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“Are you sure that Nick doesn’t mind?” I asked for about the fifth time, as Lauren and I walked into the restaurant.

“Honestly. It’s fine.” Lauren said, struggling to push open the second set of double doors. Her shopping bags crinkled and bashed against her legs as she staggered up to the hostess stand. “I think I may have gone a bit overboard.” She acknowledged with a small laugh.

“You certainly were a bad influence.” I agreed, looking down at the shopping bags looped around my own hands. My few purchases may have paled in comparison to Lauren’s staggering amount, but I had still spent close to my entire paycheque in one shopping trip. It was a good thing that all of my other expenses were covered by Ground(ctrl).

“A bad influence!?” Lauren cried, feigning shock. “You look amazing in everything that you bought today!”

I was about to respond when I caught sight of the head of the boys’ security team, Q, shaking his head and walking towards us.

“Could you girls create any more of a scene?” He hissed. “We’re trying not to draw attention to the fact that we’re here.”

“I don’t think anyone would suspect us to be here.” Lauren replied. “It’s not exactly the type of place that the paparazzi are going to check out.”

We were meeting Nick at a small, no-name, family restaurant in a sleepy suburb of Washington D.C.. It had looked pretty non-descript from the outside, but the inside seemed warm and cozy. Most of the tables were occupied by families with young children. I had to agree with Lauren. It definitely wasn’t the type of place that anyone would think to go celebrity hunting.

“We’re going to the booth at the back.” Q said. “Give me those bags.” He added, suppressing a smile as he relieved us of our purchases.

We followed Q’s massive frame to the back of the restaurant. Nick was already seated in a booth and to my surprise; Brian and Baylee were seated across from him. Baylee was fully engrossed in the task of completing the word-search on the children’s activity sheet, while Brian and Nick were apparently having a discussion about whether or not to order nachos.

“Hi, honey!” Lauren cried, as Nick stood up to give her a kiss.

Q merely shook his head at Lauren’s seeming inability to whisper and settled himself into the next booth. He threw our shopping bags onto the bench seat across from him and picked up the menu. “Try not to make my job difficult tonight.” He mumbled.

“I like to keep you on your toes, Q.” Lauren joked, slipping into the booth next to Nick.

“I hope you don’t mind that I asked Brian and Baylee to come along.” Nick said, gesturing for me to slide in across from him, next to Brian.

“Not at all.” I said. “I was actually worried about being the third wheel.”

“Yeah, being the third person with Nick and Lauren is not ideal.” Brian laughed, shooting the couple a knowing look.

“Hanging out with Nick and Lauren is fun.” Baylee piped in. “They have the best video games!”

I laughed and settled into the booth. Even though Baylee was small, it was tight with the three of us on one side. I was acutely aware of Brian’s body next to mine. He smelled like Ralph Lauren’s Polo Black and soap. My leg tingled where it was touching his on the bench, and I grabbed hastily for one of the two menus that were already on the table; desperate for something to occupy my mind.

Over the past five weeks, I had developed a ridiculous type of school-girl crush on Brian. My thoughts definitely weren’t anything untoward. He was married with a child for God’s sake! After being on tour with the band for over a month, it was obvious that they had all come to see me as a member of their team. While I enjoyed spending time with all of them for different reasons, I often found myself anticipating my short moments with Brian. I loved his laugh, his jokes, and his contagious smile. I’m pretty sure that I spent the majority of my time grinning at him like an idiot.

“Baylee, what do you want to eat?” Brian asked, leaning towards me in order to sneak a peek at the menu.

I moved the menu closer to him so that he could have a better view of the kid’s selection. I could feel my face getting hot simply due to our proximity. I looked up to see if I was drawing attention to myself, but Nick and Lauren had their faces hidden behind the other menu. Most likely they were using it as a shield so that they could make out.

“Hamburger.” Baylee answered, without looking up from his task.

“Are you sure? They have spaghetti.” Brian prodded. “It comes with a salad. I’m sure mom would like you to eat a salad.”

