*present day ages are listed in parentheses (even when discussing the past).
Nicholas Matthew (23m) was born May 8th, 2001 to Kevin (44m) and Amber Jackson (42f), of Las Vegas, Nevada. Four years later, on August 12th, Olivia Jade (17f) was born.
Nick’s childhood had been a relatively happy one. Between a couple of good childhood friends (Rick (23m), Ned (23m), Ryan (22m)) that carried to adolescence, an adoring little sister, and parents who worked hard and tried their best, he lacked for little. His interest in music began at the age of eight, when he took an interest in his grandfather playing, and from there had lessons. He took to music with heart and passion, studying hard and progressing well, with music only taking somewhat of a backseat when he began dating Ryan at age 15.
Somehow, he and Ryan managed to keep their relationship secret, coming across as nothing more than friendship to his overbearing, religious parents. Sadly, when Nick expressed his desire to join the military after graduation, Ryan became angry. Eventually, they had a big fight and broke up, shortly after graduation, and not long before Nick had to leave for boot camp. Their relationship was at the three year mark when this happened.
After boot camp was when Nick discovered he was bisexual. A romance began with a commanding officer, one Alyssa Ortiz (25f), that they kept secret so as not to get into trouble. At one point in their romance, they were both sent overseas. In once incident, where they were trapped in a building, Nick was able to grab some injured and drag them to a more secure location so that a medevac unit could get to them. However, an explosion rocked the building, and he got trapped under some rubble, and it took time for him to be freed.
Due to this, he developed some claustrophobia. That was two years into his relationship with Alyssa. A year after all of that, he was riding along in a Humvee, while soldiers were walking around, looking for signs of mines. Unfortunately, they missed one, and it hit the Humvee he was in. Some were killed, but he managed to escape only with some shrapnel wounds. Most of the shrapnel had scraped him or embedded themselves in his armor — except for his right leg. It had torn through that and shredded his knee. He’d be the first to tell you that sand in a bloody wound was not pleasant.
It was a bad enough issue that he was informed that, as soon as he recovered, he would be medically discharged ahead of his mandatory eight-year commitment (having only served four at this point). Alyssa would visit him, though these visits were less discreet, and because of these visits, their relationship was discovered, and she got busted for it. Despite his apologies to her, she told him to knock it off. They had a deep talk one last time before he was due to be sent home, and they discussed their future. Now, instead of talking about things like potentially getting married someday and having a family, they talked about how they would handle their relationship moving forward, now that they would be separated for a while.
Nick was sent to a VA location in Tennessee to undergo treatment and physical therapy for his knee. It was here that his addiction to painkillers began. He lived out of a motel where you could pay weekly or monthly rates while he worked through things, not intending to stay longer than a couple of months. After about three months of long-distance, Alyssa admitted she couldn’t do it – it hurt too much to not be with him, and she needed a clean break. This sent Nick into a depression.
His physical therapy over, he went home to Las Vegas for a while. While his family was happy to see him, he was not happy to be there. He spent some time investing his pay, as well as any winnings from gambling he might get, in order to get money saved up that was more than what the government was giving him. What he needed, though, was something to keep his mind off of things.
He knew he didn’t want to stay in Vegas. Being home reminded him too much of Ryan, but he didn’t want to be too far, either. He started hunting for a place in Los Angeles, deciding on there based on the reason he could go to UCLA for music if he wanted, or find some kind of job. With help from his parents, he managed to get a place. As for work, he ended up going to bartend school while working on his music and songwriting ability.
Presently, he works as a bartender, talking up the customers and listening to their problems, and getting more than one or two phone numbers as a tip on occasion. He is usually on a pain pill while at work, but his drinking he keeps to off hours, and at home. While he is aware that he is a high functioning alcoholic, he still doesn’t want to risk losing his job over it.
He is currently not in therapy for anything, and is on a waiting list at the VA for an appointment at all, let alone to have his knee fixed properly.
*Biggest changes – Nick is younger by two years; Liv is only six years younger instead of eight; he never went to university; he doesn’t have Chase (yet?)