Second Time Around

- Chapter 8 -

~Kevin~

Could we say screwed? The whole thing had my mind in shock. I couldn't believe it; it was so unexpected.

I was a little annoyed at being kept in the dark for the last few days. What if something had happened and none of us expected it? If we'd been caught off guard? I didn't even want to think about it. I knew the guys had their reasons though, whatever they may be.

I was trying hard to keep a calm expression. I didn't want to freak out. Mostly because the guys were looking for me to be the strong one; even I expected that of myself. We'd find our way out of this.

"Gary's not in the office right now, would you like to leave a message?" AJ was obviously mocking the secretary he'd gotten in touch with when he tried the number again. He tossed the phone aside roughly. "Yes I'd like to leave a friggin' message, you can tell Gary he's a lousy son of a-"

"Jay," Howie interrupted.

"I know. I'm calm." He fell back down into the couch. Nick was staring at him. The kid looked in shock. Whether it was because of AJ losing his cool or just him processing the news, I don't know. I rubbed my hands together slowly and swallowed.

"Well." Brian leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. I glanced at him.

"Well," I repeated.

"I think I'm gonna go play basketball . . ."

"What?" Nick looked up.

"No, you're not," I started. Damn his energy.

"I need to get out, I can't just sit here. I don't feel like thinking about this."

"You're obviously not thinking," I answered. Going out alone was the first thing on my 'not to do' list. Brian gave me a look. Argument time.

"You can't go out, Brian," Nick got out before Brian said anything. Good boy, Nick, talk him out of it.

"I'll be fine. You wanna come, Nick? We'll take security."

Nick stared at him.

"Brian, don't you think it would be better to stay in until we figure things out?" Howie cut in with a frown.

"But nothing's even one hundred percent yet-"

"What do you need to make it any more certain?" I answered. Getting hurt? Killed? I shook my head. "No, Brian."

"I can go out if I want to," came his retort. "You guys can sit here and worry if you want to, that's not gonna help anything."

"Cuz, c'mon." Deep breath, don't get mad. He's your cousin. So what if he's crazy.

"I'm going," he stated firmly.

"Brian . . ." Nick started.

"Yeah, Frack?"

There was a slight pause. "I'll go too," Nick said finally, shooting me a glance. I frowned at him and he looked away. Great.

"This is the last thing in the world you should be thinking of doing," I said.

"Kev, nothing's gonna happen. I just don't wanna sit here and worry." I knew Brian was just as scared as everyone else, he just figured getting out and playing ball would make him relax.

"You're crazy, kid."

"It runs in the family," he answered, pulling up from the couch. "Nick, you coming?"

"Yeah . . ."

Brian was grabbing his ball from the corner of the room. "If we're not back in an hour and a half, then you can start to worry, okay?"

"No, then we hunt you down and kill you," AJ answered.

"That too." He turned and gave me a small smile. "Kev, if you don't stop frowning, your face is gonna freeze that way."

"I think it's already frozen," Nick said, raising an eyebrow at me.

They ducked away from the pillow I chucked at them and started to the door. "Q and Ronnie are across the hall," I told them, reminding them to take the guards. Security knew what was up and had told us not to go anywhere without them anyway. "Be careful."

"We're always careful," Brian said as they left.

That's what I was afraid of.

~AJ~

The more I thought about the whole thing, the less scared I got and the more angry I became. I didn't like not being in control. At all.

"Brian has the right idea you know," I said suddenly.

"What?" Kevin looked at me.

"Going out. He's right. We can't just sit here and let this whole thing control us. Or let them know we're scared. That'll just give them more confidence. We just have to keep on going as if things were normal." Wow, that sounded good. I was impressed.

"I can't believe we have to even think about this . . ." Howie shook his head.

Kevin seemed to be thinking about what I'd said. "Yeah, but we can't go around looking like we're unaware at the same time. We'll just be walking targets."

I shrugged. I didn't know. "I just don't want the same thing to happen again," I said softly, sinking back into the couch cushions. I grabbed the phone again before either Kev or Howie said anything.

"Who're you calling?" Howie asked.

"Information. I'm tracking down Gary."

"Good luck," Kevin muttered. I made a face at him.

I gave the operator the city, state, and the full name. I drummed my fingers on the end of the couch while I waited. Please find him . . . The operator finally came back on the line. One listing, she said, and asked if I'd like to be connected. I said yes.

"Found him," I told Kevin as the number went through, raising my chin. He smiled slightly.

But nobody was picking up. The damn phone rang about a hundred times. Well, maybe ten. I was starting to hate Gary. He said he'd be there. He promised.

I hung up.

"No answer?" Obviously, Howie. I nodded, scowling.

"He told me to call whenever."

"It's still early, buddy," Kevin said, trying to reassure me. It wasn't working. "Maybe he's out to lunch or something."

"Maybe he was eliminated," I answered, crossing my arms over my chest. Kevin glared at me and I swallowed.

"Don't."

"I'm just a little worried that's all. Sometime's people disappear unexpectedly."

"AJ, don't," Kevin repeated. "Just shut your mouth."

"It's true, they-" I cut off at the look on Kevin's face. Okay, I shut my mouth. He could stop glaring now. I was just nervous. I babble sometimes when I'm nervous. He knows that.

"Guys, c'mon," Howie started.

Alright. We're calm. No hard feelings.

"We can try and get in touch with Gary later," Kevin said. "And if we still don't get an answer, that doesn't mean anything either. We can try and get someone else at the station. Right?" He looked at me.

"Right."

"Okay." Kevin sighed and rubbed his forehead, flipping on the TV. He looked tired. "I can't believe we let Brian and Nick out."

"Think of it as a test," I said. "If nothing happens, then maybe everything is okay."

"I don't want them to be a test!"

Okay, I was just looking on the up side of things, but okay.

"They'll be fine," Howie said. "They're with Ron and Q. How much more safe can they be?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "They're safe. Treasure the peace and quiet."

Kevin gave me a look and smiled slightly. "What peace and quiet?"

-

- Chapter 9 -

~Brian~

I didn't think I was crazy for wanting to get out. I just didn't want to sit in the hotel and worry my day away. I'd rather be out doing something and not even think about it. Besides, a lot of times it's when you don't think about something that you come up with the solution for it. At least that's what I hoped would happen.

Plus I still had a lot of energy for some reason, and I felt like doing something active.

I was beating Nick badly. The kid was too distracted to in the beginning to even concentrate on the game. We even got Ron and Q to team up with us to make it more interesting. Nick was getting more in the game now, or at least starting to care that his team was losing. Ronnie wasn't.

"Ronnie! What are you doing?" Nick gave Ron a frustrated look.

"Would you rather get your butt kicked while I play basketball, boy?" Ronnie rolled his eyes with a small smile. These guys had a lot of patience to put up with us, let me tell you.

"You can at least block Brian's shots! You're twice his height!"

Now hey . . . I wasn't too offended, seeing Ronnie was about six and a half feet tall.

"Now Nicky, you can't blame it all on Ron . . ."

"What?" Nick gave me a challenging smile. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means." I laughed.

"Yeah?" He gave me a playful shove.

"Bring it on, little man," I said, shoving him back. I dropped the basketball and made like I was going to grab him. Nick shied away and next thing I knew Q was grabbing my arm. "I'm just kiddin', Q-"

"No, that's not it. C'mon, grab your ball."

"What?"

"What's up?" Nick frowned as Ronnie started pushing him toward the van we came in. He pulled away. "What is it?"

"You see that car over there? With the guy getting out?"

Nick and I looked in the direction of the car as our guards grabbed us again. Okay. A little suspicious? Uh oh. I swallowed and grabbed my ball quickly, letting them pull me and Nick to the van. Maybe coming out wasn't such a good idea afterall.

"Are you just being extra cautious?" I heard Nick ask as I slid in next to him and Ronnie shut the door. Q started the engine as Ronnie got in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, Nicky," he answered absently.

"Oh. Well that's good," Nick said, shooting me a worried look. I shrugged and played with the basketball on my lap nervously. Nothing better happen or I'd blame myself forever.

We were quiet as the van pulled out of the lot, and Nick and I instinctively peered out the back window to check on the car. It pulled out too.

"Ronnie . . ." Nick started. I sank lower in my seat, fingering the cross around my neck and saying a silent prayer.

"You guys just relax," Ron said smoothly. "We're just gonna drive around a bit, okay?"

"Can we go back to the hotel?" I tried. I really wanted to be back with the guys.

"No," Q answered. "Just in case, we don't want to lead them to the hotel. It's just a precaution."

"Precautions are good . . ." I fingered the ball. "Good game, Nickolas."

"Yeah, I guess." He paused. "Are you scared?" he asked in a low whisper. I looked out the window and then back at him, nodding. "Me too."

"Nothing's gonna happen though," I said, giving him smile. "We'll be fine." I made a face. "Unless . . ."

"Unless what?" Nick's eyes widened.

"Unless we're not back to the hotel within the time we said." I laughed. "That's the worst thing that could happen to us." Yeah, Brian. False support. Way to go.

Nick cracked a smile. "Yeah."

I glanced at my watch. "We have time."

~Howie~

"They still have time - "

"Howie, they have thirty seconds," AJ cut in. "I really don't think -" I gave him a dirty look. "Oh. Yeah, they have time. Lots of it too, judging by my watch."

I sighed. AJ was hopeless sometimes.

"I'm going to kill them," Kevin muttered. Sometimes, when he got worried, he got mad too. Like now. I'd been trying to calm him down for awhile now, but I was thinking about giving it up soon. It wasn't working.

"They probably just got caught up in traffic or something," I said. One more try. For the heck of it. "Or stopped for a drink."

"Or Ronnie and Q got so sick of their whining that they finally just whacked them."

Kevin stared at AJ for a second before reaching over and hitting him with the magazine he'd been distractedly flipping through. AJ laughed and hit him back. Kevin just sighed.

"Jay . . ."

"Serious though, man," AJ said. "Nothing happened."

