Nick made his announcement right after their monthly label meeting. As the rest of the staff were leaving, he signaled his groupmates to stay put. There was a pre-break barbecue at Kevin's place that night, but he wanted it more official and more private. He could almost feel A.J.'s stare when he locked the boardroom doors.
"Well, this looks serious," Howie remarked, his tone light.
"I just..." Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could do this. "I'm gonna be keeping it on the down-low during break."
"All those in shock raise your hand," A.J. said sarcastically.
"No," Nick leaned against the back of one of the chairs. "Really down low. Like, "I won't be home much, you can leave messages on my cell, call Aaron in an emergency" down low."
"You're going to disappear?" Brian asked.
"Pretty much. I mean, I'll do label stuff over the phone and online, and Born into Chaos won't miss me, and I'll still do stuff for the charity..." He was starting to babble. He took another deep breath. "It's probably just gonna blow up in my face, but I have something I need to do."
"You're not gonna tell us what it is?" Kevin's eyebrows rose.
"He's starting a life of crime!" A.J. suggested.
"He's returning to his home planet!" Howie chimed in.
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Can I disappear with you?"
"Sorry man," Nick offered a small grin, glad they weren't going to give him too much grief over this. "And no, I'm not telling you now. I'll tell you about it after."
"You'll keep in touch?" Typical Brian. Nick suddenly wanted to hug him. He nodded.
"Random calls in the middle of the night," he promised. "Leighanne'll hate me."
"And this isn't cause of us?"
Nick scratched his head. "Not really. Like... I want to get out of the fishbowl for a while." He shrugged. It was pretty much that simple.
"Ok then," It was as if he'd made some sort of solemn oath without knowing it, and Brian had accepted his word. "Have fun."
He laughed. "I'm planning on it, Rok."