"He was hot!" Jodie said. "He was rude." Jade replied. "He was funny." Jodie argued. "He was stupid." Jade responded. "He was clever." Jodie said through clenched teeth, her patience wearing thin. "He was annoying." Jade shrugged. "He was just like you!" Jodie laughed. Jade grinned and shoved both favorite fingers in Jodie's face. They had been arguing about him for the past hour and a half. They were in the middle of a heated name-calling session when Nick walked in the apartment. "Ooh! Cat fight! Cat fight! Hurry guys- get in here! The seats are filling up fast!" he shouted out the door playfully. "Fuck you Nick!" Jade called out cheerfully when she heard her friend. "Love you too, Jay." he laughed. Jade just smiled sweetly and held up the finger she'd been using all day. "Ask Nick! Ask him!" Jodie said excitedly. "Nicholas, should I make a phone call to a psycho I met today at the mall?" Jade asked as she walked over to give her friend a hug. "He wasn't a psycho." Jodie said. "Let me tell you what happened, Nick." So she did. And she didn't leave out a single detail.
"Call him. Couldn't hurt." Nick said as he grabbed a drink out of the refrigerator. "Nope. Not gonna happen." Jade said, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. "Chicken." Nick muttered under his breath as an evil smirk spread across his face. So she picked up the phone and called. It rang once before his familiar voice answered. "Hello?" "Hey." Jade replied, giving no introduction. "Well if it isn't Miss Dances With Wolves." he said sounding surprised. "Coyotes." "Sorry- right, I forgot. So, what's up?" he asked, trying to get her to talk. "You tell me. You're the one that wanted me to call...OUCH!" Jade yelped into the phone as Jodie gave her a swift kick in the knee. Covering the mouthpiece of the phone, Jade whispered to Jodie while rubbing her knee, "What'd you do that for? I didn't do anything to you recently!" "Don't be rude! He's a guy and he's interested even after you were a bi*ch to him! Atleast give him a chance! Geez..." Jodie said hissing at the innocent look Jade was giving her. Jade mouthed "fine" to her and returned back to the phone. "You got plans for tonight?" Jade asked, enjoying the look of shock on her friend's face. "Wanna come over? I'm having a few friends over..."
After an exchange of answers and questions and deciding on times and how to get here from there, etc., Jade hung up and stuck out her tongue at her friend. Nick burst into laughter as he watched the two girls make faces at each other. "Are you two gonna just stand there making faces all night or are you gonna get ready for the party?" "Shut up Nicholas. Are Bobby and Bri and Howie and Kev and all them comin' over soon?" Jade asked, looking around in the fridge, making sure there was adequate food for all those guys. "I'll run to the store if you'd like." Jodie offered. "Sure, Jo- that'd be great!" Jade said relieved. Sometimes Jodie could totally come through for her.
Just then, Howie came bursting through the door, talking fast and barely understandable. "Guess what!? My best friend is gonna be in town for the next few weeks! He called me yesterday when he got in, and we were gonna go out tonite but he said he met some girl and was going to her house instead..." He looked hurt with that last statement but he cheered up quickly, adding, "But we're going to hang out tomorrow and over the next few weeks or so." "Congrats Howard! That's awesome! You've told us about him a lot... cant wait to meet him!" Jade said with a smile. "Howie is so cute when he's happy..." she thought to herself. Jodie blushed when Howie looked at her and smiled. They'd just recently discovered the hidden interest between them. "Jodie is headed to the store to get food... why don't you go with her? You know what guys like to eat." Jade said, smiling knowingly at Jodie. "Sure!" he said smiling at Jodie. They walked out the door, nearly tripping over each other.
The party was nearly in full swing by the time AJ showed up. He walked cautiously up to the apartment door. "54B...I hear the music. This has got to be the place." he said quietly to himself. He knocked roughly on the door. No answer. He tried again. No answer. Doorbell. No answer. He tried the doorknob. Sighing with relief, it was unlocked and he carefully opened the door. "Hey Mr.Sorry-I-wasn't-watching-you-hard-enough!!" AJ turned around. There stood Jade, hands on hips, looking as though she was preparing to fight. He held up both hands, signaling his defeat. "Hey there Coyote." "What took ya? I thought we agreed on 7." she asked glancing at her watch. "So I'm 45 minutes late. I'm sorry. What do you care- were you worried?" he asked with a grin. "Don't start with me." she said smiling. "C'mon in, though. I'll introduce you to a few peoples."
She led him into the other room, where about 6 people stood, bouncin' to the music, and looking impatient. Jade noticed his obvious confusion and offered an explanation. "We've got some peeps on a food run. They're late. That's why everyone looks half insane." AJ laughed, nodding his head in understanding. Jade made the rounds, introducing AJ to everybody. Just then a great song came on. One with a nice bass. AJ turned to Jade and asked, "Do you dance?" "Do I what?" she asked. "Dance. Do you dance?" he repeated, pointing to an empty area in the room. "If the occasion calls for it." "Everyone looks pretty bored to me... wanna give 'em a show?" he asked with a sly grin. "Alright. Lets go!" Jade said. Glad AJ could be of some sort of use to her. The two got situated in the middle of the floor and started together, as if right on cue. Their dance moves fit right together, almost as if it had been a staged act. Everyone gathered around to watch as the dancing got dirtier and dirtier. Jade didn't get like this very often, so it was exciting when she did. Just as the freak dancing began, Jodie and Howie got back. They walked in, unnoticed, and walked back to where everyone was, unheard. The crowd parted, giving Jodie and Howie a glimpse of what was going on in the middle of the room.
"AJ!" Howie shouted. AJ looked up, and for a second seemed confused to see Howie, then broke into a huge grin. He stepped away from Jade- who had stopped dancing- and ran over to his friend. " Yo Howie! My buddy! Man, how ya been??" he shouted as they hugged. "Great! Wow, its good to see you!" Howie replied. The party quieted now that the food was here and Howie dragged AJ over to Jade. "Jay, I see you've met AJ already." Howie said grinning. "Uh, yeah. You could say that." Jade replied shrugging. "He's gonna stay with me for awhile...so, you'll probably be seeing a lot of him." Howie said looking for some sort of response from Jade. "Ok, great." she said without emotion. And with that she walked off to join the rest of her friends, jumping on Nick's back, laughing at some joke that had just been told. AJ watched Jade join her other friends and suddenly wished he was Nick. He shook his head trying to rid his mind of those thoughts and turned back to Howie. "So... what's new?"