I was starting to get kind of worried myself. They hadn't gone far to the court, there wouldn't have been any traffic, and an hour and a half is a long time. Even if Nick and Brian weren't keeping track of time, the guards would be. And it was starting to get dark out.

"I know, I know." Kevin ran a hand through his hair. "Why am I worrying so much?"

"Because you're a pessimistic old man - Ow!" AJ tried to block Kevin's smack. I smiled.

"Watch it, bro," Kevin laughed.

"Well you're gonna be if you don't stop." AJ jumped off the couch before Kevin could touch him again, laughing. "I'm getting a drink, you guys want any?"

"Sure," I said. Kevin nodded.

"Okay." AJ disappeared into the kitchen.

"How can he not be worried?" Kevin started, shaking his head. "He's unfazed by the whole thing."

I shook my head. "He's worried too. He's just putting on the act to try and make us worry less."

Kevin nodded slowly. "And what are you thinking, D?"

"I'm thinking . . . that they're fine and there's nothing to worry about." There. I'm a good actor.

Kevin smiled slightly, shaking his head again. "You guys are too much."

I shrugged and glanced at my watch. Ten minutes late. Not a big deal. It could be anything. Nick and Brian always had us worrying over something, and most of the time it turned out not to be a big deal. Most of the time. But this was definitely a different kind of situation.

-

- Chapter 10 -

~Nick~

Any worry that I'd had in the last forty minutes was quickly turning into annoyance. I mean, I was worried about who it was that could have been in that car, but I was even more annoyed that me and Brian were still sitting here in this damn van.

I was through biting down my nails, and gave the view outside the window my attention. Or lack thereof. I wasn't really concentrating on anything. I just wanted to get out of that van. I was hot, I was bored, and I really had to pee.

"Ronnie, are we gonna stop soon?" I couldn't help the whining tone in my voice.

"Soon, Carter."

"Cause like, if we don't I'm gonna throw myself out this door." I tried the handle experimentally, but it was locked. We were stopped at a light too. It would have been perfect.

"It's on child safety," Brian said with a laugh. "Just for you, bud."

"I'm serious you know, I really gotta go."

Brian laughed even harder. I kicked him.

"We're late anyway." I grabbed Brian's wrist and checked his watch. Yup. Late. I pushed his arm away and let out a breath.

"Relax Nick, it's not our fault," Brian said. "There's nothin' we can do." He rolled the basketball between us, then picked it up and tried to spin it on his finger as the van finally moved forward. Of course the ball dropped, falling to the floor.

"You suck," I told him. He grabbed my stomach.

"Argh," I objected, pulling away. Don't be tickled when you have to pee. "Stop . . ."

"You think we could stop for dinner?" Brian asked Q and Ronnie, giving my stomach a pat before letting me go. "I'm hungry."

"I think you should wait 'till you get to the hotel. We were supposed to have you guys back there awhile ago, so let's not waste anymore time," Q told him. "We're gonna head back there now, I think we've lost the car."

"No shit!" I couldn't help but exclaim. Brian shook his head at me, giving me a look. "I coulda told you that an hour ago," I continued. I told you I was getting annoyed. Not at them. They knew that.

"Carter, when we want your input we'll ask for it," Ronnie answered.

"Sorry, Ronnie." I saw him roll his eyes. Fine.

It didn't take us long at all to get back to the hotel. I didn't know what we'd been driving around all that time for. Precautionary measures? Q pulled the van around the back of the hotel into the parking lot.

"We're here," Brian said with a small cheer, grabbing his ball off the floor as I opened my door. "Finally . . ."

That's for sure. Was I glad. I was about to explode.

"Hold up," Q started. I turned at the worry in his deep voice. "Ron, take the guys up?"

"What's the-"

"C'mon," Ronnie said, cutting off Brian's question. I frowned, stopping. "Carter, come on."

"But-"

Ronnie grabbed me and Brian and started toward the entrance. I glanced back and noticed what Q was looking at. The car. It was there.

"Brian, it's the-"

"Nick, c'mon," Ronnie interrupted. Sorry, Ronnie, my legs are suddenly frozen, I can't help it. "Brian, don't stop," Ronnie chided, giving us both a tug. After that, we were the ones rushing him toward the elevator.

Once we were in there with the doors closed and pressing the button for our floor, I felt a little better. It could be a psycho fan, like Howie joked before. It wouldn't be the first time afterall. This time was just a little more scary.

~AJ~

Okay, I admit that I had been starting to get pretty worried before I heard the key in the door. Not quite as worried as 'D and Kev, but they're what you call overreactors to begin with. I try and keep them level, but there's only so much a guy can do. I think they would've snapped if we had to wait a second more.

When I heard them at the door though, I was the first one off the couch. I pulled it open before they did and gave them my perfected 'I'm so disappointed' look. I got it from Kevin.

"And where the hell have you been?" I asked, blocking their entrance. I was caught off guard as Brian and Nick shoved past to get by and Ronnie gently pushed me inside before quickly shutting the door. I gave him a confused look. "Something happen?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling me away from the door. Uh oh.

