Rhonda's View

"I'll have the Spanish omelet," I said hungrily.
Howie looked at me really confused. "You're not gonna eat that! You always get the strawberry pancakes."
"Well I feel like something different today," I snapped the tension kind of getting to me. I was a long night. The rest of the table was quiet not really knowing what to make of all this.
"Well," said Howie not letting my grumpiness faze him, "I'll get the strawberry pancakes." I heard him mumble under his breathe "Cause I know your not gonna eat that Spanish omelet." I had to laugh because part of me knew he was right but I wanted it any ways.

The rest of the guys ordered and then everyone sat there in awkward silence. I glanced at each of them one by one. Brian looked uncomfortable, Nick looked hungry, Kevin looked extremely annoyed by all of us, AJ kept shooting Brian dirty looks and Howie, well, he just looked confused. I couldn't take anymore of this I got up and headed towards the bathroom.

Amber's View

After AJ left and I got about an hour's worth of sleep I decided to give Rhonda a call and tell her what happened. I tried her apartment but no one was there. It's four in morning I wondered where she was? I hoped they weren't still stuck at the club. I decided to try her cell phone.

"Hello," a male voice answered after a few rings.
"Hello…who is this?"
"Ah Howie – who's this?"
"Oh hi Howie, it's Amber – is Rhonda there?"
"Umm no she's not here right now – can I take a message for her?"
"Where the hell is she?"
"She's in the bathroom I think." In the background I heard AJ ask if it was me.
"You guys still aren't at the club are ya?"
"No, AJ and Brian came back to pick us up – so we all decided to go out to breakfast."
"Oh my god – they're both there?"
"Uh…yeah."
"Howie - is this a bad time to call?" AJ was now trying to get Howie to give him the phone.
"Uh…yeah."
"O.K. well when you get a chance tell her to call me,"
"O.k. will do. Bye," he said hanging up the phone. I walked back to the bedroom laughing as I pictured the scene in my head.

Rhonda's View

I came back from the bathroom to find the waitress delivering our food and AJ yelling at Howie.
"It was her wasn't it! Why didn't you give me the phone?"
"You didn't tell me you wanted to talk to her."
"What the hell did you think I wanted to do, just look at the phone?"

I decided I needed to rescue Howie. "Well," I said walking up to the table, "time to eat ALL of my Spanish omelet" I sat down and took the plate from the waitress. "Hey," I said, "I didn't know there were green peppers in this." I slowly began to pick all the green pepper out one by one. Howie just looked at me and laughed as the waitress brought him the strawberry pancakes.

"Do you wanna switch?"
"No I ordered it – I'll eat it," I said taking a bite and then proceeded to pick all the onions out of it. "Aww man onions too."
"Are you sure you don't want to switch – look there's even whip cream," Howie said waving the plate under my nose.
"O.k. if you insist" I took the plate from him and shoved the, omelet which I knew he had wanted any way over to him.
Nick looked at my plate of pancakes "Ohh those look good! Can I get one of those too?" he asked the waitress before she had a chance to leave.
"Can you please pass the syrup?" Brian asked as he began to cut up his pancakes.
AJ shot Brian another look and said, "No I can't - I'M using it right now and you have no right to take anything that I had first." There was dead silence at the table. We all knew that AJ was no longer just talking about syrup.

"AJ don't be stupid," Kevin said in a highly annoyed voice, "Brian's engaged – he just gave her a ride home,"
Nick looked up from his food. "Gave who a ride home?"
"Amber – you know MY date," AJ said.
"Oh yeah her, she's hot – I wouldn't have minded taking her home. OWWW!" Nick yelled as Howie kicked him under the table. "What was that for?"
Howie turned to me and whispered in my ear, "Could this get any worse?"
As soon as the question was out of Howie's mouth AJ pushed his plate away. "I'm not hungry anymore," he said as got up and stormed out.
I turned to Howie and said, "You had to ask didn't you!" I quickly got up and followed AJ outside. "AJ wait up!!"
AJ turned around slowly and snapped, "What do you want? Haven't you done enough for one evening?!"
"What do you mean – what did I do?!"
"You let her go home with Brian."
"Yeah…but…ahh…what did she tell you when you went over there?"
"Not much," he said sitting down on the curb.
"Well what EXACTLY did she say?" I asked as I sat down next to him.
"She said something had happened to scare her, something about the past – but she wouldn't tell me what. I don't know what to make of it – I really like her I just wish I knew what was going on inside her head."
"Maybe I should explain a little bit about the situation," I said not being able to look him in the eyes – it really did seem like he liked her. "There was a man in her past that did things to really scare her, he was extremely jealous, sometimes it's little things that trigger memories. Brian just happened to be there at one of those times. I know from experience that when something like that happens sometimes the only one that can help is the one that's there."

"What exactly did he do to her?" AJ asked with a sad look coming over his face.
"I can't tell you – but I know she likes you and she'll tell you when she's ready. Besides I know that Brian is definitely not her type," I said trying to change the subject just a little.
"And what is her type?" he asked even though it seemed like he already knew the answer.
I just started laughing, "Well… we need to get inside before Nick eats all the pancakes. Are you coming with me?" I asked reaching out my hand to pull him up.
"I guess so," he said taking my hand and following me back inside.

