A/N So I really hope I stick to this story. I'm pretty stoked about it. It's been idea floating around in my brain for quite some time, and I think I've had 3/4 of this first chapter written for like over a month. Based on feedback, I'll see whether I should continue it or not. Please let me know what you think :)

On a side note, is anyone else totally amazed that Disney is actually giving Macy a bit of depth in the new episodes? She's not nearly as fanatical as previous Macy, and you know I'm kinda liking it. Oh Disney, how you fail to humanize characters so often.

Anyways, please enjoy ya'll. (I guess the month spent in Virginia is starting to rub off on me....)

Somethin' filled up

my heart with nothin',

someone told me not to cry.

He should have brought his guitar.

If Nick is being honest with himself (which he liked to think he always is) having a guitar would have been the only way any of this could have been the tiniest bit bearable. Because right now it isn't. At all. In fact, if Nick Lucas had to describe his idea of Hell, he's pretty sure it would include his two older brothers, Stella Malone and one over-zealous pint-sized #1 Super Fan, Macy Misa, all compiled together, sweaty bodies mashing uncomfortably into none another in Stella's bubble-gum pink VW buggie (as if those cars aren't already embarrassing enough) heading West on the interstate highway on their first day of summer vacation.

Yeah, he's pretty sure this is exactly what Hell would be like.

This hadn't been his idea. His ideas are always logical, always thought out, and always lead to somewhere conclusive. So obviously it is Joe's fault he is stuck in a car with no air conditioning, wondering how on Earth he'd gotten into this mess.

* * *

"Guys, OH. MY. GOSH."

Nick focuses on cleaning out his locker and tries his best to tune out Joe's excited voice. The bell had just rung signaling the start of summer and Nick is already antsy enough as it is. JONAS kicks off their summer tour in exactly three weeks and all day he's been thinking about playing live. It is a pulse tapping inside of him, and he can't wait to just get home and work out the last few kinks before the brothers are off.

"Like, PLEASE. STOP. TALKING."

Nick snorts at Stella's spot-on imitation of Joe, as she and Kevin walk up to where Joe and Nick are congregating.

Joe scowls at his best friend. "Not funny, Stell. This is serious news. Seriously!"

Kevin's eyebrows shoot up, almost lifting into his perfectly coifed hair. "Did they let the baby llamas out of the zoo? Did Mom finally say we could have one?"

And cue awkward stares at Kevin. Nick honestly wonders how the boy manages to get around on his own. Honestly—what exactly goes on in Kevin's head? Nick shudders, finally closing his locker and slinging his heavy-laden backpack over his shoulder.

"No Kevin," Joe says impatiently, swinging his bangs out of his eyes. Nick notes how feminine this makes his brother look but decides to keep this thought to himself.

"This has nothing to do with llamas," Joe explains. "But it has everything to do with something we must, must, must do."

Nick quirks an eyebrow at his brother, really wanting to make sense of what he is talking about but decides he really really wants to just get home to his studio. He tries to speed up the pace of the group but realizes it is in vain. Why do his friends move so slowly?

"Could you please be a little clearer?" Nick proposes, squinting as the hot sun greets him as they make their way through the parking lot. It is definitely summer; he can almost hear the crowds cheering now, almost feel the sweat gathering on his brow after an especially rocking set, the little droplets gathering speed as they cascading down his temples.

Oh. Wait, no. That was real sweat. Gross.

Joe takes a deep breath just as the group of four stops beside Nick's car (for some reason or other the other three, despite each having their own cars, just always conveniently forget to get gas every school morning).

"Okay. We must take a road trip."

There is silence. Followed by Nick coughing. And then more silence.

"Right," Stella says, scrunching her nose in Joe's direction. "Like we have time for that. Wishful thinking. You go on tour in three weeks. Do you have any idea how much work I have to do?" The boys give Stella careful looks and she sighs, defeated. "No, of course not."

Joe grumbles and Nick sometimes thinks his older brother should keep his thoughts to himself. They are always…childish?

Juvenile.

"Joe, that's like the silliest idea I've ever heard," Kevin points out, as if he has license to judge if ideas are silly. "Mom and Dad would never let us."

But Joe is persistent and Nick senses an argument coming on. Great, as if he needs any more delays at all. He is starting to get burnt from the scorching sun.

"No guys, seriously, listen to me." Joe's voice has a whiny tinge to it and Nick sighs, crossing his arms as he leans against the hood of his car. He studies his brother and feels something jab in him—something close to…jealousy?

