It was all set. Brian, true to his word brought her a plane ticket for Europe that she could use whenever she could leave. She was to call Brian when she decided on a date. She did of course in no time. Christel was to leave the next week. Ohniece would take care of her and Kevin's cat as well as their houses. She would have asked Chinita but she could never get in touch with her. This would have bothered her but she was too distracted with Kevin and what she would do when she got to Sweden.
The week went by quickly and soon Christel found herself gathering her things to get ready to leave for Sweden. Ohniece drove her to the airport.
"Alright bye," she said hugging Ohniece.
"I'm sooo glad you're doing this. I told you but, you wouldn't listen to me. I'm glad someone was able to get through that thick skull of yours," Niecey replied before Christel gave her a quieting look.
"Anyway, while I'm in Europe you take good care of Quincy and my kitten, ok Niecey? The cat food is in the cabinet under the sink at Kevin and my house. Uuumm. . water the plants and bring the mail in. Don't try to borrow any of my clothes thinking I won't notice because I will and-" Christel retorted.
"Christel. . . Christel. . . CHRISTEL!!! I know you told me all this already and you wrote it down too. Now get on that plane and go to your man," she interrupted. Christel couldn't help but smile.
"Ok I'm going," she said as she turned to board the plane. She turned back and waved at Ohniece.
On the plane Christel couldn't concentrate on anything but what she would say when she saw Kevin. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the plane had taken off. She was startled when the flight attendant tapped her on her shoulder and asked her to put her seatbelt on. After she had her seatbelt on she was back to thinking about Kevin.
Meanwhile. . .
The guys were at yet another interview this would at least be the last one for the week. Kevin was definitely thankful for that. He really wasn't paying attention to the interviewer, who was some guy from some magazine he couldn't remember the name to. Kevin was deep in thought, something he'd been doing a lot since he got the letter from Christel. He kept blaming himself for this whole thing. He knew that he shouldn't have been too fast with Christel. He just couldn't help himself, and at the time it felt so right. To be held in Christel's arms was truly heaven on earth and he cherished every moment of it.
Kevin was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the interviewer was directing a question towards him.
"So Kevin word is that you have written a song for the new album," he said. Kevin didn't answer.
"Kevin. . . Kevin. . . hey Kev!!" Brian said trying to get his attention.
"Oh huh?" he muttered returning from his own thoughts.
"I was just saying Kevin, that word is you wrote a song for the next album. Can you give us an idea of what it's about?" the interviewer asked again.
"Uuumm. . . yeah I wrote a song for this album. It's a ballad type song and-" Kevin said but was interrupted.
"It's a really sappy type song, the type that will probably make all our fans cry and stuff," AJ said in a joking tone but, Kevin saw through AJ's tone to what he was truly feeling.
"Well everyone can't write a song about fu-" Kevin gritted out.
"Whoa," Brian blurted out, "We really don't want to say what any of the songs are about right now. We really aren't sure what's going to go on the album."
Brian saved the day while Kevin and AJ glared at each other. From then on the interview continued smoothly without anymore confrontations. At the end of the interview all the guys piled back into the van and headed back to the hotel. When they stopped at a traffic light Brian's cell phone rang.
"Hello?" he said into the phone as all the guys talked around him. All the guys except Kevin, even AJ had perked up.
"Hey Brian it's me, Christel. Just calling to tell you I'm on my way. The plane should land in twenty minutes or so," she said.
"Really? Ok the car should be there by then," he said turning away from the other guys.
"Ok and thanks a lot for doing this Brian," she replied.
"Oh it's nothing anything to get the old Kevin back. Me and Nick even miss him yelling at us." Brian said blushing.
"Well I'll be there shortly to change that little aspect. Talk to you when I get there."
"Ok see ya later. Bye." Then they both hung up. Brian was wondering if this was such a good time for her to be showing up.
