A/N: Thank you SO much for all the reviews and stuff for the first chapter. I'm really glad you're intrigued by the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review again, I'd really appreciate it, thanks! :)
You do?
Yeah I do
Ryan could hear his brother coming down the stairs, and he quickly put Dolph's phone down. Then he just as quickly picked it back up and thought about pocketing it so he could continue his conversation with AJ. But then his brother would be looking for his phone, and that would be even worse. He wanted his brother to talk to AJ, but then again, that could be bad because he was within striking distance of his brother, and if Dolph knew what he'd just done, he was going to be sporting his Christmas gift from his brother in the form of a black eye.
He had to think quick, and so he typed as fast as he could, I'll talk to you later
The response was so immediate, she must have been staring at her phone, which must have been open to their conversation. You can't just say that and go!
I'm sorry, I have to!
He exited out of his messages, and he put the phone back on the counter where it was. Dolph was in the room a second later, "God, I feel so much better now, pizza's not here yet?"
"No, not yet, should be soon," Ryan said, glancing over at his Dolph's phone, hoping against hopes that AJ just accepted that they would talk later, and not message him again. Until the pizza got here though or until AJ blew this whole thing up with a new text, he really had to get the truth out of his brother. "She's kind of changed you though."
Dolph spun around to look at his brother in confusion, "What are you talking about now?"
"AJ," Ryan answered, and Dolph rolled his eyes. It was such a defense mechanism for his brother to just brush things off. He did that a lot, he would make jokes or make light of something that in actuality really frustrated him. It as just his way of trying to deflect from the real issues at hand.
"Why are we back to talking about her?" Dolph asked. "I thought that I explained that she wasn't my girlfriend, and we're just friends, really good friends."
"You don't see it of course because you don't necessarily see the changes in yourself. It's other people who notice them first. You're different now, you've been different since her, and it's like, look, I know you're a guy who when you're in a relationship, you're really good at it, sort of. Like, when you love a girl, you're like Mr. Devoted. But it's different with AJ."
"Because she's not my girlfriend, so of course it's going to be different, there's a different dynamic," Dolph tried to explain it away, but Ryan wasn't going to let him off that easy. Not this time, and not with this girl. It wasn't like Ryan got involved in Dolph's love life all the time or anything, but when he could see, as plain as day, that his brother was in love with someone, someone who could possibly be the one, he had to help somehow. It was like his familial duty to do so.
"Yeah, but I mean, really, it's kind of really, really different," Ryan said carefully. "Don't you think that there's something more going on. I mean, didn't everyone think there was more going on? I had so many of our friends asking if you were actually with her."
"Women?" Dolph asked with a smirk.
Ryan rolled his eyes and shook his head a little, "You're not fooling me, man. I'm your brother. You may be able to fool other people, but why won't you just admit that you have feelings for AJ? Is it really that hard to think about how you might have feelings for the girl?"
"It's because I don't," Dolph told him, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know why you want to make a big deal out of this, but I assure you, I'm not in love with AJ, I mean, she's great, I love her as a friend, but it's nothing more."
The doorbell rang then, signaling their pizza had come. Dolph grabbed his wallet, slapped his brother on the back, and walked out of the room. Ryan still didn't believe his brother, and as soon as he was out of the room, grabbed his brother's phone again and unlocked it, going back to his brother's messages.
Hey, sorry about that, family and everything
She still must have had her phone near because the response was quick. It's ok can we talk though?
Later. Ryan didn't know how he was going to make that happen, but he'd be damned if this night didn't end with his brother finally confessing his feelings for the petite brunette who seemed to take over his life. He deleted as many messages as he could get to before Dolph came in with the pizzas. He set them on the counter and grabbed a couple plates from the cupboard, sliding one over to his brother.
"We're bothering with plates?"
"If Mom comes home and sees us just eating pizza from the box, she'll have a fit," Dolph said, putting a couple slices on his plate before heading into the living room. Ryan watched as Dolph settled into the couch, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. This gave Ryan the opportunity to get back on Dolph's phone. He knew his brother was going to kill him, but maybe the fact he'd have AJ at the end of all this would grant him a pardon or at least some mercy.
Is it okay to call you around midnight?
Yeah, sure, we definitely need to talk
I think so too
You really like me?
Yeah I do
We'll talk at midnight then, later
Later
Ryan deleted these messages too, and now he only had a few hours to get his brother to admit his feelings, and a few hours to tell him what he did. Unless he didn't, and he messaged AJ to call around midnight, that was a thought. But he didn't want to put AJ on the spot like that. It would just be better if he told the truth. Yes, he should tell the truth, but first his brother needed to tell the truth.
