[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
A/N: Try and survive the little bits of romance in this story. I'm horrible at writing romance, which is why I don't write it! :)



Prologue




Brian smiled. God, he loved his life. His smile turned into a smirk and a twinkle entered his blue eyes. God, he loved his wife. He looked at her, getting ready for their evening out. She was looking into the mirror in the living room of their house, her head tilted to the side as she put her other earring in. She had on a formal, deep blue dress. He himself wore a sleek, black suit, along with a blue satin shirt and tie. Brian had to thank Regis one of these days, he loved the tone on tone thing. It was one of the few suit styles he felt comfortable in.

Getting back to the point, it was Brian and Leighanne's anniversary. The anniversary of the first day they met, that day on the set of the music video for 'As Long As You Love Me'. It was kind of ironic, that he had met his future wife with that song being played over and over again throughout the day. Brian chuckled. That song said everything about he and Leighanne. Maybe it was more fitting than ironic. It was just meant to be.

Leighanne turned away from the mirror and smiled at him. He flashed his own beaming smile and offered her his arm, which she took with a shake of her head and a coyness in her voice, "Am I to assume that my husband is going to be as dashing as ever tonight?"

"Absolutely," Brian stated firmly in his southern drawl, the twinkle sparking even brighter in his eyes, "I've prepared a royal evening for my queen."

Leighanne laughed outright as Brian opened the door to their house and they stepped onto the porch, Brian turning to lock the door as she waited, "Now you're just being a brownnoser, Brian. I am no queen."

"You are to me," whispered Brian as he reclaimed her hand and leaned close for a soft kiss to her lips, "And never forget that," he continued at her blush.

"You always make me feel like a girl going on her first date," spoke Leighanne, a pleasant smile on her lips, "I never know what you're gonna do next."

"That's my intention," said Brian as they walked to his car, the stars twinkling above them. "The day our lives get too predictable, you be sure to tell me. I like not always being in a routine. With the music business, we are always on a tight schedule. I, we, need some spontaneity in our lives."

Leighanne nodded her head in understanding as they stopped alongside Brian's car. Brian was just reaching for the door latch, when a cell phone rang. He looked at Leighanne, a questioning expression on his face. Leighanne's face reddened once again, white teeth capturing her bottom lip at her forgetfulness.

"I borrowed your cell today and I guess I forgot to take it out of my purse," she spoke, reaching in to grab the ringing phone and putting it to her ear, an apology for the interruption in her eyes as she looked at her husband and answered the phone, "Hello?"

Brian watched as Leighanne's eyebrows scrunched up, confusion and frustration framing her face, "What?... No, no. Slow down..."

She glanced at Brian, "Well, Brian's right here-"

Her mouth twitched in slight irritation as she was obviously interrupted. Brian smirked and crossed his arms, leaning back on the car's support as he waited, enjoying the show.

"Yes, I-"

Brian watched the anger as it brightened her eyes.

"Okay, just-"

He snickered as her mouth turned into a scowl, her hand gripping the phone more firmly.

"ALL RIGHT!!"

The shout caused Brian to jump, eyebrows raising in surprise. He knew of only one person that could get Leighanne to yell like that. Leighanne thrust the phone at him, her face livid, "It's for you."

Brian took the phone and had to chuckle as Leighanne began to pace, trying to work off her frustration. Without waiting for the person on the other end to speak, Brian put the phone to his ear and spoke, "Hello, AJ."

"Hey, how'd you know it was me?" asked AJ's surprised voice.

Brian glanced at Leighanne, who kicked the front tire of his car with one high heeled shoe. Brian cleared his throat, "Lucky guess. So, what do you want? We were kinda-"

"We need a ride." Was AJ's answer, interrupting Brian's narrative.

Brian frowned, he hated when AJ did that. It was something the rebel had a tendency to do on the phone, especially when he was agitated.

"And who is 'we'?" asked Brian as Leighanne threw him a smirk, amused that AJ managed to ruffle Brian's feathers as well.

"Me and Nick," answered AJ.

-- "Hey, Brian!" -- came a distant shout over the line. Then the same familiar voice, closer this time. - "Hey, 'J... C'mon, man. Let me talk to 'im!" -

"No! Damn it, Nick..."

Both voices were far away now, and Brian realized that AJ was holding the phone away from himself and Nick.

"Nick! I told you, I'm payin' for the call so I'm the one talkin'! ..."

A sharp clank caused Brian to wince and pull the cell away from his ear briefly. Then he listened for what was going on.

"Ow! Gol-dang it, kid! I done told ya there ain't enough room for both of us in here at the same time!"

