Baby, You're So Gone.

"You got to make a decision.” I froze with my hand on the doorknob and stared at the door in wonder. The person behind the door was obviously not talking to me.

“I can’t.” I heard someone respond. I recognized that voice immediately – Nick.

The curiosity in me rose and I pressed my ear to the door, hoping they wouldn’t move their conversation elsewhere.

“You can’t keep holding up the tour.” I was pretty sure it was Justin speaking. “Manager’s getting pissed, Nick. We were supposed to be in Florida five days ago.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. Surely I wasn’t the reason for this hold-up… was I?

“What am I supposed to do?” Nick said miserably. I heard him sigh and I felt a pang in my heart – I wanted to make him feel better anyway I could.

“Ask her if she wants to come on tour with us. It’s as simple as that.”

At first, I couldn’t process this and I kept wondering; who are they talking about? It took me awhile to understand the problem and even then I didn’t know what to say or do about it.

“She just got kicked out of her house; I can’t ask that of her. What if she does come on tour and she decides she wants to go back home when we’re hundreds of miles away?” Nick asked, and it finally hit me.

They were talking about me. I was holding up the tour – I was keeping Nick here in Georgia. I felt guilt run through me and close my throat. I didn’t want to be selfish and keep him here, but at the same time, I didn’t want him to leave. Even if he did leave, I had no place to go.

Unless…

“Ask her. Worst case scenario, she can take a plane back here.” Justin concluded.

“I don’t know…” I could tell Nick was still hesitant about the idea.

I took that moment to open the door and step into the conversation. I cleared my throat when both of their eyes fell on me. I smiled at them both, “Do I have a say in this?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Nick gave me a sharp look and I matched him with a glare. “If you don’t mind – I’d like to go on tour with you guys.

“Anna—“ I cut him off with a sharp, curt nod. “No, I’m going. Nothing you can say will change my mind.” I stated.

“Alright,” Justin clapped his hands together and smiled. “We leave Friday morning, since the mechanic is going to fix the bus tomorrow.”

“Wait, I thought I was holding up the tour?” I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest.

“You’re part of the reason – but the mechanics are closed until tomorrow so we can’t do much until the tour bus is fixed.” Justin answered.

I nodded as Justin walked past us both and into the little living room at the front of the tour bus. I looked at Nick and sighed. He looked pretty upset – I didn’t know why exactly. He shouldn’t be feeling guilty because I made this decision; I wanted to go on tour with them and I wanted to see the whole United States.

“Nick—“I cut off, not knowing what I should say. I wasn’t really good when it came to comforting people, especially since I could barely comfort myself. I put a hand on his shoulder, hoping I could do something.

“Annie, don’t.” He said, looking away.

I stepped in front of him and forced him to look me in the eyes. “What is your problem, Nick?” I asked, basically begging him to tell me what was wrong. “I’m doing this because of me, not because of you. If I wanted to, I’d walk away from this bus and from you. But I’m not going to.”

“What if you decide you want to?” He asked, his brown eyes so deep and luring.

I smiled. “I’m not. Trust me.”

Nick sighed. “Annabelle.” I loved the way he said my name, the way it rolled off the tip of his tongue. “You just got kicked out…”

“What does that have to do anything?” I raised an eyebrow, then sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it, really. My story sounds so old; it’s not even funny.”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s not the point.”

“My point is that I’m not going anywhere, so you shouldn’t worry.”

Oh, if only they had known what a lie that had turned out to be.