Chapter 3
Outside the club the cold night air quickly chilled Howie, and he shivered. Behind him AJ called for their pickup before pocketing his cell. He frowned as Howie wrapped his arms around himself; seemingly as much to comfort himself as to keep himself warm. AJ knew something was seriously wrong with his friend, but he wasn't sure what it was. He walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, frowning again when Howie jumped at the contact.

"Talk to me D. What's wrong?" Howie turned slightly towards his friend, taking in the concerned look on his face.

"It's nothing Jay, I'm fine." At that moment the limo returned from dropping the others, and Howie jumped in, trying to escape from further questioning. AJ got in as well, and sat across from his friend, who was picking at invisible lint on his slacks. The limo started moving, and AJ stared out of the limo at the passing scenery, unwilling to push his friend, knowing it would do no good.

Howie breathed a small sigh of relief when it seemed that AJ wasn't going to push him, and he rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes. AJ looked at his friend's reflection in the window and sighed as well. He knew that something was wrong. He was sure of it. He tried to think back over the past few months, he had known that something had been bothering his friend for a long time, and during his stint in rehab, he had concluded that Howie had been beating himself up for not being able to help him through his problems. But now, even though he was doing better and had cleaned up, Howie's depression had remained. AJ knew that his best friend was beating himself up over something, but had the distinct sense that his drinking problem could only be a part of it.

AJ turned and looked at his best friend. Howie was still leaning back in his seat, eyes closed, seemingly at rest, but the tightness of Howie's features and the way he held his body told AJ that Howie was anything but relaxed. Howie appeared to be okay, and waved people off whenever he was asked what was wrong,  but AJ knew him, he knew that something was eating at him. He knew that Howie had always been hiding a part of himself from AJ, from all of them, but over the years he had accepted that Howie was like that.

AJ smiled as he considered Howie's nature. He was a sweet, caring guy with a heart that was almost too big for his own good. He cared a little too much sometimes about the comments made in the press. It seemed that he would brush off a compliment, yet he took any criticism to his heart, caring too much about irrelevant reporters comments, and not focusing enough on what those close to him were saying. Maybe that was it he thought. Yeah, maybe. There had been some reports recently, people had criticised the guys for not staying close to AJ whilst he was in rehab, and AJ knew that one of the things most likely to hurt Howie, was the implication that he was not a good friend. AJ hadn't known any of this till he had come out of rehab, and he had been so angry that he was ready to blast someone out for even making the suggestion, at least, that was until Howie had come in and calmed him down. He had told him that it didn't matter; that as long as AJ knew that it wasn't true then it shouldn't matter and AJ had let it drop.

He smiled at this. Howie was the only one who could do that, could keep him level. The others couldn't do it, they would just wind him up further, but Howie could calm him with a few soft words, sometimes even just a sympathetic look, and AJ would calm down. It was like they were to halves of the same coin, one balancing out the other.

But AJ knew that the recent press couldn't be it. That was too recent, and Howie had been getting like this for much longer. Just then, the car slowed to a stop, and a bang on the glass let them know that they had arrived. Howie jumped up and shot out of the limo, as if trying to escape, and AJ watched his retreating back as he followed him out of the limo. He stopped and signed a few autographs for the die-hard fans that were still outside the hotel at 2am, and then went inside.