**Second Chances**While eating breakfast AJ's phone went off and he went to answer it. AJ went into the patio to answer it and saw it was Howie. " Hello!" " Hey, J its me. What's up?" " Nothing, we are all here at Jackie's having breakfast. How are you?" " I'm doing alright. You guys are taking her to airport?" " Yeah we are. Listen, I got to go we are leaving soon." " Okay. Do me one favor." he said. " What's that?" " Go up to the bedroom and see if anything happened last night. I called and left her message. Just see if she threw anything like glass or something." " Alright I will go do that, I will give you a call later." he said and hung up. AJ walked back into the house and Kevin noticed him heading upstairs. He poked Nick and Brian in the shoulder and followed him. " What are you doing?" Nick asked. " I just a call from Howie. I need to check something. D, said he called and left a message on jackie's answering machine. He wanted me to check the room to see if anything was out of the ordinary." he said and opened the bedroom door. When they opened the door it had surprised them all. The bedroom was a mess, some clothes were scattered all over the bedroom, pictures on the floor and something was thrown. Nick went to see what it was and noticed it was a picture Howie and Jackie took while they were doing the Today Show. " I guess whatever he told her, really got to her." Nick said. " Well, its too bad they broke up. They look so happy in this picture but went wrong?" Brian asked. " Alot of things. She left her CD player going and its on Track 2 from the Coyote Ugly Soundtrack." " It's Please Remember." AJ said. " Guys, we need to get going. Her flight leaves soon." Brian said and they left the room. Meanwhile at the airport, Jackie had her sunglasses on and was listening to the song. She had started to cry when Please Remember came on. Jackie was under her glasses when Tiffany looked over and saw that she was crying. " Goodbye there just no sadder word to say......." " Flight 109 to Los Angeles calling boarding." the stewardess said. Jackie looked at everyone and started to cry and hugged everyone as she was heading towards the gate. " I'm going to miss you guys. But I will back and Nick don't forget to take care of my house, cause if you don't I'll back to get you. I will call you all when I get in." she said and walked. " So, Jackie what's new?" Josh Hartnett asked. Jackie had been working for Josh Hartnett for the last month as his Public Relations Person. They were out to dinner after a premiere of a movie Ben Affleck did. " Nothing really. I've been busy since I got here. You know it." she said. " I mean your love life." he said. " I don't have time for one. I've been busy. " " Then, why is that when you see or hear about Howie you start crying?" " It's nothing." " Don't lie to me. We've known eachother since we were little. What's going on?" " I just wish he was more supportative." she said. " Hey you don't need that. You have someone who loves you and always have. Someone who will be more than happy to be with you." he said. " Who is that?" " Me." he said and leaned forward to kiss her. Meanwhile in Orlando, Howie was having dinner with his parents. He was going to sit in the living room when a picture of them was still up and in the background," Please Remember" was playing in the background. Howie then decides to sit out in the porch to think. He wanted to how she was doing and if she was having fun. While he was sitting on the porch his phone went off and answered it. " Hello." " D, its me Nick. Where you at?" " I'm at my parents house having dinner whats up?" " Nothing, I just wanted to see how you were doing?" " I'm doing okay. Have you heard from Jackie?" " Yeah just yesterday. She was checking to see if her house in one piece. Do you miss her?" " Yeah I do, but she's more happy with her job now. Nick, I got to go now. So I will talk to you later." " Okay, bye." they both hung up. About a week later, Leighanne had recieved a letter from Jackie. When she recieved the letter she was surprised to see what it had said.The letter had said: How are you guys doing? I'm doing okay. Love, Jackie " Oh my god." Leigh said. " What is it honey?" Brian asked coming from the living room. " The letter from Jackie." " What does it say?" " She's getting married to Josh on the 12th and she wants me to be the Maid of Honor." " She's what?" " Jackie is marrying Josh. He proposed to her and she said yes." " WHAT???" Brian said and ran into the kitchen. Leighanne handed Brian the letter and he began reading it. As he continued to read it his eyes opened really wide and put it down. " She's sending the invitations to everyone. Does that mean she's sending it to D?" he asked. " I don't know. We need to call everyone. Howie isn't home because he's at the Foundation. I'll start calling everyone