London Foolishly

One week later. Here I am on a plane to London to start a tour I never wanted to be on. My girlfriend just left me, but do I get personal time? No. Even after I told my family what happened they still expected me here; on this plane.

I wasn't given anytime to deal with my emotions. The day after she left I was expected to be at more meetings and more press. It drained me to have to put on a happy face and act like I wasn't dealing with any personal issues.

"Hey, bro."

I looked up from the not book in my lap to see my older brother, Joe, taking a seat next to me. He smiled when he saw me look up.

"Hey." I replied. "What's up?"

Joe took a moment to answer. He was actually thinking before he spoke, I think we just flew through an alternate universe.

"What's wrong?" I asked when he still didn't answer after a few minutes.

"I'm worried about you." He finally said.

I sighed, "don't worry about me."

"I can't just not worry." Joe said rolling his eyes. "We're all worried."

"I'm fine." I lied. "Just tired." I used the lamest excuse in the book.

"Yeah. Sure." Joe said dropping the subject. "How's Lex?"

My heart seized painfully at the thought of Alexis. "Fine." I said with a wince.

"OK?" Joe said unsure. "Did something happen?"

" Yeah she uh-" I looked out the window. "She left."

Even though it wasn't my plan to tell anyone I couldn't keep this from Joe. He was my best friend, we confided in each other always.

"She left?"

I glanced at Joe, "yeah. She's gone. She left me."

"Oh." He said realizing what I was meaning.

"Yeah. Can you not tell anyone?"

"Of course." Joe said instantly.

"Thanks." I said forming a small, closed lipped, smile.

"Anytime little brother."

The rest of the flight to London was uneventful for the most part. There was a slight problem with my little brother, Frankie, when he decided to throw a can of soda at Joe. It resulted in a huge mess. We landed in the London airport at one in the morning it was early enough that there were no fans waiting for our arrival. Unfortunately paparazzi never sleep.

It seemed to take way too long to get to the waiting car. The photographers block our path so they could stop us long enough to shout questions at us our body guards could only do so much to get them to move. Most of their comments and questions were deigned to get us mad so we would snap on camera. If they keep this up for too long they might just get their wish.

"Hey Nick how's your girlfriend?"

That was the one question I was dreading. I glanced at Joe who got the message immediately; I needed out of there now.

"Rob could you clear a path?" He asked one of our body guards.

Rob pushed his way through the mob and got us safely to the car. I took a seat in the very back next to Joe while the rest of my family filled the other seats.

"That is just ridiculous." My mother said as she climbed into the huge SUV.

"Yeah." I said quietly. "It is really is."

The drive to our hotel took longer then it should have. My family talked loudly about the week we'd be spending in London. I didn't even try to keep up with their conversations. It would have taken too much energy to put on a happy face.

"What are you excited about?" My mother said turning in her seat to look at me.

"Uh." I tried to come up with some form of a lie.

"The sights right?" Joe put in.

"Yeah exactly." I said glancing at Joe. I subtly nodded a thanks towards my older brother.

"We'll get to look around some on your day off." My father said checking his phone.

"We have a day off?" I asked surprised.

"Of course." My father said distracted.

"A real day off?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I'd finally gotten my father's attention. Now was time for round two.

"Well we never get a day off. We're always doing something." I said with a shrug. "Its constant work."

Joe and Kevin shared a look then waited for my fathers reaction.

"Its your job if you don't like it then you can leave."

"Its not my job." I said. "My job is to make music."

"And with the music comes press and fan meetings."

"Yeah but not as much as we do it. We focus more on the image then the music."

"We have to." My father shot back.

"No we don't. We lose more fans because we don't make music then we gain fans from constant press."

The car was silent as they all thought about what I said. Maybe I had finally gotten through to them.

"Please stop." My mother said quietly before my father could retaliate. "Just stop."

I fell back into the seat slightly ashamed for upsetting my mother. "Sorry."

My father didn't say anything in apology. Of course he wouldn't, he's to above that to apologize to his wife.

"You could say sorry." I mumbled angrily.

"Nick." My brother said in a warning voice.

I looked over at Joe again his face distraught. I looked away again ashamed for upsetting another family member, the wrong one again.