Aj watched carefully for Kayla to emerge from her bathroom as he stuffed Nick's stolen disk deep into the book bag she used to transport all her files around. He hid it inside a bunch of papers in a file folder, knowing she'd probably already looked there, but would second guess herself so much it wouldn't matter.
As he closed the zipper on the bag, he made a mental note to buy her a proper briefcase for her birthday.
He wished he could torture Nick from afar and keep the disk buried in the trash where he'd put it, but Kayla's job was at stake and he couldn't risk her losing it. It had been almost a week since Kayla had first mentioned the disk to him, and he hoped she hadn't gotten in too much trouble already.
"So how's the job going?" AJ asked as Kayla finally sat down next to him, getting comfortable for the movie they'd be watching. "I haven't talked to you since Sunday."
"It's okay I guess. I mean, better than before. But I still don't know about this. He doesn't like me, especially now with me losing his valuable files. I don't even know why he's so pissed about it, I looked at them, I'd be glad they're lost." She seethed.
"You looked at his songs?" AJ asked, almost appalled that she'd do it.
"How did you know they were songs?" Kayla questioned. AJ sucked in his breath wishing he could bring his words with it.
"Nick mentioned something about them." He quickly covered. "So are we gonna watch this movie or what?"
"Yeah, I guess." She said, a sound in her voice telling him she wasn't entirely convinced. "It's just that he totally flipped out at me over them, ending up calling me a bitch and threatening to fire me."
"WHAT?" AJ said, sitting up swiftly. "What did you say?"
"I told him he was a child." She said with a roll of her eyes.
"Jesus Kayla. You do realize he's your boss right?"
"I know!" She sighed, covering her face with her hands and sinking lower into the couch. "I can't even believe I said it. He just makes me so mad. Always sulking and brooding. I told him she'd probably moved on by now, there was no reason he shouldn't either."
"KAYLA NICOLE BROWN! There's no way you would have known about her. Why the hell did you say that!" He screamed. Not angry at her, but scared that Nick would clue in to what was going on. The Nick would find out Kayla knew almost everything that had happened.
"Don't worry. I said I read about it on the internet. He was none the wiser."
"Still Kay, you shouldn't have brought her up to him."
"You're telling me. I thought he pouted a lot before that. Now he's like a depressed fifteen year old girl. Its pathetic."
"Oh great Kayla, you're supposed to be trying to get him out of his shell, not shoving him back in it with a big pointy stick!" AJ said with a shake of his head. "You have to fix this."
"I'm not likely to fix anything until I find that damned disk."
"Well look harder!" He yelled, tempted to pull the disk from her book bag and force her to return it right away.
"Calm down!" She screamed. "Let's just watch the fucking movie. I knew I shouldn't have told you."
They both bit down on the rest
of their words, sulking through the movie, neither of them saying a word
to each other.
"Could I speak to Jenna Frost please." He asked nervously on the phone, hating that he had to call her work; but she'd been ditching his phone calls all week and he really needed to talk to her. He waited patiently on the other end, listing to the elevatorish sound of the music in his ear, trying to figure out what he'd say to her.
"Hello."
"Hi Jenny." He sighed into the receiver.
"Oh, hey." She mumbled, obviously uncomfortable with him.
"I'm sorry." He said with an angry, not apologetic, tone. "I didn't want to call you at work, but I had to. I haven't heard from you in awhile, and you seem to be avoiding my phone calls, so I need to know what's going on Jen. I thought things were going somewhere with us."
"AJ, please can I call you when I get home, I can't really talk here."
"It's been a long time since you've called me AJ."
"Al, I'll call you when I'm done. It'll only be another hour or so."
"You promise?" He asked flatly.
"Yes I promise." She sighed, quickly saying goodbye and hanging up. He waited impatiently, trying to watch tv, trying not to concentrate on the clock or the phone, but true to her word the phone rang almost exactly an hour later.
"So what do you want to talk about." She said.
"What do you think I want to talk about Jenny."
"Look I'm sorry I haven't called. I've just been busy at work and things have been really co-"
"Save it. Jenna, I can't keep waiting like this. I used to think you were just as happy to talk to me as I am to talk to you, but now you've stopped calling, and you avoid me like the plague. I can't help but be confused. Is there someone else? Because I feel like I've been waiting for you to be ready, and if I'm just wasting my time, you just need to tell me.
"Al, it's not that simple. No there isn't really anyone else, I just don't know what to think of anything anymore. Things are so confusing."
"What's confusing about it Jenna. Either you want to be with me, or you don't. I thought that with everything that happened when I visited in Chicago, that-"
"What's confusing about it, is that I have all these feelings for you, but I can't shake Nick no matter how hard I try." She said in exasperation. "Everything was perfect when you were here, I just don't know what to feel anymore. I miss you, but I'm scared of being there again."
"Jenny, you can't be scared to be here. Nick lives a good couple of hours away, and you shouldn't care anymore. He's moved on, you should too." He lied. "Besides, you told me you were over him. When we were together in Chicago you told me-"
"I know what I said when you were here. And I thought I was over him, I mean I am over him, I just have a lot of stuff between us that I need to sort out before I can even think of starting a relationship with anyone else. I just don't know if I'm ready to sort through that yet."
"But you want to?"
"Want to what?"
"Start a relationship with me again?" He asked, trying to hide his hopeful tone.
"Al, just give me some time okay." She sighed, her voice returning to the whispery tone she had been using earlier.
"Jenna, come see me. I'll fly you down for the weekend. Please?" He begged, fully expecting her to decline, as she had every other time he had begged her to come home.
"Okay."
She finally said after a long pause. "I'll come."
*beep*
"Hey AJ, I can't talk long, Nick's out in the car waiting for me to come out. First let me say I found the disk. Stupid thing was in my bag the whole time, but that's not why I'm calling. AJ I'm worried about this guy. He was telling me about Jenna tonight while we had supper, about what happened. He doesn't seem to know why she left, he was so in love with her AJ, and the way he talks she was crazy about him too. I don't know, I think something big happened between them, more than just the stuff you said. Maybe that's why he is the way he is. I'll call you later, maybe he'll tell me more. Love you, Bye."
*beep*
AJ replayed the message again for the twentieth time. He was relieved to know she'd finally found the disk before Nick could fire her, but he wondered more and more about what Nick had said. Hearing Kayla tell him how in love Nick was with Jenna tore at his heart. When he and Jenna were finally together, how would he ever explain any of it to Kayla? He didn't know if he could play it off as just a coincidence. He shook those thoughts out of his head and quickly replaced them with other questions the message had triggered in his mind.
When did Nick and Kayla start having supper together? And where were they that Nick would be waiting for her in the car?
AJ quickly dispersed those questions too, not even wanting to contemplate the answers. He erased the message, just in case Jenna happened to check them while she was here, and returned to getting the house ready for her arrival on friday. He could feel the excitement coursing through his body, he couldn't believe things with Jenna were truly, finally, coming to fruition.