now and we'll see what is going on." he said and called everyone. About two hours later everyone had arrived at the Littrells to see why they called everyone. Brian and Leighanne had just came back from upstairs after putting their daughter Megan to sleep. When they came downstairs, Nick had noticed that they were in a serious conversation. " Guys what is going on?" Nick asked. " I recieved a letter from Jackie, she's doing fine and all, but wants us to come out to LA on the 12th." " Really why?" Kristin asked. " Because she's getting married to Josh. Josh proposed to her two days ago and she said yes. Jackie is sending the invitations to use with in the week. " " The question remains, do we tell Howie to be expecting a invitation and do we go?" AJ asked. Later that week the invitation for Jackie's wedding had gotten to Orlando. Everyone was at the recording studios when they came. Leighanne walked in with a big envelope that the invitations and looked at Brian and knodded yes he did have one. Nick looked at Leighanne and knew what she was carrying. " Guys, take 15 minutes." the Producer said. Leighanne walked in with the envelopes and looked at everyone except for Howie. " I recieved this in the mail today. They came from Jackie, I mean it seems like someone send it for her. " " What is it?" Howie asked. Leighanne took out the invitation and Howie opened it up. When he opened the envelope up and read it, his eyes just fell and excused himself. " Excuse me." he said and left. AJ followed him outside and found him with his head in his hand. AJ then put his hand on his shoulder to see if he was okay. " D, you okay?" " AJ, she's getting married. Next Wednesday she's going to be walking down the aisle to someone else. I can't go because its going to hurt too much to see her say yes to someone else." " I understand, that's why Leigh was debting if you should get the invitation when she first found out. We all knew for about a few days. Jackie wrote Leigh a letter tell her she was getting married to Josh and asked her to be her Maid of Honor. Brian, Leigh, Nick and Kristin are going. Kevin and I aren't going." he said as AJ sat down next to him. " Why aren't you going?" " Because it's not right. It wasn't also right for her to send you an invitation." " Well she's moved on with her life and now its time for me to do the same." he said. Everyone came out of the building and was waiting to see who was all going. " So who's all going?" Leigh asked. " Nick and Kristin. I don't think I can go." Kevin said. " Guys, do me a favor and go. Don't go because of me and what happened. Go to the wedding because she asked you guys too. I don't want her to think she doesn't have any friends because what is going on. Give her my best." Howie said and left. About three days later, Jackie was in Brides Room at the church looking over herself. She had began to cry when she realized she was getting married. In the room with her was her two bestfriends Leighanne and Kristin. Someone knocked on the door and Kristin went to answer it. It was Nick, Brian, Kevin and AJ. Jackie turned around and smiled, but noticed someone was missing and began to cry. " You look beautiful." AJ said. " Thanks. Thank you all for coming. I know it was short notice, but Thanks. Today my life is going to change." " We just want you to be happy and if marrying Josh makes you happy we can't deny you that." Kevin said. " Thank you. Kev, I know this is short notice, but I was meaning to ask you." " What is it?" " You will give me away. I always have considered you a brother." " I don't know what to say, but I'm honored." he said and gave Jackie a hug. " Okay, as Maid of Honor and I'm sure Kevin will agree with me, Jackie needs to be alone. I also want to talk to her and so does Kev." Leigh said. They each gave her a hug and wished her luck. Before AJ left he said something to her that moved her. " Eventhough you are marrying Josh, I just want you to know how much I love you and how much your happiness means to all over us. No matter what happens you will always be in our heart. D, sends you his wishes." AJ said and kissed her on the cheek. When he left Jackie looked at Kevin and Leighanne and smiled, but began to cry. " Jackie you okay?" Kevin asked. " Yeah! I just thought everyone would be here today, but it was asking too much." she said. " He didn't think it would be right for him to come. He does send his best." Leigh said. " I know." she said. " We just want to wish you good luck with your marriage with Josh. You always be part of our heart and always have a home in orlando." Kevin said. " Like he said, youwill always remain in our hearts forever. No matter what may happen you always be a part of us. Now I think its time for you to walk down that aisle." Leigh said and put Jackie's veil on. " Ready." Kevin said and she grabbed his arm. As the wedding party started to walk down the aisle, Howie showed up as Jackie was at the back of the church. Brian turned around and leaned over to AJ to let him know. AJ got out of his chair and walked towards him. " Howie, I thought you weren't going to show up?" he asked. " I had to come. I had to see if she was going to go through with this." " It looks like she is.Are you going to stay?" he asked. " No, I'm going to go." Howie said and left. During the ceremony Howie stood and watched at the back of the church while Jackie was repeating her vows to Josh. It hurted him to think that she was married to someone else, he had noticed Jackie was wearing a off the shoulder, white dress, her trail was about two feet long, her hair was down and curly and he could see the tears in her eyes. She had Leighanne as her Maid of Honor and Megan as her Flower Girl. When the ceremony ended Howie quickly left and returned to the hotel he was staying at. " Howie, why didn't you stop the wedding?" someone asked him. " I didn't think it was the right thing to do. But I wish I had because she wouldn't have gone through all the time when she got back." " Why what happened?" " I think I will tell them." Jackie said and continued. Jackie had arrived back home from her honeymoon while Josh went ahead and left for his next movie. When she gotten the mail from the outside Jackie had seen a letter from Howie's sister Angie. She was wondering why Angie would write to her. As Jackie started to read the letter she went into the kitchen to get something to drink and into the patio. The letter reads: Dear Jackie, I hear Congratulations is in order. Congratulations on your new marriage to Josh and I hope you guys are happy together. I found out about your wedding from AJ when he got back. Enclosed is a check for 75.00 as your gift. But that's not why I am writing to you. I am writing to you because as a friend you need to know what is going on with Howie. Eversince you guys broke up, he hasn't been the same. He is always burying himself in his work, he is depress and has been just dating every girl he sees. He says he's fine and all but we are all worried. When I mean all I mean the family, the guys and especially me. If you have time, Jackie will you please talk to him. Let him know that he can come to you as a friend. I better go because of the foundation. I hope to hear from you soon. Love, Angie After reading the letter, Jackie got up and looked out to the ocean. She had started to get tears in her eyes because of everything that was going on. Jackie stayed out in the patio for awhile and ignore the phone that was ringing. Whoever was calling had called three times and decided not to leave a message. It was about seven in the evening when the doorbell rang and she ignored it. The person that was at the front door walked towards the back and scared Jackie. " AJ. You scared me." she said. " Girl, I've been trying to get a hold of you since this afternoon. You aren't answering your phone. Welcome home." he said and hugged her. " Thanks. I was just reading a letter. How is everyone?" " They are doing okay. The question is how are you?" " I'm doing fine. Josh is flying to his next movie and I decided to come home.J, can I ask you a question?" " What is it?" " I got this letter from Angie. She said you guys are worried about Howie. Is it true?" " Actually why don't you come with me." he said and headed towards his car. A few minutes later they both drove up to Howie's house. She wanted to know why they were there. " J, why are we here?" she asked. " Just follow me and I will show you." he took her hand and led her to a window. " What do you want me to see?" " You asked me if its true about Howie. Well just look inside." he said and she did. She looked into the window and found Howie slumped over in his couch, his head was in his hand, blinds down and in the background playing loud to hear is Back To Your Heart. Jackie hears the words and holds back tears. "It's not that I can't live without you, It's not that I don't even want to true, everynight I dream about you, eversince the day you said goodbye." " I have to go back in there, I didn't think it was like this." she said. " Jackie wait, let me talk to him first. You don't know what he's like." AJ said and went inside. When he went in, Jackie's phone rang and it was Josh. He was calling to see if she was okay. " Hello!" " Hey, did you make it okay?" " Yeah I did." she said distracted and was looking around. " What's wrong?" " There's nothing wrong. I'm just tired. That's all." " Okay, I will call you again in a few days." he said and hung up. Meanwhile inside the house, AJ turned the light on and Howie popped up. " D, this is not like you." AJ said. " The way I've been acting hasn't been like me either."
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