Chapter Eleven

A few days after the return of the BSB, Alicia confronted me.

"Hey, Krys! What’s up?" She seemed so giddy and bouncy, that it made me think that she was having a big night with Brian or something.

"Hi, Ali. Nothing much," I greeted back, a bit sadly. The meeting with AJ was not as great as I had expected. AJ was so rude that I wanted to slap him. Hard. But deep inside, I knew that I loved him with all my heart. Also, I realized, I had made a terrible, terrible mistake. After four months of battling with my emotions, a realization struck me: no matter what the distance is, if there is true love, then it can survive. I wished that I could throw myself at AJ’s feet and beg for mercy, but my pride held me back.

Ali continued, "Krys, are you doing anything this Friday night?"

I went over my schedule mentally and found nothing too amusing. "No."

"Do you want to have a girls’ night out? Hazy might come, but she’s not too sure, but even if she doesn’t come, we can still have fun. Wanna come?"

It had been a long time since Alicia or Hazel had invited me to go eat somewhere. "Sure, I’d love to. What time?"

"Seven. I’ll meet you there. Oh, and Krys? Can you ask if Hazel could come?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, I have to go somewhere. Just dropped by to ask you. Bye!" she called as she flew out the door.

"Bye!"

"AJ, man, what’s up?" Howie asked AJ inside AJ’s apartment.

The tv was on and AJ had been watching it ever since he had seen Krys. Even now, with eyes stuck hypnotically to the tv, he answered monotnously, "Nothing."

Howie tried to ignore this fact and continue. "Hey, so wanna go have dinner somewhere with me and the rest of the guys? You know, we didn’t just sit down and have a guy’s night out in a long time. Reminisce a little and stuff. You wanna go to ‘LITTLE ITALY’ on Friday?"

"Okay. What time?" AJ was still talking robot-like, but he was listening fully to Howie. After all, when was the last time he had sat down with his best buds and just talk?

"Seven sound okay?"

"Yup. See ya then." AJ even managed a half-smile - the first in four months.

"See ya."