A New Day
Chapter 30
Both men froze upon hearing the soft exclamation, shock rippling through their bodies. They both recognised the voice, and Howie opened his eyes to meet AJ's nervous stare.
Howie gently rolled off of AJ, keeping his hand on AJ's back as support as AJ sat up to face the visitor.
"Mom." AJ's voice sounded small and scared, even to Howie's ears, and he rubbed his hand in small circles on AJ's back, trying to soothe and calm him a little, letting him know he was still there for him.
"Alex." Denise spoke softly. Moving further into the room.
She could see from his face how scared her son looked, and the look of pain that lingered in his red-rimmed eyes. As soon as she had got the call from Brian, she had jumped straight in her car and headed over to her son's house. Brian had explained that he had hurt Alex terribly, and he didn't know how to fix it. Brian was worried that AJ needed someone to be there for him, to show him that he was still loved, and he knew that person wasn't him.
So Denise had dropped everything in order to be there for her son, and raced over to his house. She had been relieved to see Howie's car in the drive, knowing that he was the one other person who could be there for her son. What she hadn't expected, was to find the two of them making out on AJ's bed.
"Mom. I..." AJ didn't know what to say. Of all the ways he had thought of telling his Mom about his relationship, this was most definitely not one of them. He was petrified when he heard his mother's voice, but that had lessened slightly when she moved into the room, her face showing no signs of anger or hatred.
Denise moved closer to the bed and held her hand out to her son. AJ looked at it for a moment before taking it. Denise squeezed his hand softly before pulling him up off of the bed and into her arms. She wrapped her arms around her son's lanky frame and held him close.
After a moment of shock, AJ responded by putting his arms around his mother and holding her tight.
"Are you happy with him?" She whispered into his ear.
"Yes." AJ replied just as softly back.
"Then I'm happy for you." Denise pulled back and unwrapped one arm from her son's waist to beckon for Howie to come join them. He did and found himself wrapped in Denise's embrace also.
She hugged them both for a few moments before letting them go and stepping back a little. Howie and AJ's arms had wound around each other as they stood and faced AJ's mother. Denise looked at them before speaking again.
"It's about time you know." She smiled at the pair.
AJ looked at her, shock evident on his face "Wha?"
"Alexander James, I am your mother. I know you as well as you know yourself. I have known for years that you two were meant to be together, I just didn't expect it to take the pair of you so long to realise it for yourselves."
Both men were rendered speechless by her words, wondering just how she could realise that before they themselves had.
Denise saw this and laughed. It wasn't often she could do that to her son, and so she was determined to enjoy it. She reached over and took AJ's hand again, before heading for the door.
"Now come on you two. As lovely as it is in here, I think we'll be more comfortable downstairs; don't you?"
AJ smiled lovingly at his mom, allowing her to pull him out of the room, and he grabbed Howie's hand and pulled him along too.