Chapter Eleven: ** In Your Face! **

Still struggling to resume normal breathing, Debelah just stared at him in disbelief as he rubbed her stomach with his hand. He removed the hand from around her neck and rested it on the hip the door had hit. His eyes greedy, he bent down and tilted his head, nuzzling his face in the side of her neck.  Debelah instinctively flinched and tried to take a step back, forgetting she was up against the wall.

 He began to kiss her neck and she swallowed, feeling her stomach churn, and his hand started to travel up her stomach. Debelah put one hand over his and pushed down, trying to stop him, but he just pressed his thumb into the bruise on her hip with her other hand hard. Her hand faltered over his and he continued to touch her stomach.

 “No,” she said in an almost whisper, the pain from her hip making her stop for a second. Realizing she had a say in all this again, she said louder, "No!” She pushed harder on his hand, pushing it away from her while her other one gripped the one holding her hip, trying to pry it off as he continued to press into the bruise as a warning.

 “Stop!” she yelled, trying to squirm away from him but her took a step forward, continuing to kiss up her neck, and pinned her against the mirror with his body. But she still squirmed, kicked his leg as best she could and using her other hand to press against his chest. When he pushed hard into the bruise, she howled in pain and frustration, "STOP!”

 She jerked her head away, trying to free her neck from his lips and, desperately, pulled her hand back and slapped him hard across the face. He reared back in shock and anger and took a few steps back, staring at her with wide eyes. Debelah covered her own mouth in shock, realizing what she’d done. Shoot, now he was REALLY going to be pissed.

 But, to her surprise, a grin formed on her lips and she began to laugh. Quietly at first, and then it erupted into full out gales of laughter. She nearly doubled over. She didn’t know WHAT was so funny, she knew the elated feeling running through her was caused by the fact that she had NEVER slapped Dave when he would attack her. It was freeing almost, the feeling that she felt. She had fought back in a way she never had before. And he had no idea how to react. She stood up straight, her chin rose, and looked him square in the eye with pride for herself and defiance for him in them.  Dave seemed to regain himself and took one step towards her, his eyes burning and his body tense.

 “You little-" he shouted but she took a step forward, surprising him and glared up at him defiantly.

 “Go ahead! I dare ya! You touch me ONE MORE TIME and I’ll make SURE you won’t be walking when I’m done!!” she yelled back in his face. He brought his hand back in the air and her eyes narrowed at him, her fists clenching and her jaw set as she waited to see what he would do. If he slapped her, she was going to make him regret it. She was quickly losing the ‘make him happy until the press conference’ persona. She was going to fight for the right to stand up for herself. She was going to live.

 The sound of people outside of the door came to their ears and they both could pick out the guys’ voices. Dave had apparently locked the door behind him, thinking he was going to get some, and the guys were trying to get in but not with a lot of luck. Debelah turned back to Dave.

 “Well? What are you gonna do? Might be kinda hard to try what you were gonna with them right outside the door,” she said tauntingly.

He just glared at her, clenched and unclenched his jaw and looked over her shoulder at the wall before speaking, "I’ve got to meet someone tonight. I won’t get to be back until tomorrow afternoon. I’ll meet back up with you then. But-" he locked eyes with her, "–I don’t want to find out you were doing ANYTHING while I was gone with any of those boy band boys or else everyone finds out the secrets.”

 Debelah’s eyes crinkled, "So, if you find out anything happened TONIGHT, you’ll tell everyone my secrets tomorrow NIGHT?” Hell, by then, EVERYONE would already know.

 “Yeah.”

 “Well, I guess I better be good then,” she quipped. When his eyes hardened, she quickly added, lying,” I have a press conference tomorrow morning. I’m going to tell them about us going out then.”

 He nodded, satisfied, "Good.” Debelah turned so she wouldn’t have to watch his retreating back. She closed her eyes, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Dave strode towards the door, swiftly unlocking it and sidestepping the guys who stood straight, their fists ready when they saw him, but Dave just kept walking. They stared after him, unsure of what to do because they’d been sure they’d catch him with Debelah. The guys walked into the studio and saw Debelah standing by the mirror, turned to the side, her eyes shut as her face pointed towards the floor.

 “Debelah?” Nick asked hesitantly.

 Debelah just shook her head. She took a step back so her back was to the mirror and slowly slid down until she sat, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her head on the side on the top of her knees. She felt a hand touch her arm and looked up to see AJ’s chocolate brown eyes staring at her in concern as he knelt in front of her. She took a deep breath and, to everyone’s surprise, smiled brightly at them.

 “Guess what?!” she exclaimed excitedly, looking at all of them.

 “…what?” Brian asked confused.

 “I stood up to him SO bad and then I slapped him and he had NO idea what the hell to do cuz I started to laugh in his face. I slapped HIM!! Man, I just started cracking up. It felt so good,” she babbled and then noticed all of them looking at her with a mixture of confusion and caution. “I’m okay,” she insisted. “It’s just nerves that are making me shaky right now. Ya know, all the stress and stuff. See?” she held her arm out to the side and it was visibly shaking. “How’d you guys know where I was?”

