***a few weeks later***
"What was that?" Emma asked, having heard the sound of a door opening from the kitchen.
"It was the door!" Braeden answered.
"No, it couldn't be the door..." Liz contradicted, offering Ivy another handful of Cheerios. "Why would... Umm, both of you wait here for just a second, okay?"
"Okay!" Braeden and Emma chirped, following her as soon as she had walked out of the room. Liz, who had a tendency to be nervous about almost nothing, didn't notice that they were behind her, and was more than a little shocked when she heard their overjoyed shrieks of 'Mommy!!!!' as they ran to greet Alyssa.
"Hey, Liz! How are you?" she asked, beaming gladly.
"Doing great," Liz answered mildly. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It's so good to be home. You have no idea how happy I am. Wow, Liz. You've gotten so tall..I know, I sound just like a grandmother. But seriously, I think the last time I saw you you must have been about five feet. That was when you were... 13? Maybe younger... I don't remember! How tall are you now?"
"Ahh, I think around five and a half feet, maybe less." Alyssa was tall and very slightly intimidating.
"Wow. Oh, hey..." Liz reached into her pocket and took out a piece of paper that was practically disintegrating by now. "It's from that guy named Brian. He wanted to tell you something about ... uh... Something," she said eloquently.
"Of course. Brian.. " Alyssa smiled as she scanned the note. "Oh, no. Not the skirt." She shook her head and laughed quietly.
"Right..." Liz hadn't had a real conversation with anyone for almost a month, and speaking seemed awkward, which was unusual for her.
"So..." Alyssa looked at her with a slightly mocking, friendly 'let's get down to business' kind of look. "Do you and Brian get along well?"
"Um, uh, yeah. He's very sweet." Maybe it's his job. Her eyes flickered up to meet Alyssa's, a quick, mutually understood recognition of why she'd relocated. "His dogs are cute."
"Dogs?" Emma repeated incredulously.
"Tyke's so cute," Braeden babbled mindlessly. Alyssa smiled teasingly at Liz, who half-smiled emotionlessly and watched the green carpeting with much interest.
"Dogs," Emma repeated, disappointed in Liz.
~
"Where are my dogs?" The question was asked of a bus that was empty. "Someone? Susie? Tyke?"
"Bri?" Kevin called in the open door. "Who ya talkin' to?"
"No one. Where'd my dogs go?"
"As if I know. We're supposed to be at the Z92 studio now," he reminded.
"Yeah, but I don't want to leave those dogs by themselves. They'll get into everything."
"Are you sure someone from management didn't get them already?" Kevin asked irritatedly. Having those dogs around was like babysitting.
"No. Do you think someone might've?"
"Sure, why not," Kevin said quietly. "I dunno. We're late."
"I guess we should go, then," Brian mumbled crossly. Kevin regretted that. He knew Brian would be in a bad mood for the rest of the day now, and would be constantly acting about those damn dogs. Brian brushed past him and trotted off, trailed by a few bodyguards. Kevin sighed and followed.
Later
"Hey, Travis?" Brian wandered aimlessly to the front of his bus, wondering why it had stopped.
"Yeah, Brian?"
"Why'd you stop driving?"
"Jon just phoned from Nick's bus. If you'd look out the window here, you can see the gas station and the stopped bus. It broke down. Can Nick hang out with you for a while?"
"Sure," Brian said quickly, glad for company. "Uhh, Travis, you haven't seen Tyke or Susie, have you?"
"Nope. Sorry." Travis leapt off the bus with surprising energy and ran up to Nick in the parking lot, taking a suitcase from him.
"Hey B!" Nick said cheerfully.
"Hey Frack." Brian was tired and cranky because his dogs were still missing.
"I have something for you." Nick smiled enigmatically and Brian eyed a paper grocery bag he was holding.
"Um, what is that?"
"Surprise!" Nick shoved the bag into Brian's hands. It moved, barked shrilly, and snorted.
"TYKE! SUSIE!" Brian grinned and took his dogs out of the bag. "Where the hell were they?"
"They were on my bus. I don't know why, I swear I didn't take them or anything."
"I know, it's okay. Good boy, Tyke! Did you run away to Nick's bus? Are you hungry? Probably are..." He walked into the general area of where he kept both his food and the dog food, a tiny kind of enlarged closet without a door that boasted all of two cabinets.
