Chapter 4 written by Angie

“Good morning,” Angie said smiling as Jessica came into the living room.

“How the hell can you be so happy when we only got 2 hours of sleep,” she said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Oh I don’t know, it’s just such a pretty day and it’s the second day in our new house! It’s just so cool!” Angie said as she opened the curtain to let the sun shine in. Jessica flinched at the bright light and looked annoyingly at Angie.

“What have you been smoking?” Jessica asked, “ you are way too happy!”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t help it!”

“Would this have anything to do with Nick?” she asked giving Angie a mischievous look.

“No! It has nothing to do with that I told you, I’m not interested in guys right now! I’m just happy because we’re finally out of that hell hole!” Angie said smiling at her new house and life.

“Yeah!” Jessica said smiling at the memories of last night. The guys were really cool and she thought A.J. looked really hot. All the guys were really nice and she hoped to see them again.

“Hello… earth to Jess! Are you listening?” Angie said waving her hand in front of Jessica’s face.

“Oh I’m sorry, I was just thinking of something,” Jessica said returning from her daze.

“God, I hate when you do that! I was asking you what you thought of Nick!” Angie said annoyed.

“Oh, he’s pretty cool. Why do you like him or something?” Jessica asked giggly.

“No I hardly know him! I just think he’s really nice and I wouldn’t mind getting to know him. But now yet! I’m not ready for a relationship or anything!” Angie said explaining her feelings.

“Yeah sure. Don’t worry, I’ll hook you up!” Jessica said smiling.

“Jess, please don’t, I can handle this myself!” Angie said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Jessica said sarcastically. “Maybe I’ll just give him a call or something and put in a good word for you.”

“Jessica don’t! You just don’t understand how hard this is for me! You don’t fucking know how hard it was to finally get over him. I don’t want to get my heart broken again!” Angie said as tears ran down her face. Jessica got up and reached out to hug her best friend.

“I’m sorry honey! I didn’t mean it,” Jessica said as she put her hands on Angie’s shoulders. Angie jumped and pushed Jessica’s hands off of her.

“You don’t know how it is! You’ve never had a guy break your heart the way he did mine! I hate when you do this stuff!” Angie screamed as she ran into her bedroom with tears streaming down her face. She slammed the door and locked it. She walked over to the bed and put her head in her hands.

“What’s the matter with you Angie? It’s been 3 months and that asshole wasn’t even worth your time,” she said out loud to herself. She laid down on the bed and curled up into a little ball. She looked down at the diamond ring on her finger. A streak of anger went through her body as the diamond sparkled in the light. She suddenly got up and began going through all the boxes in the closet. The whole day had passed before Angie finally opened her bedroom door. Jessica walked over to Angie, a little afraid that she was mad at her.

“You o.k.?” Jessica asked concerned.

“Yeah. I’m sorry Jess. I didn’t mean to blow up. I wasn’t mad at you, it just brought up some bad memories,” Angie said giving Jessica an apologetic look.

“It’s o.k.” Jessica said smiling.

“No, it’s not! Will you come with me?” Angie asked Jessica.

“Of course. Let me just go get ready,” Jessica said heading for the bathroom.

“No, you don’t have to,” Angie said as she grabbed Jessica’s hand and sat her down on the couch. Angie went into her bedroom and grabbed a pile of things. There were clothes, cds, stuffed animals, pictures, flowers, and cards. Angie set the things by the fireplace and turned up the flames. One by one she put each and every item into the fire and told what sentimental value everything had. As she burned the last thing she turned to Jessica. She looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled at her. She took the ring off her finger and held it between her thumb and forefinger. She started to laugh as she tossed the ½ carat ring into the burning fire. She got up and went to the couch and sat next to Jessica.

“You o.k.” Jessica asked grabbing Angie’s hand.

“Yeah, I actually am!” she said as she looked down at her bare hand. Jessica put her arm around Angie and gave her a huge hug. They sat there for a while talking and were suddenly interrupted by the telephone.

“Our first phone call!” Angie said excitedly, “You get it Jess!”

“O.k.! Hello… oh hi… umm, I don’t know… I’d have to ask Angie… o.k. hold on,” Jessica said talking to the person on the other line. “Ang, do you want to go bowling with Nick, A.J., and Brian?” Angie thought for a moment and looked down at her bare hand.

“You know sometimes, you have to say what the fuck! Let’s go!” she said to Jess. Jessica smiled and went back to talking to A.J.

“Yeah, we’re game! O.k. we’ll meet you there at ten then… bye,” Jessica said and hung up the phone. “This will be fun!” Jessica said giving Angie a grin, “are you sure you’ll be o.k?”

“Yeah! I will,” Angie said, “Now what time are we going to meet them?”

“In about an hour.”

“Then come on, what are we waiting for?” Angie said and headed for the bathroom. Angie changed into a tight pink shirt and a pair of black stretchy pants. Jessica put on a leopard skin tank top with a short, tight, black skirt. They both fixed their hair and make-up and were soon ready to go. Jessica grabbed the keys to the car and they headed out the door. They got into the lime green Beetle and got on the road.

“Jessica, how in the hell do you expect to bowl in a short skirt?” Angie asked looking down at Jessica’s legs. “Are we trying to show off for someone?”

“No… well… no! I just felt like wearing a skirt okay?” Jessica replied smiling.

“Uh huh! Sure!” Angie said and looked out the window. They pulled into the bowling alley parking lot and found Nick, Brain, and A.J. standing by a car. They were standing with 2 other guys and they looked as if they were waiting for something. Angie and Jessica got out of the car and walked towards the guys. A.J.’s eyes lit up as he saw Jessica walking towards them.

“Hey there you are!” A.J. said as all the guys turned towards them. Angie’s breath was taken away at how good Nick looked. She smiled slightly as Nick made his way towards her. A.J. looked over at Jessica

“You look great,” he said, “ I love the shirt, I hve one with the same print.”

“Oh really? I knew you had style the first time I met you,” she said smiling. The other 2 guys stood to themselves as if waiting to be introduced.

“Oh girls, these are our friends Howie and Kevin,” A.J. said pointing out his friends.

“Hi,” Angie said in a cute voice, “I’m Angie and this is my best friend Jessica.” They shook hands and proceeded inside the bowling alley.

“You look great Angie,” Nick said looking down at her.

“Oh thanks,” she said looking down at the ground shyly,” you don’t look so bad yourself!” They walked into the bowling alley and the smell of fog went through the air.

“Hey it’s Cosmic Bowling! I haven’t done this in years!” Angie said smiling at Jessica.

“Oh yeah, when we went on that double date with me, Drew, you, and…” Jessica said trailing off. Angie suddenly got a blank look on her face as she remembered that night. Jessica looked at Angie for and answer, afraid that she would get upset when Angie replied, “yeah, and you fell on your ass!” All the guys started laughing and Jessica smirked at Angie.

“Thanks a lot Ang,” Jessica said embarrassed. She looked over towards the bar where she heard music playing. “Oh my god, it’s ‘Waiting For Tonight’! Come on Ang, let’s go dance!”

“No, stay here with me!” Nick said pouting. Angie looked up at Nick and smiled timidly.

“Yeah, I think I’ll stay here,” Angie said. “Why would you want to dance at a bowling alley anyways? We’re here to bowl!”

“Well, I’m going to dance! I want to get freaky!” Jessica said giving Angie a mischievous look. She started to walk away when A.J. cried out after her.

“Hey Jess, wait up! I’ll go with you!” he said as he ran to catch up with her. They both started to walk away as Jessica turned back at Angie and smiled.

“It’s scary how much they’re alike!” Brian said pointing out after them. The rest of the gang went to the cashier and rented a lane. Jessica looked out the clear window to see all the guys and Angie staring to bowl. She turned and found A.J. standing right behind her.

“So, you ready to get down wit your bad self,” A.J. said in a playful tone.

“Hell yeah!” she said as she grabbed his hand and drug him to the dance floor. They started to dance on the dance floor and soon they were freaking to the club music. They were having so much fun that they didn’t even realize how late it was. They had been dancing for two hours.

“Come on, let’s go get a drink,” Jessica said grabbing A.J.’s and pulling him to the bar. They went to the counter and sat on two stools.

“I’d like a Jack Daniel’s please,” Jessica said to the bartender.

“I’ll just have a beer,” A.J. said. The bartender left and came back with 2 glasses.

“This is so great,” Jessica said smiling at A.J.

“Yeah! We have to do this more often!” A.J. said giving her a quick grin.

“I’m going to go check on Angie, I’ll be right back!” Jessica said as she got up to leave. As Jessica turned to leave, A.J. grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

“Wait!” he said as he pulled her body towards his. He leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips. Jessica became weak in the knees and got butterflies in her stomach. Her heart began to race as A.J. pulled away from their kiss and looked into her eyes.

“Wow!” he said looking at her.

“Oh my god, I’m speechless,” Jessica said smiling.

