Authors: Raven St. Pierre
C
hapte
r
3
Sam
When I awoke the next morning, AJ was already in the shower…..again. I stretched, dragged myself from the bed, and settled in beside the window to take in the scenery. It felt like I’d just lain down and now the sun was up again. Clearly too preoccupied to sleep, AJ tossed and turned most of the night, which in turn kept
me
up, and also reminded me of him passing out almost as soon as we got to the hotel the day before. His excuse for being so tired then, too, was that he hadn’t slept well the night before.
This being
AJ’s 19
th
birthday, I was almost certain that he’d come out of that bathroom fronting and acting like everything was okay. He’d put on a big, fake smile and try to sell me on his good mood. Too bad for him, I knew better. Regardless of how impervious he pretends to be, his big heart makes him vulnerable in a lot of ways – whether he’d ever actually admit that or not. Whatever the deal was with his dad, sure AJ was hurt, but behind all of that he was hurting pretty bad, too.
The sound of the bathroom door opening startled me a little. I turned to see AJ walking toward me, jeans hanging low on his waist with the band of his boxers showing just above them, hair still wet from the shower. Sure enough, he was smiling at me as if nothing was wrong.
I’d play along for now. “Happy birthday,” I breathed against his neck as we embraced.
“I’m betting it will be since we managed to squeeze a few more days out of this summer to spend together.”
I smiled and kissed hi
m once on the corner of his mouth.
“E
xcited about today?” he asked.
There it was again – that pain on his face that was nearly impossible for me not to feel. I had to say something, offer him an easy out if he wasn’t in the mood to go anywhere. “AJ, today’s supposed to be about you, actually – not me. I’m cool with just staying in again. Seriously. And I know you don’t wanna talk about this stuff going on between you and your dad, but…..”
He pulled away enough to look into my eyes, melting my heart when he did. The downtrodden expression on his face left me longing to make it all better, but I couldn’t if I didn’t even have a clue why his mood had been so dismal lately. I suppose I’d misread his somber frame of mind leading up to our heading off to college – passed it off as nothing more than sadness brought on by the realization that we would pretty much be sleeping in different time zones for the next half a year.
“
If I could, I’d tell you everything,” he said, breaking my train of thought. “There’re just some things……” during the pause AJ searched for the right way to phrase his statement. “Some things are just so messed up that they’re hard to even put into words.” The pain behind his gaze became more weighted when he finished speaking. Again, I racked my mind trying to think of something I could do to help.
“
We’re going,” he asserted with another forced smile. “So, why don’t you call Angel and ask if she wants to meet us for breakfast?” He deliberately walked away from our conversation before I was able to respond, pacing toward the other side of the room as he checked his phone.
Don’t push, Sam. He’ll open up when he’s ready.
To distract myself from the thoughts flying through my head, I dialed Angel and waited.
“It’s about time you decided to call me. You’ve been here for an entire day already and I’m just now hearing from you?” She answered.
“Yeah, we just decided to stay in yesterday, but you should meet us for breakfast. You busy?” I asked
“Nope. Where’re you guys thinking about eating?”
“Well, there’s a restaurant here at the hotel,” I replied.
“K, sounds good. It’s almost ten now, so what time should I meet you?”
“
Mmm….probably at like eleven.”
“Cool. Text me the address and I’ll call when I get there,” she replied.
I hung up, got the hotel address off a brochure perched over on the dresser, sent the info to Angel, and then turned to look at AJ. He sat motionless on the edge of the bed, staring off into space. Naturally, my first thought was to go comfort him, but I was beginning to think that whatever secret he was holding back was pretty big. Maybe he had good reason to be keeping it to himself. I thought that I might’ve figured it out, though. The only thing that made sense to me was that his parents were having trouble and his father was at fault; maybe Mrs. Hahn had even left him. I watched AJ closely as I passed to go to the bathroom and he didn’t move an inch as he daydreamed. When I finished showering, I dressed quickly and returned to find that sometime while I was away, AJ left the room. I didn’t question it, assuming that he had another call from his father.
My phone
rang and I checked the time before answering……
10:52.
“Hey, Angel.
You here already?”
“Yeah, you guys on your way
down?” I could hear the excitement in her voice and I smiled. I looked at the time again and couldn’t decide whether to go down to meet her or sit in the room waiting for AJ.
“Yeah, I’ll be down.
Just give me a few minutes.” I hung up and paced in front of the window thinking AJ would walk back through that door any second. The longer I waited, the more I began to suspect that something was up. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my gut told me so. To put an end to my suspicions, I finally decided to call AJ’s cell. When he didn’t pick up, it made me even more anxious. After another minute, I pulled a piece of paper from the notepad on the nightstand and proceeded to write a note telling him to meet me down in the lobby whenever he got back. I contemplated for one more second and then got my shoes on.
I’d already started focusing my attention on hurrying downstairs to see Angel, so m
y heart skipped a beat when I opened the door to find a large, dark-haired man leaning against the wall adjacent from our room. He smiled at me as if we’d met before.
“How are you this fine morning?”
His voice was gruff and raspy when he spoke, staring down on me. He weighed a good 350 and stood at about 6’5”.
