“Tell me why we’re here again?” AJ asked resentfully. He wasn’t in the mood to go out tonight; he just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep.

“Come on, man!! You’ve been down all week long. We gotta snap you out of this,” Howie said, dragging AJ into the “7 club” after him.

“Yeah, it’s been like, what, a month since you and Sarah broke up? You need to move on,” Nick said as he sauntered out onto the dance floor, leaving the rest of the guys behind.

AJ didn’t want to move on. He just wanted to have Sarah back again. He had thought they were perfect for each other. And then he had caught her with another guy; her ex to be exact. He’d been hurt and had ended the relationship on the spot. Now he semi-regretted it. She had been so supportive when he had gone into rehab over the summer. She had been perfect for him and they had been perfect together. Too bad he had to find out the hard way that no one was perfect.

“If it’s cool with yall, I think I’m just gonna go back to the hotel and wallow some more.” AJ started out towards the exit but Brian stopped him.

“Hey, I heard this DJ was supposed to be good, you gotta stick around. Ya never know, it might even be a hot girl...” Brian left the sentence hanging.

“Thanks...whatever,” AJ left to find a place to sit down. He didn’t even feel like dancing.

He found a booth in the corner that was a little quieter and with an OK view of the stage. If this DJ was a girl, he’d wanna get a look at her. ‘Hey, whaddya know?’ he thought. ’I’m starting to get back to my old self already...’ He smiled a little half-smile and sank back in the booth.

He was halfway into wallowing when a dark-haired girl slid into the booth across from him.

“Is this seat taken?” She asked.

Her sudden arrival had taken AJ by surprise. He had to think for a second before he answered. “Umm, no.”

“Well it is now.” She said smiling. “Hey, are you ok?”

“I guess so. I was just sulking...”

“Sulking about what?” Her face was creased with concern.

“My ex girlfriend.”

“Ooh, I hear that.”

A waitress walked up to the booth and asked if they would like something to drink. The girl across from him ordered a beer then looked at AJ to order. He just shook his head.

“You’re not gonna drink anything?”

“Umm, no. It’s a long story, but I don’t drink anymore.”

“I see. My name’s Riley by the way.” She extended her hand across the table that separated them.

“AJ,” he shook her hand.

“What’s that stand for?”

“Alexander James.”

“Cool.”

“Why did you come over here?” AJ was still confused as to why she was there in the first place. But he had to admit he didn’t really mind. He was ready for something to take his mind off Sarah and what she did to him. He almost physically recoiled at the recollection of it.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you just all of a sudden appeared here.”

“Well, I saw a terribly attractive man sitting alone and I guess I figured I’d do something about it.”