[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Nick watched as Brian opened his fifth beer in less than two hours. His friend popped the cap off of the latest bottle with a Kentucky Wildcat’s bottle opener. The metal top danced along the granite counter before landing in the sink.

“You good to go there, Bri?” Nick tried to keep his voice casual, but he knew that there was an underlying tone of concern to his question.

Brian had always been a primarily social drinker; he drank at parties, football games, dinners, barbeques, weddings, and whenever else he happened to be in a large group. Very rarely did Brian come home and grab a beer out of the fridge and drink by himself. That was part of the reason why Nick was worried. Over the past few days, he had noticed that, more often than not, Brian’s hand was wrapped around a drink. It wasn’t at the point where Nick could honestly say that his friend was developing a problem, but he definitely didn’t want it to reach that point either.

“Yes, Nick, I’m good to go.” Brian parroted. He downed half of the just-opened bottle of beer in one long chug. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not looking at you.” Nick lied. He dropped his eyes to his laptop that was open on the kitchen table and pretended to study the screen. There had been anger behind Brian’s words.

“What’s your issue, Nick?” Brian took another drink. “Do you want one?”

Nick raised his eyes to Brian’s. He watched as Brian realized the reality of his words; his face paled and his features contorted in regret.

“No, Bri, I don’t want a drink.” Nick forced the words out of his mouth, his eyes still trained on his best friend.

“Shit – Nick.” Brian stuttered. He looked at the bottle in his hand as if it were a foreign object. He placed it on the counter with a soft clunk and ran a hand over his face. “I – I don’t – I didn’t mean – I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.” Brian shook his head and sat down across from Nick at the table. “What’s wrong with me?”

Nick gazed at the man that he had spent the better part of his life looking up to. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had seen Brian look so sad and so out of control. It was scaring him.

“You have a lot going on ...” Nick struggled to find the words. He was so used to being on the receiving end of Brian’s sympathy and advice that he had clearly forgotten how to reciprocate.

“Reading Howie’s letter made everything seem so real.” Brian admitted. “What if I lose my kid?”

“You won’t.” Nick assured him. “We won’t let that happen.”

How many times had the situation been reversed? How often had Brian stared into Nick’s red-rimmed eyes and told him that everything was going to be okay? As Nick watched Brian struggle to wrap his alcohol-impaired brain around what he was saying, he finally realized why Brian had chosen to distance himself from him for so long.

“You said ‘we’.” Brian blinked rapidly. “You’re going to help me?”

“We’re all going to help you.”

Nick turned to see Kevin standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He could hear AJ and Howie coming down the hallway, laughing softly about something. Nick was pretty sure that he hadn’t heard the doorbell. It took him a few seconds to realize that Baylee, who was practising his free throws in the driveway, had probably just told the three of them to go on inside.

“Is everything okay?” Kevin asked. He shifted in the doorway to make room for AJ and Howie; their easy laughter immediately grinding to a halt.

“Yeah, Kev.” Nick lied for the second time in less than ten minutes. “Everything’s fine.”

As Nick spoke, he watched as AJ edged his way into the room. AJ took one look at the four empty beer bottles lining the back of the counter and pressed his lips into a thin line. In one swift movement, he grabbed the half-empty bottle that Brian had placed on the counter only minutes before and emptied its remaining contents down the drain. He walked over to the refrigerator, pulled a bottle of water off of the shelf, and headed towards Brian.

“Drink it!” AJ slammed the water down on the table in front of Brian with so much force that Nick and Brian both flinched.

“AJ?” Brian appeared to be surprised to discover that he and Nick were no longer alone. “What are you doing here?”

“Every time that I see you lately, you’re nursing a drink.” AJ ignored Brian’s question. “You’re worried about losing Baylee? What do you think would happen if C.P.S. were to show up right now and see you sitting here drunk at five o’clock in the afternoon?”

“I – I – I only had a few.” Brian’s response was barely audible.

AJ’s already angry face darkened at Brian’s feeble excuse. “You only had a few? Just like you only had a few the other night at dinner and Nick ended up taking your sorry ass home? Just like you only snuck a few today at rehearsal? And what about the day before? Every time that I’ve talked to you since you and Leighanne split, you’ve been buzzed.”

