AJ beat on the door as if his life depended on it. “C’mon open the goddamned door!”

After a few tense moments of standing in the hotel hall, he finally heard the sounds of the chain sliding out of the holder and then door cracked open.

AJ pushed the door open and quickly slammed it shut.

“You’re lucky I even decided to let you in!” Nick grumbled as he sat down on the bed.

“Why?”

”Why?” Nick echoed AJ’s question. “Because you were such a dickhead at the show tonight that I was happy to get away from your sorry ass,” he paused as he reached for a cigarette and lighting it; inhaling deeply. “Because of you, I get my ass chewed once again by Kevin. He always blames me for the shit you do!”

Once his sentence had been uttered, blue smoke drifted into the air. “You came in here like the hotel was on fire, so what’s your problem?”

“Can I bum one from you?”

Nick tossed the pack and the lighter towards AJ; an impatient look pasted on his face. “Could you make your story about why you came down here brief? I have plans in a half an hour.”

Lighting up his smoke, AJ’s eyes widened. “That is exactly why I came down here!” The scowl on Nick’s face told the rebel that he should get to the point quickly. AJ sighed as he continued. “It’s kind of stupid, I had a weird dream and it sort of freaked me out.”

Nick smirked. “Was it sexual?”

AJ shook his head. “I wish. You were in it --- and I didn’t say I wish because you were in it,” he quickly clarified when he saw the look on Nick’s face. “Everyone was in it and it was really freaky -- scary. A sexual dream with groupies would have been far better than having a nightmare with you in it.”

“I’m beginning to see that this is going to take longer than a few minutes,” Nick said as he made his way over to the fridge. “You want a drink?” he asked as he pulled a can of coke out.

”That’s what the dream was about!” AJ shouted.

“It was about Coca-Cola?”

”NO!” AJ continued as he jumped from his chair grabbing the bottle of whiskey off the top of the dresser.

“Have you gone psycho?! Give it back!” Nick screamed as he grabbed the bottle from AJ’s hand.

“How much of this have you drunk tonight?” AJ demanded as he looked at the half-full bottle.

“I’m an adult, remember?”

“I’m serious Nick, how much have you drank?”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, tonight.”

“Probably two glasses of JD and coke, if it’s any of your business. Now can I please have the bottle back?”

“Nicky, the dream I had started out with you drinking that shit and it didn’t end very well. It was my fault what had happened to you.”

Looking at his friends face, Nick could tell that what AJ dreamt about clearly had him upset. “Whatever happened was just a dream,” Nick tried to brush off AJ’s worries.

AJ shook his head. “I know it was a dream ---- but it could happen --- and I feel that someone was telling me --- I don’t know maybe God was telling me ---- that I needed to stop you before something did happen.”

“You’re rambling Bone. It was just a dream, period.”

“No, please listen to me!” AJ said in a determined voice, following Nick’s motions as the blonde glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. “Please Nick; just listen to me, okay?”

Lying back against the headboard, Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay.”

“Okay. You were in a pissed off mood after a show – just as tonight, but you weren’t mad at me, you were just in one of your moods I guess. Anyway, I came in and you were drinking Jack Daniels – just like tonight.”

“I drink that every night…. shocker,” Nick replied sarcastically.

AJ ignored the comment. “I took the bottle and poured it down the drain because you were already drunk and you were still drinking.”

“I would have been pissed,” Nick interrupted.

“Yeah, you were pissed at me,” he agreed. “And after I poured the whiskey out, I told you to go to bed and sleep it off and then I left.”

“Wouldn’t have had it any other way because I would have thrown your ass out!”

AJ shook his head. “But you didn’t go to bed; you went downstairs and kept drinking until the hotel bar closed.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“Listen to me Nick. You went down stairs and got plastered. Juan went down with you and you got royally shitfaced.”

“See now, this proves that this is just a weird dream Bone. I wouldn’t go anywhere with Juan. He’s Brian’s detail, not mine.”

“Juan saw you in the hall alone and he noticed the condition you were in so he tagged along for security.”

“Well then see it was Juan’s fault then, not yours.”

AJ shook his head, eyebrows drawn. “Nick, the bar closed and Juan brought you back up here and let you in your room.”

“And I went to sleep, end of story end of dream.”

“Would you fucking stop and listen to me?! You didn’t wake up!”

Nick’s eyes widened. “I died in your dream?”

“Worse than that.”

“What could be worse than dying?”

“Nick, you mixed meds with liquor and you slipped into a coma. You almost died but you didn’t. Nicky because you mixed meds with whiskey, you ended up different.”

“Huh? Different how?”

“The coma damaged your brain. You were never the same person; you ended up acting as if you were six years old. You never came back to us after that. They had to put you on a whole bunch of medications. It changed you. You were like a zombie.”

“That couldn’t possibly happen.”

“It could. That is why I’m not leaving you alone tonight! Nicky, I’m too scared that I could lose you.”

“I promise it won’t happen, ever.”

“It won’t because I will be sticking by you from now on. I am going to be your second skin.”

Nick shook his head as he looked at AJ. “This really has you shook up.”

“You have no idea.”

“We might as well order a pizza then if you’re hanging out with me tonight, cause I’m starving.”

AJ smiled. “That’s my Nicky.”