AJ walked into the first meeting the guys had held since Nick had made his return. There was no way that things could possibly get any worse. Nick stopped talking to Jen and AJ almost completely since the day that Jen told him not to get involved.
"Hey AJ, how's it been going?" Brian asked.
"Like hell Bri, like hell," he said sitting down.
"Why's that?"
"Nothing is working out."
"With Nick you mean?"
"Yeah."
"Well, maybe having him move in wasn't your best idea yet," Brian said, after a moment of thinking.
"Tell me about it, but Jen isn't making it any easier either," AJ said.
"I don't think she can help it. It might just be the mood swings you know? Or maybe she just doesn't know how else to deal with it."
"It's too early for mood swings, isn't it?" AJ asked.
"I don't know, but she might have a lot going on in her mind right now that might be confussing her and she doesn't know how to react to it."
"I want to help and she knows that."
"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you. She might want to talk to a girl or maybe someone she's really close to, like family."
"Hey," Howie said walking into the room.
"Hey," AJ said.
"Hi Howie," Brian said.
"It's great to be back isn't it?" Howie asked.
"Whatever," AJ answered.
"Come on AJ," Briand said.
"Sorry."
"What's wrong?" Howie asked.
"The whole Nick and Jen thing. I have to tell you, it's getting out of hand," AJ answered.
"They fighting?"
"Kinda, Jen isn't too thrilled about having Nick around all the time."
"Can't blame her."
"AJ, this has to be tough for her," Brian pointed out, "there's no way that this is easy for her."
"Yeah I know."
"So giver her time to adjust."
"It's just that this is getting to me. I really don't know what I should do," AJ confessed.
"Well, you wanted to get involved so now you have to deal with it. I think Jen needs you around so don't give up," Brian told him.
"Look, things are just coming together. Just give it time," Howie said.
"What's up," Kevin said walking into the room, "hey, were's Nick?"
"I don't know," AJ said.
"Isn't he staying with you?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I gotta keep him with me every second."
"Alright but..."
"But what? Don't say he's my responsibility, because he's not. He's an adult, he can take care of himself," AJ interupted.
"You're right, just keep an eye on him," Kevin said.
"No one has to 'keep and eye on' me because I can take care of myself," Nick said walking into the room and taking a seat with obvious anger.
"What makes you think we were talking about you?" Kevin asked looking at Nick.
"Who else would you be talking about? Come on, I'm not stupid."
"I never said you were."
"Come on, drop it," Howie said.
"Alright fine," Nick said leaning back on the chair.
"Don't let this get to all of us, we need to keep things together, for the group and for our fans," Brian explained.
"I'm sorry," Nick said rubbing the back of his neck and taking a deep breath, "I've been a little stressed lately."
"Hey, it's alright, I think we've all been a little stressed out," Brian confessed, looking over at Nick.
"Yeah I guess," Nick said trying to be reasonable with the guys, it wasn't their fault.
"I think we should clear all this up and help you make some more permanant arangments," Howie said seriously.
"Clear what up?" Nick asked confuessed.
"Nick we aren't trying to make this hard, but we have to talk about this," Howie continued.
"Talk what out?" Nick asked getting devensive.
"This whole Jen thing, I know its tough. What happens from here not only impacts you, but the group too."
"Wait, the only one that might have something to deal with is AJ," Nick said looking at Howie.
"Nick relax," Brian said.
"Look, we're just trying to help. People are looking at us differently. We need you to get away from Jen. We want you to be there for Anthony, but Jen is causing you a lot of stress and that's what you need to avoid," Kevin said.
"I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with how things are," Nick yelled then turned to AJ, "Did you plan this? Do you want me out that god damn bad? You couldn't even tell me yourself, you had to arrange this?"
"I have nothing to do with this!" AJ yelled back.
"Oh come on AJ, I know you and Jen don't want me around but I didn't think you would try and get rid of me like this. I thought you had enough fucking guts to tell me. You made no attempt to hide the fact you fucked her when we were still together."
"Nick don't you listen? I have nothing to do with this! When I was with her, you two were broken up. It wasn't like you weren't fucking around on her anyway. How does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine?"
"You're never going to change are you? Everything you do will always be behind my back!"
"Are you always going to be this hard headed? How many times do I have to tell you that I have nothing to do with this!"
"Nick, this isn't AJ's doing, we think that this will be better," Brian jumped in.
"Better for you, so you can avoid stress," Kevin said. Nick closed his eyes and rubbed his forhead and the others looked on.
"Learn to talk to me," Nick said, "because if you can't, I'm gone. This is all over."
"Come on Nick, we knew that there was no wasy for us to tell you," Howie said, "we only want what's best for you."
"Yeah whatever," Nick snapped.
"Keep your attitude Nick," Kevin warned.
"Whatever, I don't care any more," Nick said storming out of the room.
"I hope he keeps out of trouble," Kevin said knowing Nicks not so good past.
Chapter 14