 Kevin pointed to the high window on the wall,” They use this room for auditions. That’s a two way mirror up there so artists can watch the dancers and choose. We were walking by and Nick saw you in here.”

 Debelah paled a bit, her eyes wide as she stared at him blankly, "You- you saw Dave in here?”

 “Yeah,” Howie answered.

 “Um…how MUCH did you see?” she asked, praying they didn’t see him shoving her against the mirror and kissing her.

 “To when he grabbed your throat,” Brian said lowly.

 “Why? What happened after that?” Kevin asked angrily. AJ and the rest of the guys stiffened, realizing what could have happened. Debelah averted her eyes and shook her head.

 “Nothing,” she lied quickly.

 “Debelah…” Nick trailed off.

 “It’s nothing! It means nothing! He’s gone now! That’s ALL that matters! I’ll tell the press everything tomorrow morning, Dave’ll show up tomorrow night and I’ll give him his going away party,” she said the last part with a smirk on her face.

 “Um, you never told us what exactly you had planned for that,” Howie pointed out.

 “Oh, I want you all to be surprised. It’s SO good, though,” she laughed, despite what had taken place minutes earlier. She clapped her hands, "Now, let’s go get lunch!” The guys, confused, followed her to the door but when they reached the hallway, she snapped her fingers. “Oh! I forgot my jacket. I’ll be right back.”

 “We’ll come with you,” Kevin quickly said but Debelah shook her head.

 “No, I’ll go get it. Be right back,” she insisted.

 “But-“ Brian interjected .

 “I’ll meet you all in the lobby in a minute. You go ahead,” she said firmly.

 They nodded slowly and began to walk away. Debelah turned and walked back into the room, the door shutting behind her. Closing her eyes shut, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she walked over to her jacket. Not picking it up, though, she sat on the floor next to it, leaning forward with her head in her hands, her eyes still closed. Flashes of what had just occurred minutes before and what used to happen everyday to her a month ago flashed through her mind. All the abuse, the angry words, broken promises, threats, and the never ending abuse.  She bowed her head and began to cry quietly. 

 When an arm wrapped itself around shoulders in comfort and a body was next to hers, she froze. And then leaped forward, turning as she did with wide eyes.

 “Da-“ she started immediately and then froze again when she saw AJ sitting there. She stared at him for a moment before looking away quickly. She wanted to just sit in his arms and let him hold her but she already hated herself for bringing all the guys into this mess. And the more attracted she became to Alex, the guiltier she felt.

 “Don’t you know not to sneak up on people, McLean?” she feebly joked, wiping her eyes quickly as she forced a laugh.

 AJ didn’t feel like laughing, though. He wanted to look her over completely, make sure she wasn’t hurt and just hold her for awhile. He knew she was shook up but she didn’t want them to see for some reason. Still holding her arm, he stood up slowly, gently leading her up. She stood, confused, and watched as he held her arm out to the side and examined it for anything Dave might have done. When he moved to her other arm, she shook her head.

 “I’m fine,” she insisted, but not removing her arm form his touch.

 AJ looked up into her eyes seriously for a second before going back to what he was doing. When he was done with that arm, he let it go and lifted her chin with one finger and turned it slightly from side to side as he examined her throat, frowning at the red markings and the small bruise on the side of it. He held her at arms length and quickly but thoroughly ran his gaze over the rest of her in search of anything wrong and stopped at the bruise on her hip. It was swollen and a couple shades darker than before. He looked back up into her eyes.

 “What did he do?” he asked lowly.

 Debelah shook her head,” I’m fine, really. He barely did anyth-"

 “Can you just trust me?” he interrupted.

 She paused for a second, took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. “Well, um, after what you guys saw, he started to…touch my stomach-" she touched her stomach unconsciously with one hand, "and he let go of my throat and grabbed my side over the bruise and he started to k-kiss the side of my neck and I couldn’t move. And I tried to push his hands away but he just kept on pushing into the bruise and he pinned me against the wall and I started screaming for him to stop and he wouldn’t.” She found herself wrapped in AJ’s arms, telling the story, crying. AJ held her tight, rubbing her back as he whispered soothingly in her ear. His eyes were bright with anger towards Dave, but he shut them, trying to concentrate on helping Debelah.

 “It’s okay, hun. You’re okay now,” he whispered in her ear.

 Debelah sniffled, her crying stopped and pulled back a step to look him in the eye and let him see her face, "And then I slapped him as hard across the face as I could.”

 AJ stared back at her in disbelief and then a smile slowly crossed his face, "He-ell yeah! Deb, you still amaze me.”

 A slight pink coloring tinted her cheeks but she continued, a smile widening her face,” And I thought it was hilarious because he just stood there so I started laughing in his face. Just laughing as loud as I could cuz I thought it was funny as hell.  And I told him that if he touched me one more time, I’d make sure he couldn’t walk for a week.” She laughed for real this time as she wiped her cheeks, AJ’s arms still around her waist.

 AJ chuckled and winced at the same time. Then he frowned, "I thought you were worried about him going to the press?”

 She nodded,” I was but I told him I was gonna tell the press at the press conference tomorrow that he and I were going out. He had to go away for something tonight he said so he’s gonna meet up with up tomorrow night. Which is good cuz I wanna surprise him with the news.”

