"Wow, guys that show was so awesome! I have such a rush from it! Wanna go out and do something?!" AJ was running circles in the dressing room backstage. The show had just ended and he was SO hyper, he was making me tired just watching him.
"Jay, will you calm down? We can't go out, we have to go on the bus and get to the next venue by morning." Kevin said, as he caught AJ mid lap. "You can watch a movie or something on the bus, if you're not tired."
"Okay! Howie wanna watch a movie?! You can pick!" he was still speaking in exclamation points.
Howie groaned. "AJ, I'm wiped man."
"Please?" AJ pouted, pretending to be all disappointed. Howie sighed.
"Ok, but not for too long, and if I fall asleep don't do anything to me, I'm not in the mood for your pranks tonight."
"Why Howie, I'm insulted."
"Shut it Jay."
"Yes sir, Kevin sir." AJ said, laughing. I looked over at Nick, who had been very quiet through this whole ordeal, he was lying on the couch and he looked incredibly pale and sweaty.
"Nick, buddy, you okay?" I asked him sitting up from my slumped position.
"Yep."
Okay, to tell you the truth, I was getting pretty upset with whatever mood Nick was in and I wasn't going to take it much longer.
"Nick, when we get on the bus, I wanna talk to you, got it?"
He looked at me with wounded eyes, I didn't mean to sound firm, but I needed to know what was going on with him and if yelling at him got it out, I'd have to resort to that, even though I hated it.
"Sure Brian."
Oh good, here comes Kevin and he's heading straight to me, what a surprise.
"Brian, are you okay? Do you want to use the oxygen mask before we go on the bus?"
All right, Brian keep your cool, deep breaths....
"I'm fine Kevin." I answered with gritted teeth.
"Well, after last night's show, I doubt you are fine, you almost collapsed!" he said pointedly.
"Yeah Kev, LAST night. I'm fine, will you leave me alone already?!" Okay, that came out louder than I wanted it too, the rest of the guys looked up at me in shock, that was the second time I'd gone off at Kevin that day. I never lose my temper, forget Nick's problem, they were gonna send me back to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation if I didn't keep my cool. But I was pissed no one was paying any attention to Nick. I wanted to be there for him no matter how much he tried to push me away. Whatever he was going through, I wanted to go through it too. Kevin looked at me.
"Sure, Bri, if you say so." he then walked towards the exit to get to the bus. I knew he'd be by my bunk when I got in there anyway. No matter what I said, he wouldn't stay away. I didn't want him there though, I was feeling feverish again and I doubted I could hide this one. I needed to talk to Nick though.
On to the bus we go....
I sat in Nick's bunk waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. Luckily Kevin was making something to eat and said he'd be back to check on me after. I don't know what it was with him, he was so blind to the fact that Nick had a problem. Yet, he hated to see anyone sick because of his father, so maybe it was me making him blind. I stood up and walked over by the bathroom.
"Nick, you okay in there?" All of a sudden I heard him gagging. "Nick? I'm coming in all right?" I got nervous and opened the door. Nick was bent over the toilet heaving, but he wasn't throwing anything up. "Hey buddy, you all right?" I asked, crouching down and rubbing his back. He looked at me and I was sure he was going to tell me everything, when Kevin suddenly called my name.
"Brian? Where are you?"
Nick stood up going over to the sink and started washing his hands. I was shocked how quickly his mood changed. He then walked towards the bunks. Great, now I had to face Kevin before I could talk to Nick. I knew he would see I wasn't feeling good so I decided to tell him about Nick right away, and not myself. Man there were secrets everywhere.