He reached recepetion and looked disappointed when he didn't find her there. There was another nurse, there, who smiled cheerfully at him and said, "Hi, can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah, do you know where I can find Lauren?"
"Oh, Lauren's not here yet, she ought to be here in any minute." Her eyes flashed in recognition, and she said, "Are you Kevin Richardson, from the Backstreet Boys? Wow, I didn't believe Lauren when she told me she went out with you. My name is Annie, by the way. Anyway, you can sit down and wait for her over there," she said, pointing at a chair.
Kevin ignored it and said with a interested voice, "So you two are friends, huh? How well do you know each other?"
"You mean, how well don't we," she said, rolling her eyes back.
"Well, then, um, there's something that's been bothering me, and I don't know if you could answer it.... it's about Lauren..."
Rye knew she still had no idea whether she was allowed back as a volunteer, or not. She didn't care, she grabbed her things and left for the hospital, after all, maybe they had even forgotten about that little incident, she hoped.
She got there, and went straight up to Room 206, to see none other than Brian. She opened the door to a room full of flowers.
"Wow, didn't know you kept a garden in here!" she said, as she kissed him lightly, her way of saying hello.
"Hi! Yeah, isn't it amazing? I started receiving all these flowers this morning, from all sorts of people, fans especially. I don't know how they heard about yesterday so fast, but somehow they did!" said Brian, laughing as he pointed at all the flowers around him. "Some of those cards are so sweet."
She sat down on her usual place, on the chair near his bed, and said softly, "Did you receive mine?" After she left last night, she had gone straight to a flower shop, and in her card, she had written:
Dear Brian,
I wanted to take this time to tell you how sorry I am again, I NEVER meant to get you sick, and I want you to fight to get better. I love you.
Love forever, Ryan Ann
It was the first time she had ever felt that way, and the first time she'd ever told anyone. She looked up at him as he answered, "Of course I did. You sent me a dozen beautiful roses, and eleven of them are right there on that vase and you know where the last one is?"
She shook her head with a smile and watched as he reached for his pillow. Right under it, was a bright red rose, with the card she had sent the whole thing with.
"I put it there," he said, holding both her hands, "to live. It is my hope to keep on, and it makes me feel closer to you whenever you're not with me," he finished, smiling.
"Really?" she said with a smile, feeling herself melt already from all the sweet things he had just said.
"Really," he replied with a smile himself. He got closer to her, and kissed her softly at first, then with so much passion, and she just as passionately responded, putting her arms around his neck. Then Brian pulled back slowly, and Rye felt a wave of disappointment wash over her, then started worrying... maybe he stopped because he was feeling in pain, or maybe because he doesn't really like me, or maybe...
"By the way," he whispered, looking at her straight in the eye. There was a long pause, and she felt her heart skip a beat from the silence, then he said, "I love you too..." he smiled, and she smiled with relief, pushing all those thoughts she had just had away, and pulled him back to her as she kissed him again.
"Well, you see," Annie was saying, and Kevin leaned forward to listen, "Lauren's really had a bad time all these years, since the last time you've seen her so much has happened... she lost her mom recently and-"
"She did?" said Kevin slowly, as a lump hit his throat, remembering how he'd lost his own father not so long ago, either. Somehow, it made him suddenly feel closer to her he thought, as his eyes got misty, he could definitely understand her pain, that's for sure...
"Yeah," she went on, unaware of the change of his voice, and continued, "Then there was Jeff..." Annie looked at him for a second and then said, "And speaking of Jeff, wow, you look... just like him, you features are so familiar and-"
"Who's Jeff?" interrupted Kevin, not sure whether he really wanted to know.
"Oh yeah," she smiled. "Jeff is -was- Lauren's boyfriend for a while. They even got engaged at one point, but the whole thing didn't work out, the guy got crazy, he started beating her for a while, that she had to take it to court, too," she said, shaking her head.