“So you must’ve felt the same thing I did,” A.J. said a little scarred of what just happened.

“I’ve never felt anything like that,” Jessica said smiling.

“Well maybe we should try it again,” A.J. said putting his arms around Jessica’s waist. He bent down and gently kissed her again. Jessica had never felt like that before. There was a special spark between her and A.J. They pulled away from their kiss and looked at each other.

“I’d better go check on Angie, she had a rough day today,” Jessica said reluctantly.

“O.k.,” A.J. said pouting, “hurry back k?”

“Alright,” Jessica said. She kissed him a sweet goodbye and walked out of the bar. She wanted to tell Angie everything that just happened. She had kissed a lot of guys but never felt “that thing” like she did with A.J. She walked past the arcade where she saw Brian, Kevin, and Howie playing video games.

“I wonder why they’re out there?” she thought to herself as she kept walking towards the bowling lane. She walked up to their bowling lane and saw Nick and Angie making-out. Jessica was really stunned especially with Angie’s problem with guys since her break up. She knew something wasn’t right.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you Angie,” Jessica said tapping Nick on the shoulder.

“I’ll be right back,” Angie said kissing him goodbye. Jessica and Angie walked over away from Nick to talk in private.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asked concerned.

“What? I’m just having fun! I thought you would be happy for me, I’m getting over…him!” Angie said confused.

“This is not like you, you would never act like this,” Jessica said knowing her too well.

“Leave me alone Jess, I’m a big girl, I can handle myself!” Angie said defensively. She walked off pissed and went back over to Nick. Angie walked over and sat down in the chair next to Nick. She reached over and kissed Nick’s soft lips. She really liked him and she wanted to get to know him better. She pulled away from his kiss and looked into his baby blue eyes. He went to kiss her neck when she flinched as if he was going to hurt her.

“I’m sorry! I can’t do this,” Angie said as tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” Angie got up and ran into the ladies bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked herself out loud. She splashed water on her face. Her eyes swelled from her tears and she started to sob. Here she had this great guy and she blew it! It had been three whole months and she still had a fear that all guys were going to hurt her the way he did. She walked into the big bathroom stall and sat down. She put her head in her hands and sobbed.

Jessica sat down on the stool next to A.J. and rubbed her head.

“What the matter hon.?” A.J. asked concerned.

“I don’t know, Angie is just acting really weird. I don’t know what to do,” Jessica putting her head on his shoulder.

“She’s been out of it lately remembering her old relationship,” Jessica tried to explain.

“Oh, I know how that feels,” A.J. said.

“I think we all have, but Angie has different issues behind hers.” Just then Nick walked through the door of the bar and spotted A.J. and Jessica. He sat down on the stool next to Jessica and ordered a beer.

“Is Angie ok?” Nick asked concerned.

“Why what happened?” Jessica asked upset.

“I don’t know, one second we were kissing then I must’ve said something cause she took off running and crying saying she was sorry. Will you go see if she’s ok?” Nick said really fast.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” she said to A.J. and took off toward the bathroom. She walked in and heard crying from the last stall.

“Ang, will you open the door?” Jessica asked as she knocked on the thin metal door. There was no answer.

“Ang, please. I just want to make sure you’re ok,” Jessica pleaded. A few seconds went by and Angie opened the door to the stall. Her blood shot eyes were pouring out tears as she fell into Jessica’s arms. Tears poured out of her as Jessica consoled her.

“Jess, what’s wrong with me? I can never just be normal. I have a great guy out there and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wants to see me again!” she said in between sobs.

“Angie, you have ever right to be like this! That asshole broke your heart and you don’t know how to trust people anymore! And if Nick really likes you, then he will understand when you tell him,” Jessica advised.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks Jess, you always help me. I’m so lucky to have you as my best friend,” Angie said still crying.

“Well, I try,” Jessica said modestly. Angie refreshed herself and went with Jessica back to the bar. Both of the guys stood when they saw the girls walking towards them. Jessica immediately went over to A.J. and Angie stood in front of Nick.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Angie said taking his hand and pulling him so they could be alone. Angie explained everything to him and he was very supportive of her. He gave her a hug and helped her when she was having a tough time explaining.

“Do you think I’ll be able to see you someday?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, I would really like that. I just want to start to know you better before we take it to the next level,” Angie said.

“That’s cool,” Nick said. They walked over to A.J. and Jessica and explained what they had decided. All four of them walked out to find the other guys. They got the other guys and headed for the parking lot. A.J. took Jessica’s hand and stopped her before she was about to leave. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.