I cover the phone and shush Ali gently. I throw Brian a glare and he sinks on to the sofa next to Ali, whispering something to her as he puts an arm around her. After a few words, she relaxes and cries on his shoulder.
“Nick, hey!” I put on a bright voice.
“Hey Jade, how ya doin’?”
“I’m cool thanks. You?”
“Just cool. I was callin’ to invite you guys out for a basketball game. I mean, the weather’s perfect.”
I glance at Ali who’s starting to calm down a bit and decide it might be a way of getting her mind off this whole thing, “Sure Nick, that sounds great.”
“Yeah? Excellent!” he sounds excited. “I’m guessin’ B is there already.”
“Yup, he is.”
“Ok, so shall I come right over and we’ll go someplace near you?”
“Uh, yeah… But could you give us a couple of hours? Ali’s not back yet.”
“Ok, sure. So I’ll be over at…uh…2?”
“Great. See you then Nick,” I hang up and sit on the other side of Ali, ignoring Brian I smooth back her hair gently. “Ali, that was Nick. He’s comin’ round at 2 and we’re all gonna go play basketball.”
She stares at me, new tears forming in her eyes. “I can’t see Nick! Not EVER!”
“Sure you can,” I soothe her. “He loves you Ali. And he won’t care about whatever’s in your past honey.”
Ali looks at Brian and he sighs. “I’m sorry ‘bout reacting the way I did. And I won’t tell Nick… But you gotta tell him Ali.”
She sniffs. “I know that much. It’s just hard. How do I tell him? He’ll leave me for sure.”
“Not if he truly loves you, he won’t,” I stroke her hair. “I mean, sure he’ll be angry but he’ll get over it. I mean, it’s not who you are NOW. And now is all that counts. Now, you go have a shower and then pick out your best ass-whupping sports gear cos you and me are gonna give these guys a game they’ll wanna forget.”
She laughs slightly and hugs me. “Thanks Jade.” She stands up and disappears into her room.
Brian moves towards me but I stop him with a cold look, “I’m not done with you yet.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry Jade. I know I was a bastard but it was just so shocking. And I was worried about Nick. I mean, he’s my BEST friend and he’s really fallen for that girl. I’ve never seen him like this before.”
“AJ’s your best friend too,” I remind him of his past behaviour and he winces.
“Ok, ok… But I’ve never felt like this before either.” He sees my face begin to soften and pulls me into his arms. “I AM sorry Jade, and I told Ali that. And I promise you I will never tell Nick. It’s hers to tell.”
I sigh, “Ok but you better tell her that,” and he kisses me.
Brian knocks on Ali’s door and goes inside after she yells for him to come in.
“Jady, I thought…” she turns round and her smile fades as she realises it’s Brian. “Oh, Brian.”
He sighs. “Relax. I’m here to apologise…again. I AM sorry. I feel pretty bad for reacting like that earlier. And I want you to know that the stuff I said was all a knee-jerk reaction. I don’t mean a word of it.”
“Ok. Thanks Brian,” she sits down. “But your reaction was kinda right.”
“It wasn’t,” he sits next to her. “It’s amazing that you’ve managed to get out of that life and start again. Cos you have Ali, and so many girls don’t. And any time you need to vent about it, I’m here.”
“Ok, thanks,” she looks at him. “I’ve told you stuff that NOBODY knows… Not even Jade.”
His eyes widen. “Jade doesn’t know?!”
“Oh, she knows I used to sleep around and all that. She just doesn’t know about the sex for money thing.”
“That’s a pretty BIG thing.”
“I know. I was scared that she’d just blank me if I told her. She was the only person in Atlanta who treated me normally. And her family practically became mine.” She turns to Brian pleadingly, “Please don’t tell her.”
“She’s my girlfriend! I love her… You’re asking me to keep secrets from her…”
“PLEASE Brian. I can’t deal with her blanking me as well as Nick.”
“Jade wouldn’t do that.”
“I can’t take that risk. Please Brian.”
He sighs. “Oh God…”
“Thank you. So, I can really come to you whenever I need to talk? And you won’t say a word to anybody?”
“Of course, Ali. It’s between you and me, I swear.”
“Well, since I didn’t exactly tell you why I stormed in here earlier, I guess I’ll start with that. All these guys lately have been giving me these weird looks. I can’t explain it, they’re like these…uhh, just weird looks. I finally figured out what they mean. Every guy in town thinks he can get into bed with me.” The tears start up again. “Dammit, just when I thought I was over that,” I try to smile, wiping the tears away from my eyes.
“Oh Ali, I’m sorry. Why would they think that? I mean, who knows that could’ve said something?”
“I went to the studio yesterday to help Joshua Jackson approve photos. When I got there a whole perfect “setting” was set up. Candlelight, wine, and satin sheets in True Love.” Noticing his puzzled look I explain, “True Love is a stage prop, it’s a small sail boat. Anyway, Josh came up behind me and put his hands all over me and told me that a friend of his told me I was easy. Guess who this friend was?”
“Who?”
“JC Chasez.”
“How the hell would he know?!” I blush and his hand shoots up to his mouth. Tears slip down my cheeks as he puts an arm around me. “Ali, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know. I knew him from Brooklyn; he was my boyfriend’s best friend. I cheated on all my boyfriends.” Brian gives me a sceptical look. “But not Nick! I would NEVER do that to him. I would do anything in this world to keep from hurting him. That’s why I can’t tell him about all this.”
