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** NICK **

“I think Brian is at our house.”

“Littrell?” Lauren’s voice sounded tinny; the speakers amplifying all the wrong sounds. “Why do you think that?”

“What other Brian do I know?” I clipped. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I fiddled with the Bluetooth settings with the other. My old phone had never made people sound like they were speaking to me from the bottom of a well. “His car is in our driveway.”

Lauren laughed; the poor Bluetooth connection making her giggles sound eerily hallow. “Did you know that he was coming? Did you guys make plans before we left?”

I racked my brain, but as far as I could remember Brian and I hadn’t made any plans for him to come up and visit. “I don’t think so.”

“Maybe he had a falling out with Leighanne.” Lauren broached the subject cautiously. “He could have tried to call you.”

I scrunched my face in annoyance as I thought about my previous iPhone that was currently sitting at the bottom of the ocean. I still couldn’t believe that I had been so stupid. Who goes swimming with their cell phone in their pocket?

“Maybe.” I sighed as I pushed the button to open the garage. The door rumbled to life and I navigated my car around Brian’s SUV and into the garage next to Lauren’s Audi. “He must have let himself in. I don’t see him hanging around the front.”

“If you get a chance, ask Brian why he and the other guys have been calling me pretty much non-stop since Sunday morning. Not one of them has had the common sense to leave a message.” Lauren laughed. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.

“I’ll ask him about it, but they were all probably trying to get in touch with me.” I guessed. “I don’t know why none of them left a message. We were gone for less than a week. What did they think? That we were dead or something?”

Lauren laughed even louder this time. “You probably forgot about some important meeting or something. I bet Kevin is ready to tear you a new one.”

“Shit!” I drummed my fingers anxiously on the steering wheel. “I don’t THINK that I’ve forgotten anything important. If I did miss something, I seriously hope that Brian is here to bail me out before Kevin gets a hold of me.”

“Well you two have fun.” Lauren giggled. I could tell that she was secretly taking pleasure in the fact that I had likely messed up once again. “I’ll talk to you in a few days; once my mom is satisfied that we’re fully cleansed of all the world’s evils.”

I resisted the urge to break out in a fit of laughter. Lauren’s mom had conned her into participating in this five day mind and body cleanse. From what I understood, it was going to involve a lot of yoga, tofu, and a total lack of communication with the outside world. Lauren’s mom had already been doing it for the past week and, when I had dropped Lauren off at her home in Florida, she had answered the door in a haze of incense and wheatgrass. Needless to say, I had begged out of the whole situation at rapid speed; insisting that it would be a lovely way for Lauren and her mom to reconnect. Lauren was still a little bit testy with me for leaving her in the lurch, but I figured that she had the next five days to mellow out and get over it.

“Good luck.” I offered. “I’m going to figure out why Brian is here and then re-sync my new phone.”

“I love you.” Lauren promised. “Try not to forget about me while I’m locked away in my purity bubble, or whatever the hell it is that my mom is calling it.”

I laughed again. “I love you too, babe. I’ll try my best to remember what you look like.”

Lauren’s call disconnected and I hastily pulled my new phone out of the centre console, removed the keys from the ignition, and grabbed my duffle bag from the backseat. Nudging the car door closed with my hip, I sidestepped my way around Lauren’s car and shuffled into the laundry room.

“Brian?” I dropped my duffle bag to the floor and tossed my keys on top of the dryer. “I know you’re here. I saw your car.”

Silence.

“Brian?” I tried again as I stepped into the kitchen. A quick look around confirmed that Brian was definitely around; the coffee maker was on, there were dirty dishes in the sink, and his cell phone was on the kitchen table. “Brian, where are you? I’m home!”

Silence.

I was about to head upstairs when I noticed movement on the deck. Changing my course, I swivelled on my heel and headed for the back door. My hands were sweaty as I reached for the handle; something inside of me had suddenly clicked and I had a horrible feeling that something was very, very wrong.

I stepped out onto the deck and stopped dead when I saw that Brian wasn’t alone. He and AJ were both sitting at the top of the wooden stairs, two coffee mugs and a pack of cigarettes occupying the sliver of space between them. AJ was holding his phone and they were both staring at it in pale-faced astonishment.

“What are you two doing here?”

AJ and Brian both flinched at the sound of my voice. The two of them whipped around; their eyes wide and frightened. AJ fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it down the flight of stairs and unintentionally hanging up on whoever was on the other end as he struggled to control his shaking fingers.

“N-Nick?” AJ stuttered. “Holy fuck!”

“What are you two doing here?” I repeated the question, my eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. I was suddenly consumed by an irrational feeling of jealousy. Why were AJ and Brian in my backyard? What had they been talking about? Why did it seem as if I had just interrupted something that was only meant for the two of them?

“Nick, you’re – you’re not – you’re alive.” AJ scrambled to his feet and stared at me in what could only be described as complete and utter awe. “I don’t – I can’t – how is this possible?”

I raised my eyebrows at AJ and stole a quick glance at Brian who was still sitting on the deck. He looked absolutely petrified. “Of course I’m alive. What are you guys doing at my house?”

AJ took a step forward and grabbed onto my arm. He pressed his fingers into my skin and stared into my face. “Holy fuck!”

“AJ?” I was pretty sure that my eyebrows were about to fly off the top of my forehead. “Are you okay?”

