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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you, thank you, muchas gracias! Your reviews make me really really happy. :D
So, to make you happy, a new update!
Btw, I added a banner to my summary. What do you think? (I suck at Photoshop so I just made it with Paint hehe)
‘Would you rather have bread and a cup of coffee instead? Because I’ve had that once when I had a hangover and I’m telling ya, it’s no fun and it surely doesn’t make you feel any better,’ Kelly said.

AJ looked at his plate again and picked up a piece of chocolate. ‘Chocolate?

‘Leigh said that it helps. I’ve tried it once, and it works pretty good. It doesn’t make you puke,’ she shrugged.

He carefully put the piece in his mouth as if he thought it was poisoned. He chewed and swallowed.
‘Hey, that isn’t so bad!’ His face lightened up some. He then took one painkiller and swallowed it down with some water. After taking a few more pieces he seemed to feel better.

‘And here you have some pieces of pineapple. It helps too,’ she smiled as she gave him a bowl with pineapple pieces.

‘You're an angel,’ he smiled appreciatively back and took a bit from one piece. ‘Damn, what happened last night?’ he said as he pressed the palm of his hand against his temple.

Kelly bit her lower lip. Should she tell that he hit her and threw her on the floor? Plus, he spit on her, not to forget that.

‘Nothing special. You were drunk, so Brian brought you home. You went to bed immediately. I didn’t notice much of it,’ she lied. At least the bit about Brian was true. Only the stuff after was a lie.

‘Oh, I don’t remember any of it,’ he muttered.

‘Nothing?’ she asked.

He shook his head and finished two pieces of pineapple. Then he took another painkiller together with some water. ‘I’ve had enough. I’m not that hungry today. It was a weird, but nice breakfast. Again, thank you,’ he smiled at her.

How she loved that smile. She missed it. She missed him. The real, sober him. With the emphasize on sober.

She smiled back at him. ‘By the way, why didn’t you ask me to go with you to the photoshoot? Leighanne is going with Brian. She will be even taking Baylee with her as well,’ she decided to ask him.

‘I don’t know. I’m so busy these last days, it’s kinda stressing me out sometimes,’ he sighed.

So I’ve noticed, she thought. She looked a bit disappointed about the fact he forgot about her.

‘I’m sorry, babe,’ he said and took her hands. ‘I want you to be with me as much as possible. But with all these interviews and performances I just can’t always take you with me, you know? We have to rush from one place to another. Especially because the popularity of This Is Us is increasing,’ he explained.

‘Yeah, I know,’ she just said, took one hand out of his and leant her head on it.

He didn’t know what to say to her. He could see she missed him. She looked really sad. After all the promotion and the This Is Us tour he would definitely take a few weeks off to spend some time with her. It was really necessary to build up their relationship again. He had the feeling it wasn’t going very well between them, and he wanted to change that.

But first he had lots of work to do.

‘We should better go. Leighanne called and said everybody would be meeting at Howie and Leigh’s place and we would be leaving from there,’ Kelly said after a short silence.

AJ just nodded, put his coat on and took all the necessary stuff with him. Kelly also put her coat on and followed him outside into the car.

The drive to Howie and Leigh’s house was silent. They were both thinking and worrying about their own things.

When they arrived they already saw the cars of Brian and Nick. They got out and walked in silence to the front door. AJ rang the bell and was soon welcomed by Leigh.

‘Hey guys! Great you’re here!’ she said after hugging both AJ and Kelly.

Leighanne jumped up from the couch, ran to Kelly and hugged her tight. ‘I missed you!’ she squealed.

‘We met two days ago!’ Kelly laughed. The others laughed as well.

‘You better let go of her before you’re choking her,’ Brian said. Leighanne stuck out her tongue to him.

From the corner Baylee came racing and embraced AJ’s leg. ‘Uncle Alex! Come! I want to show you something!’ he said in excitement as he pulled on his hand.

‘Alright, little hero!’ he laughed as Baylee pulled him forward into the other room.

