When Brian Littrell walked out of the meeting with the boys, he was already running late. He had told Leighanne that the meeting would take no longer then two hours at the most. That all they had to do was go over some details and mutually decide to continue the hiatus. He knew that it was something they all wanted so he knew there would be no arguing, just a short and simple business meeting.
Two hours tops.
But when he had gotten there and started catching up with the guys, some of which he hadn't seen or spoken to in quite some time, he found that the meeting was more of a catch up session. He was happy about that too.
He had grown tired of meetings filled with arguing about things they had never argued about before. Money, profits, advertising.
It had gotten old.
But seeing everyone all rested and happy brought a little light into the dark world he had considered his job. They spent their time laughing, and reminiscing about the old days. Most of the conversation was focused on him and his son. He kept a wallet full of pictures to show people he felt had earned the right to look. The guys of course had earned that right.
They oogled over his son, like he was the most beautiful baby they had ever seen. That had made him feel good. But when he looked at his watch and saw that they had been together just chatting for over four hours, he knew there would be hell to pay.
So he had said his goodbyes and left abruptly, like he always seemed to do these days.
He picked up his phone, which he had turned off when the meeting began, to see that his wife had called him three times. Not even hesitating, he dialed his number hoping she wouldn't be that mad.
She was.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Sorry babe. The meeting went a little over"
"A little over?"
"Okay, a lot over. Sorry"
"What the heck kind of meeting takes four hours Brian?"
He debated on telling her some of the stories he heard. How much everyone seemed to be doing with their lives, how happy they all were. But he didn't.
She wouldn't really care.
"I am on my way back now"
"Good, we miss you honey" He had smiled. It felt to good be loved and missed.
"I miss you guys too" He had said and then hung up.
His life had changed so much. Being a daddy could do that to somebody. Now he had this little person who depended on him for everything. And he loved it.
It was the job he had always wanted.
He remembered when Leigh first told him the news. He had cried for an hour. At times uncontrollably. Then when he had told his parents, he cried some more. Tears of happiness. Tears of joy. Then when his son had finally entered the picture, things had only gotten better. Holding his son in his hands brought a smile that only a father could understand.
While things with the baby and his wife were going great, he had noticed that everything else around him had stopped.
He missed his friends.
He had Leighanne's friends. She insisted that they start hanging around with NORMAL people because she felt that his view of life was so obscured by his fame. So they would go out on these little outings with Leighanne and her best friends while the husbands tagged along. She would have the time of her life but he would be miserable.
He had nothing in common with these people. As much as his wife wanted them to pretend they were just your everyday ordinary couple. The ring on her finger and the mansion they lived in didn't fit the image she wanted so hard for them to portray.
A normal nuclear family.
She didn't like the guys he worked with. She didn't like when he brought his work home with him. She felt like he needed two worlds like most normal people have. The work world and then the home life. Having the two paths constantly cross was not a good thing.
So he did what she had requested.
On a normal Backstreet day, he had told Nick, who he had made it routine to go shoot hoops with, that tonight he would just be going home. Nick had seemed a little put off but he understood.
But when little by little the four of them would go out after work and Brian would decline, he found he was asked less and less often to the point that no one would even mention it to him anymore.
It didn't matter though, because what he wanted more then anything else was waiting for him at home.
He wasn't sure when it started to matter to him, but one day, it just did. He had the yearning to go out on the town with one of the guys. Any one of them. He liked them all equally. But Leighanne would have none of it. She had said absolutely not. Go find a different bunch of friends, these guys will get you nowhere.
These guys will get you nowhere?
These guys had lead them to each other. Without them, Brian and Leighanne would have never met. But yet she dismissed them and he let her.
So he sat at home, night after night, rocking his new born son to sleep while Leigh went out with her friends. He would close his eyes and smile at the way he used to act. The carefree fun way he had always looked at things. The way he always found something to smile about.
Before he became so serious.
All he wanted was to find that guy again. Be that guy again...
