body in horizontal lines across her skin.

“Perfect. Now, look toward the window.” He started snapping pictures from all different angles. When he finished. He put the camera down on the night stand and let himself fall on the bed, on top of Michelle.

“Now, where’s that Kama Sutra book you had earlier?” AJ asked, looking on the floor for it from the bed.

“Uh-uh. Not happening. You have to earn my love.” She pushed AJ off of her and he rolled over on his back. Then she quickly slipped her t-shirt back on. She was sliding her panties back up her legs when the phone rang. AJ didn’t think about the fact that he was in her room and she should be the only one answering the phone. So, he answered it himself.

“Hello?” He said. The breath was knocked out of Nick’s lungs when he heard AJ answer the phone in Michelle’s room. Then he thought that maybe he dialed the wrong room.

“Who is it? Give me the phone.” Michelle said in the background. She took the phone from AJ and put it to her ear.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” She asked. Nick quickly hung up the phone and clenched his fists. His heart was racing and felt like it would beat itself right out of his chest. It was well into the night and AJ was in her room. This couldn’t be happening.

He thought about it more and realized that Michelle was a single woman and could have AJ if she wanted him. Why should he care? He was only friends with her. He loved her like a sister. Or so he thought.



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