Nick stood ram-rod straight, overwhelmed by the energy of the crowd. For that brief moment where they all stood on the platform, Nick could not take his eyes away from the sea of nameless faces in front of him. After fifteen years of ups and downs and highs and lows, it never ceased to amaze him.
"Walking along the sky, chasing a glimpse of you..."
Nick watched Brian work the crowd effortlessly singing to the smiling faces in front of him. As Nick went through the choreography that had become second nature to him, his mind drifted. These three men in his life were more than bandmates or friends, they were his family. These last few months on the road with the people who meant the most to him had been exactly what he needed. But sometimes, it wasn't enough.
"You don't have to be afraid of somebody else's touch
Just give me a chance to prove just how you should be loved..."
AJ's raspy voice knocked Nick out of his reverie. He couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat every time he watched AJ perform. It was amazing to him, everything AJ had accomplished. Nick didn't know if he would be quite as strong as AJ. When he really thought about it, he realized how much AJ had overcome.
Sometimes, he wondered if he was headed down the same path that AJ went down a few years ago. Even though he tried to be strong and take on as much as he could, sometimes the pressure was too much to take. His family was a mess, he'd been slandered in the press more times than he cared to count and the success of this album was something that he was banking on. He knew that he should look to AJ to see just how bad things could become, but internally, he just couldn't handle it all. He needed something, some place in his mind where he could go forget it all. So he ignored it.
Just one more time...after tonight, I'm done.