 "So-" AJ’s eyes searched her face,” –are you alright now? Do you feel like going to lunch or do you just wanna hang out here if you’re too stressed or all.”

 “Let’s go to lunch. I’m hungry!” she said, suddenly hyper. He laughed, relieved.

 “K, what do you want to get to eat?  The guys told me to ask you.”

 “Oh, where are the guys?”

 “Down in the lobby.”

 “Why didn’t you go with them?” she didn’t say this to be mean, but she was curious.

 His eyes widened, "Like I was gonna leave you up here! Baby, I’ve already left your side once today and look what happened. I’m not about to have that happen again.”

 Debelah just stared up at him in shock, speechless. Her mouth moved to form words but none came out. AJ took that time to quickly plant a kiss on her mouth. She blinked and then smiled brightly up at him.

 “So, what would you like to eat?” he asked, once more.

 “ICE CREAM!” she screamed like a little kid and ran for the door. AJ laughed and ran after her.

 *              *              *

 Brian was the last to show up in Kevin’s room that night. They’d decided to stay in that night and just watch movies in Kev’s room.

 “Hey, cuz, where’d you disappear off to?” Kev asked as Brian ran in.

 “Talking to Roslynn,” he said out of breath. Roslynn was his girlfriend of three months. Brian smiled wide, "She’s coming on tour with us!”

 “Cool! My little sis! When she’s meeting up with us?” Howie asked. Roslynn wasn’t REALLY Howie’s little sister, but he acted like a brother towards her.

 “Tomorrow afternoon.”

 AJ sat on the couch, talking on his cell phone, while Howie watched Debelah and Nick battle it out on Mario Kart. They were neck and neck, each one would pull ahead of each other for a second before the other would catch up. Debelah, not taking her eyes off the screen or her hands off the remote, lifted a slippered foot to the side at an angle as she sat on the floor and quickly placed it in front of Nick’s eyes.

 “Hey, what the- Deb, that’s cheating!!” Nick shouted as he tried to move his head to view the screen but Debelah just moved her foot with his movements so he couldn’t see, a smirk on her lips. By now, everyone was watching, laughing, and they saw her cross the finish line.

 “YEAH! OH ! I WON! I WON! OH YEAH!” Deb cheered as she jumped up and did a little victory dance. Nick slowly looked up at her from his spot on the floor and Debelah froze before she turned and ran.

 “KEEEEVIIIIN!” she shrieked, running across the room as Nick sprang up and began to chase her. She ran behind Kevin and when she peeked around him and saw Nick coming, she jumped up quickly and climbed onto Kevin’s back, holding on tight. Kevin stumbled a step forward in surprise, "What the-?”

 “Save me!” she squealed, a giant smile on her face this time. Brian walked towards Nick in his ‘macho walk’ with his arms held out to the side and his chin tilted up, walking weird. Brian quickly tackled Nick to the floor and began to make exaggerated wrestling motions as he and Nick ‘fought’.

 Howie came up behind Debelah and started to tickle her sides, laughing the whole time. Debelah squealed, laughing loudly and she twisted and squirmed on Kevin’s back and when Howie stopped, she was somehow upside down with her arms wrapped around Kevin’s waist and her legs around his chest.  She looked around for a second, disoriented, and then started to laugh when she realized she was upside down on Kevin’s back. Nick, Brian and Howie helped her down and right side up.

 “How’d you get….UPSIDE DOWN??” Brian asked confused.

 “Howie did it,” she said simply.

 Nick reached over and scratched the top of Howie’s head, causing him to jump away, "Not the hair!” This sent them all into hysterics again.

 “K, everyone ready for the movie?” Kevin asked, looking around. His gaze rested on AJ. “Bone?”

 AJ, at the moment, flipped his cell phone shut and stood up, "Yeah, all ready.”

 They put the movie they’d rented in, Sixth Sense, and settled into their spots, turning off the lights. AJ and Debelah sat next to each other closely on the couch and Brian sat on the other side of her. Nick sat on the floor in front of Brian and Kevin and Howie occupied the two chairs. During the previews, Debelah entertained herself by tapping Nick occasionally on the other side of his neck. Nick would turn around and glare at Brian while Debelah put on an innocent face.  Brian turned his head and looked at Debelah and they both flicked one of Nick’s ears at the same time. Nick jumped up.

 “That’s it! I’m sitting by Howie!!” he exclaimed, stalking away. Debelah and Brian both started laughing. AJ chuckled, "You’re evil,” he whispered in her ear. Debelah looked at him with wide innocent eyes, "I’m a good girl.” He laughed.

 At one of the parts, Debelah jumped and grabbed AJ’s hands. Calming down, she turned to him and saw her hand in his and him grinning at the TV. Debelah just smiled and turned back to the TV, leaving her hand right where it was.  It was about two thirds through the movie when AJ looked down and realized Debelah had fallen asleep with head falling back on Brian’s shoulder. Whispering to the guys that he was taking Debelah back to her own room since she fell asleep, he scooped her up gently and exited the room as all the guys exchanged knowing glances behind his back.