Annie

"Guess what, Colt?"

I can hear the smile in his voice even more than I have for the past ten minutes that we've been talking on the phone.

"What?"

"Guess."

"Cupcakes," he laughs. "I guessed."

"Do you want those too?" I giggle as I walk past the line and flash my driver's license to the security guard.

Annie Dixon. Still feels good to see that.

He offers me a smile and holds the door for me. Just like I'm the celeb instead of my husband.

I smile at him as I walk on through, pizza box and all. Though there's technically no outside food. I'm seriously allowed to break like every single rule.

"What do you mean?" Colton's laughing harder now. "You're confusing me."

"Well, I ordered you a pizza. Should get there in a few minutes. Do you want me to find you a cupcake place that delivers too?"

"Nah, that's okay. I actually said it cause I'm staring at a plate of them that one of the boys bought. They're seriously trying to shove the stupid things down my throat. I've had like three already."

"It's your own fault for being so skinny," I reply, giggling again.

"But I've had three!" he argues. "Pizza is going to be such a relief after this. But how'd you order a pizza to Denver from Nashville?"

Technically totally possible, but wouldn't he like to know.

"It's this wonderful modern invention, Colt," I tease. "It's called the internet."

"Okay, you got me there," he sighs, half laughing again. "But you're the best. I assume I know what type you got?"

"Only the best for you."

"Yes!" he cheers with too much enthusiasm for pizza. "Now the guys can't complain about it!"

"Fruit doesn't belong on pizza!" I hear one of them shout in the backround. "Annie, don't encourage his horrible habits!"

I just giggle, but a second and I hear a thud on the other end.

"Annie!" The voice whines. "Your husband just threw a book at me!"

"Colton!" I manage through a fit of laughter. "Behave yourself!"

"He's being mean, Anne!" he chokes out in a half-laugh, half-whine. "He deserved it!"

"I think you just have too much energy, Hon," I giggle. "Just 'cause you're a rock star doesn't mean you need to drink a hundred of them."

"I haven't even had one of those things today! It's all those stupid cupcakes they made me eat!"

"You wouldn't get such bad sugar rushes if you weren't so skinny," I tease back.

"Annie!" He laughs. "I ate three cupcakes! It's not my fault I'm skinny. The guys treat me like I'm anorexic or something."

"Well, prove 'em wrong by eating the entire pizza." I set the box, as well as my travel bag, down outside the bathroom door as I prepare to enter it. "It should be there in a few."

"You're the best, Hon," he replies. "And I should let you go."

"Well, I could talk to you forever, but I should go," I say as if I'm not gonna see him in like five minutes. "Talk to you tomorrow?"

"If I can wait that long."

I choke back a knowing giggle. "I love you."

"I love you too."

And I hang up. I can't wait to see the look on his face.

But, vanity as it might be, I want to look my best when I see him, so I slip into the bathroom to check my face.

It's empty except for a teenage girl washing her hands at the sink furthest from the door.

I walk to one of the middle ones and examine my makeup carefully before deciding I'm good to go. I wash my hands and turn to grab a paper towel, but something about the water pouring off of her hand catches my eye. It's red.

"Are you bleeding?"

She looks up, gifting me with an obviously forced smile.

"Yeah. It's no big deal, though."

I hurriedly dry my hands and cross the room to take a look at her hand as she pulls it from the water and dabs at it with a paper towel.

"Do you have first aid kit?"

There's a hesitation, and I realize she's considering lying to me.

"Yeah," she says after a second too long. "My mom..."

I cut her off. "Hey, you don't need to lie to me, okay? I just want to help. I've got a kit in my purse. I can at least get you a band aid. There's no sense in not using it if you have it."

She swallows hard. "I guess. Uh... thanks."

She sounds miserable.

"Does it hurt bad?" I ask as I dig into my purse.

She shrugs. "It's not bad. I have good pain tolerance."

"Gotcha." For some reason, it seems like that has a deeper meaning. I shove the thought away and hand her a bandage.

"Get it dry, then this should work."

She swallows hard, simply repeating, "Thanks," as she washes it out a little more before reaching for a fresh paper towel.