Because Joe isn't afraid to take chances, to still live like he is a kid, to impulsively go somewhere without logically thinking every aspect through. And while, yes, this often leads to disastrous effects, Joe is never the one with his arms crossed trying to wrestle brooding thoughts. Nope. That is entirely Nick's department.

So that is partly why Nick quirks an eyebrow and mutters, "Explain."

Joe takes a deep breath. "Alright. Well I was sitting there, in English class, and you know since it's the last day of school and everything we were just doing…well, nothing."

"Good story," Stella quips and Joe ignores her.

He clears his throat dramatically. "Anyway. So then Mrs. Grindywald brings up good summer reading and starts talking about Jack Kerouac's On The Road."

Nick immediately frowns. He can see where this is going and frankly, he doesn't like it. For one, Kerouac was a man of his generation, a beat knick who was stoned half the time. They are a boy band for crying out loud.

"I can see where this is going," Nick interjects. Joe just rolls his eyes.

"So anyway, Grindywald is going on and on about this novel so I naturally tune her out," Joe explained. "And I whipped out my IPOD and totally forgot I had downloaded Crossroads on Itunes and I started watching it…oh man, Britney used to be so hot."

Okay, now Nick is just lost. And utterly confused.

"And I realized what an amazing movie that is," Joe says earnestly. His eyes are the size of saucers. "And how Britney totally went from not being a girl to closely resembling a woman! And I realized we need that."

Kevin scoffs, mocking laughter tinkling out of his mouth. "Psh, Joe, I know I'm closely resembling a woman. Duh."

And once again, cue awkward glances at Kevin. Nick shakes his head, shooting Joe a furtive glance. The sweat droplets are beginning to build up around his itchy collar and more than anything he awaits the cool confines of his air-conditioned bedroom. This conversation has been going on for far too long.

"Dude, I just don't think it's a good idea," Nick points out but Joe's relentless. He's not having any of this and for a minute Nick actually considers caving in. In all honestly, he's never really been on any sort of road trip, ever. And didn't all the greatest musicians take road trips, documenting their personal growth and high living? There was something simply glamorous and uninhibited about it.

There is also something terribly tempting about the entire ordeal. Nick can hear Kevin and Stella rambling on their protests, buzzing a mile a minute while Joe quips back argument after argument, explaining in detail the pros of taking a road trip (though in Stella and Kevin's defense, Joe's main argument is that it would be just "so cool").

And suddenly the image of Nick shriveled up in his eighties, an old man rocking on an obsolete porch with a banged up guitar comes into his mind. He has no idea where this image of Nick Lucas in about seventy years comes from, but it's there and it's burning a hole directly through his brain. The fear begins to settle into his core and he's afraid because maybe he's really intimidated by living. Maybe that gray hair he found the other day wasn't just a the light in his bathroom, maybe he was aging faster than he ever could have imagined and for crying out loud he was only sixteen, he could count the number of girls he's kissed on one hand, seriously, he hadn't even been to prom yet...

"We're going on a road trip."

Joe is ecstatic and pounding Nick on his back, and Nick can hardly believe the words really just left his mouth.

"You've officially lost it," Stella snaps at him, immediately going into panic overdrive. "Do any of you boys realize how much work there is to be done? You leave for tour in three weeks! We don't have time for a silly road trip. There is hemming to be done, and fitting, and sketching and I can't handle this alone!"

Nick places his hands on Stella's shoulders, afraid she might actually faint from the extraneous use of her mouth. "Breathe, Stell, breathe. Maybe this is just what we all need before a tour...something...fun. Free."

"And totally careless!" Joe pipes in. Nick thinks he looks like a five year old on Christmas morning. Joy is practically steaming from his ears. If Nick weren't so shocked at the claim he'd just made, he'd enjoy the mental image a little longer.

Kevin looks thoughtful, stroking his chin. "You know, I think this is a good idea. If Britney can grow from a road trip, we most definitely can. I mean, we actually write our songs!"

Nick rolls his eyes but keeps his mouth shut because he feels giddy, and when he's giddy he always ends up saying something embarrassing. So he stays silent, enjoying the floating feeling of irresponsibility. It's intoxicating.

"Come on Stell," Joe pouts, putting on his best puppy dog eyes. Nick knows Stella is close to breaking point. After all the two of them have been in love with each other for years, though both are too thickheaded to actually admit it.