Kevin looked thoughtful, for he now understood things better, yet where did this leave him standing? he thought, feeling frustrated. If Lauren was afraid he was going to be like Jeff, she didn't have to worry... but then it was really weird that Annie said this guy looked like him... he turned back to her again and asked, "You said something about him looking like me?"
"Yeah, he did! Jeff had the same green eyes, and-"
"Annie!" shouted a voice behind Kevin. Kevin slowly turned around, and found himself face to face with Lauren, who looked really angry, and even had tears in her eyes.
"Lauren!" stammered Kevin. "When did you-how long have you been standing there?" he asked nervously.
"Long enough to find out you guys really seem to find talking about my private life so interesting!" she said angrily, shaking her head.
"Annie, I can't believe you... and Kev," she said, looking at him with tears in her eyes, then she turned around to leave. Kevin tried to call after her but he was stopped by Annie's hand on his shoulder, who just shook her head. She said softly, "Trust me, she wants to be alone right now..."
"I-I don't understand," he said, shaking his head slowly.
"Kevin, she really likes you, trust me, I'm not her best friend for nothing. I feel so bad now... look, I'll talk to her first, then let you know how it goes."
"Ok, yeah," he said, not really listening, for he was still staring back at that door she had ran our of, hoping, wishing, that it would open up with her behind it...
Brian and Rye were so oblivious to anything else around them at that moment, they were so into that kiss that they didn't notice the door suddenly open, until Rye felt a light tap on her shoulder. She jumped guiltily, hoping it was not a doctor, and looking up, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Lauren.
"Phew, hey Lauren, wow you really scared me for a sec there. I mean, I'm already in danger of being kicked out of the hospital and I don't think this would have helped them decide," said Rye with a laugh, then stopped, when she noticed Lauren's eyes were red, as if she'd been crying. "Is-is something wrong?"
"Rye, Dr. Williams is waiting for you in her office, she said she needs to talk to you now," said Lauren in a cold voice.
"Yeah, ok..." said Rye, then looked at Brian, who looked just as confused as she was. She shrugged, then leaned over to give Brian a quick kiss. He whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, if they don't let you stay, then I'll reeeeally show 'em..."
"Ok," whispered Rye back, with a relaxed smile, then looking at Lauren uncertainly, she left shaking, hoping it was something good she was going to hear...
AJ was looking around that huge hospital, grumbling to himself and trying to remember just exactly what he was doing there. Oh yeah, he thought, Nick had dragged him with Nicole because he had unintentionally said he had nothing to do. Nick thought it'd be a great idea if they all went to see Brian again.
AJ grumbled again as he thought how Howie had managed to get away from it, and just how did he do it again... said he had to visit some friends. Yeah right, grumbled A.J, I might as well have said I had to visit my granny... wherever she is...
"A.J, man, come on, why that face, I'm sure a couple of hours away from food will not kill you," said Nick who was standing beside him, with his arms around Nicole.
A.J gave him a face, and said, "Yeah, really funny, Nick, wonder why I'm not laughing... I just don't see why you had to bring me with you today, I have a mind of my own and I-" A.J stopped, and his eyes turned to someone standing by the reception area, and he just kept on staring.
Nick and Coli both turned to see who A.J was looking at, and Nick groaned. "Let me guess, 'you're in love'?" said Nick dramatically.
"I'm in love..." echoed A.J, his eyes still not moving.
"Yeah, and wasn't the last time you said it, uh, yesterday?" said Nick pointedly.
"With who?" asked Nicole curiously.
"Well, first it was with a girl on some shampoo commercial..." he said shaking his head, "but the last time I remember was while eating at McDonald's yesterday..."
"What, some waitress?" said Nicole giggling.
"No, the burger he was eating..." laughed Nick. Then he stopped when he noticed that A.J still didn't move from staring whever it was.
"You know, this might be serious," whispered Nick. "He's never done that for more than a few seconds." Nick sighed, then said again, "Ok, A.J, who is it?"
