Sofie plowed past Brian as he opened the door into the living room, pushing him to the side and taking off her jacket, tossing it on the kitchen counter.  Brian rolled his eyes, she'd been acting like this all night, it was growing tiresome.  He shut the door behind him and kicked off his sneakers, he walked towards the kitchen, and opened the fridge to get something to drink, but something on the door caught his eye.

Dani call AJ, the note stuck on the door with a banana shaped magnet said.

    "Who's AJ?" He said out loud.

    "Why should you care." Sofie spat, Brian hadn't even realized he'd said it out loud.

    "What is your problem tonight?" Brian asked, turning to look at her.  She was sitting at the kitchen counter on a stool, legs crossed and arms folded defensively across her chest.  She just looked at him, anger in her face.  "What?  Did you not like the movie I picked?  Was your popcorn stale?  Just tell me what is up your ass tonight?" He shot.

    "Well you certainly aren't up on me in any way.  You know the only words I've heard out of your mouth since you picked me up at work have been 'Who's AJ'."

    "So you're mad cause I'm not talkative tonight?" He questioned, Sofie just groaned and left the kitchen, sitting down on the sofa and turning on the television.   "Fine, be that way." He said, pulling off his sweatshirt and walking down the hall to his bedroom.   He slowed his step as he passed by Dani's room, her door open a crack and her laughter permeating into the hallway.  Music played in her room, but it was a name that caught her attention "AJ".  He peered in the room and saw her sitting on her bed indian style, books spread out on the bed in front of her and the phone tucked against her shoulder.

    "Yeah well, easier said than done.  You should know that!  How long did it take you to finally talk to her?"  Brian felt guilty about eavesdropping, but he couldn't move.

    "After friday night it's been a little weird.  I told you what happened, how would you have reacted?"  Friday, friday. Brian's mind scoured his memory for what she had done on Friday.  Nothing.  She stayed home, Sofie, Joey and I went out to a club and she was there when we got back.    Then something else came to mind.  "I talked to her when we got home."  Joey had said the other day.  Joey, he was with her on the couch when they left the living room, did something happen?

    "AJ, it's hard seeing him everyday.  I can't help the way I feel about him." Brian clenched his jaw tightly.  He knew something was going on with Joey and Dani, he knew it.

    "Is that your other line?  I'll let you go then, yeah I'm sure, she might be calling!"  Brian listened as she said goodbye, watching her face as she muttered 'I love you too' her eyes happy, her face content.

    "If you want her so much, why don't you just fuck her like you did her sister."  Sofie whispered in his ear, his urge to scream in fear only suppressed by his overwhelming anger towards her.  "Hi Dani, we're back!" Sofie said loudly as she swept past Brian and down the hall into his room.  Brian's heart still raced in fright, and he lifted a hand to wave at Dani as she looked his way.  he immediately followed Sofie into the room, his fists balled up in rage.

    "What the fuck was that about Sofie?" Brian yelled as he slammed the door behind himself, looking at her as she sat on the bed a smug look on her face and her arms again folded across her chest.

    "I saw you standing outside her door, listening to whatever she was saying on the phone and watching her like a jealous boyfriend." She snapped.  "I just wanted to bring you back to earth."

    "You don't have any idea what's going on in my head or why I was waiting outside her room..."

    "I don't wanna hear it Brian, all you've done since she came back into your life is push me away.  Don't pretend she isn't an issue, cause we both know she is." Sofie interrupted, standing up and facing Brian in the room.

    "You're making a big deal over nothing Sofie.  You need to get over your jealousy of Dani."

    "LIKE I WOULD EVER BE JEALOUS OF THAT!"  She scoffed, almost laughing at his statement.  "Maybe you're the one that needs to get over the jealousy Bri!  Then maybe you won't have to listen to her phone calls to find out who AJ is!"  Sofie turned away from him, and began getting ready to go to bed, slipping into an old t-shirt of Brian's as he stood watching her.

    "What?" She said as she get into the bed, looking up at Brian who hadn't moved.

    "You're a real bitch ya know that!" He said.

    "I can be more like Dani if you want me to be Brian!"  She said sarcastically.  "But sorry hun, I don't have a sister!" Sofie laid her head down on the pillow, smiling smugly at him.  Brian looked at her with cold hard eyes, reaching down, pulling the pillow out from under her head and reaching for the doorknob.

    "Where are you going?" She said sitting up.

    "I didn't tell you about what happened with Dani and her sister to have it thrown back in my face like that."  He pulled open the door "I'm going on the couch, don't follow me, cause I don't want to look at you right now." Brian slammed the door on her as he heard her say "I'm sorry" from within the room, but he didn't want to hear it.  Dani's door was now shut and Brian shook his head as he passed, throwing the pillow down on the couch and curling up on it.  Picking up the remote and flicking through the late night TV lineup for something to watch.  Too angry to sleep, too tired to do anything.

