Aaron set his backpack down and looked at the four people standing in front of him. "Well I guess I'll see you soon." he said, looking at Nick and Lis.
"I'll miss ya little bro!" Nick said, giving his brother a hug.
Aaron nodded. "Me too, and think about what I said." he whispered as Nick pulled away.
Nick sighed. "All right."
Han looked at B, "Let's leave them for a few. C'mon I saw a restaurant back there." She said dragging him off.
"Bye AC!" Brian managed to say as he disappeared into the crowd.
"Bye B!" Aaron called laughing. He turned to Lis.
"Nick, uh...could you..."
"Yeah I'll be over there...at the nice vinyl chairs." he grinned and walked away.
Aaron and Lis walked in the other direction over to the big glass window.
"Soon as I land I'll call ya."
Lis smiled. "I'll be up, so don't worry if you've got other stuff to do."
He brushed the hair out of his eyes. "It's just, you know..." he said nervously.
"Aaron I'm 23, I can take care of myself." she said, knowing he was worried about her.
"Nick used to take care of you, and now," he sighed glancing at his brother, "I may only be 15 Lis but I care okay?"
Lis hugged him. "You know some girl is going to be very lucky when she finds you."
He laughed. "Yeah yeah." He shifted his backpack. "If you need something, or you want to talk, you call me. Okay Lissy?"
"I will."
He looked at the clock. "I guess I should go, man I hate good byes."
"What good bye?" she said as they walked along. "If I remember right, aren't you coming back here in like two months?"
His eyes lit up. "Probably yeah. Okay, so I'll see you then."
Nick sat on the chair and watched Aaron and Lis. From the way AC had been acting since that morning he gathered Aaron knew about the baby. The only thing that troubled Nick was Aaron seemed somewhat happy, maybe he thought Brian was good for her. By the time he snapped out of his thoughts he saw Aaron waving frantically at him, so he headed over. "What?"
"I gotta go! But I'll call you guys tonight ok?"
"Ok, have a good flight. Say hi to everyone for me." Nick instructed as they walked him to the gate.
"I will. Bye!" Aaron waved till he hit the gate and went through.
Nick turned to Lis, she looked a bit upset. "You okay Lissy?"
Lis laughed. "You haven't called me that in a long time. And I'm fine. You want to watch the plane take off?"
"Of course."
~A couple hours later~
Nick walked into the main bathroom upstairs, setting down his towels and getting ready to take a shower. His eyes stopped on the little pill bottle on the counter. He picked them up and stuffed them inside his pants pocket, his little talk with Rok was going to happen sooner rather than later.
Lis was sitting on the deck tying up her sneakers when Han walked out.
"You ready yet?" Han asked, putting her sunglasses on
"Almost!" Lis grabbed her baseball cap from the chair beside her and put it on. "Okay, let's walk!" They made it halfway to the gate when Brian came outside.
"Hey, where you two headed?"
"For a walk, then we're going out with Alec and Jenn for awhile." Han answered.
"Have fun." He waved and sat down on the deck stairs. He was thinking maybe he'd go for a short jog.
Nick walked downstairs, towel around his shoulders as he dried his hair.
"Hello?" he called. No answer. Everyone's probably out, he thought as he sat down in the living room to watch some tv. He flipped through the channels and found nothing on so he headed to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. Just as he was putting everything away he spotted Brian making his way up the deck stairs.
Nick looked at the prescription bottle in his hand and then at Rok walking into the room. Quickly Nick pushed the bottle of prenatal vitamins deep inside his pant pockets. "Lis out?" Nick asked casually.
Brian looked over. "Yeah, went for a walk on the beach then out with the girls."
"That's good, you and me have to talk." Nick said, sitting across from his best friend.
"All right. Talk."
Nick pulled the bottle of out his pocket. "Catch!"
Brian grabbed the bottle in mid air and shot Nick a confused look. "What's this?"
"You tell me."
B stared in shock at the prenatal vitamins which were now in hand. "When...were...how'd you get these?" he asked, afraid of the answer.
"Let's just say I came across them." Nick replied.
"You have an explanation for them?"
"Well..." Bri stalled, "They're in Lisa's name...I'm assuming she's having a baby?" He looked at his friend, the look in Nick's eyes scared him.
"No shit sherlock!" Nick yelled. "I can't believe you'd take advantage of her like that! Man you're supposed to be my best friend and what do you do? You go after my...my fiance! No wonder you went up to Jacksonville after her. Was it there or New York? When did you end up in her bed?" And in my place, he added silently.
Bri stood up, growing slightly afraid. "Nick...it wasn't like that, I swear..."
"Then how was it? Tell me Bri, she was asleep and thought you were me? Oh I know, maybe she was drunk..." Nick started advancing on his friend. "Damn you B!" and before he knew what he had done, he punched Brian straight in the mouth.
Brian fell to the floor staring up at Nick. "I thought you didn't give a damn about her anymore?" he asked, feeling the trickle of blood go down his chin.
Nick didn't know how to answer the question without saying she was his wife and that should have been his baby. "Maybe I don't like guys who take advantage of vulnerable women."
Bri shook his head, not believing Nick could so easily block out that night in Lisa's bed. He was tempted to ask, what about you? but he didn't. "I didn't." Shaking he got to his feet and moved away from Nick. This anger of Nick's was scaring him. "Nick, calm down let me explain."
In a flash Nick had Brian by the collar and against the wall. "Explain what, what do you need to explain to me? You figured I was long gone and you went right after her...you probably laughed how you could do it right under my nose and I wasn't any wiser. You're one twisted..." Nick pounded Bri into the wall.
"Nick, c'mon put me down...we'll talk this out, I'll tell you everything."
"I don't want details!" Nick said, tightening his grip on Brian.
"Nick! Stop it!" Lis yelled, running through the back door.
He dropped Brian and turned to her. "There, stopped."
Lis ran over to Brian and looked at both men. "What's going on? Why are you fighting?"
Brian sighed. "Stupid stuff, nothing for you to worry about." he touched his swelling lip. "Can you get me some ice?"
"Of course." She stood up and went to the fridge, giving Nick a confused look.
Brian kicked the bottle of pills towards Nick as Lis opened the freezer.
Nick bent down and stuffed them deep inside his pocket. "I'm going out." he said, not wanting to be around the two of them together.
"Fine." Lis said and knelt down next to Brian. She watched him leave.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing really." He squirmed as the ice touched his lip.
She leaned her head back on the wall, she didn't believe a word that was coming out Brian's mouth, although she didn't know why he'd lie to her. "This was about me wasn't it?" Lis asked suddenly, as things became crystal clear.
Brian glanced at her, "No...guy stuff."
"No...he's angry because of...he knows but he thinks the baby's yours!" she jumped to her feet and ran up the stairs.
"Lis, Lis wait!" Brian yelled, getting to his feet.
Lis threw her suitcase on her bed and began frantically throwing clothes inside, not seeing anything as she packed.
Bri finally made it upstairs and stopped in the doorway and stared. "What are you doing?"
She didn't even look up. "I'm leaving. We're all better off this way."
"How are we better off if you leave?"
"Look Bri, you and Nick have been friends for a lot longer then I've known either of you and I can't do this...I can't come between you two and ruin your friendship. I refuse to do that."
"So you're just going to leave?" he asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah." She closed her suitcase and locked the locks. Quickly she opened her dresser drawer and pulled out her passport. "Nick's right, we all have to move on. It's too bad I didn't realize it sooner." Lis said as she made her way past B and down the stairs.
"Where are you going to go?"
Lis shrugged. "Anywhere. Tell Nick the place is his..." and with that she walked out the door, not looking back.
Brian stood in the doorway and watched her pull out of the driveway, just as her car disappeared from view the phone started ringing.
