Later
"Well, that was fun," Glyn said tiredly.
"It was, wasn't it?" AJ said cheerily.
"Are you on something? Like happy pills?" she sighed.
"Nope!" AJ opened the door of his car for her.
"I am capable of opening doors." Glyn informed him.
"I know. Do you still want lunch?" AJ asked.
"Not particularly. I feel rather nauseated."
"Sorry." AJ still wasn't very sorry.
"No, you aren't. Is Barnaby gone?"
"Yeah. He left with Nick."
"I swear Nick and Barnaby are ... friends." She smirked and AJ realized what she meant.
"I don't think Nick is ... well. Um. Howie and- nevermind."
"Howie and Barnaby?"
"NO! Just Howie."
"Of course." Glyn smiled and nodded.
"So what should we do now?" AJ asked and started his car.
"Um... whatever you want." Glyn shrugged.
"I don't care." AJ said.
"We could egg Nick's house. Or wherever he lives." Glyn said, jokingly.
"That's a good idea!!" AJ grinned.
"Um... I was kidding." Glyn said.
"Of course! So was I." AJ was a little disappointed. He would have liked to egg Nick's house. Oh well... maybe later. "Um.. we could... um.."
"Go people watching!" Glyn said happily. "Have you ever done that?"
"I don't think so.." AJ was kind of scared.
"Oh well." Glyn shrugged. "It's fun. Sometimes. Err... maybe only when you're hyper."
"Hmm..." AJ frowned. "We could go back to your house..."
"Ew, my apartment is ugly. We can do that if you want to... maybe Mari'll be back.."
"Mari." AJ said. "Did she get a job?"
"Yeah. I'm the only useless bum now." Glyn sighed and leaned her head against the window.
"You're not a useless bum!" AJ said indignantly. Glyn laughed a little bitterly. "Here we are!" AJ parked and turned off the car. As they were getting out, Glyn noticed a somewhat-familiar car in the parking lot.
"Oh no. Oh, SHIT." She stared at the grey Volvo station wagon as if it were a guillotine.
"What?" AJ was confused.
"That's... it's my... mother." Glyn shuddered.
"Great!" AJ said happily and they went up to the apartment. Glyn could hear voices inside, it sounded like Marian was trying to make friendly conversation. Poor Marian. AJ opened the door.
"Hi!" he said merrily. Glyn looked scared. "What?" he whispered.
"Careful." She stuck her head in the door. "Hi Mari... Um. Hi Mom."
"Glyndalyn, darling! How are you?" Mrs. Kerrington engulfed her daughter in a hug.
"I'm ...fine." Glyn mumbled. "How're Joe and Sara?"
"They're doing wonderfully." her mom smiled sweetly. "Sara just had a baby, you know. And JJ is getting married in the spring, don't you remember? Who's this, honey?" she looked at AJ curiously.
"Oh. This is AJ. AJ, this is my mom." Glyn looked at the floor.
"Hi AJ dear!" Mrs. Kerrington hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Are you and Glyndalyn ... involved?"
"No, Mom." Glyn said quickly. "Um, he got me out of jail." Mrs. Kerrington looked at her knowingly and smiled.
"Of course, sweetie. Well AJ, that was very caring of you."
"Uhm. Thanks." He smiled and tried not to look scared. Mrs. Kerrington wasn't scary, exactly...
"How long have you known Glyndalyn?" Mrs. Kerrington asked brightly.
"About two weeks? I think." AJ shrugged. "That sounds about right..." Glyn agreed. "How long are you going to be here?"
"I've got a hotel room booked for two nights." Mrs. Kerrington nodded.
"Great." Glyn mumbled and looked at the wall now. She wondered if any of her music would be acceptable to her mother. Loreena McKennit would, but she didn't really feel like hearing that. She wanted to play Linkin Park but somehow she didn't know if it would be appreciated. She decided to take that chance and went to her bedroom to turn the CD on.
"I just love what you two've done with the place," Mrs. Kerrington simpered. "It looks so.. minimalist!"
"Um, yeah..." Glyn muttered and pulled AJ into her room, shutting the door. She heard her mother ask Mari something and cringed. "Sorry about that."
"No, it's okay... She's really nice."
"Nice," Glyn echoed. "I suppose." Someone knocked on the door.
"Um. Glyn?" It was Marian.
"Yes?" Glyn waited until she had shut the door. "What is it?"
"Your mom left." Marian looked relieved. "Um. I like your mom. By the way, you had absolutely no right in hell to leave me out there with her and one of these days you're going to pay."
