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People talking but I can't hear them, no
I just sit there and watch them come and go
There might be something underneath it all
But at least I'll find what I'll find out in the end

-Avicii 'Liar Liar'


I don't know why I showed up at Kevin's house at 9:00 in the morning, I just did.

I didn't even think I wanted to see Brian while he was there, but I guess I did. I didn't even know when his flight was, so this was kind of a gamble.

Anyways, Kristin buzzed me into their gate and then opened the door after I parked my car. “What a nice surprise,” she smiled, letting me inside. Kristin has the brightest smile of anyone I know. Wide and sweet and always genuine. Seeing her always puts me in a good mood – she's a good match for Kevin who's stressed out a lot of the time.

“Hey,” I said, stepping inside and slipping my shoes off. “Just figured I'd pop in for breakfast.”

She laughed, leading me over to the kitchen. Looks like I'd arrived at just the right time – Brian and Leighanne were sitting at the table with mugs of coffee and cereal.

“We don't have a lot, but can I entice you with a bowl of cheerios?” she asked.

I smiled walked over to their cupboard, pulling out a mug and filling it with coffee. “I'd never say no to cheerios,” I grinned, sitting down as she placed the box, along with a bowl on the table. “Where's Kevin?” I asked, filling the bowl with the crunchy cereal.

“Oh you know him,” she laughed, sitting down. “Still sleeping.”

I'd never actually known Kevin to sleep in, but I guess his life at home was a lot different than his life on tour was. Kristin's perception of Kevin must have been so different than mine was. Mostly because I couldn't picture him lecturing her – if anything it was the other way around.

“Morning,” I said, leaning over to Brian and grinned.

“Hey,” he smiled, licking his lips and taking a sip of coffee. “Did you just come over here to see me?”

I shrugged. “Yeah,” I admitted, and he just laughed again, shaking his head and going back to his cheerios. So sue me, I missed my friends when we were on a break. “When do you guys go back?”

“Soon,” Leighanne cut in, looking at me. “We're pretty much leaving right away.”

“Mmhmm,” I nodded, taking a sip of my coffee. I didn't mind Leighanne as much as the others did, but I could see where she could get on your nerves.

Kristin just smiled and raised her eyebrows at me. I smiled back, and Brian and Leighanne didn't notice. They never noticed anything anyone else did. Either that or they didn't care.

But it was still nice to be in the same room with them, for however brief a period.

~~~


I couldn't wait to get back to Atlanta. The plane ride wasn't that long, but it was long enough. I tapped my feet on the floor and looked out the window. I didn't know what I expected to see since we'd literally just taken off.

I just wasn't ready to be back in LA and I didn't need the reminder of how I was going to be back there soon. The perfect picture that I wanted my life to be was coming to an end.

Leighanne leaned her head on my shoulder and looked up at me with a cute smile. Well, just a smile. All of them were cute. I leaned down and kissed her on the tip of her nose. She giggled.

“It'll be nice to be home, won't it?”

I widened my eyes and nodded my head. She had no idea how nice it would be to be home. Well, she probably did. After all she hated me being away from home as much as I hated me being away from home. Probably more.

“Nice to be back to trying to start our family,” she giggled again, moving upwards and kissing my lips.

I kissed her back. Lord, she was so hot. I opened my eyes and looking out in front of me. There was a little bathroom area at the front of the plane, and the sign didn't say occupied. I pulled away from her sightly. “Or you know, right now?” I whispered into her ear.

She crinkled her eyebrows, giving me a confused look.

“I'm going to the bathroom,” I continued to whisper, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Maybe you'll join me in there in a couple of minutes?”

“Brian!” she whispered harshly, swatting my arm.

But I just wiggled my eyebrows and stepped out of my seat, crawling over her and glancing back as I walked away.

She sort of smirked at me, so I knew she was going to follow.

~~~


The music in the club thumped hard. I downed another shot and went back to grinding with this girl who I'd found and decided she was the hottest out of her friends.

I didn't need a wingman! I didn't need no one, just my own awesome hot self. I had no problem pulling that girl out of her booth and onto the dancefloor. They were always willing.

I didn't even know how many shots I had, they just kept bringing them over. Probably because I kept paying for them, but whatever. The music was booming into my ears and I couldn't hear anything over the ringing. The lights in the club were a mess too, blinking and fuzzy in front of my eyes.

Fucking shots. I could usually hold my liquor but whatever the fuck I was drinking was fucked up. I leaned over and kissed that girl on the cheek. We had to get out of there if I had any hope of getting laid that night. Because I wasn't about to get all whiskey dick on her. That's happened to me before and believe me, it fucking sucks. The girl gets all pissed off, I don't get laid and then they probably go tell their friends and laugh about it.

“Baby,” I slurred. “Let's go back to my place.”

That's all it took. That's all it ever takes because that's what they're waiting for as soon as I decide that that they're the one I want for the night, or for an hour or whatever.

We walked outside with my arm around her waist. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and hit the unlock button on the automatic starter.

“Uh,” she said, looking at me. “Are you sure you're okay to drive?”

“Yeah,” I said confidently, slapping my chest. Then I dropped my keys on the ground. “Oops,” I laughed, bending over to pick them up.

She shrugged and got into the car and we were off.

I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going, and I wasn't the best driver as it was. The road was moving all over the fucking place... and I think someone was honking at me. “Shit,” I cussed, looking behind me as I sped up. What the fuck was there problem.

“NICK!” the girl shrieked and I looked in front of me again. Oops, we almost swerved into another car. More honking. They could fuck off.

“It's okay baby,” I said, leaning over and trying to kiss her. But she didn't seem to want to kiss me, which was fucked up because she was the one who got into the car with me and-

The car veered off and there was the sound of screeching metal as we were hurled forward. Because I was leaning over into her seat, my side was pushed into the dash and I was pretty sure I screamed. I think she screamed too.

“Ugh,” I muttered, looking up. We weren't moving anymore.

“Oh my god,” the girl spit out, looking at me and unbuckling her seatbelt. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god...” she just kept repeating it, but do you think she stayed? No she fucking didn't, opening her door and running as fast as she could away from the car. At least I thought so, it was dark and everything was spinning and I couldn't see.

“Fuck,” I muttered, the pain in my side causing tears to sting in my eyes. I tried to sit up but it hurt way too much. “Fuck,” I cried again to no one, because there was no one there with me. Except for the three that crunched up the front of my car.

I was so fucking stupid. So fucking stupid. Not okay to drive. Not okay to do anything right. I reached down and pulled my cellphone out of my pocket. I was still leaned over, half in the passenger seat, but I couldn't fucking move. I scrolled through the blurry contacts to the only person who might be able to help me.

~~~


“Mmph,” Kristin mumbled, rolling over in her sleep. “You get it,” she said sleepily.

What?

I swallowed a bit, trying to wake up. It took me a minute to realise it, but the phone was ringing.

Who the hell was calling me at – I looked over at the clock – 1:30 in the morning?

I reached over to the phone on the nightstand, not even bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello?” I muttered, still half asleep with my head on the pillow.

“Kevin,” came Nick's crying voice over the line. I instantly sat up in bed, my heart pounding with worry. “I'm scared.”