“But you HAVE to. He’s gotta know, Alicia. And you have to be the one to tell him.”
“I will. I’ll tell him someday.”
“I’m expecting you to tell him real soon. It’s better he finds out from you than by somebody else. That would just hurt him even more.”
“I’ll try.”
“Alicia,” he warns.
“I will.”
“Good girl. Now prepare to get your ass kicked. No way you can beat me and Nick in a game of b-ball!” he shoves me playfully and I push him back.
“We’ll see about that.”
After a long shower I get dressed for our basketball match. I choose a pair of black shorts and a black crop vest top. I tie my hair back under an Atlanta baseball cap and pull on black trainers. Brian is still in Ali’s room when there’s a knock at the door. I open it to find Nick bouncing a basketball on our step. He grins widely at me and bounces the ball into our lounge. He’s wearing long white shorts, Adidas trainers and a Ruskin basketball shirt. I laugh at his enthusiasm.
“Hey Nicky.”
“Hey Jady. All ready to get your butt kicked?”
“As long as you’re ready to get a serious ass whupping.” We pull faces at each other and laugh.
“Oh sure…” he rolls his eyes. “So where are the other two?”
“I’ll go get them.” I head down the hallway and knock on Ali’s door. She shouts for me to go in and I do. She’s sat on her bed and Brian is staring out of the window. “Guys, Nick is here.”
“Oh, I better get ready.” Ali heads towards her closet and Brian leaves the room with me.
“Ok?” I ask him.
He nods. “I better get changed myself. Got any old stuff?”
I take him into my room and find a pair of shorts and T-shirt that Jay left behind on his last visit. Brian pulls them on with his trainers and laughs at the T-shirt.
“Oh, cool!”
It’s white with FBI written in black across the middle. It was one of Jay’s training shirts. He practices his moves in the mirror as I giggle at him. I sit on my bed to tie up my trainers as the old INBYH video comes on the TV. I look up at it with a grin as Brian groans.
“Oh man, turn that off.”
I giggle. “Cute jumpers…”
“Oh jeez.”
“Cute, very cute,” I tease as he finally manages to cross the room and turn it off.
“Wasn’t my idea, or choice,” he says as he faces me.
“Oh sure…”
“Hey!” he leans over me, pushing me down onto the bed and climbs on top of me. “You sayin’ I’m into bad jumpers?”
“Yup.”
“Jade? Brian?” I yell, running around the house trying to find them. “Where are you guys? Aren’t you ready yet? He’s already here!” I open the door to Jade’s room to see Brian lying on top of her, kissing her. Jade immediately jumps up and Brian flies off the bed landing with a thud on the floor. “Sorry guys! Will y’all please hurry up, I kinda want to get this over with.”
“Over with? Why is that?” Jade asks, pulling Brian up off the floor.
“You aren’t going to start avoiding him, are you?” says Brian, dusting himself off.
“I was going to try. What if you were right! What if I do have something wrong with me, and now Nick has it! People die this way!”
“Good going, Bri,” Jade says, rolling her eyes.
“I wasn’t using my head, Ali. I didn’t mean it. I know you don’t! You and Nick are going to be perfectly fine.”
“Remember when we got you tested? You are perfectly healthy. Don’t shut Nick out just because HE was an ass,” she says, pointing to Brian.
“Hey!” he raises his hands in defence.
“Well, you were. Anyway, just forget about it, Ali. Let’s try to have some fun today, alright?”
I nod, hugging Jade, “Thanks.”
“No problem, girl. Now let’s go kick some Backstreet butt!” she says, raising her hand in the air.
“Right on!” I yell, giving her hand a high five.
“Girls,” Brian rolls his eyes and walks out of the room.
Brian heads into the lounge and grins wickedly at Nick’s back. He suddenly drops to his knees behind Nick.
“Freeze! FBI!” he yells, causing Nick to jump about ten feet in the air and knock over a table with the basketball.
“Brian! Shit.” Nick calms down. “Where the fuck did you get that shirt?”
“It’s Jay’s, Jade’s brother.”
Nick turns to Jade. “I want one!”
Jade giggles. “I’ll ask Jay next time he’s here.”
“Hey man! Wasup?” Nick asks, as Brian and Nick do their secret handshake.
“Speaking of Jay,” Ali cuts in, “He called yesterday.”
“Really? What for?” Jade asks.
Giving Nick a quick glance Ali whispers, “I’ll tell you later.”
Nick turns to hug Ali. “Ali! I missed you.” He gives her a soft kiss, but as more tears threaten to fall, she pulls away.
“I gotta go get some water, I’ll be back in a few.”
“Uh-oh, what did I do?” Nick asks, looking after Alicia.
“Nothing, it’s not a good day for her. Oh, and if you ever see Joshua Jackson, keep Ali far away from him,” Brian says, raising his eyebrows.
“Someone please tell me what’s going on.”
Brian shrugs. “She had a photo thing with him today, and he kind of hit on her.”
“What happened? She seems really upset. Is she okay? What did he do to her,” Nick asks, concerned. He starts to walk into the kitchen but Brian and Jade both grab his arm to stop him.
“All we can tell you is you need to have a long talk with her about her past.”
“Brian!” Jade exclaims.
“What’s going on?” Nick asks, completely confused.