I Need You Tonight
Part IV
"Yeah. You haven’t been the same, Nick. But A.J.’s great. He’s always there for me, like you used to be. What happened to you? Why are you so bigheaded now?" I wasn’t going to cry. Every time we fought, I cried. Well this time was different. I wanted to break up with him. And when we did break up, the only tears I’d be crying would be tears of happiness.
"Nothing about me has changed, Danielle. Nothing. The only thing that has changed is your feelings for me. I haven’t changed. It’s you."
"DON’T you try to blame everything on me, Nick Carter! It is not all
my fault! You have lost your feelings for me too!" I was really getting
steamed now. "And don’t tell me that you haven’t cheated on me
before!"
"Okay! I admit! I did cheat on you! But where did that get us? A game of
jealousy that you started! You got A.J. to pretend that he was your new
boyfriend. Or were you not pretending?" He was in my face again and he was
really starting to tick me off.
I pushed him away as I snapped back, "Oh yeah! We were really enjoying our fake relationship! That’s a good one, Nick!" I shouted sarcastically.
"So why are you two together now? Did that fake fling spark up some romance between the two of you?!" He was yelling so loud, his face had turned an alarming shade of red.
"You know what? I think you’re right. When we broke up the first time, my relationship with A.J. was finally allowed to grow into something other than friends. It was your mistake, letting me go, because now I have other feelings for someone other than YOU!" I was so mad, I lifted my hand to slap him. Nick saw what I was going to do and grabbed my hand before I could make contact.
"You know, Danielle, slapping me isn’t going to solve any of our problems," he said calmly.
"Let go of my hand." I spat out through clenched teeth.
"Only if you promise not to hit me." When I made no move to promise I wouldn’t harm him, he probed, "Promise?" I nodded my head and he let me go. As soon as he let go of my wrist, I slapped him. All the anger inside, all the hurt, all the love and time that had gone to waste on him went into that slap. Looking back, I feel bad for slapping him, but at that time and place it felt so good.
"What the hell?!" Nick shouted, tenderly touching the fresh red mark that I had just made on his cheek. "You promised!"
"I know I promised, but you’ve made promises to me that you couldn’t keep! Now you’re repaid for all the hurt you’ve caused me!" I felt tears well up in my eyes and screamed in frustration. I wasn’t going to cry! I couldn’t! And I didn’t. "Why?!" I half-screamed and half-shouted. To me it sounded more like a high pitched shriek.
"Why what? I’m not the one who slapped you!" His voice had gotten whinier, and I knew he was weakening and that I was winning.
"Why can’t we just get along?! Why can’t we just be friends?! Why can’t you get over the fact that I have feelings for someone who’s not you?! Why can’t you let me go?! Why, why, why, why, why? That’s the big question right now- Why?" I had more "why" questions on the brain but those were the ones that kept popping up.
"Why? Because right now we’re in biggest argument that we’ve ever had. Why? Because we’ve always been more than ‘just friends’." Nick was ticking off the answers to my "why" questions on his fingers and saying the answers in order to the question. "Why? Because you’ve had these feelings even while we were going out and plus A.J. is my really good friend. And why?" He lowered his voice. "Because I love you too much to let you go." The words that usually broke me in an argument were just said, and they had no effect on me this time.
We just stood there looking at each other for a while. I had a temporary flashback of all the times that we had been through, happy, sad, and even previous fights. Still, none of those memories could make me cry. I looked around. I had forgotten where we were for a moment. We had been at a group practice and I was supposed to be there to tell them what I thought about the song they would be performing. The group had recently renamed themselves the Backstreet Boys after the Backstreet Market that we always went to. Me and Nick had been fighting in the garage for almost twenty minutes. I groaned at the realization that everyone within five miles of the garage must of heard us arguing, including the Boys.
"I’m sorry, Nick," I said icily. "But this is it. This is the end of our relationship, the end of us. This is good-bye. I’m sorry." I turned on my heel and walked out of the garage. The sunlight that greeted me was so bright and cheery that I cursed out loud, not caring who heard me. I walked over to where the Boys were. I took a deep breath and looked at each boy in turn. The look that each of them shared, except A.J., said the same thing, You just hurt one of our best friends. I can’t believe you would do that to someone so nice. The words didn’t have to be spoken to have the impact on me that they did. It hurt to the extent that I just sat down on the grass where I stood in front of them and cried. I wasn’t crying because I had just broken up with Nick but because I had probably just lost the best friends that I would ever have. I don’t know if they would ever be able to forgive me. And I hoped that A.J. wasn’t in too much trouble with the Boys.
It took a moment but finally someone broke the silence that had taken place after I had collapsed with tears.
"You now, Dani, it’s going to be okay." I felt Brian’s hand lightly touch my back. He settled down on the grass beside me. "Do you need a hug?" He opened his arms to me and I fell into them gratefully. He murmured things like, "It’s going to be okay" and "It’s alright" while patting my back comfortingly. At least I knew that Brian would never ditch me.
When I finally was able to calm myself down and wipe away my tears, I looked at the guys who stood there paralyzed with "oh-no-she’s- crying-what-do-I-do?" fear. The sight was so funny, I couldn’t help but laugh.
"Well, thaks for comfort you guys!" I teased, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, they all relaxed.
"For a minute, we thought we lost you there! I was like, ‘Where’s the Dani we know and love? Is she there under all those tears?’" Kevin joked and came and helped me up.
"Well I thought I had really lost all of you guys. That’s why I was crying so hard."
Kevin pulled me into a reassuring hug. "Why would you think that?"
"Well when I walked out of the garage, you all looked at me like you hated me. It just hurt me to see you guys giving me a look like that. Ya’ll are the best friends that I will ever have and the best group of guys that I have ever met and it would just kill me to loose you." I inhaled deeply. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to get mushy on you!" I smiled.
