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“Bay?” Brian knocked tentatively on the door to his son’s room. He pulled his shirt over his shoulders and began to button it up. “Can I come in?”

Brian’s request was greeted by a heavy silence. He waited a few seconds before knocking again. “I’m going to come in anyway.”

The heavy silence continued and Brian counted to ten before wrapping his hand around the doorknob and opening the door to his son’s room. Baylee was sitting on the bed; silent tears continuing to roll down his cheeks as he typed frantically on his phone. Brain had an inkling that he was texting Ashley. The two of them were probably having an intense conversation at his expense.

“Can you put the phone down?”

Silence.

“I think that we need to talk about what happened downstairs.”

More silence.

“Baylee Thomas Wylee Littrell, if you don’t put that phone down I’m going to throw it out the window!”

The threat finally captured Baylee’s attention. He made an exaggerated show of rolling his eyes before tossing his phone down on the empty half of his bed. The device continued to vibrate with incoming messages as he crossed his arms and glared at his father. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Tough shit.”

Baylee’s eyes widened at his dad’s use of profanity. He said nothing as Brian crossed the room and sat down on the end of the bed. His phone was buzzing non-stop as more messages poured in.

“Baylee...” Brian paused to gather his thoughts. “...I’m not sure what you think was happening downstairs.”

“I think that you were ... doing things ... with Kayla.” Baylee wiped frantically at his damp cheeks. His gaze remained steely as he waited for his father to respond.

Brian balked at Baylee’s directness. His face was hot with mortification; both at his behaviour and at the fact that his eleven year old son had just alluded to knowing about sex. “What makes you think that Kayla and I were ...” Brian trailed off. He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word in Baylee’s presence.

Baylee broke his hard stare just long enough to roll his eyes for a second time. “I’m not a kid anymore, dad. We talk about ... things ... in health class all the time.”

“You do?” Brian’s eyes widened in surprise. He really needed to start paying more attention to the forms that he was signing when it came to Baylee’s schooling.

“You guys looked messed up. You weren’t wearing a shirt ...” Baylee’s face reddened to match Brian’s in embarrassment. “How could you do that to mom?” Baylee’s voice wavered and fresh tears threatened his eyes.

“Bay, your mom and I aren’t together anymore. You know that.” Brian struggled to wrap his head around his son’s reaction. He had been completely unaware of the fact that Baylee was still struggling to accept the fact that he and Leighanne were officially divorced.

“I know.” Baylee sniffed. “I just thought ...”

“What did you think?” Brian’s tone softened. “Did you think that your mom and I were going to get back together?”

Baylee’s face darkened and he switched gears without warning. “You’re so embarrassing! What’s the matter with you? First, you bring all of your dumb-ass friends to my basketball game and announce to the entire school that you’re in a boy band. Then, you go and release a video where you and Uncle Alex don’t have any shirts on! Do you know that everyone in my class has seen that video? The girls all think that you look old and stupid. They think that you’re trying to compete with One Direction; a band that’s actually still popular and successful.”

A tightly wrapped ball of hurt was growing in Brian’s stomach as he listened to his son rhyme off all of the things that he had done to embarrass him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked rapidly to hold back his tears. There was no way that he could let Baylee know just how much his words had hurt him.

“I’m sorry that you feel that way about me.”

Baylee’s eyes remained dark and taunting. It was obvious that he knew that his words were having an impact on Brian. “Why can’t you be like all of the other dads? Why can’t you and mom still live together and be happy? Why do we always have to be so different from everybody else?”

“Your mom and I aren’t going to be getting back together.” Brian admitted; relieved that the root of Baylee’s anger had finally surfaced. “No matter how much you want it to happen. Your mom and I don’t make each other happy anymore.”

“But Kayla does?” Baylee spat. “Is that why you two were making out in the living room?”

Brian sighed. “At the moment, yes, Kayla does make me happy. I’m sorry about what happened earlier. We shouldn’t have done what we did.”

“You just mean that you shouldn’t have been doing it in the living room.” Baylee shot back. “You’re not going to stop doing things with her even if I hate you for doing them.”

Brian stared back at his son in disbelief. Since when had Baylee become so perceptive? Where was the little boy who used to look up to him, who wanted to be just like him when he grew up? When had his little boy been replaced by the sullen, all-knowing being sitting in front of him?

