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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hello! first, I am sorry for lack of updates. I am experiencing a major issue of writer's block, and hopefully this short and irrelevant chapter would help me get back on track. Just wanted to get rid of the writer's block. :) Secondly, The Other Side of NC is nominated on Felix Awards under Fantasy/Supernatural genre, so, HUGE THANK YOU to whoever nominated me and to YOU who keep on reading.
“Nick,”

A small voice with a familiar southern twang called out before I felt two hands shaking my shoulders gently. There was a hint of concern on his voice which made me wonder what kind of trouble I was in this time. Did I miss a very important band meeting, or the sound check perhaps, to make Kevin send Brian to wake me up? Because my best friend stopped being my alarm clock the moment he said I do to Leighanne.

“Nick, come on get up, man.”

“Go away, Brian.” I mumbled as I curled up in a fetal position. I covered my face with my arm and decided to completely ignore Brian. All I wanted was a few more hours of sleep, I felt so tired and sore.

“Why are you sleeping on the floor?” He blurted out.

My eyes open instantly as if they had mind of their own, and saw the floor rag was half an inch away from my face. What the hell was I doing at the floor? Then it hit me, the angry ghost scared the hell out of me to the point that I passed out. My eyes widened when I realized how I was supposed to explain to Brian all the mess in my tour bus.

“Look, Brian,” I started while I slowly got up “I can explain-----” I was surprised to see that everything was in order, it looked like someone cleaned my tour bus.

“What? That you overslept? That’s what actually Kevin and Howie thought,” He offered a small smile “Sound check will be in an hour, you might want to grab something to eat before then.”

“What time is it?” Why did I feel like I was lying to my best friend?

“Almost 4 pm.”

“Thanks for waking me up, Bro.”

“No problem. AJ said you skipped lunch so I thought I’d check up on you.” He said while his head was motioning towards the door “See you in an hour, Nick.”

“Nick?” He turned around before he reached the door “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure.” I folded my arms and waited for his question, which by the looks of Brian’s face I think was a serious one.

“Kevin and Howie said I might be overreacting but I just wanted to hear it straight from you.”

“Come on, Brian, just ask.” I said impatiently.

“Are you using drugs again?”

“What?” I screamed with disbelief and looked at
Brian. “Seriously, Brian?”

“Nick, please calm down. I am just worried about you, man. Lately you were being sneaky, you sometimes skip lunch and dinner, and you don’t hang out with us anymore, you always lock yourself up on this stupid tour bus. What happened to Baylee-Uncle Nick time?”

I wanted to yell at Brian and ask how dare him accuse me of such things? He has no idea how hard it was for me to try to live a clean and healthy life. How hard it was for me to deal with all these ghosts without the help of drugs. I sometimes feels I was this close of losing my sanity.

“Nick? Look, I’m sorry I asked----”

“No.” I answered firmly.

“What?”

“No, Brian, I am not using drugs.”

“Ok. I am really sorry, Nick. I am just worried.” I just nodded and looked at him with bored eyes. “See you in an hour.”

I nodded again and watched him disappear to the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dude, I finally convinced Kaci to ask one of her friends to join her on tour. You should totally check her out, blond hair, blue eyes, sexy----”

“And 18 years old? No thanks, man.”

AJ was obviously offended by my comment; his smile faded slowly and looked down on his feet.

“I’m sorry.” I quickly apologized when I realized I shouldn’t have said that. AJ knew that I didn’t like his relationship with Kaci, but that didn’t give me any right to insult him. I guess I was still pissed at Brian and was taking it on AJ.

“No worries, man.” He looked me straight into the eye “I am just fucking worried about you. The tour is almost over, and I haven’t seen you bring a girl on your damn tour bus. That isn’t normal.”

“What? Let me get this straight, you are worried about me because I wasn’t screwing anyone for the last two months?” I winced after I said that, was it really that long?

“Yes.”

“You’re unbelievable.” I muttered under my breath and tried to walk past AJ.

“Nick, how many times did we actually check in in a hotel? I didn’t see you randomly picking a fan at the lobby and bringing her to your room, or I never saw you seduce a fan during sound checks so you could take her back to your tour bus. What happened to the horny Nickolas? What? Are you still banging your imaginary girlfriend?”

“So, you guys, are watching my sex life now? Do I have to report to you how many times I jack off in a day?”

I started walking away from AJ when he didn’t answer. I was really irritated, and getting into a fight with one of the guys was the last thing I wanted right now. Why can’t they just ask me what the fuck was wrong with me? Why do they have to speculate that I was into drugs or having problems with my sex life? I just couldn’t get it.

“You have to meet her tonight whether you like it or not, Nickolas Gene Carter.”

I rolled my eyes when I heard AJ used the Listen-to-me-because-I-am-older-than-you kind of tone. I waved my hand and continue walking, I’ll deal with AJ later.
Chapter End Notes:
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