Princess Love

Princess Love - Chapter 14         The next couple of days were busy ones.

         Kevin and Kim had decided to officially move into together. She had an apartment that she would travel from house to house all day. Kim had also been finishing up her last year of college, but in Orlando instead of Los Angeles. In a couple of weeks she would be done with her schooling and would be a Biology teacher for the local high school.
     AJ and Jasmine had discussed, at length, what they should do. Jasmine only wanted one thing; for AJ to be happy. She didn't care if it was with or without her, she just wanted him to be happy. But on the other hand, AJ wanted her.   He wanted to help her and love her. He wanted to make her feel better, but he knew that wasn't possible. He wouldn't let go of her and she knew it. Jasmine was debating on whether she should just leave him or stay with him. She knew she couldn't stay with him, it would be to hard for both of them. She also knew that she couldn't just leave him, it would make him to sad and she didn't want that.
         Brian was trying to start a relationship with his new friend, Elizabeth. She was busy on gathering information on the charity events that she wanted to hold and she was very busy, to busy to even spend much time with Brian. In the two days Brian had felt a little shut out, but he was
trying to help her with the organization of the charity.
         Howie and Valerie were continuing their more than year long relationship. Howie was enjoying every minute he spent with Valerie. He told her what he was thinking, he was always truthful with her and he trusted her more than anyone before. But Valerie was another story. She loved him too, and she trusted him. She always laughed and acted like herself when she was around him, except for one thing. She didn't know where this relationship was going to go. Was he leading her on? Was he scared of commiting? And did he really love her? These questions ran through her mind everynight, making her feel guilty. She felt bad about thinking those things, but she really couldn't help it.
         Nick was still in England, helping Jenny. She had appointments all the time with lawyers and she was always busy, but she spent as much time as possible with Nick. She was forever grateful for what he did for her and she wanted to return the thanks by being as nice and understanding as he was to her. She had her moments of frustration but she got through it with Nick's help.