"Hey, I forgot my video games... Aww damn." Nick looked out a window. He was too late; Travis had already started driving.
"Hmmmm." Brian sat on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. The worst part of the short pre-concert tours, like this one, was the short spaces of time when he didn't have a million things to do. Or, rather, when he had a million things to do and couldn't do anything but sit on a stupid bus.
"Mind if I turn on the TV?"
"No. Go ahead."
"Dude, what's up with you?" Nick asked five minutes later. "I thought you were moping because your dogs were missing, but then I found them. And you're not tired, or probably not, because you would've gone to sleep...unless you're worrying about something," Nick said, having a perceptive moment. (He had been formulating this statement for about three minutes before he said it.)
"Uhhh....."
"I know!!" Nick said triumphantly.
"What?"
"Length times width!" Nick waved frantically at the TV with the remote. "Length times width you idiot!" Brian yawned. Nick was watching The Weakest Link again. "Awww, she got it wrong!"
"Uh huh," Brian acknowledged sluggishly.
"I know!" Nick said again. Brian didn't bother speaking. "You're waiting for someone to call! Right? Am I right?"
"I don't know." Brian sat up and raked his hand through his hair. "Not r- ... well, yeah. But no! I don't know, I guess if she called it would be good, but I'm not, like, sitting around dying waiting for a call."
"Uh huh, yeah right," Nick replied skeptically. "Isn't that what you've been doing all day?" Brian ignored him and listened to the constant low hum of the motor. "So...."
"What?"
"Who?"
"Liz."
"Liz?"
"Liz."
"I don't know her."
"Nope."
"Well?"
"Alyssa Hamilton's niece, 23, lives in Orlando, watches Alyssa's kids. She took care of Tyke and Susie for me earlier this month."
"Cool. ... Pepsi! Nooo, dumbass! It was Pepsi, not Coke!" Nick yelled at a contestant. "Too bad you didn't get her number."
"Yeah..." Brian agreed, feeling guilty, and tuned out the sound of the TV for a few minutes. "I did," he admitted.
"What?"
"I have her number."
"Liz?"
"Yup."
"You don't wanna call her?" Nick was confused. It was nearly dark now; through the tinted windows a fraction of the sun was visible above the horizon.
"I do, but she might be pissed.. I've had her number for a long time," he confessed.
"Well, same with her, right?"
"I dunno...." Brian flopped back onto the floor and turned his face to the wall. He muttered something quietly.
"What?"
"The cell phone's been turned off most of the time," he groaned. Why did I do that? Brian, you're an infernal fool.
"No, duh. It sounds like shit."
"NICK!!!" Nick's genius never failed to amaze Brian.
"I think I see what you mean. Control freak."
"Good." He ignored the control freak statement.
"Call anyway! If she's pissed now, it's only going to get worse."
"Uhh.. Okay." Why the hell not? He picked up a phone and dialed Alyssa's phone number. *Ring. Ring. Ring.*
"Hello?" At the sound of a voice that was hundreds of miles away, Brian's gaze returned to the ceiling, momentarily forgetting about where he was.
"Hi, uh, is Liz there?"
"Speaking." It was strange to have someone calling for her here. Liz wondered ignorantly who it was, denying that she knew exactly who it was.
"Hey, it's Brian... Littrell..." Silence. Unfriendly silence? Hopefully just silence...
"Brian! Hey, what's up?" she asked in a casual, friendly tone after those uncomfortable few seconds.
"Eh, not much. Just.. hanging out. You?"
"Same. Alyssa's home... She's out at the pool with the kids."
"Hey, cool." The silence threatened to invade again and Brian didn't know what to say. "Anyway, so.. how ya doin'?"
"I'm fine. Not so bad. Alyssa's not gonna be here long, so until she leaves she's spending a lot of time with the girls and I don't really have anything do to. What about you?"
"I guess that's good. Tyke and Susie, like, eloped today. They hid on Nick's bus and I thought they were lost until he found them."
"Awww. Poor Tyke! And Susie."
"Nah, I think they had fun.... I was pretty worried, though." Their conversation continued for a few uneasy minutes. Brian had a guilty feeling that it had to do with his avoiding her, and he was right. Why are you even calling at all? Liz wondered. After the first week, I decided to forget about you. Tried to, tried to, tried to. You're the last thing I need in my head. I thought I'd never talk to you again. And now what? You go and call me randomly? Thanks so much for making my life even more confusing.
