“Hey!” Rhiannon greeted, turning away from Brian when she saw Kevin coming towards her, “I’m glad you decided to come.”
She walked over to him, forgetting that Kevin’s younger cousin was even there, giving the older man a hug. Kevin just smiled faintly and shrugged. He was slightly embarrassed to show his presence there, being that he hadn’t really spoken to or was on good terms with any of the other Boys for around a week. The main reason he’d shown up had been to see Rhiannon. Although, now that he was there, he was glad to see all of the others as well and now had the opportunity to apologize to Savannah, who he had yet to see since the kitchen interruption, along with AJ too.
“Yeah, well...decided to come and check things out,” Kevin stated simply,
“Sorry I’m late.” He smiled when he saw Brian finally walk away after lingering around for a few seconds like a lost puppy. He didn’t know why, but his cousin caused him to feel threatened when it came to Rhiannon and he wasn’t about to lose such a sweet, great girl to him. Since he’d gotten to know her the day before, he felt a huge connection between them. He didn’t feel he was ready to take on another relationship yet, however in the near future, he could see one developing. Possibly sooner than he intended.
“No biggie,” Rhiannon replied, waving his apology off. She would never admit that she’d been searching for him and had an unnerving feeling fluttering around in her stomach at the thought of him not showing.
The two smiled at one another. Rhiannon had learned that she’d been right about Kevin once speaking to him after his apology. He was sweet and kind with a hint of sensitivity. He knew what he loved and would do anything for whatever that was or anything to get what he wanted or at least not give up without a fair attempt. He was serious with a maturity that she’d only dreamed for in a male, yet knew when it was an appropriate time to be funny and joke around. He seemed to respect and to be truthful. In so many words, he was everything she’d ever hoped for in a man and nothing like the one she’d met first off.
“Have I missed anything?” he asked her, wanting to keep their conversation going strong before he bored her. It was the first time he’d ever really put thought into impressing a woman. Usually, he was so confident in himself, he didn’t feel the need to, but she made him nervous.
“Nothing really...” she replied, then laughed, “Nick making an idiot of himself...but that’s about all.”
“Ah,” Kevin replied knowingly, “So I’ve heard.”
Rhiannon giggled, looking at Kevin, trying to read in to his thoughts. She wanted to know more about and wondered what the whole story behind his ex-wife was and what all she had taken away from him. What had she done to him to make him so insecure and afraid? Rhiannon wanted to ask, but was afraid to, feeling it really wasn’t her place to ask just yet. They had, after all, only been on good terms for a day.
“I’m sorry again for the past couple of months,” Kevin brought up as if reading her mind, “I ah, um...there was a lot going on in my life that contributed to it.”
“Yeah, um...I heard somewhat from the others about that...” Rhiannon’s voice trailed off, “I understand.” And she did. She felt sorry for him. She still didn’t like how he had treated her and her friend, as well as his own, but at least there was a logical explanation for it all.
“She just hurt me so badly, ya know?” Kevin asked, as if she needed some further explanations, “She really screwed me over.”
Rhiannon was silent, and as much as she figured he was trying to hide it, the pain in his eyes was evident. She had a strong feeling that Kevin was for the most part over his ex, being that the divorce had happened a decent time period ago, however the things that she had done to him stuck.
“She took absolutely everything....the house, cars, all of my possessions...half of the money...” he sighed, “I pretty much had to start over from scratch, living in with Brian until I had a new home of my own built to go back to. Music was...is the one thing in my life I thought to be untouchable...and then with the accident...I kind of got scared and lost it. I thought that if I let my guard down, I would lose the last thing in my life important to me, because it was the one and only thing she couldn’t get anything out of.”
Rhiannon smiled a sad smile at Kevin, upset to hear the details of his messy divorce for the second time that day, “No need to explain...” she paused, “I guess it is human nature to hold on to what you have and love...which was exactly what you were doing.”
Kevin smiled at her, thankful that she was trying to understand. He didn’t know how she wasn’t completely bitter and angry towards him, but somewhere in her good heart, she’d found room to forgive him without much of a fight. He wanted to tell her so much more about his bad relationship and the things that led up to the divorce...and the blackmail his now ex had tried to tie him down with if she didn’t get her way, but Kevin figured that there was plenty more time for that.
“Well, um...thank you...for listening,” Kevin stated, “Now hopefully Savannah will be half as rational as you.” Rhiannon laughed and shrugged, “I’m going to go talk to the others for a little bit. I’ll be sure to catch up with you later though.” He gave Rhiannon a quick hug before turning and walking away.
Rhiannon stood and watched him leave, leaving her all alone in the backyard of Nick’s mansion. She suddenly felt naked and lonely...exposed to all. Looking around, she wondered where exactly her best friend was, realizing she hadn’t seen her since she’d left the girl alone with AJ to help her.
