A.J. was pissed. They
were in Arizona, maybe Anaheim, hell he didn't even know or care. He was tired,
a little hung over, and mad.
Sometime
over the past month or so, Kevin had decided the world needed to realize that
The BSBs were human and that they had girlfriends. He said the fans would
adjust. King Richardson had spoken.
It
wasn't that the guys really cared. It was the fact that Kevin had become the
self-appointed spokesman when it came to their love lives that bothered A.J.
Brian had a girlfriend. The whole universe seemed to know without Brian making
a public statement about her during every press conference or interview.
The
icing on the cake for A.J. came the night before. He talked to Lindsay and she
confided to him about Jeanie's pregnancy. She begged him to not tell Kevin,
saying it was Jeanie's business and responsibility to tell him. He agreed, but
just wasn't too sure how long he could keep his mouth shut.
They
were in the dressing room after the concert. As usual, everyone was on an
adrenaline high laughing and cutting up. Kevin made a wisecrack about a fan
tossing her panties up on stage for A.J. That did it.
"Shut
the hell up," A.J. growled.
At
first, everyone thought he was joking and laughed at him. "Oh, got caught,
Bone?" Kevin chided.
"I
told you to shut the hell up," A.J. was now glaring at Kevin.
Kevin
and A.J. had known each other a long, long time. Kevin wasn't afraid of him by
any means and he sure as hell wasn't taking anything off him. "What's your
problem, man?" Kevin walked over to A.J. Brian stopped what he was doing.
So did Nick and Howie.
"You're
my problem," A.J. looked up at him. "What I do is none of your
business."
"You're
right. It's not my business...now, but I'll probably be the one saving your
happy ass when Lindsay Connings starts telling her story to every teen mag.
About how she was a nobody, slept with A.J. McLean, and guess what? Now she's a
star!"
Kevin
never saw the punch coming. Luckily, Brian did and jerked Kevin out of the way
so A.J.'s fist couldn't make the connection. It took everything he had to hold
him back as Nick and Howie tried to control A.J.'s fury.
Finally,
convinced that A.J. wouldn't try to hit Kevin again, Nick released him, but
kept a guarded hand on A.J.'s shoulder. A.J. walked over to Kevin and poked him
in the chest. "Yeah, well at least I didn't get Lindsay pregnant."
The
room fell totally silent.
"A.J.,"
Brian cleared his throat. "That's bad, man. Not funny."
A.J.
fought back angry tears as he turned to leave the room. He looked back over his
shoulder at Kevin, who remained motionless standing with his hands to his side.
"You're right, Brian. It's not funny. I don't think it's funny. For that
matter, Lindsay doesn't think it's funny. Oh..." he leveled his chocolate
brown eyes toward Kevin, "...don't forget about Jeanie Kirkpatrick. I
doubt seriously that she thinks having a baby alone is funny."
With
one hand on the doorknob, he stopped. "Kev, man...I don't even want to
look at you." With that, A.J. left the dressing room.
***************************
"Lupe,
I need to talk to Jeanie," Kevin instructed her housekeeper. Using broken
English, she explained that Ms. Kirkpatrick was asleep. He thought for a
second, then remembered a conversation that he and Jeanie shared once about
Lupe. She spoke and understood English perfectly. Kevin had a funny feeling
that Lupe didn't want Kevin talking to Jeanie. He pushed her harder.
"Wake
her up."
"Sorry.
You call..."
"I
said to wake her up NOW!" he screamed. "You tell her this is an
emergency. This is Mr. Richardson and this is an emergency. NOW!" He
immediately felt ashamed that he'd raised his voice to her. She was probably
just following instructions...Jeanie's instructions.
He
could hear her lay the receiver down.
A
few minutes passed and Jeanie came to the phone. Her voice was the same, soft
and innocent. If he didn't know better, he would've thought she was no more
than twelve years old by her voice.
"Hello,
Kevin? Are you okay? Lupe said this was an emergency."
"I'm
fine. It is," he paused. "You're pregnant?"
Jeanie
sat down in a nearby chair. Her heart sank. She was going to tell him...
"Answer
me," his voice was almost robotic.
She
cleared her throat and unconsciously ran her hand over her slightly swollen
abdomen. "Yes," she whispered.
"We'll
be in Vegas day after tomorrow. You be there. Do you want me to send someone to
get you?"
Jeanie
was insulted. She wasn't a child. "No. I'm capable of flying alone,
remember?" she added somewhat sarcastically.
Kevin
took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah...I remember," his voice
softened a bit. "I'll have somebody call you. We'll make your reservations
and take care of the details. You just get on the plane."
"Okay,"
she replied. He could hardly hear her.
"Jeanie..."
Kevin's voice began to break up. "I love..."
She
cut him off mid-sentence. "Don't you say it, Kevin Richardson. Not now.
Please...not now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now I can see that we've fallen apart from
the way that we used to be..."