“I’m good
,” I replied dryly as my eyes drifted longingly in the direction of the elevator. When I moved my feet to turn away, I had to convince myself not to run. I mean…it wasn’t like this guy had done or said anything out the way; he just gave off one of those vibes.
AJ’s silhouette
made me sigh with relief when he rounded the corner and started down the hall toward me. He hadn’t noticed either me or the large man yet because his eyes were still trained on the screen of his phone. As if he heard me yelling his name telepathically – which I was totally doing, AJ lifted his head. His steps halted when he glared over my shoulder at the man. Neither one exchanged a word, but I got the distinct feeling that they weren’t strangers to one another. I looked back just as the man trudged away slowly with a sly grin still on his face. AJ’s eyes followed him until he disappeared around the corner and then he turned to me and asked, “Did he say anything to you?”
My only response was to shake my head ‘no’.
Something was definitely going on and I wasn’t sure that it wasn’t linked to whatever was bothering AJ. This made me reconsider my original theory about marital problems between the Hahn’s. This seemed much bigger than that.
I looked into his eyes and wanted to blurt out all of the questions that were
jumbled in my head, but he seemed so guarded that I couldn’t even get up the courage. Without another word he took my hand and led me toward the elevator.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Isn’t Angel supposed to be meeting us at eleven?” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s 10:58 already; I’m sure she’s here.”
I was startin
g to get upset by this point, noticing his attempt to dismiss my suspicions without an explanation. “She is, but…..don’t you think we should talk about what just happened? Do you know that guy?”
“W
hat?” He chuckled and turned on the charm, trying to throw me off with an incredulous gaze – like I was making this all up in my head or something. “Of course I don’t know him.”
My breath hitched in my throat.
This moment marked the first time that I absolutely, 100% believed AJ was lying to me. I knew that he probably
thought
he had good reason to, but there was no way I was going to believe that he and the stranger in the hallway had never met. I continued to stare at him, trying to figure everything out on my own since he wasn’t offering up any information. His expression gave away nothing. When the elevator doors opened, Angel was standing in the lobby leaned up against a wall. Her face lit up as she ran in my direction and threw her arms around my neck.
“Sammy!!!
Took you long enough!” She screeched.
I did my best
to hide the frustration that I felt, but probably not very convincingly, though. “Sorry about that. We just got held up on my way down.” I shot AJ a menacing look as I spoke. He smiled and ignored my comment. Angel released me and hugged AJ briefly. I couldn’t help but to do a quick scan of the lobby for the big, Italian man who’d stopped me in the hallway.
“Ok, now that all that’s out t
he way, let’s eat. I’m starved,” Angel remarked.
We paced toward the restaurant and she must’ve noticed that I was quieter than usual. “What’s up with you this morning?” She asked.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” I lied. AJ squeezed my hand a little and smiled weakly.
Once we were seated I tried to let it go and enjoy the little time that I had with Angel. I hadn’t seen her since my birthday last November. She put her hand on my chin and lifted my face as her eyes wandered over my skin. I wasn’t sure why until I remembered that she hadn’t seen me since the accident. Immediately, I became self-conscious and shifted my eyes down to the table.
“Sammy, it doesn’t even look bad. I was expecting it to be
way
worse. Only a few of the scars are even visible now.” Even without Angel telling me, I knew that I’d gotten off easy compared to Leila when it came to that tragic accident. But I was still impatient for the last remaining dark marks to vanish so that I didn’t have them as a constant reminder of what happened.
The waitress came to take our orders just as Angel was releasing me. When the lady left, there was an awkward silence between the three of us. Angel picked at her nails distractedly, AJ stared out the window lost in his own world, and I was still trying to unravel the mystery behind the man in the hallway.
“So, are you nervous about starting school?” Angel blurted.
I cleared my throat as I gathered my thoughts. “Um, no. Not really.”
“I guess you weren’t there long enough to make friends yet, but is your roommate nice?”
“Yeah, it’s Deanna. Remember?”
“That’s right, I forgot. What about your suitemates? Are they cool?” She inquired.
AJ laughed a little to himself as I replied, “Well, they’re both nice, but one of them is……
special
.”
Angel laughed too and t
hen she asked the million dollar question. “So, what ever happened to that Antonio guy? Did he really get that apartment near you?” AJ clenched his jaw as Angel spoke Antonio’s name. I couldn’t believe she’d bring him it up in front of AJ, but then again I hadn’t told her about all the drama between them.
“I have no clue. I haven’t heard from him in months; not since he showed up at the hospital after my accident.”
“I bet he
did
go through with it. He seems like the type that doesn’t know when to let go,” she replied.
Angel’s statement made me think. What if Antonio
did
decide to follow through with his plan? After he and AJ squared off at the hospital, I honestly hadn’t given him much thought. I assumed that he’d finally gotten the picture and moved on with his life. There was no way to tell unless I called him and asked, but there was no chance of that happening. The chapter in my life that included Antonio was closed as far as I was concerned.
By the time our food arrived, the mood at our table had lightened a little. We ate and laughed together and didn’t
get up to leave until nearly 1:00. Once outside, I hugged Angel tightly around her neck. “Love you, Cuz,” she whispered.