“I need to go talk to her,” Brian says, watching Jade across the room.
“She don’t want to talk to you,” states Ali. “And I sure don’t blame her.”
“Why the FUCK did you tell her about the kiss?!” Brian turns on Nick who shrugs.
“I thought you told her! I thought that was why she was so upset. I was tryin’ to help ya bro.”
“I don’t fuckin’ believe you Nick,” Brian mutters darkly.
“Hey, did Nick force you to kiss that slut?!” Ali asks angrily.
“Hey!” Farrah starts to protest and Ali turns on her.
“You ARE a slut. You knew he had a girl and ya still kissed him!”
“I didn’t exactly have to FORCE him,” Farrah shoots back.
“Fuck this,” Brian walks off and Nick runs after him.
“Where you goin’?”
“Back to the hotel.”
“You can’t! We gotta stay here. Just let Jade have a little time to cool down,” Nick steps in front of Brian. “Anyway, Ali said Jade has the seat next to yours.”
“She does?”
“Uh huh,” Nick nods. “All part of the surprise.”
“You shoulda TOLD me she was gonna be here!”
“I didn’t know! Ali fixed it up with her. I found out when you did.”
“Ok, fine. I’ll go talk to her inside,” Brian turns around and marches towards the door leading inside the theatre. Farrah runs to keep up with him and he stops to look at her. “What you doin’?”
“Goin’ inside with you.”
“Uh, no, I don’t think so.”
“Huh?” she stares at him.
“You can’t come inside with me. Jade is already super pissed…”
“That’s not exactly MY fault,” Farrah complains. “I’m not the one dating her!”
“No, I am. And I made a mistake bringing you here. I’m sorry Farrah but please leave,” he tells her gently and reaches to touch her arm quickly. “Please do this for me.”
“Brian, I… WE could date now.”
“No,” he says firmly and walks to the door. She follows him and he stops by a security guy. “Do me a favour,” he says as the guy checks out his ID, “escort this lady outside.”
“I have a ticket!” Farrah almost yells as the guy looks at her.
“I gave her the ticket,” Brian admits. “But I changed my mind.”
“No problem Mr Littrell,” the guy says and takes Farrah’s arm firmly. “C’mon ma’am, you heard Mr Littrell…”
“Thanks,” Brian calls after him and walks inside. He finds his seat pretty quickly and sits down. The seat next to him is empty and he looks around for Jade. He can’t see her. Nick and Ali take their seats on the other side of him just as the lights go down and the opening music starts up.
“No Jade?” Nick states the obvious just as someone takes the seat by Brian.
“Jade?” Brian turns to look.
“Well, I’m a J,” replies Justin lightly. “Sorry bro.”
“Where’s Jade?” Brian asks, already knowing the answer.
“With Britney. She didn’t want to sit by you and your date.”
“She wasn’t my DATE,” Brian hisses angrily and Justin holds up a calming hand. “And she’s gone.”
“By choice?”
“Hardly. I told security to escort her out,” Brian sighs.
“Ah.”
They sit watching the show in silence for a while.
“Dude, is she real mad?” Brian whispers.
“Oh yeah,” Justin nods slowly. “And upset. But she’ll be ok… In a year or two,” he adds dryly.
“God, I can’t believe I did this to her.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Justin advises. “So you kissed some girl once? Big deal. I bet she’s done stuff too.”
“She never kissed anybody!” Brian exclaims. “’Least I don’t THINK she has.”
“Ok, look at it this way… If she kissed somebody once and was real sorry after, would you forgive her?”
“Of course I would. I love her.”
“There’s ya answer then. She’ll get over it.”
“You ever kiss somebody?” Brian asks.
“Yeah… I did.”
“Britney find out?”
“Oh yeah. She didn’t talk to me for days. But it’s all good now y’know.”
“Why’d you do it though?” Brian says.
“Dunno. She was just THERE and Brit wasn’t. Dumb I know but it wasn’t like I thought it through.”
“Same here.”
“You sure?” Britney asks Jade seriously.
“Positive,” Jade nods. “I need to talk to him,” she stands up.
“Ok. You calm enough?”
“Well, calmER.”
“That’s good. Think you can forgive him?”
“Probably,” Jade shrugs. “I guess it depends what he says.”
“I know. Y’know Justin did the same thing to me last year?”
“No?” Jade widens her eyes and Britney nods.
“Oh yeah. Got it on with some bitch at a party. He only told me cos she was at another party that we were both at. Girl, I freaked! I think I slapped him, yelled at her and stormed off home in tears.”
“But you’ve forgiven him?”
“Yeah. He was real sorry and I love him. It would’ve been a dumb thing to end our relationship over.”
“True,” Jade sighs and sits down next to Britney. “God, Brit… I kinda need to tell you somethin’.”
“Uh huh?”
“It’s kinda why I’m not sure what to do here.”
“Tell me girl. I’m not gonna judge ya. I’m your friend.”
“Well…” Jade sighs heavily and closes her eyes. “A while back, me and Brian had this dumb argument and we split up for about two months and… I-slept-with-AJ,” she says quickly and opens her eyes cautiously. Britney is staring at her.
“Slept with AJ as in had sex with AJ?” she finally asks.
“Yup. It was one night, I was kinda drunk, I felt betrayed by Brian, Ali and my brother – long story, and AJ was just THERE… I know it’s no excuse but it happened.”
“And Brian doesn’t know?”
“Nup. You are the third person to know.”
“Who else knows?”
“Ali and AJ, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Britney giggles slightly and then shakes her head slowly. “Damn girl, I’m shocked you did that. I thought you loved Brian totally.”
“I do! I think…” Jade groans. “Oh God, this is too hard!”
“It’s called a relationship.”
“I know. Ok, I love him but he scares me.”
“He does?”
“Yeah, he’s so intense. And most of the time I feel like we’re an old married couple already! I’m only 22! I want passion and excitement… He’s pretty predictable.”
“Jade, he kissed another girl!” Britney exclaims. “I wouldn’t call that predictable!”
“I know. God, I know I should forgive him cos I did worse to him with AJ but…”
“Y’know what I think? I think that maybe you kinda LIKE all the drama.”
“What?” Jade stares at her. “I LIKE finding out my boyfriend kissed somebody else?!”
“Well, not that part but you like that Brian is not so perfect. It makes ya feel less guilty about what you did,” Britney reasons.
“I guess that’s probably not so way out,” Jade admits.
“Jade, you need to decide whether you want Brian or not,” Britney tells her. “And if you decide you do, you need to stop beatin’ yourself up over AJ. Sure, it was a crappy thing to do but it’s done. You’ve moved on from it right?”
“Hell yeah,” Jade exclaims but then sighs. “I just kinda think of that night a little…”
“Of AJ?!”
“Uh huh. I KNOW, I’m bad but I just can’t stop it.”
“So…it was good?”
“It was different but…yeah. It was all about passion and sex. With Brian, it’s all about love and bein’ in a relationship…”
“Boring?”
“No! Well, uh… No.”
“Jade, you got some shit to sort out,” Britney shakes her head slowly.
“Tell me about it,” Jade mutters. “I kinda wish I could freeze my relationship with Brian for a coupla months and go have fun with AJ.”
“That’d be too easy,” Britney laughs.