         Dani groggily got out of bed, looking at the clock in her room and noticing it was almost 1pm.  She yawned as she shuffled her way to the kitchen, plugging in the kettle so she could have a cup if tea and hopefully a big enough dose of caffeine to wake her up.   She had heard bits and pieces of the fight Brian and Sofie had had the night before, she had heard the doors slamming, a few references of jealousy and when she got up to get a drink in the middle of the night she had turned off the television seeing Brian sleeping on the couch.   Dani was insanely curious about what they were fighting about, but didn't have the guts to ask Brian.  I'll just ask Joey, he probably knows, she thought.  Dani opened the fridge, looking for milk to put on her cereal when a voice awakened her from her morning stupor.

    "Good afternoon." Sofie said snidely from the living room.  Dani shut the fridge and looked up, she was sitting alone in the middle of the couch, staring creepily ahead at the blank tv.  Her arms were folded and her legs were crossed the top one shaking rhythmically up and down as if she were waiting impatiently for something.  It didn't take Dani long to figure out she was that something.

    "Hi." She said with hesitation.  "Why are you still here and where's Brian?"

    "At work, you always have to know where he is don't you?" She said standing up and coming in the kitchen as Dani poured cereal into a bowl. Dani remembering that school had started.

    "So that doesn't answer why you're here."

    "I've been waiting for you."

    "Why?"

    "There are a few things we need to talk about Dani." Sofie said sitting in the chair next to her.

    "Like what?"

    "Like you and Brian."  " Sofie drummed her long fingernails on the table, the clicking sound was repulsing.

    "What about us?"

    "Are you two screwing around behind my back?" Dani almost choked on her Count Chocula, muttering 'What?!" through a mouthful of cereal.

    "No!" Dani  laughed.

    "Don't tell me you didn't hear our fight last night, cause I know you did.  You know it was about you, and I know you were salivating over it." Dani smiled slightly.

    "Actually I didn't hear much of your fight at all, for once you guys were surprisingly quiet."

    "Listen you little whore." Sofie said getting in Dani's face.  "You can screw around with Joey, AJ and any other man on the planet, but stay away from Brian."

    "No one in my life is ANY of your business Sofie, and my friendship with Brian has nothing to do with you." She said flatly, pissed that Sofie had the gall to comment on something she didn't have a clue about. "I don't have to sit here and take this in my own house, why don't you leave."

    "First of all hun, this isn't your house, Brian only offered to let you move in here because he felt sorry for you.  And I don't have to leave and you will listen to what I have to say."

    "Like hell I will." She said getting up from the table.  "If you won't leave, I will."  Sofie grabbed her arm and cornered her in the room.

    "This isn't a game you little bitch!" Sofie yelled as Dani shook Sofie's hand from her arm.  "He loves me in a way he could NEVER love you, so don't even day dream about it.  He'll never touch you the way he touches me and he just could never BE with you the way he is with me"

    "You aren't going to get to me Sofie." She said looking at her.  "I have never done anything to you or your relationship with Brian, get over your stupid little jealousy that we're friends."

    "You've never done anything to me or our relationship?" She scoffed.  "The minute you came back into town you've fucked with my life almost daily."  Dani looked at her incredulously.  "Brian isn't the same anymore, he's changed.  He acts different and he treats me different and it's all because of you."

    "Did you ever think that the reason Brian is acting different is because you're a boring, whiny, needy bitch?" Dani said with cold assurance.  Sofie reached up to slap Dani in the face but she grabbed her wrist in time and threw it back at her.  "Don't touch me, and get out of my way.  We're done."  Dani pushed past Sofie, but Sofie grabbed her arm spinning her back around.

    "Don't start something you can't finish Sofie."  Dani said angrily.

    "When are you gonna realize that Brian will never see you as anything but his good old buddy Dani?  You aren't good enough, or pretty enough to be anything he'd want.  I don't care how great a friendship you have, that's all it'll ever be and the sooner you realize that the better."

    "Fuck you Sofie."

    "Ooh have I hit a nerve?" She asked.  And she had, Dani held her ground strong, but every word stung like a hot needle, regardless of what she told Sofie.

    "Let's face it Dani, you'll never have the kind of relationship with Brian that I do." Sofie seethed.

    "Thank god for small miracles." Dani laughed.  "Why would I want your relationship? You are an air-head trophy girlfriend, he doesn't care about you, and he'll dump you the second he gets bored. You're just like every girl he dated in high school."

