He definitely shouldn't have guzzled down the liquors as if they were plain water, today, he was paying the price. The mother of all headaches was paying him a visit and he assuredly did not appreciate it. If he had known this would happen last night, he would have gone and bought a gun in preparation. This morning, he would have blown his brains out and spare himself the suffering.
The knocking came again, this time louder and faster. His visitor was getting impatient. Brian moaned pitifully as he rolled over, praying as he got out of bed that he won't disgraced himself by puking all over his visitor when he opens the door.
Jade tapped her feet impatiently as she waited for the slow coach to let her in his front door. Vaguely, she wondered what he was doing in there even as she planned what she was going to say to him.
Brian collapsed against the door as he put all his willpower into forcing the bile back down the way it came. Damn! This really wasn't his morning. Taking a deep breath, Brian braced himself against the door frame as he pulled open the door, wincing as sunlight stabbed his pupils.
Jade gawked silently at the disheveled and rumpled drunkard who had open the door for her. He smelled stale and he looked even worse; blond hair stood on its ends and his blue eyes looked small and bleary, his skin green and sallow. "What happened to you?" Jade asked as she stepped past him into the house. She had to hold her breath to prevent herself from choking on his overwhelmingly pungent smell.
"Hangover," he muttered. "Want a drink?" He called out hoarsely as he shuffled towards the kitchen.
In the living room, Jade was trying hard not to gag. Brian wasn't the only thing emanating a foul smell, his entire house stank to high heaven. It was a veritable pig sty. Clothes were strewn everywhere, Chinese takeouts littered the floor and half-eaten pizzas were left on every surface imaginable. Unwashed dishes vied with magazines for space on the table, even the sofa were buried under all the rubbish. Jade had to dig through all the trash to find a place for her derriere.
Just as she gingerly set herself down, Brian stumbled in popping several pills into his mouth and swigged the coke he held in one hand. He grimaced as swallowed and tossed a spare can of Coke to Jade, who caught it handily with a cocky grin.
"Showoff," he said under his breath as he shoved aside several dirty shirts and pants only to uncover a half-eaten pepperoni pizza. Brian lifted it out of the way and sat down. Jade watched in silent horror as Brian sniffed the pizza and took a bite out of it.
"How can you eat that?"
Brian looked up and grinned as he saw the disgusted look on Jade's face. "It's yesterday's leftovers," he said, as if that explain everything.
"If you don't die from food poisoning, you'll die from all this," Jade gestured around her. "How can you live like this? In this dump? Would it kill you to clean up a little?"
Brian took another bite and shrugged, "I don't see anything wrong in my living environment."
"You need to have your eyesight checked!" Jade snapped.
Brian shook his head, "I don't think you've come to discuss my living conditions. Come on, out with it. What do you want?"
"I want Nick," Jade said baldly.
Brian blinked in surprise. "You do have him, he's your boyfriend or have you forgotten?"
"He's my boyfriend, but he's not mine. He doesn't love me." Jade's tone was matter-of-factly. Brian wondered just how much she knew and at the same moment wondered if he could enlist her help.
"Who do you think he loves then?"
Jade looked steadily at Brian. "I think you know."
"And you want me to tell you?" Jade nodded. "And if I say I don't know?"
"I'll know you're lying."
Brian set the pizza down and crossed his arms across his chest. "I do know something," he admitted.
Jade sighed inwardly with relief, Brian was going to tell her. She raised her brows at him.
"Nick made a bet with AJ."
Jade's eyes rounded at those words. "What do you mean? What bet?"
"They are betting who can get the ice maiden thaw first. That's what." Brian said tiredly, feeling his headache worsened.
Jade felt a flash of anger and then fear. Danny. The ice maiden must refer to Danny, who else could it be? "Danny?" She questioned nonetheless. Brian nodded.
"Then he doesn't love her?" Jade's voice held a tinge of puzzlement and something else. Something like hope mixed with anger.
Brian knew instinctively that Jade didn't mean AJ. "I didn't say that."
"Then what the hell are you saying? Stop talking in riddles, I want the truth! I deserve it! Nick knows the truth and hides it from me, even my own best friend is doing it! I want to know what the hell is going on here!" Jade leaped to her feet and stared down at Brian, her chest heaving from her angry outburst.
"I can tell you the truth, but you whether you accept it or not is another matter entirely." Brian said calmly. He was returning Jade stare for stare, even though his head hurts like the very devil.
"That's for me to decided, just tell me." She paused, "Please."
"Nick is digging a grave for himself," Brian sighed. "He does like her. A lot, I would say. But," Brian looked pointedly at Jade. "He already has you. I think the bet with AJ was just an excuse for him to get near her. An excuse to absolve himself to you, but an excuse which will hurt Danny terribly when she finds out and I assure you that she will."
"Why?"
