“How did you talk your parents into letting you out of the house?” I asked curiously.
AJ smiled. “My dad left to go out of town about an hour ago. He took my phone and keys with him, but my mom let me use her car and told me that I could go wherever I wanted as long as I made sure that my dad never finds out. She wrote the new security code down for me and now……here I am.” His smile grew and so did mine.
“When’s he coming back?” I asked flatly.
The smile on his face faded. “Around ten tomorrow morning.”
As we sat there, I thought of the more serious matter that we still had to discuss. “So, what else did he say about you going to Charleston?” My tone was solemn. There was a very strong possibility that Mr. Hahn would find some way to force AJ to go to Westwood.
“He threatened not to pay for it, but I then reminded him that I gained control of my college fund when I turned eighteen this past summer. That pissed him off, but there really isn’t anything he can do.”
A smile crossed my face as I remembered my conversation with daddy. “I told my father too.”
AJ’s eyes widened. “About us going to school together? And he didn’t flip out?”
My initial reaction was to laugh at how shocked he was. “No, he didn’t really say anything, but he can’t be too mad if he invited you in today.”
“Glad you brought that up. How’d that happen?” His expression was confused.
“We finally talked about everything that happened on Christmas and I think he was really impressed that you stood up to your father and defended me. I guess he had a change of heart.”
AJ didn’t respond, but he appeared to be content with my father’s gesture. I reached for his hand, jolting him from his thoughts. “Come here. I wanna show you something.” He raised his eyebrow at me curiously, but didn’t ask any questions as I led him out of my room and up the attic steps. The first time I’d brought him to my studio – which was also the last time – I was too nervous to relax, but my growing trust in him kept those feelings at bay. The painting that my love for him inspired was still hanging on my easel. His eyes were fixed on it before I’d even pointed it out.
“I was thinking about you,” I explained as he moved toward it.
“This is really good.”
I watched him fixedly, admiring him as he admired my work. I took in details like his perfect lips that were moderately full and visibly soft; his deep set strikingly dark eyes; his jet black silken hair; and smooth skin. My temperature went up a few degrees as I looked over his features. There was not a work of art in existence that could ever do AJ’s magnificence justice.
“When’d you do this?” He asked, startling me a bit.
“Uh……the day I came back home.” I looked over the painting again. “I missed you and then decided to come up here and release some of the pent up emotion……and this is what I got.” Without turning to look at me, he took my hand and stood silently beside me.
There was a soft knock at the door just before the sound of daddy’s footsteps echoed through the attic. AJ and I looked back just as daddy peeked around the corner. “Just checking on you kids. Everything alright?” He asked.
“Yes, daddy,” I sighed. When he didn’t move to go back down the stairs, I realized that he wasn’t going to leave. I folded my arms over my chest and paced back to my room, leaving AJ behind. I heard them both on the steps as I sat back down on my bed. When daddy passed by my door I cut my eyes at him. AJ entered laughing quietly to himself. “I learned something new about you today,” he stated.
“Like what?” I asked.
AJ’s laugh faded into a smile. “You’re a brat……a big one,” he said and then kissed the top of my head. I glared at him playfully and waited for him to sit back down, but he didn’t.