"Well, that’s okay." Howie said, pretending to be crying and trying to talk through sobs. "You know, us guys can be emotional too." I hit him playfully on the shoulder and he broke into a smile. I looked around and noticed that there were only these three guys here.
"Hey, has anybody seen A.J.?" I looked around the yard just to make sure he wasn’t off by himself in some hidden corner.
"Um, yeah." Brian said, unsure of whether he should tell me or not. "I saw him go into the garage after you fell on the ground. A few minutes later, him and Nick came out and headed that way." He pointed to his left.
"Oh great!" I slapped my head with my hand. "If I know Nick, and I think I do, leaving him alone with A.J. for even a minute could get ugly! I have to go find them!" I started off towards where Brian had pointed.
"Dani, wait!" I turned to see Howie and Kevin coming toward me, led by Brian. "We’re going with you."
When we finally found Nick and A.J., they were fist fighting.
"Hey!" I screamed, running toward them. "What are you two doing? Stop! Stop that!" I finally reached them and I grabbed A.J.’s arm. "You guys STOP!" Whack! I fell to the ground for the second time that day after being accidentally punched in the face. I looked up, but all I saw was black. Pitch black. I had passed out.
I’ve heard that the last thing to go when you pass out is your hearing and I found out it’s true. I could hear more shuffling and shouts to break it up. I don’t know who got hit but I heard eleven more punches come in contact with a victim.
"Come on you guys! You’re supposed to be friends!" I think it was Kevin. And then more shuffling and two more punch contacts.
"Friends?!" It was Nick. He was outraged and breathless. He spat out the word as if it were diseased. "After what he did to me?!"
"What? What did I do?" It was A.J. and he sounded pretty fed up with Nick.
"You took her away from me!" In the middle of the sentence I heard him grunt from an effort and then a smack. Evidently he was still within punching range of A.J.
"I didn’t take her." Grunt. "But you’ve got to understand." Smack! "I really like her!"
That was the last thing that I heard before I finally went completely out of it. When I came to, I opened my eyes and saw the sky. I tried to sit up but I got dizzy so I scooted over to a tree and leaned against it. We were in a park and the fallen leaves of autumn gave my butt extra cushioning. I guess I was only out for about thirty seconds because the fighting scene hadn’t gotten any better.
I looked to my left and saw Brian lying on the ground. Evidently he had been a victim of one of the first eleven punches that I had heard. I looked straight ahead and saw Kevin doing his best to restrain A.J. and Howie doing his best to restrain Nick. I also saw that Brian wasn’t going to get any help from any of those guys any time soon, so since I wasn’t feeling nearly as dizzy as I had before, I crawled over to where Brian was laying.
"Brian!" I nudged him with my numb hands. "Come on! Brian! Wake up!" I nudged him some more and finally he opened up his eyes. His right eye was already red, puffy and swelling. "Hey, Brian. How are you? Is your eye okay? Does your head hurt?"
"Dani." He whispered and smiled. He didn’t sound too good. "Eye. Pain. Head. Fight. Punch. Pain." I watched as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he blacked out again.
"This is not good!" I remembered the time that I had gotten hit in the forehead with a baseball bat and the doctor told me not to fall asleep because I might never wake up. I didn’t know how bad Brian’s head injuries were but I knew I had to keep him awake. This time I shook him. "Brian! Wake up! Please wake up!" My voice was panicky and I was just about to lose it when I saw Brian slightly open up his eyes. "Brian!" I screamed. "Wake up! Please!" That was all it took. He opened his eyes completely and looked at me. "Brian, you have to stay awake! If your head hurts that bad and since you have a pretty big bump on your forehead," I gently rubbed my fingertips over his bump and he winced. "Sorry. But I was just testing to see if.... Brian just promise me you’ll stay awake. Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep! Promise me, Brian." He nodded his head, cringing from the pain. "Say it. Please."
"I promise," He whispered. I smiled and moved his head into my lap.
"Now it’s my turn to comfort you." He and I both smiled. "Just stay awake, okay? Just stay awake." I reached for his hand and gave it squeeze. I looked down at him to make sure he was still all there and then I looked back up at the now settled fight scene. "Hey!" They all turned at the sound of my voice. "I don’t care which one of you did it, but someone hit Brian in the head and he needs to be helped. So you two," I pointed to A.J. and Nick. "Apologize, and hurry up about it, and then gets your butts over here and help Brian." I turned to Brian. "How many times did you get hit?" He held up four fingers. "While you were trying to stop the fight?" He nodded slightly. "Them stupid," Brian put a hand on my arm. I looked him in the eyes.
"No. Don’t say anything about our friends." He was breathless from the effort of speaking. I hugged him as best as I could, he was in my lap and it’s pretty hard to hug someone who’s laying down in your lap.
"I’m sorry. I won’t say anything bad." I let go of him and the rest of the Backstreet Boys came rushing over to me and Brian.
"What happened? How bad is he hurt? Is he going to be alright?" Nick threw a string of questions at me.
"One of you guys hit him while he was trying to break up the fight and he told me that he got hit four times. In the head. So we need to get him some help, probably from a hospital, and fast." Kevin took over from there.
"Okay, Howie and A.J. grab his legs, but be careful! Nick, come help me hold up his upper half." Kevin and Nick each grabbed Brian under each arm and A.J. grabbed one leg while Howie grabbed the other. I got up and supported Brian’s back as best as I could. We walked over to a bench and layed Brian down on it.
"Dani, go call for help," Kevin ordered. "We’ll stay here and make sure he’ll be alright." I ran as fast as I could to the nearest payphone and called 911 and gave the emergency operator all of the information that she needed. As soon as I was done, I ran back to Brian. I looked down and, to my horror, saw that he had passed out again.