Brian quirked an eyebrow and scratched his head with his free hand, sparing a glance at Leighanne as she now leaned against the car instead of him, arms crossed as she waited.

"I don't care, I wanna talk to him! He'd prob'ly listen to me better anyways, AJ. Now, c'mon! Let me talk!"

"No! ...Hey!"

The sound of scuffling carried through to Brian and he smiled, waiting for whoever won the tug of war.

"Ow! Grrr... Give it, Nick..."

"No, let go! ...Hey, watch it!"

"I'm warnin' ya, kid. Let go!"

"No, damn it! ...AJ! Ow- Ouch! Hey, yer twistin' my arm!"

"Then let GO!"

"No! ...Ouch! ...Hey- WHOA!!"

Brian straightened. Now, what just happened there? "Hello?... ...AJ? Nick?... ...Hello?!"

A squeak and slam reached Brian and he tilted his head, "Hello? Nick? AJ?"

"I'm here, B-rok," answered AJ with a breathless voice, "Um... Nick can't talk to ya right now."

Brian's eyes narrowed at the smirk in AJ's voice, "What did you do, AJ..."

"Oh, just threw Nick out of the phone booth," smiled AJ, leaning against the booth's glass wall with one foot raised and pressed against the door to keep it from being opened. His eyes shined with amusement as Nick picked himself up from the ground outside, brushing the dust from his clothes, "Ya see, Frick. We're stuck out here. Nick's Durango overheated and we had to walk until we found this abandoned gas station. It has a phone booth that still works, so we decided to call ya for a ride."

Brian now heard a loud pounding and surmised that Nick was demonstrating his thoughts on being thrown out of the booth, "A phone booth? Why didn't you guys use yer cells?"

"They're dead," AJ spoke above the pounding, pausing slightly, "Well, Nick's cell is dead, mine's kinda busted."

Brian rolled his eyes. Leave it to them two to find trouble whenever they did something together. It never failed, they were just a bad combination of too much craziness and youthful ideas. With Nick's crazy ideas and AJ's rebel nature... Not to mention that they just plain had the worst luck. Brian sighed, he didn't want to ruin his date with Leighanne, "Why can't somebody else come and get ya's? I'm kinda tied up."

"Well," answered AJ, sounding a little offended, "We only had enough change for one phone call and you were it, but since you're SO busy that you can't come get us... I suppose the kid and I can sleep out here tonight, freezing our butts off..."

"All right," sighed Brian, closing his eyes briefly, "How about I call one of the other guys and they can go get ya?"

"I guess that could wor-" AJ stopped, barking out an annoyed, "WHAT, NICK?!?"

Brian winced. Next time, AJ, he thought, Yell with the phone AWAY from your mouth!

--"LOOK!"-- came the distant call. AJ suddenly sounded nervous, "Uh... Brian? I don't think waitin' on the others will work for us.... You are the closest and... Well, a whole bunch of seriously mean lookin' bikers are comin' down the road..."

"Crap," muttered Brian, earning a curious look from Leighanne. He shook his head, "I'll be there as soon as I can, AJ. Where are you, exactly?"

"Uh..." AJ's voice carried a slight tremor of fear, causing Brian to become worried. "We're at an old gas station around twenty miles south of Orlando. Um... Brian?"

"Yeah, AJ?"

"Get here fast, I-" AJ cleared his throat, "The kid here is pretty scared, okay?"

"I'm comin', bro'," assured Brian, knowing Nick wasn't the only one scared.

"Okay, Brian."

Brian heard AJ opening the booth's door with a squeak, the distant sound of motorcycles carrying through the line.

"We'll, uh... We'll be hidin' around here... somewhere. Thanks Brian, and... please hurry. 'Bye."

Brian disconnected the call at the dial tone, swiping a hand through his hair. He smiled suddenly at Leighanne, "Leighanne, baby... Would a rain check on tonight be okay?"

"Rain check?" asked Leighanne, disappointment in her tone, "Why?"

Brian explained the situation to her, tilting his head to the side when he finished, "So, is it all right? I mean, I can't just leave 'em there. They really are scared and..."

Leighanne touched his arm, smiling, "I understand, Brian. You go and get 'em before they find even more trouble."

Brian chuckled, relieved, "With them two, that's entirely possible. Thanks, Leigh. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Leighanne smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "I have no doubt. Now, you be careful. Okay?"

"I will," promised Brian as he walked to the driver's door of his car, unlocking it, "I'll be back before ya know it."

As Brian started the car and then drove away, Leighanne waved after him. Then, she let her hand fall to her side and sighed deeply. She looked up at the star filled sky and then walked slowly back to the house.