“No, I ...”

“Don’t you dare lie to me and tell me that you haven’t!” AJ roared; cutting Brian off. He leaned forward so that his face was only inches from Brian’s. He lowered his voice, but his tone remained icy. “Today, I watched as you fell apart during a dance routine that we’ve been doing for twenty years. I listened while you messed up the lyrics to a song that you bloody well wrote. I watched as you tried to cover up your misery by sneaking a drink when you thought that no one was looking. Do you know who else I’ve watched do all of those things?”

AJ waited for Brian to shake his head before he continued. “I’ve watched Nick almost put himself in the ground, and I’ve watched myself destroy what should have been some of the best years of my life. Both times, I waited until things got messy before I opened my mouth. I’m not waiting for things to get messy this time.”

AJ pulled his face away from Brian’s and stood up from the table. There was no doubt in Nick’s mind that Brian was now completely sober. His eyes were still red-rimmed, but it was no longer from the alcohol. The tears were simmering in the corners of Brian’s eyes, and Nick was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to handle it if Brian allowed them to overflow.

“I won’t let you do this to yourself, Brian.” AJ glared down at him. “Don’t do what you begged and pleaded for me and Nick not to do. I won’t be able to stand back and watch you lose everything, and you and I both know that’s what’s going to happen if you continue. You either smarten the fuck up, or I’m out.”

“AJ, I’m sorry.” Brian struggled to control the tremor in his voice. “Things have been so hard lately, and I just didn’t – I didn’t know – it made things easier.”

“It won’t make things easier in the end.” AJ’s voice had taken on its own tremor. “I need a cigarette.”

Silence befell the kitchen as AJ disappeared onto the patio. Nick cast a quick glance at Brian who was busy peeling the label off of the bottle of water that AJ had slammed down in front of him. Nick could see the tears sliding down Brian’s cheeks, and he hastily stood up from the table. This was too much; it was all too much for him to handle. Without a word, he opened one of the French doors that led into the backyard and stepped out to join AJ in the semi-darkness.

“He’s going to fuck up his life, Nick.”

The smoke from AJ’s cigarette curled around his face and Nick fought the urge to ask him for one. “No he’s not.”

“How do you know that?” Concern was etched into AJ’s face. “He’s been drinking all day, Nick. I saw him.”

“He’s not like us.” Nick repressed the urge to admit that he hadn’t even been aware of the fact that Brian had been drinking during rehearsal until AJ had pointed it out in the kitchen. He had thought that his friend had seemed a bit off, but he had been more concerned with seeing Kayla than he had been with Brian’s behaviour. Some best friend he was.

“You mean that he’s not like us yet.” AJ corrected.

“You and I do things to the extreme without giving two shits about the consequences. Well, at least we used to.” Nick pointed out. “Brian’s just having a hard time. He’s hiding his feelings, not an addiction.”

“You know him better than I do.” AJ exhaled slowly and tapped his ash onto the ground. “Just so you know, it will tear me apart if you’re wrong.”

“After what you just said, I don’t think that Brian will ever drink again.” Nick admitted. “What you said hit home, hard.”

“I just lost it.” AJ sighed. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just couldn’t stop myself when I walked in and I saw his eyes all glazed over. I fucking screamed in his face.”

“You did.” Nick stole a quick glance inside the house. Kevin and Howie were now sitting at the table with Brian, but none of them appeared to be saying anything. “He’ll thank you for it later.”

“I meant what I said.” AJ affirmed. “If Brian decides to drink himself through this divorce I’m not going to stick around and watch. I’ll pull out of the tour, the group, his life, everything. I won’t do it because I’ll hate him. I’ll do it because it will literally tear me apart to watch him destroy himself. I’m not as strong as he is; I won’t be able to sit around and wait until he figures things out for himself. I could barely get through that with you.”

Nick watched as AJ tossed his cigarette on the ground and roughly wiped at his face. He was thankful for the fact that it had become too dark for them to see each other properly. “You’re not going anywhere.”

AJ snorted. “Because Brian will be fine or because you won’t let me?”

“Both.”