AJ couldn’t believe what the boys had said. He was a problem? That’s ridiculous! He finally stopped pacing and sat on the bench down the block from the studio thinking it was time for a cigarette.

After a few minutes, he felt himself start to calm down.  He slouched down on the bench and decided the guys were right. He was being a jackass and refused to deal with anything. He’d been letting this thing with Alissa run his life and he hated himself for it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t figure out what he needed to do.

AJ thought back to last week when he helped Alissa with her ex and the feelings that were stirring up in him. He’d had a great conversation with her that night and was really looking forward to seeing her after he stopped at the studio. He sighed and asked himself why he had that stupid conversation with Nick. Everything was going fine up until then!

Twenty minutes later, AJ stood up and started walking back to the studio to apologize to the guys. His personal life may be out of control, but that was no reason to take it out on them.  He was going to come clean and explain everything to them hoping that might make it right.

He had just opened the door to the studio when a woman came flying up the stairs in tears and took off down the block. He barely had time to move out of her way and was wondering what the hell had happened downstairs.

“Hey guys!” yelled AJ as he came pounding down the stairs. “Who was that woman? She damn near plowed me over running out of here!”

Nick was pacing like a madman while Brian and Kevin were just sitting with their mouths hanging open.

“Hey, are you guys going to tell me who that was?” AJ demanded.

Nick was furious and turned around to face AJ. “Now I know why you’ve been acting like an asshole lately! It was that stupid woman! What’s her face? The one I told you was going to hurt you!” Nick yelled. “But you never listen do you! I told you not to get invested in her, that she wasn’t going to feel the same way!”

“What are you talking about?” AJ yelled grabbing Nick by the shoulders and forcing him to look him in the eye.

Nick took a deep breath and started talking again. “It was that woman Alissa. She came here thinking that we were going to let her in after everything she did to you! Is she crazy? Did she really think that we were going to let her anywhere near you after what she’d done?”

“Are you fucking crazy?” AJ screamed and all three men stared at him. “What she did to me? She didn’t do anything to me!”

Nick look stunned by AJ’s outburst. “Of course she did! That’s why you’ve been a jackass all week. She probably told you that she wanted to be friends or some stupid bullshit like that! I told her she could go to hell and not to come back here again!”

AJ let go of Nick and sank into the sofa with his head in his hands. What had he done?

Nobody knew exactly how long it was until Brian finally broke the silence.

“AJ, man, I think you need to tell us exactly what’s been going on!”