~*~AJ~*~

Things were normal. I think all of us had this fear that things would be a lot different. Like there would be phone calls saying, "Come home" and shit. So far so good and by the end of the week we were all breathing a little easier. We were busy doing meetings and thinking about direction with the next CD. Kevin was his normal self, bossy, opinionated, bitchy at times. He did call home if we were going to be running late. That was cool. That was the only change though. Even with the meetings this was a down time for us. We had more free time than we were used too. Some of it we would spend hanging together assign off, and some be spent as far from each other as possible. You get tired of each other when you’re together all the time, but then we’re all friends and we enjoy hanging with each other. I tend to divide it into work us and play us. Touring is work us and we get sick of each other. This was play us and we liked to play with each other. Touring had play time, but not the relaxed pace. When we got down time on the road it was a blessing and we all seemed to try and squeeze as much in as we could. That tended to take away some of the fun of it. Not now though. Kevin went with to play golf with Brian and I. He and I went to hang with Tracie on Thursday. No difference there. They were still the same. Made me think I may have been reading more into that than was there.

Kevin and Jessica had a cook out on Saturday with just us. Pam was in town and making Nick miserable. She had expected that every second of his down time would be with her, and went on and on about how she wasn’t good enough for him and he deserved someone who wasn’t so insecure. I couldn’t argue with that. He stayed attached to her hand most of the night and talking with her. Angela came with me and had a great time. She fit in just fine with everyone. She didn’t put ties on me and didn’t need constant attention. I wonder if Pam realized that if she didn’t demand so much she’d get more? All of us hate being "made" to do shit. Like if we have to do a "Meet and Greet" at a time that’s really inconvenient we’ll just get through it, but if we have some say in our time everyone will have a good time. Howie had a new girl with him. Seemed nice enough. Howie girls never lasted too long. He liked being a player too much. Lee had a boytoy with her. She didn’t pay him much attention. She was such a man.

Tracie came alone.

~*~Tracie~*~

I had no use for a man right now. It had been a few weeks since I ended it with Scott, and I wasn’t in the mood for dealing with any of that relationship shit right now. I wasn’t sad, angry, or anything, I just was enjoying being alone. Jessica had been having trouble with morning sickness and called it a night early. She was green, which is not a good color for her. Kevin informed us all we weren’t going anywhere, it was a slumber party. Everyone drank themselves into a stupor then. Always fun to watch.

"No date?"

I laughed, "Nope."

He took my hand and we headed to the couch, "You ok?"

I stretched out, "I am fine. I have no desire to date. No complications."

"Just checking. I feel like it’s been all about me lately."

"It has been all about you."

He actually rolled his eyes at me, "I know that, so I’m checking in."

"I know, I love you for it. Really I’m fine. This is the way I do it. After a relationship I take some total me time. I’m disgusted with the whole dating concept then I get back to normal."

Nick came in the room, "Is this a private party, or can I play?"

I moved over and gave him my spot, "Absolutely. Where is Pam?"

"Way passed out. She’s celebrating. I asked her to move here. In with me."

Kevin and I stopped breathing at exactly the same moment. I spoke, "Nicky, are you sure? I mean, are things going ok?"

He shook his head, "Ok. I think her living with me will be even better. She always wonders what I’m doing when she’s not around. This way she’ll she it’s no big deal. Nothing to it."

Kevin and I exchanged a glance, both of us knowing it would just be something else. Never enough. We let him sleep on the couch too.