For weeks, Emily put 100 percent of her effort into performing. Nothing else. She was rapidly losing weight because she would only eat when she was hungry, which was very rare. She never had any energy anymore, and would go back to her bus or the current hotel directly after a performance. She couldn’t even look Nick in the eye, let alone be in the same room with him. The other guys noticed something was wrong, but didn’t want to get involved knowing it was about Nick, and those were always sticky situations.
“Hey Em!” Brian called after one show when he intercepted her in the lobby of their hotel. Emily turned around to face him, but didn’t answer. “Do you wanna go to this party with me and a few of the fellas? It’s some guy Ni- one of them knows.” Emily shrugged. “C’mon, please?” Brian pleaded with his best puppy-dog face.
“Alright!” Emily laughed and gently slapped his arm “I’ll go, I’ll go!”
“Great!” Brian flashed a million-dollar smile at her. “You can ride with me if you want.”
“Sure, as long as you promise no more pouty faces.” Emily wiggled a finger at him.
“Well, I don’t know about that...” Brian laughed when Emily put her hands on her hips. “Okay, okay I promise.” he mumbled.
“I can’t hear you, Brian.” Emily leaned towards him.
“I won’t make any faces”
“Louder please, I want a witness to this or something.” Emily smiled at him as he rolled his eyes and looked around.
“I promise not to make any more faces!” He shouted throwing his hands in the air and turning around in a circle.
“Ever?”
Brian thought for a minute. “No.”
“Brian!” Emily laughed. It felt good to laugh. She went to shove him but he grabbed her hands and twisted them around her back. “Hey!”
“Are you ticklish?” He asked coyly.
“No.” Emily tried to keep a straight face.
“Really?” Brian didn’t believe her. Emily nodded. “Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure...” Emily eyes grew wide and she squirmed to get away from him. Even though she was slightly taller than him, he was much stronger and tickled her unmercifully.
“Brian!!!!!” She cried out, tears brimming her eyes from laughing so hard. “Brian stop!!”
“Never!!” Brian cried out and let out an evil laugh. They both looked up when they heard a door slam, Brian perched over Emily, his hands hovering in the air above her waist.
Nick stormed away from the lobby and back towards him room. How dare Brian! He thought. How dare Emily! How could she be so happy when he felt horrible? He had been just as bad as she was since their fight. Although, they were both to blind to see what was going on around them, they were stuck wallowing in their depression. And it looked to Nick that Emily was just fine. I don’t need her! Huh! He opened his door and went into the bathroom. After splashing his face with water, he grabbed his bandanna and tied it around his head before leaving his room again to leave for his friend’s party. He could definitely find someone there. He’d show Emily. He’s just as better off without her as she was without him.