Dawn woke up to the phone ringing. She looked over at the clock.
"9:07", she said to herself, "Who could be calling me this early?"
"Hello?", she said when she picked up the phone.
"Hey you", a raspy voice answered, "what are you doing?"
"Hi AJ", she forgot she was supposed to call him about the audition.
"Did I wake you?" he asked.
"Yeah, but that’s OK, I need to get up anyway", she responded.
"Yeah you do, the guys want you here at noon. We’re letting you intrude on our lunch hour", he joked.
"About the audition…" she began.
AJ knew what she was going to say and he didn’t want to hear it, but he couldn’t stop what was going to come out of Dawn’s mouth.
"Today’s really not a good day", she finished.
"Why not?"
He knew this was going to happen. He should have told Dawn he would pick her up and just showed up at her house so she wouldn’t be able to do this.
"I’m just not feeling well today, AJ", she responded.
He knew what that meant, he had heard her say that before when she broke plans with him. That meant that her and Anthony had fought and he had probably hurt her in some way. He felt his blood start to boil.
"Did he hurt you??" he asked before he even realized what he was saying.
Dawn was shocked, ‘how did he know?’ she asked herself.
"What would give you that idea? That’s ridiculous", she said defensively.
A part of her wanted so badly to tell him everything. She wanted to just cry her eyes out and tell him what had happened, but she couldn’t. She loved Anthony and they would work things out eventually.
AJ decided he wasn’t going to push the issue, if Dawn wanted to tell him anything, she would do it on her own when she was ready.
"OK then, what about stopping by on Monday?" he asked.
Dawn got up and looked at her reflection in the mirror trying to figure out if her bruise would go away by then.
"Why don’t you call me Monday morning and we’ll talk about it then", she offered.
AJ didn’t want to wait that long, but he knew she needed time to get over whatever it was that happened.
"Ok", he replied, "I’ll call you Monday morning".
After hanging up the phone AJ walked back to where the rest of the guys were. He couldn’t stop thinking about Dawn and the conversation they just had. He was in deep thought when Brian interrupted him.
"So, is your friend stopping by today?" He asked.
"No", he replied, "she’s not feeling well, maybe Monday," his voice trailed off.
"What do you mean MAYBE Monday", Kevin questioned. "You do realize that we don’t have a lot of time left to get everything together, right?"
AJ sighed and got up and walked away. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew that he had to get away from everyone before an argument started. He couldn’t concentrate on work right now. He needed to see Dawn, he needed to see if his hunch was right.
He heard Kevin calling after him, but he didn’t answer. He got in his car and sped off. He didn’t know where he was headed, he had no idea where Dawn lived. He did, however, know how to reach her mother.
He reached for his cell phone and dialed the number. He started to get worried when the phone just kept ringing.
"Please be home, please be home", he said under his breath.
Just as he was about to hang up, her mother answered. He breathed sigh of relief.
"Hi Ms. Simon, it’s AJ", he said.
"Hi honey, how are you? Did you ever get a hold of Dawn the other day?" she asked.
"Actually, it’s funny you should ask. I’m supposed to pick her up today for lunch and I forgot her address and I didn’t write it down. Can you give it to me again, please"?
"Sure Dear", she answered with a chuckle.
AJ hated to lie to her, but he knew that if he told her the truth she may not have given him the address. He thanked her and hung up the phone.
It was lucky for him that he knew the area that Dawn lived in. On his way there he thought about what he would do once he got there. He didn’t want to just show up on her doorstep. He knew she would be pissed, especially when she found out how he got her address. He just had to make sure she was okay. He had to see for himself. He needed to know what that monster had done to her.
"Maybe I’ll just wait outside in the car and hope she comes outside sooner or later", he said to himself.
He laughed when he realized how crazy that sounded.
"I sound like a stalker or an obsessed fan", he said to himself aloud.
"What are my options though? I’m almost here", he argued with himself for the rest of the drive to Dawn’s house.
As soon as he pulled onto her street he started looking for her address. Just then he spotted Dawn outside with her dog. She had sunglasses on. He slowed down, he didn’t want to get too close. He couldn’t see too much. Just then she looked up and he noticed a bruise on her right cheek. He squinted trying to see more of her face. Her upper lip looked kind of weird too, he thought.
"I knew it", he said aloud. "That son of a bitch. I’m gonna kill him!"
With that he parked his car and turned off the ignition and just sat there, unsure of what he was going to do next.


Chapter 7
Back