"It's going to be incredible," Joe continues. "Just us, out on the open road, dust accumulating behind us. We can even stop at the Grand Canyon. You've never been there."

Stella sighs, biting her lip a little. "You honestly think your parents will let us go on a road trip? Across the country? You have completely lost your mind."

Joe smiles charmingly and Nick knows his parents have always been a sucker for Joe, because Joe is, after all, the "charming one." So naturally, yes, the Lucas parents will most definitely let them go on the road trip.

"Just wait and observe," Joe says happily, immediately calling shotgun in Nick's car before anyone can offer another argument on why this is a terrible, terrible idea.

* * *

Nick shouldn't have been surprised when his father merely shrugged his shoulders, telling them to "Be careful, make good choices, be home before the tour or I'll disown you. Love you."

Since Mrs. Lucas was perpetually out of town, and Mr. Lucas was preoccupied with Frankie and work, it was a simple decision to let the boys go. (Nick suspected his dad was looking forward to peace and quiet for the duration of the boys' road trip.)

So that is where Nick found himself, dumping his duffle bag into the trunk of Stella's car, which had been an entirely separate ordeal altogether. Nick was all about taking his car since it was the most roomy (he most definitely could have fit his guitar) and as long as the others pitched in for gas money, it really wasn't a big deal to him. But no, Stella's control mode had kicked into gear and she insisted driving since if at any point in the trip she decided they needed to head home she could quickly take the reins and head back to Jersey.

So as the four of them loaded the car (they were packing light since the buggie was already kind of small and lacking air conditioning—Stell hadn't had that fixed though it'd been broken for like, a year) Nick starts to debate in his head whether this is really a good idea or not.

But the sun is burning through his eyelids and it's hard to imagine being anywhere but on a road.

"We should get going before one of us realizes what a horrible idea this is," Stella points out, flicking her large sunglasses down over her eyes. She is swinging her keys kind of nervously in her hands but Joe is positively beaming. He's holding a Polaroid camera in his hands. Since when did Joe own a Polaroid camera?

They pile in the car—Joe gets shotgun, of course, and they are almost to the freeway when Stella turns down a street Nick is sure the freeway is not on.

She catches his curious glance—mirrored by his brothers—and bites her a lip a bit nervously. "Erm…we're making a pit stop."

"Already?" Kevin asks, wrinkling his nose and sticking his head out the window. "We've gone like two feet Stell, I'm sure we don't need gas…"

Suddenly the buggie stops in front of a house Nick has never stepped foot inside but is aware of. The Misa's home is modest but well kept, cozy and sweet looking and despite the fact Nick would like to stay rather far away from this house, he can't deny it's charm.

He also can't deny the fact Macy is skipping toward them, duffle bag slung across her shoulder, her chocolate locks dancing behind her as she offers them an exuberant wave.

"Um, Stell…please explain why Macy Misa looks like she is joining our road trip," Nick says, trying to sound polite as he can as Macy gets closer and closer to the car.

Stella has a look in her eye that reads of finality and warning. "Because Macy is joining our trip. You think I could stand being the only girl with you three goons?"

Nick wants to protest and he hears Kevin mutter something about crazy fangirls, but Joe actually lets out a little squeak of joy.

"Sweet!" he proclaims, fist pumping into the air. "The more the merrier! I say having Macy along will only enhance the experience."

"Oh it'll enhance it alright," Nick mutters but quickly shuts up because Macy is suddenly beside him, smelling all girly and practically bouncing up and down from her seat to the right of him and Nick is fearing a headache coming on.

"Oh don't look so excited I'm here," Macy giggles in Nick's ear and he's terribly taken aback. Her laughter is tinkling beside him as Stella turns up the radio, and Nick feels embarrassed. Did his face truly not mask any of his dread? He stutters something but Macy is already singing along to the tune with Stella and Joe snaps a photo of Kevin who is doing some ridiculous dance and the wind is hot and Nick curses the lack of air conditioning.

But he is determined to enjoy himself. He reminds himself to try and not look so miserable now that Macy is on the trip—really she's a nice girl, and if he watches himself he's sure he can avoid any injuries.

He leans his head against the back seat, already feeling the tiny beads of sweat gathering beneath his T-shirt and wonders if maybe this was the worst idea he's ever been a part of.

Yup, he really wishes he had his guitar.