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“What? Where’s Jordan?” I was harshly questioning the man that was trying to get us into the van.

“She’s in a meeting, Mr. Carter. Now, if you please, we need to get to the airport.” He roughly shoved me, causing me to tumble into the open van door. I landed half on AJ’s lap, as I saw the van door slam shut.

“I can’t leave without seeing her! I have to talk to her. You don’t understand…it’s important!” I screamed, leaning forward. The van began to move, with a jerk, and I fell back into the seat. See, I couldn’t talk to her on the ride to the office, because Ky and Sam were there and I wanted to tell her in private. This really isn’t, exactly, the kind of thing you want to say, when there’s an audience…especially if they are her family! I figured I could pull her into her office and talk to her, but I didn’t even get the chance to, because she ran off to some meeting. Now, I was being hauled off to the airport without, so much, as a ‘good-bye’.

“I’m sorry Mr. Carter, but there is just no way. She is very busy today and you have a flight, to catch.” The man argued, in a not so delicate tone. AJ pulled on my shoulder, causing me to sit back in my seat. I sighed, leaning back in defeat.

“You can call her or something, man. Just relax,” AJ tried to calm me, but that just made everything worse. A sudden realization hit me.

“SHIT! Shit…shit…shit…shit…I don’t HAVE her number! Or e-mail…or address…fuck,” I hung my head. Man, was I a dumb blonde, or what? What was I going to do? The van was already pulling into the airport parking lot. All I needed to do, was lose these guys and take a taxi back to the office. After everything I have been through the past few days, this should be a piece of peach pie!

“HEY! Where are you going?” The burly man grabbed a firm hold on my arm. “You aren’t going anywhere. I was given specific instructions, to make sure you got on that plane. With NO exceptions!” His voice was harsh and intimiating.

“Jordan said that, didn’t she?” I asked, sadly. I guess she really didn’t want me to stick around…DUH! Why else would she be so dead set on me leaving? Great. I let out a long sigh and followed the group.

I should have known that she wouldn’t be interested…I mean look at her! She’s beautiful, smart, sarcastic as hell, successful, sweet…sure she has her faults, but I love those too! She can’t sing, for shit! She drives like a maniac…she drums her nails on everything…she even cracks her knuckles, and I have never seen a woman do that! She drinks milk, from the carton…she drank a beer last night…and BURPED…REALLY LOUD!!!! But, that wasn’t a fault…it was fucking awesome and it sparked a brief burping contest between her and her brothers. Would you believe that she won?!? It was hysterical and we all, about, died from laughter.

“Nick?” Brian shook my shoulder.

“Sorry, man, but our flight was just called,” AJ looked down at me with sympathy in his eyes. I huffed, as I stood up and trudged behind them. We made our way onto the plane and to our seats. The whole flight sucked ass. I couldn’t sit still, and AJ kept trying to get me to talk about it.

“Why don’t you just call the headquarters and ask to be directed to her office?” he asked, as he chomped, loudly, on a mouthful of peanuts.

“And say what? Exactly?” I huffed, turning to glare at him.

“How you feel. Chicks like that stuff, Nick. What are you so afraid of? Do you really think that she will turn you down? Honestly?”

“Uh…YEAH. She’s not some teen groupie, AJ. She’s different.”

“Hey, if she put up with your sorry ass for this long, she must like you,” he snickered and playfully shoved my shoulder.

“Well then, Mr. Know-it-all-love-expert, you have put up with my ‘sorry ass’ a hell of a lot longer. What does that say about you?” I lifted an eyebrow and smirked at the uneasy look on his face. He quickly recovered, as he always does.

“Well it, sure as fuck, doesn’t mean I am gay for your nasty ass.”

“But, you love me.”

“I never said that.”

“But, you must love me, if you have put up with me for so damn long!”

“Shut up, Carter, before I kick your fucking ass!”

“Aaaah, words of pure love,” I laughed, sarcastically. I was happy to see him, finally, get annoyed enough to walk away and go to sit by Brian. My thoughts began to wonder as our flight got closer to Florida. By the time we got off the plane, I was tired and annoyed.

“Oh my god, Nick! You have no idea how happy we are, to see you!” Howie was, anything but, quiet as he ran towards me. Kevin was close behind, with his arm bandaged and in a sling. I gave them both a hug, as did Brian and AJ.

“DADDY! UNCLE NICKY!!” I turned to see the little blonde haired boy running our way. His curls bounced, as he lunged into Brian’s arms before jumping into mine. I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my lips as I squeezed him, tight. I really missed the little guy.

