"Can you believe the kid was tired?" AJ questioned as he gestured to the blonde, fast asleep ontop of the bedspread.
Brian shook his head as he threw the paper plates into the waste basket.
"I mean, Nick never takes a nap," AJ continued as he lit up a cigarette.
"You mean Nick never took a nap," Brian corrected, adding, "Like it or not, things have changed."
AJ lightly slapped his forehead when the words connected.
"Sorry to be the one to point it out, but Nick is a whole different person now."
"This just sucks---"
"Don't start blaming yourself again for all of this," the Kentuckian interrupted. "You know that what happened to Nick was an accident, there was nothing that you, me or anyone could have done--"
"Bullshit! I could have stayed with him after I caught him with the whiskey but no, I trusted Nick and thought he would have went to bed like I suggested," AJ spat.
"Jay, we've been over this way too many times....when are you going to call that therapist Kevin told you to call?"
AJ folded his arms across his chest. "Probably never."
Brian shook his head in defeat. "If you had found the therapist yourself, would you have called?"
AJ uncrossed his arms, reaching over to retrieve the cigarette that he had placed on the edge of the nightstand. "Yeah but I don't really need one."
Brian eyed the action warily. "That wasn't what I asked you. Could you either call the therapist Kevin suggested or find one of you own and call her."
"What makes you think I would choose a woman?"
Brian arched an eyebrow as he stared at the rebel.
"Yeah...yeah, you're right I would call a woman..."
"Probably but then again you'd ask her out before the session was over."
AJ blew the smoke out between his teeth as he snickered. "You know I would."
Just as AJ was putting what was left of his smoke into a soda can, Nick's started coughing, waking him up from his nap. This put Brian into action as he sprinted toward the sliding door, opening it up.
"Sorry kid, I forgot to crack the door," AJ apologized.
"You better hope this doesn't kick up his asthma," Brian said with a shake of his head.
"Nick outgrew that years ago," AJ defended. "Right Kaos?"
Nick could only cough in reply, scratching his chin.
"Are you happy?" Brian glared back at AJ. "Do you need a drink of water?"
The blonde waved the older man off. "I'm fine."
AJ scooted off the bed, springing into action. Moments later, he returned with a glass of water. "Here, drink this down."
Coughing, Nick accepted the glass, puzzled look on his face.
"Go slow, take small sips," AJ directly quietly.
Once Nick had finished the glass of water, he handed it back to his friend. It took a few minutes before the coughing finally quieted down.
"How did you know that was going to stop my coughing?"
"We have practically raised you Nick, we know a lot about you," AJ replied with a grin.
"We rode across the country together in the beginning when we were touring," Brian added.
"We did?"
"Yeah in a big bus. At least in the beginning we shared the same bus then as time went on, we actually got our own buses which made life a little easier," AJ said. "You were pretty messy."
Yawning, Nick stretched his arms over his head. "I think it was you that was messy Bone."
Upon hearing Nick call him by his nickname, AJ jerked. "What did you just say kid?"
"I said you were messy," Nick repeated.
"No, the other part."
"Bone?"
AJ's face lit up. "Yeah....you called me Bone."
Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah so?"
AJ wrapped his arms around the blonde's shoulders. "Nothing Nick, I'm just happy to hear you call me that again."
Nick grimaced as the older man squeezed his shoulders. Brian couldn't help but smile at the scene without having his eyes well up with tears.
"How about we sing some songs now..."
"Brian? Are you sad?"
"No Nick, I'm happy."
"But you look like you're gonna cry."
"Its a happy kind of cry Nick," Brian corrected. "Not sad."
"Forget about Bri, lets sing some songs together," AJ said as he hugged Nick again.
Nick tried to push himself away from the tattooed rebel. "I'll sing if you stop hugging me."
"It's a deal."
"Okay, what song did you want to sing?" Brian asked as he flipped through the Karoke Cd collection.
AJ clapped his hands together. "Let Nick look through the cds and pick one."
Nick shifted his body around so that his head was hanging over the foot of the bed, looking over Brian's shoulder at the cds.
"How about this one?" Brian asked as he paused. Nick shrugged his shoulders. "What about this one?"
"What is it?"
Brian looked up at Nick. "Huh?"
"What is that one called?"
Once the words were uttered, did the reality hit.
Nick couldn't read.
"You have teachers at your place, right?" Brian asked in a casual voice, looking past Nick at AJ.
"Yeah, we have Mrs. Davis and Miss Cross," Nick replied in a quiet voice.
"Who teaches you reading?"
"Miss Cross teaches me ABC's."
Once the sentence was spoken, AJ let out a long sigh. "You mean you can't read?"
"I can read some stuff," Nick defended.
Just as AJ was starting to open his mouth, Brian cut him off. "That's okay Nick, we'll sing some songs you know the words to. I bet if I start the music like I did last time, you'll remember the words and the words you don't know you don't have to sing them. We'll be singing right along with you so it won't matter. Before I put the cd in, I need to talk to AJ for a sec in the bathroom. C'mon Jay."
AJ gave Brian a confused look. "Can't you just say what you have to say out here?"
"I need to talk to you for a minute alone."
"Won't it look weird---"
Brian grabbed AJ's arm and jerked him. "Just come over here for a minute." Brian smiled at Nick. "C'MON JAY!"
"Alright....alright, what's the big secret?"
"I'm gonna put some songs in that more than likely, Nick will know and then we can lead up to other songs. Just don't say anything, okay? Just try and be good about this."
"What are you going to play?"
"Just go along with this, alright?"
Without saying anything more, Brian walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the floor next to Nick. He pulled a cd out of the case and put it into the machine. "Okay, there will be words going across the screen, maybe you'll be able to read some of the words, but I'm betting you'll know the song so this will be good practice for you for school."
The song 'Old MacDonald' played out of the speakers. Nick clapped his hands. "I know this song!" he cried out.
Brian looked back to see AJ resting his body against the headboard, a dark expression on his face.
Ignoring the look, Brian started singing.....
"Old MacDonald had a farm...."