I hand one to her, taking the opportunity to take a look at the wound on her hand.

"It looks clean," I offer.

She just nods.

She's unnaturally nervous.

"I'm Annie, by the way," I say in an attempt to get her to relax.

She just nods. "Alexis."

"That's gorgeous. I've always loved that as a name." She doesn't respond, so I try something else. "So are you here alone?"

"Yeah." She tosses the towel and grabs the band aid. "How about you?"

I smile slightly. "Kind of, but not for long. I'm surprising my husband."

"Cool."

She's obviously not one for small talk. But she still seems really nervous.

"Hey, by the way, about tonight," I add, "You familiar with Colton Dixon?"

She shrugs as she carefully smooths the bandage onto her hand. "Not really. A little from American Idol."

I nod. "Well, you're in for a treat. He's legit."

"Cool."

I guess I should give the girl a break.

"Well, enjoy the concert."

She doesn't look up. "Yeah, you too."

I pick up my purse and head for the door. "God bless you."

Her head actually does come up this time. She's giving me the weirdest look when I glance over the shoulder. Whatever. Maybe she just doesn't use the phrase a lot.

Why am I so nervous about this girl?

She just hurt her hand.

Now, I can't help but smile as I pick up my bag and Colton's pizza once more. I'm about to go surprise my husband.

Alexis

God bless you? Who says that? Whatever. The people here are just weird.

I yank back my sleeve and keep rinsing my cuts, and this time I am actually allowed to finish without any further interruptions. I let out a long sigh, but head back to my seat anyway. I've still got a while to wait, but now the burning pain that remains on my arm distracts me from that constantly tearing at my inside.

I peek out the bathroom door and check both ways for either of the ladies who noticed my hand, but the coast is clear, and I make it back to my seat without incident.

I sigh slightly as I stare at the floor. This has been a long day. Finally, I can't take the cheerful buzz of conversations going on around me for another second. I plug my earbuds in and go back to YouTube, locating an NF playlist once more. Therapy Session is the first one that comes up. Sounds good.

This song is beyond the definition of intense.

But I totally relate. Like, people at school... when they say all of the ****** things they do, it's like they actually think that I do what I do to gain the love of people. That wouldn't happen anyway. I'm not stupid enough to believe that it would. If I honestly thought that I could do anything to really make people love me, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I don't.

I mean, what did I do? What did I do to my parents to make them hate me? Because, ever since that night years ago, I know that's the only explanation. If they had truly loved me, they wouldn't have lied to me. He would've gotten a job instead of selling drugs. They would have made the sacrifice of the money and raised me themselves instead of breaking the law so that they could pay a nanny for me. But love's just a word anyway. I know that now.

I lean back and let NF's hot, passion-filled songs take over my senses. Music is a therapy session for me too, I guess.

Colton

I look up at a knocking on the door of the backstage hangout where I'm chilling with the boys, and I can't help but smile. How did I get so lucky with a wife? She's so much better than I deserve.

I grab my wallet to give the pizza guy a tip and cross the room to open the door.

"Surprise!"

It's the first thing I register as I see the person outside. And I hear an undignified shout of excitement fly from my lips, before my arms are around her, and we're hugging while jumping up and down, the pizza box she was holding long-forgotten on the floor.

Once we've calmed down a little and can finally sit still, I pull her into a long kiss. I ignore the comments of the boys from behind us. I don't even care.

Finally, she pulls back, a grin almost as big as the one on my own face gracing hers.

"Surprise," she repeats more quietly.

I can barely speak. There's too many things that are trying to tumble off of my tongue at once. I'm as helpless as the day we first met.

"I... I love you." It's the only thing my sorry tongue can manage at the moment.

She giggles, kissing me again, this time just a peck. "I love you too, Colt."

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. "You're good at keeping a secret, Annie. I had no idea."

"Well, didn't you already know that?" she teases with a flirtatious smile. "After three months that I kept how much I liked you to myself?"

I incline my head readily. "Three months of absolute torture."

"You survived."

I laugh. "Yes, but it's been a month and a half since I've seen you, and I almost haven't survived. I could never be in the military."

"I couldn't handle you being in the military!" She shutters. "Not an option, Colt. I'm sorry."

I chuckle lightly, kissing her on the cheek. "Don't worry. I fight a different battle."

"Yes, you do." This time, it's her leaning up to kiss my cheek. "And I'm very proud of you."

"I could never do it if you weren't so strong."

I hear a groan from behind me. Obviously, the boys aren't enjoying our heart-to-heart.

"And who else couldn't you do it without?" Eric prompts. "Similar to a soldier's..." he fumbles for the right word. "Troop? Whatever. You know what I mean."

I just shrug. "I mean, I could always get a new troop."

"Colton!" Annie scolds, though she's giggling as she says it.

I just flash her a rebellious smile. "What can I say? I only give compliments when people aren't fishing for them."

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh really? Not even me?"

"Oh, you know you don't have to," I reply, wrapping my arms around her.

"Don't I?"

"Nope. You're beautiful."

She giggles. "Stop it, Colton."

"You're gorgeous."

"Stop!" But she can't keep the smile off her face.

"Oh, Annie, you are absolutely stunning."

"Stop!" This time, it's coming from behind us. The look on Jared's face is most distressed.

And all I can do is laugh. And kiss my wife again. Just for good measure.

Annie

I take pity on the band and pull back from the kiss after a long moment. Colton moves from hugging me to simply having an arm around my shoulder, and I stoop down to pick up the pizza box.

"Just as I promised."

He laughs. "Well, it doesn't hold a candle to having you here, but it certainly can't hurt."

We cross the room to where a little card table is set up, complete with the box of cupcakes Colton was complaining about earlier. He throws it into David's lap and pulls out one of the folding chairs, bowing as I sit down.

"My lady."

I can't help but giggle, and, satisfied, he moves to sit own across from me, grabbing two paper plates from a stack of them on his way.

We begin our meal in silence, just soaking each other in. We're already all caught up on everything via our phone conversation. It feels like heaven to just be able to be with my husband again. Besides, Eric and Devon are currently playing Mario Cart, and their banter is most entertaining.

But as we eat in silence, my mind drifts back to that girl.

It was such a strange wound. So clean. It looked liked her hand had been stabbed or something.

And she was so nervous. Seemed like she thought the entire world was out to get her or something.

"I have good pain tolerance."

Why won't I just move on? I mean, seriously, she probably just feel down or shut her hand in her car door or something.

"What's on your mind, Annie?'

Colton's question is a pull back into reality. I start slightly before trying to shake my thoughts away.

"Oh, nothing really."

"Oh, come on," he pleads, grinning. "Please?"

I sigh, but I can't help but smile. "Well... when I was coming in here, I stopped in the bathroom, and there was this girl in there..."

"Yeah?" Colt leans forward in his seat, his full attention on me.

This is one of the things I love the most about him. No matter how small, minute, silly, or stupid it is, Colton always wants to know what I'm thinking about. And no matter what, he always cares about what I care about. Even when it's as stupid as this.

"And her hand was bleeding," I continue. "I gave her a bandage, and it looked clean, but it's just..." I hesitate.

Colton doesn't say anything, but those brown eyes are still locked on mine, his full interest in what I'm saying.

"Well, the wound was... too clean," I say finally. "Like, it looked like her hand had been purposefully stabbed or something."

Colton's eyebrows knit in concern. "That's not good."

I shake my head slowly. "And... she was just so nervous, Colt! Like she thought I was gonna hurt her or something. Like she was shocked that I was being nice to her." I exhale heavily. "I know it's stupid, but I can't get her out of my head."

He leans back in his chair again, concern lacing the expression in those eyes. "That's not stupid, Anne," he says after a long moment. "I can see what you mean." He bites his lip. "You don't think you could find her again, do you?"

I shrug. "Maybe. She was there pretty early, so she's probably pretty close to the front."

He nods. "Well, if you want to, try to find her, and maybe spend the concert with her. When it's over, bring her through my signing line, and I can meet her. It's not like you haven't done it before."

"It's worth a try," I reply thoughtfully.

"I think it is."

I smile, nodding in satisfaction, as a weight is lifted from my mind. "Then I think we have a plan."