******
Soon Christel's plane was landing and it was time for her to face Kevin, AJ and all the other guys. She didn't know how she was going to handle them, she still didn't know what she would say to Kevin. Christel got off the plane in a daze. She went to the baggage claim and collected her luggage, as she was leaving the airport she noticed a man holding a sign that read 'Christel Marshall'. Christel walked up to him and said,
"I'm Christel Marshall. Are you the guy who's supposed to pick me up?" The man nodded and helped her with her bags. As she climbed into the car her thoughts were of Kevin. She road to the guys' hotel in silence.
******
The Boys had just got to the hotel, the traffic at that time of day was a mess as usual. They quickly climbed out of the van and made their way into the hotel. It didn't take them long to get through the lobby to the elevators. When they reached them they all crowded into one and were off to their floor. The ride in the elevator was an uncomfortable one. Kevin glared at AJ through slitted eyelids. The only thing he could think about was how good it would feel to grab AJ by his neck and squeeze until there was nothing left to squeeze.
The elevator binged when they reached their floor and the guys stepped off onto their floor.
"Well that was an interesting interview," Nick said to Brian.
"Boy, I'll say," Brian replied. "I think it would have been more interesting if AJ and Kevin got into an all out fist fight right in the middle of it." Brian said the last loud enough for them all to hear.
"It's not like it was all my fault," Kevin muttered.
"Maybe if someone learned to lighten up-" AJ started.
"Lighten up?!?! Lighten up?!?! Well maybe if someone learned to not be such a jerk off," Kevin interrupted almost yelling.
"Hey you guys!! My room now," Howie said quietly but firmly. The guys all followed Howie to his room and they all went inside.
"We don't need the whole hotel knowing our dirty laundry," Howie said as he sat down on the bed. Kevin was still fuming. AJ stood coolly by the wall.
"Just tell me one thing AJ. Who the hell do you think you are, exactly? What the fuck gives you the right to treat people the way you do and then turn around and think they owe you something," Kevin gritted out.
"I don't know what you're talking about," AJ replied.
"Oh I think you do," Kevin said walking over to him. "My question is simple. Why are you such an asshole? I mean give me a really good explanation, only you know the answer, AJ." By this time Kevin and AJ were standing eye to eye.
"Ok well let me ask you a question Kevin. What the hell makes you think that you can just fuck my girlfriend and not expect me to get upset?" AJ spat in his face.
"Because unlike you I love her," Kevin yelled letting his emotions show clearly on his face. That's when AJ threw the first punch.
******
"I know I shouldn't be bothering you while you drive but, do you think you could go a little faster?" Christel asked from her seat in the back of the car.
"I'm going as fast as I can," he replied.
"How long do you think it will take for us to get there?" she asked as she stared out the window.
"We should be there shortly," he replied.
"Ok," Christel said. She was still worrying over what it would be like to talk to Kevin again. She was hoping she would be able to talk to Brian before she saw either Kevin or AJ. Christel closed her eyes so she could think clearly. She started to doze off and just when she had fallen asleep the driver had pulled into the driveway of the hotel.
She was awakened by the door opening.
"We're here Ms. Marshall," the driver said. Christel slowly climbed out of the car and pulled her bag from the floor of the car as the driver got her other bags out of the trunk.
"I'll help you carry your bags inside," the driver said.
"Ok and thank you. Do you know where exactly I'm supposed to go?" Christel said as she walked ahead of him.
"Yeah, I'm going to take you to his room," he said as they boarded the elevator.
"His room? Who's room."
"Mr. Littrell's room."
"Oh." They road the rest of the way to the Boys' floor in complete silence. Christel stood rigid in the elevator clasping her hands. She was so nervous that they had begun to shake. Soon they had reached their destination. The driver emerged from the elevator first while Christel slowly made her way out of the elevator. They went down the hall to Brian's room but as they neared his door they heard a loud crash coming from the room across the hall from it.
"Wait do you know who's room this is?" she asked stopping in her tracks.