"What happened?" Kevin was asking. Ronnie spoke up from behind me.

"We had a little problem," he said, going into something about a car and being followed and needing more security. I was too busy looking at Nick and Brian, whose faces looked like they'd both just seen some horror movie for the first time. Nick had this look on his face.

"Man, you okay?" I caught his eye.

"Yeah . . .I think." He paused. "I gotta piss," he said as if he just remembered, taking off toward the bathroom. I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly. Well Nick seemed okay.

"So in other words, we drove around for forty minutes and it was a waste," Brian was saying, crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed okay too. No permanant damage. Life could go on.

"Q's checking out downstairs, but I think we should get another hotel," Ronnie was saying.

"That sounds like a good idea," Kevin answered. Howie and I were looking at all our junk all of us had strewn all over the place.

"I don't wanna clean up," I started. Not that I wanted to stay here either. Like I said before, I'm not one to be a sitting duck. No way.

"I think that's the least of our worries, Jay-boy," Kevin answered, rolling his eyes at me. I frowned.

"I'm just going to make a few calls and check on some stuff," Ronnie continued. "Do not leave this room, understand? Don't open for anybody but myself and Q."

"Got it," Kevin answered.

"What if room service comes or something? Or a maid?" Brian pretended to be worried. "We can't just leave them out there!"

"We didn't order anything so don't worry over it," Kevin returned tiredly, swatting at Brian's head. Brian grinned at him.

"Well that's good."

"Oh no, where's Ronnie?" Nick was back. He actually looked worried too.

"Checking on some stuff," Howie said.

"Is he coming back?"

"Probably," Kevin answered. "We're switching hotels too, bro. So you might wanna start packing."

"Oh, really?"

"Can we switch states while we're at it too?" Brian asked. "It might be a good idea."

"We still have venues here," I answered. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "So no."

"Oh well. C'mon, Nick, let's pack."

Howie frowned as the two of them disappeared to their room. "You think they're okay?"

"Were they ever okay?" I answered. Kevin and Howie were silent and I just shook my head. Sometimes, questions just answered themselves.

-

- Chapter 11 -

~Kevin~

Alright, so things weren't going as planned. And since most things don't with us, I guess I really shouldn't have found it surprising at all. But I'd had my hopes up and needless to say I was disappointed. And worried. Very worried.

I told myself things would be alright if we could just keep our act together. You wouldn't think that would be so hard, but with all the time I spent with these guys I knew it wasn't going to be easy. AJ was trying too hard to be cool, calm, and collected; Brian was struggling to be our constant comic relief; Howie was stuck trying to keep the rest of us calm; and Nick was just . . . well, Nick.

And me? If you must know, I was worried out of my mind. And trying not to show it. It was a wonder that Ronnie and Q even put up with us anymore. We were nutcases.

The two had come back not long after we started packing up, much to Nick's relief. The poor kid thought they could have been abducted or something in the time they were gone, as much as we tried to convice him otherwise.

So here we were the next day in the different hotel, hanging in the one room even though we had gotten three because no one wanted to go off by themselves, trying to pass the time and not get on anybody's nerves. Which was fine. I guess it was just going to be about waiting to see what would happen next.

"Look, it's Snoopy! Kev, you love Snoopy!" Sometimes I didn't think that Brian's mind has aged past the age of five.

I looked up. He obviously wanted my attention. I admit I'd been ignoring everybody and staring at the air conditioning unit from the bed for the past twenty minutes, but I was thinking.

"No, I don't . . ."

"Sure you do, who doesn't?" Brian turned the volume on the TV louder as the theme for Peanuts played. "Snooooopy." I sighed.

"Whatcha want, Brian?"

"Nothin'. I'm just bored and you've been staring at the wall for the past half hour so I wanted to make sure you hadn't gone into a coma."

Funny kid. Don't know where he gets it from.

"Nope, I'm still here, don't worry."

"Oh, I wasn't worrying," came his cheeky reply.

I rolled my eyes but before I could comment the phone rang. We all kind of looked at each other a second, and I finally reached for it over Nick, who was half asleep next to me on the bed.

"Hello?" I answered tensely.

"Hey, Kev? It's Ronnie."

Ah, relief. "Hey man, what's up? Everything okay?"

"So far so good," he said. "Haven't seen a thing. But we're getting you over to the venue early to be on the safe side, and I think it would be a wise idea to cancel the meet-and-greet. You can reschedule when things calm down."

"Okay, sure. Sounds like a good idea." I hadn't even been thinking about the concert. I looked at my watch. It was three-thirty now. "What time do you wanna leave?"

"Now? How's that for you guys?"

"Fine I guess." If we had to be early . . . "We should rehearse a little anyway, we've been out of it lately."

"Alright, we'll be over in a minute, wait for a knock."

"Right." I hung up the phone and yawned. Time to get motivated. I gave Nick a nudge. "Time to get moving, little man."

I got a groan in reply and he rolled over.

"Where're we going?" Howie spoke up from the other bed as I started to sit up.

"Venue. Ronnie wants to get there early for precaution. And we gotta rehearse anyway, so . . ."