Kelly couldn’t help but smile at how cute AJ was associating with Baylee. She walked over to the living room and sat down next to Leigh on the couch.

‘Where’s Nick?’ she asked once she saw Nick was missing while she swore she saw his car on the driveway.

‘Toilet, he isn’t feeling very well. The hangover is still troubling him,’ Brian answered.

Kelly rolled her eyes. ‘Were Alex and Nick the only drunken ones?’

‘Yep, Brian and I were completely sober,’ Howie smiled proudly. ‘Always am, always will.’

‘Oh yeah? What about that party we were at like a month ago? You were soaked!’ Leigh said as she kindly pushed his shoulder.

‘I wasn’t soaked! Just a bit tipsy!’ Howie defended himself.

‘Tipsy. Yeah, right,’ Leigh rolled her eyes but smiled at him.

You weren’t that sober that night either, young lady,’ Howie smiled cheeky as he moved closer to Leigh.

‘YO LOVEBIRDS!’ Brian shouted.

Howie and Leigh turned their heads at him.

‘Get a room!’ he laughed. Kelly and Leighanne laughed as well.

‘Whatever, man,’ Howie grinned and leant back again.

Just about then, AJ and Baylee came running into the living room again.

‘Dad! Dad! Look what Uncle Alex made for me!’ Baylee smiled as he sat on his father’s lap. He held a Lego car in his hand.

‘Wow! That is one awesome car! But I bet your dad can build way more awesome cars!’ Brian looked at AJ, smiling wide.

‘Sure, dude, sure. In your fu..’ he stopped because Leighanne coughed as she gave him a warning look and gestured at Baylee with her head. ‘In your dreams!’ he corrected his sentence.

‘Wanna bet?’ Brian smiled even wider, as if it could get any wider than it already was.

‘Sure! What about 20 bucks?’ AJ smiled too.

’25!’ Brian said.

’30!’

’40!’

‘Deal!’ AJ smiled as he shook Brian’s hand.

Baylee was fully entertained by the two and smiled at the both of them. ‘I can get the bricks!’ he squealed as he wanted to take off back into the play room.

‘Hold on a second, big man!’ Brian said as he held Baylee tight. ‘You are going with us to daddy’s work!’

That made Baylee even more excited. He loved going with his father to his work.

‘I’ll get Nick,’ Howie said as he walked out of the living room. Not much later he came back with a bit of a pale-looking Nick behind him. ‘He’s ready,’ he smiled.

Nick muttered something unheard as he followed the others out. Howie kissed his wife and his son goodbye and followed last after the others. Everybody got into their own cars and took off to the place of destination.

When they arrived, the guys were lead to the dressing rooms immediately. Kelly, Leighanne and Baylee were lead to three chairs close to the shoot area. From there they could see the guys perfectly.

‘Would you like something to drink?’ a woman asked with a friendly smile.

‘Coffee, please,’ Leighanne nodded.

‘Sugar or milk, perhaps?’ the woman asked.

‘Just sugar,’ she smiled.

The woman looked at Kelly but Kelly didn’t notice it, she was in deep thoughts about last night. ‘Ma’am?’ the woman asked.

‘Kelly!’ Leighanne whispered and bumped her elbow in Kelly’s side.

‘Huh?’ she woke up from her thoughts.

‘Would you like something to drink?’ the woman asked again.

‘Oh, yes. Just water, please,’ she nodded confused.

‘And what about you?’ the woman knelt down to reach the same height as Baylee.

‘Orange juice,’ Baylee smiled while sitting impatiently on his chair.

‘Alright, I’ll be back soon with the drinks,’ the woman winked and walked away.

‘How come you’re so off today?’ Leighanne asked immediately.

‘What do you mean?’ Kelly replied.

‘You seem so absent-minded all the time.’

‘Oh. I don’t know. I’m just tired, I guess.’

‘You sure?’ Leighanne asked worried. But before Kelly could reply, Leighanne said, ‘Ooh, there they are!’

Kelly followed her look and saw the four men walking towards the shoot area and stood in front of a huge white sheet, ready to pose.

