"Love is Like A Glass Door..."

Nick's POV

After dinner I retired to my room. I glanced out of the bay window. It was about eight-thirty, and the sky was clear and powdered with millions of white stars, glittering like diamonds. I moved the latch back, pushing the window open, and invited in the chilling easterly breeze wafting from the coast, teasing the sheer curtains. The warm air from inside was torn away and was replaced with the outdoor cold. Two stories below was an ink-black manmade pond, encircled by baby maple trees, their leafless limbs stretching to the skies, and an invisible unremitting chorus of cicadas serenaded the night. I wondered if Penny was just waking, if she was looking out her window to the vibrant sun instead. I wondered if she missed me as bad as I missed her. I wondered how long it would be before I heard her satirical voice again, the voice that I’ve warmed up to and sometimes heard echoing in periods of silence. But it seemed that there was virtually no time to think about these things. The band ate away so much of my time- not that I don’t enjoy the thrill of performing my heart out for millions of screaming, devoted fans- but sometimes I just wanted a nice, extensive, break. We all needed a break. But life rolled on, and the band and I had to roll along with it.

I turned from scenic view when the ring of my phone, resting on the navy bedspread, suddenly pierced the silence. I reached it at the second ring and plopped onto the bed on my stomach as I pressed the accept button. “Hello?” I could hear ocean waves lapping in the distance.

“My mom’s gonna be pissed when she reads the bill on all of these long-distance calls.” I could almost see her grinning.

Rolling onto my back and feeling a smile of my own warm my face I said, “Hey there, lovely. How’re you?” It was so nice to finally hear from her.

“Bored. You?”

“Bored-er,” I joked.

“Anyway, the reason I’m calling is that I’ve finally got the webcam set up on my computer,” Penny said.

“Did you? That’s cool. Mine’s already set; I’ll get my laptop now.” It was on the ground, charging. Getting up, cell phone cradled between my shoulder and my ear, I unplugged it and brought it back with me to bed. As I waited for it to boot up, I made light conversation. “So how is it over there?”

“Kinda, nice, actually. How’s Finland?”

“It’s a little early for snow, but we’re expecting a big blizzard tonight, so we’ve had to cancel tonight and tomorrow’s concert. We might be snowed-in for a while.”

“Sounds cozy,” Penn commented.

“Oh, yeah.” I smiled. “All that’s missing is you and a frapuccino.”

She laughed, the familiar pleasant sound ringing in my ears. “’Must suck for you not to have either.”

“Very much.” The windows welcome screen blinked on. I opened onto the internet and logged into my MSN. “Now, really, be straight with me: how are you, truthfully?”

Penny sobered. “Horrible. It sucks here. I don’t want to sound so cliché, but I really miss you, Nick.”

“You don’t sound cliché,” I assured. Involuntarily, I heard my voice melt into a buttery, soppy, mushy puddle. “I miss you too, so incredibly much. I wish you were here in Kotka with us.”

“Me too,” she sighed. Looking wistfully out the window from my bed, I’m overcome with a sudden loneliness.

I coughed and scrounged up the liquefied remains of my pride despite the sappy sentiments that imprison me. “Are you logged in yet?”

“Um… No. One sec.” The sound of the waves in the background began to recede as Penny moved indoors. Moments later I heard her sit into a desk chair and turn on the computer monitor. She accessed MSN and typed in her username and password. “Okay, I’m on.”

I clicked the Actions link on the screen, pointed to Audio/Video and then selected ‘start a video conversation’. I found Penny under my contacts and clicked on her. I waited a second for her to accept my webcam invitation, and then a moment later she flickered onto my screen. Instantly I was taken aback. I swear, she got more gorgeous during the four-week separation. Her eyes were a more striking green, her mouth fuller, alluring, and impish at the same time. Her heart-shaped face was framed with lustrous ginger hair. I must be swooning.

An affectionate smile slowly spread across my face. Penny smiled back, but then cocked her head to the side as it faded to a mocking frown. “Nicholas, what happened to that curly mane of hair I adored?”

I laughed. “It’s gone.”

She pouted jokingly and crossed her arms. “But why?”