"So let's go," AJ mumbled tiredly, sitting up from his position on the floor. I don't think anybody had slept well last night after what had happened yesterday. "I'm ready."

"You look it too," Brian laughed. He got a glare in return, but he gave AJ a cheerful smile anyway. AJ muttered something under his breath and took a playful swing at him.

"Watch out, Charlie Brown."

"Good grief," came Brian's expected reply.

~ Howie ~

It seemed like we were taking every precaution we possibly could. Getting here early, cancelling meet-and-greets, staying with the guards . . . But I was still worried. I didn't want to be caught off guard like last time. We didn't need that. We didn't need any of this.

"Howie? D? D? D?"

Nick was waving a hand in front of my face. I snapped back to reality.

"Yeah?"

"I was sayin', do you want a drink?" He paused and studied me critically. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking." I gave a forced smile. "That sounds good, want me to come?"

"Sure!"

I pulled myself of the couch and followed him to the door. We were taking a break from rehearsal, just hanging around in the lounge, doing nothing. We'd tried practicing when we first got there to get our minds off things, but as it turned out our minds were already too off to even bother concentrating. So we figured we'd save our energy for the actual show.

"Are you still worried?" I heard Nick ask. I looked up from the hallway's speckled tiles to look at him.

"Nah . . ."

"Yeah right, Howie. I can tell you are."

"Then why'd ya ask?" I answered with a small smile. He shrugged with a laugh.

"You think anything's gonna happen?" he asked, turning serious.

"What? Tonight?" We stopped walking as we came upon a couple of soda machines. Nick dug through his pockets for a second.

"Yeah . . ." He fed the machine a dollar and pressed the Coke button.

"Nah . . ." I said after a tiny pause. He looked at me. "What, you don't believe me?"

He shrugged, getting another Coke from the machine. "What do you want?"

"Coke's fine."

"I don't think anything's gonna happen," he stated matter-of-factly. I watched him struggle with the machine this time to make it accept his wrinkled dollar bill, not answering. "You got another dollar?" he asked finally.

I got out my wallet and gave him one.

"Thanks. Coke, right?" The machine accepted the money and he pressed the button. "I mean, there's no way anything can happen here. There's so much security."

"Exactly." I took the Coke can he offered. "Nothing's gonna happen, Nicky." I knew that was all he wanted to hear.

"You're right." He gave me a tiny smile.

"Hey!"

I turned and saw AJ coming down the hall. "Hey, Jay."

"Is one of those for me, buddy?" AJ asked, giving Nick a hopeful smile. Nick rolled his eyes but tossed him a can anyway. "Thanks, man."

"Where'd you go?"

"Playing pool," AJ said with a shrug, popping open his can with a hiss as we started back up the hall. "I was getting bored sitting around."

"Tell me about it," Nick muttered. "I'm gonna go crazy."

"A little late for that, bro," came AJ's reply. Nick hit him in the arm and AJ laughed. "I'm just playing with you. Don't hit me." Nick hit him again of course.

"C'mon guys," I started. They just laughed at me. They were both crazy.

-

- Chapter 12 -

~ Brian ~

I was getting bored. I didn't regret getting here early if it really was safer and all, I just didn't like sitting here doing nothing. With no company. I looked across the room at Kevin talking on his phone to somebody. Probably his girlfriend. Which was fine, it just left me with no one to talk to. The others had gone to get sodas and left me here with him. Thanks guys.

I started playing around the pool table, playing a game against myself. It passed the time a little while, and guess what, I won. Anyway I was still bored. I picked up the eight ball and chucked it softly at Kevin. It hit his foot and rolled under his chair. I got a glare as a response.

"Could you pass that back over here? Thanks," I said loudly. Kevin ignored me. Figures. What was he doing on that phone? Telling her a minute by minute replay of every day since he last saw her?

On to arcade games. I was in the middle of playing a pinball game when I heard the guys come back into the room. I didn't turn.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God."

"AJ, are you . . .?" I turned around and got a glance of AJ being supported between Nick and Howie, the front of his white shirt stained red. I clenched the handle on the pinball machine, feeling weak. "AJ?" I said softly.

"He got- He got . . .Oh God . . ." Nick trailed off and stared at me wide-eyed.

"What the hell happened?!" I heard Kevin exclaim. At least he was off the phone. He was immediately at their side. I stayed by my pinball machine for support, watching.

"He's . . ." Howie cut off.

"I'm . . ."

"Oh God."

I would have called 911 right then but Nick burst out laughing. My mouth opened slightly and I saw Kevin's expression change.

"You're not . . ." My voice sounded uncertain.

"It's ketchup," AJ said with a laugh. "Ketchup, Kev." He slid his finger down the front of his shirt and licked it. "Mmm." Kevin smacked him hard.

AJ stopped laughing.

"Don't ever do that."

"It was a joke," Nick started. Kevin turned to him.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Understand?"

Nick just nodded.

"Sorry, Kev," Howie started. "We were just bored. We thought you guys would find it funny." Funny?! They thought we would find it funny?!