"She thinks you're very sweet. She thinks everyone is very sweet." Glyn shrugged. "I guess I don't like her that much."
"Okay." Marian shrugged. "I'm going for groceries..." she left.
"Now what?" Glyn sighed and sat on the floor, leaning against her bed.
"Dunno." AJ said articulately. "We should get you more stuff for your apartment."
"I still have a little money from when she sent some..." They left.
Brian stared despondently at the wall.
"Brian?" Audrey cooed. "Brian, honey, are you okay?"
"Audrey, I can't marry you." he said abruptly.
"What?" Audrey blinked.
"I can't marry you!" Brian stood up and started pacing.
"But... honey..." Audrey looked close to tears. "Why?"
"I just.. can't! I don't know! Stop interrogating me!" Brian growled.
"Brian.. I'm sure we can work this out.." Audrey reached for a phone. "I'm calling Kevin! Kevin will talk some sense into you!"
"I'm not going to marry you! You can't change my mind! Neither can Kevin the almighty! Get out of my sight!" Brian yelled. Audrey slapped him and left the house. Brian plopped down onto a couch and stared at the phone. "I need to talk to AJ." He dialed AJ's number, but he wasn't there. "DAMNIT!" Brian stormed out of his house in search of a bar.
"AJ, I'm not going to let you pay for anything else! I will NOT!" Glyn hissed.
"No! It's okay! I want to!" AJ pulled out a credit card.
"No! AJ stop it!" Glyn frowned. "AJ you can't buy me."
"What?" AJ looked at her distractedly. Glyn sighed loudly.
"Are you quite finished?" she asked him in a slightly hostile tone.
"Yup!" AJ said happily. "Hey, can we go by Brian's house? I need to tell him something."
"It's your car, you don't need to ask me where you can go in it." Glyn said.
"Great!" AJ grinned.
AT BRIAN'S HOUSE
"B-rok?" AJ opened the door cautiously. No one had answered when they knocked, but AJ figured it was okay to just walk on it. He'd done it before. "Brian where aaarrrrre yooouuuu?" Tyk(e) came running down the hallway.
"Oh no, not another one!" Glyn looked at him distastefully. "Are you people afraid of big dogs or something?"
"No!" AJ said indignantly, picking up Tyk(e) and cuddling him. Glyn was looking at him very strangely. "What?"
"Um.. nothing. Nothing at all." Glyn looked away and wandered down the hallway. "So Brian doesn't mind if we just walk all over his house when he isn't here?"
"He's here, I know he is." AJ was still by the door with Tyk(e). Glyn went and looked into the kitchen, didn't see Brian, and started down another hallway. There was a half-open door leading somewhere, and she pushed it open the rest of the way carefully.
"Brian?" she said quietly, looking around the room. She saw him sitting in a corner looking stunned. "Hey, are you okay?" she moved in his direction. "Are you alive?" Brian merely stared at her. Glyn shrugged and sat on the floor. "AJ wanted to talk to you. He's, as far as I know, playing with that weird little furry thing that looks like a genetically engineered rat. He said you wouldn't mind if I wandered around your house. I think he's high. He insisted on taking me shopping and I think he maxed out all his credit cards buying crap. Yes, I know I'm babbling. Say something, damn you."
"How's Marian?" Brian asked quietly.
"She's fine, as far as I know. Are you drunk? You seem very drunk." Glyn sighed.
"Umm... yeah." Brian tried to remember where he'd been for the past few hours.
"Great. So we have a high pop singer and a drunk one. I wonder how many little twelve year olds would kill to be in my position right now."
"Umm... a lot?" Brian was a little confused. What had she said? He couldn't remember.
"I think I'll go get AJ." Glyn left the room and went in search of him. He was still holding Tyk(e) near the door. "I found your friend. He's plastered and sitting in a bedroom in a corner."
"Okay." He sat Tyk(e) on the floor by her feet. AJ guessed which room Brian was in and went down the hallway Glyn had come from.
"You little rat." Glyn looked disdainfully at the weird little hybrid. "Brian's drunk. Did you know that?" Tyk(e) panted and drooled on her foot. "Stop that, hybrid." He didn't seem to understand so she walked away from him. "Brian? Your dog is bothering me!" She wondered if Brian could even hear her. Probably not. "Hey, look, you rat, Brian has a TV. Where's your cage, anyway? Nick has a cage; you should have one too. I wonder what keeps people from stepping on you. I bet people eat you in some countries." She looked ferally at Tyk(e). His bug eyes watched her disinterestedly. "I bet people eat you in this country. They used a thing like you in a Taco Bell commercial but I bet you're in the tacos, too."
