“You know,” Keely began conversationally as she shoved open the door with her shoulder, “Stealing people's shoes isn't very nice.”

In the mirror, Marissa grinned, apparently completely at ease with the fact she was wearing nothing but a plaid skirt and bra as she sat in front of her travelling bureau. “I know,” she answered easily, using a mascara tube on her eyelashes. “But I'd been wearing heels all day and I went into your dressing room and they were just sitting there, calling my name.”

Rolling her eyes casually, Keely closed the door behind her and leaned against it wearily, a sound of relief escaping her lips as she did so. “Heels paired with stages and crowds, never a good idea,” she groaned, leaning down clumsily to pry the heels off her pale feet.

“You ain't seen nothing yet,” retorted Marissa, switching to lipstick.

Delighted, she straightened and clapped her hands together, the heels dangling from her fingers. “A BTO reference!”

But the girl just fixed her with a blank expression.

“Bachman Turner Overdrive?” prompted Keely.

Her expression didn't so much as flicker.

“Of course not,” Keely grumbled with a little sight, “You don't know anything about Elvis, why would you know about BTO?” When Marissa looked at her quizzically she raised her voice, saying, “So where are you keeping my shoes hostage?”

In response Marissa pointed towards the corner of the room unseeingly, where it was proved her converse sneakers were waiting patiently.

“So where have you been lately?” asked Keely, picking up her shoes.

Marissa just made a questioning noise in the back of her throat.

“I mean, I never see you as much as I do with the boys. Which is lucky for you, I gotta say, sometimes I want to throttle the lot of them at once. But, back to the point, you've been pretty much non existent lately.”

Wincing, the she stood up, flattening her skirt. “Yeah, well, dad's still pissed about Seth...”

Pursing her lips, Keely pointed out, “He really holds a grudge, doesn't he?”

It looked as if Marissa was about to respond as she turned around, her mouth opening, but a knock and the requesting of her presence on the stage interrupted her. Sending her a smile, she slipped into a pair of sky high bedazzled heels, which Keely personally thought could be seizure inducing, and said, “Well, I'll see you after?”

Keely just shook her head, juggling the two pairs of shoes between her hands as she continued to stand barefoot. “I'm pretty sure I'm going to go crash right now, the bus might have had heat, but the boys playing football or something in the bus last night. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter how many times you hear it, when they tackle each other in that little space and the sound echoes around, you don't get used to it. Every time they hit the floor, you wince and think that they're just going to go through it.”

She laughed, pulling open the door, “Yeah, another good reason for the fact dad and I have our own tour bus. Plus, I wouldn't want to share one with a band I wasn't even part of. So, next show do you think?”

“Definitely,” Keely replied.

But when Marissa stepped out the door, Keely called out, “You do realize that you forgot your shirt, right?”

Simpering, the girl just spun in a circle. “This is my shirt, Keel.”

As she walked away, Keely felt her eyebrows fly up her forehead. She couldn't help but think she'd never be able to do that, perform in a bra and skirt. Not only because it looked rather pop star, which was far from her goal, but it'd just be awkward. And she'd been a cheerleader, those outfits weren't exactly modest.

Crinkling her nose considering at the thought, Keely stepped out of the change room as well, closing the door behind her. The last thing she needed was Mr James to find her alone in Marissa's change room, especially since she knew she was now lumped into a section with NSR in that man's head, because she'd heard he'd fired a sound technician off the tour for the same thing. Whether that was a rumour or not, she couldn't be sure, but it was still enough to send her away.

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she started off, but in the opposite direction as her friend, singing a grouping of “Sha la la,” over and over again absently. Even then she was quite pleased with the fact her pitch was perfect. Her nerves of performing in front of a crowd were fading, and she couldn't help but think she was getting more skilled with her voice.

She would always be about freedom with your voice when you're singing, but it was nice that she was gaining even more control over it than before. Maybe it was just because she was using her singing voice so much more than ever before, even though it was a cliche, practice makes perfect had a good point. Although her ego hadn't grown to the point where she thought she was perfect. Plus she'd gotten to the point where her voice was accustomed to the stress on the road and had taken on a slightly used sound, yet somehow still smooth if she needed it to be when she sang.

