"Sorry, did you want anything?" AJ asked, sitting on the couch as she ate her late night snack, the TV on and playing through the usual midnight chat shows that were on.
"Nah, I'm fine." Punk said, sitting down on the couch beside her, not completely beside her, but close enough. How could she? Just sit here and lie to his face? Maybe she had just done the test and was thinking of ways to tell him. Bullshit, he would have expected her to tell him the minute she walked in the door, this was a huge deal, to him anyway.
"You ok?" Punk asked her.
"Fine." AJ nodded, looking at her phone, texting Nikki.
"Who are you texting?" Punk asked.
"Nosey." AJ tutted, "Nikki... would you believe it? She's pregnant." AJ said.
"Oh. She's pregnant." Punk nodded, it made sense, but it still didn't justify AJ having a pregnancy test in her purse, why would she take it.
"Why did you say it like that?" AJ chuckled.
"I thought… you… never mind." Punk shook his head.
"Aw did you get a little fright when you saw her test in my purse?" AJ pouted at him.
"Yeah actually I did." Punk nodded.
"She asked me to take it and get rid of it, she didn't want it." AJ said.
"So you just decided to take it and keep it as a souvenir?" Punk cringed.
"I forgot it was in my purse but the look on your face when I came into the living room was priceless. I decided to play along with you." AJ laughed.
"That isn't funny. I was panicking like mad." Punk said.
"Why would you panic anyway? It's only a baby." AJ said, her eyes fixed on the TV as she ate into her packet of chips, feeling them fly out her hand when Punk hit them out.
"Only a baby? It's a person AJ, that you have full responsibility for, I spent most of my teenage life looking after my baby sister and trust me, it's not easy, Nikki will be terrified right now, especially if she doesn't even have a boyfriend or husband." Punk said.
"Alright ok, calm down, what do you want me to do about it? Her mistake." AJ said.
"I don't know, go see her maybe." Punk said.
"It's nearly one o'clock in the morning, I'm going to bed and so will she be, I'll go see her tomorrow." AJ said, standing up and walking into the kitchen with her empty plate, Punk following behind her.
"Imagine that was you, alone with no one and pregnant, you'd feel so shit, you need to make sure she's ok." Punk said.
"Why are you trying to make me a good person? Ugh, it's a good job I love you Phil Brooks." AJ said, punching his arm as she took her coat from the counter, putting it on.
"You're not going alone, Chicago at this time is a scary place." Punk said, grabbing his jacket as they walked out of the house, walking along the cold bitter streets, Punk making sure AJ was in close beside him, knowing there were a lot of creepers around at this time.
AJ walked up to Nikki's house door, knocking lightly, looking as the door opened a tiny bit, Nikki looking sneakly to see who it was, seeing that I was AJ, she opened the door further, revealing she was in her pyjamas and looked like she had been crying.
Punk was right, AJ thought… she did look upset and scared.
"You ok?" AJ asked sweetly.
"Not really no." Nikki shook her head as AJ just circled her arms around her, rubbing her back reassuringly.
Punk just stood behind them both, his hands in his pockets awkwardly as he swung back and forth on his heels.
"You guys can come in." Nikki smiled, letting Punk and AJ in, closing the door behind.
After AJ and Punk stayed for nearly an hour, making sure that Nikki would be ok, also AJ telling her that she could take as long as she liked off from work, Punk even volunteered to cover her shifts. Nikki really appreciated their comfort for the night, but eventually they left round about 3am, walking back to AJ's house.
"See, that wasn't that bad." Punk smiled down at her.
"Why are you so nice to people?" AJ asked him.
"I'm only nice when people deserve me to be nice." Punk said, "You piss me off, you'll have an enemy for life." Punk said.
"I better not piss you off then." AJ laughed, her hand interlocked with his, walking down the dark street, "You'd really cover Nikki's shifts?" AJ asked him with a smile.
"Yeah… and if it's quiet, I might even cover yours too." Punk said, kissing her head.
"You're too good for me." AJ said, hugging him tightly while continuing to walk home.
Within the next few days, they quickly turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, until Nikki was 5 months pregnant and AJ and Punk were happily dating five months now. Just like Punk said, he covered all of Nikki's shifts leaving her some time off to rest for her and the baby.
He didn't mind since most of the time he was with AJ, plus he was getting paid for it. The only times he felt bad was when he was watching the bar by himself, knowing AJ was at home alone, he knew she would be fine, but over the months he had got very protective of her.
He was currently at the bar himself, a few more hours until he could go home, patiently pouring the pints and serving with a smile like AJ had taught him to.
With AJ…
AJ was at home, her feet up whilst her eyes were glued to a magazine she was reading. She was enjoying the relaxation these past months, she felt like she was being worshipped and that was something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Because she had lived on her own for so long, she had got used to hearing creaks and cracks, feeling like she was being watched, but these past days whilst Punks been out working on his own, she felt like a pair of eyes were always on her and she didn't like it, so she tried to keep her mind on other things, of course being her, she didn't tell Punk about it because she knew he would fuss, so she kept it to herself and dealt with it.
She got up off the couch and made her way into the bedroom, the covers still a mess from her and Punks encounter before he went out, the room still pretty warm.
She went over to her drawer and took out a pair of pyjamas, undressing herself, still feeling incredibly uncomfortable, she placed her pyjama top over her upper body, walking over to the window and shutting it, pulling the curtains over and putting the comforting clothing on, making her way back into the living room, noticing the channel was on one that she hadn't seen in years, one that her ex boyfriend used to watch.
She quickly shook her head, reassuring herself that she must have pressed the buttons by accident, turning the channel over to something random and walking into the kitchen, opening the cupboard to find something good to make herself to eat, when she stumbled back from the cupboard, her hands shaking, feeling like her legs were going to give way.
All of the tins and packets of different items of food, all facing the same way, all in order, something that her ex boyfriend only done, something that she deliberately put all her tins the wrong way round to get rid of his nasty habit.
She quickly walked out of the kitchen, running towards the door and locking it over, she was terrified. She walked quickly to her phone in the living room, lifting it up from the couch and going through her contacts, about to click on Punks name when a chilled voice came from behind her.
"Put the phone down…" A man's voice said, sending shivers up her spine.
AJ turned around slowly, her phone shaking in her hand. She looked up at him, his two toned hair hanging down beside his face.
"What are you doing here?" AJ asked, slowly taking footsteps back.
"I waited until your boyfriend got lost. You know, if you would have told me that I would have moved here and made friends with your future boyfriend, I would have told you to shut the fuck up, but now, seeing you two, hearing him talk about you all the time, it's getting a little bit annoying for me…" Seth said.
"Do you have any idea how scared I was when he introduced me to his "friends?" AJ said.
"C'mon now, you know I'm not going to hurt me." Seth smiled.
"What? Just like you didn't hurt me when we dated, I moved here to get away from you, yet you came and hid in the shadows." AJ said.
"I had to keep an eye on you, make sure no one would steal you away." Seth said.
"Well someone has, so can you please… please just leave me alone." AJ begged him.
"You like to beg don't you AJ?" Seth said, moving towards her as she continued to back away from him, coming to the end of the road and leaning against the wall as he pressed his body against hers, "Where's your little superman to save you now?" Seth breathed in her ear.
Thought this would be perfect to use Seth tbh. Sorry if any of you like him, I love him, but his character on screen right now fits.
10 REVIEWS = New Chapter.