Frankly, I Don't Love You.

As the song ended I saw tears welling up in A.J’s eyes and this time it wasn’t because of the stupid fight we had had.

She was actually happy about the song Gerard had written for her. I wondered how Gerard was different from me. He was artistic and had everything he ever wanted. Why did I feel such jealousy towards Gerard all of a sudden? I turned to my side to see Mikey smiling at Gerard and A.J. who were now sitting on the couch snuggling. I made a face to show my disgust.

“Mikey, how about let’s go get something to drink, I’m thirsty as hell” I told him. I couldn’t stand being in that room any longer.

“Sure Frank” he replied setting his bass down against his amp.

As we walked out of the room I caught A.J’s eye and quickly glanced away. When we got to the kitchen we pulled some orange juice out of the refrigerator and poured it out. We sat on the counter too lethargic to go back downstairs to the basement. I felt guilty still for what had happened with A.J. earlier that day. Coincidentally Mikey was able to read my face which had a concerned look as I slowly drank my juice.

“Frank are you going to tell me why A.J. rushed all the way over here after school crying her eyes out because of what you did?”

“I don’t know… I never noticed it was that bad, Mikey. It was just little jokes but those have never been new. Mikey, I’ve known A.J. since we were kids, and back then we actually got along. Now it’s just different, something’s changed. We’ve both changed. I didn’t know it had bothered her that much. When she slapped me, I was just so surprised… I don’t hate her, it’s the fact that something about her, makes me uneasy…” I said while looking at my shoes.

“Frank, you don’t know anything about A.J. she’s gone through some stuff even you wouldn’t expect, so please cut her some slack for once.” with that, Mikey left the room leaving me alone on the counter drowning in my thoughts and even more guilt.

Now I wanted to know, what was A.J. hiding?...