Brian licked his lips constantly, the nervousness radiating from his body. His hands slightly shook while he was driving.

"Relax, Bri!" the woman on the passenger's side smiled broadly. "You worry too much."

When he heard her angelic voice coaxing him, Brian eased a bit. "Sorry, Katie. It's just that this means so much to me."

"I know." She reached over and squeezed his hands. Brian tried to keep his eyes on the road. It started raining, the winds picking up quickly. He hoped that tonight would be perfect. He wanted the other guys to embrace Katie like she was family, especially Nick. Brian was going to ask her to join them on the upcoming tour and things would be so much easier if everyone got along.

Nick. He hoped that Nick would greet her warmly. Nick was his little brother and his best friend. He knew how much Nick had endured in the past 3 months, but he wanted Nick to face reality as well and start acting normal again. Besides, how could they change something that had already happened? Nick must deal with it. Maybe forcing him to socialize would make him recover faster.

Brian was too consumed in his own thoughts to notice that Katie was silent and pensive throughout the whole car ride as well. Had Brian not forced her into going, she would not have agreed to this little meeting with his so called "brothers." She was dating Brian, not his friends, and she hated interacting with too many people. She liked privacy in her relationships. It made her feel less exposed. She would only have to deal with Brian that way.

Before long, they had arrived at Nick's house. "You'll like them," Brian reassured Katie. "They're all really sweet."

"I bet they are," Katie replied half-heartedly, but Brian did not notice. Plus, it was too dark to see the sternness on Katie's face. Reluctantly, she got out of the car. "This better be painless," she thought to herself, hoping that these guys wouldn't be a problem to her. She always had problems with boyfriends in the past, but this time, she hoped Brian would be the one. Brian was so innocent in many ways that she had hoped he would show her the way and give meaning back into her life. She honestly thought that she could establish a warm, cozy family with Brian, and she didn't want anything to be in her way.

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