    "Like your sister was?"

    "Brian never went out with my sister."

    "Oh that's right he just fucked her behind your back, that's MUCH better."

    "What do you know about anything,"

    "Oh please like Brian didn't tell me all about the hot affair he had with his best friends sister."

    "It wasn't an affair..." She trailed off.

    "Oh that's right, they didn't tell you the truth!" She cackled.

    "Fuck you, why should I believe anything you say."

    "Why would I lie?" She questioned.  "It's obvious why he'd pick your sister over you anyway.  You're pathetic, and he knows it."  Dani turned her head away from Sofie, who still had her cornered in the kitchen.

    "He pity's you Dani."

    "Sofie why don't you just leave, you've said what you need to say." Dani said as Sofie grinned madly, like an evil cheshire cat.  They both turned to look at the door when they heard Joey clear his throat, he dropped his bag on the floor and stared at the two women intently.  Sofie backed away from Dani and made her way to the door.  Everyone was silent.

    "Oh and Dani," Sofie turned back around to face her.   "When Brian and I get married I'll be sure to toss you the bouquet!  I'm sure you'll need all the help you can get finding a man." She said with piercing cheerfulness blowing her a kiss as she walked past a confused Joey towards the door.  "Gotta go now, bye Joey."

    "Uh, bye Sofie." He said with confusion in his voice,  as Dani sat back down at the kitchen table, her face buried in her hands. "Dani are you okay?"

    "I'm fine, why?" She said, the sound of her voice muffled by her arms.

    "I heard what she said to you Dan."

    "What did you hear?" She sniffed.  Joey could tell she was crying.

    "From the part where you called her Brian's air-head trophy girlfriend." he laughed, Dani looked up with a small smile on her face, her eyes red and her face blotchy.  "She's full of shit Dani, no one thinks you're pathetic and there was nothing more between Brian and your sister than what he told you."

    "I don't want to talk about it Joey." Dani said wiping her face and going to her room.  She shut her door tightly and laid down on the bed, unable to stop the tears from flowing and unable to stop thinking about everything Sofie had said.

     "Dan, let me in........c'mon talk to me? Dani?...........What else did she say?.................Dani please.......don't listen to her.......Dani?.............C'mon let me in.........."  He begged.

    "Go away!" She yelled.

    "Dani, I'll park it out here until you let me in, I'm not going anywhere."

    "Joey just let it go, it was nothing."

    "You wouldn't cry over nothing."

    "I'm not crying."

    "Who do you think you're fooling Dani....let me in."

    "Fine." She conceded opening the door and returning to her position on the bed.  Dani had a pillow tucked under her chin, her face buried under her arms.  Joey sat down on the bed next to her, rubbing her back as she sniffed back tears.

    "Dan, why are you letting her get to you?" He asked.

    "I can't help it.  I just keep thinking that what she said was true..."

    "Dani I told you she was full of shit."

    "Joey, you didn't hear everything she said.  She told me Brian only let me move in here cause he felt sorry for me, and that Brian will never see me as more than a friend, and that I'm a whore who's screwing you and AJ.  I didn't let her see that she got to me, but it's hard not to take it to heart Joey, cause what if she's right.  Maybe I am just pathetic."

    "Okay, whoa.  She said all that shit?  Plus what I heard her say?" Dani nodded as she looked up at him.

    "...and more..."  Joey shook his head.

    "Brian wanted you to move in here because you are one of his best friends, plain and simple.  Not because he pitied you or any other reason, and I know you know Brian doesn't see you as just a friend.  Why would he have been so jealous, and why would Sofie have attacked you like that if she didn't see you as a threat?"

    "I don't know." She said muffled into the pillow.

    "And well I dunno about you and AJ, but at least she got us right on the money."

    "Shut up Joey!" Dani said whacking him in the chest with her hand, and sitting up next to him on the bed. "That's the last thing I need is for that to be spread around."

    "Do you feel better at all?" He asked, putting an arm around her shoulder.

    "Yeah I guess.  Well sort of.  I don't know." She sighed.  Joey put his other arm around her and pulled her in for a hug.  Dani laid her head on his chest and put her arms around his waist, feeling his chin rest on her head.  "Thanks Joe, I needed this."

    "Anytime doll."  he smiled.  Joey and Dani sat still for awhile, Dani still sniffing back her tears and Joey closing his eyes, both of them unaware that Brian stood watching in the doorway, his eyes wide and the small briefcase he held in his hand falling with a thump to the floor.
 

Lyrics Taken From:
"I need to Know" Marc Anthony
Written by: Marc Anthony/Cory Rooney
© 1999 Sony/ATV Songs LLC