"Right ahead of us... my soulmate... wow..." breathed A.J.
"He can never speak in complete sentences when he's like this," whispered Nick to Coli, who nodded with a smile. "OK, A.J snap out of it, where?"
"Man, is she fine... do I look alright, guys?" said A.J, finally snapping out of his gaze to look back at them.
"You look fine. What, you're going to go up to her and try and impress her with your 'smooth' talk? Or wait, I know, you'll let her count your tatoos..." said Nick sarcastically, with a smile.
A.J ignored him, and turning toward his love attraction, he started walking towards her, with a determined look on his face...
"Hey, I like the way you always knock," said Brian with a smile as Rye entered the room.
"Oh, right sorry," she said, grinning sheepishly. "I guess I forgot, I'm so sorry to interrupt whatever you were doing, or should I also bow to make up for not knocking?" she said again, rolling her eyes.
Brian laughed, "Nah, that's ok... I was just kidding, you come in whenever you want, so if you start knocking, trust me, you'll just make me nervous."
"Ok, I'll keep that in mind, anyway, are you interested at all in why I came?" she asked with a big grin.
"Do I look interested?" replied Brian innocently.
"Geez," said Rye through gritted teeth. "If you weren't sick on that bed, I'd have stuffed that pillow in your face..."
"Ok, ok, now you're scaring me," laughed Brian. "Alright let's see... why you came? Uh, it must be something important..."
"Where's that pillow?" interrupted Rye.
"I'm kidding!" said Brian holding his hands in front of his face, laughing. "Oh, gee, if there's a reason why you came, then it means my first guess was wrong."
"Which is?" she asked with a smile.
"Well, you know, I really enjoy our short, yet sweet makeout sessions, but somehow there's always someone to interrupt... so I thought you came back to keep me that sort of company..." he whispered with a smile.
Rye laughed, then said, "You're right about someone always interrupting. But I guess you're not really interested in what I had to say..." she said softly.
"Of course I do," said Brian, reaching out for her hand. "Besides," he said with a sheepish grin, "I think I already know..."
"Really?" said Rye with a smile. "What are you going to say this time, that I killed everyone in the hospital and came to tell you that we can now run away, get eloped or something, and ride off into the sunset..." she said, rolling her eyes.
"No... but hey, that's not such a bad plan, at least not the last part," he said with a smile.
"Remember the pillow plan..."
"Right, oops... ok, you're here to tell me that..." he stopped and leaned closer to her, and then whispered, "You're going to stay in the hospital, and by my side too, because you're such a great person, always helping people, trying to make them feel better through their worst sicknesses, giving them hope just with your smile in the room... if that's what you had to tell me, trust me you didn't have to." He paused, then with a smile, he said, "Because I already knew."
Kevin searched through his pockets for any change, he thought a coke might do him some good at that moment, maybe just sort of zap out all his thoughts, worries... whatever.
Lauren shouldn't have run off like that, he thought, I wanted to tell her how I felt, that she didn't have to worry... geez, how does this machine work? he thought, as he fumbled for the buttons. He put in the coins, yet nothing came out.
He looked around to see if anyone was looking, and he tried to grab a coke by sticking his hand in through the slot. He had just stuck it in when he heard someone clear her voice.
"Uh, need any help?" said a voice softly.
Kevin guiltily turned to look, and saw that it was Lauren, standing right in front of him.
"Lauren, hey... um, yeah... this coke machine stole my money," he said with a soft smile.
"Here, let me," she said, pulling him away from it. Then she gave the thing a big kick, and out slid a coke. She picked it up and handed it to him, and managing a smile, she said, "This what you were looking for?"
"Wohoah.... yeah... that was a great kick by the way," he laughed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, whatever..." she said with a blush, then she said quickly, "Anyway, I've got to go now, sorry..."
"Wait!" he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I need to talk to you... now..."
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