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It was almost a week before A.J. had to go on tour. Tina was sitting at the dining room table with Lizzie. They were studying for their algebra test. Tina felt like her eyes were going to cross with the confusion of algebraic equations. She heard the front door open and her mom came into the house.

“Hi, Mom,” Tina said with a smile.

“Hey, sweetie. Where‘s Alex?” Denise askedd as she put her briefcase down.

“Upstairs packing, I think. We saved you some dinner.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m starving to death,” she said as she slipped off her heels. “I had to do double the work today. Three people called in sick. There’s some nasty bug going around.”

“Yeah, it’s going around all over school too,” Lizzie said.

“It sounds miserable,” Denise commented. “Well, I’m going to take my dinner upstairs and relax to a little L.A. Law,” she said with a smile.

“Night, Mom,” Tina said then went back to her studying.

Tina stared blankly at her algebra book and sighed. She crinkled her nose and looked over at Lizzie who was watching A.J. walk around the house, packing for the tour. Tina rolled her eyes and furiously erased her answer to the math problem.

“Lizzie, did you get seven for the last question?”

“I don’t know,” Lizzie said as she chewed on the end of her pencil as she watched A.J.

“Lizzie, come on. I wanna get this done so I can watch TV.”

“Why, it’s Thursday. We don’t have algebra again until Monday.”

“Because my mom will kill me if I blow this off. Look, if you’re not going to help me then I’ll just do this on my own later,” she said as she threw her pencil down.

“We’ll get it finished,” Lizzie said as she stood up. “I need another soda.”

Tina snatched the can from her and scraped her chair across the dining room floor.

“I’ll get it,” she said then went into the kitchen.

Tina opened the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of grape soda. She turned around and saw A.J. coming into the kitchen with Lizzie following closely behind. Tina pursed her lips and opened up her can.

“So, are you excited?” Lizzie asked as she took the unopened can of soda.

“Yeah, I can’t wait!” A.J. said with a big grin. “It’s going to be a blast.”

“You’re going to get out there and forget all about little old me,” Lizzie said with a grin.

“Honey, I could never forget about you,” he said then ticked her chin with his finger.

Tina couldn’t help but snort at his comment. Both Lizzie and A.J. looked at her as she took a sip of her drink.

“What?”

“Nothing,” A.J. said while eyeballing her. “I’m going to finish packing.”

“I don’t even know why you’re packing so early anyway. You don’t leave until next Saturday.”

“I also have one more week of school before I leave. There’s not a whole lot of time to fit in packing in between studying and rehearsal,” he pointed out.

“Apparently,” Tina said as she raised her eyebrows.

“Well, I think I better get home,” Lizzie said then hugged A.J.

“Are you still coming by tomorrow night to hang out?”

“Of course!”

“What’s tomorrow night?” Tina asked.

“I invited the guys to come over and hang out for the night. I mentioned it to Lizzie and she wanted to join us.”

“Oh, how nice of you to tell me,” Tina hissed.

“Tina, shut up,” Lizzie said with a smirk. “Besides, maybe you’ll get to talk Blondie.”

Tina felt her cheeks burn as A.J. grinned widely at her. “Damn you, Lizzie.”

“Blondie, eh?” A.J. said while laughing. “You mean Nick?”

“That would be him,” Lizzie said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Aw, my sister’s got a crush,” A.J. teased. “I guess that means no more Corey Anderson.”

“God, I hope so,” Lizzie said while laughing.

Tina locked her jaw and glared at them. “You’re both a couple of jerks,” she said then stomped away to her room.

“Hey!” A.J. said as he tried to catch her. “Aw, Tina, come on. We were just playing.”

Tina flipped A.J. the bird then made her way upstairs before the tears could spill down her cheeks. She slammed the door and locked it behind her. Tina sat on her bed and pushed the play button to her CD player. She felt angry at A.J. for showing off in front of Lizzie. Had she not been around, he wouldn’t have teased her the way he did. She heard the sound of A.J. knocking on her door, but she turned up the volume louder and laid down on her bed. He continued to knock, but she ignored him and turned off her light. After thirty minutes, he’d stopped knocking and she turned her stereo off then went to sleep.

Some time in the middle of the night, Tina woke up with her head pounding. She opened her eyes and looked around her room. The house was quiet as she sat up. She suddenly felt queasy and quickly went into the bathroom. After ten minutes of heaving into the toilet, the bathroom light was flicked on. Tina shut her eyes at the sudden brightness of the room.

“Are you okay, Sis?” A.J. asked as he held her hair back.

“No,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“What’s going on?” said Denise as she appeared into the bathroom.

“Tina’s sick,” A.J. said as he placed a cool cloth on her neck.

“Somehow I knew this was going to happen,” she said with a sigh. “Alex, you can go back to bed. I’ll take care of her.”

“Mom, you’ve gotta be up in two hours,” A.J. protested.

“And you have school in three hours.”

“You know you can’t miss any work. You’re already taking a leave of absence to come with me.”

“Are you trying to tell me what to do?” Denise said as she entered the bathroom. “Go back to bed.”

“Mom, I’m not letting you lose your job over this.”

“You’re not skipping school.”

A.J. stood up and looked at his mother. “What difference does it make? I’m leaving next week and I’ll be working through a tutor. We need the money and you know it.”

“Would you two please stop yelling,” Tina said as rested her head against the toilet seat.

“Alright, fine, but just this one time,” Denise gave in. “You’re going back to school on Monday. Wake me up if she needs anything,” she said then kissed A.J. on the cheek.

Tina looked up at A.J. and groaned as her stomach gurgled. A.J. sat on the floor and rubbed her back.

“I hate this,” she whined as she hovered back over the toilet.

“It’ll be okay,” he said as he held her hair back.

Two hours later, Tina was awoken by her mother checking her forehead for a fever. She opened her eyes and realized she was lying on the couch in the living room. Her mind was hazy and she couldn’t remember how she got there. Her mother turned off the television then draped a blanket over her.

“Alex is staying with you today. I’ll be home after five, okay?”

“Okay,” Tina said softly.

“Feel better, Sweetie,” she said then left the house.

Tina sat up and looked around the living room. She saw A.J. come in from the kitchen. He smiled then sat next to her.

“You wanna go back upstairs?”

“I think so,” Tina said as she took the blanket off herself. “Ugh, my stomach,” she whined.

“You’ll be okay,” A.J. said as he guided her up the stairs. “Just stay in bed today.”

Tina went to her room and laid on her bed. A.J. handed her, her teddy bear and the remote to her TV.

“Holler if you need anything,” he said.

“You’re leaving me?” she said while looking up at him.

“Do you want me to stay? I thought you were mad at me.”

“No,” Tina mumbled. “I’m not mad.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Tina said as she shifted to one side of the bed. “Alex?”

“Hmm?” he said as he sat on the bed.

“If I ask you to do something for me, do you have promise not to laugh?”

“I promise.”

“Will you sing that song to me? The one you used to sing when we were kids.”

A.J. smiled and leaned against the headboard. “Let me think of how it goes,” he said as he looked at up at the ceiling. “Okay, I’ve got it,” he said then cleared his throat. “Sunshine on my shoulders make me happy,” he began to sing.

Tina smiled at the familiar John Denver tune. It was the song he always sang to her when she was sick or scared. She couldn’t help but snuggle up to him and continue to listen. He finished the first verse then kissed the top of her head. They sat in silence for a moment then Tina decided to speak.

“Alex?”

“Hmm?” he said as he turned off the lamp beside her bed.

“I’m sorry I’ve not been very nice to you lately.”

A.J. chuckled. “It’s okay. I knew you were going to be a pain in the ass.”

“I’m just scared that you’re going to forget all about me.”

“Hey,” A.J. said as he playfully tugged on her hair. “How could you even think that? You’re my baby sister. No one in the world can replace you.”

“I know. It was just a thought I had.”

“Well, get it out of your head because that is far from true,” he said as he stood up. “Get some sleep, Sis.”

“Okay,” Tina replied with a yawn.

She watched as A.J. left the room. He quietly closed the door behind him and Tina continued to stare at the door. A smile came across her face as she pulled the blankets over her. She decided she was going to make the best of the time he had. Her bond with A.J. was definitely strong enough to handle a tour. She just hoped that nothing would change while he was gone.