She grabbed her movie bag and pulled out Pearl Harbor. As she did so, she heard several cell phones ringing almost simultaneously. She heard Brian’s, Nick’s, Kevin’s and Howie’s voices answering them. She sat down on the couch and started the movie. She was fast-forwarding through the previews when AJ came back in.
“What movie are we watching now?” He asked as he sat down on the couch next to her.
“I’m watching Pearl Harbor, but it’s kinda mushy, so I dunno if the guys would wanna watch it,” Laura said, pressing “play” on the remote control.
“Well you can’t watch a mushy movie by yourself! And besides, I haven’t seen it, so I’ll watch it with you,” AJ said, making Laura smile.
“Cool, cool,” Laura said, relaxing back into the soft folds of the couch.
They watched the movie remotely quietly, AJ interrupting periodically with a smart remark. Each time, Laura would smack him with a pillow.
“Pause it real quick, I gotta pee,” Laura said as she got up and walked past AJ into the tiny bathroom of the bus.
When she came back, she sat closer to him than before.
‘Did she just do that?’ AJ thought. He sensed that she had moved over on purpose, but he wasn’t sure.
‘Why am I closer to him?’ Laura thought. ‘And why do I feel ok about this?’
What the two didn’t know was that Howie had finished his phone call with his mom and was watching from the doorway.
When the part in the movie came where Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale were in that tent thing, (AN: I just watched this movie kinda recently, but I don’t really remember the details of this part, so forgive me!!) AJ decided to take a chance. He and Laura were sitting close together on the couch, so close that their shoulders were almost touching. He fake-yawned and put his arm on the back of the couch, behind Laura’s shoulders. At first, he thought she didn’t notice, but then he saw her look over and smile to herself.
‘What’s going on?’ Laura thought. ‘Did he just do what I think he just did?’ She was confused, but she knew his arm around her didn’t repulse her. She thought about what AJ had said when she told him John had hit her. She thought about how he’d reacted when she started to say it was her fault. He had said that it wasn’t her fault. Later, when the rest of the guys knew, AJ had told her that no one should go through what she had gone through. AJ had made her think long and hard about it. She had finally come to a decision (she hoped) to break up with John. She didn’t know what she’d do without him, but she knew she had to get away from the violence. She was planning on telling AJ later, and she just hoped she could find a way to thank him one day.
Kevin was about to walk back into the room but Howie stopped him.
“Hey, what are you doin’?” Kevin asked when Howie blocked his path.
“Check it out…” Howie said, pointing at AJ & Laura on the couch.
Kevin stuck his head in the little crack between the door and the wall and saw AJ with his arm around Laura. He asked Howie, “Doesn’t she have a boyfriend?” He took a sip of his Coke and waited for his answer.
“Yeah. I don’t know what AJ thinks he’s doing…” Howie said skeptically.
Kevin and Howie left them alone and went to go talk to the other guys about AJ and Laura.
“Yall gotta come check this out,” Kevin said when they reached the front of the bus where the other guys were.
The 4 of them went back to the “living room” and the rest of the guys stuck their heads through the door. They were all crowded around the door, and their weight was almost too much for the door to hold. Soon, the door opened under all the weight and all 4 guys came flying into the room.
AJ & Laura looked in their direction, rather startled. When they realized what had happened, they burst out laughing.
“What are yall doing, you psychos?!” Laura asked between laughs.
The four boys on the floor looked up and said nothing.
“Umm…” Nick said, trying to think of an explanation.
“We were just, uh, we were just…wondering what yall were doing in here, but the door was stuck, so we just all put our weight on it and it opened, and we’re in here now, so…what are yall doing?” Brian said in his Kentucky accent. He was good at thinking on his feet.
“Watching Pearl Harbor,” AJ said. His arm hadn’t moved from behind Laura at all, even though the other guys were there.
“Can we watch?” Nick asked.
Laura put on a straight face and said, “No, you may not. What were you thinking?” Nick obviously took her seriously, because his face fell. “Oh my gosh, did you think I was serious? I’m just playin!” Laura moved closer to AJ and patted the seat next to her.
AJ moved over a little, but not too much, since Laura was moving closer to him. Before Nick sat down, AJ looked over at Laura and smiled. She looked at him and gave him a big smile. They didn’t know that the other guys caught that look.
Finally, everyone got situated and watched the movie.
When it was over, around 8 pm, most of them were exhausted. They all took turns changing clothes in the tiny bathroom. When Laura came out, AJ was in line after her. When he saw her in plaid pajama pants and a tight white tank top, she looked so genuine and sweet, he couldn’t help but smile.
Laura looked at AJ and laughed. “You are smiling like an idiot,” she said, poking his shoulder.