"NO!" I screamed. "Wake him up! Brian!" I shook him frantically, afraid that he might not wake up. "Come on! Wake up!" A smile played on Brian’s lips though his eyes were still closed. It confused me so much that I forgot about waking up Brian.
"I didn’t pass out, Dani." The sound of Brian’s voice made me jump. "I had you good!" He opened his eyes and smiled.
"Oh you!" I was furious with him for fooling me like that, but I was happy that he hadn’t passed out. "That wasn’t funny!" And in spite of that comment, I smiled. Even through bad times, Brian could look on the bright side of things.
The roar of an ambulance siren made my heart leap. Finally someone would be able to help Brian. In a matter of seconds, the rescue workers had Brian on a stretcher and loaded in the back of the vehicle.
"Which one of you wants to come along for the ride?" One of the rescue workers asked. As much as I wanted to go with Brian and make sure he would be alright, I knew that family was the first choice.
"Kevin will go," I offered and patted Kevin on the back. "We’ll get there as fast as we can. You ride with Brian and make sure he makes it okay." Kevin hopped into the back of the ambulance and we all stood back and watched it speed off, the siren blaring. No one said a word.
"I feel so bad," Nick said, putting his hand on his forhead. "He was my best friend and because of me, he had to go to the hospital."
"You punched him?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"No, no, that’s not what I’m saying! I just meant that since I wanted to be a jealous fool I started a fight with A.J. and Brian, being the nice guy that he is, got in the middle of it and got hit four times!" He seemed so frustrated that even I felt sorry for him. As much as I hated him at the moment, I still felt sorry for the poor guy.
"Hey, Nick. It’s alright." I said moving closer, but making sure that I made no physical contact with him. "I’m sure that the doctors can help him and then he’ll be as good as new." I tried to sound cheerful but even I didn’t believe what I was saying.
"You know about the hole in his heart right?" Howie asked. I nodded. "Well I don’t know if his heart could take that kind of beating."
"So what are you saying- that he’s not going to make it?" A.J.’s voice was full of concern.
"No, he’ll make it, but it’ll take a little bit longer for him to heal than it would have for a normal person with a full heart." Howie wrung his hands nervously. "I just hope he’s okay."
"How are we going to get to the hospital? I don’t wanna say, ‘Hey mom will you take me to the hospital? When me and A.J. were fighting, Brian got hit and he had to go to the hospital.’ Yeah right! I’m not gonna say that! You know how much trouble I would be in?"
"How can you think about something as selfish as that?" I yelled at him. "Because of your stupid," I was so flustered I almost called him something that was so not appropriate but I stopped myself. "Because of your jealousy you just put your best friend in the hospital," I snapped at him, more calmly this time. "Who cares what kind of trouble you get in as long as we get to the hospital and as long as Brian is alright." Before I could say more A.J. came from behind me and pulled on my elbow and turned me around.
"Don’t get so mad at Nick," He put his arms around me but didn’t pull me in for a hug. "It’s not all his fault you know. Just take a deep breath and settle down. Howie has his own car and he can drive us there, right D?" He looked over my head at Howie.
"That’s right! I forgot I had a car!" He broke into a smile. "Come on, I’ll take you all to the hospital." Howie took off running for his car and we followed, trying to keep up.
Howie jumped into the drivers seat, Nick in the passenger’s seat, and me and A.J. jumped into the back seat of the car. As soon as the last door was closed, Howie sped off for the hospital. We pretty much sat in silence for the whole ride. A.J. grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I looked over and smiled. He could tell that I was worried about Brian. And as soon as the hospital came in sight, I undid my seatbelt and prepared myself to jump out of the car and run into the building. Howie could sense my anticipation so he let me and A.J. out at the front door.
I burst through the front doors and a certain smell greeted my nostrils. Every time that I walk in a hospital I smell the same thing and to this day I still can’t put my finger on it. I ran up to the front desk and asked for Brian’s room number.
"I sorry miss, but we can’t give that number out to anyone. He’s not accepting visitors at this time. I’m sorry for the inconvenience." The lady’s smile was so fake it made me want to throw up.
"Well I bet that Brian would be accepting us as visitors because we’re some of his best friends."
"I can’t give out the room number."
I read the woman’s nametag. "Well, Delores, you just better give me that room number or else I might just have to…" A.J. clamped a hand over my mouth.
"Excuse us." He took me into the waiting room. "Dani! Calm down!"
"But that woman, Delores or whatever her name is, won’t give me his room number!" My voice was whiny and my eyes filled with tears. "I need to see Brian. I’ve never had something this serious happen to someone so close to me before." I sat down on the nearest sofa, covered my face with my hands, and sighed.
"Oh, Dani, I know you want to see Brian but you’ll just have to wait a while." He sat sown next to me and put his arms around me. "Come here." I lifted my head out of my hands and let him hold me. I rested my head against his shoulder and took a deep breath. A.J. pulled me closer to him and gently ran his hand up and down my back. "Close your eyes. Take a nap. It’ll help you pass the time and I’ll wake you up when we can go see Brian." I looked up at him.
"You promise?"
"I promise." Satisfied, I snuggled into his chest and closed my eyes, determined to take a nap to pass the time. I took a deep breath and tried to relax.
"Hey, you guys." I heard Howie’s voice and decided that even though I wasn’t asleep, I would pretend to be and hear what goes on. "I guess you found out that we can’t visit Brian for a while."
"Yeah." A.J.’s chest vibrated as he spoke and it tickled my ear. "Dani was so mad she threatened the lady at the front desk." By the sound of his voice I could tell he was smiling.
Howie laughed. "Is she asleep?"
"Yeah."
I heard someone sigh unhappily and guessed it was Nick. "Geez, she always had a short temper." I was right. It was Nick who sighed and it took all I had not to snap back at him. But that just proved that I did have a pretty short temper. I made a mental note to myself to work on it.
