Nick awoke groggily to the pulsating tone of Jenna's alarm clock.  He reached over feeling for her in the bed, his hand just hitting warm sheets.  He sat up and pounded his fist down on the alarm, shutting off it's annoying beeps, returning his hand to his face, attempting to rub the sleep from his eyes.

    He'd spent the past couple of days at Jenna's rented house in Orlando, opting to stay with her while he and the guys did some work on their latest project.  Nothing about this little "trip" had been comfortable.  He'd spent virtually all his time, when in the presence of the other guys, dodging the bombardment of questions they had concerning Jenna's return and Kayla's departure.  Well, all of the guys except AJ.  Nick had been very suspicious about why AJ didn't ask the same questions Kevin, Howie and Brian had been asking.  Sometimes he thought maybe AJ just didn't care, but mainly his train of thought ran towards the belief that AJ didn't ask any questions because he already knew everything that had gone on, new questions arising in his mind about how AJ knew.

    Nick crawled out of bed, stepping across the clothes that were haphazardly strewn about the room. She never was one for neatness, Nick thought, although neither am I.

    They'd be going back to his house this afternoon, and he wondered, as he had the whole time he'd been in Orlando, if he should get Jenna to just move back into the house.  They had chosen it together, what was the point in her making the long drive back and forth all the time?  She always ended up staying at his place for the night anyway.  But something was holding him back from asking, he just didn't know what that was.

    "Morning." He muttered as he walked into her small kitchen, the tile floor cold on his feet.

    "Morning." Jenna replied, pouring him a glass of orange juice along with the one she had poured for herself.  He sat down at the table, slumping his shoulders, he was still tired and couldn't manage to wake himself up.

    "What time do you wanna leave?" Jenna asked, sitting down next to him at the table.

    "Later this afternoon, I just have someone I need to see before we go."

    "Okay." she shrugged.  "Then I'm going back to bed for a couple of hours.  Wake me up when you get back."

    "Sure." He said as she went back towards her bedroom, wishing he could go back to bed himself, but knowing he had to get out early today.
 

        Nick pulled up to the big gates that were on the outside of AJ's property.  His house, like the majority of all their houses, was nestled amidst big leafy trees, away from the curious eyes of the pubic, secluded far away from any neighbors.  Nick reached out the open window of his car, punching in the security code to open the electronic gates, relieved that AJ hadn't changed it since the last time he had given it to him, relieved he was still able to remember it.  All he wanted to do was ask AJ a few questions before he went back home.  Questions about Jenna, about Kayla, about all the reasons Nick kept hearing AJ's name in his life, in his non-Backstreet life.  He just wanted to put his mind at ease.

    Nick checked his watch, it was still early enough that he'd be awake, but not too late that he'd be gone.  He shut off his car, still parked quite a way down the driveway, and got out, making his way up to the large front door of the house.  Nick hesitated before he pressed the doorbell, did he really want to start something with AJ?  Especially if there was nothing there in the first place.  Would it be worth it?  Or would it just create tension between them?

    Nick pushed the button, immediately hearing the frantic yapping of the dogs inside.  He fidgeted with the drawstring on his sweatshirt, incessantly tugging and pulling at it until he finally heard the door being unlocked.

    Nick stepped forward as the door opened, his mouth suddenly going dry as the desert and his heart stopping cold when it was Kayla who stood in the open doorway to greet him.

    "Looking for AJ?" She muttered bitterly after an awkward silence between them.  He could tell she was freshly woken up, her hair pulled back in a messed up ponytail, wearing what she always slept in, an old T-shirt.  The look on her face made it seem as if she had opened the door to her worst nightmare.  "Um, yeah." He struggled to say, his voice cracking with the dryness in his throat.

    "He's sleeping." She said, turning away from him, but leaving the door open as she walked up the staircase to the almost loft-like second floor and into the room he knew was AJ's.  He didn't know if she was going to wake him up, or if she was just going back to bed herself.  A wild streak of sudden jealousy flashed in his mind as he wondered if she had been sleeping in there too.  Nick went and sat down on one of the couches AJ had in the room, still staring up towards the dark room they were in. Why is she here?  Nick wondered, Kayla's presence clouding his mind, so many more questions popping up in his head.

