"Come on!" Brian stated in an aggravated tone. "Give that back right now!"
Laughter was all he got back. Nick and AJ were playing keep away from Brian with his notebook. "Nice poems, Bri. Who they for?" Nick asked as he tossed the book over to AJ.
"None of your business. Now give it back!"
"Walking down the path of darkness, you are the light..."AJ read and then threw it back over to Nick.
"This is not funny anymore. I need to write a song tonight. I need that back," Brian pleaded with them. "Please?"
"No way! This is too fun!" laughed Nick.
Assuming defeat, Brian sat down on the couch. When Nick and AJ realized that Brian had quit, it didn't seem that much fun anymore. Nick chose to sit opposite of Brian on the arm chair, but AJ decided to be adventurous and sit down beside Brian. He was safe though, because he didn't have the book. "Guys. Some of the stuff in there is really personal. I need that back."
"It can't be that personal or you would keep it under lock and key," stated Nick, rather matter of factly. He started thumbing through each page and scanning the contents. He turned the notebook upside down, pretending he didn't know what one of the drawings where. All of a sudden, an envelope fell out of one of the sections. "Well, well.... what's this?" he questioned while bending down to pick it up.
Brian's face turned white as he tried to grab the envelope before Nick. He failed. Nick opened it and pulled out what was inside. "It's from the hospital," Nick said, completely absorbed in the piece of paper. "Brian! It says you need open heart surgery!" Nick exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us about this?"
Brian lowered his head. "Well..... you see...." he started.
"Out with it!" AJ ordered.
"When I opened it, we had just started our tour and I knew if I told anyone, we might lose our contract."
"Why would you think that?"
"Our schedule! Can't you see? If our schedule was anymore full, we would be working all day every day! I didn't have a choice!"
Tears were forming in his eyes. He got up and left AJ and Nick sitting in amazement.
