Chapter Five
Nicole sighed as she watched AJ lounging around in front of the TV, watching a rather sexual movie as he sucked on a cigarette. She coughed, feeling as if her lungs were collapsing a she breathing in the pungent stench, waving her hand in the air as if that would make it disappear. She scowled at the man, wondering if he ever did anything with his time, other than sit in front of the television, mooching off of herself and Gia, when he was the millionaire, and by all means, should be able to take care of them.
“Any luck finding a job today?” she asked him as she set her purse down, keeping her distance as he blew out another smoke ring.
“Nope.” He answered, his tone raspy.
‘Did you even look?”
“Nope.”
Nicole let out a disgusted sigh of exasperation. He’d been living with them for two weeks now, and he had yet to find anything. She had to wonder why he even had to hold a job anyways to pay the bills. All he said was he couldn’t use his money from being a Backstreet Boy. She hadn’t asked questions, and he hadn’t voluntarily given any information. In fact, the man barely spoke to either her or Gia.
“I thought we made it clear that this was a smoke-free apartment. So if you could please go outside with that nasty thing.”
Without a word, AJ put out the cigarette on a magazine next to him, burning a hole through the first five pages, flicking the butt on to the carpet for Nicole to retrieve before it left damages. A few ashes littered the ground, which she knew she’d have to vacuum up later. She rolled her eyes, muttering some choice words under her breath as she turned to walk away before she said something she would regret, or worse yet, kick him out for good. AJ wasn’t even phased by her walking past in anger, which upset her even more.
“Everything okay?” Gia asked, sensing something was wrong as she walked by, causing Nicole to stop in her tracks
“Ask our lazy, no-good roommate!” Nicole exclaimed, clenching her fists at her side, “He is practically watching porn and not doing a damned thing. I swear, my two year old cousin could make us more money having a lemonade stand for five cents a cup than he is going to make us to help out.”
Gia laughed, but her eyes showed that she too was apprehensive about the situation, because if things didn’t work out, they would be on the fast track back to Ohio. And like always, she tried to make a joke of it to play off her worry. It was a famous Gia trait that you had to know her to understand.
“Maybe we should stick him outside with a lemonade stand.” Nicole snorted, not amused. She was stressed with the situation, “Well, let’s go talk to him.”
Nicole shook her head, “Fuck no. I might strangle the man. I don’t care who he is…he needs to get a reality check and realize while he is living with us, he is no better than us.”
“Nic…come on. We haven’t even tried to talk to him yet. Lets get to know him.”
She took Nicole’s arm, dragging her back in AJ’s direction, who was still gazing at the TV as if in a trance. Nicole reluctantly went, grumbling a few profanities along the way. Nicole really was not in the mood to deal with the man who felt like he could up and take over the place as if they were his guests. He was infuriating, and she could feel a major streak of sarcasm and smart ass comments about to make way if his ways didn’t change, and fast.
“Hey Aje,” Gia greeted with a smile, finally letting go of Nicole’s arm, “What’s up?”
He barely shrugged, leaning in closer to the TV as a loud moan escaped the speakers on the TV, followed by rustling from the bed, the silken sheets slowly slipping off of a woman to expose her naked body. Nicole could swear she saw him licking his lips at the sight, as if the woman were a piece of meat. This disgusted her, making her realize what a pig this man really was. A man her and Gia used to idolize. With a shake of her head, she walked over, plucking the remote from the couch next to him, turning it off.
“What the fuck are you doing, woman!” AJ shouted, “I was watching that.”
‘That’s the beauty of things when you help pay the bills.” She retorted back, “You can buy all the sleazy playboy pay-per view movies you want.”
AJ’s eyes narrowed and darkened as he slumped back in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. If looks could kill, Nicole knew she would be dead and buried so far in to the ground, she might as well be in hell. And then there was Gia, who walked over to AJ as if nothing was wrong as she plopped down on to the couch next to him, making herself comfortable. AJ didn’t even respond, his eyes just staring blankly ahead, his posture somewhat jittery.
“So, how are you adapting here? Everything nice enough?” Gia tried, attempting not to completely lose it on the man.
“S’alright.” He mumbled.
“You know, this is one of the nicer areas of California…we won’t live just anywhere.”
“I feel privileged.” AJ stated dryly.
Gia and Nicole exchanged a look, and it was safe to say that Gia was now losing her patients too. The man was acting like the worlds biggest asshole, and neither one was going to take it. They’d given him two weeks, and if things didn’t straigten out soon, they both knew that their ad in the paper would be getting put back in.
“So, Alexander James,” Gia started, but she was cut off.
“That’s AJ to you.”
“Okay, AJ,” she rolled her eyes, “What is somebody like you doing replying to classifieds in the paper for a place to stay? What’s your story?”
“Thought I would try something new. I was famous from an early age, so I decided I would see what it is like to live like the lower class.” He emphasized the last words.
“I think it’s us living with the lower class.” Nicole mumbled under her breath
AJ glared at Nicole for a long moment before turning away. She rolled her eyes, and Gia was looking back and forth between the two without a word to say. After all, what could she say? Things were turning out to be a disaster. The man who they’d interviewed was nothing like the man who was living with them. This man was a monster. A self-centered, lazy, horrendous monster.
“You have one week to find a job, or your out.” Nicole warned, spinning around on her heels and breezing out of the room.
“Are you going to let that bitch talk to me that way?” AJ asked roughly, directing his question towards Gia.
Gia shrugged as she stood up, “I have to agree with Nic.” Was her response, “You have one week to straighten up and start helping, or you’re days here are done.”
And with those final words, she too left, leaving AJ to sit alone on the couch, stunned, wondering what move he was to make next. He didn’t want to hold a job though, and figured if he procrastinated long enough, they would just coo and tell him everything was okay, and he could stay there anyways. After all, he was a womanizing charmer. All he had to do was work with them, flirt a little, and he would get his way. He always got his way.
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“This isn’t working anymore.” Nick pointed out the obvious, as they rushed in to their hotel as a mob of fans was cut off by security. The doors were closed and blocked so that they could get to their rooms without a problem. It was when they were to the elevator that the four men slowed down, “It’s been nearly a month, the tour is almost over…no AJ.”
‘Exactly…the tour is almost over. We’ll stick it out, and then worry about what to tell people.” Kevin interrupted.
“People are starting to get suspicious over the whole ‘AJ is sick’ excuse though. They’re seeing through our lies, unless they think he’s got cancer or some horrible shit like that.”
“Then that’s their assumption to make on their own.” Was Kevin’s cold-hearted reply.
“It’s a lie though. We’ve never lied to the fans. Why start now? Why not be honest?” Nick argued
“Enough.” Kevin yelled sharply.
Already knowing where the conversation was going, Kevin cut it off before it started. It was a topic that was brought up almost daily, always by Nick. The others had come to grips with the decision, and even seemed to agree with it. The tour was running more smoothly again, no stress, no troubles, no worries. They went out and did their thing, not having their stomachs in turmoil about where AJ had gone off to, or if he would show up at all. Nick, on the other hand, argued it out all of the time. He felt that AJ deserved yet another chance, and just needed their help and a little tough TLC to get him back on track again. Kevin was past helping though. The way he figured it, AJ had relapsed again, their help before not doing a damned thing in the long run. What would make this time any different? In Kevin’s eyes, nothing. He was through with helping out. He was through with caring.
“But Kevin…” Nick pressed on, “It’s been almost eight weeks. Don’t you even care about where he is, or how he is….or if he’s even alive.”
“He brought it upon himself.” Kevin muttered, walking quickly ahead of Nick to hide his glazed over eyes that were on the brink of tears. He wanted to keep up a tough image that wasn’t going to crack. Most days, he was set firmly in his decision. Other days though, he did worry about AJ’s whereabouts. The young, troubled man had to learn that there wasn’t always going to be somebody there to kiss him all better and make all of his mistakes go away. He had to fend for himself, and learn some real tough love, “As far as I’m concerned, he really is dead to me this time.”
Nick sighed, looking to the others for help. They barely glanced over, keeping out of the argument as they so often did. It was then that Nick realized once and for all that he was alone in this battle.
As they mad their way on to the twenty-sixth floor with their VIP cards, walking to their suite, Nick tried to think of another approach to the situation. He’d tried calling their brother a few other times since their kicking him to the curb, in secret of course. He always got the same response though. The number had been disconnected. He couldn’t tell Kevin that though. He would freak out, getting all defensive and holding a grudge for the rest of the week. He couldn’t, however, just let it go.
“Maybe if we just know he’s alive, maybe he’s stopped already and-“
“NO!” Kevin barked, “This conversation is over. If you care so much about how he is, then why don’t you go and join him, but you’ll be out of this group as well.”
“Kevin, you can’t mean that!” Brian finally defended for his best friend.
“I do,” he glared, “Nick drinks just as much as AJ does-“
“That’s not fair!” Nick defended himself, cutting Kevin off, but he ignored the comment, continuing on with his ultimatum.
“Nick drinks just as much as AJ does. If he care so much, he can go get trashed with AJ in some random hookers house, and God knows what else. Does anybody disagree, or is this conversation over?” Kevin waited only a few seconds before saying, “After this tour ends, we’ll just make an announcement that AJ has made the choice and left the group to pursue other things.” Then muttered under his breath, “Which isn’t too far from the truth.”
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AJ smiled as he let out a huge sigh of relief the second Gia walked out of the apartment. He was alone at last. Nicole had gotten up a couple of hours early to go and visit Derrick before her own work shift, unable to see him as often as either would like due to their conflicting schedules. That had left Gia there, getting under his itching skin, ready for her to leave so he could go about his regular routine before they got home.
Walking in to his bedroom that they’d given him, AJ opened his boxer drawer, reaching clear in to the back to retrieve a small zip-lock baggie. We looked at it in the palm of his hand, he was ready to escape again, feeling nerve-wracked and jittery from his lack of drugs in his system. He got this way every day, knowing he had to get his high out of the way early on, hoping it would be out of his system by the time the girls got home for the night. Then he was sober until the next morning when they left again, feeling like crap from being ‘sobered up’. It was a daily routine, but at least eventually, he got his high…on most days. And when he wasn’t high, he was cranky and rude, irritable and stressed.
Walking out to the living room, he sat down on the table, placing a piece of paper down as he dumped the white powder on to it, making a neat little pile with his fingers. It was then that he bent down, plugging one nostril with his one finger as he snorted up the cocaine with the other in two quick, long sniffs. It burned going up, giving his sinuses an aching pain for the first several minutes, but soon, he could feel his relief starting to kick in, his nerves calming as he slowly slipped in to the state he loved.
Following his cocaine shot, he lit up a joint, taking a seat on the couch to watch some TV. He wished he had a six pack to down, but like every day, he didn’t, because he had no money. Unless he could find some of the girls cash lying around. But then there was the transportation problem. He had no way to get there. AJ let out a defeated grumble. It was just him and the drugs, once again. And the higher he got, the more slowly time seemed to pass, everything going by in slow motion, but feeling in a rather violent, but at the same time tranquil mood.
Knowing when he had to stop, AJ put his stash away, letting everything set in. He felt he could go all day, but with Nicole and Gia coming back to ruin his good time in seven hours, give or take a couple, so he had to sober up if he wanted a roof over his head. One thing he knew about the girls was how dead set against drugs they were. His habit had to be kept secret. As it was, it had gotten him kicked from the group and put out of contact with the people he’d known half of his life.
AJ’s eyes darkened at that. He hadn’t meant for them to find out. It had just, happened. Before he knew it, he no longer had a place to stay, the busses leaving him behind the next morning as he slept off his hangover into early afternoon. He’d thought that they were bluffing and would come back for him, but it never happened. Hell, he didn’t even know where they were right then. What hurt the most though, was that they hadn’t even called. Not one of them. They’d left him to rot and fend for himself, not even caring about him. He felt so insignificant and unloved, driving him to fall deeper into his drug and alcohol habit, which he’d never really had any intentions of quitting all together in the first place. Nobody was supposed to know though, and he’d been able to keep it secret for months. It was his fate to be found out though. He was, however, thankful that the guys hadn’t told anybody what they knew, as it wasn’t even in the papers. In fact, nothing about him was. It was as if he no longer existed at all.
It had been five more days since the warning about getting a job. The girls vaguely mentioned it, but like always, he shrugged it off. They kept telling him that he had to get one, but he wasn’t taking their threat to get him kicked out seriously. If they were serious, wouldn’t they have carried through already? After all, here it was, two days until his ‘time’ was up, and he was going to be on the streets again, yet there were no signs of that actually happening. Not sure if that was a good thing or bad, AJ decided to just take it as it came. His life had become a hole. He was merely just there, passing through the days as if he were a shadow. Half the time, AJ felt that his roommates didn’t even remember he was living with them to begin with. Not until they saw him sitting on the couch not doing a thing with his life or days.
With a sorrowful sigh, AJ could feel that he was minutes away from not feeling anything, taking one final drag of his joint before snubbing the butt, stuffing it in to behind the couch cushion, making a mental note to remember to trash it later, even though it was useless and he would forget, just like every other time. He would, however, have to air out the apartment so the stench would leave. That was, after he passed out in to a slumber. If any luck would have it, he could get another few hours of sleep in before the girls came back. This was his life.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chapter 5 for ya! In about 3 weeks, Ayleen will have a break from class, and we should be able to get out between 2 and 3 chapters each at that time during her month off. Please leave a review for us, and Ayleen will have 6 for you in a few weeks! Thanks :) Oh, and this isn't going to be the typical story. Just give it a chance.
