“Hey Ang,” AJ greeted, opening up his front door for her to come in. “To what do I owe this visit?” Ang thrust the box into his hands. “It’s starting again.”
AJ followed Ang into his kitchedn and pulled the contents out of the box, his eyes widening. “Where did this come from?”
Ang rolled her eyes in response. “If I knew, do you think I’d be here right now?”
“No.” AJ replied, shooting a glare in her direction. “Does Brian know about this?”
Ang shook her head. “He wasn’t there when I opened it.” She collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table. “What the hell do I do, AJ? I can’t deal with all of this again.”
“We’ll call Eric and see what he says,” AJ replied, staring at her carefully. He watched as her eyes dropped down to her hands. “It’ll be alright, Ang. There’s no reason to be worried about this. Eric will take care of it. He always does.”
“But—“ Ang began.
“Don’t Ang,” AJ cut her off. He knew what she was thinking. “Don’t do anything stupid. Just let Eric take care of things. If you leave, you’re letting them win.” He sat down across from her and grabbed her hands in his. “You love Brian, don’t you?”
Ang snapped her head up to look him straight in the eye. “Of course I do, AJ. How can you even ask that?”
“I just want to make sure that you won’t run away, Ang,” AJ stated, softly. “It’s not fair to either one of you. Don’t let this person get to you.”
“What’s going on?” They heard a voice from the doorway. Both AJ and Ang turned and saw Sarah standing in the doorway, a confused look on her face at the closeness of her fiancee and one of her closest friends.
“Nothing.” AJ quickly dropped Ang’s hands and stood up to embrace Sarah. “Ang just needed some advice.”
“Trouble in paradise?” Sarah laughed.
“Yeah,” Ang replied nervously. “I guess you could say that.” She stood up and went to grab the box.
“No don’t,” AJ went and picked it up instead. “Let me show that to Eric, okay?” Ang nodded. “Ang, tell Brian. He needs to know about his, okay?”
“I will,” Ang lied. She had no intention of telling Brian about this. He would only flip out and make a huge deal out of it, possibly angering this person further. Who knows what they would do next?
“Alright, I’ll see you guys later.” Ang waved goodbye to the lovebirds and let herself out the front door.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Brian opened the front door of his house just as the telephone began ringing. He dropped his basketball on the ground and ran into the kitchen to grab it. “Hello?”
“Is Ang there?” He heard a voice sob into the phone. He could barely understand what she said in between the hiccups and the sniffling coming from the other end.
“No she’s not,” Brian replied, wrinkling his nose in confusion. “Kate? Is that you?”
“Oh god Brian,” Katelin sobbed. “Do you have any idea where she is? I need to talk to her.”
“Sorry Kate,” Brian regretfully answered. “I have no idea. She was here when I left. What’s wrong?”
“It’s…it’s…I really can’t talk about it,” Katelin hiccuped, trying to get herself under control. “I’m sure you’re fucking best friend will tell you all about it, though.”
Brian’s eyes widened. “You saw Nick?”
“Brian, I really can’t talk about this right now or I’m going to lose it again. Can you have Ang call me as soon as she gets home?”
“Sure Kate,” Brian answered, softly. What the hell did Nick have to do with anything? “I will.”
“Thanks,” Kate replied before hanging up the phone.
Brian stared at the phone confused before hanging it up again. He was about to pick it up and dial Ang’s cell phone when he noticed it sitting it on the counter. “Damnit Ang.” He hated it when she didn’t take it with her. He decided that he would call Nick instead and find out what the hell upset Katelin so much. He picked up the phone and dialed Nick’s cell.
“Hello?” He heard a tired voice on the other end.
“Frack?”
“Yeah Bri,” Nick replied, sitting up on the bed. He had been trying to take a nap back at his hotel but the fight with Katelin kept replaying in his mind. Maybe he was too hard on her. She didn’t deserve to be screamed at like he did. Maybe she really couldn’t have gotten in touch with him. But then he thought about his little boy. The little boy that he had never even seen because of her and his anger returned.
“What’s up man?” Brian asked, hoisting himself up on the counter. “I just got a pretty disturbing phone call from your ex-girlfriend. She was looking for Ang and she sounded pretty upset. Would you have anything to do with that?”
