Three Weeks Later
A knock at her door finally dragged Krista off of her couch. She had been enjoying her rare day off from tour rehearsals by remaining deeply engrossed in ABC soaps. She was currently catching up with Sonny, Carly, and the rest of the General Hospital crew and did not appreciate the interruption.
She made her way over to the front door of her water-front condo and flung the door open, completely surprised as to who was on the other side. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?” AJ asked.
Krista moved aside and let him inside the small condo. “Excuse the mess. I haven’t really gotten around to straightening up much today.”
AJ shrugged as he sat down on the couch. “Not a problem. I couldn’t tell you the last time I got around to cleaning.”
She giggled. “Never took you much for the cleaning type. Anyway, what’s up?”
“I need you to do me a favor,” AJ replied, nervously. He just knew she was going to flip out about this.
“Yeah?” Krista questioned. “What’s that?”
There was a long pause between the two of them while AJ gathered the courage to make his request. “I need you to quit choreographing for our tour,” he finally managed to spit out.
Krista’s eyes grew wide. “What?!” she exclaimed. “You’re kidding right? I thought you were okay with this.”
“I was....I am,” he clarified. “It’s not me that has the problem with it.”
“Then who?” Krista questioned, standing up with her arms folded across her chest. “None of the others have seemed to mind.”
“It’s Sarah,” AJ finally admitted. “She’s the one who wants you to quit.”
“Sarah,” Krista repeated, her eyes narrowing. “So I’m supposed to give up my job. My only source of income. Something that I absolutely love to do, because your stupid little girlfriend has a problem with it? Sorry, AJ. I don’t think so. Especially for someone who’s not even involved in the tour.”
“Krista, come on,” AJ begged, following as she turned around and marched out to the balcony. “She’s my fiancee. Of course she feels funny with you around all the time. And going on tour with us? How the hell do you expect her to react? Knowing that you’re going to be there all of the time instead of her.”
“I don’t really give a shit what she thinks AJ,” Krista growled. “She is not my problem. Now if one of the dancers or one of the other guys had issues with me being a part of this tour, then I’d be gone in a second. But they don’t. So don’t sit there and expect me to quit something I love to do because your fiancee has insecurities about her relationship. That’s not my problem.”
AJ let out a deep breath. He was frustrated. He knew Krista was obviously going to throw a fit over this. But he didn’t know what he was going to tell Sarah. Sarah had wanted him to fire her. But there was no way that he was going to humiliate Krista by doing that. Plus, it would put the guys and some of the dancers on his bad side. Everyone seemed to love Krista. Even those that hadn’t known her during the days that she was with him. But he needed to do something. Sarah was so insecure about their relationship that she felt threatened when Krista was anywhere near AJ. That’s why AJ had asked Krista just to quit. Therefore, Sarah would be appeased and Krista wouldn’t be humiliated by getting fired. “Come on, Kris. If you ever really loved me you would do it.”
Krista’s head whipped around, her eyes dark as she glared at him. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare sit there and insinuate that I never loved you. You have some nerve, McLean. Some nerve. This has nothing to do with love. I’m not quitting. I love choreographing and I love choreographing for you guys. There’s no way I could ever give that up. And if you ever really loved me, you would know how much I love doing stuff like this and you would never ask me to quit.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ****
“Finally!” Alyssa shrieked so loud into the phone that Brooke had to hold it away from her ear. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for…like…ever.” Brooke giggled. “Hello to you too, Lyss. What’s up?”
“What’s up with me?” Alyssa questioned. “What’s up with you? Why haven’t you called me?”
“Been pretty busy,” Brooke replied, collapsing on to a chair on her balcony at the hotel in Las Vegas. “What about you? How’s the Backstreet tour coming along?”
“Great!” Alyssa cried, excitedly. “It’s looking really good. Krista’s been helping out with the choreographing and it looks so awesome.”
Brooke’s eyes widened. “Krista’s back in town? I had no idea. How does AJ, or better yet, how does Sarah feel about that?”
“You didn’t know that?” Alyssa asked, surprised. Didn’t she talk to Kevin at all? “When was the last time you talked to Kevin?”
“Not in a while, actually,” Brooke answered, quietly. “He hasn’t called me in a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” Alyssa cried. “It’s not like he’s just a friend, Brooke. You guys are getting married. Two people who are getting married should talk to each other more often than every few weeks.”
