Rhiannon slowly made her way to the door upon hearing the loud doorbell ringing, echoing throughout the quite house.
“I’m coming,” she called, laughing softly to herself.
She was embarrassed that at the young age of twenty-one, she was moving like she was more like seventy-one. She couldn’t help it though, for if she got up too quickly or walked too quickly, she became dizzy with a splitting, pounding headache that made her wish she could lie down and die. She got those at least twice a day when the aspirin wore off and she forgot that she still wasn’t capable of certain things. Slow was the way to go though if she were to survive the day without much complication.
The doorbell sounded again and Rhiannon picked up her pace a little, already regretting it. She stumbled over her own feet, causing her to fall into the wall, lightly banging her injured arm into it. The slight bump was enough to cause immense pain to radiate from her arm throughout her entire body.
“SHIT,” she cursed loudly before regaining her balance, continuing to walk back at her slow pace to the door. “Hold on…I’ll be there sometime this century…promise.”
Not too long after, she finally reached her destination of the front door. She unlocked it and opened up to find Howie - just as she’d anticipated. He was holding a small plastic grocery bag containing the items she’d asked for.
“Special delivery.” Howie grinned, holding up the bag.
Rhiannon laughed, “C’mon in.” She held the door open for the older man as he stepped through the door. She closed it behind him, trying to peek through the thick double bagged items, “Didn’t happen to buy any alcohol, did ya?” she asked, staring up into his eyes.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to?” Howie asked more than stated. His chocolate eyes held confusion, wondering if he’d done something wrong.
“Need it to ease the pain,” Rhiannon stated, sticking her lip out in a pout.
Howie’s eyes widened in surprise, his mind going back to AJ’s incident just a couple of years before. He’d never suspected Rhiannon to be the type to turn to alcohol to drown away her physical or emotional pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but found himself speechless with worry for this girl he barely knew.
“Kidding,” Rhiannon laughed, and she saw Howie exhale the breath he’d been holding in relief. “You should have seen the look on your face though.”
Howie blushed, humiliated that he’d even thought that the sweet, young, small girl before him was capable of alcoholism. “I see we’ve got a jokester,” he observed, and Rhiannon grinned proudly, “But that wasn’t funny.” Howie couldn’t help but smile despite himself though. There was something addicting about her personality. He only hoped that Savannah was the same once she warmed up.
“Thanks for picking up this stuff though,” Rhiannon stated, taking the bag from his hands. He followed her into the kitchen, where she sat the bag on the counter, peeling it open and pulling out a five-pound bag of IAMS cat food. The two cats came running upon her opening up the back as the sound of food pouring in to their bowl called to them like music to their ears. “There ya go, Skylar and Sun Kiss,” she laughed as they both ate out of the bowl at the same time as if they hadn’t been fed in weeks.
“What do you do, starve them?” Howie asked, watching in amazement.
“No!” Rhiannon defended, alarmed that he’d suggest such a thing. “They just eat like, ten times a day.”
Howie laughed, “Kidding. They’re adorable though.”
“They’re our babies.” Rhiannon smiled proudly, “Sun Kiss is Savvy’s…she’s the Himalayan one. Skylar, obviously the Siamese looking one…Tonkanese actually, is mine.”
Howie continued to watch, amused, as Rhiannon dug out the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream from the bag. She was surprised to find four pints of it, each a different flavor. She put three of them in the freezer, keeping one out, Caramel Sutra for herself. She got a spoon out of a drawer, prying the cardboard lid off of the small container. Howie looked back to her just as she dove in to the ice cream, shoveling a huge spoonful in to her mouth.
“Mmmm,” she closed her eyes, taking in the sweetness. “Sugar… The ultimate cure for anything.”
“Damn…how do you keep your figure doing that?”
“Running five miles every morning?” she stated. She reached in to the drawer again, pulling out another Howie, handing it to him, “Help yourself.”
Howie shook his head and laughed. He dug his spoon in to the small carton, bringing up a glob of the creamy goo.
“So anyways…” Rhiannon said through a mouth full, swallowing it down with a wince, “OhhAhhh… Brain freeze.” She pressed her palm to her aching forehead as she squeezed her eyes shut until the numbing freezing pain eased into nothing slowly.
“You’re something else,” Howie shook his head. He paused, wanting to ask the girl something in particular, but was afraid to bring it up. He found himself asking anyways though before he had the fair chance to stop himself, “Have you talked to Savvy since you gave her the articles?”
Rhiannon shook her head, “No…I haven’t. I honestly believe though that her reading them will make a difference.”
Howie shrugged, his face falling slightly. He was impatient to find out whether or not Savannah forgave him yet. He kept in mind that it had been less than a day though…three hours, to be exact, since Rhiannon and he had spoken on the phone. Rhiannon had visited Savvy just hours before that, so in all reality, it had been eight hours tops since she’d been given the articles. Howie figured since Savvy’s surgery wasn’t until the following day during the early afternoon, he’d visit her in the morning to try again and find out herself.
