“Thanks Daddy,” Mack said as she accepted the glass of soda he held out to her. She took a sip of it while he gently moved her injured leg and sat down on the end of the couch, laying her leg across his lap.

The hospital trip was very short of being labeled chaotic. Joey and Chris were freaking out about her leg being broken (“I saw a bone!” Chris cried out. “I swear!”) or sprained while Cal tried to calm the horses down who were in a panic from Joey and Chris freaking out. The longer Mack was in pain the more unbearable and sarcastic she seemed to become (“Will someone please just get me to the gosh forsaken hospital!”) so Rachel was trying to get her mind off of it by talking about wedding plans (“So do you think an indoor or outdoor wedding is better?”). JC and Lance were trying to find the quickest way to get to the hospital all the while Justin and Trace were arguing over which car to take.

By the time the parents were informed they all had their heads on straight and got back to the van to get to the hospital. Chris and Joey were trying to get Mack to laugh whereas everyone else was quiet. The atmosphere in the car was thick from both Justin and Trace being on edge so the others didn’t dare say a word.

The doctor checked out her knee, determined it was a sprain and that she had to be off it for the next couple of weeks being a mild one. The conversation over dessert was light and Justin and Trace seemed to lighten up, both devouring any piece of pie that came within grabbing distance. They talked late into the night until going their separate ways for bed. As soon as Mack got back to her house she crashed on the couch and flipped through random TV channels until she turned it off out of boredom.

“How’re you feeling?” Philippe asked.

She shrugged. “My leg’s fine because of the medication. I, however, feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin. I can’t stand not being able to do anything. Two stinkin’ weeks! You’d think the doctors could just pop my knee back into place—“

“You didn’t dislocate it,” her father interrupted her.

“—but no, two weeks of doing nothing but sitting on a couch! I’m going out of my mind and it’s only been one night!” She finished her rant by throwing her arms into the air. “Now I can’t dance and I can’t enter that competition. Dad, this was my year! I’m going to lose my title!”

“You’re going to lose your marbles if you don’t calm down,” Charlotte said in a stern tone, despite the smile on her face. She sat in a rocking chair in the corner, knitting together what looked like was going to be a very short blanket or a really long scarf.

“But Mom, you don’t get it,” Mack sighed.

“I ‘get it’ perfectly fine. Just because I’m older doesn’t mean my mind is going yet,” she replied, throwing a small pillow at her daughter. “You’re going to have to deal with what life gives you.”

“But why this? Why now?”

“Ask God that, not me.”

“I think it’s His way of telling you to slow down and relax,” Philippe said, turning to look at his daughter who had a skeptical look on her face. “I don’t think you’ve ever relaxed a day in your life.”

“I did when I was two,” Mack replied.

“Yeah, those moments when we strapped you into the car to try and get you to go to sleep,” Charlotte replied. “And even then you’d still try and dance in your seat.”

“What can I say? The music moves me.”

“Aint that the truth,” Philippe laughed. “Usually you’re very careful on Bluebelle. What happened?”

“I got distracted,” Mack replied.

“By whom?” Charlotte asked.

Her daughter lifted her eyebrows. “What makes you think I was distracted by a person?”

“Because you’re just like me. The only way you lose focus is if a person is involved, usually a guy. Other petty problems you push aside until you have time to think about them and digest it, which isn’t until the end of the day,” Charlotte explained.

“I thought I told you to stay out of my head,” Mack said while placing her hands on her ears.

Charlotte laughed. “Justin or Trace?”

“Both. They’re being really stupid,” Mack replied. Her parents stayed silent but looked at her as if asking with their eyes for her to tell her more. She sighed and rolled her eyes, making herself comfortable. “Let’s just say I did something…”

“Stupid?” Philippe filled in.

“Do you want to tell the story?”

“Sweetie, every time you’re around those two you do something stupid. We’ve learned to expect it.”

“Anyway, I did something stupid with them and now I’m worried. It makes me think I shouldn’t have come back home.” She sighed again. “Ever since I came back things have been screwed up. I don’t know what I want to do anymore.  Justin and Trace are about ready to attack each other and Rachel just wants me to help her with the wedding and everything but I can’t focus on it.”

Charlotte’s green eyes were narrowed. She had stopped rocking and she was staring at her daughter intently. It was for Mack to look back at her mother. It was like a mirror image, just swap her mother’s hair to black and her eyes to blue and they’d be like twins, Charlotte would just be a bit older looking.

