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A Week Later

AJ's View

"I swear your owner needs to lock you in a cage and throw away the key," I muttered. "Oh don't look at me like that! You know damn well that you aren't supposed to be out here."

I looked down at Tyk's face and couldn't help but feel sorry for what I had just said. The way he was looking at me made it seem like he actually understood me.

"I'm too much of a softy," I grumbled as I carried Tyk up the steps and to the front door. I rang the doorbell and waited.

"You better be thankful that I brought you back. I bet Brian's worried about you, you know. You could have been ran over," I said sternly. I must have looked stupid talking to a dog, but hey, who cares right?

Just when I was about to ring the doorbell again the door opened and Brian stood before me in a T-shirt, khaki shorts, and a baseball cap on backwards. He looked at me strangely and then said, "What are you doin' with my dog?"

"No no, the question is what was your dog doing out on the street?" I said dropping Tyk into Brian's hands and walking past him.

"He was getting the newspaper," he said closing the door. He set Tyk down and walked past me.

"Getting the newspaper? You taught him to get the newspaper? You have too much time on your hands. You should have called me or something. I could have kept you occupied," I said following close behind him.

"Is it really that big of a deal? A lot of dogs know how to fetch the newspaper," he shrugged entering the kitchen.

"Yeah if your idea of having a wet and soggy newspaper to read every morning appeals to you then whatever floats your boat. It's not like Vegas or JD can get it anyway, look how small they are," I said jumping up onto the counter.

"Then get a bigger dog," he stated opening the refrigerator door.

"Hell no," I said. He took a gulp out of the orange juice carton and looked at me, "Why not?"

"Do you think a gigantic dog attracts the ladies? No, little dogs like Vegas attract them. You know why? Because they're cute. Girls like cute. They don't like ugly," I said rolling my eyes.

"You're too much," Brian shook his head as he placed the orange juice back into the refrigerator.

"Thank you."

"Now what do you want?" Brian asked staring at me curiously.

"What do I want?"

"Yes, what do you want? You didn't just come by here to make sure that my dog didn't turn into road kill."

"'Tis true, I came to see how you were doing."

"Oh," he said making his way around the counter and exiting the kitchen. I stared after him and then jumped off the counter, rushing to catch up with him.

"Well?"

"Well what?" he asked glancing back at me.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm better I guess," he shrugged plopping down on the living room couch.

"You guess?" I asked sitting down next to him.

"Yeah," he said taking the remote in his hand and turning the TV on. I snatched the remote away from him and turned the TV off. He looked over at me irritated.

"Talk to me," I pleaded. I could tell by the look on his face that I must have looked pathetic, but it was working.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Anything, everything, just talk to me. I hate how you won't talk to any of us."

"I'm talking to you now aren't I?"

"You know what I mean. You won't talk to us about what's bothering you so we can help. It's like your back where you started, just covering things up. We don't want you to stay like this forever."

"It's not like I'm not talking to anybody AJ."

"Then who are you talking to? The guys all say that you won't talk to them. Wait, have you been talking to Nikki?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I don't know, it's like she understands me. It's just easy to talk to her about these things you know?"

"And it's not easy to talk to us about it?"

"Well, no."

"Why? You've known all of us way longer than you have known her," I said. To be honest, I was hurt that he would talk to a girl that he hardly knew, actually from what I have heard, knows nothing about, but won't talk to his best friends.

"I'm just afraid that you guys will turn around and walk away. I'm too close to you guys, I know what you guys do in these situations."

"What do you mean 'what we do in these situations'? Are you saying that we would walk out on you and not care?"

He slowly nodded.

"What the hell Brian? I thought we have made it quite clear that we are always here for you. None of us would ever, EVER, do that to you. We are so scared right now. We're all afraid that we're gonna wake up one day to a phone call informing us that our brother Brian has died from killing himself the night before. I am so scared for you. I'm so scared for all of us. How are we supposed to get through this if you won't talk to us about it? I want to help. We all want to help and even though you think that we would turn away from you, it's not true. You shouldn't think that. I'm turning corny on you I know, and it's weird, but I have never been this serious before in my life. Brian, I love you like a brother, and I would do anything for you to be happy, anything."