    After nearly twenty minutes AJ emerged, clad in plaid pajama bottoms accessorized with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth.  Kayla didn't come out with him.  He walked past Nick into his kitchen, ashing the cigarette in the sink and turning on his coffee maker.  Nick followed him in.

    "What are you doing here so early?" AJ grumbled, pouring coffee into a big black mug the minute there was enough to fill a cup.  He sat down at the table and began spooning sugar into it, waiting for Nick's response.

    "What is she doing here?" Nick said in an angry whisper, standing next to AJ.

    "She's living here." He replied bluntly, kicking the chair that was next to him out, and gesturing for Nick to sit down.

Nick took the seat he was offered.  "Why is she living here?" He asked, trying not to talk too loud.  "What the hell is going on?"

    "What do you think is going on?" The calm way he spoke, mixed with the slow smoking of his cigarette reminded Nick of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, albeit much less interesting, or attractive.

    "Seriously AJ, what's up?  Why is she here?"

    "Why do you think she's here?"

    "Don't be fucking evasive with me AJ.  Why is my ex-girlfriend living at your house?" He yelled, not caring who heard anymore.

    "Why do you care so much Nick?  You tossed her to the curb, remember?"  His mind ran a mile a minute, none of the pieces making sense, but fitting together too well for it all to be just a mere coincidence.  "Did you tell Jenna I wasn't seeing anyone so you could have Kayla?  Is that it?"  He questioned.

    "I never said anything to Jenna." AJ said rather unconvincingly.

    "Oh yeah, cause I'm sure she pulled that whole conversation from her ass.  Kayla probably did the same thing when she told me you said I'd end up hurting her." He shot.

    "No, I told Kayla to stay away from you."

    "Why?"

    "Well just look at what you did to her.  I knew you'd do it, so I warned her.  Too bad she didn't take my advice to heart."  He still hadn't moved from his laid back position at the kitchen table.

    "I can't believe you'd do this to me.  I thought you were my friend AJ."

    "You aren't my only friend Nick."

    "Are you sleeping with her?" Nick asked, his tone getting quieter.

    "That's none of your business." He replied flatly.  "Your involvement in Kayla's life ended when you ripped out her heart."  Nick flinched at the thought of hurting her, he'd almost half-convinced himself that he hadn't.

    "Fine." AJ sighed, seeing the hurt on Nick's face. "I'm not sleeping with her.  She's looking for work in Orlando so I'm letting her stay with me for awhile.  We're just friends.  We have been for a long time."

    "How long?" Nick wondered.

    "None of your business." He stated again, returning to the stand-offish position he had been sitting in.  Nick got up from the table and stepped back from him.

    "Stay out of my life AJ." He stated firmly as he turned back towards the front foyer and the door, not waiting to hear AJ's snide reply.  He looked up one last time towards AJ's room as he was leaving, just in time to see Kayla slip back into the dark confines of the bedroom, seeing her just long enough to tie his stomach into a knot.
 

        Nick's mind ran  in loops as they drove back to his house, Jenna incessantly chattering about random subjects he had no intention of paying attention to.  He wondered if AJ had been telling the truth about his relationship with Kayla.  He wondered a thousand and one things he couldn't get an answer for, and it was driving him mad and making his foot fall a little heavier on the pedal.  He couldn't fathom AJ doing anything to intentionally ruin things, but everything led to exactly that.

    "Nick, would you slow down.  You're gonna kill us both."  Jenna finally said, as his speedometer neared ninety miles.  He let up on the gas.  "What is wrong with you?" She asked.  "You've been all moody since we left."

Nick stared out at the long bare road ahead of him, too concerned with his own thoughts to justify his mood. "Nothing.  I just want to get home."

    "Well what's got you so pissed off, you weren't like this this morning."

    "You saw me for maybe ten minutes this morning, how do you know what kind of mood I was in?" Only another half an hour, he thought.

    "I saw you long enough to know you weren't this pissed off.  Where did you go anyway?"

    "I went to see AJ okay!" He snapped.

    "So what'd he do to piss you off?"

    "Would you please stop with the third fucking degree Jenna.  I don't want to talk about it, just let it go." He yelled, turning up the volume on the stereo so he wouldn't have to talk to her anymore.   He saw the anger flash in her eyes, but she didn't say anything.  Jenna leaned back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest and staring straight ahead, just like he was doing.

    "I'm sorry I snapped at you." He said as they pulled into his driveway.

