“I got an idea, let’s play chicken,” Brian suggests.
“Okay, you and Jade against me and Ali,” AJ challenges.
“Fine,” Brian agrees.
“Fine.”
Jade and Ali look at each other warily before climbing onto their partner’s shoulders.
“Ready…set…go!” Nick shouts from the side of the pool.
Over the girls' laughter they can hear the others cheering and clapping. All of a sudden Brian puts one leg around AJ’s causing him to trip and fall.
“Ahh!” they yell, crashing into the water. Ali comes up laughing, but AJ looks far from amused.
“You cheated!”
“No, you just lost. That’s not the only thing you’ve lost,” Brian says, a smirk on his face as he pulls Jade to him.
“Brian!” Jade yells, disgusted.
“Oh that’s it motherfucker, I’m gonna ki-” Ali immediately jumps on AJ’s back again, before his fist can get any closer to Brian’s face.
“Come on, AJ. Let’s play again. Kristen, Kevin, we challenge you to a game of chicken,” she says, brightly, trying to ease the tension.
Nick, Howie, Polly, Kristen and Kevin look shocked from Brian’s smart-ass comment, and AJ’s outburst. Brian looks all high and mighty, and Jade just stands there, having no clue what to do.
“No, I have to have a talk with HIM,” AJ says, pushing Ali off him and shaking his index finger in Brian’s face.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Brian grumbles.
They climb out of the pool and walk around to the side of the house.
“What the fuck are you doing?” AJ asks, pushing Brian against the house.
“Whatever do you mean, Alex?” Brian retorts, shoving AJ back.
“You know what I mean! Parading Jade around in front of me the way you do. Show some respect man! You treat her like a piece of meat.”
“No, that’s YOU! She’s just a piece of ass to you, she MEANS something to me. Besides, you have no right to tell me what to do. You did the same thing to me.”
“What?!”
“Two years ago, you stole my girlfriend. She was my GIRLFRIEND!”
“Who? What are you talking about?” AJ asks, stepping away from Brian.
“Farrah!”
“You had known her for about a week! I’ve known Jade for months! I’ve been in love with her since the day I met her, and you KNEW it. That’s what kills me most, man. I thought I could trust you. You’re one son-of-a-bitch, you know that?” AJ turns around to walk away. Inaudibly mumbling the last sentence he says, “No, I guess you don’t.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing,” he continues walking away.
Brian rushes up behind him and turns him around. “If you are going to insult me you can at least do it to my face!”
“You couldn’t imagine what I want to do that face of yours!” AJ yells, the vein in his throat pulsating.
“Why don’t you show me then? You think you’re such a hard-ass, come on show me!” Brian shouts, standing right in front of him.
As AJ lifts his fist again to hit him, Jade rushes around the side.
“What the fuck?!” she stares at them. “Stop this NOW! Come on, can you PLEASE keep your hands off each other? For me?!”
They look at each other and slowly nod their heads.
“I’ll deal with you later,” AJ threatens Brian as he walks off, back to the barbecue.
“Whatever,” Brian calls after him before closing his eyes. He takes a couple of deep breaths to try and calm down and then looks at Jade. She is staring at him in anger. “Jady…” he reaches out a hand to her and she knocks it away.
“Don’t Brian. What the FUCK was that all about?!”
“You heard him call me a motherf-”
“Yeah but I also heard you makin’ some cheap comment about me. He’s supposed to be your best friend! And I thought that maybe you had some respect for me!”
“I do!” he yells back at her. “You know I do!”
“Oh SURE!” she starts to walk away but he pulls her back.
“Don’t walk away from me.”
“I’m sorry but you’re not doin’ a great job of showing me you respect me. You just use me to piss AJ off!” she walks away and he follows.
“That’s not true!”
“Yeah? Prove it,” she mutters.
“I prove it every time I kiss you,” he says and she looks at him. He reaches out for her hand and gently pulls her to him. He lowers his head to hers and kisses her lips gently. “Do you really think I could kiss you like that if I didn’t respect and care for you?”
“No,” she whispers.
After an hour of more swimming, everyone pretty much agrees that the party is over. AJ, Brian and Jade have spent the time avoiding each other. AJ apologised to Jade pretty quickly after the argument and she had accepted but things were still pretty uncomfortable between them. The party atmosphere went totally downhill after the fight between Brian and AJ, and Howie and Pollyanna are the first to leave.
“Bye guys! It was really great meeting you,” Ali says, and Jade comes up behind her.
“Yeah! We really need to do this again sometime.”
“I’ll just go with Ali,” I tell Brian as he starts pulling me towards his car. “I mean, it’s dumb you driving all the way out to our place.”
“I want to take you home Jade.” I roll my eyes as he opens the car door. “Humour me.”
“Ok,” I climb in and shut the door as he gets in. “But don’t yell at me when you get stuck in traffic on the freeway.”
He laughs. “Deal.” He starts the car and we drive away from Kevin’s house. “So, what’d you think of everybody?”
I glance at him and decide to humour him. He was obviously trying to avoid the real topic of conversation. “Real nice.”
“I think the feeling was mutual.”
“I hope so,” I stare out of the window and decide to broach the topic myself. “I’m worried about AJ.”
Brian’s face hardens. “Forget AJ.”
I look at him. “I can’t. He’s my friend. He’s YOUR friend too.”
“Is he? The way he acted today makes me seriously doubt that.”
I sigh. “I know. I thought he’d got over it already…but I guess not. You acted pretty crappy too.” Brian looks embarrassed and we drive in silence for a while. “I hate this, Brian! It’s not my fault he likes me. I mean I’ve never done anything to make him think that I liked him… I just know he’s goin’ to do somethin’…”
“Like what?”
I shrug. “Split us up I guess.”
“Never,” Brian glances at me and pulls the car over. He reaches for my hand and kisses it. “Never, Jade.”
“But he’s your BEST friend, you guys are in the same group, you’ve known him longer.” All the reasons that Brian would choose AJ over me came spilling out.
“But I love YOU Jade.”
I stare at him. “Wha…?”
“I love you.”
I’m almost speechless. “But…but…you’ve barely known me three WEEKS!”
He shrugs. “I know. It’s not like I go round falling in love with every girl I meet either. There’s just somethin’ about you. It doesn’t FEEL like only a short time.”
That’s it, I’m now officially speechless. Brian looks at me for a few minutes, waiting for a response. When he doesn’t get one, he lets go of my hand and starts the car again. We continue our drive back to my place. I stare out of the window. I am pretty confused. I had left the last guy to say those three words to me choking on my dust. And now Brian has said them. I don’t want to run. Well, I can’t, but I can’t say for sure that if we weren’t in a car I wouldn’t have. There’s something about hearing those words that scares me. It’s like official, grown-up, commitment, relationship stuff. Am I ready for that? And with Brian? I mean, dating a Backstreet Boy has to be pretty sucky at times. I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don’t notice Brian parking in my driveway until he turns the engine off and coughs slightly.
“Uh…Yeah, thanks,” I climb out of the car and shut the door quickly.
Brian gets out of his side and watches me walk towards my door. “Jade?”
I turn back. “Uh, yeah?”
“I’ll call you?”
“Sure.”
He looks a little scared. “Tomorrow?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Ok.”
“Ok,” I repeat and head towards my door. My vocabulary dwindles to a series of grunts whenever I get confused. It’s embarrassing. I shut the door without looking back at Brian and head straight for the bathroom. I REALLY need a shower.