"Destiny, I know we haven't really been in this relationship or a long time. You have to admit that in this short time we've been through a lot of SHIT. I don't need anymore hiding or drama. No secrets. Just spit it out." AJ spoke clearly and loudly.
Destiny was a tad shooken up by his tone but understood his reaction. She was making it seem worse than it really was.
"Honey, calm down. This doesn't involve us. Well, not 'us' as a couple anyway. It involves me and a few of my friends. I just need to talk to someone about it. At this moment, I turst you the most. I know that you'll listen to me. I know that you won't be intimidated by my words." Destiny told him, finally facing him and looking at him staight in the eye.
"You want to talk here?" He said looking around.
"This isn't really the most cheerful place I know, but it's a hospital. It's supposed to be depressing. I think you'd want to hear this. It explains why I fainted and I just really need to get it off my chest. It'll be good for me." She said as she patted her heart with her left hand.

AJ simply nodded and returned to his previous position: sitting on the bed beside her. This time, he grabbed her hand and held it tightly between his two hands, to protect her from all harm. He was glad that she was finally opening up and was more than honored to be the person she chose to go to. AJ looked at Destiny, who seemed to be deep in thought. He figured she was tying to find the right words. She lifted her head and her sparkly eyes, filled with strong emotions looked directly at his chocolate brown eyes. She licked her lips and started to speak:

"You know I come from a small town, right?" Destiny asked. AJ mumbled something in reply. She assumed it was a 'yes'. "Well, it was a peaceful life. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. Other than the ignorant people who never allowed me to be proud of my achievements by claiming it was all my father's doings, nothing really bothered me. I mean, I knew that my father should be extermely proud of his success. He was this powerful man who worked so hard and got the results he deserved. But he wasn't me. Even if they didn't know that, I did. I wouldn't let them tear me down. The people who helped me to learn to ignore those people were my friends. We were the so called 'outcasts' of the high school cliches. We would not consider ourselves a group but looking back, we were. We were dependent on eachother to overcome the teen soap operas we called our life." Destiny said as she reached over to the cup resting on the table beside her. She drank some of the water because she was getting hoarse. She cleared her throat and continued:

"It was senior prom, extermely lame, to say the least. The decorations that were plastered all over the gym's walls looked as if they were made by kindergarteners. I wouldn't be surprised if they took toilet paper from the bathroom and some colorful banners from the art room and just taped them on the walls. The only reason why people came to this...'thing', was because a guy named Dustin Murphy managed to sneak in some alcohol when the teachers were busy sleeping. They were snoring so loud it sounded like a frickin chain saw. He probaby spiked every drink in that place. Not that anyone minded, the only way they could enjoy that dance would be under the influence of poison." Destiny paused and cringed at the thought of alcohol. She tried to drink once and spent the entire night in the bathroom, throwing up. She swore it off completely.
"Anyway, after an hour of misery, Amber and I decided to leave. We had enough of that scene. We just walked around town, enjoying the fact that our parents weren't expecting us home for at least another three hours. We were playing this game, we kept trying to get the attention of these college guys sitting in coffee shops, working hard on a some sort of paper. We would bend down or roll up our dresses to show some skin." She smiled at those memories.

"I know it might sound pathetic but at those times we were all about getting guys to notice us and like us. It made us feel good about ourselves. I know that I shouldn't count on guys to be an ego booster but hey, I was only 18, what else would you expect? I wasn't a child anymore but I certainly wasn't an adult. I was stuck in the middle. I was just trying to find myself in this crazy, mixed up world. (AN: Michelle Branch lyric! lol don't sue, please.) We were passing this one coffee shop and just my luck, my aunt was there with her husband. She noticed me but didn't see Amber. I told her to hide in the corner because there was no need for both of us to get in trouble. I was talking to my aunt through the glass. Lipping my words and using exaggerated hand movements. Since my back was turned, at that moment I had no Idea what was going on. All I felt was Amber pushing me to the alley. I was knocked out for a while. Later, I found out detail by detail what happened. Apparently Dustin found the party pretty boring too and decided to drive off. He was shit faced and swerved right into the pavement. Amber sacrificed her own life to save me. She jumped infront of the car, pushed me away, and died instantly. In a second, she was gone. Not to mention my aunt got injured severely because she was standing near the glass to talk to me. I never even went to her funeral. Nor did i go to Dustin's trial. I detached myself from that life style. I ran and never went back. And where has that gotten me? To this cold, dark place full of guilt and misery. It has been in the back of my head. That's why i'm always working on something, to keep myself from thinking of that painful moment. The whole Nick thing was just too much. I just couldn't deal, it all went blurry and next thing I know, I'm here." She finished and squeezed AJ's hand tightly. He returned the pressure. He didn't know what to say. No words would be enough. He embraced her and whispered in her ear:
"I love you. I'll be your fortress. I'll take care of you. I'll be there. You have me. I belong to you."

