Chapter 25
The doors to the elevator opened and Marcus watched as Leona flounced out and walked down the corridor as if she owned it. He stepped out slowly and followed behind. She strode down the corridor looking at the numbers on the doors, and then she realised something and came to a dead stop in the middle of the hallway, before turning around to face Marcus and pinning him with a glare.
"Well…" she said impatiently. "Which room? Where's my boyfriend?"
Marcus was tempted to point out that he was her EX-boyfriend, but managed to keep quiet as he pointed out the right door. She huffed a bit at him, before straightening out her clothing, and smoothing down her hair before prancing up to the door and banging on it.
Inside the room AJ was just finishing getting ready and he sighed, not wanting to answer it, but knowing he had little choice. He walked slowly over to the door, and opened it.
"AJ, baby." Leona squealed, as she threw herself at him. She pushed him into the room and kicked the door shut with her foot. The last thing Marcus saw was the 'Help me' look on AJ's face.
Back in Howie's room, Kevin was trying his best to distract Howie. He had put on some music, partly to get rid of the silence, and partly to mask any noise that Leona made as she came in. He was thankful for that, as he was near the door and heard her call AJ her "baby." Howie was still on the bed, far enough away not to hear that. 'Just as well.' Kevin thought. 'If he heard that, he might go for her, and I'm not sure I could stop him.' He smiled evilly to himself. 'Hell I'm not sure I would want to stop him.'
He turned away from the door and went back to packing Howie's rucksack so that they could leave as soon as possible. He had given up trying to get Howie to do it. He had already had to practically wash his face for him to get rid of the tears, and now he was just sitting on the bed, lost in his own thoughts. Just as he finished there was a knock on the door. Kevin walked over and opened it, finding Brian outside. He opened the door wider and let him in.
"You ready guys?" he asked.
Kevin nodded. "Just about."
"Cool. Nick's taken your stuff down to the van already, so we're ready to roll."
"Okay. Come on then, lets go. Howie? Howie?"
Howie jerked his head up, brought out of his thoughts as he heard Kevin calling his name.
"We're ready to leave now okay?"
Howie nodded and stood up. Kevin put his arm around him and led him out of the room, quickly guiding him away from AJ's door and down the hallway. Brian shut Howie's door, and noticed that AJ's was still cracked open a few inches. He went over and put his hand on the handle to pull it shut. As he glanced up he could see inside. What he saw made him freeze. AJ had his back to him, and Leona had her hands around the back of his head and neck, pulling his face down to her for a kiss.
Brian couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that AJ could be so stupid as to take her back just like that- hell she'd only been back 5 minutes. Nor could he believe that he could be so heartless. After last night and this morning, surely AJ knew that Howie had feelings for him? And Howie had said that AJ had kissed HIM. So what was he playing at? How could he do that to Howie? Brian pulled the door shut with a loud bang, and stormed off down the corridor.
As he neared the elevator, he could see Howie's slumped shoulders, with Kevin practically holding him up. His temper went through the roof. He was so mad at AJ, but he knew that he couldn't tell Howie, not now. It would kill him. So he put on a happy face as he joined them, waiting for the elevator to arrive.
Kevin looked up at his cousin, and immediately knew that something was wrong. Brian had a smile on his face, but Kevin had known Brian all his life, and knew that underneath Brian was livid about something. He shot Brian a quizzical glance, but Brian shook his head and gestured towards Howie. Kevin let it go; he would make sure that Brian told him later.