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Chapter 15
AJ's eyes devoured the sight of Grace. She was stretched out on a towel, adjusting the straps of her bikini top. Then, as he gazed at her, she closed her eyes and lay still.
"Too much sun can kill you, you know," he said nonchalantly.
"Too much singing can, too," she shot back. He laughed.
"Since when?" he asked. "And how?"
"I don't know," she mumbled into the crook of her arm. "It just sounded good."
"Now you're going to have a tan line where your arm is," he commented. She threw her arm off her face and glared at him. He just grinned.
"Do I tell you to stop getting tattoos?" she reminded him. "Noooo."
He stood up and picked up his towel. Then he laid it down next to hers and stretched out on it.
"Tattoos don't give you skin cancer."
"How do you know?" she laughed. "All those needles…"
AJ shivered involuntarily, and Grace laughed.
"That was mean," he pouted. "Trying to scare me."
"You'll get over it," she said, and put her sunglasses on.
"I wonder what's going on with Brian and Faith," he mused. Grace propped herself up on one elbow.
"She'll tell me eventually. She was still asleep when I left this morning, but they did go out last night."
"They did?" he asked, surprised. "Jeez, I haven't heard from Brian since the picnic. I guess we're all getting our space."
"Maybe that's what you need," she said, yawning.
"Well, if they can do it, and he's engaged, don't you think we can do it?" he asked suddenly.
"What does that mean?" she asked. "You want us to go out?"
"Yeah," he said, as if she were asking the stupidest question he had ever been asked.
"AJ, we're kind of out right now," she reminded him. "Just the two of us, on the beach. That's going out."
"I want to take you to dinner," he whined.
"Okay!" She laughed. "Calm down!"
"Tomorrow," he said. "Be ready."
"Whoa," she said, her eyes wide. "What time?"
"Eight o'clock."
"You can breathe now," she teased. He glared at her playfully and walked his fingers up her arm. He flipped over so he was on his stomach and continued to trace footprints on her arm. She watched him, wondering what he was thinking.
"I miss being on stage," he said. She shook her head, closing her eyes again. Here he was, being all romantic and rubbing her arm, and he's thinking about his career. "It's only been three days since we've been here, and I need to use my voice."
"AJ," Grace said. "Get a life."
The fingers stopped.
"Grace," AJ said. "If I do, will you stay in it?"
Her heart melted. "'Course."
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"Hey," Brian greeted Faith softly. She smiled shyly and stepped over to him. In a single second, she was in his arms, and he was showering kisses all over her face.
"Well," Faith said.
"I missed you," he murmured.
She laughed. "Overnight?"
His fingers played with the belt loop on the back of her denim shorts.
"You know, I think I have to take you out," he said.
"Okay," she said, waiting for him to go on.
"Tonight?"
"It's," she paused, and raised her wrist above his shoulder. "3:00. That means if you come to get me at like, six?" he nodded, "then I have go and get ready right now."
"Why?" he asked, incredulous.
"I'm not even going to bother answering that."
"You could get ready in five minutes and still look beautiful," he said, nuzzling her ear.
"Thank you, but no."
"Fine," he relented, sighing.
"Like you said, we have two months," she reminded him. He rolled his eyes.
He should have known she would throw that back in his face.
"I'll be back at six," he told her. She nodded. He leaned in and kissed her warmly on the lips, and then he was gone. She flew into action.
Brian sat on his couch and watched his dog Tyke lap up his water. Three hours? She needed three hours to get ready for a three-hour date at the most? He shook his head and stood up. He was not going to sit around and watch Tyke drink so much he would release it all less than an hour later.
He made his way through the backyard and knocked on Nick's door. No one answered. He tapped his foot impatiently and peered through the window, only to find that the place was deserted.
Brian sighed and turned away. AJ definitely wouldn't be at his place, he'd be somewhere with Grace. Same with the rest of the guys. What to do…
Getting an idea, he returned to his condo and grabbed his basketball. Then he walked with it down the boardwalk, looking for a court. Finally he spotted a park, and a hoop. Mentally ticking himself a point, he headed for that hoop.
