Like I'm Right Beside You (BEING EDITED SLOWLY)

Chapter 52

BRIAN'S POV

"Well how about that lyric? The second one?" Nick pointed down to the lyric on paper. We all leaned our heads down and read it. You found me heartbroken, heartbroken on the floor.

"No? Or what about 'you found me ripped open on the floor'? The first one?" Nick asked looking around to see us.

"Well..I like the second one better. It fits with the first verse. The first one feels like there are..words missing," Kevin explained leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, I also agree with Kevin," stated Howie. We were writing our first single for our next album. It wasn't decided yet when the release date was. We still had a long way to go.

"Ok, then it's settled. The second verse it is," Aj checked marked the lyric. We had agreed to meet at the guys's rental place to finish this song. After all Anne was busy studying at the library.

"So we have that first verse done. All we need is the second verse and we are done with this song," I brought up.

"I am so glad it's coming good. But what should we call it? Oh, how about 'In a place like this?" Nick's grin spread across his face.

'In a place like this,' I softly sang to myself.  It was nice, but it needed something. But what?

"What in the world is that?" Kevin asked Nick pointing to the paper. "What? Oh that. It just a list of titles I came up with," Nick shrugged.

'In a world like this I've got you,' I sang a little bit louder. "Brian sing that again," Aj told me. I sang it again, but louder so they could hear me.

"Brian that's it! That's our title," Howie pointed to the paper.

"Wait really? If it wasn't for Kevin asking Nick that then I wouldn't have sang it," I fixed myself on the chair.

"Well thank goodness for Kevin seeing Nick's list of titles," Howie chuckled. One of our producers wanted a sample of our song that we had. Apparently he needed our newest single by the end of this week.

It was supposed to be next week, but our manager's plans got rescheduled. That's why here we are working on our single. Next week won't work for our busy second hands.

"Ok let's finish the second verse," Kevin said to us.

After a couple hours we had finished the whole song. Now we just needed to see who would sing what part. Whenever I had a few seconds to spare I would look at my phone. Annie hadn't texted me anything.

"Brian?" one of the guys asked me. I quickly looked up, "Yeah?"

"I said Aj will sing the first half of the first verse and you the second half. Is that alright?" Kevin looked at me with those parent eyes.

I nodded, "Yes that is fine."

Our parts were assigned and we went over them. It sounded really good and our harmony was breathtaking. I had forgotten our acoustic sound was still top notch.

Kevin got up and stretched, "Well that's it boys. Good work today. Tomorrow we will sing through the whole song again. And we can fix whatever we don't like." We all agreed and stretched our bodies.

I yawned and my head began to hurt. It wasn't super bad, but it was there.

The guys all had left the room except for Nick. When I saw him shuffling papers into a folder I remembered yesterday. The image of him kissing Madeline came into my mind.

I approached him, "That lyric you wrote was perfect." He took the pencil out of his mouth, "It was huh? I thought you guys would choose the first one."

I laughed, "No the second was definitely worth choosing." There was a moment of silence before I asked him.

"So I went walking yesterday with Annie..to the park," I said casually.  Nick took a glance at me, "oh yeah? How'd that go?" 

I put my hands inside my pockets, "It was fun. I loved it." It was fun and I hope we could do it again.

Nick grabbed the folder and pushed in the chair, "Invite me next time." He punched my shoulder and laughed. He was about to head out the door when I knew I had to ask him.

"Well you had company," I blurted out. Nick stopped and turned around, "Company? What do you mean?"

I sighed, "Nick please don't lie to. Me and Annie saw you. We saw you coming out of Madeline's house and you kissed her.."

He gulped and didn't look at me. "It's not what you think," he said slowly.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter. You're dating Annie.." he motioned his hand at me.

I scoffed, "what's that supposed to mean?" What did Annie have anything to do with this?

"What I mean is she isn't like you or me. She..well Annie," he raised an eyebrow.

My fists clenched inside my pockets, "Like you or me? Yeah she's Annie. And I love her."  What was Nick trying to get at?

He sighed, "What I mean is she a normal person. She isn't a celebrity. No one's gonna care who she dates."

I walked over to him super fast and gripped the edge of his shirt, "I do. I care Nick. She's my girl." He stared deep into my eyes.

Nick put his hands up, "Woah Brian relax. What I mean is that it doesn't matter. Please let go of me."

I let him go, "Nick you better not hurt Madeline. She isn't my girlfriend, but she's Annie's friend. You better not toy with her."

"Brian why are you asking me all of this anyways?" He fixed his shirt I messed up.

"Because I don't want you to hurt yourself or Madeline or Annie," I said sincerely.

Nick put the folder in his other hand, "I promise it's not what you think. I'll explain, but not right now ok?"

Soon the other guys began entering the room. "What's going on?" Kevin asked looking at both of us.

I gave Nick one last look, "Nothing. I was just leaving."