That night AJ slept on the couch in the living room. When Howie came home he didn't bother to wake AJ since he knew AJ would want to see how Kristen was feeling in the morning. He woke up the next morning to the bathroom door slamming shut. He got up and knocked on the bathroom door and when he didn't hear a response he slowly opened the door and peeked his head inside. When he saw Kristen on her knees in front of the toilet throwing up he went and kneeled down next to her. "How you feeling?" he asked rubbing her back.
"Like shit, how do you think I would be feeling?" Kristen asked with an attitude getting up and going to the sink to rinse the nasty taste out of her mouth. She then opened the medicine cabinet and took out the bottle of aspirin and popped four pills into her mouth.
"Don't you think you're taking a little bit too much?" AJ asked her.
"Well, if you had the headache that I have you'd be overdosing too. I need to lay down," Kristen said going to her room and falling down on the bed closing her eyes.
"I think I should take you to the doctor," AJ said sitting down next to her on the bed.
"You think too much."
"And lately you haven't been thinking enough. You're pregnant and yet last night you still got drunk off your ass and started making out with some guy you barely even knew an hour. Now I really think I should take you to the doctor so get dressed."
"And I really think that you need to stay away from me," Kristen said sitting up on the bed. "I broke up with you AJ so why are you still trying to be around me all the time?"
"Maybe you carrying my child could be a reason. Plus I haven't stopped loving you even for a second."
"I'm sorry you feel that way," Kristen said refusing to look into AJ's eyes cause she knew if she did she would cry.
"I don't understand why you won't let me be at least your friend and help you out," AJ said as Kristen was silent for a couple of seconds.
"Because I don't want to have anything to do with you right now or ever for that matter," she finally said.
"I don't believe you."
"Then don't but it's the truth," Kristen said looking him dead in the eyes.
"Fine but I won't give up on you or my child," AJ said getting up. "My father abandoned me when I was little. I'm not going to follow in his foot steps," AJ said walking out. As soon as the door closed Kristen burst out into tears as she cried into her pillow. AJ stood by the door for about a minute listening to Kristen's quiet sobs as he held back his own tears. He went into the kitchen where he found Howie who at gotten up not to long ago.
"How's Kristen doing after last night?" Howie asked.
"My opinion is she's doing terrible."
"Okay so then how are you doing?"
"Considering Kristen just told me she didn't want to have anything to do with me you try and take a guess."
"I'm sorry man," Howie said sympathetically.
"I don't believe a word she said. I know for a fact that she is lying to me."
"How?"
"Just the way that she refuses to look me in the eyes and then when she does I see hurt and pain over what she tells me. Then I leave and she starts crying."
"AJ, I'm with you on that. I know she still loves you. She has a framed picture of you two kissing in a drawer next to her bed. She looks at it crying every night before she goes to bed."
"I don't understand. Why is she putting us both through so much pain if she still wants to be with me?" AJ asked confused.
"That I do not know. She just needs some time to figure things out. We leave in three days to go back on tour. By the time we get back she should have done a lot of thinking and will know that she needs you."
"D, that is what I'm afraid of is us going on tour. We'll be gone for three months and she's not talking to Toni still. She's not going to go to the doctor on her own."
"Don't worry about it. I'll take her for a check up the morning of the VMA's and I'll talk to her. She'll go on her own."
"Thanks man. I gotta get home and get ready for rehearsals so I'll see you in a few," AJ said grabbing his coat.
"Later Bone," Howie said as AJ left.
The next day Angela called Kristen up and they were going to go shopping for their outfits for the Video Music Awards the next night. Before they started shopping they stopped at a restaurant to eat some lunch. "What do you think of Brian leaving again the day after tomorrow?" Kristen asked when their food arrived.
"I think it sucks. Brian wants to take me on tour with him this time but I turned the offer down," Angela said.
"Why would you do that? You hate it when he's gone."
"Because of you. Someone needs to stay behind and watch out for you since you're not speaking to Toni."
"You shouldn't stay behind because of me you know."
"I know but I'm worried about you and you really need to forgive Toni. She had good reasons to tell AJ. Nick wanted her to go with them too but she refused because she knew she couldn't enjoy herself knowing you were mad at her. She hates it that you are mad at her. Please just forgive her and make-up with AJ."
"I can't Angie and please don't ask why either. Can we just change the subject?" Kristen asked.
"That's fine but we are all going to be on the same plane tomorrow on the way to New York. You won't exactly be able to avoid Toni or AJ."
"I'll just sit with TJ. AJ won't bother me."
"At least you hope. Where are you guys staying in New York?"
"I can't remember the name of the hotel but the managment rented two suites each with three rooms so we all get our own room. Unfortunately I will be in the same suite as Britney."