“Are you going to marry her?” Baylee continued, his voice teeming with distaste. “Is she going to try and be my new mom?”

“Nobody is going to try and replace your mom.” Brian chose his words carefully. He didn’t like Baylee’s tone, but he felt like it wasn’t the best time to bite his head off because of it.

“Good.” Baylee re-crossed his arms and leaned back against his pillows. “Because I like mom a lot more than I like you.”

“That’s your choice.” Brian could hear the tremor in his own voice as he spoke. “I’m sorry that you hate me. I never intended to do anything to make you uncomfortable.”

Baylee snorted in contempt. “Who you are is an embarrassment. The Backstreet Boys aren’t cool anymore dad, get over it.”

“I think you’re forgetting that me being a Backstreet Boy is what pays for all of the things that you need in order to look cool.” Brian stood up from the bed. He was more than ready for the conversation to be over. “I also think that you need to stay in your room for the rest of the day.”

“Fine.” Baylee glared back at him in defiance. “I don’t want to come out and spend time with you and Uncle Nick anyway.”

“Think about what you’ve said to me today, Baylee.” Brian advised. “You may hate me, but I’m the only father you’ve got.”

“Yeah...” Baylee muttered as he reached for his still vibrating phone. “...but I’m clearly on the verge of getting another mom.”

Brian allowed his son’s comment to go un-responded as he let himself out of Baylee’s room. He stepped into the hallway and closed the door firmly behind him. His hands were shaking and he took a few calming breaths to steady himself.

“That sounded like it went well.”

It took Brian a few seconds to locate Nick who was sitting on the stairs. He had his feet planted on the stair in front of him and his knees were pulled up to his chest. Nick gave Brian a sympathetic smile and patted the carpet beside him on the step.

“Did you hear the whole thing?” Brian grimaced as he sank down next to his friend.

Nick nodded. “Since when did he become such a little shit disturber?”

“I had no idea that he wanted me and Leighanne to get back together.” Brian struggled to keep his emotions in check. He stared down the stairwell at Nacho who was busy chewing on a stray mitten in the middle of the first-floor hallway.

“Every kid wants their divorced parents to get back together.” Nick shrugged. “I’m pretty sure that Angel is still convinced that, one day, our parents are going to end up living happily ever after.”

Brian took no comfort in Nick’s words. His heart was still aching over the fact that Baylee hated who he was. “He meant everything that he said to me. Maybe’s he’s right. What am I doing with my life? I can’t be a Backstreet Boy forever.”

“Of course you can!” Nick was adamant. “Don’t let Baylee’s little temper tantrum ruin things for you. We’re finally all back together ... really together.”

Brian allowed himself to cast a sideways glance at Nick. His friend looked almost as wounded as he felt. “I know.”

“I heard the bit where he called you out about fooling around with Kayla.” Nick’s mouth morphed into a lopsided grin. “What the fuck was that about?”

Brian sighed. The embarrassment was threatening to overtake him once again. “I didn’t know what to say when he just came straight out and called it like it was. Can you believe it? He’s eleven years old! I didn’t even realize that it was anything other than a sixth finger until I was at least thirteen.”

Nick snorted. “Kids are way more mature these days. Do you know that some schools now give out condoms during seventh grade health classes?”

Brian’s face paled. “You’re not serious.”

Nick nodded vigorously. “There was some big news story about it a little while ago. I remember Howie mentioning it.”

“Oh God!” Brian buried his face in his hands. “Does this mean that I’m going to have to talk to Baylee about – about IT already?”

“Well, he’s going to have to start talking to you again first.” Nick slapped Brian on the back. “I think that will buy you at least the rest of the day.”

Brian lifted his face from his hands and smirked. “You really are an ass.”

“But I made you feel better.” Nick pointed out. He nudged Brian gently with his shoulder. “Speaking of sex, I’m assuming that you and Kayla had a nice time.”

Brian could feel his face getting hot once again. “It was...” he paused. “...different.”

A massive smile spread across Nick’s face. “That means that it was fucking hot! You lucky son-of-a-bitch!”

Brian failed to contain his own grin. “You have no idea.”