‘So, did you already buy something?’ Leighanne asked after they watched the guys posing for a while.

‘For what?’ Kelly asked confused.

‘For Baylee’s birthday, of course!’ Leighanne exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

‘But his birthday is in November!’

‘So? You can never be early enough for buying birthday prezzies!’

‘Well, to give you the answer: no, I haven’t. And I think it’s too early to buy something yet.’

‘Pffssh. Meanie,’ Leighanne crossed her arms and looked at the guys. ‘Aw man, I could eat Brian when he wears that blouse!’

‘Okay, too much information!’ Kelly laughed.

‘Well, don’t you like Alex’s outfit?’ she smiled while wiggling her eyebrows.

‘Oh well… I quite like those jeans,’ Kelly muttered.

‘Oh, don’t talk like you have a major secret teeny crush and you're not married with him!’ Leighanne rolled her eyes.

‘Okay, okay. He looks fucking hot in those jeans. Makes me wanna eat him too,’ she confessed. Then the both of them burst out in laughter.

‘Having fun there?’ Brian smiled while walking up to them with a bottle of water.

‘Sure, sure. You’re having fun?’ Leighanne smiled as well.

‘Nah. Kind of boring,’ he sighed, took an empty chair and sat down next to Baylee. ‘Are you having fun with these ladies?’ he said as he rushed his hand through the boy’s curly hair.

‘Nah, it’s boring too,’ Baylee sighed. Then suddenly he got an idea as his face lightened up. ‘I know what I want to do!’

‘And what’s that?’ Brian smiled at his son.

‘I want to do a photoshoot too! Just like you!’ he smiled excitedly.

Brian and Leighanne looked at each other and decided what they should do without saying a word. Leighanne just nodded, so Brian turned his head back to Baylee and said, ‘you can take 5 shots, alright?’

Baylee just screamed happily and ran to the shoot area. ‘Ready to pose!’ he smiled.

The photographer laughed and took a few shots. They were more than 5 but that was okay with Brian and Leighanne. When he came back, his day was all good.

Kelly smiled at the little family. One day she hoped AJ and her could be like that too.

‘Hey babe,’ AJ said when he sat down next to her. ‘You’re okay?’

‘Uh, yes. I am,’ Kelly answered shortly and smiled a little.

‘Hmm, doesn’t sound too convincing. Is everything alright?’

Kelly hesitated for a while. No, I can’t talk about it here, not where everybody can hear us. I’ll still wait till tonight. ‘Yeah, sure. Just a bit tired, that’s all.’

‘Maybe you should go to bed early tonight,’ AJ said as he kissed her lips softly.

That one simple kiss made Kelly feel so warm and happy inside. It has been so long since they kissed. When she thought about this, she felt like crying her eyes out, but she could control it. She did feel tears burning though. Don’t cry.

Then Leighanne started to talk to her the rest of the hour. The guys had to go back and continue with the photoshoot. Kelly and Leighanne were gossiping and chatting about stuff women talk about. Kelly tried to avoid the AJ-topic as much as possible. Fortunately Leighanne didn’t start about last night at all. When everything was finished, Kelly had to hurry so she could change into her working outfit. She and AJ said quickly goodbye to everybody and got into the car.

They talked the drive home more than they did the drive to Howie and Leigh’s.

‘I will take you home, then I will drive on,’ AJ said when they were almost home.

‘Why?’ Kelly asked, quite disappointed that she couldn’t spend the last few hours with him before she would have to go to work.

‘I have an interview,’ he said shortly.

‘Interview? I thought Nick said you had the whole afternoon off and that you would only have to go to a tv-show tonight?’ Kelly said confused.

‘Kelly, do you always have to nag on and on about my business?’ AJ snapped.

In the meanwhile they arrived home.

That perplexed Kelly a bit. ‘Fine,’ she said pissed and got out of the car without giving him a kiss or saying goodbye.

She walked straightly to the front door and got into the house, slamming the door.
Chapter End Notes:
Hope you enjoyed it, 'cause I enjoyed writing this chap. :)