"I know, I thought they'd be together...forever, you know?"
"Brian, do you think they'll get back together?"
"I know A.J. desperately wants to, but I don't know about Patricia...So is Marie coming on tour with us tomorrow?"
"No, she has o go out of town for work later tonight. She couldn't get a replacement to go. We've already said our good-byes. I'm gonna write her a lot. Kevin filled me in on what happened with you, Lisa, and Andrea. So Andrea's coming on tour with us?"
"Yep."
"That'll be cool."
Beep. "Can you hold on a sec, Nick? I got someone on the other line."
"Sure."
Brian answered the other call. "Hello?"
"Brian, we've got a problem."
"What's wrong?"
"Lisa left a message on my answering machine threatening me and telling to stay away from you. She seemed very promising. And we're not even dating."
"Don't remind me," he mumbled.
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
"Good, I'm kind of worried of what she might do. I have to go, I still haven't packed so I'll see you tomorrow for church."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
Brian went back to Nick. "Hey, it was Andrea. You'll never guess what happened."
"What?" asked Nick, obviously interested.
"Lisa threatened her, ordering her to stay away from me."
"Woah, someone has problems."
"I'm gonna deal with this right now. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye, Frick."
"Bye, Frack." Brian hung up the phone. "Now whose friend's house is Lisa staying at?" he asked himself. He then remembered and got in his BMW. As he got to her friend's house, he saw Lisa's car in the driveway. Good, she's home, he thought as he knocked on the door.
Lisa answered it. "Brian! Hi!" I knew he'd come back, she thought in happiness. "Listen, since you've come ba-"
"What the hell is your problem?" he demanded.
She looked surprised to hear him say that.
"And you wonder why I broke up with you in the first place! Stay away from Andrea and stay away from me. If you harm her or even threaten her again, you'll be sorry, take my word on that. I'm not yours anymore, so don't act like it. If you think for one moment that I would come crawling back to you, you're dead wrong. We're through and we'll always be through. It's bad enough you ruined our relationship but to try to ruin the best friendship I have? Stay out of my life!" Without waiting for a response, he turned around and left. On his way home he decided to drive to Patricia's place. When he drove into her driveway he noticed the lights were on. He rang the doorbell. About five seconds later Patricia answered it.
"Brian? What are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure, come in."
After he walked in, they both sat on the couch in her living room. "Are you leaving A.J. for good?" he asked.
"I'm afraid so, Brian."
"But don't you love him?"
"I thought I did. Look, do you promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"
"I promise."
"Not even A.J?"
"It'll be between just you and me. I swear." She could see in his eyes he was telling the truth.
"Okay. Before all this shit even started, I was extremely paranoid that A.J. was going to leave me for someone else. His flirting drove me absolutely nuts, and he did it so much."
"Yeah," agreed Brian. "He is known to do that. You never seemed bothered by that though. Not even a little."
"I always use jokes to hide my emotions, no matter what I say. I've done that since I was little. His flirting mild down a bit as our relationship kept going but I still wasn't sure if he thought what we had was serious. I know when you look at us, you see the happiest couple in the world, but deep down inside I was scared."
"Patricia, you should've told him that. He would've stopped."
"I don't think so. He's known by all of his fans as a flirt. It's like it's part of his identity. It's not something you can break just like that. The other day, when we did what we did, I thought our relationship reached a new level and that I wouldn't have to be scared anymore. But then I realized that's not why we should be doing it. I realized I shouldn't have felt that way in the first place. The mistake I made was just telling him we were rushing it, and not telling him all of what I trluy wanted to say."
"Patricia, you can't keep doing this. Don't you see? You acted like you two were doing great. He didn't know what you were really feeling, so when you guys did that, he thought it was right because of how you made the relationship seem."
"Oh, God. You're right. Thank you," she said as she hugged him. "You're a good friend. I can't go back to A.J. He probably hates me now."
Brian glanced at his watch. "I gotta go pack, I should've been done a while ago but I had some business to discuss. Now listen," he said in a serious tone. "Really consider talking to A.J. He doesn't hate you. He said he's lost the best thing he's ever had."
"Oh, I don't know..."
"You have to think quick, Patricia. We're leaving tomorrow. You're invitation to come on tour with us is always there." He started to walk out the door. "It's your last chance."