Amber's View

"What the hell happened between you and AJ last night?!" Rhonda asked as soon as I answered the phone.
"Good morning to you too." I said yawning.
"No it's not! I just spent the last two hours at an IHOP! So are you gonna call him?"
"No I'm not going to call him. Rhon you know what's up, I don't want anyone in my life who's gonna get jealous over me riding home with another guy! I just can't handle that. It was his choose to leave last night – and he did!"
"He's not like…he could never be like Steve," Rhonda said quietly.
I sighed "I know he's not, but I just don't think it's gonna work out."
"He likes you – a lot. You can't tell me you don't like him too."
"Wait a minute weren't you the one who told me not to get involved with him in the first place? Weren't you the one who told me to watch out? Why have you changed your mind all of a sudden?" I asked.
"I just did that's all."
"So does he want me to call him?" I asked sort of hoping that he did.
"Well…he's still kinda upset about the Brian thing – but once he realizes what an ass he was he will."
"So you're telling me to call a guy who doesn't even want to talk to me! Rhon you were right the first time – me and AJ should never have gotten involved."
"Fine!" she said breathing hard. "So what are you up too?"
"Nothing seeing as you just woke me up yelling at me. What are you up too?"
"Well I was thinking about going to a movie a little later today. You wanna come and we can grab some lunch while we're out?"
"Sure – as long as you don't bring up the subject of AJ."
"Fine. I won't bring up the subject of AJ, but you'll have to treat."
"What? Why do I have to treat?"
"Just consider it an early birthday present to me."
"Rhon your birthday isn't for another month."
"So…?"
"Fine. What time then?" I asked knowing that she probably would bring up the subject anyway.
"How about you meet me over here around 11:30 or so and we'll grab lunch first. Okay?"
"Great see you around 11:30 then. Bye."
"Bye."

I glanced at the clock and decided that there was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep. I climbed out of bed and headed into the kitchen to make myself some coffee. It took me awhile to find the coffee maker – there were still some boxes left to unpack. I drank my coffee and decided to kill some time by calling my sister Terri. She would be headed off to college soon and I really missed her.

"Hey Howie," I said as he opened Rhonda's door. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much. Come on in." Howie had a really guilty look on his face – I wondered what he had done.
"Is Rhonda ready to go?" I asked as I stepped into the room.
"What the hell is she doing here?"
I turned around to see AJ walking through the kitchen doorway. "What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here?" I turned around to where Rhonda was now standing next to Howie, "What are you trying to pull?!"
"I'm leaving," AJ said as he walked towards the door.
"No you're not – sit!" Howie said forcefully. I never imagined Howie could be that forceful. AJ just looked at Howie with his mouth open and then sat down on the couch.
"Well if he's staying then I'm going," I said.
"I don't think so!" Rhonda said locking the door and blocking it. "Now you go sit down on the couch too!" I just stood there with my arms folded. "SIT!" I gave her a disgusted look but sat down on the couch as far away as I could from AJ.
"Now look you two – you're acting like big babies," Howie said walking over to stand in front of us. AJ and I started to object to that but Rhonda stopped us.
"Yes you are! Amber I know you like AJ and AJ I know you like Amber. So here's the deal – you two are gonna sit here until you make up or can at least act civilly towards each other. Got it?" AJ and I nodded yes. "Good. Howie and I will be in the kitchen – so don't even think about leaving!"

"This sucks!" I said as Howie and Rhonda disappeared in to the kitchen.
"That's probably something you know how to do really well." AJ said under his breath.
"Fuck you!"
"That's what I had in mind until Brian came along!"
"Oh please I could never even think about kissing Brian – it would be like kissing my brother – ewww! The only person I wanted to kiss that night was you and you left! Nothing happened between Brian and me except a ride home. I'm sorry I left you and I'm sorry things didn't work out but I can't keep apologizing for things that never happened." I could feel my anger start to fade as I put all I was feeling on the table.

AJ was quiet for a few minutes. I was about to call Rhonda in to tell her this stupid plan wasn't working when he finally spoke. "I know nothing happened between you and Brian. I guess I've always known it. I was just pissed that you went home with him and not me – you were my date you know."
"I know. I wanted to go home with you it was just…" I didn't really want to get into why I had left with Brian, it was still a painful subject. "I'm sorry."
"Me too," AJ apologized.
"So what do we do now?" I asked looking at him.
"Hmmm seems to me a makeup kiss is in order."
A smile broke out on my face as I remembered how it felt to kiss him. "That only seems appropriate," I said. AJ scooted over next to me on the couch. He bent his head down and I felt the soft touch of his lips brush against mine. He kissed me softly until I couldn't take anymore and deepened the kiss. We never even noticed Rhonda and Howie walking back in the room.

"Well it looks like you two made up and if not that's a hell of a way to act civilly towards each other," Rhonda said laughing. AJ and I just sat back on the couch and smiled.
"So," said Howie, "now that you two are back together what movie should we see?"
I looked at AJ and he winked at me reading my mind. He grabbed my hand and stood up pulling me with him. "I think we're gonna skip the movie today – we still have some more making up to do," he said as we walked out the door leaving Rhonda and Howie standing there in shock.