He grabbed his plate and brought it back into the living room. His brother had on a hockey game, it looked like the Penguins vs. Senators, and he settled into the couch as they both ate in silence. Once he was finished with his first slice, he looked at his brother. "Would it be so terrible if you did like AJ?"
"Oh my God! Quit it!" Dolph practically yelled. "How many times do I have to say it? I don't have feelings for AJ, we're just friends, God, can you just stop it because it's getting completely out of hand now, and it's annoying, and maybe you want to date AJ, and if so, go ahead because she can date whomever she wants, even if it's a complete jerk who isn't worthy of her."
And now they were at the root of the problem, "So you think there's another guy?" Ryan called him out.
"What? No, I'm just saying that she can date whoever she wants."
"So she's seeing someone, and that's why you don't want to admit that she's the woman you're in love with because you think that it's futile if you think for even one second that she's interested in you."
"Stop it," Dolph practically shoved an entire slice of pizza into his mouth to avoid talking to his brother.
"I'm not going to stop it because it's obvious you like her."
"I don't want to talk about it," Dolph mumbled around his massive bite of pizza.
"Who is it? Do you know? Maybe you're wrong. You wouldn't ruin your friendship if you told her, you know? I mean, if worse comes to worse, she says no and you move on, and that's okay, it doesn't have to be a big deal. You're friends with all your exes, and so you'd continue being friends with her."
"You think it's that simple?" Dolph asked. "You just think that if I told her I liked her, and she didn't, she would just go back to being friends, that we could go back to being friends? It would be awkward, and she would avoid me."
"So you do like her?"
"Of course I like her!" Dolph exclaimed. "I mean, come on, what's not to like, she's perfect. She's beautiful, she gets me, she can keep up with me, did I mention she's beautiful? She's got this sense of humor that just kind of sneaks up on you, and she's got a ton of dirty jokes, which surprised me. She's great."
"So why do you think she's interested in someone?"
"Celeste told me," Dolph said. "She told me that AJ is interested in a guy, and that she's been hanging out with him even when they're not at shows, and so this guy probably lives in Florida if they're hanging out together. So she sees him on our off days. I think it's Jon. She's always talked about how she had a crush on The Shield, which probably means that she has a crush on Jon since he's the only single one, and it makes me sick to my stomach. Celeste said that AJ is just waiting for this guy to make a move because she's too shy to make the first move, which shouldn't endear me to her more, but it does."
"Why don't you just tell her how you feel and see?"
"No, look, don't worry about it, life goes on, there are plenty of other fish in the sea," Dolph turned his attention back to the television.
"What? Like the girls on Twitter you've become friends with, I believe they are what the children call thirsty," Ryan told him.
Dolph shrugged. "I didn't say that I wanted any of those fish. Can we just not talk about AJ? I have to see her the day after Christmas as it is, and we're exchanging gifts, and I don't know what she got me, and it's probably something small, and I'm freaking out because I got her something nice, and I don't know, she's probably going to read too much into it, especially since she's not interested."
Ryan wasn't so sure that was actually the case. It seemed like Kaitlyn was talking about Dolph maybe. It was possible. Maybe he and AJ were just kind of dancing around each other. Kaitlyn could have been trying to hint to Dolph to make a move, to make the move, but his stupid, dense, hard-headed idiot of a brother wasn't picking up on the fact that Kaitlyn was knocking him over the head with information. Of course, this all hinged on AJ having feelings for Dolph, but that's what it sounded like. He just needed some confirmation.
He excused himself and walked into the kitchen, grabbing his own phone, and scrolling through the contacts. He had Kaitlyn's number because they were both friends with Derrick, and had hung out a few times. He glanced into the living room to see his brother occupied by the hockey game and walked out into the hallway where he was out of earshot.
"Ryan?"
"Hey, Celeste," he said, "I know this is weird and out of the blue, but I was just talking with my brother, and he told me that you talked to him about AJ, and how she liked a guy, and how they hung out after shows, and all of that, and I was just thinking about it, and I was thinking that we might be on the same team here."
"What do you mean the same team?" Kaitlyn asked, and she sounded like she was settling down to get into the nitty gritty of this conversation.
"I think that you were talking about my brother, trying to make him make a move on your best friend. So tell me, were you talking about Nick as being the one that AJ is interested in?" He heard Kaitlyn laugh for a moment before answering.
"Of course I am."