“You’re not dead.” AJ said the phrase as though it were some sort of miracle. He continued to knead my arm and stare into my face. “You’re not dead.”

“Not the last time that I checked.” I let out a short, awkward laugh and attempted to pry my arm out of AJ’s grip. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

Without warning, AJ slammed his body into mine with enough force to send me stumbling backwards towards the house. His fingers left my arm and both of his arms wrapped around my torso in what was literally a bone crushing embrace. He was laughing uncontrollably and slapping me on the back; tears streaming down his face.

“AJ?” I gasped; raising my arms to return the hug. He was holding me so tightly that I was starting to find it hard to breathe. “You’re crushing me.”

AJ pulled his wet face away from my chest, but he didn’t make any move to lessen his grip. He turned his elated expression towards Brian and began shaking me roughly back and forth. “Do you see this, Brian? It’s Nick! It’s fucking Nick!”

“I – I can – I see that.” Brian had finally managed to stand up, but he was still hanging back as though he was scared to come near me.

“He’s not dead!” AJ was shouting now. “Kevin was telling the truth; it wasn’t Nick!”

My lungs were starting to burn from the lack of oxygen, and things were starting to look a bit fuzzy around the edges. “AJ, dude, I seriously can’t breathe.”

“Shit!” AJ dropped his arms from around my chest and took a step back, wiping frantically at his tears. “Sorry.”

I took in a welcoming gulp of air and shook my head in confusion. “What the hell is wrong with the two of you?”

“We thought that you had been killed.” AJ reached out and touched my arm again as if to make sure that I was still really and truly standing in front of him. “For the past three days, we were under the impression that you were dead. The cops came to Kevin’s house and told him that you had been murdered.”

“What?” I struggled to wrap my mind around what AJ was saying. “Lauren and I went to Engagement Island. We left early last week.” My mind flashed to my newly revamped will, to the Next of Kin Contact form that I had created to ensure that my mother didn’t gain control of my estate. I was starting to feel sick. “The cops came to Kevin’s house?”

AJ nodded again. “The police found a body. Everyone thought that it was you. They showed us pictures. It was all over the news. We’ve released a statement. Kevin and Howie just called to say that the body wasn’t yours.”

My mouth fell open as I listened to AJ explain the situation in short, clipped statements. Everyone in the world thought that I was dead. I grabbed AJ’s arm in order to steady myself as I closed my eyes in an attempt to process the implications of my friends, my family, my fans, and even the general population believing that I had been killed. It didn’t even seem possible that such a situation could exist.

“You guys are here because you thought that I was dead?” I opened my eyes and stared long and hard into AJ’s face. “You’ve been here for the past three days?”

“It’s been so hard, Nick.” AJ’s voice wavered; his fingers were once again digging painfully into my skin. “We really thought that we’d never see you again.”

My heart was hammering now; beating erratically in my chest. I couldn’t even begin to put myself in their shoes. What would I have done if the situation had been reversed? Would I have been able to cope if I had thought that one of them had been killed? How would I have felt if I had been under the impression that I hadn’t been given the chance to say ‘goodbye’?

“I’m not dead.” The words sounded foreign as they left my mouth. “I’m not dead.”

AJ’s face broke out into a wide grin. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. Hell, you have no idea how happy I am to see your stupid, goofy-looking face.”

I took one look at AJ’s tear streaked face and decided that I wasn’t going to slap him with a sarcastic comment. “You’re right Aje, I have no idea.”

“Brian?” Now that he was sure that I wasn’t going to collapse or disappear, AJ released his grip on my arm and redirected his attention towards Brian. “Are you okay?”

I followed AJ’s concerned gaze and stared at my best friend. Brian had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten that he was standing there.

Brian nodded slowly. He still hadn’t moved from his spot next to the stairs. “I’m fine.”

AJ and I both stepped forward at the same time, both of us picking up on the crack in Brian’s voice, both of us noticing the emotion crisscrossing his face. I couldn’t help it; the resentment that I had initially felt towards AJ when I had first stepped out onto the deck returned with vengeance as we both moved to comfort Brian. This wasn’t AJ’s place; he wasn’t part of Frick and Frack.

“Brian?” I used my long legs to my advantage and stepped in front of AJ, crossing the deck in a matter of steps. To his credit, AJ hung back and let me move forward. “What’s wrong?”

Brian swallowed hard and rubbed one of his shaking hands against the back of his neck. “I can’t believe that you’re here that’s all.”

My lips curled upwards into a smile. “Believe it. You didn’t really think that you were going to get rid of me that easily did you?”

Brian’s face crumbled. He quickly brought both of his hands to his face to wipe away his tears. “For three days I thought that you were dead!” The words came out in a garbled mess of sobs, his voice rising almost hysterically at the end.

“I’m not dead.” I repeated my earlier sentiment and urged him to step forward.

Brian’s body was shaking uncontrollably as he fell into me. If it had been anyone else, I would have been unsure of what to do. If it had been anyone else, the embrace would have felt awkward. Brian’s arms encircled my back with less force than AJ’s, but his grip was just as tight. I let him cling to me; let him cry softly into my chest in the same way that he had let me sob against him when I was younger and painfully homesick. As with AJ, my lungs felt tight; constricted by Brian’s grip. But with Brian, I made no move to pull away. Instead, I squeezed him back with all of the strength that I could muster, knowing that if the situation were reversed I would need him to do the same.