Brian stared at me and if my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, I could have sworn that I saw tears glistening in the corner of his eyes.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," he finally stated after a few minutes of silence. My heart about leapt out of my chest. He was going to talk to me.

That Night

Nicole's View

"Tell me, when did you intend to tell me that you could sing?" Brian asked looking over at me. I leaned on the balcony wall and glanced at him, "I can't sing."

"What?" he scoffed. "That's not what I heard! You sing amazing."

"Thank you."

"Ever thought of getting a record deal?" he asked. I shook my head and firmly said, "No."

"Why not?"

I shrugged and said, "I can't."

"You can't?"

"No."

He looked at me confused and shook his head, "I'm a little lost here. Why can't you?"

"I just can't," I said. I was groping my mind for a better explanation but nothing was coming to me.

"Nicole, we need to talk," he said quietly. I looked over at him nervously from the tone of his voice.

"About what?"

"Just some things. First off, I wanted to thank you for helping me out lately, you know, talking to me and everything. It's helped out a lot, and I feel much better."

"You're welcome," I said.

"It's just, why don't you ever talk about where you lived or where you grew up?"

I looked down and sighed, "I guess I just don't find it very interesting."

"I bet that I would find it interesting. I find everything about you interesting."

I looked over at him and found him staring at me intently.

"Please tell me something, anything," he pleaded. I wanted to tell him everything. I wanted to tell him about my parents, I wanted to tell him about where I lived and how I grew up, I wanted to tell him about my most embarrassing moment or the happiest day of my life, but the truth of the matter is, is that I simply couldn't. Why may you ask? It's because I don't remember. I don't remember hardly anything.

I frowned and said softly, "I can't."

He looked at me hurtfully, "Do you not trust me? Why can't you tell me?"

"No, I do trust you, it's just that, I just...can't. I can't explain it. You don't understand," I said, trying to find the right words to say. He looked over at me blankly. I was making him upset and I really shouldn't have.

"Why don't you help me understand? I don't understand why I wouldn't understand. I just want to know where you lived or what your parents names are. Is that so hard?"

I nodded my head slowly, "Yes."

"Why?" he asked looking at me confused. He was becoming frustrated.

"Because...because I just don't remember," I finally said. He stared at me puzzled, "You don't remember?"

I shook my head.

"Did something happen accident-wise for you not to remember?" he said, trying to find some sort of explanation for such a strange statement. He was trying to be patient, trying to understand.

"I suppose you could say that..."

"I'm sorry," he frowned. "What happened?"

I shook my head, at a loss. What was I supposed to tell him? I couldn't very well lie could I? But then all of a sudden, my mouth opened and words spilled out of my mouth, "Maddy and I got in a car accident a few years back. I had pretty bad injuries to my head and it's affected my memory."

He looked at me sadly, "Sort of like amnesia?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." I said, frowning. I couldn't believe I had flat out lied to him.

"Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have gotten so mad before if you would have just told me."

"I guess...I don't know," I said looking away from him. I was growing uncomfortable. I had just told my first lie towards him and I knew that wasn't good. Someone like me can't lie, at least as far as I knew I couldn't.

Brian set his hand gently on my shoulder. I looked over at him and found him smiling at me lightly.

"You OK?" he asked. I gave him a small smile and said, "I should be asking you that."

"I'm fine, but you don't seem to be," he said. I looked up at him and as I stared into the eyes that stared back at mine, eyes that were so caring, so unbelievably caring. I felt something in the pit of my stomach form that I have never felt before. It felt nice, but it scared me.

"I'm OK," I said smiling lightly. He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine.

"Good," he grinned. He then took my hand and pulled me inside, "I got an idea. Lets go watch Casper!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his giddiness. Whatever I was doing was working. Him and I have had several talks during the past few days and each time we talked, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was getting better. It made me glad, but it also saddened me. It only meant that once he has fully recovered I would have to leave. To be truthful, I didn't want to.

Not wanting to go back and wanting to stay here sort of scared me, just like that feeling had and how I lied. I don't know what was happening, I don't know if it was a sign of some sort, I don't know if it's good or bad, I don't know if it's all normal, but all I knew was that I wasn't told this would happen. I needed to talk to Maddy and quick.