A New Day
Chapter 13
As he had planned, half an hour later, AJ pulled up outside Howie's condo. Suddenly, he felt ill. It felt like butterflies were doing somersaults in his stomach, and he felt a little sick. It took him a minute to realise that it was because he was nervous.
He knew he had no reason to be, but he felt like some teenager on his first date. He grinned to himself and shook his head. He was an idiot. It was just Howie. He'd been over to his place a million times, and this was no different.
He kept telling himself this as he got out of the car and headed up to the condo, but the feelings didn't go away, after all, deep down he knew that this was very different from any other time he had been here before.
------------------------------
Howie was sat on the sofa, glancing around nervously. He thought he had everything ready, but he butterflies in his stomach were making him paranoid. He had the non-alcoholic wine in a cooler, the food in the oven was almost ready, and there was no sign of what he had been up to earlier.
The doorbell rang, and Howie jumped, surprised by the sound. AJ had a key, why didn't he let himself in?
He jumped up and hurried to the door, checking himself out in the mirror as he passed. He opened the door to reveal a rather nervous looking AJ, shifting from foot to foot.
"Hey." AJ spoke softly.
"Hey. C'mon in." Howie stepped aside to let him enter. AJ shuffled past him and stopped as Howie closed the door.
Howie turned and leaned his back against the door, as AJ turned around to face him. When their eyes met, both were surprised to see that the other was nervous. As the recognition dawned on them that they were both being ridiculous, the tension and nerves vanished, and they were once again at ease.
AJ closed his eyes and sighed as he felt the sick feeling leave. He had spent too much time alone; analysing what was happening between them and coming up with the wrong conclusions. Howie still loved him, he still wanted him.
He reopened his eyes to find Howie staring at him. He blushed lightly as he could see from the look in his eyes that Howie had figured out what he was thinking.
Howie had figured it out, and was a little surprised, he thought AJ knew how he felt. Then he remembered how difficult it was sometimes for AJ to accept things for what they were. Sometimes AJ just couldn't believe that he deserved happiness, and as such, had trouble accepting it when it came his way. Howie knew he would need to help AJ work on that, but now was not the time to talk about it. Instead, he simply opened his arms and held them out to AJ.
AJ smiled softly before falling into Howie's arms allowing Howie's scent and his aura to completely surround him in a protective blanket. He buried his head into Howie's neck as he hard Howie whisper to him.
"I love you."
"I love you too." He replied, his words muffled against Howie's soft skin.
The two stayed like that for a few moments, arms wrapped tightly around each other, until a buzzing sound broke the silence.