“Hey Callie,” Howie tells the girl sat opposite him in his apartment. “Did you hear from Jade lately?”
“No. I’ll probably call her tomorrow. Why?”
“Uh, I guess you haven’t heard then,” Howie looks uncomfortable. “Brian left her.”
“He left JADE?!”
“Uh huh.”
“Why?!” she asks.
“Uh, did she tell you about meeting JC Chasez from NSync?”
“No,” Callie shakes her head.
“Well, Jade was in their Girlfriend video last year and she ended up bein’ attracted to JC. I don’t know if anything happened but later, her and Brian went through a bad patch and JC flew right out to see her. He basically asked her to choose him over Brian.”
“Whoa…”
“Jade got pretty confused but she chose Brian. Well, he thought she did. He found out a few days back that she had chosen JC but missed him, so she stayed with Brian,” Howie winds up the story with a sigh.
“Oh… I get it. He musta been pissed.”
“Try deeply hurt and devastated.”
“That too,” Callie agrees. “But, when it all boils down to it, she DID choose him. I mean, she coulda gone after JC or not married Brian.”
“Yeah but it’s hard for Brian to see it that way right now. It’s too raw and painful,” Howie says.
“I’d better go see Jade tomorrow,” Callie decides and then stands up to walk round to where Howie is sitting. “But right now, I’m sure we could find a way of taking our minds off of them,” she grins and sits on Howie’s lap.
She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his full lips softly. His arms wind around her waist and pull her closer to him. He slips his tongue into her mouth and deepens the kiss. After a while, they break apart and he smoothes back her dark hair.
“My mind’s totally on something else now,” he murmurs and she smiles.
“Mine too,” she climbs off his lap and holds out her hand to pull him up. “Give me a tour of your bedroom?”
“Another one?!” he laughs.
“Yeah, another!” she giggles and pulls him out of the room.
“Brian left JADE?!” I stare at Nick who nods.
I haven’t seen Jade for around a week now. I just figured she was busy bein’ happy with Brian in their big house in Marathon. But now Nick is standing in front of me telling me it ain’t so. I’m doin’ a little grocery shopping and Nick had walked in to talk to me after spotting me through the windows. God he looks good – all tanned, chilled and spiky hair. All I want to do is wrap my arms around him and get lost in his scent. But I can’t. I’m still so scared of what might happen if he kisses me. If he kisses me, I’ll just fall back into him and we’ll go back to his place and fall into bed and I’ll get pregnant again and lose it again and I just couldn’t bear it. I know I’m bein’ dumb but I can’t help it. It’s all that I can think about these days.
“Ali?” Nick is looking at me strangely.
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear anything I just said?” he asks with a small whine.
“Uh sorry,” I smile. “I’m tired. Try again?”
“Ok,” he says with a sigh. “Brian found out that Jade chose JC instead of him back in Philadelphia so he left her. I think it’s over for good now.”
“No way?” I stare at him. “She didn’t choose JC! She went with Brian.”
“No, she ran after JC but he’d just left so she stayed with her second-choice,” Nick tells me.
“She loves Brian. I know she does.”
“I thought she did too,” Nick shrugs. “I guess she fooled us all pretty good huh?”
“She didn’t fool us,” I say, defending my friend.
“Oh c’mon Ali!” Nick exclaims. “She strung us all along!”
“What?”
“She used Brian and us for everything she could get!”
“I can’t believe you!” I stare at him. “You’re supposed to be Jade’s friend and you just turn on her without even giving her a chance to explain things.”
“I’m BRIAN’s friend,” he folds his arms. “That means I take his side. Especially when he’s been used. You should too!”
“I should?!”
“Uh huh,” he nods. “Plus, you’re my girlfriend.”
“So I have to do everything YOU do?!” I yell and he steps back slightly. “And in case you didn’t notice – right now I am NOBODY’s girlfriend!”
“That’s not MY fault!”
“Well if you hadn’t come over all sex crazed and trying to maul me most nights…” I start yelling but stop when several people stop to stare at us. Nick blushes a deep red and I’m pretty sure I do too. “Uh, I…” I start to back down but he doesn’t let me, turning and walking out of the store angrily. “Nick!” I yell and run after him as he climbs into his car. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that!”
“So you don’t wanna be with me cos you can’t bear for me to touch you?” he asks calmly, not letting me answer. “Whatever. You just should’ve admitted it to me before instead of leaving me hanging.”
“That’s not it!”
“Save it Ali,” he mutters, starting the engine and speeding away.
“DAMNIT!” I yell after his disappearing car. That had gone real well. I managed to piss him off and make him hate me and all in the space of two minutes. Good going Alicia.