“Hamburger.” Baylee repeated. “With fries and cheese.” He added, finally breaking his concentration and looking up. “Please dad. I don’t like salad.”

“Well I’m with ya on that.” Brian said. “I suppose you can have the burger, as long as we don’t tell mom about the French fries.”

“Yessss!” Baylee cried, shooting his fist into the air. He celebrated for a few more seconds before returning his attention to the chore of finishing the word-search.

“Leighanne couldn’t come, tonight?” I asked, as Brian turned his gaze back to me and the menu.

“She had some stuff to do to get the Wylee trailer organized for tomorrow night.” Brian replied. “She said that she was too busy to join us.”

“Oh. Well that’s too bad.” I said, struggling to find something to add. I was secretly glad that Leighanne wasn’t there. She continued to make me feel uncomfortable, even though I hadn’t posted another photo in which she wasn’t fully made-up since the Disney movie incident.

“This isn’t really her kinda place anyways.” Brian continued. “She refuses to eat anywhere that has less than a four star rating and that doesn’t have quinoa on the menu. It’s probably better that she isn’t here. This way I don’t have to listen to her complain about the fact that I want to eat nachos.”

“Well, I’ll definitely eat nachos with you.” I shot back, mentally kicking myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth. ‘Really, Amy!?’ I thought. ‘Why don’t you just tell him flat out that you’re glad that his wife didn’t show up?’

“I knew you would.” Brian drawled, a slow grin spreading across his face.

I grinned back at him; well aware that my cheeks were unnaturally pink. God, he looked good ...

“Are you guys ready to order?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from Brian and grabbing at the corner of the menu that Lauren and Nick were still using to hide their faces.

“What? Yeah, nachos sound great.” Nick mumbled, finally lowering the menu. His lips were puffy and Lauren was not-so-discreetly trying to reapply her lip gloss.

“Guys, I got my kid here.” Brian said, shaking his head in mock disgust. “Can we please try and keep things PG for at least one evening?”

“PG?! Are we going to a movie?” Baylee asked, suddenly expressing an immense amount of interest in our conversation. “I’m allowed to see PG-13 movies now, even though I’m only ten.”

“That’s great, bud!” Nick exclaimed. “But I don’t think we have time to go to a movie tonight.”

“That’s okay. The last movie I saw had too much kissing in it anyways.” Baylee replied, scrunching up his face in disgust. “Spiderman isn’t supposed to want to kiss girls! I like it better when stuff blows up.”

“I like it better when stuff blows up, too.” Nick laughed in agreement.

“Then why were you and Lauren just kissing for so long?” Baylee asked. “You were trying to hide, but I could see you.”

I snorted in laughter as Nick’s mouth dropped open and Lauren’s face reddened. Brian shook his head and sighed.

“Uhhh, sorry.” Nick stammered, looking to Brian for help.

Brian simply shrugged his shoulders and gave Nick a look that clearly said; ‘you did this, you’re on your own.’

“When two people love each other, they like to kiss.” Lauren interjected. “Nick and I really love each other. Just like your mom and dad. That’s why we kiss all the time”

“Mom and dad don’t kiss like THAT!” Baylee cried, a look of disgusted horror crossing his face as he turned to Brian for confirmation that he and Leighanne would never even think of doing such a thing.

I watched as the colour began to seep into Brian’s face. He seemed to be at a loss for how to respond to his son. Lauren also looked mortified by the fact that her answer had appeared to place Brian in an even more difficult situation.

“So, are we ready to order?”

“Thank God! Yes, we’re ready!” Nick practically shouted at the waitress who had appeared next to our table.

The middle aged women appeared slightly taken aback at Nick’s enthusiastic response, but she simply pulled her notepad out of her pocket and looked at him expectantly.

“The nachos! We’ll have the nachos.” Nick replied. “Sorry for startling you. We’re just really, ummm, excited ... for the nachos.”