He played until he was sweaty and his knees ached. Then he sat down on the grass beside the court and caught his breath. Glancing at his watch, he jumped up and jogged back to his condo.
Less than an hour later he was standing on the doorstep of the girls' condo.
He knocked then rang the bell.
"Come on in, Brian," Grace said brightly. "Meet Joe Black is on!"
He groaned good-naturedly and followed her inside, where Hope, Kevin, Nick, Promise, and AJ were distributed throughout the large room. Kevin had his arms around Hope's, and Grace's head was on AJ's shoulder. Brian's eyebrows rose, but he didn't say anything and sat next to Nick.
"Hey, bud," Nick greeted, not taking his eyes off of the screen.
"Hi," Brian said. "Where's Howie and Destiny?"
"Who knows?" Grace said. "Why are you so early? It's only 5:30, and Faith is still upstairs."
"Can't I hang out with y'all?" he pouted. They were silent, and then a collective 'no' echoed through the room. Brian laughed, picked up a pillow and chucked it at anyone within reach, who just happened to be Nick.
"Now you see why we didn't want you to hang out with us?" was Nick's reaction. Everyone laughed.
"Well, fine then," Brian said, and stood up. "I can see where I'm not wanted."
"Well, we did say that," AJ said, grinning. Brian shook his head.
"Such abuse," he moaned. "At least Faith will want me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Faith's voice asked. All eyes turned to the location of her voice, and Brian's breathing literally stopped. Faith was standing on the last step, and she looked…like a goddess.
Brian's eyes drank in the sight of her; from the curls on top falling down her back and shoulders to the strappy open toe shoes that matched the pale yellow ankle dress. He was glad he had worn his 'nice outfit'.
Faith made her way over to him and stood there, not sure what to do or say, because Brian was just staring at her.
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight, whispering, "You look…so amazing," softly in her ear. She blushed and noticed that Kevin was staring at Brian as if he'd grown another head. She pulled away discreetly and nodded slightly at Kevin.
Brian cleared his throat. "Um…we're just going to take off, then."
No one said anything, and they turned and left, Brian feeling his cousin's accusing eyes on his back the whole time.
"That was strange," Faith remarked as they walked.
"Tell me about it," he agreed. "Kevin's so uptight…he'll do anything to control me…at least that's what it seems like."
"He's just worried about you," she said.
"He has no need to be worried…" he said, and turned to her. "I'm fine…" and he grabbed her sides, tickling her.
Faith shrieked and broke away from his grasp. She tried to run, but her shoes prevented her from doing so. She looked behind her, and stopped. Brian was nowhere in sight.
I refuse to call his name, she thought. I'll just look like a nut. She turned to her left, and still couldn't see him. Would he just leave her and walk away? Nah.
Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled backwards, and she was suddenly on the ground. She twisted her head at the sound of Brian's laughter. He was sitting on the sand a few feet away from her with a lopsided grin on his face.
"What's so funny?" she scowled, standing up, brushing off her dress. "I dressed nice for a reason."
"I pulled you down for a reason," he replied, taking her hand from where he sat below her, and tugging her down into his lap. His hands on her waist, he looked into her eyes searchingly. "Are you mad at me?"
"I don't know…" she trailed off, looking away. He cupped her chin and guided her lips to his.
"Still mad?" he asked.
"Maybe a little miffed," she said leniently. He kissed her once again.
"How about now?"
"I was never mad," she confessed. "I was just teasing."
"I know," he said. "I just wanted to kiss you."
"I have to be mad for you to kiss me?"
"I hope not," he said, frowning. She giggled.
"Let's go now."
"Okay."
"Why aren't you moving?"
"Because you're sitting on me…ow!"
"I'm not that fat…"
"You're not fat…"
"Let's go."
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