The phone startled Kevin awake for the second morning in a row.

"Carter!" he grunted with complaint as he answered the phone.

"Kevin, hey buddy! How's it going?" Nick asked cheerfully.

"What the hell do you want?" he grunted.

"Just wanted to make sure Brie was okay. She has this fear of thunderstorms," Nick answered.

"If you were so concerned about her, then why is she here, staying with me, instead of with her best friend?" Kevin demanded to know.

"Oh, she can't stay here. It would just be too awkward. She might move something that I put somewhere especially for Laurel so she'd know where it was, and that would complicate things too much. It's better that she's with you and out of the way."

"What a wonderful thing to say about a best friend."

"Hey, you don't know what it's like for us, okay? So back off."

"Any other reason you called?"

"Can you let Brie know that I'll come pick her up later?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, sure," Kevin sighed, and then hung up. He couldn't understand that Nick could call Brianna his best friend and then treat her like he was…Although, he probably didn't mean to, but it was obvious that what he needed in his life, and Brianna wasn't the top of that very long list of needs anymore.

But then again, if he thought he knew Brie, she wouldn't be taking this crap for very long. She was a very straightforward person, and if she felt that she was being treated like crap, she'd tell him. The girl could hardly take care of herself, though….

* * * *

"So, Laurel, if you don't mind my asking, what do you do for a living?" Brianna asked, later that afternoon. Nick had insisted that Brianna join the two of them for lunch before Brianna and Nick went off on their own for the rest of the day. Being ignored throughout the entire meal, Brianna had decided to take a stand, and fight for recognition.

"Right now? Nothing. After the operation, I plan on going back to school, to become a lawyer. They wouldn't accept me because I was blind, but soon, that won't be an issue," she smiled endearingly in Nick's direction. He, meanwhile, shot Brianna a dirty look, obviously meaning that she was in trouble for bringing up the entire subject.

"Wow, that's cool. You would make an excellent lawyer. Nicky, how is the new album going? Written any songs lately?" Brianna asked, turning her attention on her best friend. His face slowly turned red.

"Uh, no, not really. We've agreed to put the new record on hold, until things are more stable with our personal lives. You know, sort of some time off from the public. I thought Kev would have mentioned something to you…"

"No, Kevin is just my host. We don't talk at all, because it just ends in argument. How can you men live with each other with that kind of tight ass running the show?"

"He doesn't run the show, Brie. And you are just too much of a free-spirit for him. I don't see why you are staying with him, anyway. You never have got along very well," Nick laughed.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go," Brianna mumbled quietly, looking down at her plate. She wanted to scream in frustration. She was losing her best friend, and he couldn't even see what was going on. She stood up from the table, and walked out of the room. She marched through the house, and right out the front door.

"Brie! Where are you going?" Nick yelling, running after her. Well, score two points for me, he actually noticed that I left the room, Brianna thought to herself angrily.

"For a walk. I'll call you tomorrow," she yelled back, continuing to stalk away from his home.

* * * *

About two hours later, Brianna was hopelessly lost, broke and had no phone. She had turned the wrong way, and found herself in suburbia hell, without her wallet. All the houses looked the same, and all of the street names had something to do with a tree in them, and she was in a terrible situation. She had no idea what to do, but had too much pride to find a pay phone, and call for help.

Suddenly, a familiar looking car came roaring down the street, and screeched to a halt as it passed her. Walking by, Brianna made herself refuse to look, and just kept walking, ignoring the person in the car.

"Brianna, get in the car," the voice hollered. She stopped and turned to see a very red-faced Kevin sitting in the drivers' seat.

"No," she said simply, stopping to turn and look at him.

"If you do not get into this car, I swear I will drag you in by your hair," Kevin promised calmly. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Brianna walked over and climbed in very slowly. Kevin tore off down the road, not saying anything. He let her sit in his angry silence until he was on the highway.

"What the hell were you doing?" he demanded.

"Getting some fresh air. How did you find me?" she asked.

"I thought like you. Nothing I would like to reenact, ever again. What made you decide to just leave Nick in a town you know nothing about, without your purse, a car, a phone?" Kevin practically yelled.

"I told you, I just wanted to get some fresh air. I would have gone back eventually, I was just tired of being the invisible best friend."

"So you decided to teach Nick a lesson? I got a frantic phone call from him over an hour ago, when he realized that your purse was still in his house, by the pool where you left it. He nearly flipped when he called and found out you weren't home yet! What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled.

"Yeah, Nick was frantic enough to call you to find out where I was, to ask YOU to come and look for me. Christ, Kevin, when the hell did you become my best friend? I thought it was supposed to be Nick," she grumbled.

"You selfish little bitch. You are the kind of girl that would light the curtains on fire if she felt that she wasn't getting enough attention, aren't you?" Kevin said in disgust.

"I am a bitch, Kevin. I wholeheartedly admit it. I am a selfish, self-centered heinous bitch. I care nothing for the happiness of other people, I only think of myself. I don't care what people think of me, and I don't care how they treat me. But even a cold-hearted little bitch like me does have her limits, and let me tell you, it hurts like hell to be completely insignificant next to the perfect Laurel. I can't be her, I never will be her, so therefore I am nothing!" Brianna cried, and turned away from Kevin, and sulked as she faced the window. Within a few seconds, though, her eyes were tearing, and she was sniffling.

"Brie…you just have to understand that right now, Nick's focus is on Laurel. He's so afraid that he could lose the love of his life right now, that's all he can think about," Kevin explained quietly.

"He's choosing a girl he just met six months ago over someone he has known forever, someone he has history with! It's not fair, I don't deserve this. I have always been there for him when he needed me. And he was for me, but now he's not there. And I think that even if I did need him, she would come first. She needs him right now, and he needs to be needed."

"Brie, you have it all wrong. He loves you, but right now, he just needs to focus on something else. The second you need him, he'd be right there, I know it," Kevin said.

"Whatever," Brianna dismissed his thoughts, letting him know that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.