“No shoes now?”

Cutting off in her daydream like singing, Keely glanced to her side as Colton fell into step beside her. “Yeah,” she told him, focusing once again, “I think I'm going to go hippie. No more electric instruments, just me, my guitar, barefoot sitting cross-legged on stage. How do you think that would go?”

He grinned easily, “I'm all for it. Just keep bathing.”

“That might be difficult,” she laughed before fully considering it. “I would have made an awesome hippie in the sixties, dancing naked in the mud, higher than the sky to Janis and Jimi at Woodstock. First thing that happens when Marco builds that time machine of his. Oh, plus I want to meet James Dean and have a long conversation with Billie Holiday.”

“He'll get right on it for you, I'm sure. You ready to take off? He's talking to one of the light guys and I've been sent to find Seth.”

Nodding quickly, they made a stop at her dressing room, Keely finally putting on her sneakers, before heading back down to NSR's.

As she gave a loud yawn, Colton looked at her with raised brows. “Didn't sleep well last night?”

Sending him a withering glare, she snapped, “And you bloody well know why.”

The boy just beamed at her, looking much to pleased with himself. “Oh, that was fun. Would have been better outside though, but Dave wouldn't stop.”

“Really? It sounded like you guys were trying to murder each other all night.”

Those words just made Colton's expression brighter. “Yeah, we need to do that more often. You should see the bruise that Seth has on his ribs from when Marco tackled him into the table. It's wicked.”

Although she winced at the thought of bruised ribs and still doing a show where you were the lead singer, Keely composed herself as she pushed open the door to the boys' change room, announcing, “Boys are dumb.”

But as she moved forward through the doorway, Keely found herself pausing in her step. This caused Colton to run into her, sending them both a clumsy step forward while the boy swore loudly. She on the other hand was much more interested in the reason she'd stopped in the first place, straightening and focusing her eyes forward.

The crowd was buzzing loudly, but as of yet Marissa's pop music hadn't started giving Keely a clear ear for the music inside of the change room.

She pulled in a deep breath at the sight of Seth sitting on the ground, his legs stretched out in front of him, his back propped against a chair with a guitar in his lap. His eyes were looking to the wall, but they seemed blank as if he really didn't see it, even his voice and guitar had taken on a faraway almost dreamy quality.

“People are strange when you're a stranger

Faces look ugly when you're alone

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted

Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange

Faces come out of the rain

When you're strange

No one remembers your name

When you're strange

When you're strange

When you're strange-”

“Oh, for the love of-” Keely cut off frustrated, digging her hands into her hair and shoving it back, holding her hands there.

Could he possibly do something that wouldn't worry her anymore? When You're Strange had been written by Morrison out of being depressed in the first place, continuing on with feelings of isolation and alienation. As much as she loved the song, it was not one she'd wanted to hear from Seth, at least not any time soon.

The instant her words came out of her mouth, Seth's hands jerked on the guitar, his chin snapping towards them. For a moment he stared at them as if he was seeing them for the first time, but, after a blink, he appeared to regain his composure. “Huh?”

“It's-”

But before she could get out her next word a sudden swell of screeching welled around them, making Keely wince in surprise when a falsified beat began to grow. Hearing the sound of Marissa's concert beginning had brought other thoughts back into her mind, like the fact Colton was still in the room with them.

“Never mind,” she muttered sheepishly, her hands dropping from her hair to dangle at her sides as she averted her eyes.

“You ready to go?” asked Colton, finally announcing his presence. “Marco has probably left by now.”

“And why do we care if Marco has left already?” responded Seth. Contrary to the drawl with those words, he'd shoved himself off the ground, placing his guitar into the case that was lying on the chair behind him and snapped it shut naturally.

Looking up, Keely put in, “We're going to sleep.”

“Oh, sounds so exciting,” retorted he, slipping on a coat.