"Why what? Why she will find out? Because the truth always have a way of coming back to haunt you, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Cliché, but sadly true. Why she would be hurt? I think you know why."
"My best friend is in love with my boyfriend."
Brian winced at the cold way she said it. "Jade..." She just looked at him when he trailed off.
"What?" Jade cocked a brow at him. "What did you want to say, Brian?"
Brian shook his head. He didn't know what to say, didn't know what he should say. "Nothing."
Jade closed her eyes and tried to shut out the gnawing feeling in her chest region. Danny, her best friend. Nick, her boyfriend. She had known it would come to this, she had known that sooner or later she would be forced to a decision. To continue hurting Danny for her own selfish desires or tell Danny the truth and put Nick and her out of misery and in the process, put herself in the hell she had put them through.
She knew that Brian was right, that Nick made the bet with AJ as an excuse to get near Danny. She also knew that she was the one who had forced him to this. If she hadn't used that underhanded trick to force Nick to stay at her side, he would have left her long ago. God, she was pathetic!
Blindly, Jade groped towards the door. She needed to be alone, she couldn't face Brian, not now. She needed time to herself to sort out her thoughts. She was just so confused. So hurt, so scared, for both herself and Danny. Her decision would decide who would be the one getting hurt. "I'm sorry, Brian," she nearly tripped over a bundle of clothes, but she caught her balance in time. Brian grabbed her arm in alarm, her pale, set face causing a shiver of apprehension run down his spine. "I- I need to go, I'll see you... when I see you." She mumbled, more to herself than to him.
Brian wanted to dash after her, demanding to know what she was going to do, where she was going, but he didn't. In Jade's current state of mind, it was better to leave her alone. He watched from his vantage point from his living room window as Jade made her way unsteadily to her car. Or was it such a good idea?
The red light loomed up suddenly and Jade hastily put her foot on the right pedal, or so she thought. The car shot forward towards the tottering old woman crossing the road. The old lady's eyes bulged as the car sped right at her, a silent scream contorted her face, a scream that couldn't, wouldn't come out.
"Oh Lord!" Jade shrieked as she squeezed her eyes shut and swerved. She didn't open her eyes after that as her car was thrown against the wall of a building and she was thrown out of the car and into the middle of the road. The traffic screeched to a complete stop as motorists got out of their vehicles to gawk at the destruction.
"Miss Danny!" Baxter burst into Danny's room, looking agitated and windblown. His immaculate uniform was askew and the few hair adorning his head was standing on its ends. His complexion was blotchy. Something was very wrong, Danny concluded as she shucked away the quilt covering her and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "What's wrong, Baxter? What happened?" She asked calmly as she reached Baxter and pushed him into a plush chair. Baxter never panicked, not even that fateful night when her mother plunged down to her- well, never mind.
"It's Miss Jade," his voice trembled. He was fond of Jade, Jade usually has a gentle word for the lonely old man. Danny's heartbeat picked up. "What the hell was wrong with Jade." She grasped Baxter's wrinkled hands in hers in a comforting gesture. "Tell me," she said in a soothing voice.
Baxter seemed to caught her serenity. "Miss Jade has been involved in a accident."
The color drained from Danny's face, "What did you say?"
"It's not good, Miss Danny. She has been thrown some distance from her car, and is, even now, in the operating theater. Mrs. Cassady was the one who called with the news, she thought that you might want to know." Baxter's eyes was sad. He felt awful for both girls, even worse for Mrs. Cassady. Jade was her baby, she was hysterical on the phone just now. He could barely make out her words. Vaguely, he wondered how Mr. Cassady would deal with the news. Jade meant more to him than his vast wealth. He would be bowed with grief when he heard. Currently, he was out of the country, Baxter wondered if that condition would remain for long.
Danny stood up, catching Baxter's attention. She looked like a brave young princess, a princess dealt with a killing blow, but still raising valiantly to meet whatever fate has in store for her. "I have to go to her," she said quietly, her face still ashen, her incredible sliver eyes were dull with shock, but her bearing was proud and defiant. Baxter was filled to bursting with pride for his little mistress.
Baxter nodded vigorously as he stood to leave. "I'll tell your father for you."
Danny didn't acknowledge his words, just waited until he left before abandoning her brave front. Slowly, so very slowly, she sank to her knees, her mind feeding her images of the previous night. Of the perfidious night she had with Nick. Guilt ate at her from the inside.
The words she had spoken so carelessly the previous night came back to haunt her. She had said that she'll choose Nick over Jade any day. That was folly. She couldn't do that. Not now. Jade was dying for God's sake! She was dying. Nick has no place in her life, not now, not ever.
Filled with that strangling and heartbreaking determination, Danny got to her feet, wiped away the tears and headed for the bathroom.
Chapter Ten
Back to the ALIL Index
Back to the Hosted Stories Page
Back to the Main Page