“Oh, sorry,” AJ said, still staring at his shoes.
“So you are, huh?” Alyssa said, making AJ look up.
“Alyssa!” he exclaimed, and hugged her. “How’d you get here?”
“I drove,” Alyssa said, smiling. AJ smiled back, then sat down quickly. Alyssa sat next to him.
“Anything happen lately?” AJ asked. He started wringing his hands.
“What are you, nervous?” Alyssa asked, ignoring AJ’s question. AJ looked down at his hands and quickly grabbed on to either arm of the chair.
“A little,” he replied, lying a bit. He was thinking about alcohol. He didn’t want to let on.
“Hey, I haven’t drank for four days.”
“That’s good!” Alyssa exclaimed happily and hugged him. ‘Drink...drink...driiiiiinnnnkkk...’ a voice repeated in AJ’s mind.
“No,” AJ said out loud.
“Huh?”
“Oh, uh, I was talking to myself,” AJ said, but was interrupted by Brian.
“C’mon, we got alot of work to do,” Brian said. AJ stood up, quickly kissed Alyssa, and ran. Brian said bye to her and chased after AJ.
After the show that night, the guys and their girlfriends or dates went to a big party. AJ leaned against the wall, trying to stay as far away from the bar as possible. He knew if he moved, he’d lock himself in the bar room and drink away. Brian walked over to him after a while.
“Dude, whats the matter?” he asked AJ.
“I’m trying not to drink,” AJ said, and looked around. “You seen Alyssa?”
“I told her we were going out, but she said she had to be home,” Brian replied. AJ was a bit disappointed but didn’t let it show.
“Oh, her parents are still overprotective, even though she’s nineteen,” AJ said, looking at his shoes. They said their goodbyes and AJ was alone by the wall again. He decided he would be able to resist temptation and started walking around. He was watching everyone else have fun when suddenly he saw Alyssa dancing with some guy he didn’t know. He was going to walk away, extremely hurt, but he didn’t know what he was going to do, so he kept watching. Alyssa chatted with the guy and they laughed, then the guy gave her a kiss. AJ felt the anger and sadness rise up inside him, and he walked over to Alyssa and the guy.
“Alyssa!” he exclaimed, not meaning to yell. She turned around quickly.
“AJ! Uh, I-”
“I thought you had to go home!”
“I can expla-”
“Just...just...leave me alone,” AJ yelled and turned so she wouldnt see him cry. He walked away as fast as he could.
“I’ll be right back,” Alyssa told the guy, and went after AJ. “AJ, I’m really sorry-”
“Save it, I dont wanna hear it,” AJ said, and ran into a room, slamming the door.
“AJ, please,” ALyssa said loudly, and knocked. AJ didn’t answer her, he just locked the door then looked around. It was dark in the room. AJ switched on the light, and found he was in some sort of game-room type thing, with a pool table and a couple of dart boards on the wall. Desperate for anything that would make him feel better, he ran to the dart boards and started looking around for any loose darts that weren’t put away. ‘Not as good as a knife, but it’ll work,’ he told himself, and picked up a Budweiser dart. He brought it to his wrist. As he raised his eyes, they caught something shimmery behind the round counter, which made him drop the dart in utter horror. “No, no, no, no,” AJ repeated over and over, but he couldn’t control himself. He was upset, and he already knew what would make him feel better. He ran over, grabbed two Vodka bottles, and sat on the floor, gulping them down as fast as he could.
”Where the [expletive] is AJ?!” Nick growled, and stormed off. Brian had just told him what happened between Alyssa and AJ, after Alyssa came crying to him. Brian ran after Nick.
“Nick, calm down, he’s-”
“He’s not gonna be [expletive]ing with anybody,” Nick said, and tried to open a door, but it was locked. “OPEN THE [expletive] UP!!” he exclaimed, banging on the door. AJ looked up at the door, confused on why it was making loud noises. He realized someone was knocking, and got up to get the door. He couldnt figure out how to get the door open with the bottles in his hand, so he flung one across the room and downed the other one. Finally he opened the door.
“Wut?” he asked.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nick asked loudly. AJ leaned against the doorway with his arms folded, trying to look cool, but he ended up almost falling so he decided to stand upright.
“Uhh...nuthin,” AJ replied, slurring a bit.
“You sure nothing’s going on in there?”
“Nuthin I cn think uf.”
“And why are you so mean to Alyssa?” Nick asked.
“She ain’t at home, nuther guy waz there,” AJ said, and staggered backwards a step.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure she has an explanation,” Brian said, and gave AJ a hug purposely. Nick gave him a strange look as they walked away.
“What the hell was that for?” Nick asked.
“I wanted to see if I could smell alcohol on him, and sure enough he’s plastered.”
“What the [expletive]?! What is he, nucking futs?!”
“Uh...[expletive]ing nuts, you mean.”
“Yeah yeah that too.” Nick sat down on the arm of a chair. “What are we gonna do about him?”
“Oh, NOW you care.”
“What?”
“Why do you think he started drinking in the first place?! ‘Cuz everyone ingnored him! He thinks we all hate him! He’s had so much shit, he couldn’t take it all anymore!” Brian exclaimed, getting upset again.
“He’s an alcoholic dude,” Nick said quietly. Brian didn’t want to think of that.
Chapter 13
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