Concentrate

Alec quirks an eyebrow, then grins coyly. "You wanna see me shirtless, just say so. I don't have to be working on my motorcycle for that to happen, you know."

Still grinning, he takes a bite of his sandwich. He was just as glad that she was thinking about him rather than how he'd paid for the bike, which was what Eli's main concern seemed to have been. Alec knew Ryan's brother didn't trust him.

"I'll still let you watch though," he agrees. "Whenever I get around to working on it, that is. By tomorrow, I may be a working man." A new glint shines in his eyes. Self-worth maybe? "Had an interview this morning at an independent mail courier. I figure I could drive around town and deliver packages - can't be that hard, right? Supposedly they're gonna call me tomorrow if they liked me."


Who said Axel had changed? Anastasia had, just moments before - at least she'd implied she believed as much. Quinn refrains from arguing though, and keeps his thoughts on what was really important here. He knew she was right about giving Axel a chance but... how? He was ready just to forget the whole thing and walk away. And he would have, had his car not broken down. And now...

Snapping back to attention, he grins and takes as bite of his BLT. "I don't know," he muses. "This sandwich is pretty good..."

Giving her a teasing wink, he tries not to laugh with a full mouth. "But I think sitting with a princess is better."

Dropping the subject of Axel for now, Quinn tries to just enjoy the meal. It wasn't all that easy though. His mind still wanted to dwell on his brother, and then the other part of him was thinking about how his time with Anastasia was quickly coming to an end. Why had he been allowed to experience such a good time with her, only to have it end? It didn't seem fair. But he knew he had to continue on the road. He knew he had to keep moving. That was what he did. That was his life.

Once the meal is finished, Quinn finds himself stalling as he works on finishing his pop, stirring the ice around, taking another sip, then stirring again. Once they left here and went to the shop, that was it.

Glancing over to Anastasia, the look on his face is a sheepish one. "I keep trying to think of an excuse to just stay here and pretend the clock isn't ticking but I can't."


"Remind me of my origins... Remind me why... Remind me..."

Erik sighs as he stands in the control room listening to Kip make the same mistake in the same place for the fourth time in a row. Kyle had already finished his vocals and they wanted Kip to harmonize on the chorus. He knew the lyrics and the music as well as anyone, but he just wasn't focusing.

Wayne catches the mistake again and shakes his head. "Hold it, Kip... hold it..."

Kip stops and looks through the glass at the other room, his eyes showing frustration. He knew this stuff, he just couldn't concentrate today. Scratching his head, he takes another sip of water and then stretches, spinning around a couple times to get the blood flowing again.

Wayne looks up at Erik, then glances over to Jackie. "Maybe for the sample album we need to just cut Kip on this one. If we really want that sound, we can work more on it later." He reaches for the intercom button to tell Kip they were wrapping it up, but Erik stops him.

"Wait." Reaching down between Wayne and Jackie to hit the button himself, he looks out into the other room. "Kip... take five." He knew Kip better than they did and he recognized the problem.

Kip glances up at Erik and grimaces a little, taking the cue. He knew what his older friend meant. Shedding the headphones, he wanders from the sound booth and out to where the others were hanging out, waiting and practicing. Receiving a sympathetic look from Twila, he cringes and heads for the door.

Erik watches him leave and nods. "Give him a couple minutes, okay?"

"We're already starting to push the time we've got," Wayne warns. "If he can't get it-"

"He will," Erik states flatly. These people knew music, but they didn't know the band well enough yet to make that kind of assumption. He glances at Jackie before turning and leaving to join the others for a while.

Twila looks at him with understanding and she scrunches her nose a little. "He gonna make it?"

"Yeah." Erik nods and flops down in an empty chair. "He just needs to work off that energy of his, you know that."

Twila nods. Kip was a ball of energy and sometimes it did get in the way. Everyone in the band knew that almost every day was a struggle for him to concentrate and not get sidetracked, let alone sit still for this amount of time. Twila looks over to Karla and tosses her a new water bottle. "He's probably gonna need this," she hints.


Kyle watches as he sits on the little couch with his arm around Alice. He knew what was going on but let Erik handle it. Even though technically Kyle was the head of the band now, Erik still had the better relationship with Kip, so Kyle let him handle their youngest member when anything like this came up. Besides all that, Kyle appreciated Erik's watchful eye so he didn't have to worry about some of those things himself, and just concentrate on his music.

Kissing Alice on the cheek, he leans his head against hers and sighs. It had been a long day and it was only half over. But they were halfway through the first album. "Bored yet?" he teases.


Wayne sighs and leans back in his chair. "Stubborn batch of people," he muses. "Good though. Kip's the only one that's holding them back, in my opinion. He's got talent but sometimes I wonder where his mind is."

He shakes his head and looks out through the window at the others. "They've got a chance if we can help refine them." He gives Jackie a sidelong glance. "What do you think of them so far?"


Ignoring the others, Kip is out the door, down the hall and outside into the fresh air. Taking a deep breath, he looks around the building for a good spot. Thankfully, they were in a quiet district, out a ways from other businesses and there was a little grassy lot right next to them. There were a couple benches and a few trees - not a park, but good enough for musicians that needed a break. A sidewalk led down the block in both directions too, and the parking lot was almost empty.

Eying his options for a moment, Kip takes off at a dead run. His feet pound the pavement as he shoot down the sidewalk. Sweat breaks out on his forehead an his lungs work overtime to keep up but he keeps on going, skidding to a halt once he reaches the corner. Spinning around, he takes off again, heading back the same way but veering off into the parking lot to take the long way around. Halfway back to the building, his legs start to slow until he was just jogging, but he forces himself once more around the parking lot before finally landing in the little grassy area.

Flopping down on the ground, he lies on his back trying to catch his breath as he stares up into a tree's branches, squinting in the sun. The grass tickled the back of his neck but he ignores it, too tired to care. He needed to concentrate... just concentrate... An image flashes in his mind of his father smacking him for not finishing his homework on time... another time was for failing a test... another time was for not being able to spell things right.
"You're just plain stupid!"
"I'm sorry! I just... I can't concentrate!" Another tear runs down Kip's eleven-year-old face.
"You can - you just don't want to! You're as lazy as your mother was."
Kip's face is slammed into his homework on the table.
"You're not getting supper until this is finished right." It was already nine o'clock at night.

Kip blinks and continues trying to catch his breath as his heart races from his run. Twenty years old and he still struggled to complete a simple task. Feeling stupid was all too familiar, but he shoves it aside like he always did. It was fine... he'd get it... it would all be good... right?