Chapter 14
It was not until awhile later, when AJ came up close to dunk Brian
underwater, that the feeling that something was different came back to
him. And as his eyes traveled up and
down Brian’s bare chest, he realized what it was. The scar.
The long, white scar that ran down the middle of Brian’s chest, left
over from his heart surgery three years earlier, was not there.
“AJ? Something wrong?”
Brian asked.
Still staring at the flawless, tan skin of Brian’s chest, AJ
dumbly shook his head. Brian gave him a
strange look, shrugged, and swam away.
AJ swam to the side of the pool and hauled himself out. He sat on the edge for a few minutes, his
legs dangling into the water, and thought.
Could it be that the scar had faded so much it was not
noticeable? AJ didn’t think so. It had faded a lot over the years, but the
last time he had seen Brian shirtless, while they were on tour, it was still
easily seen. Surely in just a month, it
couldn’t have just disappeared.
Deciding to get another good look before he thought about it
anymore, AJ lowered himself back into the pool and swam back up to Brian. He quickly dunked him underwater, and when
Brian came back up, spitting out water and rubbing his eyes, AJ stared again at
his chest. But, like before, he saw
nothing, no trace of the scar. It was
like it had never been there.
Brian splashed AJ in return for getting dunked, but AJ barely even
noticed. He was dumbfounded.
“Dude, Bone, what is up with you?” Brian asked.
AJ just shook his head.
Something told him not to ask Brian about it. Not yet anyway. “Nothing.
I guess I’m just tired from the video shoot,” he replied lamely.
Brian nodded. “Me too,” he
said.
“Hey, Frick! Watch this!”
Nick yelled from the top of the diving board, diverting Brian’s attention from
AJ. As Brian turned to watch Nick do a
flip off the diving board, AJ got out of the pool.
“Hey, guys, I think I’m gonna go back up to my room. I’m tired,” he announced. Nick and Brian were splashing each other,
but Kevin and Howie heard him and nodded in response.
AJ wrapped his towel around his dripping body, slipped on his
sandals, grabbed his T-shirt, and left the pool area.
***
In his hotel room, AJ immediately picked up his phone and dialed a
familiar number. Moments later, a woman
answered.
“Hello?” she said.
“Leigh? It’s AJ.”
“Oh, hey, Aje, what’s up?” asked Leighanne Littrell, sounding
surprised to hear from him.
“Oh, not much. Just got back
from swimming,” he replied casually.
“Oh, that’s a relief. I
was worried something had happened to Brian.
I mean, usually he’s the one to call me when y’all are gone, not
you.” She laughed a little.
“Yeah, I know. Well,
actually, I am calling about Brian.
Don’t worry, nothing happened to him.
But he… well, he’s been acting sort of funny lately,” AJ said
hesitantly.
“Funny? What do you mean?”
Leighanne inquired.
“Well, I dunno… he just seemed a little off at the video shoot
today. He wasn’t acting like he normally
does, and his performance just wasn’t up to standards,” AJ replied, trying to
put his observations into words.
“Oh…” Leighanne sounded
just as confused as AJ felt. “That’s
strange.”
“Yeah. And there’s
something else too,” AJ went on. “It’s…
well, it’s the scar.”
“The scar?”
“Yeah, the scar on his chest.
You know, from his surgery.”
“Yeah, what about it?” asked Leighanne.
“Well, uh… it’s gone,” AJ replied bluntly.
“Gone?? What do you mean?”
“It’s gone,” AJ repeated.
“Literally, it’s not there anymore.”
“How could it be gone?” Leighanne asked.
“Well, I don’t know. So it
was there last time you saw him?”
“Well… I don’t really know, actually. I never noticed. I mean, I’ve just become so used to it that I
never even look at it anymore.”
“Yeah, me too. I didn’t
realize that’s what it was right away, but when we were swimming, as soon as he
took his shirt off, I had this feeling that something was not quite right. And that’s what it was.”
“Are you sure?” Leighanne asked, sounding as if she still didn’t
quite believe what he was trying to tell her.
“I’m positive. I double
checked. I was right up by him, and
there was not even a trace of it. It’s
not there.”
Leighanne was silent, probably because she was as confused as
AJ. How could a scar like that just
disappear? There were probably medical
procedures that could get rid of it, but why would Brian do that? He had never seemed to mind the scar
before. And if he had gotten it taken
off, why didn’t he tell anyone?
Especially his wife. Surely
Leighanne would know if he had done something like that.
“Do you think he could have gone to some doctor and had it
taken off somehow?” AJ asked Leighanne.
“Well… I guess maybe he could have. But why wouldn’t he tell me about that?” she
asked, voicing AJ’s own question.
“That’s what I thought too.
It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Well, did you ask Brian about it?” Leighanne asked.
“No. I thought I would call
you and ask first. I didn’t want to
seem nosy.”
“Well, don’t worry about it.
I’ll ask him when he gets home, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Leigh,” AJ
said. Moments later, they hung up, each
with no answers and even more questions than before.
***