“Hey,” Rhiannon called out, causing Kevin to turn back around, “Have you seen Savannah?”
Kevin smirked, “She’s with AJ in one of the bedrooms...” his voice trailed off, “Might want to go check it out...” he finished off with much room for imagination, causing Rhiannon to wonder what exactly he meant. She had more than enough time to get answers though from her best friend...detailed answers and this time, her dear friend wouldn’t be able to escape so easily.
Howie continued searching for Savannah, figuring after Kevin’s comment he was sure to find AJ with her. He’d been walking around the yard as well as the inside of Nick’s mansion for around twenty minutes now, searching for either one or both, though he wasn’t exactly sure why if he was to be honest with himself. All he knew was that he had this feeling deep in the pit of his gut giving him the determined motivation to keep searching.
“This is stupid,” Howie muttered in disgust with himself, continuing to walk around aimlessly despite his thoughts. Something inside of him wouldn’t allow him to just lay back and relax, “Completely, utterly stupid.”
He didn’t understand what Kevin had said...or why he’d said it even, but for some reason, Howie felt some sort of urgency to find the two friends of his and find out what was going on. He’d obviously missed something and been too blind to see it with his own two eyes. Something was going on...and both of them were hiding it from him, for it was obvious that everybody else knew. He continued to mutter incoherent things to himself as he wandered around, still unsure of what he was even doing.
Finally, he found himself ending up in one of the guest bedrooms. The door was closed to all but a crack. He knocked with one finger to make his presence known before pushing open the door. He found Savannah and AJ both sitting on the king sized bed casually, doing nothing more but talking. They looked up and he received a small smile from Savannah and a short wave from AJ. He smiled back, walking in further.
“Hey guys,” he greeted, “What’s going on?”
Both shrugged, Howie sensing that they were uncomfortable with his presence for some reason. Savannah gave a small blush that colored her cheeks with the palest shade of pink. He raised an eyebrow, really having an intense growing interest with what was going on. There was obviously something...he just had to get his friend AJ alone and inquire as to what it was. Howie couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous, but tried to tuck the awkward feeling in the back of his aching heart.
“Just talking,” AJ mentioned, “Savannah’s leg started to hurt, so I was helping her um, get an...ice pack for it...to make it feel better.”
“It’s working too,” she smiled, “Although another pain killer would work wonders...but my dumb ass left them back at home.” she sighed before brightening again though, “Oh well...learn from my mistakes...but talking is taking my mind off of it...” her voice trailed off and she laughed nervously.
One of Howie’s perfect eyebrows arched, wondering what that was all about. He had a growing suspicion that the couple had done a lot more than just ‘talk’ Now, he really needed to get AJ alone, wanting to know what was going on. He deserved to. He was, after all, the first of the five to really care about the girl.
“Hey, J...could I um, talk to you for a moment?” Howie asked.
“Sure,” AJ replied, not even making an attempt to move, “Shoot.”
“Alone...” Howie embellished, his voice trailing off.
AJ sighed, getting up since it was obvious that Savannah couldn’t exactly vacate the room on her own. He gave Savannah a sideways glance and a halfway smile before following Howie from the room and in to the hallway. Howie closed the door behind both of them so that Savannah couldn’t hear their discussion.
“What is this all about?” AJ asked with slight impatience in his tone. He crossed his arms over his chest, giving Howie his expectant look, just wanting the man to hurry up with whatever he wanted.
“Well...um, is Savvy okay?” he asked lamely, losing his nerve to bring up what he really wanted.
“Um, yeah...she’s doing fine.” AJ responded, “I’m taking care of her...don’t worry ‘bout it, ‘kay?”
Howie sighed, agitated with AJ’s impatient, superior attitude. He was getting the impression that he was no longer needed due to AJ being there. More jealousy bubbled up for he liked being there for Savannah and helping her out. He had even enjoyed dressing her, as awkward as it was and perverted as he sounded.
“Oh, umm, okay...” Howie’s voice trailed off, his eyes unable to focus on AJ for more than two seconds at a time. When he finally did focus though, he got the impression that AJ wanted to say something too but was holding back.
“Anything else?” AJ asked, hoping that it would be the end of the conversation and he could get back to Savannah. They’d already been interrupted from their make-out session by Kevin. He hoped that Howie would be the last inconvenience.
“No...that’s it,” Howie said after a slight hesitation. There was no need to push AJ into confessing anything if he obviously wasn’t ready to or close to doing so.
“Alright then...” AJ paused, not moving. Howie got the impression that he wanted to say something again but was holding back. He bit his lower lip nervously, “Say, um...what would you say if...um, would you care...I mean, I really like Savvy...a lot. If we dated...would you have a problem with it?”