"Don’t start up again, Nick." A.J.’s chest vibrated. "You know where that got us last time."
"Hey, man, I didn’t start it! It was you who came to talk to me! All I said was that she was a lying b..."
"Hey!" A.J.’s whole body tensed. "Don’t say it again! Just drop it alright?" By the way I was positioned I could tell that he had run his hand through his hair. He sighed and his body relaxed a bit.
"Well, how about we change the subject?" Howie seemed uncomfortable being in the same room with two boyfriends, one past and one present, arguing over the girlfriend. "Let’s talk about the performance that we have coming up."
"I don’t think we’re going to be able to do it," Nick’s voice still had an angry edge to it.
"Why not?" My ear tickled and I tried not to scratch it.
"Because we don’t know how long Brian needs to heal and the performance is only a week away."
"Look on the bright side, Nick, not the down side. Let’s just hope that Brian’s not hurt that bad." Howie said.
"If it weren’t for A.J. taking Danielle..."
"Just drop it!" Now’s the time to wake up! I opened my eyes slowly and lifted my head up.
"What’s all the shouting about?" I sat up all the way. "Can we go in the room yet?"
"No, not yet. We’re still waiting." Just then, Kevin appeared in the doorway of the hospital waiting room.
"Hey guys." He sounded exhausted. I jumped off the couch and ran over to him.
"Is Brian alright? What did the doctor say?" I was so anxious that I was actually hopping around a little. A.J. put his hands on my shoulders to calm me down.
"Well the doctor said that it was a good thing that you kept him awake, Dani, because if you hadn’t..." his voice trailed off but we all knew what was unsaid. Kevin took a deep breath. "The doctor also said that he has a minor concussion from repeated blows to the head." I gasped. "Oh don’t worry. It’s just a minor concussion. You guys can come and see him now."
Kevin led the way to the room. I never knew that going in an elevator could take so long! If I had known, I would have taken the stairs! But the wait was probably so long because I was so anxious to get there. When we finally reached the room, I ran to the bed and held my breath, not knowing what to expect.
What I saw relieved me. When Kevin said concussion, I thought of all the worst possible scenarios, but in reality, Brian didn’t look too bad.
"Hey, Brian." I said gently, smiling. I placed my hand tenderly on his cheek. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He smiled, his voice much stronger now than in the park. "And I owe a lot of it to you." I grabbed his hands with both of mine.
"I’m so glad you’re alright!" The other guys crowded around the bed beside me.
A chorus of "Hey Brian" filled the air and I tuned out whatever else was said. I was just so glad that Brian was okay.
"When are you able to get out of here?" I asked.
"Well, the doctor said I’d be fine in a few days and said I’ll be out in about three days."
"Great!" I looked at him and all of a sudden it felt as though a ton had just been lifted off of my shoulders. "Oh I’m so happy you’re alright!" I leaned down and gave him a hug.
"Excuse me." I turned and saw a man in a long white coat come through the door. Probably the doctor. "I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave now. We have to run a few more tests on Brian. Visiting hours are posted up on the door of the main entrance. I’m sorry that you have to leave." The man gave me a sympathetic look and, unlike Delores, he actually looked sorry for asking us to leave.
"That’s okay." I turned to Brian. "I’ll see you later! I hope you feel better pretty soon!" I gave his hand one last squeeze and then walked out of the room and waited by the door for all of the other guys.
"So he’s alright!" Nick said, a huge smile on his face. I guess seeing Brian had made us all less tense.
"How about a burger?" Howie suggested. "I’ll pay too. I’m feeling generous." And to that offer we all agreed.
When we got to the McDonald’s and we had all ordered and found a table large enough for all of us, we started talking and acting like the good friends that we were, even A.J. and Nick. But all too soon everyone had finished their meal.
"Well, I guess we better go. It’s already nine o’clock." Howie said, sounding sad that we had to break up such a happy meal.
"Alright." Nick agreed. "I was supposed to be home by eight forty-five anyways." Everyone picked up their trash and got ready to leave.
"Thanks for the meal and the ride Howie." I smiled.
"Yeah, thanks." Everyone echoed.
"Hey, D. Me and Dani are going to stay here for a little bit longer, okay?" A.J. said, smiling a mischievous grin.
"We are?" I said, while at the same time Howie said, "How are you going to get home?"
"Yes we are, and it’s not too far from my house from here so we’ll walk to my house and then we’ll drop Dani off at her house."
"That’s fine by me, but you guys be careful. Gotta go! Bye!" Howie waved and left the McDonald’s building and headed for his car.
I poked him in his stomach and he grabbed my hands, pulled me to him, and wrapped his arms around me. I looked up and smiled. "I know you’re up to something so why don’t you just tell me since I already know that it involves me."
"Well, I thought that with the guys gone, we could go outside and play in the balls." He bent down and gave me a peck on the lips. "In the dark." I laughed.
"Oh, A.J. you’re like a fox." I said, reaching up and weaving my hands through his hair. "Sly yet very sexy." I pulled him down for a kiss, this one longer than the first. I broke away from him, laughing. "I’ll race ya to the ball pit!" I said, already half out the door.
"You’re on!" He was a fast runner and when he caught up to me, he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me to him. "Ha ha ha! Gotcha!" We ran the rest of the way to the ball pit and when we got there, he threw me in.
Laughing, I looked up to the entrance to the ball pit. I never heard him get in, but A.J. wasn’t there.
"A.J.?" I called, turning around to search all sides of the outside of the ball pit. "Where are you?" I searched again, feeling a little freaked out this time. "A.J. come on! This isn’t funny! Where are you?" A hand grabbed me roughly by the waist and another was slapped over my mouth to muffle any screams. I screamed anyways, knowing that even if it wasn’t A.J. who was grabbing me but some wierdo off the street, no one would be able to hear me.
