Chapter 28
The performance that night was strange for all concerned. The band and dancers knew something was up and so did the group, but luckily, the audience remained unawares of the tension bubbling under the surface.
AJ was back to his magnificent best, hyping up the crowd and pulling them into the high he was feeling. Howie saw this, and although he was sad that he had lost AJ, he tried to be happy for him, because AJ deserved to be happy. It didn't help to lessen the pain in his heart however, and he poured his heart and soul into the ballads, his heartfelt and sorrowful voice on his solos almost reducing the crowd to tears. The other three were only able to watch as one friend came out of his shell, truly happy and content with life, whilst the other clammed up, believing his one chance at love had passed him by.
As the show progressed, Brian, Kevin and Nick tended to avoid AJ, not standing as close to him as usual, and frowning when he seemed to them to be playing up to the women in the audience even more than usual. They couldn't deny that he seemed to be happier than they had seen him in a long time, but they were unhappy that he was being so insensitive by flaunting so obviously in front of Howie.
By the end of the show, Howie, although cheered up by the great show they had just had, was too quiet for the other boys tastes. AJ had already headed into the shower, mumbling something about having to get ready for something, and Brian, Kevin and Nick watched as Howie entered the room and grabbed his stuff, following AJ.
Kevin was still mad at AJ, and it was becoming difficult to hide it. Nick and Brian watched him get worked up about the way AJ had been acting, and how he was gonna kill him. Brian and Nick were about to try and calm him down a little, but stopped when Howie reappeared.
"Yo. D. You going for a record or something?" Nick joked.
"Huh." Howie replied, utterly confused.
"That must've been the world's fastest shower."
"I'm just tired. I think I'm gonna go back to my bus and crash. We're on there all night right?" he asked Kevin.
"Umm. Yeah. 12 hours."
"Good." Howie replied.
"Hey, Howie? You wanna hang with me?" Brian questioned, he didn't think Howie alone on a bus for 12 hours was a good idea at all. Howie knew what he was doing and felt a sudden burst of anger.
"Jesus Brian. Leave me alone. I don't need babying. Who AJ is with is his own business. I just want him to be happy. So should you. So I suggest you stop meddling in both our lives and stop looking through doorways." Howie shouted before grabbing his bag and stomping out of the room.
"Fuck." Brian swore.
"And you say I have no tact." Nick said.
"How did he know what I saw?" Brian said, ignoring Nick's comment entirely.
Kevin was about to answer when AJ came waltzing into the room. He was humming a gentle tune and looked to be on top of the world. He stopped when he saw the looks on the others faces, wondering what was wrong.
"Hey guys. Whassup?"
"You. That's what." Kevin growled. Brian put a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him.
AJ was immediately confused. "Huh?"
That did it for Kevin.
"How could you AJ? How could you be so heartless? You spend all day with your little slut and then come waltzing in here 5 minutes before we go on as if you don't have a care in the world, completely oblivious to the pain your best friend is in."
"But. I…" AJ began, but Kevin wasn't finished.
"Shut up." He shouted as he jabbed his finger in AJ's chest. "Whilst you have been having make-up sex with that bitch Leona, the rest of us have been spending all day trying to stop Howie from falling into a big black hole because you rejected him."
By now he was right in AJ's face, and had pushed him against the wall. Brian and Nick were in shock. They had never seen Kevin explode like this before.
"You know what. I hope you're happy. Howie has loved you for as long as any of us can remember and what do you do. You fucking kiss him, give him false hopes and then you crush them by taking back that cheating lying bitch, after everything she put you through. All I can say is you deserve each other."