Tears began to pour from Abby’s eyes as soon as she walked through her front door. She went into the kitchen, wanting to fix a glass of water, but her hands were too shaky to hold one. She knew it was all too good to be true. She knew there was going to be a loophole somewhere. She just didn’t know that it was going to hurt so much.

Sasha came bouncing into the kitchen, and was surprised to see Abby standing at the sink. She hadn’t even heard the front door open. “Um… hi. What are you doing here?”

Abby sniffed and tried to swallow the emotion that was lumped in her throat. “I live here, remember?”

Sasha walked over to her friend. “Yeah but… whoa, what’s wrong?” she asked when she saw Abby’s tear streaked face. Abby turned to Sasha, her chin quivering, and Sasha pulled her into a hug. “What happened?”

“Brian… Everything was going fine. I mean, we talked and got everything out in the open… and he told me… he told me that he was in love with me.”

“But, that’s a good thing, right?”

“I thought it was. A lot of stuff was said but in the end we… God, Sasha he called me Elizabeth!”

“What?! What do you mean?”

“We were in bed and he called me Elizabeth.”

“Did he realize it?”

“No. I don’t think he has any idea that he said it.”

“Aww, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

Before Abby could say anything else, she heard a male voice calling Sasha’s name. A moment later, Kevin stepped into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his waste, fresh out of the shower. Abby looked from Sasha to him then back to Sasha.

“Oh my God, Sasha I’m so sorry. Just give me ten minutes to shower and change and I’ll leave…”

“No, you’re not going anywhere. It’s okay.”

“Ugh! I didn’t even know he was here.”

Kevin spoke up. “Abby, don’t worry about it. Wait, why are you crying? Is everything okay?”

Sasha mouthed the word ‘Brian’ then said, “It’s a long story.”

***

Nick and AJ walked up to Brian’s front door and Nick repeatedly rang the doorbell while AJ knocked. Brian swung open the door, said “I don’t want any,” then tried to slam it back, but Nick stuck his foot in to stop it.

“Dude! You could have like chopped my foot off. Why you slamming doors anyway?” Nick asked, following Brian into the house with AJ behind him.

“Nick, you’re my friend and all, but I really don’t feel like talking right now.”

“Fine, just don’t even acknowledge my presence. See if I care,” AJ mumbled.

Brian fell back onto the couch. “Hi, AJ.”

AJ sat down next to him. “Hey, Rok.”

Brian put his feet up on the couch and kicked AJ to the other side so he could stretch out. AJ just smacked his legs in the process. Nick took a seat in the recliner, pulling the footrest out and lying back.

“You going to sleep?” AJ asked when he saw Brian closing his eyes.

“No.”

“Better not. I have ways of waking you up, and none of which will be pleasant.” Brian snorted. “Come on man, what’s going on? I’ll tickle your feet if you don’t talk to me.”

“AJ, I swear I’ll kick you in the nuts if you even think about touching the bottom of my feet.”

“You will not.”

Brian scooted down until his feet were resting in AJ’s lap. “Wanna try me?”

“Uh… no, that’s okay. Fine, if you don’t want to talk then come out with us.”

“Where are you going?”

“We don’t know yet. Might just end up driving around for awhile, but it’s better than sitting around doing nothing.”

“Yeah, you gotta come Bri,” Nick said. “If anything, it might help to take your mind off of whatever it is you’re thinkin’ about… even though I already know it has to do with Abby.”

Brian looked over at Nick’s smirking face. “How do you know?”

“Cuz I’m special like that. So, you comin’?”

“I guess so. I know that if I don’t, you two will just stay here and bug the hell out of me so I might as well,” Brian said sitting up.

AJ stood up. “You just seem to love us so much.”

“You know I love you guys… you can just be major pains in the ass.”

Nick went up to Brian and AJ and threw an arm around each of them. Grinning at Brian, “We try.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Nick doesn’t have to try to be a pain in the ass. It’s natural to him,” AJ said as they headed towards the door. Nick popped him in the head. AJ went to hit him back, but accidentally hit Brian instead. They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to be the one to get the last hit in.

Nick and AJ helped to get his mind off of Abby while he was with them, but once he was alone again, she was all he could think about. Brian almost asked them to stay, but he let them go. Instead he went back to his music, letting that fill his mind for a while.