"Shh." I heard someone say, right next to my ear. "It’s just me." It was A.J.- I recognized his voice- but he still didn’t let me go. "It’s just us, Dani. What do you want to do?" He let go of my mouth and my waist. I turned around to face him.
"What do you want to do?" I said, no longer freaked out, but in the mood for some serious kissing.
"Oh, I don’t know, but I have some pretty good ideas." He settled down amoungest the balls and put his hands under his head.
"What kind of ideas?" I asked, crawling over to where he was laying and stopping in front of him, still on all fours.
"Like kissing, making out, stuff like that." I couldn’t see his face because it was shadowed but I could tell that he was smiling.
"And what else?" I moved closer to his bent knees and placed my hands on them and looked over so I could see his face.
"Oh I don’t know. You decide." His voice still held a smile. I pushed his knees down and crawled over him and stopped when my head was parallel with his. I was on all fours looking down on him and he was flat on his back with his hands still supporting his head.
"Okay. So you wouldn’t mind if I decided to do this?" I leaned down and kissed him, longer than the last kiss we had in the building.
"No, I don’t mind that at all." He smiled. He was holding the inside of my elbows now.
"Your turn to decide what to do." I had butterflies in my stomach.
"Okay, then I decide to do this." He flipped me over so now he was on top. He sat up, his hiny resting on my thighs. "I get two turns, alright?" I nodded. I didn’t want the next move to be mine. "I decide to do this." He pulled something out of his pocket and held his hands tightly closed around it. I didn’t know what it was, although I had some ideas. I just hope that it had nothing to do with sex.
"What is it?" I asked, more butterflies forming in my stomach.
A.J. opened up his hands to show a glittering object. He held it up so I could see it better. It turned out to be a diamond ring with a gold band.
"Danielle, I want you to have this." He slipped it onto my right hand ring finger. "It’s to show how much I care for you." He got off of me and layed down beside me on his side, facing me. He propped his head in his hand so that his head, forearm, and upperarm formed a triangle.
"A.J. it’s beautiful!" I held up my hand and looked at the ring, the diamond sparkling even though it was dark. I rolled over on my side so I was facing him. "I love it! Thank you." I looked back down at my hand. A.J. used his pointer finger to lift up my chin so that I was facing him. He leaned down slowly and our lips met for the fourth time ever since being at McDonald’s. He moved his arm around me and scooted his body towards mine. His lips tasted sweet and I didn’t want to let him go, so I didn’t. At least not for a while. We didn’t get home to his house until well after ten forty-five. And on the walk up the path to my doorsteps, I felt like I was floating.
I got into bed and replayed everything that had happened in the McDonald’s ball pit. I got the same butterflies in my stomach that I did when we were kissing. That night, I fell asleep smiling.
Me and A.J. went back to the ball pit for another romantic evenining, but we had to wait until everyone else was gone and we were the only ones there. Again, we raced to the pit and he ended up throwing me in. And, just like last time, he hid from me. And after calling him, I felt a hand clamp over my mouth and one hand grab me roughly by the waist- just like last time. I laughed, each giggle muffled by the hand that was still covering my mouth. I knew it was A.J. and I wasn’t worried that it could be some crazed lunatic.
"Shhh." He whispered, right above my ear. I stopped giggling but A.J. still wouldn’t let go of my mouth. "Come here." He finally let go of my mouth but only increased his hold on my waist, to the point that he was hurting me.
"Loosen up on the waist!" I said.
"Shhh!" A.J. whispered, not loosening his grip. He half dragged, half pulled me towards a small tunnel that led to a slide. "Get in there." He finally let go of my waist and pushed me into the tunnel. I was surprised at how rough he was being with me. By tommorrow I was going to be so sore. He climbed in the tunnel and crouched across from me.
"Okay, A.J. Now that I’m here, tell me what all of this is about," I said, forgetting to whisper.
"Are you freaked out yet?" He asked, not answering my question. The look on his face gave me chills.
"Yeah." I hugged myself and tried to warm myself up.
"Good." He smiled and his face held an eerie glow. The light shadowed half of his face and the devilish grin he wore only made his appearance seem spookier.
"A.J. come on, stop playing. You’re scaring me." I couldn’t hide the fright from my voice.
"That’s my point, Danielle." He scooted closer to me and his face was only inches away from mine. "My point exactly. I want to scare you. But you haven’t even seen the worst part yet." He backed away from me and pulled a glittering object out of his pocket, just like he had before. I started to relax. He was only fooling with me! He was going to give me a ring, like he had before! But why would he give me another one and why would he want to scare me?
"What is it?" I said, not trying to hide the excitement from my voice.
A.J. held up the shining object right in front of my face. I couldn’t see it too clearly in the dark but it sure didn’t look like a ring.
"What is it?" I asked again, this time sounding unsure of myself. Maybe it was a necklace? Or a bracelet?
There was a spot of light at the entrance to the tunnel. A.J. placed the mystery object down on the spot of light, holding his hand over it so I still couldn’t see what it was, and smiled the same devilish grin at me.
"Look real hard, Danielle. Look real hard." He lifted his hand away slowly. I gasped.
"Cripes, A.J! What are you doing with a knife? And a pretty large knife." I looked closer. It wasn’t just any knife, it was a butcher knife, and a huge one at that.
"You don’t know yet?" He laughed, a short, cruel laugh, almost a cackle. "I thought I told you. I want to scare you." He picked up the knife and turned it around slowly, carefully, in his hands. "And..." He looked at me, his eyes gleaming and, I blinked, seemed to glow and turn red. "I want to kill you."
I screamed and tried to get out of the tunnel but he wrapped his arm around my waist and threw me against the tunnel wall. He grabbed my neck with his open hand and pinned me to the floor of the tunnel. He raised the knife.