She hugged him back and smiled as he started to sing No One Else Comes Close to her softly. He was nearly finished when he sang the words:

"No one else comes close to you.
No one makes me feel the way you do.
You're so special, girl, to me,
And you'll always be eternally.
Everytime I hold you near,
You always say the words I love to hear.
Girl with just a touch,
You can do so much.
No one else comes close to you. "
He was interrupted by a knock on the door. He turned around to see Nick, Kevin, Howie and Serenity waiting to enter the room. Destiny signaled for them to come in. They all smiled at her glowing face. Well at least the three guys, Serenity was numb. Her face was emotionless. Serenity was too busy thinking up a good plan.

Brian volunteered to go to the Hospital gift shop and buy Destiny some flowers and a teddy bear. He got tired of waiting for the elevator to reach his floor and decided it would be faster to go down the stairs. Quickly, he skipped down the stairs, nearly tripping twice. He stopped and decided to pace himself.

"No need for me to break anything. Although if I decided to break something this would be the perfect place to do it. Not that I would wilingly decide to break something. I would never be crazy enough to do that. And it's not like anyone would find me in this smelly stairway anyway. Why am I talking to myself? Right. Moving along, Littrell." He said with emotion as he carefully continued his way down the staircase.

When he reached the bottom floor he lookd around searching for the gift shop he saw when they first entered the building. He spotted it on the other side from where he was standng. As he walked towards the shop he whispered to himself:

"Home: Destiny's hospital room
Desired Location: Crummy hospital gift shop
Mission: Buying flowers and a teddy bear for Destiny
Hazards: Being spotted.
Possible adversaries: Teenagers sitting by the pool.
Available Protection: Hat" Brian said as he covered his eyes with the infamous KY baseball cap. He did his little happy dance as he reached the hosptial gift shop and entered a winner.

He looked around for the biggest teddy bear he could possibly buy. He would get anything and do anything for Destiny. Not only was she the best choreographer they ever had but she was also one of his best friends. He finally grabbed a giant white eddy bear holding a heart that said "I love you" on it. He saw a dozen roses for sale and he took those as well. Proud of his findings, he walked toward the cashier. A young girl in her 20's was sitting behind the counter. She had blondish hair, which she obviously dyed herself because it was obviously not done by professional hands, and if it was, Brian definitley needed to get the name of the felon so he would never go to him for any fashion matters. She looked of average height and he couldn't help but notice her eyes. They were magnetic. Yeah, Brian, found her attractive but this was not the time nor the place to start a realtionship or even flirt. Not that he flirtted much before, that was mostly AJ's doing.

Brian reached to a bag he was carrying around and opened it to take out the bible he always carried around with him. His protection. He wanted Destiny to have it. She needed the Lord's faith. The Lord loved everyone. He was forgiving. He was strength. He was hope. Brian tried to have the bear hold the bible in its free arm. The girl looked at him strangely.
"Excuse me sir, what exactly are you trying to do?" She asked, trying not to gigle at his actions.
"Just giving my friend some things." Brian replied, still hard at work.
"I see...no offense or anything but is that really necessary?" She asked pointing at the bible still tighly in his grip.
"Attaching the bible to the bear? I guess not..." He replied.
"Umm yeah, riiight." She said, realizing she was dealing with someone highly religious. The name of this girl was Coral. Coral had faith in God. She did, but she wasn't a perfect little church girl, she was far from it.

"I'm sorry, but am i getting a bad vibe here?" Brian asked grumpily.
"What'd you mean?"
"I just feel like you're not cool with what I'm doing."
"I never said that, okay? chill. I'm just not that religious okay? I make my own religion. I don't feel it necessary to carry a bible everywhere I go but"
"That means?" He asked, interrupting her and honsetly, he was barely interested in the answer.
"I believe in God. I just don't know where I stand religion - wise. I grew up in a very religious Catholic family and right now I'm just exploring."
"I see."
"I'm sorry sir, but you're the one giving the bad vibes here. I respect you for who you are, the least you can do is respect me too." Coral said getting defensive.
"I'm sorry. My friend, Destiny, something happened to her and we don't really know what I guess i'm just a bit uptight."
"That's okay." She said, trying her hardest to forgive him. "Hold up, did you say Destiny? Destiny Jacobs?" The girl said with her eyes lighting up and then going into a state of shock because it just hit her that she was in a hospital.
"Yeah, that's right."
"What's wrong with her?" Coral said starting to get paranoid.
"She fainted. Doctor said she should be okay. Do you know eachother?" Brian asked curiously.
"Yeah she was one of my best friends in high school. I haven't been in touch with her since well...since prom." She said quietly.
She glanced up at him and said: "Could you do me a favor? My shift ends in about 5 minutes. The replacement should be here soon so would you wait with me and then take me up to her room? Please? it would mean a lot." She pleaded.
He nodded she thanked him and finally let him pay for the merchandise.

"I'm Coral by the way, nice to meet you."
"Brian." He said as he shook her hand.
Coral glanced at his hat.
"I guess you like the KY Wild Cats?" She cringed.
"Yeah. You like 'em too?"
"Far from it. They're like my least favorite team." She stated honestly.
"I see, well I guess we shouldn't talk about basketball then."
"Nope. What's your favorite food?" She smiled.
"Anything with cheese." He replied
She looked sick, "I hate cheese. Make me sick to the stomach."

They both knew they were complete oppisites. They didn't get along from the moment they met eachother and probably never will.