Trust and Faith

Day by Day

Brian had made it to Jersey in record time. After getting caught by Sal, the rest of the meeting was pretty awkward for all three. He knew Kassi was embarrassed and at first he was too but as he thought more and more about the situation he started to get angry. Why would guys who were supposed to be his friends prevent him from being happy? Getting more aggravated as he continued thinking it was clear to everyone in the Stash that Brian was in a rotten mood when he walked in.
"Woah.." Johnson said to his friend of 20 Plus years.
"What?" Brian barked back.
"Whats up your ass?" Johnson replied
"Can we just start?" Brian said referring to their weekly podcast, Tell em Steve Dave. Usually he was always excited about recording for it. Whenever he was having a bad day, this was the one thing that would take his mind off of anything bad and cheer him up, however he didn't think it would work today. Halfway thru the podcast, Johnson made a signal to cut the mics and stop recording.
"Alright, what the fuck man?!" He said shaking his head, "If you're gonna be like this then let's just call it a night."
"What are you talking about?!" Brian snapped in his thick New York accent, "I drove all the way here!"
"Your not saying anything!" Johnson snapped back slamming a fist on the table. It was very rare that he raised his voice to Brian which made him question if Johnson had a point.
After a long pause he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, you're right. I'm not in this today." He bent his head back to rest on the chair rubbing his hands over his face.
"What's going on?" Walt asked relieved that the two men didn't come to blows in the middle of his store.
"I just..." Brain paused then let out another huge sigh.
"Talk man, what's the matter?" Johnson egged on hi friend. He had seen Quinn in some bad times but it had been a long time; he was getting concerned now. Brian Quinn had been working through his depression for years, the last thing he wanted was to see his friend go backwards.
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After Brian finished filling Johnson and Walt in about meeting Kassi and getting to know her and not being able to get her out of his head, both men looked at one another. "What?" Brian said noticing the look between his friends.
"Finally seemed like it happened." Walt said with a small smile. "You're into this girl."
"Yeah so I like her, that's not the point. The point is I should be able to take a fucking girl out without my asshole friends telling me I can't." Brian snapped again.
"I think you're right on that and you definitely need to discuss that with that." Walt advised, "But I think there's a bigger issue here."
"Yeah, being told I can't do what I want when I'm a grow fucking man is the issue." Brian said not understanding where Walt was getting at.
"Is that really the reason why you haven't slept with her yet?" Johnson chimed in.
"If you have something to say just fucking say it!" Brian exploded being in no mood for a guessing game tonight.
"Listen..." Johnson said holding his hands up in defense, "I've known you a very long time and so have the other guys, although I think it's fucked up, I see where they are coming from. But I don't think they see what I see right now because if they did, I think they would understand a bit better."
"What is it you see?" Brian asked calming himself yet again.
"I see a guy that is really falling for a girl because honestly no offense but if she was just another random girl, wouldn't you have fucked her already and been done?" Johnson explained then switched the mics back on before Brian had a chance to respond.
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Certainly wasn't their best podcast but after his talk with the guys Brian was able to contribute a bit more than he had at the beginning. The entire drive home Johnson's words kept ringing in his head. Why was Kassi so different? It had been years since he had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever a girl was in his presence. Why was he constantly sending her texts telling her he couldn't stop thinking about her? Or getting excited when he knew he would be seeing her? He had to talk to his friends, make them understand that he wasn't going to do his usually routine. He didn't know what was going to happen but he knew he would rather die than cause this girl anymore pain; she had gone through enough. Pulling out his phone, he opened the group text between him and the other Jokers
Brian: Look guys we need to talk. I have been talking to Kassi, I even took her on a date last week. I really don't think it's fair for you or anyone to dictate who I can and cannot spend my time with.