         AJ walked down the stairs in a pair of black slacks and a white sleeveless t-shirt. He held onto the banister and looked down to the living room when he was halfway down the stairs. He looked at Jasmine for a long moment and cleared his throat. She looked up at him, moving her eyes from the magazine on her lap to the handsome man on the staircase. He smiled back and made his way down to the couch and sat next to her.
         "What are you reading?" He asked and she lifted the magazine and showed him the cover, where Cindy Crawford was standing.
         "Oh." He smiled and she put the magazine back down on her knees. She was wearing white shorts and a black t-shirt. She looked at him for a long moment, he didn't speak, and she moved her eyes back down to the magazine. The silence had never been as heavy as it was now.
         "I should go now." She said as she stood up and stretched, reaching for a black bag that she had next to her.
         "Okay... where are you going?" He asked, wondering where she was going. They had enough food in the house and he didn't think she needed to go out, there was no reason to.
         "I don't know." She said. The car was already packed and she didn't need anything else.
         "What do you mean?" He asked, looking at her blankly as he stood across from her.
         "AJ... I have thought about this for a long time and I just can't live like this. I am leaving you." She said and turned around, slowly opening the door. He ran behind and grabbed her waist and turned her around.
         He pulled her close to him and looked down at her.
         "You can't leave me." He said as he frowned at her and she looked behind him, not wanting to look at him in the eye.
         "This isn't fair to either of us. I don't want to stay here." She lied.
         "Yes you do." His voice wavered.
         "AJ. I won't let myself love you, it will hurt to much. I will leave you eventually, it is just easier to it now." She said and looked into his deep eyes.
         "But I love you..." He quietly said.
         "I love you, but I can't and I shouldn't. You don't understand!" She said and dropped her bag on the ground and took his hands off of her waist.
         "I DO love you, but I need to leave you. It will be better for the both of us, you can't keep me in this house, like I am in a prisong, like this!" She said and grabbed her bag, running out the door but AJ ran towards her and grabbed her arms, tighter.
         "LET GO OF ME!" She screamed and he cried.
         "Only if you come back inside with me." He said, his tone changing, from sadness to anger.
         "NO!" She cried and tried to get out of his grasp but he held her and she fell, AJ landing on top of her. She pinched his arm with the tips of her long nails, he sat up and looked down at her. He lifted his left hand and she tightly closed her eyes. He was going to hit her, she knew it.
         "AJ!" Brian screamed from behind and AJ looked up and jumped up and ran back in the house. Jasmine sat up and ran to her car.
         "Are you okay?" Elizabeth, who was standing right next to Brian, asked. She shook her head and slammed the car door and sped in the direction of the freeway.
         "I can't believe him! He is nuts!" Brian shook his head and walked up to the front door with Elizabeth closely behind. He walked in and ran up to AJ's room, which was shut.
         "Open the door!" Brian yelled and knocked on the door.
         "No." AJ quietly said.
         "PLEASE!?" Brian yelled.
         "No." AJ repeated.
         "AJ, let me talk to you." Elizabeth said as she stood behind AJ, she spoke calmly. There was silence and then the door slowly opened. He opened it and let her in, ignoring Brian, who took went downstairs.
         "AJ, I really want to help you." Elizabeth said as she took a seat on a chair across from AJ who was stretched out on the bed.
         On the other side of the door was Brian who couldn't help but listen.
         He sat on the floor with his ear to the door, waiting to hear what they were going to talk about.
         "I just lost it Elizabeth, just lost it." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
         "What happened?" She asked as she sat back and listened.
         "Well, as you know, she has HIV. She wants to leave and let me start a new life, but I want her to be with me. She just wouldn't listen to me, she wanted to leave today, out of the blue. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then I realized when she said she didn't know
where she was going to go. I almost hit her! I can't believe it." He sat up and looked at Elizabeth.
         "You don't think she was right?" Elizabeth asked carefully.
         "No." AJ said and crossed his arms over his chest.
         "You are being very stubborn then. She was only doing it because she didn't want to hurt you later. The hurt would have been greater if she died and you spent years with her." She said and looked at AJ gently.
         "I guess... but how do you let go?" AJ asked as he pulled his knees to under his chin and looked at her.
         "You just remember the good things that you and that person had. You think about the good things, never the bad. I know that whoever this person maybe, they would want you happy. I know Jasmine would want that. She would want you to be with someone else, who makes you happy. That is probably why she left now, so that you can start even earlier on building a new relationship with someone." She said and quickly brushed a tear away.
         "Is that what you had to do?" Aj looked at her and Brian sat by the door and waited for her response. He knew that it must have been hard to say those things to AJ.
         "Yes, and it was very hard. I didn't get to say goodbye..." She coughed, covering her tears.
         "Do you think you could give your heart to anyone else?" AJ asked, not noticing that she was crying in the dim light. She cleared her throat.
         "I don't know... that person would have to be special. They would have to help me overcome some of my worries and understand that it might be hard for me to love again." AJ nodded and stood up. He opened his arms and they tightly hugged and Elizabeth tried hard to hold back the tears, as well as AJ. They let go and Elizabeth went to the door and opened it, to find Brian sitting by the door so she hit him on her way out.
         "Brian!" She laughed and looked down at him. He saw the tears on her face and he sat up and gave her a friendly hug.
         "Are you okay?" He asked as he looked down at her. She nodded and she took in a deep breath, but it didn't help. Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to brush them away, but she couldn't, she just burst into tears. "I am sorry..." Elizabeth said and walked down the hall and went into the bathroom and washed her face.
         "Don't worry about it, sometimes you need to let it out." Brian said as he rubbed her back.
         "I want to go home." She said. "Well, the hotel." She said, looking at Brian through the mirror.
         "You shouldn't have to stay at a hotel. Stay here, we have extra bedrooms." He said and she nodded, she was to exhausted to even make the trip back to the hotel.
         That night Brian thought about what she had said. He wanted to help her, but she was different than any girl he had ever met before. He hoped that he would be special enough for her to love him...
         AJ thought about all that Elizabeth had said. She was a brave woman and she had helped him more than she could imagine. Maybe, if he worked hard enough, he might make it. He just hoped that it wouldn't happen to him again. It wouldn't if he had anything to do about it.