"Yes, it's Mr. Dorough's," he replied.
"Mr. Dorough as in Howie Dorough," she mumbled to herself as she placed her hand on the doorknob. She took a deep breath to calm herself before opening the door.
When Christel opened the door she was surprised at what she found. There they were, Kevin and AJ, on the floor fighting like they wanted to kill each other. Brian and Nick had obviously tried to break them up but failed because they were sprawled on the floor nursing their own wounds. Howie looked as if he were about to jump in but stopped when he saw Christel come in. Nick and Brian looked up too. The only ones who hadn't noticed her arrival were AJ and Kevin. They continued their fighting on the floor.
When Christel came in Kevin had the upper hand but, now as she looked at them she saw that AJ had Kevin pinned to the floor and was punching him brutally. She couldn't bear the sight of Kevin being hit so harshly and brutally. Something inside of her snapped and she rushed at the two. Christel grabbed AJ's arms and yanked him off of Kevin with all her might. AJ, thinking it was one of the guys swung and knocked Christel to the floor. Kevin saw that it was indeed, Christel, not one of the guys and charged at AJ like a steam engine, knocking him flat on his back. He beat him viciously and savagely.
Brian ran to her side to make sure that she was ok.
"Are you ok?" he asked touching her shoulder.
"Yeah I'm fine," she replied. Christel got to her feet.
"STOP THIS NOW!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone in the room stopped and they all looked at her. "Everyone just stop it. Just stop it, please." Christel suddenly felt completely exhausted. She sat on the bed and looked around the room. Kevin spoke first.
"Christel. . . what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I came because of you," she said averting her eyes. For some reason she was finding it hard to look at him in the eye.
"You came because of him?" AJ asked mockingly. Christel turned her cold gaze on him.
"Don't you speak to me. Don't you even say a word to me. See AJ I know about the way you've been these last couple of months and I don't want to hear anything you have to say," she said walking over to him. "This is something I've wanted to do for a long time now." Christel stood face to face with AJ and swung back and slapped him clear across the face. She hit him so hard his head swung back. She continued to hit him mercilessly. AJ tried to back away but she followed swinging at him uncontrollably. AJ tripped and Christel went down with him still smacking and punching him. The others stared amazed at what they saw.
Kevin stood silent for a minute shocked by what he saw, he still hadn't gotten over the fact that she was there. Now she was beating the shit out of AJ. A part of him thought he should break them up while another part wanted to let her beat him to a bloody pulp. Apparently, Brian knew what he was thinking.
"Come on Kev," he replied. Kevin rolled his eyes and went over to where Christel was beating AJ. He reached down, lifted her off of him by her waist, then pulled her up against him. Christel tried to get away kicking and fighting Kevin she was so frenzied.
AJ stood and took several large steps away from Christel. Kevin leaned down to her,
"Christel. . . Christel. . . calm down. Are you calm, now?" Christel nodded. "Good, I'm going to let you go, ok?" She nodded again. Kevin let her arms go and Christel walked up to AJ, who took a step back, and said,
"I want you to know AJ, that I hate you. I hate you for what you've put Kevin through, for what you did to the other guys and lastly for what you did to me."
"Christel we need to talk. Can we talk in my room, please," Kevin said from right behind her. He startled her with his closeness. Christel turned around and for the first time since she got there she looked into his eyes.
"Ok," she said. Kevin led her to the door and just as Kevin laid his hand on the doorknob it swung open. Christel's eyes widened once more by who she saw walk through the door.
"What's going on in here? I heard all this noise and then it got deathly quiet. I thought you had killed each other in here," Chinita said. She stopped when she saw Christel standing next to Kevin. Christel looked from Chinita to AJ and then at all the other guys, who looked as if they were guilty of something.
"Wh-wh-what is sssshe-" Christel sputtered.
"Come on Christel let's go," Kevin said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him out the door. Christel's eyes never left Chinita's in a silent question.