Howie blanked for a moment, surprised that the topic came up even though he’d been expecting it. AJ and Savannah made about as much sense as Kevin and Paris Hilton...totally mismatched. He regained his perfect composure though almost as soon as he’d lost it, making the temporary chance unnoticed.
“I suppose not...” Howie’s voice trailed off, not sounding too sure of himself, but AJ was too into getting the answer he hoped for to notice this too, “I um...just treat her good...hurt her, and I’ll come after you.”
“Oh, wow...” AJ’s eyes widened, “Really...., you um, sure?”
Howie sighed, thinking about it. He wasn’t sure. He liked Savannah too, but they were way different in so many ways...compared to the kind of couple he and her would make, Savvy and AJ were relatively alike. He wanted her to be happy...and he supposed if she would be happy with AJ, his best friend, he would have to step aside and watch with the heavy-weight feeling on his heart wishing it were the other way around. He would have to keep his feelings inner and continue to hide and deny. It was for the best...
“Yeah, fine...she’s a great girl and deserves to be happy. Go for it.” Howie stated with fake enthusiasm.
“So you don’t have a thing for her?”
“Nah...we’re good ...friends, nothing more.”
“Great!” AJ grinned, “Thanks....I just wanted your approval but since I have it....wow...”
Howie smiled back a fake smile. AJ was so happy that he didn’t see the sadness and longing in Howie’s eyes or chose to look past it to forgo his own pleasure. He didn’t see the fact that his good friend was denying what was already so obvious to everybody else.
“You know what I find disgusting?” Nick asked through a mouth full of hamburger.
He got several groans and eye-rolls, wondering where this topic was going, almost afraid to find out. It was a little later in the day and everybody had finally met up together to eat their mid-afternoon barbeque meal. Nick had burnt the first two batches to a pile of black, crisp ashes, making third time a charm. Savannah and AJ had eventually come down on their own, joining the rest of the crew casually.
Nick’s eyes held bright hopefulness that somebody would enquire as to what he was thinking about. Nobody really wanted to know, however with Nick, he would tell them anyways at one point or another. The blonde preferred it to be like somebody cared though, getting his feelings hurt when nobody did.
“What do you find disgusting, Nick?” Brian finally asked after nobody else volunteered.
Nick’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as Rhiannon and Savannah both looked around the picnic table with worried expressions.
“What I find truly disgusting,” Nick stated, taking no time, “Is that hamburger comes from cow, right?” He got several nods, “Cows walk around all day in their own shit...which is smushed through the grass that they eat...”
“NICK,” Kevin grumbled “We are trying to eat here.”
Nick ignored Kevin, continuing on, “So we are eating...”
“NICK,” Kevin warned, already losing his appetite along with everybody else at the table. That was, everyone except for Nick, who was still eating away at his burger.
“Cow meat, which has had cow shit going all through it and lord knows what else....”
“Nick,” Kevin yelled, throwing the food he had still been attempting to eat down on his plate, fully repulsed by the sight of it now, “For the love of GOD, please be quiet.”
Nick stuck his lip out in a pout, wondering what he’d done wrong. He was finally quiet though, but it was too late. Rhiannon shrunk back slightly, wondering if there was some cause for Kevin’s drastic mood change, for when they’d been talking only twenty minutes before, he was in such a good mood.
“So, J, Savvy...you two were gone for awhile...” Nick perked up, taking notice of something everyone else had hours ago, “Whatcha two doing up there?” he wriggled his eyebrows, “Doing a little booty callin’?”
Savannah blushed furiously, dipping her head low so that her long hair would cover her reddening face and AJ shot Nick a dirty scowl for drawing attention to it. Howie had jealousy shooting through his chocolate eyes at the mention of the two, but nobody had noticed for their own attention was elsewhere...
“Talkin’...” AJ muttered, “Is that such a crime these days?” he glared at his younger friend, hoping he would just let it go with the hint he felt was so obvious. No such luck.
Nick smirked, which eventually turned in to a full out snorted laugh. His ocean blue eyes sparkled with mischief, ready to take on yet another round of tormenting his friends. It was, after all, his house. He was, therefore, free to do whatever he wanted. Before he got the chance to, Howie spoke up loudly.
“Nick...let it go...” he stated with a tired sigh, not wanting to hear about Savannah and AJ and what was obviously a relationship blooming. He’d seen AJ grab the girl’s hand, holding it softly underneath the table, “Just...be mature.”
Nick was about to protest, but another topic of conversation had already been started by Brian, with the others joining in quickly. Howie half listened, but every once in awhile would sneak a glance over at what looked to be turning into a new couple. He saw the way that they looked at each other and it was obvious that Savannah held no grudge towards the younger Latino man any longer. He felt as if he was going to be sick when he saw AJ lean in and give her a soft, light kiss on the corner of her mouth, her lips turning upward in a shy smile. Denying that he liked Savannah was turning out to be a much harder task
