I'm sick of being called Junior. Sure, I'm William Nicholas Martens, Jr., but I just want to go by Nick. I'm sick of my boyfriend mismatching his socks on purpose. And I'm sick of being in the closet.<br><br>All this changes when my band Taking Back Nick lands a record deal. My friends Casey, Kennedy, Levi, and I are about to make it big. In one night I come out to my parents and break up with my boyfriend. And then the hard part starts. Casey is my oldest friend, and I move in with him after my breakup. But things ... start to happen.<br><br>We skyrocket to fame, but Casey finds himself in the middle of some serious addiction issues. Combined with him showing me so much affection, I start to worry there's more going on than just the stress of success. Will Casey be able to overcome his addictions and find happiness? More importantly, will that happiness be with me?

Porch Light

That night, after we got done in the recording studio, I sent off a text to Scott.


Hey, Scott! How’s it going? You ever been to Nashville?20: Last Minute Substitution


Scott was able to request time off a month in advance, so I was able to fly him to Nashville the second week of October. It was a nice little vacation for him. I felt bad I wasn’t able to spend time with him as much as I wanted to, but the evenings were fun.


As we started to get to know each other a little better, I started to develop strong feelings for him. It wasn’t just that he was an amazing lover—it felt so soulful—or that he was handsome or cared about people for a living. He didn’t treat me any differently because of who I was now.


Two nights before he left, we found ourselves in my room. He was massaging my feet and legs while I wrote lyrics down in my notebook.


“Should it be, ‘You’re looking at the happy exit,’ or ‘You’re looking for existence in no one’?”


Chapter 47