    "Whatever." She spat, getting out of his truck before he even shut the engine off.

    "Don't be all pissed off Jen.  I'm sorry." He yelled to her as she stalked towards the door, fishing in her purse for the key he had given her.  Nick got the bags out of the back and carried them inside.

    "Com'on Jenna.  Don't be like this."

    "Bite me Nick.  You're the one that was acting like a turbo bitch on the way here, I can stay mad if I want to."

    "Fine, be mad." He shrugged.  "Are we still gonna rent a movie tonight?"

    "Don't change the subject."

    "Comedy, action, romance?  What'll it be?"

    "Nick would you stop it!"  She said.  "You can't suddenly get all cute and make me forget the fact that you ripped my head off on the way here."

    "You think I'm cute?" He said coyly, looking into her eyes until he saw the faint glimmer of a smile creeping up on her face.

    "Screw you." She said with a laugh, knowing he'd won the little spat.
 

        Nick and Jenna sat curled up on the huge couch, a bowl of popcorn being shared between them as they neared the half-way point of the latest murder mystery suspense movie that had come to video.  He could see Jenna's eyelids fluttering closed, and he pulled her closer so she could fall asleep on him, her legs coming up on the couch and curling into the corner.

    "Ouch." She muttered, squirming away from him.

    "What?" He asked, leaning over and switching on the lamp that sat next to him.

    "I dunno, something was poking me in the side."  She sat up and the both began digging in the couch.  Nick assumed it was a rogue spring, but she pulled out the intruding item.

    "God what is this?" Jenna said, a look of disgust on her face  Nick's eyes grew wide when he saw what she held up.  The talisman Kayla had bought him.  Nick grinned as he took it from Jenna's hand, running his fingers over it, remembering that night with Kayla, a blushed smile creeping onto his face.  He couldn't believe he had forgotten about it, that it had been hiding in the cushions of his couch all this time.

    "So what is it?" Jenna asked, grabbing it back from him and looking at it closely, not noticing the effect it had on him. Not noticing the angry look that flashed on his face when she took it from his hands.

    "It's supposed to be the muse of music or something like that."  He said vaguely, knowing he could tell her the whole story of what it was and who it represented, who gave it to him, when she gave it to him, and what it meant to him.   But he kept it to himself, the warm flush in his cheeks reminding him of what he missed.  The knot in his stomach returning.

    "It's ugly."

    "No it isn't." He snapped,  grabbing it back from her, ripping it roughly from her hands.  "It's not ugly at all."

    "What's with you?" She said taken aback at his reaction.  "Why do you care what I think about it?"

    "Actually I don't care what you think about it."

    "Then shut up." She said.

    "This is my house, why don't you shut up for once!"

    "Don't jump down my throat Nick!" Jenna yelled jumping up  from the couch.

    "I'm not jumping down you're fucking throat Jenna, Maybe I just don't need you to be here right now."

    "You're kicking me out?" Jenna looked at him, appallment spread on her face.

    "You don't live here." He said quietly, instantly wishing he could suck the words back in his mouth as she turned away from him heading towards the door.  "Jenna wait!  I didn't meant that, I don't want you to leave tonight."

    "But you want me to leave tomorrow?"

    "I didn't say that, don't put words in my mouth."

    "You are such an asshole." She said with a shake of her head, her tone quiet and withdrawn as she sat back down next to him on the couch.

    "And you're a bitch." He responded.    They both sat silently on the couch, the eerie aftermath of a fight, although Nick saw it as more of the eye of the storm type thing.  She wasn't one to let him off the hook that easily.

    "I don't know you anymore." They both sighed in frustration, silence overtaking both of them again as the swift realization of how badly their relationship was progressing hit like a swift kick to the gut, and they both knew it.

    "Where are you going?" Nick asked as she got up from the couch without a word.

    "Home."

    "At this time of night?"

    "You just told me to go." She muttered.

    "I wasn't serious."

    "You don't want me here, and I don't want to be here anymore.  I'm leaving."

    "Fine." He said, letting her go.  He slumped back into the couch, spending the rest of the night staring blankly at the talisman.  He had contemplated calling Jenna, just to make sure she got home safely,  but he didn't want to talk to her, so he didn't bother.  Nick fell asleep on the couch, his stomach still in a knot and Kayla's gift to him clutched firmly in his hands.

Chapter 13

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