“This stupid thing you did,” Charlotte said slowly. “If it’s what I’m thinking, and I hope for your sake it’s not what I’m thinking, then you’ve really gotten yourself into trouble that we can’t get you out of. Those boys…they’re very fond of you. Very fond, it’s something I’ve noticed and been aware of for years. You, however, are not aware of your power over them. They’d fall over themselves to keep you happy if they could, even if it’s at each other’s expense, which is bound to happen eventually because they feel that the other both have what they each want.”

“Which is what?” Mack asked.

“You,” Philippe and Charlotte replied in unison.

“Surely you would’ve noticed the routine by now,” Charlotte continued. “Justin says and/or does something stupid, you run off to Trace. In turn you leave Trace behind in the dust to share some sort of whirlwind adventure of traveling the world with Justin.” She paused. “I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I am your mother so I have every right to be, but sooner or later you have to decide where to place them in your life. It’s not fair to them and, eventually, something will go wrong with your friendship that it won’t be fixable and I’d rather that not happen. A friendship that you have with those two, and Rachel, is one that can last forever. You just have to stop being afraid of hurting people.”

“You’re too smart,” Mack groaned.

“Why do you think I married her?” Philippe asked with a smile.

“Because you got me pregnant,” Charlotte replied dryly. Philippe picked up a pillow and threw it at her. “I love you too, sweetie.”

“You two are weird,” Mack muttered.

“Where do you think you get it?” Philippe teased.

“I love having you home,” Lynn said with a smile across the small round, kitchen table.

“I love being home,” Justin replied with a grin. “Now I don’t have to pay an obscene amount of money just to do my laundry when you can do it for free.”

Lynn scoffed and slapped his arm. His friends snickered as she then leaned over and kissed his cheek. “So how has the tour been?”

“Really good,” JC spoke up. “The fan’s responses are great. They love the new songs and they’re singing along to it as if they were our older ones. It’s great but I’m happy and appreciative that you’re letting us stay here with you.”

“You don’t have to be so gosh darn polite,” Chris said to him. “The tour rocks and we love you for taking us in!”

Lynn laughed. “I love having you boys here. I like a full house.” She took Justin’s hands and gave them a little squeeze. “I like being able to talk to you all and hear your experiences in person instead of through the phone.” She then glanced at Justin. “How have you been?”

They all turned and looked pointedly at Justin who’s eyes shifted from each of their faces and then to his mothers. “I’m fine,” he said firmly.

“No you’re not,” Lynn said quietly. “They’ve been calling me and telling me about your attitude lately. I’ve taught you to be courteous and kind, Justin Randall. Instead I’ve been hearing that you’re snapping at everyone and having a bad attitude about everything.”

“I wouldn’t have one if they stayed out of my business,” Justin growled.

“Dude, if this is about Britney—“ Lance started.

“This isn’t about her!” Justin snarled. “This has nothing to do with her!”

“It has everything to do with her!” Chris cried out. “No Jace, I’m not biting my tongue about it anymore,” he said when JC tried to get him to calm down. “Excuse my language, Lynn, but you’re being a real asshole Justin. You’re pushing us away and bitching at us when all we really want to do is help you.”

“Yeah, man,” Joey agreed. “We know you’re hurt but—“

“Hurt?” Justin repeated. It scared him how bitter his voice was. “You think I’m hurt? I’m not hurt, I’m fucking furious. She cheated on me. With Wade. Of all goddamned fucking people it was Wade. I would’ve been fine if it were…were, JC even, I would’ve been able to forgive him eventually!”

“Don’t bring me into this,” JC muttered.

“But no, it was Wade! I…I treated him like a fucking brother and he does this to me. And they didn’t even fucking tell me. I found out from a fucking mash letter.” Justin’s face was read by now and he was breathing heavily. He couldn’t stop the words from flowing, not even when his mother tried to calm him down. “The two people I trusted…they did this to me and acted like nothing happened even thought I knew! They just kept lying to me. But I couldn’t stop thinking about her but—“

“Every time you did you got mad at the rest of us,” JC interrupted him. “You blamed yourself for the breakup, thinking that you should’ve known earlier that something was going on instead of finding out the way you did.” He shrugged. “So, to get over it, you went for the first sense of comfort you could get to, which was at your friend’s expense.” He looked over at Lynn who had a confused expression on her face. “He and Mack got intimate,” JC told her. She nodded slowly and he looked back at Justin. “Then you, in your Justin way, did something or said something to her that hurt her and she left. My guess? You realized what you did and told her that it didn’t mean anything or that it was a mistake and that you were only trying to find a way to clear your head. Something that was insensitive enough for her to leave the tour without telling anyone and coming home.

“Which made you angrier because she could come home. That’s what this whole thing was about from the get go, wanting to come home. To stop everything and be by yourself again. To be able to do what you want whenever you want.” He sighed. “That’s why you want to take a break. It’s why you want to record your own album.”

Justin stiffened. “You said you were okay with it,” he whispered. “You all did.”

“And we are,” Lance quickly jumped in. “We all decided to do different things while on this break and we support your decision. We just don’t support your reasoning because, well, they’re selfish in a way. We get that you missed being home. We get that you missed being around your friends and you have to watch your family grow up and move on. We have to go through that too! We don’t support the way you went around it. At all. We’re your brothers and we’ve always been there for you but now you’re pushing us away when all we wanted to do was help.” He stood and motioned for the others to follow his lead.

“You can talk to us whenever you want,” Joey said. “We just hope you understand where we’re coming from.” The four of them silently left the room.

Justin had taken his hands out of Lynn’s grasp and held his hands up to his mouth. His foot bounced rapidly on the ground. He hadn’t realized he was shaking until Lynn wrapped her arms around him. He let out a sigh and rested his head on her shoulder.

“Trace, talk to me,” Rachel said while sitting down on the couch. She brought her knees up to her chest and nestled her tea in the space between her chest and knees.

“About what?” Trace asked while still tossing a tennis ball inot the air. Once he caught it he tossed it up again. It took his attention away from the day and it was what he needed. He sighed a little. He loved having Justin back but it felt so much different than it ever had before. There was something wrong with them but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He tried to play it off like he was just readjusting to him being back but that quickly wore off.

He felt the muscles in his face pull it back to a sort of grimace. He hated feeling this way around Justin. They’re best buds and Trace knew he’d love him like a brother for the rest of his life. However it seemed like when things were finally about him Justin rolled into town and everyone’s attention turned to him. When was it going to be his turn? His turn to make everyone proud of him?

“Your raging green-eyed monster,” she replied, reaching forward to set her mug down.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend to get to?” He asked. He didn’t want to talk about it, especially with Rachel, the Queen of Prying.

“Fiancé,” Rachel corrected with a grin. “And while I love to throw that word around now I know that I need to be here for you in your time of need.”

Trace caught the ball and looked at Rachel. “My time of need?” He repeated. “Rach, you’re making it sound like I have a time of month or something.”

“That’d actually be a really interesting concept,” she said as she rubbed her chin. Then she waved her hand. “That’s beside the point.”

“Then what is the point?” He asked.

“The point is you’re jealous of Justin,” she responded. Trace scoffed. “You always have been. I just assumed it’d turn to happiness for him by now. Being your best friend and all.” Trace twisted his mouth to the side. “Look, he may be my cousin but I’m closer to you than I am to him, admittedly, and I can see what he being home does to you.”

“It’s not that,” Trace sighed. That was part of it but it wasn’t the whole thing. “It’s…I feel stuck here,” he said, slowly piecing together his thoughts. “I feel so trapped. I always feel alive whenever Justin would invite me out on tour but whenever I’m here… Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, I just want to experience something new. Something out of the ordinary. Something no one expects.”

“Like that clothing design thing?” Rachel asked.

“How’d you know about that?” Trace asked incredulously.

“Well, you’re a great drawer I just assumed,” she said and shrugged. He stared hard at her. “I found a shoebox full of your drawings years ago,” she admitted. “They’re really good. Why are they in a shoebox?”

“’Cause I don’t want my dad to see them,” Trace replied. “He doesn’t think I’d go far with drawing and designing and everything. He thinks it’s a girly profession and he doesn’t care that I happen to be good at it. As long as I do something that exudes physical strength he’ll be happy.”

“But you won’t be,” Rachel pointed out. Trace shrugged. “Just like you won’t ever fully be happy until you take control of your life. It’s your life, not your father’s. If you want to leave, go ahead. We’ll still be here when you come back.” She paused. “Unless this has to do with Sam.” Trace stiffened at her words. “Trace, you weren’t responsible for what happened. It wasn’t your fault,” she tried.

Her words fell on deaf ears. “I could’ve done something, Rach. I could have but I didn’t. And I lost her.” He pressed his lips together in a tight, straight line. “I don’t want to lose anyone else. I can’t. I thought I was going to lose my grandfather and if I continued with that I’d lose my dad as well. I just…I can’t do it. I already lost my best friend.”

Rachel sighed and mentally kicked herself for bringing it up. “Sorry T,” she whispered. She moved across the couch and hugged him around the center. “Sorry.”