"I, uh, I should go, ya know.. It's getting kinda late and stuff," she said pathetically. As for 'late,' it was only 8:30.
"Oh... okay. I'll seeya later, then." Brian had known that was coming, he knew he deserved it, and yet it was still really disappointing.
"Bye." She waited for a fraction of a second and hung up. Brian sighed heavily and glared at the phone.
"How'd that go?" Nick wondered, dragging Brian out of his sulk session.
"It's horrible, she hates me now, she doesn't wanna talk to me. I'm such an idiot," he whined. Nick considered his statements.
"Umm, kind of, yeah, sorry. But not really. She can't hate you, you're Brian Littrell."
"Nicky, don't be a retard."
"I'm not a retard. I have good ideas." Brian cleared his throat loudly a few times. "Like this-- why don't you call her back and ask what's up?"
"Ni-ick!" Brian moaned. "You're being an idiot. She doesn't want to talk to me."
"It's your fault, then. Don't whine." Nick shrugged and returned his attention to the television.
"Okay, fine. But ya know what, Nick? If she gets really pissed and she never talks to me again ... nevermind. It would be my fault." He picked up the phone and pushed 'redial.'
"Hello?"
"Uh, hey, um.." Brian regretted his decision to call back. "Alyssa? Brian Littrell."
"Oh, hi Brian!" Alyssa said happily. "Are you calling for Liz?"
"Well, yeah... Is she busy?"
"No, not at all. She'll be glad to hear from you." Brian put a lot of effort into not laughing cynically at her.
"Hello?"
"Liz? It's Brian. I'm really sorry. I had to call you again. There's something I really need to ask you-"
"It's okay," she interrupted, her calm, smooth tone a sharp contrast from his. Brian made himself slow down and tried to remember what he had been about to say. "What is it?"
"...."
"Just say it, it's okay," she said uncertainly. "I won't think you're an idiot."
"Okay, um, well, uh, you might already think that.. and that's okay, because I am an idiot...I didn't call you at all and now... I dunno. Now I feel bad and it seems like..." Frustrated, he trailed off and tried again. "Uhh, like... shit. I dunno. I forgot or something."
"It's okay, really," she insisted. "It's okay. I know you're busy." I had it all figured out, all of this at least, and then you called and now I have no idea in hell of what's going on.
"No, it isn't! I- ..are you mad?"
"No, not at all. Honestly."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, Brian. There's nothing wrong." She laughed gently. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
"Yes," he said emphatically. A million things at least. We still need to resolve that issue about how you think being batted around a room was your fault, by the way...
"You should say it out loud. Then we can talk about it," she said kindly.
"But... there is something wrong. I know these things," he explained.
"Really?" Liz's tone of mixed pity and amusement hid a bitter-tasting sort of confusion.
"Yeah. I don't know what, though."
"Something's wrong but you don't know what..."
"I messed things up by not calling you. I think," he confided, not sounding half as nervous as he was. Nick watched him with interest, thinking that Brian really looked more worried than he needed to be.
"Umm... No?" Why does he have to know this?
"It just seems like you're... not saying something when you talk, but you're thinking about it." Liz was frankly disarmed by his guess.
"Well I'm not good at talking."
"If there's something wrong..."
"Nothing wrong here. You're worrying me. Are you okay?"
"Yes... I'm sorry I didn't call you."
"You're way too concerned about that, Brian," she insisted. I am NOT, Brian thought to himself.
"I don't know. Maybe touring's kind of screwing up my head," he suggested weakly.
"Maybe so... Are you tired? By any chance?"
"Yeah, as usual, really tired..."
"I think you might need some rest, Brian. Just a ... friendly suggestion."
"So nothing's wrong? There's nothing bothering you that you're not telling me about?"
"Not at all." You're exactly damn right, and if you still want to hear about it, you can keep on asking because you had your chance, Mr. Brian Backstreet Boy Littrell. .... So why don't I just say it?
"Really sorry I bothered you, then," he said gingerly.
"You didn't. Uhmm, go sleep if you can, got it? You sound really out of it."
"Yeah. Talk to you later, Liz...."
"Bye." Click. How much more proof do we need that Liz isn't fit for human relationships? -Or at least not yet, Liz thought wryly. Hoping to keep her overly analytical mind from drawing any conclusions from Brian's random phone call for no apparent reason, she turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep.