Every now and then on my way home
I stop at a spot were the wild flowers grow
And I pick a few, 'cause she don't tell me to.
"It's a long way home guys." Someone in the back of the large black SUV muttered. "Stop whining Nate." another person said. "Both of you shut up." The driver said frowning. "I wanna be home just as much as you Nate but whining like Jason is telling you to stop doing isn't going to get us any were any faster." he continued. "What ever." Nate muttered as he crossed his arms in the back seat. "Pouting won't do much either Nate." Jason said grinning. Shane only chuckled as he continued to drive. "Dude when did you become me?" Shane asked glancing at Nate in the review mirror. As much as Shane hated himself for being a jerk he had recognized that he was becoming a jerk again at some venues. Before long Nate followed into his footsteps and became the full out jerk Shane use to be.
Nate glared at Shane before frowning. "First off. I'm not you. I'll never be you. Secondly. I want to get home. Is it a freaking crime to wanna go home after tour? And thirdly. Why the hell are you criticizing me?" Nate said as he continued to burn holes into the headrest with his eyes. "I know your not me but your acting like me. Jerky and mean. Last time its not a crime but after the third day of being on a bus and complaining about this tour going to be boring considers to be mean and jerky. Ha. Criticizing you?" Shane said rolling his eyes as he continued driving. He smiled at him self thinking about going home. He'll walk in the door be attacked by his dog and his seven year old then be kissed half to death by his wife, Mitchie. "He's thinking about Mitch again." Jason said quietly. "So? There's nothing special about her…" Nate said shrugging before flying forward. "What the hell did you just say?" Shane said turning to glare at Nate. "You are not the Nate I know." He added. "Pft. I said she's nothing special. Got a problem with that?" Nate said rolling his eyes. "Yes. I do have a problem with it. She's my wife" Shane said frowning. "I have a problem with it to…" Jason said after a moment. "You don't see me dissing Caitlyn do you?" Shane said while glaring. "Gosh you are being such a pighead." Shane muttered before turning around and continuing on his way towards the first house.
The rest of the car ride was silent other then an occasional squeak from Jason as he watched a movie on his laptop. Almost three hours later Shane stopped in front of a large Victorian home. He has shut the car off and expected Nate to get out. When he turned around and noticed that he had fallen asleep Shane smirked before taking his water bottle from earlier and dumped some of it onto Nate. "DUDE! WHAT THE HECK?" Nate screamed as he sat up. "You are home. Get out." Shane shrugged popping the trunk. "Natey!" Caitlyn said appearing outside by the back of the car. "Cait." Nate nodded before grabbing his stuff. Caitlyn's happy face fell. "What's wrong?" She asked looking at Nate. "Nothing. God I wish everyone would stop asking me that." Nate said as he headed inside. Caitlyn was about to follow before Shane grabbed her arm. "He's becoming me…" he said quietly. "Mushy?" Caitlyn said confused. "No. Pre-Mitchie me…" He said frowning. "I don't know why. He started acting like this when we left for the tour…" he continued before frowning. "I'm sorry." He said before hugging her. "I gotta go. I need to drop Jase off then get home." He said giving her a sad smile. "Bye. Tell Mitchie I'll talk to her later." Caitlyn smiled at Shane before heading inside.
After getting back on the road Shane had realized that Nate had left his notebook in the back seat. "Jase… Jase… JASON!" Shane yelled as attempted to get Jason's attention. "What? Sheesh you don't have to yell." Jason said frowning. Shane used his head pointed back at the note book. "That." He said. " The seat?" Jason asked. Frowning Shane reached behind him and grabbed the notebook. "This." he said rolling his eyes. "Oh…" Jason said. "Here. Find the last entry in it and read it out loud." Shane said. He some times wondered if his friend really did have the mind of a five year old. "Yesterday… around three ish…" Jason started. "I'm tired of this… I want a normal family with a normal life but I know that will never happen. Ha! I bet Jase or Shane aren't this sadistic when it comes to life…" Jason read out loud. "Then after that there are some pen marks and I think that's a piece of that sandwich you stole from me yesterday smashed onto the page…" Jason said shrugging. Shane nodded slowly and frowned. "That isn't Nate. He sound depressed in this… Maybe we should just cool it for a bit… No more big tours for the next two years? Maybe another C.D then slow down some?" Shane asked looking over at Jason before back at the road. "Yeah I guess… We can tell Nate on Sunday. You guys and the kids are coming right?" Jason asked looking at Shane. "Yeah… But we might be late… Mitch said we had to go down to her parents that day…" Shane shrugged as he kept his eyes on the road as it became more busier. "Oh… You can invite them up. I'm sure Chastity wouldn't mind." Jason said grinning widely. "I'm still trying to figure out how my sister ended up falling for you…" Shane muttered as he pulled off the main road and onto a side street. "Cause she's awesome." Jason said with an attempt for a witty comeback. "That sucked Jase and you know it. By the way. Get out." Shane said as he stopped his car. "Huh?" Jason said confused. "Out." Shane said pointing out the window. "Oh! Okay. See you later dude." Jason said smiling again as he looked up he could see his girlfriend looking down from the window at him. "Tell Chast I would come up but I'm tired and wanna head home." Shane said smiling as he leaned against the side of the car and looked up at his sister. "Will do." Jason said grabbing his bag as he headed towards the apartment lobby door. "See you." Jason said as he headed into the door. Shane saw his older sister looking down confused and then frowned. He waved before going back to the driver side of the car. "Well… It looks like its just m-" He didn't finish his sentence before his phone started to ring. "Shane Adam Gray why didn't you come up here and say hello to me?" His sister said angrily. "Cause I've got a two hour drive home and I'm seriously running on the soda I drank at lunch." Shane shrugged as he set the phone on speaker. "Oh…" "I CAN EXPLAIN WHY HE DIDN'T COME UPP!" Jason yelled in the background. " I hear Jase got upstairs fine… I'm gonna go and well drive…" Shane said rolling his eyes. "Love you Shay." Chastity said before hanging up.
Before Shane use to hate the quiet in a car when he was alone. Now he thinks of it as a comfort. No one asking when will they be there or what time is it or they have to go to the bathroom. "Sorry kiddo." He said quietly as he thought of his son. When he had gotten to the interstate exit he had noticed a field of wild flower on the side of the road he slowly made his way over and stopped he set his emergency lights on and sat there and thought. "She'd love some flowers…" He said softly as he moved into the passenger seat and got out. He had thought about getting out on the driver side but then thought that doing that would most likely not be smart with this amount of traffic that was flying by him.
As he reached a small patch of the flowers he picked a few of them. There had been multicolored patches of flowers around him. Picking a few of the blue and yellow and a couple of red ones he headed back to the car holding them in his hand. He had noticed Jason had left his water in the car and quickly turned it into a small vase for the moment as he unscrewed the cap and placed them in the bottle. He then turned the car back on and turn the radio on and listened to it for a few moments before the DJ came on. "So apparently we are getting calls about this guy who was seen picking flowers on the side of the road. These people calling are calling him crazy and think he should be fined or something. What's your thoughts?" the DJ asked then gave out the studio number. With out thinking Shane called the number. "Hello. You're here with Charlie. What's up?" The DJ said. "Hey there Charlie… Its Shane Gray. So… I heard your crazy guy picking flowers question." Shane said. "And how do we know this is the actual Shane Gray?" Charlie asked. "I could sing you a line from one of our songs…" Shane said shrugging. "Go for it." Charlie said. "He said I've been to the year 3000. Not much has changed but they live under water. And your Great great granddaughter is doing fine. Doin' fine." Shane sang. "Whoa. It is you." Charlie said surprised. "Yep. Now anyways the crazy flower picking guy story. What's that about?" Shane asked grinning widely. "Well some guy out on the Highway 5 in a black SUV had stopped and picked some flowers out in a field. People think he's being well crazy for picking flowers when he could've bought them." Charlie said laughing. "Maybe he was picking them for his wife?" Shane shrugged as he glanced down at the flowers in his car. "Hmm. That's idea that hasn't been thought of. Most of the people that were calling were saying maybe he's a rich insane person who escaped the asylum. But your idea makes it sound like he's just being sweet…" Charlie said. "I'd stop and pick flowers for my wife if I had a chance to. But you know me. Big famous. Followed everywhere. Not a good idea." Shane said laughing. " This is true. It was nice talking to you." Charlie said again. "Yeah it was. Later." Shane said before hanging up. "Wow. Just Wow. Shane Gray called our studio. Talk about amazing. Maybe he's passing through the city and heard the show. Who knows." Charlie said. Shane laughed before turning down another side road. Bouncing slightly when he hit ruts he managed to get to a large Victorian Gothic looking house he called home. It was large and was painted a night robin egg blue. He smiled. It was hidden away from the real world. A place were his family could grow up with out the annoying amounts of Paparazzi questioning him over and over again. He had grabbed the flowers he had picked for his wife and got out and got his duffel bag he had taken with him on tour. He then headed straight for the door and unlocked it. Shane first heard the sound of the dog running on the dark cherry wood floors before the large brown dog appeared and started to lick him. "Down boy." Shane said petting the dog.