“Yes, absolutely riveting,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “But I want to sleep, so are you coming?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered, grabbing his guitar case.

Without waiting Keely turned on her heel and walked through the door, although Colton beat her to it, holding the door open for her. Glancing back over her shoulder, Keely had time to see Seth carelessly flipping up the collar of his jacket and shutting the door behind him before stepping forward, his long legs eating up the ground quickly. Looking forward again, she hastily sidestepped an apparently harassed roadie and when she fell into a normal pace again, Colton was comfortably walking by her side with Seth on the other.

“So did you watch the show tonight?” Colton asked, nudging her with his elbow.

Chuckling, she swatted his arm away. “Of course I watched the show, I always watch your guys' show. Even back stage I could hear the girl's screaming request for your old stuff.”

Giving a loud derisive snort, Seth scowled into the space in front of them. “If they want to listen to that old shit, they can buy the albums. We're never playing it ever again,” he finished, sending a dark look in Colton's direction across her from where she stood between them.

“Someone's grumpy tonight,” Keely teased light heartedly, brushing her bangs from her eyes.

“No, no, no,” corrected Colton immediately, “This is not grumpy Seth. Just wait until you see him all bitter and twisted-”

“I'm not bitter and twisted!” exclaimed Seth hotly.

But Colton just carried on with barely a pause, the only sign he'd even registered his friend's words being the grin that swelled on his face. “Plus sarcastic, then he'll use that wit to confuse you with and you won't even realise that he's insulted you with fancy wording that really just amounts to “your mom” until four hours later.”

“Fancy wording?” Keely questioned amused.

“Oh yes, you're lucky you weren't talking to him at the beginning of the tour. Talk about brutal.”

Glowering at his friend over her head, Seth said, “Man, I hate you sometimes.”

Still the grin didn't leave the boy's face. “Aw, don't be like that,” he laughed, reaching over Keely to clasp Seth's shoulder, “I love you, dude. Give me a hug.”

Laughing fully, Keely ducked out of the way, hurrying forward, that was something she didn't need to be in the middle of. The laughter from her continued when she spun on her heel, walking backwards so she could see them. Colton really was trying to hug him.

“Don't touch me,” ordered Seth, shoving him away with one hand, the other securely on his guitar case. Yet, despite his words, a grin was twitching on the corners of his mouth.

Hands were placed on her shoulders, stopping her backwards movements, making Keely spin around quickly in shock. But when she saw Marco, she let out a sigh or relief before feeling rather sheepish seeing the back doors out of the stadium right behind him. She'd been much too focused on the boys, if he hadn't been there, she simply would have walked into the wall.

“What's up with them?” asked Marco, nodding behind her.

Peeking back around, Keely saw Seth still shoving his friend away, the laughter from Colton ringing about them. “Bitter and twisted, not to mention sarcastic, is getting attacked by mister happy go lucky.”

“Oh...” answered the boy slowly.

Shaking her head at them, she broke away, putting a hand on the door, calling out, “Hey! Are you guys coming?”

Without waiting for an answer, mostly because she hoped that she got the point across, Keely shoved the door open and walked into the frigid air. Shivering in her light cover of a sweater, she huddled deeper into it. When she heard the sounds of the boys following her, she started forward, thankful that the hotel wasn't too far away.

At the very least the snow had been shovelled away from the sidewalks and ploughed out of the road so they didn't have to wade through it.

Hearing the tell tale sound of footsteps coming up quickly, Keely glanced to the side just in time as Seth came into step with her. “Are you okay?” she asked hesitantly, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked up to him.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” he replied distractedly, digging into his coat.

Not believing his words for a moment, Keely sighed, looking forward as they trekked down the empty road. Apparently most people had the sense to stay in that night.

“Here,” Seth announced, gaining her attention once again. Arching an eyebrow thoughtlessly, she turned her gaze to him and watched as he pulled a rolled magazine out of the inside of his jacket and shoved it into her hands.

Wrinkling her nose without looking at the magazine, she questioned blankly, “How the hell was that in your jacket?”

“There are pockets,” he explained, a smirk that didn't reach his eyes playing on his lips.

Rolling her eyes at him, Keely pulled her scrutiny to the magazine cover instead of him. “You wanted to show me a picture of yourself?” she said incredulously, looking down to where the three boys were splashed across the cover. She remembered when they'd gone to do that photo shoot, she'd gotten a rare couple hours of peace. “I see you lot every day.”

With an exasperated sigh, Seth said, “No, that's not what I gave it to you for. There's a review for Breaking Time in it, I thought you might want to know what they said. It's on page fifteen, if you want to.”

“Really?!” she exclaimed excitedly, “What did they say?”

“Well, you'll just have to read it, won't you?”

With a scowl forming on her face, Keely looked up from the magazine in her hands to send the look in his direction. “I hate it when people do that, just so you know. Anyways, did you read it?”

“Right away. Watch out, rebel,” he told her, putting his arm in front of her.

In a jerky movement she pulled up to a halt before she ran into his arm. A slight blush worked its way onto her cheeks when she pointed her eyes forward to find the doors of the hotel, once again almost running into doors because she was too focused on him.

When he pulled open the door, Keely didn't dare look at him with the flush on her cheeks. Instead she just headed through, hiding her face behind a curtain of her hair.

The elevator ride to their floor was rather uneventful. Meaning that the boys didn't manage to break the entire machine in the short ride, although she wouldn't put it past those three. But Marco and Colton did continue to argue about whether or not they should sneak into Marissa's tour bus and steal all Mr James' hair gel. Marco maintaining that they should leave a witty note while Colton wanted to remain inconspicuous – not surprising as Marissa was his girlfriend – but Seth did point out that they would be blamed even if it wasn't them.

For the entirety of the ride, Keely stayed silent, listening to them absently with a small smile on her mouth as she leaned against the wall. Marco and Colton were shoving each other playfully in the middle of the little space, which momentarily made her nervous. Seth was leaning against the wall as well, standing beside her.

“Bye, Jude,” called out Marco and Colton in unison, smiling broadly as they walked out of the elevator.

Without a word Seth just flipped them the finger, moving in the opposite direction.

For a moment Keely remained still, the magazine forgotten in her hands, what was that about? It was beginning to bother her. Blinking, she hurried in the direction Seth had gone, knowing that her room was in the same direction while the other boys' room was on the other end of the hall.

“Why do they keep calling you Jude?” she asked interestedly, matching her step to his.

“Because they're assholes,” he replied looking forward.

Making a little sound in the back of her throat, Keely felt a smile tug on her lips, she'd gotten to know them, especially Seth, well enough to know that they never meant it when they said things like that. Well, maybe they did mean it, but they still loved each other like brothers. Falling silent as they walked down the hall, Keely didn't so much as look at him again until he slowed down at the door of his hotel room.

And when she looked up, she wished she hadn't. It was too hard to ignore that look on his face, because even when he was obviously trying to mask it, Keely could always see that discouraged look in his eyes. Even when they'd had their celebration when finding out that NSR's album had hit number one on the charts, it had been there.

“Are you okay?” she asked for what seemed like the millionth time, slowing to a halt.

Seth groaned, digging in the front pocket of his pants for his room key. “You keep asking me that, rebel, I'm going to begin to think you care.”

“Of course I care,” Keely put in immediately, shoving her hand into her hair and pushing it away from her face as she looked up at him. How could he even doubt that she cared? It was blatantly obvious. “People Are Strange, Seth? Really? You really thought that would bring up any questions?”

Letting out a heavy breath, he propped his shoulder against the door frame, holding his key in his hand but not using it. Unconsciously Keely leaned against the opposite side of the door. “What do you really want to know?”

“That I'm not going to wake up one morning to find that you've killed yourself in the middle of the night,” she told him honestly, scrunching up her face awkwardly.

A smirk came across his face. “I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty I'm not going to kill myself.”