Chapter 35
�Oh no!� Serenity blurted when she saw AJ�s movie pick. �I�m not watching that. I had to watch that and part two, and three, when Nick was over one day with you. We are not watching Aliens.� Serenity told him sternly.
�Hey I sat through three hours of Titanic and I watched 10 Things I Hate About You. I had to go through five hours of chick flicks, the least you could do is let me have this one movie.� He told her as he fluffed the pillow under his head.
They had spent the whole day watching movies and neither one of them had brought up how or why Serenity was there. AJ had decided to give her time. He didn�t want to bombard her with questions and he figured she just needed some rest time. When she was ready she would tell him what happened and who hurt her. Although he already had a person in mind. At the moment he was really just enjoying her company. He loved just having her there to talk to and be silly with. It was almost like he had something back he had lost.
�Hey, I happen to know for a fact, that you actually like 10 Things I hate About You. And what about Tomb Raider? That wasn�t a chick flick.�
�I never said I was into 10 Things I Hate About You, and Tomb Raider was okay. It wasn�t a chick flick, but it wasn�t an academy award winner either.�
�I can�t believe you said that. You know you like 10 Things I Hate About You. When we lived together every time I would watch it, you would watch it with me.
�Doesn�t mean I was into it. I was being nice.�
�Nice.� Serenity chuckled. �Whatever, you love that movie. And you�ve never had to say it, I�ve always just known.�
AJ couldn�t really argue with that. It wasn�t his favorite, but he did really like the movie. He didn�t want Serenity to know that though. He just went on to another topic.
�Okay, fine, we don�t have to watch Aliens.� He told her as he put the movie back into the bag. �Are you trying to change the subject?� She lightly smiled. �Whatever, I�m going to go get a soda or something. You want anything?� He asked standing. �Can you get me one too?� She asked smiling. �Yeah.� He started for the door. �AJ it�s okay to like chick flicks.� She yelled to him. �Shut up!� He called back to her.
She loved to tease AJ. It was funny to her, to see him get all irritated over nothing.
She then heard the phone ring. �I got it!� AJ yelled from down stairs.
As she stretched on the bed she knocked the remote off. She looked over the edge to reach for it but she didn�t see it. She then got off the bed and bent down on the floor to look for it under the bed. She winced from the pain that came from her shoulders and her legs. As she reached, her hand fell onto the remote, and something else. It felt like a big book. She pulled it out along with the remote and recognized it right away. She took it back up to the bed with her. It was the photo album her and AJ had started to put together before she left. She hadn�t seen it in such a long time but still it looked exactly the same.
She opened it to the front page and found a picture of her and AJ.
She remembered Brain taking the picture in front of the house. It was taken on the same day she moved in. She then realized how much she had changed since then, how much everything had changed. She continued to flip through the pages and landed on a picture of AJ with shaving cream in his hair, on his face, and all over his shirt. She laughed as she looked at it.
She remembered one morning they had gotten in to a little shaving cream fight. She then turned to a picture of AJ holding Nick�s puppy. Since then he had given it away because he didn�t have time to take car of it. But she thought the picture was to cute.
The next page had a picture of her father and AJ standing together. Her face fell and she stared at it for a while. Her dad wasn�t very happy with her and AJ�s relationship at first but soon he had come to love the idea of them together. He knew that AJ was a good guy, he just though Serenity could do better then a musician. Part of her thought, that her father thought, AJ could do better then her also. But when he saw how happy they were it had changed his mind. She then noticed her cheeks had become wet. Once again she had started to cry and hadn�t noticed it. She then looked over to the next page, ignoring her tears. There was a picture of AJ and her dad doing a silly pose. She had to laugh at that.
As she laughed with her tear soaked face AJ slowly slid part way into the room. He didn�t make his presence known to her though. He just watched as she continued to brows through the album. As she continued to flip through, she landed on a picture of her and AJ together. It was a cheesy picture they had taken at the mall, but still it was cute. It was actually the first picture they had ever taken together that was done professionally or at least semi professionally.
She stopped and looked at the picture for a while. As she stared at it, tears started up once more. How she longed for things to be the way they were. She missed the house and she missed having a huge closet. She missed the Saturday mornings she used to have with AJ, she missed being loved and being cared for. She even missed all the arguments they had and making up. She just really missed her life.
She felt as though her life was over and the pictures in that book were just a reminder of it. To her it was like looking over pictures of a dead person and thinking and wondering what could have been. But really it didn�t matter because no matter how much she wondered, it would never be. As she continued to stare, tears continued to rain down her face.
�What are you looking at?� AJ asked as he started towards her. �Hu?� She said surprised he was in the room. She quickly tried to wipe her tears away.
�It�s us.� AJ said as he looked at the picture and placed the sodas on the night stand. �Um, yeah. I just kind of found it by accident. Can�t believe you kept this.� She said as she closed it and threw it to the side.
�It�s okay to be sad. Remembering things does that sometimes.� He told her sitting next to her.
�I�m fine.� She said as she wiped her face again.
�Why do I get the feeling that this is more then just looking at old pictures? I think that�s only part of it, I think something else is making you sad.� He said scooting closer to her.
�Think whatever you want.� She said grabbing the remote, flipping through channels.
�Serenity, I don�t want to push you. And I don�t want you to think that I�m getting into your business or anything like that. And the reason I haven�t said anything before now is because I didn�t want to scare you away, but I think that maybe it�s time we talk about last night.� AJ told her as he sat next to her.
Serenity immediately began to tense up. She wrapped her arms around herself and pulled her legs up to her chest. She didn�t know how to respond back to him.
�I want you to tell me who did this to you. Tell me who hurt you?� He asked calmly. He could see she had become uncomfortable and he thought maybe he shouldn�t have said anything. But still he felt it was time that she told him.