Kevin sat upright in his bunk on the bus, smacking his head on the over head bunk. <i><b>”SONOFABITCH!”</B></i> he whispered harshly as he immediately rubbed the top of his head, certain he had cracked his skull wide open.

“Keep it down over there,” AJ rasped from across the aisle.

Brian leaned pulled the curtian away from his bunk, peering out. “Who is making all that racket out there?”

The oldest band member clicked on the lamp in his sleeping quarters, drawing his hand away to inspect it for what he was certain to see covered in blood, no doubt from a gash he had substained when he hit his head on the ceiling. He was happy to discover that there wasn’t any blood. “It wasn’t Nick, it was me, sorry…go back to sleep.”

“It was you? For a minute I thought the bus was in an accident with that vibration I had felt,” Brian replied.

“I hit my head on the ceiling…”

“That was a dumb thing to do,” AJ snickered.

This time it was Howie that entered the conversation. “Can’t sleep Kev?”

“Actually, I was sleeping…”

“Do you need to take something then? I’m sure I have something in my bag....”

“I don’t need to take anything, Howie. Please, everyone just go back to sleep, I’m going to go get a drink of water,” Kevin grumbled as he pulled the curtains back from his bunk and stumbled down the aisle toward the front of the bus.

Slipping out of his top bunk and hitting the floor with a dull thud, Brian announced, “I should probably go see if something’s wrong.”

“Dude, did you not hear your cousin say to go back to sleep?” AJ whispered.

“Yeah, but maybe I’m thristy too, is that a crime?” Brian defended.

AJ rolled over, trying to find a comfortable position as he drew the sheets up, whispering loudly,  “He’s just gonna hand you your ass.”

Brian stopped in mid-stride. ‘AJ’s right,’ he decided. ‘Kevin had been pretty ornery since the last show after that fight on the phone with Kris.’ Before his cousin could catch him, Brian climbed back into the safety of his bed, pulling the curtains closed.

Walking back toward the sleeping quarters, Kevin caught the young blonde hunched over playing with a hand held video game. “Nick, why are you still awake? I thought you were sleeping.”

“I was but I couldn’t sleep so I got up,” the blonde replied, never taking his eyes off the screen. “Why are you up…was I too loud or something?”

Kevin sat down next to Nick as he uncapped the water bottle, taking a generous drink. “No, you weren’t loud.”

“So why are you up?”

“I had a bad dream,” Kevin replied. “and I hit my head on the ceiling of my bunk,” he rubbed the top of his head for emphasis.

Pausing the game, Nick looked over at his brother. “Ouch, that had to hurt.”

“Trust me, it did.”

“What was the dream about?”

“You.”

Nick’s eyes grew wide. “Did I die in it or something?”

Kevin shook his head. “Nothing bad like that.”

Nick shifted in his seat to face him. “But you just said it was a bad dream…what can be worse than me dying?”

The older man patted Nick on the knee. “We should be getting to bed, we have a busy schedule in the morning.”

Nick grabbed Kevin’s arm, pulling him back to the seat. “Oh no you don’t! You gotta tell me what happened in that dream you had about me that was so bad.”

Kevin sighed, looking at the young man’s face. “C’mon….”

“You started this so you can just finish it now!”

“I don’t know what to say or how to begin.”

“You just tell me what you dreamt about and then you can go back to sleep,” Nick stated, folding his arms over his chest to indicate he wasn’t about the let Kevin off without a fight.

Shaking his head, Kevin drew a breath in. “God you’re a stubborn kid…it really wasn’t that bad of a dream,” he stopped, noticing one eyebrow was arched. “Okay, it was before we started a tour and we met over at Brian’s house for dinner before we left to go to a movie as a group or something. I hadn’t seen you guys in well over a year and…”

“Go on,” Nick coaxed.

“Your manners...god Nick I don’t want to say anything more. It was a stupid dream.”

“What about my manners?”

“I don’t want to say anything more because you’ll get mad and I want you to be all happy and upbeat for tomorrow.”

“C’mon…I’m not a baby anymore, I can take whatever you have to tell me,” Nick pleaded.

“Just the way you eat…there, satisfied?”

A scowl crossed Nick’s face. “That’s it? The way I eat? For crying out loud that would make you call that a nightmare? What the hell Kev, you really are getting old and senile.”

Now it was Kevin that felt his temper flare. How dare that little shit call him <b>old!</b> “You were shoving food into your mouth like you were starving to death,” he said, then he grinned poking at Nick’s stomach for emphasis. “It doesn’t look like my nightmare was too far off, was it?”

Immediately Kevin regretted his words when he saw that he had hurt Nick’s feelings. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. I’m just tired, can you accept my apology?”

Nick unfolded his arms, accepting Kevin’s handshake. “Yeah.”

“Dreams are just plain stupid…I had an argument with Kris earlier last night and it probably made me think of dumb things. I shouldn’t have poked your stomach either, I know how that bugs the crap outta you when someone picks on you like that.”

 As he forced a smile Nick replied, “No worries.”

“You sure little man?”

“Positive.” Standing up, Nick stretched his arms above his head. “I’m tired. Lets go to bed.”

“Holy crap, its almost 4:30,” Kevin grimaced when he looked at his watch.

Nick yawned. “Yeah bet both of us will look like crap tonight at the show.”

“Probably but we’ve done shows on less sleep than this…”

The blonde couldn’t help but smile…”Yeah but you were way younger than you are now.”

Kevin smacked the boy in the back of the head.

Nick yelped, rubbing the offended area. <b>“HEY!”</b>

<B>”FOR GOD SAKES WHO THE HELL IS YELLING OUT THERE?!?”</B>

“You deserved it little man,” Kevin whispered.

“I’ll get even with you tonight,” Nick promised quietly with a wink.