“At least you’re talking and best friends again.” Howie commented, glad that the duo hadn’t been kept mad at one another for long.
“For the most part, anyways…” Rhiannon’s voice trailed off. “She’s still a little irritated that I’m speaking to you, but…I’m thinking my Savvy is gonna start warming up a little bit…towards you at least.” She saw Howie’s face brighten at the sound of that, “Don’t expect miracles first off though.
A ‘hi, how are you’ without you being booted from the room will be warming up.”
Howie smiled, ideas running through his head already. The next morning would be yet another attempt to get Savannah to speak to him. There was a feeling inside of him that said that this time would be different. He’d already gotten one of the women to see the pure good in him and put her trust in him. There was one left to go, but he had a strong feeling that the task wouldn’t be as challenging as it had been during the first seventeen days.
“So that’s the real story?” Mr. Wright asked as he quickly scribbled down the last of what Savannah was saying.
Savannah licked her top lip as she raised her eyes upward in concentration, thinking to see if there had been anything she’d left out. She slowly lowered her eyes back to the older man before her and nodded her head slowly. “Yes, that’s the story,” she told him, seeing his eyes glowing. “You reporters are like hungry dogs…ready to catch anything that comes along without probably cause or with…just attacking, attacking, attacking.”
“Just doing my job, Miss,” he replied, not taking any offense to her words. They were along the kinder things that had been said to him in his years.
“Would you mind repeating to me what you’ve written? To make sure you haven’t twisted my words to get across the point that you want?”
Mr. Wright snickered, letting Savannah know she’d caught him in his plan. He looked down at his pad of paper, his eyes moving back and forth across it reading what he’d put down before reciting it aloud for Savannah to hear.
“You had just found out that you’d made it as a dancer for the Never Gone tour and your friend, Rhiannon rented a house boat for the day to celebrate your accomplishment. Not too long after, a boat comes crashing in to you.” He looked to Savannah, who nodded in approval at what he had so far before he continued. “You suffered from a severely damaged leg, dislocated shoulder among other minor injuries, while Rhiannon had head trauma, pneumonia, second degree burns along her one arm.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Savannah interrupted, “Everybody knows all of that junk…it was the beginning of the headlines. Get to the stuff that is important…that’s been lied about.”
Mr. Wright nodded, “You say that Howie has visited consistently, bringing gifts, friendly, genuine smiles and nothing but good to the room while the others were obviously just doing it for reputation purposes. They were rude and seemed obligated to even be in your presence. They’ve done nothing in your favor, have not exchanged one kind word and have been greedy, caring only about their reputation…which has driven a barrier between Howie and the other four. The reason Howie’s photos are not in the magazines, including the one I write for, and the others are in there with you, is because Howie asked to be excluded to prove to you and Rhiannon that he is not like them and to gain your trust and respect. The other photos had to be bribed to be taken, but are all a setup?”
“Sounds about right to me,” Savannah informed him, and then smiled sweetly at the man, “However, when I read the article, and find anything misconstrued and twisted, I will come find you and personally kick your ass with my good leg.”
Mr. Wright laughed nervously, seeing that the young, petite girl meant business, and knew if she had the right buttons pushed, she probably would live up to that promise quite nicely. “Don’t worry, Miss Lorden.” He stated, “I don’t think that’ll be necess—you wont be disappointed.” He sputtered, backing slowly out of the room, “Thank you for the story.”
Savannah rolled her eyes, watching him walk from the room. “I better not be,” she muttered to herself. She found his attitude unprofessional, however as long as the truth got out to the world… She didn’t care if he was an immature dimwit. Howie may have still been on her ‘bad’ list, but he didn’t deserve his name to be undeservingly smeared through the mud. Where had all the justice in the world gone?
Though, it hadn’t crossed her mind that ironically, she wasn’t being fair to Howie though.
Howie closed his eyes and took in a deep, hopefully calming breath as he stood outside the doorway of Savannah’s hospital room. Her surgery was scheduled to be in approximately four hours, which gave him plenty of time to talk to Savannah and attempt to win her over once again. He paused for another second before pushing open the door, stepping inside.
“Well look who decided to grace me with his presence,” Savannah stated, not coldly but not enthusiastic either.
Howie laughed nervously, “Well, I, um, wanted to wish you luck with your surgery today in person.” He told her honestly.
Savannah nodded as if she accepted this or was trying to, “I’m kinda glad you stopped by. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about anyways.”
Howie’s brown eyes widened in surprise. He definitely hadn’t been expecting the response, but was happy with it. He hoped it meant that she had forgiven him, but wasn’t going to cross his fingers just yet at the small possibility of that.
“You never give up, do you?” she asked him, amused. Her tone was somewhat kind and soft.
