Everything had gone just like AJ had wanted. Nick had decided to take his advice and hire a personal assistant. Kayla had packed up all her things and moved in with her friend Sam in Tampa, even though AJ had offered to fund an apartment for her. Then, like he knew Nick would, Kayla was hired as his very first personal assistant. Soon she was trying to organize Nick's hectic schedule, she was taking care of his pets, she was knee deep in financial and business paperwork that usually kept her glued to a computer for hours at a time. It seemed like a lot more work than Nick had ever even attempted to do regarding his own affairs, but AJ knew she would immerse herself in more than what she was asked. It was just how she did things. The only downfall he could see was that he no longer had Kayla to hang out with.
"It's for a good cause." He assured himself, checking his watch. Kayla would be meeting him for breakfast soon, and he couldn't wait to see her. As if perfectly on cue, Kayla trudged her way into the restaurant, her brown hair pulled up into a messy bun, her face plastered with exhaustion. AJ couldn't help but smile. She sat down with a sigh in the booth, tossing her bag on the seat next to her.
"Hi." He said, curious as to why she was so frazzled.
"Hey to you too." Kayla replied. "Did you order for me yet?"
"Yeah, about five minutes ago. What's wrong?"
"AJ, he's such an arrogant little punk." She spat, obviously waiting for him to ask. "I seriously can't take this much longer! Do you know what he asked me to do today? He asked me to clean up around the house because he had company coming. " She sighed in exasperation. "I'm not his fucking maid. It's bad enough I take care of those ratty little dogs, I knew I was going to be doing that. But cleaning up after that slob. No. Never."
"Who's the company?" He wondered.
"Huh?" Kayla asked, pulling her coat off and throwing it next to her as well.
"You said he had company coming over. Who's the company?"
"I don't know. Some guy named Luke and a few other people he pretends are his friends. Although frankly I'm surprised to see him interact with other people I was convinced he didn't know how."
AJ's questions were forced to wait in his mind a little longer as the waitress came over with their food. Kayla dug into her pancakes the moment they were set in front of her, pouring an obscene amount of syrup on them, licking the stickiness off her fingers.
"So aside from his obvious mistake about asking you to clean for him, have you noticed anything weird? Has he said anything to you?"
"AJ, he barely says two words to me ever. Do you know want to know what he does all day?"
"What?"
"He hides. If he isn't out of the house, he's downstairs in his little studio or he's out on his boat. How am I supposed to tell you if he's okay if I never see him? Why do you think I'm so surprised about him bringing people over? Human interaction isn't big on list of 'To do's'" Kayla seethed between bites of her food. "But, I can tell you one thing. He can clean up his own damned mess."
"Kayla, why don't you talk to him, try to be his friend. I know he seems impossible, but it might work." AJ sighed.
"Aren't you guys leaving town tomorrow? Going to some session in LA?" AJ nodded as he bit the corner off a piece of toast. "Then how am I supposed to talk to him? I don't go on the business trips. I stay here, I feed those little dogs, and I attempt to put the mess of his life into some order on the computer. That in itself is a big enough job without having to pull some Mission Impossible shit on the side."
"Well when we get back then. Promise me you'll at least try. And you're not pulling Mission Impossible stuff. I told you you aren't there to spy, you're there to watch."
"Same bloody thing." She spat. "I'm not promising anything. He might not be capable of having an intelligent conversation."
"Just try
Kayla. For me." He pleaded.
AJ waited impatiently on Nick's couch as Kayla walked outside with one of the dogs. He had come to visit her after their week and a half stay in Los Angeles, to make plans for the weekend and to catch up on any new information she might have. He also knew that Nick wouldn't be back for at least a few days, opting to stay and visit with his family instead of coming straight home. Now he had ample time to look around the house for any signs that Jenna was back in his life.
He flipped through the opened mail that sat next to him on the table, the same old thing everyone got. Junk and bills.
But the one sitting off separate from the rest caught his eye. The return address was the hotel he had just left in LA, and it was written in Nick's scrawling letters, but the letter was mailed to Kayla's apartment.
Why would he send mail to Kayla? He wondered, picking up the bubble pack envelope and pulling it's contents out. A letter fell to the floor as he pulled a disk out from inside. It just had the words "Songs" written on it. He set it aside and picked the letter off the floor, opening it.
Kayla, I didn't want to lose this. Please put it downstairs with the rest of my work. It's important. N
He fingered the disk as he read the note, wondering what was on it. Finally as he heard the sliding doors at the back of the room open, he shoved the disk into his pocket and got up to greet Kayla as she entered.
"Sorry." She sighed, unclipping the dog from his leash. "He took off on me."
"No problem, but I unfortunately have to go. I got a call while you were out and I have to go back to Orlando."
"Oh." She muttered, obviously saddened by his departure. "Are you still coming out this Saturday?" She asked.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" He smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and hurriedly leaving the house. He drove out of Nick's driveway as fast as he could, wishing he had a computer in his car so he could see what was on that disk.
AJ ran into his house like he were being chased by a mob when he finally arrived home from Nick's place. His impatience had grown more and more extreme by the second on the long drive home, and as he waited for his seldom used computer to boot up he tried to calm himself down. Finally the computer was ready and he inserted the disk, clicking to open it's files, and scanning down the list of file names that appeared before him He read the filenames to the songs he had seen Nick typing out every once in awhile on the last tour, always assuming he had been playing some game. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that Nick was doing this. That Nick could even do this.
He scanned the dozens of lyrics Nick had saved on the disk, disturbed over how affected he apparently was over Jenna's departure. His words were haunting, and almost obsessive in their sadness. The most disturbing thing to AJ was that he understood exactly what Nick was feeling, he knew where the words came from, and he related.
AJ took a puff of the cigarette he had lit, so absorbed in Nick's words that he hadn't even realized it was dark out. His eyes burned from staring at the computer screen, but he couldn't turn away. He was getting angry. He hated the guilt that was inside him, he hated feeling sorry for Nick, especially when no one had felt an ounce of pity for him when he was sunk in the same depression. Finally he shut off the computer, resisting the urge to push the computer onto the floor. He settled instead on ejecting the disk and throwing it in the garbage. Nick doesn't deserve to feel like that, AJ thought bitterly, trudging his way towards a familiar release, I didn't have a chance to feel that way before you took her from me you bastard.
AJ unscrewed the top off his familiar friend, pouring two fingers worth into a glass and swallowing it all in one gulp. He poured another as he walked through his darkened house with a glass in one hand and the bottle in the other. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget.