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The Next Day

Brian's View

"Hey Tyk, how you doin' boy?" I greeted Tyk as he ran up to me. I just got up and finished getting dressed and I was headed down to the kitchen to eat something. I was in a much better mood than I was yesterday. A certain someone had to have something to do with it.

Tyk licked my face and snuggled up against my chest. I held him as I opened the refrigerator door. I grabbed the orange juice and milk and set it down on the island. I went to one of the cupboards, grabbed some cereal and a bowl and set it down next to the orange juice and milk. After grabbing a spoon, I set Tyk down and collected all the food on the island. I went over and sat down pouring some cereal into the bowl.

"Oh, that's funny," I laughed as I glanced at the People's Magazine that was laying on top of the newspaper. On the cover, a picture of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears was found with a large red X through it. The headline was: Tragedy Strikes for These Two Love Birds...or Should We Say EX Love Birds?

"They finally broke up," I said to myself, extending my arm to reach the magazine. I grabbed it and pulled it closer looking at the cover.

I took a bite of my Frosted Flakes and poured myself a glass of orange juice. As I brought the glass up to my lips, the loud ring of the door bell went off. I jumped startled and set my glass down.

"COME IN!!!" I yelled. I didn't feel like getting up and walking all the way to the door.

I heard the door open and then close followed by footsteps on the marble floor.

"Hey Bri," AJ greeted as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hey," I said taking a drink of my orange juice. AJ walked over to my refrigerator, grabbed a bucket of ice cream and a spoon, and came over and sat next to me.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Don't you ever ask?" I laughed lightly, shaking my head as he took a bite of the ice cream.

"No," he shrugged.

"What are you doin' here anyway?" I asked taking another bite of my cereal.

He shrugged again and said, "Bored."

I shifted my gaze over to the clock and found that it was 9:46AM. That's pretty damn early for AJ to be awake on our break.

"Are you OK?" I asked. He just looked up at me through his sunglasses and nodded.

"Yeah, why?" he asked stuffing another spoon full of ice cream in his mouth.

"You're never up this early," I said.

"So?"

"So why are you up?"

"Cause I woke up? I don't know Bri. Is it a crime to wake up earlier than I usually do?"

"No, but I'm sure you have a reason."

"So what if I do? I can't come over and visit my buddy Brian?" he smiled. I rolled my eyes and said, "Whatever."

"OK OK, I got up early to call Nikki to see if she wanted to go shopping or something," he said. My head snapped up at the mention of her name.

"What?" he asked taking another bite.

"You invited her to go shopping?" I asked annoyed. He was starting to hit on her, I just knew it.

"Yeah, why not? 'Tima wants us to show her a good time so I figured I'd take her shopping and show her around a little bit."

"And get a date in the middle of it?" I asked a little coldly.

"Damn Bri, do you think that's all I want? She's a nice girl. It may have came off as me being interested in her last night, but that's just me. I always seem like I'm interested in girls. It doesn't mean I am. Besides, I can tell she has a thing for you and you have a thing for her so I'm just stayin' out of it," he said.

"So you aren't interested in her?" I asked a little relieved.

"No, don't get me wrong, she's gorgeous, but I don't think she's really my type. She's all yours," he grinned winking at me.

"Thanks, I think," I said taking one last gulp of my orange juice and then setting it down. I grabbed the orange juice and milk and got up.

"If you called her, why aren't you at the mall?" I asked as I set the drinks in the refrigerator.

"She already had plans. She said we could do it tomorrow or somethin'," he said as he licked his spoon. I picked up my bowl and spoon and set them in the sink. I then walked over and sat down next to him again.

"Other plans? What kind of plans?" I asked.

"Nick beat me to it. She said he's taking her out scuba diving," he explained as he put the lid back on the ice cream.

"Oh," I said a little upset.

"Damn Brian, you must really like this chick," he said as he got out of his seat, walking over to the freezer and putting the ice cream back in.

"No, I mean yes, I mean...I don't know," I sighed.

"You do, I can tell. You're so defensive about us taking her out. You shouldn't worry about her liking us you know. She seems to like you," he said jumping up onto the island.

"She does?" I asked looking over at him.

"Yup, I have a sixth sense about these things. I dunno, she just seemed more interested in you more than anybody else," he shrugged.

"Do you think Nick likes her?"

"He said he thinks she's real cute but I don't think he really likes her like that."

"Well, that's good then isn't it?"

"Yeah, for you," he said swinging his legs. Then he asked suddenly, "How are you holding up?"

I looked up at his sudden tone of seriousness in his voice. He looked at me with much concern.

"What do you mean?" I asked looking at his serious expression.

"Ya know, with Leighanne leaving you and all. Are you doing OK?"

I lowered my head and shrugged, "I'm doing better I guess."

"You're lying," he said. I looked up at him and said, "Huh? No, I'm not."

"Yeah you are. Dude Brian, you're forgetting I've known you for years. We're practically brothers. I know when you're lying or not, I know when you're OK or not, and you are lying and you are not OK."

I sighed and rubbed my hand through my hair, "I just really miss her Bone."

AJ hopped off the island and came over and sat next to me.

"What exactly happened?" he asked. I looked up at him and found that his glasses were now in his hands, and his eyes were boring into me, waiting for me to explain.

"It's not important," I said as I waved my hand, dismissing the whole idea of telling him.

"Yeah it is. It can't be that bad."

"Not that bad? Bone, she LEFT me," I said, my voice raising a little bit. He raised his hands and said, "Chill dude. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. The bone daddy is just tryin' to help a friend out."

My voice softened and said, "Sorry Bone, I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"That's alright, but you know Rok, if you need me I'm here and I will listen. Don't forget about us. We're always here for you," he said sincerely as he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"I know...I know."

"Could I give you a little advice?" he asked, taking his hand off my shoulder. I nodded and said, "Go ahead. I might not take it but sure."

"You shouldn't keep your feelings bottled up inside. It can cause a lot of damage. You're just hurting yourself more by doing so."

"Who says I'm bottling up my feelings?" I asked defensively.

"I can tell Rok. You're doing a pretty damn good job at covering everything up but you aren't doing THAT good of a job. I'm the only one that has really noticed."

"Noticed what? AJ what are you talking about?"

"Don't act stupid Brian. I'm smarter than you might think I am. When it comes to my friends, my brothers, I know a lot of things and what I do know is that you aren't acting yourself. I mean, you're trying to in front of all of us but I can see through all that. There's something wrong, maybe more than one thing that we don't know about, and you're keeping it to yourself."

I looked at him dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say. I had no idea that he knew.

"Don't look at me like that," he said.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," I said, quickly shifting my eyes away from his and looking down at my hands. He sighed deeply and said, "Fine Brian. I'll just leave it at that. I just wanted to help."

"Well, I don't need help. I'm completely fine. Thanks for the offer though," I said. He stared at me for a few moments and then sighed again.

"I better get goin' then," he said as he slipped his sunglasses on, starting to get up out of his chair. I got up also and walked him to the door.

"What are you doin' today?" I asked before he opened the door. He shrugged and said, "I'll probably call up D and go see a movie or somethin'. Wanna come?"

"Nah, I gotta go do some errands for tonight," I said. He turned around after he got outside and asked, "Errands for tonight?"

"Yeah," I smiled.

"What type of errands? What are you doing tonight?" he asked curiously.

"You know how last night I took Nicole out to get some ice cream?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when I brought her back to her apartment, I dunno what came over me, but I asked her to dinner."

AJ grinned widely and exclaimed, "All right Brian! Your love and sex life are back in business! Call me if you need any advice."

I couldn't help but laugh at his happy expression.

"Sure thing Bone," I said.

"Aight, later Rok, and have fun tonight," he waved as he walked down to his car. I waved after him and closed the door. I walked slowly upstairs to my room thinking deeply. It bugged me to no end that AJ knew that I was putting on an act in front of all of them. I just don't see how he could have known. I thought I was doing a good job at covering it up.

"Just forget it B," I said to myself as I walked over to my dresser and picked up my wildcats hat. I decided to just not think about it. For now, I had to figure out what I was going to do for tonight. I wanted to make it special. AJ said that I really liked Nicole but I still wasn't that sure. It's true, I do like her, but I still have a long ways to go if I chose to fall in love with her. Why I would want to fall in love at this point in my life is beyond me but Nicole wasn't like any other girl. She was a girl that I could fall in love with and fall hard.