"What is it, Nick?" Howie asked.
Nick hestitated a moment. "Nothing, D."
"If it takes that long to say it nothing, it's something. What's going on, Nick?"
"I'm in love." Nick answered. "I'm in love with Leah. If she dies, it would absolutely kill me, but does Brian care about that? No, because he has this big idea that he's Leah's sole mate or something. Therefore, he's the only one that can be truly devistated about her condition. He wants me to go get him a cup of coffee. I need someone to get me a damn cup of coffee."
"Why don't we all get a cup of coffee?" Howie suggested.
"Howie, maybe I haven't been friends with her, basically all my life, like Brian has. But I've been friends with her for several years, and over the past year or so, I've grown to absolutely love her. And we've been through a lot more together, than Brian will ever know. I'm not trying to be selfish here. I just want Brian to know that I love her. He may be her best friend, but I'm her man, not him. If he wants me to throw him a pity party, he can forget it, because I'm hurting way too much, to feel sorry for him."
"Nick, calm down. Just sit down, man." Howie replied.
Nick sat down in a chair, in the waiting room. He leaned over putting his head in his hands.
"Relax, Nick. It's going to be alright."
Nick looked up at Howie with tears in his eyes. "No, you don't know that it's going to alright. You don't know anything." Nick reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a little, black, jewelry box. "I bought this--for her." Nick extended his arm toward Howie.
Howie took the box from Nick and opened it. "This is an engagement right," Howie said.
"Yes, I know" Nick said, still sniffling. "I want her to be my wife. I want her to marry me. Brian thinks that he knows all about her. Well, he doesn't. I knew she had a problem way before he did. And he thinks that she's his sole mate. Well, I've got news for him. While he's been thinking that he's winning her over, and he's the number one guy in her life, she's been spending her nights with me."
"Nick, I think you need to stop. You're going to make yourself crazy. I'm going to go and get some coffee for us. Stay here and chill for a minute."
Howie gave the box back to Nick and left the room. "Crazy, I'm already there," Nick said under his breath.
Suddenly Nick heard a young woman gasp slightly. "Oh my goodness, are you?"
Before she could finish asking her question, Nick answered, "Yes, I'm Nick Carter." Great, He thought. I can't even go to a hospital without being harassed. I knew I should have brought my bodyguard.
"I don't want to bother you, but I really love your music, and my younger sister loves you too. Could you sign something for me."
Nick took a deep breath, trying to hold back all his tears of frustration. "Sure, I'll sign something. No problem."
"Great! Thanks a lot! So what are you doing here anyway? I've got a friend who's having a baby upstairs. You look upset. Are you okay?" She handed him a pen and a notebook, ironicly, a Backstreet Boys notebook. Had she planned to run into a Backstreet Boy at the hospital?
"I'm fine. I'm just visiting someone." He took the notebook and pen from her and proceeded to sign the inside cover of the notebook.
"Visiting a friend? A girlfriend maybe? I may have overheard a little bit."
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but why does the reason I'm here even matter to you? I'm just trying to visit a friend of mine, a girlfriend of mine, to be exact, and she is dieing. Now I don't know if you're some kind of magazine writer or just an internet rumor spreader uhh chick or whatever, or maybe you're just nosey. Who knows? But as you can see, I'm a little uneasy right now, and I'd appreciate it if you just didn't ask me anymore questions."
"I'm sorry. You do have a right to keep your life private. I'm sorry for asking all those questions, but thank you for the autograph. You're my favorite Backstreet Boy. It was a pleasure meeting you."
"I'm very sorry about that," Howie said, entering the room."
"It's perfectly alright." The girl said. "Great seeing you, Howie."
After she left the room, Howie handed Nick his cup of coffee. "That was great, Nick. Way to make a scene. Let's hope she wasn't a reporter. I can see the headlines now. 'Insane Backstreet Boy Yells At Fan In a Hospital.'"
"I really don't care," Nick answered.
"Nick, I know this is hard on you, but you have to control yourself."
"Howie, one time I came over to Leah's house, and she was passed out on the floor. Apparently she had been working out, and she was basically dehydrated. I wanted to help. I wanted to take her to the hospital, but when she woke up, she said that she would just hate me if I took her to a hospital. I should have taken her, let her hate me if she wanted to, but at least she'd be better."
"Well, what did you do?"
"I did the only thing I could do. I stayed with her. At one point I brought her some food, and she actually threw it in my face. I told her that she had to eat. I told her she needed strength." As Nick told his story he saw it all in his head like something from a book or a movie.
"Nick, I am strong!" Leah yelled. "Do you realize how much rejection I've had in my life? I've had to be strong all my life, just to get by."
"Leah, look at yourself. You're so beautiful. You do not need to lose any weight. If anything, you need to gain some weight back. Even when you're well, you look sick. Can't you see you're killing yourself?"
"You want me to gain weight. What's wrong with you? Oh, so you want me to be fat? Well, why don't I just go eat every last piece of food in this house. Then I can be overweight, and you'll be happy."
"Leah, you won't be overweight. You've never been overweight. And even if you were, I'd still love you."
Tears came to Leah's eyes. "I love you too, Nick, but you can't make do something I don't want to do."
"You'll kill yourself," Nick said.
"I'll be fine."
"Wow, that's intense," Howie said. "And Brian doesn't really know how close you and Leah were--are--I mean."
Nick shook his head. "If she dies, Howie, if she dies..."
"She's not going to die. She's not." Howie did not like this conversation. After all, who was he to tell Nick that Leah would be fine or not. He really did not know. So he ended the conversation, "I'm going to take this coffee to Brian. It's going to be cold soon."