Snow Lodge
Chapter 45
Nick sighed. "Brian has always, and will always love AJ. He loved him long before they were ever together, and he loved him after they broke up."
"If he loved him, why did he break it off?"
"I don't know for sure, he would never tell me. He wouldn't discuss anything to do with it at all, not even with me, and I tried everything to get him to tell me. The closest I ever got was one night when we went out. We ended up in some bar, and Brian was drinking like a fish."
Howie looked surprised, Brian had never been a heavy drinker.
"I know, I was surprised too, but I was three sheets to the wind myself, and at the time I didn't really pay attention to how much he had drunk. Anyways, we somehow ended up talking about relationships, and I was complaining about not being able to find someone to love me, for me. All of a sudden he comes out with this speech about how when you find someone who loves you, to never let them go, because they take a part of you with them, and you will forever have a hole inside you that can never be filled, no matter how hard you try to replace it. It was then I realised he had been fiddling with a ring on his finger, and I realised it was the one AJ had given him."
"I haven't seen him wear that ring since they broke up. I didn't even think he still had it." Howie whispered, as his mind tried to take in this new information. Nick agreed with him.
"I know man, it was the first time I'd seen him wear it, and he hasn't ever worn it since. I know, because I've looked. You know what though?"
Howie shook his head.
"A few days later I was thinking about everything he had said, and I suddenly realised why he had been acting like that." Nick made eye contact with Howie, needing to get his point across. "That night, that was one year to the day since he broke it off."
Howie's eyes widened as he realised the implications of all this. Brian never really stopped loving AJ, despite everything that had happened.
Nick realised that Howie finally understands, and smiles wryly. "You see Howie. A part of Brian died when he left AJ, and he's never totally given him up. And from the way he is acting, I think he was beginning to realise that for himself. But if AJ dies, well, I think we will lose Brian too."