Brooke sighed, emotionally exhausted. She knew all of this. She knew that whatever it was that was going on between she and Kevin, it wasn’t good. They just kept drifting further and further apart. She didn’t know when it happened, but all of the sudden, it was as if they didn’t have anything to talk about anymore. “I know that, Lyss. Believe me. I don’t know what’s happening between us.”
“Is there someone else?” Alyssa knew that she might have been crossing a line by asking this but she had to know. Brooke had all but disappeared from their crowd in the last few weeks. She was acting like a classic case of someone that was trying to hide something.
Brooke was silent. Was it that obvious? “Brooke,” Alyssa began, quietly. “You can tell me. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything to anyone and I won’t say anything negative about you. Believe me, I’ve been there. But maybe I can help you, Brooke. Cause I know what that feeling is when you look at Kevin. It’s like he’s the most perfect man in the world. I know that you love him. And I know that he loves you. When you’re around, it’s like no one else is in the room, according to him. Things like that just don’t go away overnight.”
“I think I’m falling for someone on this tour,” Brooke finally whispered, not missing Alyssa’s sharp intake of breath. “It’s been going on for a while.” A sob caught in her throat. “I didn’t mean to, Lyss…”
“Stop,” Alyssa admonished, quietly. “It’s not your fault, Brooke. You can’t help the way you feel. But I gotta know, Brooke. Has anything happened? I mean…” All that Alyssa was greeted with was silence and she found out all that she needed to know. “Aw, Brook-ee.”
“I know,” Brooke sobbed. “I’m a horrible, horrible person. I don’t deserve either one of them.”
“Stop,” Alyssa scolded. “You’re not a horrible person, alright? Not at all. You’re just someone that’s really confused, Brooke. And if you ever need someone to talk to, you call me, okay? I can’t tell you what to do, but I’d like to think that there could be something I can do to help.”
“Thanks Lyss.” Brooke stood up and walked inside the room when she heard a knock at the door. She walked over to the door and opened it up, signaling to Justin to hold on a second while she finished her conversation. “I’ll call you in a few days. Let you know how I’m doing.”
“Alright, sweety,” Alyssa replied. “Hang in there. Everything will work itself out.”
“Bye Lyss.”
“Bye Brooke.”
Brooke hung up the phone and led Justin into the room. “You ready?” He asked.
She grabbed her purse and her room key and followed him out the door. “Ready as I’ll ever be!”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Angie!” Katelin called from her table in the corner. “Over here.”
Ang grinned at her friend and made her way over to the table. “I didn’t think you were here yet. You’re never on time.”
Katelin laughed. “I was early, actually. Jay dropped me off on his way home.”
“Ooh Jay…” Ang teased her friend. “And how is the new man?”
“He’s great,” Katelin smiled. “We went to Longboat for the day. It was awesome. Very relaxing.”
“I’m really happy for you, Kate,” Ang said, sincerely. “He seems like a great guy. You really seem to like him.”
“I do,” Katelin replied. “I don’t know what it is about him. He’s the complete opposite of anyone I’ve ever dated but I’m having such a great time with him.”
“Does he know about your, uh, situation?” Ang questioned, sipping on her water.
Katelin giggled. “Situation, huh? I guess that’s what you’d call it. And yes, he knows everything. I made the mistake of not telling Dylan anything and he’s never spoken to me again. Jay doesn’t seem to mind, though.” The waitress chose that moment to come and take there order. Once she was gone, Katelin glanced at Ang. “So, anything new with the threats? You haven’t mentioned anything recently.”
Ang shrugged. “I haven’t gotten anything in awhile. In a few weeks, actually. It’s really strange. At one point, they’re coming every day. One thing or another. And then, all of the sudden, nothing.”
“Have you talked to AJ?” Katelin questioned, picking at a piece of bread. “Or Eric? Maybe they handled it.”
“Eric, I don’t know,” Ang responded. “But AJ would tell me if something happened. I’m sure of that.”
“They probably just gave up,” Katelin remarked, nonchalantly. “Realized that there was nothing they were really going to get out of making your life a living hell. You probably won’t get anything again.”
“I think you’re right.” Ang leaned back as the waitress set down their food in front of them. “I mean, it must be, if nothing’s come in, what, three or four weeks?”
She grinned to herself, shaking her head slowly, as she sat at the table behind them, her back to them. Ang was so naďve. Now why the hell would she just stop? She was having way too much fun with this. And if Ang and Brian finally broke up because of everything she was doing, then her efforts have definitely paid off. Ang deserved everything that she got. Her brother was dead. Dead because of a stupid little Backstreet Slut. And that little slut was going to pay.