If Kevin had his say, Nick would have skipped the all medications that the doctor from Sun Valley had prescribed. Brian knew his cousin all too well and despite the elder Kentuckian's objections he promptly took control over the task of doling out the meds at the proper times and Nick took them without complaints. Brian felt that they all had grown familiar to the fogginess state that the blonde was constantly in until Kevin's return visit proved otherwise.
"I thought you were staying in LA longer," Brian questioned as soon as Kevin crossed the threshold.
"What about 'Hi Kevin, how was your flight?' " the older man snapped.
Brian folded his arms across his chest. "Bad flight then?"
"It was the worst flight I think I've ever had," Kevin muttered as he made his way into the living room. "Where's Nick?"
"Taking a nap."
Glancing at his watch, the older man shook his head. "It's two-thirty..."
"Five-thirty," Brian corrected.
"Shit," Kevin mumbled as he took the watch from his wrist. "I always forget to change this damn thing when I leave LA....still five-thirty and Nicky is taking a nap?"
Brian only nodded. "I thought you were going to be in LA longer like as in three weeks..."
Kevin ignored his cousin's comment. "Why on God's green Earth would he take a nap at this hour of the day?"
"Probably because he's tired? Don't you take naps when you're tired? I know I do-"
"Don't be a smartass," Kevin reprimanded. "He's not sick is he?"
This time Brian's patience was tested. "He's just taking a fricken nap!"
Dismissing his cousin's attitude, Kevin walked into the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge. "Where is the rest of the guys?"
"Howie left two days ago, I thought you knew."
Kevin took a drink from the bottle before he answered. "No, no one tells me anything anymore. Where did he go?"
"Orlando. Howie had things going on with his business."
"AJ?"
"He went to the grocery store with a list....he better stick to the list I gave him too."
Kevin smirked at Brian's comment. "You sound like you're married...I know how Bone gets off track in stores. I would pity the woman that marries him."
"I honestly do not see Jay getting married, he's the type of guy that will just live with a woman. He's always been so anti-law anyways," Brian agreed with a shrug.
"So I thought you were going to stay for three more weeks the last time I talked to you."
"Two months away is long enough in my opinion," Kevin replied. "Besides, Kristen had to leave for Europe and she wouldn't drag my sorry ass with her so I figured I come back to Nick's and bug you guys."
Hours after the cousins reminisced, a sleepy-eyed Nick entered the living room.
"Nick!" Kevin said as he quickly stood up and hugged his baby brother. Anticipating the young man to return the hug, Kevin instantly felt concern wash over when Nick didn't hug him back. "You feeling alright?"
Nick rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah....why would you ask me that?"
"Just asking I guess," Kevin replied as he studied his youngest brother. Being away for two months he immediately noticed that Nick's hair was longer, his face unshaven and the fact that he had gained weight disappointed the elder Kentuckian.
"Did you guys eat dinner already?" Nick wondered outloud.
"Crap...we got so caught up talking I haven't thought about dinner, besides AJ was supposed to bring back the groceries and he hasn't come back from the store yet," Brian replied.
"Should one of us call dumbass to see where the hell he is with the groceries or should I just go grab something healthy to eat?" Kevin asked .
"I don't want to eat grass," Nick moaned. "How about McDonald's?"
"I don't think you need to eat anymore McDonald's," Kevin pointedly shot back.
"I want McDonald's," the blonde whined.
"Kevin's right, we can eat something already here, we don't need fast food," Brian answered.
Kevin studied Nick. "How about you go take a shower."
Nick stopped his feet. "I don't want to take a goddamn shower!"
"How about you go and watch tv," Brian directed.
"And I'll call AJ and tell him to stop and bring back something from the drive thru," Kevin lied.
Satisfied with Kevin's response, Nick went into the living room. As soon as the young man left the kitchen, the older man turned to Brian.
"What the hell has been going on!?"
Brian closed the refrigerator door. "What do you mean?"