"Well it wasn't," Kevin muttered. "God, guys. Argh." He looked over towards me. "You alright there, Bri?

"Mm-hmm." Just a little spooked out thinking one my brothers was dead. "I'm fine . . ." I let go off the pinball handle, unclenching my hand slowly.

"We got you guys a soda," Nick started unsurely. He held one out halfway to Kevin. "But you can't have it if you're mad."

"Alright, I'm not mad," Kevin said, rolling his eyes as he took it. Nick grinned and tossed a can to me too. I started over to them as AJ started pulling off his 'bloody' shirt.

"It was funny though, huh?" he was asking as he grabbed a clean t-shirt. This time I hit him.

"You're retarded."

~ Nick ~

Okay, maybe the joke was going a little far. I guess if I wasn't in on it I would have a been a little scared too. Okay, very scared. But for the looks we got on Kevin and Brian's faces, I'd say it was worth it all the way. Of course, I wasn't about to tell either of them that. I didn't want to see any real blood.

I went over to the couch and stretched out, pulling up my feet and propping my head on a pillow. I was tired. Might as well catch up on some sleep, right? Or at least try.

"Where's the frickin' eight ball?" AJ yelled from across the room. Some people have no consideration for others trying to sleep. No one answered him. "Nick, did you take it?" he yelled at me. I sat up a little.

"No." Why the heck would I take a pool ball?

"Brian?" AJ tried.

"It's under the chair over there."

"How the hell'd it get under there?"

"I don't know . . ." Brian answered with a smile.

"You're a retard, Bri," AJ answered, going over to the chair and looking under it. Sure enough he came up with the missing eight ball. "How'd it get under there?"

"I don't know!" Brian said with a laugh. "You found it, didn't you?"

I heard AJ mutter something. There was no way I was going to sleep at this rate. I flipped on the TV as Kevin came and sat on the couch next to me.

"Hey, Nicky."

"Hey, Kev." I started changing channels. "What's up?"

"Not much. I'm thinking we should order a pizza. You hungry?"

"Starving." I found a basketball game on and stopped flipping. I was really hungry. "How're we gonna get it though if we can't go out and we're not letting anybody in the arena?"

"I'll call Ronnie and ask him," Kevin said with a shrug, pulling out his cell phone. I watched him dial a second and then turned back to watch the game. It was on a commercial so I got up to go mess around with the guys.

"Brian . . ."

"Hey, Fracks." He was playing some arcade game.

"I'll play you," I offered.

"Yeah, sure." He restarted it and moved over to let me have my controls. "This is a long day, huh?"

"Incredibly," I answered, pressing buttons for the different options on the screen. "Kev's ordering a pizza." The game started.

"Awesome, I'm starved."

"Yeah . . ." I jerked at the joystick to get a high kick out of the character on the screen. Brian's guy jumped back to avoid it. "You think this is gonna be over soon?"

"Yeah, hopefully," he said. "We'll be okay."

"I hope so."

"I know so."

"I hope you're right."

"I am." He laughed. "You're dead."

I broke out of my thoughts, and sure enough he had beat me. "Man . . . That's not fair. I wasn't ready."

"You have the same excuse every time you lose, boy," came Brian's amused answer as he restarted it again. "I wonder why."

"Well this time I really wasn't!"

"Whatever. Best outta three?"

"Five."

"You're on."

-

- Chapter 13 -

~AJ~

"I thought you said we were getting pizza."

"It's coming."

"It's been an hour."

"Okay, Brian." Kevin rubbed his forehead tiredly. "It's coming."

Something told me it wasn't. And I was getting very hungry. I glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed it silently. Its big hand was too slow. In fact, both its hands were too slow. It must've been broken.

"I'll go check on it," I announced, sticking a piece of gum in my mouth. I had to chew on something. Nick stuck out his hand for a piece so I just dropped the whole package in his hand.

"And how're you gonna do that?" Howie gave me a look.

"I'll go look around and see if I see a stupid delivery boy walking around like an idiot."

"Ronnie was gonna pick it up at the front for us," Kevin interrupted. "Stay here."

"I'll go see if Ronnie's walking around like an idiot then," I argued. "I gotta take a walk anyway. Rok, you wanna go? C'mon."

"Can I come?" Nick threw my gum back at me.

"What do three people need to check on a pizza for?" I answered, shaking my head. Nick just gave me a look. "We'll be right back anyway. Alright, Kev?"

"Whatever."

I smiled. I loved it when Kevin was too tired to argue with me. It was great.

"C'mon, Brian."

The halls were so weird not having anybody around. We usually had everybody around before a show, from tech to the band to all the rest of the crew that came with us. But since we had come so early it seemed so empty.

"It's so quiet . . ." Brian said, listening to our footsteps echo in the hall.

"Yeah."

"Too quiet."

"Yeah."

"It's like-"

"Shut up, man," I interrupted. God.

Brian glared at me. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing." I was tired, I was hungry, bored, I wanted to be alone . . . Then again, I was the one who asked him to come with me. "You think Ronnie's at the back entrance?"

