Mickey heard voices behind her and she jumped a bit. She turned around to see Nick and AJ there. The two guys walked over to Mickey and sat down on the bench next to her. The three of them were at a school playground down the street from AJ's house. Both AJ and Nick looked like something was bugging them, they had sobered up pretty quick. Mickey thought that it was a waste of alcohol and then laughed to herself.

"Hey Mickey." AJ said. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just decided to take a walk and think. I do it a lot."

"Yeah, so we've noticed." He joked.

"No, nothing's wrong. What's with you and Deb?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Well it looks like it's bothering you."

"She's just being a bitch."

"What's her problem?"

"I don't know. She doesn't like me having a girlfriend for some reason."

"Yeah Jesus AJ! God, you shouldn't do that to all the girls out there." He looked at her strangely.

"Tell me you're joking."

"Yes J, I'm joking. You slept with her didn't you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Not really a question I guess. More of a statement."

"Yeah, but I was single. It was just one of those things. She knew it and I knew it."

"Did she though?"

"What are you getting at?" He asked, starting to get angry.

"Maybe part of her felt like she was extra special cause it was you."

"Is that why you're mad at Nick for going back to Mandy?"

"AJ!!" Nick yelled at him.

"You know what? I'm sorry I even tried. Why the fuck do I bother? Why am I here?" She yelled at them.

"Mick." AJ said apologetically after realizing what he had said.

"Fuck you Alex. Nick is free to go with whomever he wants. Do you see me going and picking fights with him? No, I didn't think so." She got up and started to walk away.

"Mickey." AJ repeated.

"Leave her alone." Nick said to him in a stern voice. He ran to catch up to her.

"You can leave me alone too. I don't need you coming after me just because someone said something hurtful to me. I'm getting kind of used to it. I don't want to be considered the weak whiny one."

"Nobody thinks of you that way. He just gets like that when he's mad."

"Yeah well pretty soon you guys are going to see what I get like when I'm mad."

"Look, I know it's none of my business what goes on with you guys." AJ said after meeting up with them again. "I didn't mean anything by it. Deb is something totally different."

"I don't care. I was trying to help but I guess I should just stand back. Don't fuck up things with Laura, if you do, then not only will you see me meddle, but you'll see how I am when I'm pissed." She said looking into AJ's eyes angrily.

"I'm not going to hurt Laura. You know I like her."

"Yeah well I guess that doesn't matter with you guys." She said looking at Nick.

"I won't hurt her Mickey." He said again. Mickey just shook her head and headed back to the house.

Back at the house Howie and Kevin were having a game of pool while the others looked on. Jo left to go use the bathroom and change. She wanted to go put on something that should could curl up in when they watched the movies. Brian left the room shortly after she did. Kevin raised his eye brows to the girls and tilted his head towards Brian's back. He was glad to see his cousin move on from LeighAnne. Things didn't end so well between those two and Kevin was a little worried about Brian. Sure Brian seemed to be happy but Kevin was still worried. He smiled to himself and then took his turn.

"Jo," Brian called, stopping her from going into her room. "Hey."

"Hey Brian, what's up?" She said nervously.

"Nothing much, just following you." He said with a goofy smile.

"Should I be worried?" She asked him, returning his smile.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether you want me to follow you or not."

"Just join me, no need to follow behind."

"Sounds good." He said and walked up to her. "You're nervous aren't you?"

"Kinda." She said quietly and looked down at her feet.

"Why? Are you afraid that I'm going to hurt you?"

"No." She answered as he lifted her head up so he could look in her eyes.

"Good, cause I'm not going to hurt you." He said and leaned in for a kiss. She welcomed his tender lips on hers. He kissed her once and let his lips linger as he started to pull away. They looked at each other and the she leaned into him for another kiss. This one lasted longer. Neither one wanted to stop but Brian did. He looked at her and brushed the hair from out of her face.

"I like you but I can't do this when I'm drunk. And unfortunately, I am. Just a little though." He added with a smile. "When I'm sober, I'm gonna ask you if you'll think about being my girl. Hopefully you'll say yes."

"Oh, I think the odds are in your favour." She teased.

"Good. I'll let you get changed now." He said and turned to go back to the pool room.

Jo walked into her room and flopped down on the bed. She could still feel his lips on hers. She closed her eyes and and thought of his touch. She was brought out of her dream by a knock on the door. Thinking it was Brian she jumped up and answered it with a big smile. The smile faded when she saw Mickey.

"Gee, thanks." Joked Mickey. "Glad to see I make you so happy." She said coming into the room.

"Sorry, it's just that Brian was here....wait a minute, why are you here?"

"I saw Brian, he had the same goofy smile on his face, and he told me you were here."

"What's wrong?"

"What isn't." She sighed. "I didn't want to go see Jenn or Laura, they worry about me too much."

"Aww, tell Jo all your problems."

"I just got into a fight with Nick and AJ."

"Ooh, shitty. Why?"

"Well something's up with AJ and Deb."

"Yeah, we can all see that." Jo interupted.

"So I was trying to help him out, but I guess I wasn't saying what he wanted to hear and he snapped. He shot back below the belt. So me and Nick yelled at him and then Nick came over to me and I basically told him to piss off."

"Oh, Mickey. Are you guys ok? You don't want to be mad at each other."