“I missed you, little man,” I knelt down to his level, setting him back on his feet. Brian held his wife in a loving embrace and then we all headed out.

“How’s the shoulder, Kevvy Kev?” AJ asked, slapping Kevin’s other shoulder. We all started piling into cars.

“Fine, thanks,” he gave us a lopsided grin.

It was almost immediately, that we began working on the next album, ‘Unbreakable’. Although Kevin sat out, on this album, he offered plenty of support. He needed time to heal properly and, more importantly, to be with his family. Kristin and Mason needed him at home, and that was where he was going to be. It was a hard thing to swallow and I was the most upset, over it, but I can’t say that I blame him. After all, I was ready to give the whole thing up for a girl, and I don’t even know if she feels, for me, what I feel, for her.

Anyways, the lyrics for the new songs fell right into place. Our sound has come a long way since ‘Quit Playing Games’. We were pulling long hours, to get this album ready to go. If you thought that they would go easy on me because of all that I have been through…well…you’d be DEAD wrong! As a matter of fact, I think, they worked me harder!

The hours, in the studio, were endless and I was getting pretty worn out. There were five songs already recorded, so we weren’t, even, quite half done, yet. We were putting a lot of ourselves into this album, contributing more to the lyrics and sounds of the songs. Any extra time I had, went into my song writing.

Songs…lyrics…that’s exactly what I was writing. It was almost four in the morning and, once again, I found myself sitting in my office, at my desk, writing. I ran my fingers through my hair, resting my elbows on the hard wood. Almost six months had past by, since I stepped off that plane and, thus, almost six months since I had seen or spoken to Jordan.

I can’t get her out of my mind, when I close my eyes each night.
Ooooh, love will keep you up all night.
My heart, my blood, my passion.
Why, tell me why,
No matter how hard I try, I can’t put the past behind me.

“No, no, no, damn it. UH! That sounds dumb!” I sighed, scribbling out some of the words, before just crumpling the paper and tossing it across the room. So many things ran through my mind, that I couldn’t put them together right.

“Maybe…if I took this one and put it with that one…uh, why am I having so much trouble with this?” I stared at the fresh sheet of paper. “I know why I am having so much trouble with it…the same reason I’m up at fucking 4am! Damn it, love sucks!” My mind ached as my hand, suddenly, began to scribble at a rapid pace.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t put the past behind me.
My trouble is…
I can’t get her out of my mind, when I close my eyes at night.
There’s a piece of me that still won’t let go of the memory.
So, now I know what it is,
Love is what my trouble is.

“Now, that could go somewhere,” a lopsided smile crossed my lips. Sure, it needed some work, but it was a start. Leaning back in my chair, I stretched my arms out over my head. My thoughts were interrupted by the shill of my phone. “Who the hell…? At, almost, 4:30? Hello?”

“Go to bed, Nick.” AJ’s raspy voice ordered.

“Um…I was in bed, Alex.”

“Bullshit. You do this every night, man. Here I am, tossing and turning, because I know your dumb ass is still up. We have an interview, in the morning, and you need to get rest.”

“Yes, Kevin,” I snickered “But, hey, I think I am on to something, tonight.”

“Whatever, you can tell me aaaaall about it…TOMORROW! Now, get your fat butt in bed.” He raised his voice, as he tried to order me around.

“Hey, don’t be hatin’, on my butt, just because you don’t have one,” I laughed. “It’s not my fault that you’re so damn scrawny.”

“Me hatin’ on you…that’ll be the day, Carter, that’ll be the day.” He tried to hide his chuckling, but I could still hear it. He is such a dork! “You, seriously, need to get into bed. We’ll both be in trouble, if we are yawning through the whole interview.”

“I’ll try, Aje. Good night.”

“Night, Bumblebee Tuna.”

“Night, Dickwad…I mean Silver Ring.”

“Hardy har har,” AJ laughed, sarcastically. “See you in the A.M.”

“Okay.” With that, we hung up. He has really been on the same wave length, as me, lately. It was, kind of, nice because I was able to talk to him a lot. He helped me to finish up the song I had written…the one I had sung to Jordan’s family. Anyways, AJ helped me tweak it and now it was already done being recorded, for the album. We titled it ‘Helpless When She Smiles’.

I turned out my desk lamp and slowly stood up, from my chair. I drew in a deep breath. Grabbing my notebook and pen, I headed up to my room. Sometimes, lyrics will come to me in the middle of the night and I’ll wake up, so I’ll write them down, for fear of forgetting them, by morning. After I trudged up the stairs, I headed into my room. I tossed the notebook onto the bedside table and crawled under my covers. Wrapping myself in the comforter, I let my eyes drift shut.