“It kept falling into my eyes and becoming an inconvenience and I keep getting blindsided on stage. It was nature’s way of screaming into my face, ‘Get a friggin haircut!’”

Peals of laughter escaped from her. “Hmm… Is that so?” Her emerald eyes were dancing.

“It is so. God,” I breathed, “You’re so beautiful.” A cute blush sweeps across her face.

“Right back atcha, love.”

Without my consent, the corners of my lips tugged upwards in one of my signature stupid grins. “So,” I said, trying to push the attention off of me while I felt a blush of my own begin to grow, “So how’s Connor?”

She made a face. “I wouldn’t know. He’s avoiding me.”

“Oh? Why?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Wouldn’t know. But I have a feeling it has something to do with Kevin.”

“It’s funny you say that,” I remarked. “Kevin’s been acting a little strange himself. A little disjointed. Danielle flew up here and we thought it would make him happier, but surprisingly it didn’t. Not by much, anyway. He keeps to himself a lot more, too. It’s weird.”

“The two of them must be twins,” Penny kidded. “They PMS at the exact same time.”

I chuckled. “I know, right? We should run a DNA test.”

“Awesome. I’ll go find Connor and jump him so I can take a handful of hair.”

“Maybe you should handcuff him to his bed post to make sure he doesn’t get away.”

“And whip him if he tries to fight back.” We laugh at the small joke we’ve formed.

She looked behind me to the dark landscape through the bay window. “What time is it over there?”

”About eight-thirty-five, eight-forty. How about over there?”

“I think it’s ten-thirty in the morning.” She pulled up her legs and hugged them to her chest, her chin resting between her knees.

“Nice pants,” I observed randomly. “But I bet I could rock them better.”

“I bet you could,” she flirted.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But I bet I could rock them better than you with them off.” Despite my best efforts, another wicked grin stubbornly forms on my face.

“Are you willing to demonstrate?”

“Maaaaybe,” she teased further. Involuntarily, I feel a rivet of anticipation. Extending her leg out, she reaches for one of her froggy bedroom slippers and suggestively removes it. “Ooh, is it getting hot in here, or what?” I chuckled.

“It was the heat of the moment-.”

“-Telling me what your heart meant,” she sang back, kicking off her other slipper before giggling. She wiggled her toes. “No need to tell me; I know. I’m too sexy for my shoes.”

I laughed. “You’re something else, Sutherland.” Suddenly, the door to my room swung open. Kevin peered at me curiously, looking slightly fatigued as if he’d been asleep for several hours and I had awoken him. He always appeared to look tired now, and it seemed like there was nothing to cure whatever troubled him.

“I thought I heard voices,” he mumbled.

“Maybe you should go see a doctor,” I joked. Then I said, “I’m webcam-chatting with Penny.”

“Ah.”

“Hi, Kevin!” she called, the speaker scratching her voice a little.

He summoned a pleasant smile, though I could tell it required some endeavor. “Hey, Penelope.”

She pouted. “I may be a few thousand miles away from there, buddy, but you still have no authorization to use that word!”

Amazingly enough, a genuinely amused smirk appeared on his face. “Okay, okay. I’ll stick to ‘Penn’ before you grab a hatchet and attack my face with it.”

“Don’t give me any ideas, you little masochist!” she warned in jest. “Now, go back to bed like a good little twenty-one-year-old would.”

“‘Little’? I’ve got three years on you, chica!”

She rolled her eyes lightheartedly and with an offhand wave she said, “Whatever. You’re just jealous ‘cuz I’ve got three inches on you.”

“Okay, fine.” He raised his arms in mock defeat. “I’ll go to bed before any more bashing takes place. Maybe cry myself to sleep,” he joked as he disappeared out into the hallway.

Laughing, she turned back to me. “Now,” she said, waggling her eyebrows mischievously. “Where were we?

“Oh, that’s right,” she said feigning remembrance as she shrugged off her hoodie to reveal a comfortable baggy teeshirt with a coca cola trademark emblem on the chest. “It was literally getting hot in here, anyway.”

“Is there any chance your pants are getting a little too warm?” I toyed.

“Not a chance,” she replied with a sardonic grin.