"Why not? It's easier being mad at Nick and as for AJ, it just comes naturally."

"Do you really believe that?" Jo asked.

"No." Mickey said, dropping her head.

"I didn't think so. So why don't you go talk things out with them?"

"Absolutely not! No way."

"You're impossible."

"Yeah I know!" Mickey said smiling. Jo changed and then the two of them headed back downstairs.

The mood was a little more sullen when they got back downstairs. Everyone had moved into the livingroom. Mickey looked around and noticed that Nick, Mandy and Amanda were not there. Jenn came up beside her and mentioned that they had left a couple of minutes before. Mickey tried to hide her dissapointment. Laura was over quietly talking to AJ. He seemed to still be upset at either Mickey or Deb, or maybe both, Mickey thought. She went over and slumped into 'her' chair. This was going to be a long night and maybe a long couple of days. She was hoping things would ease up once they went on the road again.

Brian and Jo curled up on the couch next to AJ and Laura. Brian asked AJ what was bugging him but AJ told him not to worry about it. Brian dropped the subject because AJ looked like he was serious. Brian was a little bummed out that everyone seemed to be down, he was still in a good mood. He looked at Jo and smiled, at least she was in a good mood. Jo was happy being cuddled into Brian. He could always make her smile. She wished that he could get everyone else to smile. Things were getting awkward here. She didn't want Nick and AJ fighting with Mickey. She also wondered where Nick went with Mandy and Amanda. Well she could guess, but she didn't know why he left. They were all supposed to watch the movies together. Oh well, she wasn't going to let it bring her down.

They weren't too far into the first movie and Mickey fell asleep in the chair. Laura and AJ got up and headed upstairs so Brian and Jo stretched out on the couch. Jenn looked over at Mickey and asked Jenn if she was ok. Jo told her that Mickey was fine, just had a run in with AJ and Nick. Kevin and Howie decided to leave. As they were going, they were talking about going out to a club or something.

"Wow, this turned out to be an exciting evening." Jenn observed as she looked around the room.

"Yeah, shitty isn't it?" Brian said and he reached for the remote and stopped the movie.

"Hey, I was watching that." Jo told him.

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm just joking, it's ok." She said giggling. She looked up when she saw Laura come into the livingroom.

"What the hell's going on?" She yelled as she smacked Mickey to wake her up.

"I know you didn't just do that." Mickey said as she stood up in front of Laura.

"Guys." Jenn said running over to get in between them.

"Laura, today's not the day to piss her off." Jo warned.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Mickey asked her.

"You pissing off AJ. That's my problem. What so you didn't get Nick and now you have to make everyone else miserable?"

"Excuse me? Some strange female can come in here and piss him off and you don't say anything but you'll come down here and yell at me? I think you better straighten the fuck up. First of all what goes on between me and AJ is between me and AJ."

"Yeah well if it has anything to do with me, then it's my business." She shot back.

"Come on you two." Brian said getting in between them.

"It has nothing to do with you. I can't believe you."

"Mickey, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. I'm happy, don't ruin that for me."

"How the fuck am I ruining anything?"

"You threatened AJ! You told him to becareful when it came to me." She said stepping closer to Mickey.

"You don't know how it happened Laura." Nick said walking into the room.

"This has nothing to do with you Nick so why the fuck are you even here? Why aren't you with Mandy? That's who you want to be with right?"

"Why are you going off like this?" Mickey asked her.

"How can you tell her off when you don't even know the story? AJ started the fight between him and Mickey. He's lucky he didn't get punched." Nick said coming closer to all of them. Jenn and Brian didn't know what to do. Jo knew what was going on so she wanted to stop things before Laura said something she'd regret or before Mickey did something that she would regret.

"So what happened then? Are you saying that she didn't yell at AJ and piss him off?"

"She didn't piss me off. I was upset that I pissed her off. Deb is the one who pissed me off." AJ said as he entered.

"Laura, Mickey cares for you so much. She doesn't want AJ to hurt you like I did to her."

"Laura baby, don't fight with her. She doesn't deserve it." AJ said walking over and holding Laura. Laura looked at Mickey.

"Fuck you." Mickey said as she walked past and went up to her room. Everybody just stood still, they had no idea what to do.

"Why did you do that?" Jenn asked getting mad at Laura.

"No, don't you guys go at it too." Jo said to them.

"Don't you think she's gone through enough in the last little while and now you have to add to it?" Jenn said, not paying attention to what Jo said.

"I'm sorry ok." Laura said. "I just don't want her thinking that I can't watch out for myself. Plus I misunderstood a few things that AJ said."

"Look, she's your bestfriend. Don't mess that up. I don't know anyone else who has ever been so good to us." Jenn said as she walked over and hugged Laura. "Just let her be for the next little while."

"So what are you doing back?" Brian asked Nick, trying to change the subject.

"I wasn't in the mood for what Mandy had planned." He said as he flopped down on the couch. "Well at least not with her."

"Are you going to go see Mickey?" Brian asked him.

"Are you kidding. She's just as pissed off at me as she is AJ, and now Laura. I'm not the one she wants to see right now."

"I wouldn't be to sure about that." Jo said. As she walked out of the room. She wanted someone to make up. "I was talking to her when she got back."

"What did she say?" Nick asked curiously.

"Find out for yourself." She shrugged and walked away.