"So long, Danielle Evans. You won’t be causing anyone anymore pain." He raised the knife above his head.
"Wait!" I managed to choke out, and surprisingly enough, he stopped. I had to stall for time. "Who did I cause pain?"
"Oh think about it! Me, Nick, Brian," He paused. "A whole list of people. A long list. But now that list won’t grow any longer because I’m about to put an end to the listmaker." He smiled, his eyes glowing red, and lifted the knife again. This time, I didn’t stall for time. Instead I screamed as I watched the knife come closer, and finally stab me in the gut.
"Danielle! Danielle!" I heard a voice shout. I frantically tried to open my eyes. In the distance, I could hear someone screaming. The screams sounded pretty familiar. A.J.’s face still loomed above me, his eyes glowing red, but someone was shaking me. I looked around but didn’t see anyone else in the tunnel with us. A.J. pulled the dagger out of my stomach and smiled. He turned his face upward and laughed the most hideous laugh I have ever heard in my life. I grabbed the hole in my stomach that he had just made. I lifted one hand to my face and was surprised to see no blood. What? What’s going on? I looked at A.J. but his face was smearing away into nothingness.
"DANIELLE EVANS!" I sat up. It was my mother. I looked around but saw that I wasn’t in my room. I was in the linen closet, curled up next to the blankets on the bottom shelf.
"Danielle! What on earth are you doing in the linen closet? Screaming?" My mother reached down and pulled me up. I stood up, dazed. How did I get into the lined closet? I had fallen asleep in my bed.
"I.. I don’t know." I looked around, still confused. I rubbed my neck. For some odd reason it was really sore.
"Well come on. We’ll get you cleaned up." My mother wrapped her arm around my waist and started for the bathroom.
"OW!" I screamed, jumping away from her. I grabbed my waist. She had hit a sore spot or something because when she touched my stomach it felt like a thousand knives were being..... Oh my holy stars! Knives! My neck and then my stomach? But it was just a dream right?
"What on earth is the matter with you, Dani? I barely touched you! Did you hurt your stomach?" She lifted up the T-shirt I was wearing and gasped. "Oh my word..." She trailed off. She slapped a hand over her mouth.
"What? What’s wrong with me?" I lifted up my shirt so I could see for myself.
"No!" My mother grabbed my shirttail and pulled it down. "You’re fine. Just sit down okay." She pushed me to the floor and leaned me against the wall. "Let me just look in here real fast..." She took out all of the blankets from where I had been found and peeked in. Nothing seemed wrong or out of place. She stood back and just looked at the closet. Then suddenly she emptied out the entire linen closet. All the towels and sheets and blankets were strewn around me.
"Do you see anything?" I asked from where I was sitting, feeling too drained to get up.
"Yeah. Dani come take a look at this." She motioned for me to get up but still had her back to me.
"Help me up." I lifted out a hand and my mother pulled me to my feet. I peered into the closet and almost fainted at what I saw.
"There’s nothing usual in there." My mother looked at me. "Do you see anything?"
All I could do was point.
"There’s that butcher knife I’ve been looking for! But how did it get on the top shelf? And what does it have anything to do with you screaming in the closet?" My mother stood on her tippy toes and reached up to the very top shelf. She pulled down a butcher knife that I recognized pretty well. My mom looked at me. "Dani, what’s wrong? Why are you so pale?"
I should have recognized that knife before. It was the same knife that A.J. killed me with in my dream and it was also the knife that was missing from my mom’s kitchen set. But how did it get there? And how did I get in the linen closet?
"That’s the knife." I stuttered.
"What knife? Danielle, honey, tell me everything that went on last night! Please! I’m not understanding!"
"Well, last night when I came home I got into bed and I fell asleep."
"Are you sure you fell asleep in your bed?" My mother asked, searching for the answer to the linen closet question.
"Yes, postitive. You can check. Remember yesterday how you told me I had to clean my room before I went out to practice with the Backstreet Boys? Well I made my bed and I bet you anything that the bed is messed up because I slept in it." I put my hands on my hips to make the statement complete but was only greeted with pain.
"Let’s go check the bed, then." Sure enough, the bed looked as if it had been slept in.
"Okay, now finish your story."
"Well, I had this really weird dream that A.J., you know A.J. right? He’s my boyfriend." When my mother nodded, I continued. "Well we were in a McDonald’s ball pit and he came up behind me and clamped his hand over my mouth and around my waist, except he wasn’t playful about it. Then he told me to be quiet and told me to get into the tunnel."
"Tunnel?"
"You know, the tunnel that leads to the slide. Well, anyways.."
"Oh! I just thought of something!" My mother’s sudden outburst made the bed that we were sitting on shake. "Maybe you thought that the linen closet was the tunnel! That’s why your brain made you dream about a tunnel. Go on." My mother seemed thouroughly excited about the discovery that she had just made.
"But I had been shoved roughly in there. I remember thinking that come tomorrow, I was going to be sore from how rough A.J. was being with me. So how could I have been shoved roughly into the linen closet?" With that statement, my mother’s shoulders seemed to droop a little. "Anyways. A.J. sat across from me and asked if I was freaked out yet and when I said yes he said, ‘Good’. I told him he was scaring me and he said that that was his point and that I hadn’t seen the worst of it yet. And you know what was really weird? His eyes were glowing and they were red. Well anyways, he pulled something out of his pocket, and I thought it was going to be a ring or something, but it was a knife." I grabbed the butcher knife that my mom was still holding. "And it was this knife. Then he got in my face and said he wanted to kill me. I tried stalling for time but it was no use. He grabbed my throat and pinned me down to the bottom of the tunnel and stabbed the knife right into my stomach." I paused just long enough to catch my breath. "And what’s weird is that my neck is sore and my stomach hurts like crazy."
My mother didn’t respond. She seemed to be soaking up what I had just said.
"Dani, did you say that you had gotten stabbed in the stomach?" She asked, her voice wavering a little.
"Yeah, why?" I wasn’t positive but I knew her question had to do with what she had seen on my stomach.
My mother lifted up my shirt. "Dani, take a look at your stomach." I looked down and screamed. Right where A.J. had stabbed me was a cut in my stomach. It wasn’t a scratch, but more of a stab. And the blood was already dried.
"Mom, what... how did it get there?" I touched my stomach gently. The cut wasn’t very deep. It probably hadn’t even gone through the third layer of skin. But it still hurt. "What on earth is going on?"
"Patricia!" My father’s voice boomed from dowstairs and shook the whole house. "What happened down here?!"
My mother and I exchanged glances and then rushed downstairs to see what my dad was yelling about. We found him in the study.
"What on earth happened to my lamp?" He was looking at his favorite lamp. It was one of those really tall ones but it was a ceramic one. It was crumpled into tiny pieces on the floor, shattered. "Did one of you do this?" Suddenly everything clicked. Except for one final piece.
"Mom!" I yelled excitedly. "Have I ever sleep walked before?"
She thought about that question for a while. "I’ve only seen you do it twice, but.."
"That’s great!" I shouted, cutting her off. I wrapped her in a huge hug, careful not to hurt my stomach. "Dad, I’m proud to say that I broke your lamp!" I smiled and hugged my dad as well. I turned to my mom, still smiling. "I slept walked downstairs and accidently hit Dad’s lamp over, the pain to my neck coming in later. I guess I must have grabbed a piece of the lamp to hold onto, that will come in later too. Then I went to the linen closet and I was pushed in roughly because the door shut me in. That was the tunnel, like you said. Then, I guess when I fell in, that made my hand slip up and I stabbed myself with the piece of the lamp that I had held onto. I know it sounds jumbled up, but that’s how it worked." I ran to the linen closet and searched the blankets.
"Dani, what on earth..?" My mother and father had followed me. At last I found what I had been looking for.
"See! Here’s the piece of the lamp!" I held it up for all to see. "And it even has a little blood on it!"
"But if you stabbed yourself at the same time that you entered the tunnel... that doesn’t match up to your dream sequence." My mother seemed a little doubtful of my soloution.
"Well, remember how I had said that A.J. was holding me so tight he was hurting me? That was at the same time he was dragging me to the tunnel. When I got in the tunnel was when I thought about how sore I was going to be and at that same time, my stomach already hurt. That’s why when he stabbed me, it didn’t hurt!" I took a breath and smiled. I had finally solved our short mystery.
"Okay, back the train up! I’m lost!" My father threw his hands up in the air. Me and my mom laughed.
"I’ll clue him in, Dani. You go get yourself cleaned up!" My mother smiled and pushed me in the direction of the bathroom.
"Deal!" I smiled, and went to go clean up.
After I had finished getting myself cleaned up, I decided that I would go visit Brian in the hospital. I needed to talk to him so I didn’t call any of the guys to see if they wanted to come. My mom dropped me off at the front entrance and said she’d pick me up in an hour. I made sure to steer clear of Delores, the lady who worked at the front desk. I went straight up to the room and was relieved to see that Brian’s parents were just leaving.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Littrel." I greeted, and walked past them into the room. I didn’t want to get into any sort of conversation with them. I sat down in a chair next to the bed.
"Hey, Dani!" Brian was able to sit up now and he seemed genuinely happy to see me. "What’s up?" He flipped off the television set that sat on a shelf in front of his bed.
"Hey, Brian. How are you? Are you feeling alright?"
"Well, I’m feel better but the doctor said I’ll be in here for another few days." He looked at me closely. "Is there something that you wanted to talk about? You look like you came here for a reason." He reached other and grabbed my arm. "Why are you so tense? What’s up?"
"Well," I took a deep breath. "When we left we went to McDonald’s and after everyone had left, A.J. took me into the ball pit and we had some fun in there, but that’s not the point." I grasped the bed rail and Brian looked at my hand.
"Nice ring." He took my hand and looked at it more closely.
"A.J. gave it to me when we were in the ball pit, but that’s not the point either. Last night, I had a really weird dream." I stopped, not sure if I should tell Brian everything that had happened.
"What was it?" I told him my dream, every last detail and he just sat there looking at me, shocked that I had dreamed up such a thing. "So, you said that in your dream, A.J. wanted to, um, kill you?"
"Yeah."
"That’s weird! He loves you! He would never kill you!"
"I know that is weird! But you haven’t heard the weirdest part yet." Brian sat forward eagerly. "The last part of my dream, I heard someone screaming my name and shaking me and I looked around the tunnel but no one else was there. When I looked back at A.J. his face dissolved and I woke up. My mom asked me what was wrong with me, and get this, I was in the linen closet!"
"But how did you get in the linen closet? You said you fell asleep in your bed." Brian was as miffed as my mother and I had been earlier that morning."Well, I’ll tell you that later, but there’s more weird stuff coming up. My mom pulled me out of the closet and when I stood up I felt weak and my neck was really sore."
"That’s where A.J. grabbed you and pinned you to the floor! Ooh, that’s really weird!" Brian shivered.
"Well guess what else. My mom put her arm around my waist and told me that she’d take me to get cleaned up but as soon as she touched me, I got this feeling in my stomach as if a thousand knives were stabbing me. And that freaked me out even more. Stomach pains, my neck was sore, I was in the linen closet, I thought that I had seen the weirdest of things. My mom lifted up my shirt and got this really weird look on her face, but she wouldn’t let me see what was on my stomach." I lifted my shirt up a little bit, just enough so Brian could see my stab mark, but not enough to see anything else. He gasped.
"You…you got stabbed. A.J?"
"Wait. That answer will come in later. So she cleaned out the entire linen closet and asked me to come take a look to see if I saw anything unusual." I paused for emphasis to the story but I really didn’t need to. Brian was leaning towards me now, his eyes wide. "I looked and you won’t believe what I saw. On the very top shelf was a knife."
"Oh my..."
"But it wasn’t just any knife. It was the knife from my dream. And also the knife that was missing from my mom’s kitchen set. Well to make this long story shorter, my mom and I finally figured out that I had sleep walked downstairs, knocked over a lamp, that’s where my neck ache came from, held onto a piece of the broken lamp, walked to the linen closet and was pushed roughly in there when the door closed on me, making my hand slip up and I stabbed myself with the piece of the lamp that I had held onto. I even found the lamp piece in the sheets from the linen closet to prove my theory." I stopped. There. I had finally gotten that out of my system.
"Wow! That is so weird." He didn’t know what to say. He just laid back on his bed and closed his eyes. "That didn’t even happen to me, but I’m kinda freaked out now!"
I laughed, a nervous laugh. I had freaked myself out too. "But I told you that because I felt like I could talk to you. I wanted to know if you had any ideas of why I dreamed something like that. I mean, I have never thought of A.J. as a violent person, but that dream was just so real because most of it happened."
"What?" Brian sat up and stared at me.
"No, no! He didn’t hurt me or anything but we did race out to the ball pit, he did throw me in, he did scare me by hiding from me and then grabbing my waist and my mouth, but that’s about it. The rest never happened. Any ideas?"
"Maybe the ball pit area came in because it was true, but I just think that the rest happened because of the events that took place when you were sleep walking."
"But why did I dream it was A.J. and not somebody who has really hurt me before?"
"Probably because you went to bed thinking about him." He smiled a knowing smile and I blushed. "Were you thinking about A.J. before you fell asleep?" He smiled and nudged my arm.
"Yeah," I said, embarrassed. "But don’t say that to him!"
"Well, I bet he was thinking about you too!" Brian’s comment made me laugh, and I felt relieved. Maybe Brian’s reasonings were right. Brian leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Oh don’t fall asleep! I want to talk!" I said. I still had thirty minutes to kill.
"I’m not going to sleep. I’m just resting my eyes," Brian said, his eyes still shut. "But if I do fall asleep on you, shake me. I’ll wake up."
"Okay." We spent about ten minutes talking before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped. I turned around and screamed.
"What? What’s wrong?" Brian sat up.
"Dani, it’s just me!" A.J. said, smiling at my jumpiness.
"I know! But that’s just it! It’s you!" I got up from where I was sitting and sat down in the chair that was on the other side of Brian’s bed.
"Are you scared of me or something? Mad?" A.J. seemed puzzled. "Whatever it is, we can work it out. I promise." He came towards me. I was trapped. I knew I shouldn’t be scared of him, it was just a dream. But seeing his face triggered something inside me and I couldn’t help feeling a little scared. Alright, I was terrified.
"Yes," I said.
"Yes, what? You’re mad at me?" A.J. stopped a few feet from me. I turned to Brian.
"Explain." I whispered.
"She had a really bad dream about you last night." A.J. looked at me and then back at Brian.
"Tell me." He looked at me. "I want to know what happened in that dream that makes you feel that scared of me that you won’t even let me hug you anymore."
"Oh.. A.J. you can hug me, I was just weirded out because the last image that I had of you was so..." The image of A.J. holding the bloody knife and laughing and those red eyes made me shudder.
"Tell me, Dani. Please." I felt bad for A.J. He hadn’t done anything wrong but I just couldn’t let him touch me. At least not yet.
"Okay. Sit down. It’s going to take a while." He sat down on the edge of Brian’s bed and I stayed seated where I was.
While I told A.J. my dream, his expressions changed with the mood of the story. In the beginning he smiled, at the end his eyebrows were lowered and he just sat there looking at me.
"That’s it. That’s why when you touched me, I freaked out." He lifted his eyebrows and his face relaxed a bit.
"Dani, you know I would never, never, do anything like that to you. I couldn’t." He looked like he wanted to hug me, and I felt bad, but I was still a little weirded out.
"But A.J. look." I lifted up my shirt, showing him the stab wound.
"Oh my gosh! Dani! That’s the same...! Oh my gosh!" He came towards me and this time I didn’t back away from him. He took a closer look at my stomach. "Are you alright? How did that happen?"
"I stabbed myself while I was sleeping." I told him all about how I sleep walked and the rest of the stuff, including the finding of the knife in the linen closet.
"I... I...that’s weird. Dani, no wonder you wouldn’t let me touch you." He moved away from me and I grabbed his arm.
"No. It’s okay. I’m better now. Really." I slipped into his arms. At first he just held me limply, but when I still didn’t move away, he held on to me tightly. I sighed. Now that I was with A.J., the dream seemed so unrealistic, it would never happen. I pulled away.
"A.J. my feelings for you haven’t changed. Just my hugging posture." I laughed, A.J. not accompanying me. Obviously he didn’t get it. "You’re going to have to be more careful when you hug me now, until I get better. I have the same feelings for you though." He leaned down and gave me a short, sweet kiss on the lips.
"Glad to see that you’re not so freaked out whenever you see A.J., Dani." Brian said. I had totally forgotten that he was there!
"Me too!" And I really was. I decided to wipe away all memories of the dream, but when I sat down and crossed my arms, I felt the pain. Oh well. Until it went away, my stomach wound would be the only reminder of the dream. And as of now, I had no idea of how I got that wound. I smiled. I loved A.J., I really did. And I wasn’t going to let some stupid dream ruin that. I wouldn’t.
Part V
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