"So how have you been?" Krista asked, throwing her coat down on the couch.
AJ sat down and swallowed nervously. "Okay. I…I mean, good. Really good."
Krista faked a smile. Of course he was doing well. He had a fiancee. Great friends. What was she left with? Only memories of the man she once loved and the child that didn't survive. "That's good. I heard that you were engaged. Congratulations."
"Thanks," AJ mumbled. He wondered if she really meant it. If she really was happy that he had moved on with his life. Had she moved on with hers? He wasn't even sure that he wanted to know. "How about you? Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I've been great," she lied. The truth was, after seeing everyone again-everyone being Katelin, Ang, and Nick-she had started missing that part of her life. Not that she hadn't always missed AJ. It was just much more of an issue lately. And now, knowing that Katelin was also going back to Florida, she felt more alone than ever.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"Coming!" Christine called at the sound of her doorbell. She grabbed her purse, expecting it her to be Howie, picking her up before they went to Nick's. Opening the door, she was more than surprised to find Paul standing at the door to her apartment. "Paul? What are you doing here?"
Paul pushed his way by her. "I thought that we needed to discuss some things."
Christine sighed. "Paul, I've told you a thousand times. There's nothing to discuss. It's over. We're just not meant to be. You need to accept that."
"I think you're wrong, Christine," he said, taking a step towards her.
Christine instinctively stepped back. Paul had a look in his eye that she had never seen before and it was scaring her. "I'm not wrong," she mumbled. "This is my life now."
"No," Paul stated, firmly grabbing her arm. "This is not your life. You're life is in Connecticut. With your sister. With your mother. And with me."
"Paul, you're hurting me," she whimpered, trying to wrestle her arm away.
Paul was about to say something when the doorbell rang again. "Tell whoever it is that you're busy."
"But I'm supposed to be somewhere," Christine whispered, hoping Howie couldn't hear the sound of voices coming from inside the apartment.
"I said 'get rid of him,'" Paul ordered.
Christine nodded slowly as Paul released her arm. She walked over and opened the door, just wide enough so Howie couldn't see who was in her apartment. "Hi," she greeted, nervously.
"Hey!" Howie grinned. "You look great! You ready?"
"I…um," Christine stuttered. "I don't think I can go tonight, Howie."
"What?" Howie exclaimed, trying to come in the apartment. "Why?"
Christine held her hand up to stop him. "I'm just not feeling very well. I think I just need to relax tonight. I'm sorry."
"Well, if you're not feeling well," Howie began, looking at her oddly. She looked okay. And why wasn't she letting him in? "Then I'll just stay here and keep you company tonight."
"I'd really rather if you didn't," Christine said, apologetically, hoping he'd understand. "I'm just really tired. I think I just need to sleep. Tell everyone I'm sorry and tell Nick I said hello."
"Okay." Howie looked at her, oddly. She was acting very strange. He leaned in and placed a peck on her cheek. "I'll call you tomorrow then."
"Thanks," Christine tried to smile. It was so hard lying to him. "Bye." She closed the door on his dejected face and then whirled around to glare at Paul. "You happy?"
"So that's who you're replacing me with?" Paul snarled. "It always seems to be him fucking up our relationship."
"We don't have a god damn relationship, Paul!" Christine cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. "This is my life. You have no right to try and control it. You've been doing it for the past eight years! Howie and I would be married right now if it wasn't for you."
"Now Chrissy," Paul smirked, stepping towards her again and, roughly, grabbing her arms. "You know that if you weren't really meant to be with me, that you and Howie would be married. I just gave you some advice. You're the one that took it."
"Please just leave," Christine whispered. She bit her lip to keep from crying. He was hurting her so much.
Paul let her go and walked towards the door. Before he opened the door, he turned around and smirked at her again. "We will be together, Christine. You can count on that." He walked out the door, leaving Christine shaking with fear at the cold, evil look in his eyes.
From the parking lot, Howie sat in his car, watching as Paul walked out of the building. He knew something was up with the way she was acting and the fact that she wouldn't let him in her apartment. He just never, in a million years, would have thought it was Paul.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"Come on Brian!" Ang called up the stairs. "We're going to be late!"
"What is this about, anyway?" Brian grumbled, coming down the stairs. He just wanted to spend a quiet evening alone with his girlfriend. Instead, Nick had some huge announcement and was making everyone come over his house.
"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." Ang smirked. She knew what this was about. Katelin had called her almost immediately after she had accepted Nick's offer and told her. She couldn't have been more thrilled. Finally, it seemed like everything was slowly going back to normal.
Brian stuck his tongue out at her and reached into the closet to pull his car keys out of his jacket pocket. Instead of reaching for his, though, he accidentally reached into the pocket of one of hers. He pulled a piece of paper out and glanced at it curiously. "What's this?"
Ang looked over at his hand and her eyes widened in horror. She snatched it out of his hand and shoved it in her pocket. "That's nothing."
Brian glanced at her curiously. "What was it, Ang?" She was acting strange and all sorts of ideas were popping into his head. "What are you hiding that I can't see?"
"It's nothing, Brian." Ang was almost pleading with him not to press her. "Please. Let's just go."
"No." Brian stood his ground and folded his arms across his chest. "Do you think that this is healthy? Us keeping shit from each other? I don't think so, Ang. Now show me what that was before I start to come up with some crazy ideas of my own."
Ang felt the tears come to her eyes. She really didn't want him to know about this. AJ and Eric were supposedly handling everything. She didn't want to have to drag Brian through it as well. Reluctantly, she reached into her pocket and handed the letter over to Brian. He read it over quickly, his features hardening at the content of the letter. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" he asked, quietly, staring at her with hurt in his eyes. "How long has this been going on?"
"It just started recently," Ang admitted. "I didn't want to involve you. You've had so much on your mind and…" she trailed off, knowing that there was really no excuse for her to hide all of this from him.
"And what Ang?!" Brian exploded. "I've had so much going on but AJ hasn't? You did tell him, right? Cause he was the one who dealt with all of this the first time it all happened. You didn't feel the need to tell me then, so why the hell would you now?"
"That's not fair, Brian!" Ang exclaimed. "You know full well why I didn't tell you then. I was embarrassed. I was angry with you. You were out with your ex-girlfriend and you lied to me about it. That's how this whole mess got started to begin with!"
"Oh so now it's my fault." Brian was fuming. How dare she blame this on him? He threw the letter down in disgust and glanced at his watch. "Come on. We're late."
Ang stared at him in shock. He was just going to leave this? "What are you doing, Brian? We need to talk about this."
"No." Brian opened the front door and waited for her to walk out. "We need to get to Nick's. I don't want to be late. We'll finish this later."
"Fine." Ang grabbed her coat and stormed out of the house, leaving Brian by himself to lock up.