“You’re not going to yell?” Howie asked. Savannah shook her head, “I was, um, kind of hoping you’d forgive me.” Howie fidgeted nervously with the hem of his collared shirt he was wearing.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?” Savannah challenged, intending to make this torturous and uneasy for him.
“Because I’m sorry?” Howie announced lamely, not knowing why this girl had this power over him. It was uncanny.
Savannah eyed Howie skeptically and he adverted his eyes away from her, knowing his response wasn’t what she’d expected nor wanted to hear. A simple I’m Sorry wasn’t good enough, that much was obvious.
“That’s all you have?” Savannah challenged him, “That’s all you could come up with?”
Howie could feel his normally tranquil temper rising drastically. He wished that the stubborn twenty-year old could be like Rhiannon and see through the mistake that had been made over half a month ago and forgive. He wasn’t asking for her to forget, because that was impossible. But forgiveness was necessary to him, because he was really trying to get through to her that he wasn’t messing around.
“Listen,” Howie began, his tone firm but not loud and angry. “I don’t know what you want from me. I’m truly sorry for everything…for what happened, for Nick’s stupidity, for your injuries. I’m sorry on behalf of the others for being such unbelievably assholes. But mostly, I’m sorry that you can’t see that I am and truly do care about you and Rhiannon. I care about your well-being; I care about what happened to you and your recovery. I just plain care, and if everything that has happened recently doesn’t prove that to you, then I honest to God don’t know what will.” Howie took in a ragged breath, running a hand through his dark curls. He looked in to Savannah’s eyes who still looked amused, but there was something else mixed in with the look. Was she impressed?
“Wow...” she stated. “This is difficult for me to say, but I’m sorry for being so hard on you. I kinda realized when I read the magazine articles and saw the missing photographs, and talked to Ann about it, that you aren’t screwing around like the other Ass Clowns who haven’t shown once since their names are glowing in gold.”
Howie stared at the girl in disbelief. He’d just poured his heart out, saying everything to her, and she’d already known.
“I just wanted to hear you say it...everything,” she admitted as if reading his mind, “And it did come from your heart…surprisingly. Who on earth would have ever thought?”
Howie shrugged, unable to think of anything to say. He hated that because of the others selfishness, he’d been grouped in to the same category as them in Savannah’s heart and mind. It wasn’t fair, but he guessed he really couldn’t blame her all that much.
“Thank you…for all of the gifts.” Savannah said, “They’re all lovely…now that I’ve finally actually looked at them.”
Howie looked around the room, which was lavishly decorated with all of the goodies he’d sent. It looked like a gift shop in itself, brightly decked out with stuffed animals, balloons, cards, snow globes, books, movies, jewelry along with other gifts. He’d certainly gone all out for her. He chuckled to himself, eyes widening. Seeing it all put together made him realize that he must have seemed desperate, but in a way, he had been. He’d desperately made a fool of himself to get a point across, but it had worked its charm after a much too long time.
“You’re welcome.” Howie smiled
Savannah’s gaze darkened though suddenly as if topics could change within her mind like the shifting of a Floridian rain storm and he immediately knew that now the reason she’d wanted to speak to him was coming. Their getting along was over. She was going to start yelling and accusing, ending with him being escorted from the room by a nurse.
“Why the hell would you purposely destroy your image though?” she asked, obviously angered and passionate. “Do you know how stupid that is? Do you know what people are saying about you?”
Howie nodded, “I’m fully aware of that, and I honestly don’t care what they say. The worst insult in the world is still better than the joke of being along side the others in faked good intentions.”
Savannah sighed, not knowing where to begin. She could see he was being honest to her and Rhiannon, but couldn’t see why he was ruining a twelve-year friendship in defense of them.
“You don’t, huh?” Savannah asked, and Howie shook his head. She could read his eyes and see that he truly didn’t, “So you purposely had your photos with us excluded to show us that you didn’t do it for publicity, even though the rest of the world thinks you’re the one and only asshole, when in reality, the other four are?”
Howie nodded, “That’s right. I haven’t spoken to them in days, nor do I really want to. They are nothing I want to be a part of. As far as I’m concerned, Backstreet Boys are officially down to four.”
“Don’t do this, Howie.” Savannah warned, “I’m asking to not to do this to yourself. You’ll regret it in a few months when you no longer have anything to do with us and then will end up hating us for causing your temporary stupidity.”
“No, I won’t have any regrets.” Howie assured her with a half smile, “Never any regrets. It’s what’s right, and I know it with all that is in me.”
“Okay then,” Savannah paused, before adding, “This doesn’t mean we’re best friends or anything, but I suppose I can at least tolerate you, since I know your true bright colors now.” Savannah said with a soft smile and a wink.
“I think I can live with that.” Howie replied, smiling back. He was finally getting through and making the progress he’d been hoping for all along.
