“Well brother,” I say, standing up. “It’s been great but I have to run.”
“Aww, why?” Jay looks disappointed.
“I have an interview with this TERRIBLE group.”
He laughs. “Who?”
“Oh gee, I can’t remember their name… THAT’s how bad they are.”
Brian and Nick stand up as well, and Jay looks up at them.
“You guys leavin’ too? Have I suddenly developed BO?”
Brian chuckles. “Nup. We got an interview. I heard the writer is TERRIBLE.”
“Really?” I ask, sweetly.
He nods. “Really.”
Jay laughs. “Oh I get it, you’re interviewing them.”
I nod. “For my sins.”
Jay grins and settles back onto the couch with Ali. Nick reaches for Ali’s hand but she stands up suddenly.
“Bye Nick. See ya later,” she says, heading into the kitchen.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he replies, heading out of the door.
Jay looks at Brian and me and lets out a whistle. “That guy got a serious attitude problem.”
Brian shrugs. “He’s ok. It was good meeting you Jay.”
“You too. Will you be late back Jade?”
“Shouldn’t be.”
“Cool. Me and Ali will sort out some food for us then.”
“Great,” I smile and follow Brian out of the door. Nick is leaning against his car with a dark look on his face. I sigh and link arms with him. “Cheer up Nicky.”
“What the fuck is goin’ on with Ali and him?”
“Nothing. They’re just old friends,” I give him a quick hug. “Nothin’ to worry about.”
“Sure?” he studies my face and I smile brightly. “Ok.” He seems convinced and gets into his car. “Can I drive ya?”
“Am I safe?” I joke.
“Of course!”
I laugh and kiss Brian before climbing into Nick’s car. “See you there honey.”
“Ok. Do I know you when we get there?”
“No,” I laugh.
“Ok,” he grins and heads off to his car.
“So, what are you in the mood for?” Jay asks, opening up the fridge and grabbing a coke.
I stare at him incredulously. “Uh, spaghetti, duh.”
He laughs. “Still your favourite?”
“Only when you make it.”
“I’ll make it more often if you like it that much,” he says, grabbing my waist with one hand and tickling me.
I giggle and slap him in the chest. I get out the noodles and there’s a comfortable silence for about five minutes. Finally, he breaks it.
“So, that Nick’s a real character, huh?”
I turn to him, somewhat startled. “Why do you say that?” I ask, as casually as possible.
“I don’t know. He just came across as rude, don’t you think.”
“Maybe you just intimidate him,” I laugh and poke him in the ribs, then hand him the noodles. “I mean, you being a big bad cop and all. He does have his fair share of parking tickets. Seriously though, he’s a very sweet guy. One of my best friends.”
He laughs and starts a pot of boiling water, “This’ll take a minute, is it alright if I go change?”
“Sure.”
I turn on the radio, but switch it off as soon as I hear the first few words.
“I’ll be the one to hold you, and make sure that you’ll be all right.
‘Cause my fear is gone, and I want to take you from darkness to light.”
I have no idea what do to about the whole Nick/Jay thing. Is there some sort of pattern emerging here? First it was just Brian and AJ, now it’s Nick and Jay. I know the reason I’m not with Jay. After our little ‘incident’, we had fooled around a lot, but things never got too serious. As our relationship was just starting to progress a little more, he got hauled off to some police academy, and Jade and I had decided to move to Tampa. We missed each other like crazy, but we knew we couldn’t make it work. I love my relationship with Nick, but now that Jay’s back I don’t know what to think. Breaking my trance, he walks back into the room in a pair of baggy jeans and a white shirt. Turning away from him I close my eyes and bite my lip. Damn, why does he have to be so fuckin’ hot?
“Okay, I guess we can go ahead and put in the noodles, we’ll make the sauce later.” I follow his lead as we break the noodles and throw them in the water. “Now this takes forever, so let’s go watch TV.”
Nick drives pretty fast, I find myself clutching the seat every time he takes a corner.
“Y’know that black thing in the middle?” I point out the gear stick.
“Yeah.”
“You CAN use it from time to time y’know. Maybe on corners?”
He pulls a face at me. “Chill Jady!”
“I wanna live Nicky.”
He laughs at me but slows the car down a touch. “Better?”
“I guess,” I grin at him and turn the radio on. An old Prince song comes on and we grin at each other happily. “I LOVE this song!” I wind down the windows so I can feel the wind in my hair.
He nods along to the beat. “Ditto. Prince rocks.”
I smile and start singing along with the chorus. After a couple of words, Nick joins in.
“You don't have to be rich to be my girl
You don't have to be cool to rule my world
Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your….
Kiss!”
We yell the last word at each other and burst into giggles. The song ends just as Nick turns into the parking lot at the record company. We climb out and wait for Brian to join us.
“Think we’ll be in the same room as before?”
I shrug. “Maybe. It was a pretty cool room.”
“I guess. A little too white for me.” I laugh as Brian joins us. “Hey there slow guy,” Nick teases.
“At least I didn’t break the speed limit in forty states,” retorts Brian. He looks at me and then does a double take. “Whoa, you’re FINE girl.” I giggle as we start walking. “I’m Brian, and you must be Made In Heaven.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh God, corny.”
Nick starts laughing. “Hey Bri, don’t forget you already got a girl.”
