A New Day
Chapter 10
Two and a half hours later, the boys were stumbling out into the harsh afternoon sunlight, glad to finally be free. The guys all headed over to their cars, wanting to make a quick escape from Jive before they ended up stuck there forever.
Howie and AJ walked together, fighting the urge to hold hands. When they reached Howie's car, Howie lightly touched AJ's arm, getting him to wait until the others had moved away more, allowing them to talk.
"My place or yours?" AJ asked, only half joking.
"Neither." Howie replied.
AJ's head snapped up, fear flickering in his eyes. Howie saw this quickly continued, silently beating himself up for putting that look there, and also wanting to grab AJ and kiss the fear away, whilst at the same time knowing he couldn't.
"At least not yet." Howie continued. "As much as I'd love to, I have some business to take care of."
"Can't you cancel it?" AJ asked, needing reassurance that Howie wasn't backing off.
The look on AJ's face almost made him break. He didn't actually have a meeting, but he did have something he needed to do, and it didn't involve AJ. So he lied and told him no.
AJ pouted a little until Howie continued. "But I'm not doing anything tonight. Why don't you come over, say around 7. Then we can do whatever you like."
AJ brightened up a little at that, catching the implied meaning in Howie's words. "If you're sure?"
"Don't be silly Alex. Of course I'm sure. I'll see you then?"
"Okay."
"Good."
Howie got into the car, then turned in his seat to face AJ, his back to the others. He mouthed the words 'I love you' to AJ, and was pleased to see the grin light up AJ's face. AJ was about to say it back, but he glanced up and noticed Kevin leaning against his truck, watching them. His grin slipped a little, but he replied "Me too." He didn't risk saying any more, in case Kevin was able to read his lips, or worse, actually hear him say it.
Howie smirked, knowing why AJ was looking a little flustered, before starting his engine. "Later." He called out as he pulled off, leaving AJ to watch him drive away.
Kevin watched AJ watch Howie until he could no longer see the Corvette before turning and heading over to his truck. He had seen the entire exchange between Howie and AJ, and he had no idea what to make of it. It had looked normal enough, but there was just something about the way they were interacting that made it seem, well... strange. It was as if neither of them was quite sure how to act around the other.
He had stuck around because he was concerned. He had noticed something off about AJ during the meeting, although at the time he hadn't been able to put a finger on what it was. Then, after the discussion he had with Brian and Nick, he had decided that he needed to know what was going on.
Kevin didn't like being in the dark about things. Over the years he had found that it was the things that you didn't know that tended to jump up and bite you on the ass. If he knew about it, he could deal with it and head of any foreseeable problems, but if it was something that came with no warning, it had a tendency to blindside him, and he didn't like that.
For that reason he had decided that he needed to talk to AJ himself, and see if he could get some answers.
AJ looked up as he neared his truck and groaned inwardly when he saw Kevin standing there. He had felt Kevin watching him after their break, and had a good idea what he wanted to talk to him about. This was not going to be easy. He took a deep breath as he neared Kevin, smiling at him as he went to open his door. Maybe it wasn't anything to worry about.
"AJ can we talk?"
AJ looked up at him and smiled. "Sure Kev. You wanna go grab some lunch somewhere?"
"How about we go back to mine. It's closest."
AJ knew this could mean trouble, whatever he wanted to talk about, Kevin didn't want to risk it being overheard.
"Sure, I'll follow you over there okay?"
"Kay."
With that Kevin got in his truck and drove off. AJ got in his truck as well, and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
He had a bad feeling about this.