"Get used to it. Let's go pick up our outfits," Angela said getting up and walking to the front to pay for the bill. Afterwards they went shopping at a bunch of different stores around town. It didn't take long for Angela to pick out an outfit. She bought a black tube top with sequence on it and a long silver skirt with slits on both sides about an inch from her butt an silver heals that matched the skirt. It had been dark for about an hour and Kristen still hadn't found an outfit. "Listen, we'll go to Jacquline Ferrar. I'm sure you'll find something there," Angela said. They arrived their a few minutes later and Kristen immediately fell in love with the dress that was being displayed in the window.
"I have to have that dress," Kristen said walking inside. She found the dress in her size and went into the dressing room to put it on. It was a long dark blue velvet dress that had slits on both sides right above her knee. The top was ruffled and not too low cut and was spaghetti strapped. The back of the dress was ruffled about three inches above her butt and there was no back. "So what do you think?" Kristen asked Angela coming out of the dressing room.
"I think you shouldn't wear a bra with that," Angela said as Kristen turned around and her bra was showing in the back and so were the straps.
"I'm being serious. I don't look fat in it do I?"
"Oh come on Kristen. You can barely tell you are pregnant and besides you look great in it. You should definately get it."
"I think you're right," Kristen said going into the dressing room to change back into her original clothes. She found a pair of dark blue velvet platform heals that went with the dress and brought the shoes and the dress to the front counter to pay for it. Afterwards Angela drove Kristen back to Howie's house.
"Is Howie at home?" Angela asked when she pulled up to a dark house.
"I guess not. He's probably out clubing or something. I'll see you tomorrow," Kristen said getting out of the car with her stuff and walking into the house. She locked the front door when she entered and turned on all of the lights. She found a note from Howie saying that he was hanging out with the guys for a couple of hours and for her to make sure that she locked the house up because he would probably be in late. Kristen turned off the lights then went upstairs and changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed.
~A Few Hours Later~
"Hey guys I'll see you later," AJ said to Brian, Howie, Nick, and Kevin at a club.
"You're leaving already?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly in the mood for dancing any more so later," AJ said leaving. On the way to his house he decided that he would take a little detour by Howie's house. He knew that Kristen didn't want to see him so he figured he would drive by to see if the lights were on if she was up. AJ began driving down the street Howie lived on and saw that there were no lights on in Howie's house and Kristen didn't leave any porch lights on either. He began to drive past Howie's house when he saw a shadow go across the yard. He turned off his car lights and being curious put the car in reverse and pulled back in front of Howie's house. He then saw a guy go up to one of the windows and try and pull it open. AJ strained his eyes to see and could tell that whoever the guy was, was trying to use a glass cuter to cut open a section of the window to reach inside to unlock it. "What the fuck?" AJ said as he saw the guy reach in through the hole he made in the window. AJ flew out of his car and began running towards the house when the guy took notice of him and took off running and jumped in his car. AJ was pissed cause he didn't catch the license plate number. He then went and started pounding on the front door for Kristen to open up. After a couple of minutes he began to get worried since he saw that Kristen's car was in the drive way so he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called the police. After AJ hung up with the police he continued to pound on the door and a few minutes later the lights in the house went on and then the door opened and AJ burst into the house. "What the hell took you so long to answer!" AJ yelled.
"I was sleeping. I didn't exactly think you would come pounding on the door at eleven o'clock at night," Kristen said with an attitude. "What are you here anyways?"
"Who the fuck cares why I'm here! Are you okay?" AJ asked putting his hands on her shoulders and Kristen immediately backed away.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Kristen asked when she heard police sirens and then a cop came to the front door. "Okay what the hell did I miss here?"
"Someone tried to break into your house miss," one of the cops said as he was checking out the window. Kristen just stood there still trying to figure out what was going on. She had just been woken up so her brain wasn't exactly working to perfection.
"Do you have any idea who might want to break into your house?" the other cop asked.
"What are you talking about?" Kristen asked confused.
"Some guy has been stalking her lately," AJ said putting his two sense in.
"What?" Kristen asked AJ surprised.
"Do you have a description of this man?" the cop asked.
"NO! I'm not being stalked!" Kristen yelled.
"Then who is the guy that keeps harassing you whenever he sees you?" AJ asked.
"I can't believe this. I'm not being stalked or harassed!" Kristen lied.
"Well, miss I think that you should stay some where else and come to the station as soon as possible to report this."
"That's great, she can stay at my house," AJ said.
"I'm not going anywhere and I don't have time to report anything!" Kristen yelled when Howie walked in the house with a confused look on his face. AJ explained to Howie what had happened and about the cops wanting Kristen to stay somewhere else.
"Kristen, I agree with AJ. Maybe you should go stay at his place instead of here," Howie said.
"I am not staying at AJ's!"
"You know what I've put up with your stubborness for too long!" AJ yelled. "Now get your fucking bags packed! I'm not going to be there for three months so you don't have to worry about seeing me every day if that makes you happy but right now you're acting stupid! You know what, forget it," AJ said running up the stairs. Kristen followed him into the room she was staying in and saw him packing up all her stuff. Kristen decided that there was no way that she could argue with AJ so she wouldn't have to stay with him. She changed her clothes and headed out the door with AJ and all her stuff.