“Jesus,” Nick sighed. “You wouldn’t believe some of the shit that went on today. I really don’t know if I can talk about this right now. I need to find Lanie and talk to her about all of this before she finds out on her own.”
“Breathe Nick,” Brian laughed, trying to make light of the situation. “What the hell happened?”
“I have a son,” Nick said after a moment of silence.
Brian nearly fell off the counter he was sitting on. “You what?!”
“I have a son,” Nick repeated. “His name is Aidan. He’s two years old.”
“Nick, how the hell is this possible?” Brian was thoroughly confused. Nick was going to New York for the reading of a will and now he’s on the phone babbling about having a kid.
Nick let out a deep breath he hadn’t even realized that he’d been holding. “I…I don’t know if I can get into this right now, Bri.”
“Nick, you’ll feel ten times better if you talk about it,” Brian prodded. He was insanely curious. There was no way he would be able to wait until Nick got home. It wasn’t just every day that your best friend dropped a bomb such as having a two year old son. “Come on. I’m your best friend. Maybe I can help.”
“Katelin has a baby,” Nick finally admitted. “My baby that she never told me about.”
Brian clenched his jaw tight. There was always something that he didn’t like about Katelin. The way she always seemed to jerk Nick around. To make him feel like shit. To make Ang feel like shit. To keep something such as a fucking kid a secret from Nick for three damn years. “Nick…”
“Don’t do it, Bri,” Nick warned. “Do not start saying that Katelin was never right for me, blah blah blah. I really don’t think I can handle your shit. She’s almost as much of a victim in this whole situation as I am.”
“How the hell is that possible?” Brian spat, angry at his friend for being so naïve. Brian was positive that no matter what Katelin did to him, Nick would defend her for the rest of his life.
“Her dad made her give him up for adoption,” Nick explained. “The whole thing was set up before Aidan was even born. She held him for five fucking minutes before he was taken from her. She was never allowed to tell me. So please do NOT sit there and lecture me about how much of a bitch she is. Because right now, I don’t want to hear it and I don’t think I could take it.”
Brian stared, shocked, at the phone in his hand after Nick’s little outburst and the fact that he had hung up on him. He was never going to make Nick understand that he was only looking out for him. The door slamming brought him out of his thoughts and he glanced up to see Ang walking into the kitchen.
“What are you doing staring at the phone?” Ang asked, laughing slightly at the confused expression on her boyfriend’s face.
Brian hung up the phone and turned around, pulling Ang into his arms. “Nothing.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “Where were you?”
“Went down to the beach,” she lied. He would question why she had been at AJ’s if she told him and she didn’t have a story yet. She wasn’t going to tell him the real reason so she felt that a little white lie never hurt anyone. “Anyone call?”
Brian thought for a second. He could lie and tell her that no one did. That way, Ang wouldn’t be pulled into whatever problems Nick and Katelin were having. But then again, if Ang ever found out, she’d be pretty damn pissed at him and he wasn’t going to deal with it. “Yeah. Katelin called a little while ago. She seemed pretty upset.”
“Shit,” Ang muttered. “Did she happen to say why?”
“Nope.” Brian shook his head. “But I have a feeling Nick might have had something to do with it. I talked to him not too long after. How come you never told me she had a kid?”
“Don’t do that, Brian,” Ang warned, glaring at him.
“Do what?” Brian asked, innocently.
“What you’re doing,” Ang replied. “You’re trying to make me feel guilty for keeping something from you. This had absolutely nothing to do with you and if I had told you, you would’ve turned around and told Nick the first chance you got.”
“So?” Brian exclaimed. “What the hell is wrong with that? Don’t you think he had a right to know?”
“Not from you, though.” Ang grabbed the portable phone off of the counter. “This is between he and Kate, Bri. You need to stay out of it.” She began walking towards the stairs. “Now, I’m going to call my best friend. So if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate some privacy.”
Brian sighed as he sat down in the chair. This was the reason he didn’t like Katelin. From day one, she had gotten in the way of his and Ang’s relationship. And even his and Nick’s friendship. They both stood up for her all of the time. Brian didn’t understand it. She always did stupid things and they always defended her. But this one definitely took the cake. In a million years, Brian never would have expected her to do something like this. This was going way too far and he was determined to make Ang and even Nick see Katelin for who she really was.