“I have?” Brian pretends to think for a while as Nick hits the elevator button and we go inside. “Yeah, I have. And she’s DAMN fine. All curves and legs and flashing eyes… Whoo, what that girl does to me.” Brian carries on flattering my ego as we walk into an interview room. It’s a different one from the time I met Nick. This one is painted blue. “Whoa, Kentucky blue!” Brian takes his shades off and goes to high five Kevin. “I feel right at home bro,” he says in his deepest drawl.
Kevin laughs. “Hey Jade. How ya doin’?”
“Hi Kev,” I smile. “I’m just fine. My brother Jay came to stay with us today. I haven’t seen him for SO long.”
“Excellent,” he grins and pulls me to him for a hug.
“Hey, hey, hey Kevvy!” Brian yells, hands on his hips. “Do you always go around hugging writers? What would Kris say?!”
“Huh?” Kevin lets go of me, looking confused.
“We don’t know each other,” I explain.
“Huh?” Kevin looks even more confused.
I laugh. “I have some yucky love type questions and we agreed it would be less embarrassing if he pretends not to know me.”
“But he does know you,” Kevin’s still confused.
“Oh, Kevvy…” Brian says in an overly dramatic voice. “We’re ACTING dahling.”
“Oh, sorry dahling!” Kevin chuckles.
Howie laughs and holds his hand out to me. “Hi, I’m Howie and you look huggable.” He pulls me close for a hug and then sits down smugly. “See? I CAN go around hugging writers!”
AJ wanders into the room, shades on and hat pulled low as usual. Brian’s good humour is dampened and he sits down next to Nick, eyeing AJ warily. AJ grins at me and opens his arms for a hug.
“Hey Jady, this is gonna be weird.”
“Yeah,” I hug him with a smile and peer under his shades. “Hungover? Tired? Starry?”
“Starry,” he says with a laugh. After hanging out with AJ for six months I have figured out the three reasons he wore shades. He was either hungover, hiding his tired eyes, or putting on the Backstreet Boy act. Today it was the latter. He lets go of me and sits down next to Howie.
“I guess we should start,” I say, sitting down in the chair opposite them and pulling out my tape recorder and questions. “First off, these questions are pretty lame, but don’t blame me. I just got faxed them.”
Nick grins and looks at the others. “Blame her.”
I stick my tongue out at him and turn the tape recorder on. There’s a big groan as I read the first question. “How did you get together?” I grin wickedly as Howie takes a deep breath and launches into his usual spiel.
“So, where are you takin’ the tour?”
“All over America, Canada, Europe…” Nick runs out of countries.
“We end up in Cape Town, South America,” says AJ.
“South AFRICA, you DILDO!”
AJ blinks and looks at me. “Kevin just called me a dildo.”
I giggle. “I heard. But that ain’t bad… I mean… a LOT of women get a lot of fun from dildos.”
“Yeah!” AJ grins happily. “Thanks Kev.”
I look at Kevin. “Uh, why did you call him a DILDO anyways?”
He shrugs. “Just popped out I guess.”
“Hm, a bit of a Freudian thing goin’ on there…”
“Huh?” Kevin looks puzzled. “What’s Freud got to do with dildos?”
“He said that you often say stuff that you’re thinking about…” I trail off as he blushes and the others start laughing.
“Kevvy’s thinkin’ of dildos!” chants Nick.
An hour later and I’ve reached the usual teeny love questions.
“Here goes,” I say, rolling my eyes and making the guys laugh. “Have you all got girlfriends?” I say in a dumb, bimboish voice and fluttering my eyelashes.
Nick almost falls off the couch laughing. “Man, I wish we could have you for ALL our interviews.”
Kevin chuckles. “Well, I’m married. So I guess I’m one step beyond the girlfriend thing.”
“I’m single,” says Howie. “Nobody’ll have me.”
“And he’s desperate,” adds Nick.
Howie shoots him a glare. “Yeah, but you don’t have to tell the world that Nicky!”
“Desperate!” Nick yells. Howie pushes him off the couch and he lands on the floor with a thud. “Owch, Howie! My butt, dumbass!”
“Ya mean DA!” Brian yells.
“Friggin’ DA…” Nick mumbles, sitting down again. “Everybody knows what it means by now.”
“Maybe we should say AD instead,” wonders Kevin.
AJ shoots him a look. “AD? Isn’t that a year thing?”
“Anno Domino,” I say smugly. “The year of our Lord in Latin. To be precise.”
“Nah, domino… That’s a game,” Nick says, equally smugly.
“Duh!” yells Howie.
“Dumbass!” yells Nick.
“DA!” yells Brian.
“AD!” yells Kevin.
“Jeez,” says AJ.
“Uh, can we answer the question guys?” I ask.
“What question?” asks Nick.
Kevin sighs and speaks even slower than usual. “Have… You… Got… A… Girlfriend?”
“Oh, yeah. You know that Jady!” he laughs. “Oops, forgot… I don’t know you. Me have girl, yes.”
I laugh.
“Have I got a girlfriend?” Brian ponders. “Hmm…. Well, there’s this girl who keeps hanging around with me… Can’t get rid of her…”
“Nick, push Brian off the couch for me will ya?”
He obliges and Brian lands on the floor with a thud. “Owch, where’s your loyalty Nicky?!”
Nick shrugs. “She’s better looking.”
“Thanks bro,” Brian rolls his eyes and goes to lean against the couch, but he misjudges it and ends up flat on his back. “Owch!” he yells, amidst laughter.
“Brian, what are you doing?” Howie laughs.
“My butt hurts,” Brian informs us, sitting up.