"Are you talking to Tyk(e)?" AJ asked. He looked terrified. "Are you drunk?"
"No, but if you're looking for drunk people there's one in that bedroom... I'm bored. Tyk(e) and I were just having a friendly conversation." AJ nodded. "What's up with your drunk friend?"
"I can't really get him to talk about it. I don't know if he doesn't understand when I ask or if he's pretending not to... I think it might have something to do with that-"
"Tyk(e)! He's talking about your friend Audrey. You know Audrey, don't you? She looks like you. But you don't have plastic boobs, I don't THINK."
"Okay Glyn, I think that's enough talking to Tyk(e) for now. Remind me never to get you a dog for your birthday, okay? Wait... when is your birthday?"
"Umm." Glyn thought about it for a minute. "January Ninth."
"You're lying!!" AJ glared at her.
"What? Why would I lie about my freaking birthday? Maybe people like YOU do that but I'm not a gay pop star, so.." Glyn stared at Tyk(e).
"But MY birthday is January ninth!" AJ whined.
"Good for you. Other people were born on that day, ya know." Glyn frowned. She wondered if AJ was just trying to be obnoxious.
"How old are you?" AJ realized he didn't know.
"Nineteen. Twenty in January. Yeah." Glyn held her hand out to Tyk(e).
"Oh." AJ frowned. She wasn't very old.
"Yup. In case you were wondering, which you weren't, Marian is twenty-one. Brian likes Marian." she informed him, wondering if AJ had figured that out yet.
"No, really. He was only staring at her all night when you slept under my table."
"But he was asleep!"
"No, he wasn't. He woke up when Kevin walked on his hand."
"Kevin walked on Brian's hand..." Glyn mused, staring interestedly at Tyk(e). He panted intelligently and one of his ears twitched.
"I think Kevin was tired. I don't think he walked on Brian's hand on purpose."
"Make this thing stop panting and staring at me!" Glyn begged AJ. "STOP IT!" She covered her face with her hands. AJ laughed.
"Tyk(e), stop harassing Glyn." Brian was standing in the doorway. Glyn looked up at him in horror. How long had he been standing there? Had he heard her say he liked Marian? Brian smiled at her strangely. Yes, he had.
"Oh... hi, Brian." she said. "It isn't nice to eavesdrop."
"This is my house." he reminded her.
"Well...It's Tyk(e)'s house too," Glyn said, feeling generally uncomfortable with the situation. "Anyway! I don't think you heard anything you didn't already know." Brian tensed. "AJ, should we leave?"
"Awww..." AJ looked amused.
"I'm not wanted here!" Glyn declared, staring pensively at Brian.
"Oh. Okay." AJ laughed. "Bye, Brian."
"Bye." Glyn ran out to the car. Brian watched them leave. After the door shut behind AJ he remembered his manners.
"Bye," he muttered. So maybe he was a little drunk. (Just a little, Brian.) Glyn didn't have to run away from him like that. He wasn't going to yell at her. He wasn't even mad at her. Was he? Maybe he was mad that she had said he was eavesdropping. That was all. Mildly irritated. Hadn't she said something else? He tried hard to remember. Glyn had said that he liked Marian. Brian didn't want to think about that. He still didn't want to marry Audrey. He was not going to marry Audrey. The only reason they'd been together this long was because Brian's parents and Audrey's were so incredibly happy with the arrangement. They would have to get over it. He never really liked her anyway. In any case he wasn't mad that Glyn had said he liked Marian. He did, right? No! Brian slapped his head, telling himself that he thought stupid things when he was drunk. He was just always thinking about her, that's all. He was breaking up with Audrey because they didn't have a good relationship anyway. Whether he had met Marian or not, it still would have happened.
"Hi Tyk(e)." He looked peacefully at the rat drooling on his shoe. NO, wait! Tyk(e)'s a dog. A DOG. Miffie, Muffie, Audrey, Tyk(e)…
"Hi Brian," Tyk(e) replied in a strangely familiar voice.
"DAMNIT!" Am I hallucinating? Brian decided to go to sleep. "Stop it Tyk(e)!" He ran down the hallway to his bedroom and stumbled, smacking into the doorframe gracefully, then fell asleep in an armchair that looked inviting.
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