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“Cherry!” Ellena pushed through the crowded airport. “Cherry! Over here!”
“Ell!” Cherry appeared in the sea of faces and squeezed Ellena in a big bear hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
Ellena hugged back and then let go of Cherry. “It’s good to see you too! When did you get back from holidays? I want you to tell me all about them.” Ellena grinned.
Cherry laughed. “Let’s go get your luggage and I’ll tell you in the car.”
Fifteen minutes later, Cherry maneuvered the car out of the airport parkade and onto the city street.
“Oh - love this song.” Ellena smiled and turned up Cherry’s car radio. She sang along with Cyndi Lauper until the song was finished. Cherry laughed at her friend.
“So is there anywhere we have to stop before I take you back to your apartment? I’m assuming Lacey is staying at Mrs. Craig’s.” Ellena’s eyes immediately darkened and the smile left her face.
“Nobody told you huh?” Ellena stated.
“Told me what?” Cherry frowned.
Ellena turned away from Cherry and looked out her window.
“Told me what, Ell?” Cherry asked again.
Ellena wiped away the tear that slid down her cheek.
“Told me what, Ell?” Cherry demanded.
“Eric has Lacey. He took her away from me.”
“Oh my god.” Cherry whispered. She felt as though a brick had dropped on her stomach. “When?”
“Almost six weeks ago, now.” Ellena replied.
“Wasn’t there anything you could have done?” Cherry said desperately.
“Cherry, you already know the answer to that. If there was anything I could have done, I would have done it. He took my little girl away and I was completely powerless to stop him.”
“Oh, Ell. I’m so sorry.”
Ellena nodded and diverted her eyes out the side window again. The rest of the half-hour drive was silent. Cherry pulled her car up to the curb at Ellena’s apartment building and shut off the engine. Both women got out the car and stretched. Ellena glanced up to her bedroom window and then across the street to Mrs. Craig’s little pink house.
“Let’s go visit Mrs. Craig. I’ll bet she has a fresh pot of tea.”
Cherry nodded. “Sure. I’ll help you get your bags to the apartment and then we’ll go over.” She said opening the trunk with her car keys.
Ellena shook her head. “No. Let’s go over now. I don’t want to go into that empty apartment just yet.”
Cherry shut the trunk again and nodded. She slipped her arm around Ellena’s waist and they walked across the street together to Mrs. Craig’s.

~*~

“Where is Ellena?” Nick asked, as Kevin entered the private banquet room of the hotel alone.
“Mitch took her to the airport this morning. She thought she would get back to work a little early.” Kevin replied while taking a seat beside him.
“I guess she did everyone – I mean everything – she wanted to do in the short time that she was here, huh?” Brian said under his breath, just loud enough for Kevin to hear.
Kevin blinked and pretended he hadn’t heard Brian. Mitch had warned him that Brian would eventually come around. In the meantime, Kevin had to bite his tongue and keep his temper in check.
AJ interrupted the tense silence. “So how come she didn’t bring Lacey with her. Didn’t you invite her too?”
“Of course I did.” Kevin replied. “Lacey was with her father.”
“Oh.” AJ and Nick said in unison.
“Just visiting though, right?” AJ questioned. “She’s going to be back with Ellena by the time we’re back in Orlando, right Kevin?” AJ’s voice had a hint of alarm to it.
“Of course.” Kevin lied. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for that little girl.” Brian scowled from across the table.
AJ’s cheeks turned pink and he shrugged in an attempt to cover it up. “So maybe I have. And you’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for her aunt.” AJ observed. “Nothing wrong with that.” He grinned.
Brian shifted in his chair. “What Kevin has for Ellena is far from being soft.” He quipped with a sinister grin.
Howie snapped his eyes up to Brian. “What exactly is your problem? You’ve been such an ass lately. Who Kevin chooses to spend his time with is none of your concern.”
“It is my concern when it is interfering with my musical career. Bad publicity for one of us is bad publicity for all of us. None of us have time to concentrate on our private lives. All of our time and energy should be directed towards the success of the group. We shouldn’t be letting our attentions stray to anything else, be it a little girl or a grown woman.” Brian said pointedly to AJ and Kevin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t think I can stomach being in Kevin’s presence any longer.” Brian got up to leave.
“Don’t bother, Brian.” Kevin said as he threw his napkin down on the table. “You might as well stay. I was just leaving anyway.” Kevin nodded to AJ, Nick and Howie and returned to his hotel room.
Brian scowled again as the door slammed behind Kevin and then settled his glare on Howie.
Howie glared back. “I don’t know what you have against Kevin and Ellena being together but you really need to get over it.”
“If you were any kind of friend to him you would be glad that he has found happiness with someone.” AJ added.
“To put it simply, Brian.” Nick started. “We don’t agree with the way you have been treating Kevin since Ellena came into his life. I’m disappointed to see that you friendship with Kevin is suffering because of some preconceived notion you are stuck on. It is affecting all of us, not only you and Kevin, and it is your fault. Until you realize that, you are on your own.”
Nick, AJ and Howie stood up from the table. Brian smiled a little, not really believing that they were serious. “See ya around.” AJ said to a now confused Brian, as the three young men left the room.
Brian was left to his own thoughts. He was given a lot of time to think about what they had said to him too. When he made it out to the tour bus that he shared with Nick, he found that it was empty. It made him feel like a little child being punished and sent to his room. He sat down on the lumpy sofa and scowled out the window. It was an overcast day and all he saw out the window was his own reflection, which he scowled at again. He then turned away. He didn’t want to look at himself anymore. All he ever did lately was scowl, even to himself. What had gone wrong? What had happened to the brotherhood that he used to share with the others? Surely it wasn’t entirely his fault. Kevin had to share some of the blame and so did Ellena. Ellena O’Ryan. Even the thought of her made Brian scowl some more. He couldn’t even remember what she had done to make him hate her so much. He just knew that he hated her. Brian looked around the empty tour bus and glared at the space. Brian was alone for the entire day with only his thoughts to keep him company.