"Probably." Brian gave a sad sigh. I glanced at him as we went down a flight of stairs.

"Guilt trip doesn't work on me."

"What guilt trip?" he replied, cutting me off to get to the doorway first. I rolled my eyes and followed behind him down the hall.

We met up with Ronnie before we even reached near the back gates where I figured he would have been waiting. He was coming back into the building and hooking his walkie-talkie back on his belt. He wasn't too pleased to see us. I don't know why.

"What are you two doing?"

"Walking," I answered as we were pushed back inside and Ronnie fumbled with the lock on the door behind him. "Where's our pizza?"

"I want you guys to stay upstairs, alright? C'mon."

"Where's the pizza?" Brian urged.

"I don't know, guys. Does it look like I know?"

I gave him a smile, raising an eyebrow. "You ate it all by yourself, didn't you?"

"Start running McLean," Ronnie warned. "Let's go, guys. Do I have to walk you back up?"

"We were just bored," Brian answered. "And hungry."

"You want a coloring book or something?"

"You can't eat a coloring book," I answered with a laugh. Ronnie stared back, not amused. "Fine, we'll go upstairs. We were just looking to see if the pizza got lost."

"I'm on the lookout. I'll bring it to you when it comes. I want you all to stay upstairs, understand?"

"Got it, Ron." Brian looked at him. "Everything's okay, right? Nothing's happening?"

"You're such a baby," I muttered. But I looked at Ronnie for the answer too.

"Everything's going fine, guys." He pointed to the door to the stairwell. "I'll see you later. Go play all those games you've got up there."

"Yeah, yeah," I answered. Brian started to the stairs, pulling my arm. Ronnie went the other way down the hall without looking back at us.

~Brian~

So the pizza wasn't coming anytime soon it seemed. Just great. None of us had eaten since that morning, and I was starving. Nothing was going right. I wasn't even worried about Frank anymore. I just wanted food and something to do for the next four hours.

"Hey, Bri, hold up."

"Why?" I kept going up the stairs, not glancing back at him.

"C'mon. Let's not go back up right away. I'm gonna go crazy."

"What're you gonna do downstairs, huh? No."

AJ rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Rok. I'll catch up with you later."

"No, you're coming up too. Ronnie says he doesn't want us down there. There's nothing down there anyway."

"The band'll be coming soon. We can hang out with them."

"AJ. No."

He glared at me. "You're just scared."

"Scared? Of what?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Of everything," he responded. "You can go back and sit and do nothing if you want. It's not like I need you with me or something."

"You can be such a jerk. Go ahead. Do whatever. Get hurt, get in trouble. See if I care."

AJ glared at me and started the other way down the stairs. I kept going up, figuring he'd follow. I knew I was wrong when I heard the door slam echo from down below. Dammit.

I waited a second to see if he'd come back, but he didn't. I debated whether or not to go after him. I hadn't meant what I said. He hadn't meant what he'd said either, had he? AJ and I were always fighting over stupid stuff anyway. It didn't last.

So I kept going up.

He was kind of right anyway; I was kind of scared. But so was he. We all were. We didn't know what was going to happen. But that's why he was acting like such a jerk. He'd be fine. The kid could take care of himself.

"Where's AJ?"

"Out being an idiot," I answered, giving Howie a shrug. I headed over to where he, Kevin, and Nick were playing a three way game of pool. I don't know how long they'd been playing, but all the balls still looked scattered across the table top.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kevin looked up.

"It means he's just out roaming around. He's fine."

"You just let him go off? By himself?" Kevin gave me an annoyed look. "We're trying to be careful, Brian."

Great, now he's mad at me.

"He's fine," I repeated.

"Couldn't you two have stayed together?"

"I didn't want to fight him anymore, okay?" I frowned at him. "What, you want me to go too? You want me to go look for him? I'll leave, okay? Will that make you happy?"

"Bri, no. I'm sorry, alright?" Kevin caught my arm. "I'm just worried thinking about this whole thing. You're right, he can take care of himself."

"Ronnie's gonna kick his butt anyway," I muttered, pulling away from him.

"Where's our pizza?" Nick finally looked up.

"It's not here yet." I watched him struggle with the pool cue for a second. "What the heck are you doing, Nick? You know how to play pool."

"We're playing lefty," came his answer.

That would explain all the balls still on the table.

I just rolled my eyes. "You guys are crazy."

"You wanna play too?" Howie asked, turning to me with a smile.

"Yeah." I grabbed a cue off the rack. Why not?

-

- Chapter 14 -

~Kevin~

Alright, he wasn't back yet. No reason to get nervous, the kid was probably trying to prove some point. AJ was always to prove some thing or another to me or the guys, but half the time I really didn't know what it was. So I was trying not to worry . . .

" - your turn. Kev, you suck. You're -"

"What?" Back to reality.

"It's your turn," Nick repeated, waving his hand in my face. "Earth to Kevin. You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You guys have enough of this game yet?"

The three stared at me sadly. I guess not.

"Okay . . ." I went my turn, got no balls in the pockets like everyone else, and went back to my thoughts. It seemed like only a few seconds later that it was interrupted.

"Your turn again, man . . ."

"Guys, I'm gonna go look around a little bit, okay?"

"Look around?" Brian repeated.

"To see where AJ's gotten into." And to see if something was up.

"I'll go with you," Nick offered, looking up at me hopefully. "Okay?" I shrugged.

"Okay."

"Can you bring me back food?" Brian asked, dropping his pool cue to the ground with a clatter. It started to roll away and he sent me a desperate look.

"Pick that up. What type of food?"

"Anything, Kevin," he answered, grabbing the cue back. "Candy, anything. I'm gonna die."

"You're not gonna die." I rolled my eyes. "We'll look for you. Howie, you want anything?"

"If you find something," he said easily.

"Okay, we'll be back. Brian, be good, don't bug Howie," I said with a smile. Brian just crossed his arms and pretended to offended.

"And don't eat all the pizza if it comes," Nick added. Something told me he wouldn't have to worry about that. The pizza looked like a lost cause for now. It wasn't that I was worried about anyway.

"C'mon, Frack."

We went downstairs first because I had a feeling that might have been where AJ was, around the back where all the crew and band arrive. When AJ got tired and annoyed with us that was usually where he stole off to.

The only person we ran into though was Ronnie.

"Not you guys too . . ."

"Nice to see you too, Ronnie," Nick returned sarcastically.

"Ron, have you run into AJ down here?"

"He's still down here? I told him to get back up over an hour ago . . . Is Brian gone too?"

"No, he's back. We were just checking on AJ."

"Well I haven't seen him, but he's probably avoiding me because he knows I'd kick his ass if I found him down here." Ronnie shrugged. "You know him. He's fine, probably just hanging out somewhere."

"Yeah." I glanced at the window. "Everything going alright?"

"Fine. Nothing's up, if that's what you mean. Your lovely fans are showing up and starting to sneak around, but that's about it."

"Did our lovely pizza guy show up yet, or did you kill him and eat the pizza?" Nick asked, looking at Ronnie.

"Not yet, Nicky, I think your pizza's a lost cause. They probably couldn't find the place."

"If they can't find a friggin' arena, I think they should-"

I covered his mouth. "Okay, calm down. You're just hungry."

Ronnie laughed. "He's always hungry."

"Yeah," I agreed, letting the kid go and messing up his hair. "We're just gonna look around a little alright, Ron?"

"Yeah, be careful."

"We will."

~Howie~

Brian and I were getting a little stir crazy after Nick and Kev left. Luckily Brian was losing his energy though, so I didn't have to watch him bouncing off the walls. Right now we were just sitting and watching TV. The Simpsons was on.

"Bored . . ." Brian muttered, stretching out on the couch and dropping his legs over my lap.

"Enough room there, Rok?"

"It's a small couch," he complained. I didn't answer and he was quiet. I thought he was going to fall asleep. I think I would have fallen asleep too.

Then the knock came and Brian was the one who scrambled up off the couch to answer it. I turned my head, wondering who the heck it was. Kev and Nicky wouldn't knock.

The pizza guy.

I watched as Brian dug through his pockets for money before I turned back to the TV. It was about time the pizza got here. We shouldn't have to pay for it.

I didn't think anything was up until I heard Brian gasp. When I turned my head again, I saw the so-called pizza guy pushing him into the room and shutting the door.

It was when he took off the delivery hat and looked up that I finally recognized who it was.

Frank.

"You don't like your tip? I'll give you more, here." Poor Brian.

"Cute, move to the couch, now."

Brian didn't think twice, he almost wound up on top of me.

"Howie, wake me up," he hissed softly. I was too much in shock to answer. My stomach clenched as Frank came and sat on the coffee table in front of us.

"Hey boys, how's it going?"

We were silent.

"Oh come on! You don't remember me?"

I swallowed and Brian gripped my arm.

"It's Frank! Remember? We had some business to take care of?" He gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course you remember."

How did he get in?

"Where's the rest of you? It's just the two of you now?"

We were silent. I didn't trust my voice and Brian was staring at Frank with big eyes. I gave his knee a pat even though I was just as scared as he was.

"You better start answering or I'm gonna forget what friends we were," Frank started with a frown.

"Sorry," I started uneasily. "Yeah, it's just us."

"Bull." Frank's frown deepened. "I saw the five of you together yesterday."

The fact that he'd been watching us made me even more uneasy.

"Then why'd you ask?" Brian retorted. I elbowed him as Frank sent him a glare. Great time for the kid to be mouthy.

"I remember you . . . The funny one."

Brian didn't answer. Thank God.

"What do you want?" I tried.

"You know what I want. What you owe me. The agreement you never followed through with."

"We never had an agreement."

"Oh, but we did." Frank smiled slightly. "We definitely did." He got up from the table. "Don't move."

I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I took a breath. We needed to get out of here. Relax, Howie. Just be calm. We'd get out of this.

"I want Kev," Brian moaned.

Yeah, me too. "Just relax, we'll get out of this somehow."

"I thought this wasn't gonna happen again . . ."

"Me too."