"Have you guys been letting Nick pig out on fast food?"
"Just because he asked for Micky D's doesn't necessarily mean he's been eating that all the time you've been away Kevin," Brian defended.
"Hard to believe otherwise," the Kentuckian muttered.
"I think in the whole two and a half months you've been gone we've probably eating fast food maybe three times."
"He doesn't look like it to me."
Brian narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
"He's put on some weight Brian."
"He looks the same to me."
"That's because you see him 24/7 and I haven't. He probably hasn't gained that much but enough for me to notice...."
"How can you tell, I don't see any difference in Nick."
"Things I see, just skip it...." Kevin mumbled as he opened the refrigerator door. "Don't you have anything to make salads?"
"I told you AJ was going grocery shopping---"
As if on cue the front door banged loudly as it hit the side of the wall. "Sorry it took so long!" AJ shouted.
"Two hours later," Brian said as he took the bags from the rebel's hands.
"What the hell are you doing back dickhead?"
"Hello to you too," Kevin shot back.
"I thought he was gonna bring back fast food," Nick cried as he pawed through the bags.
"Who said anything about fast food?" AJ grumbled. "I was given a list and I got what was on the list. Blame Brian if you're not happy," he added as he swatted the back of the blonde's head.
Rubbing the back of his head Nick sulked, pulling the bar stool out to sit down. "Kevin said he was going to call you."
"He didn't answer the phone."
Brian shot his cousin a dark look. "You don't have to lie about it."
"It doesn't matter, I mentioned drive thru just to appease him."
Brian continued. "That's just plain evil."
"It's not too late... we can order pizza or something," AJ offered.
"He doesn't need pizza," Kevin insisted. "Let's just make sandwiches."
Ignoring Kevin's comment AJ hit the speed dial for Pizza Hut. "You can have a sandwich, we're calling for pizza."
Throwing his hands in the air, Kevin immediately decided to busy himself with putting the groceries away to keep himself from saying something that would end up being hurtful or mean toward Nick. "Whole milk....regular cheese?!"
"Some of us don't like the light brands of dairy," Brian replied.
"What about the lactose free milk?"
"It's behind the lemonade dorkhole," AJ rasped.
"Which reminds me," Brian said as he pulled a glass from the cupboard. "Time for your afternoon meds Nick."
At that point, Kevin suddenly realized it wasn't junk food that was causing Nick's weight gain. "How about we stop the meds."
"How about we don't," Brian countered as he opened the door where the medications were stored.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Knock it off!" AJ growled. "You sound like two five year olds. Brian do you honestly think we'd leave Kevin all by himself if he took Nicky off the meds?"
"No.....but he really needs to pull his head out of his ass."
Finally Nick spoke up. "Would you guys stop fighting about me?"
Kevin sighed. "Sorry Nick, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. One more thing I want to say and then I'll talk about something else."
"How about just not talking about me at all," Nick pleaded.
Shrugging his shoulders, Kevin went back to the task of putting the groceries away, watching Brian's actions of pulling out three different vials of prescription meds for Nick.
"You know I read the other day that a side effect from Paxil was weight gain," Kevin mentioned casually, trying not to alert to Nick that he was talking about him.
"That's just something that is on the drug list that it could cause, I honestly think it's people like you that read into things far too much," Brian replied.
"It was on the internet," Kevin defended.
AJ slapped an open hand onto the countertop. "Well then, there you go...it was on the internet so we know that is true!"
"It's true!"
"Just like all the bullshit about us on the internet was true?" AJ pressed.
"Well, 90% of that garbage wasn't true but this is true. He took the pills from Brian and then the bottles of medication and emptied the bottles into the sink, flipping on the garbage disposal.
""HAVE YOU LOST IT??" Brian screamed. "We could at least try and wean him off, not go cold turkey you holistic jerk."
"I'm staying with him; he's going to be fine," Kevin insisted.
"Time will tell," AJ muttered with a shake of his head as he looked at his baby brother.