“Nick, we’re here, come on,” AJ said in a low voice as he nudged a sleeping Nick.
Nick scooched his body on his side, his back facing the aisle and AJ. “I’m fine. You go ahead.”
“You just told everyone on the damn bus you were hungry!”
“I’m not anymore, I’m fine,” came the short reply.
“Oh for the love of God,” AJ mumbled as he stomped off the bus.
Burrowing himself further into his seat, Nick tried to seek a comfortable spot, trying to continue his nap, uninterrupted.
“Carter! Get your ass up!”
Not moving, Nick’s eyes flew open.
The tour manager swatted at the young boy’s back as he repeated his demand. “I said, get your fat ass up!”
“I’m not hungry,” Nick replied, not turning to look at Johnny.
“You made it a point to put everyone on this damn bus in a state of misery listening to you whine about how starved you were earlier, get your lazy butt off the bus and march into that McDonald’s and eat!”
Nick bit his lip, determined not to let the tears that pooled in his eyes fall. “I ate some chips AJ gave me, I’m fine,” he croaked.
Johnny grabbed the back of Nick’s tee shirt. “Bullshit! Let’s go!”
Jerked from his seat, Nick gave the manager a hard glare. The hatred that filled his eyes seemed to be mirrored by the older man. This was going to become a battle of wills for Nick. Johnny loved to pick on him too much, as far as Nick was concerned.
As the two walked into the restaurant, Nick’s eyes sweeped the lobby, spotting the guys clustered in the side lobby. Nick slowed his steps when he felt Johnny’s hand pushing on his back.
Stepping up to the counter, Nick thought at first he should be reasonable since Johnny was standing behind him and had seemed to be content on keeping track of every calorie Nick consumed.
Clearing his throat, Nick immediately dismissed the idea of ordering a salad and glass of ice water. “I would like two double cheeseburgers extra ketchup and pickle on it, extra large fries and a large chocolate shake and two hot apple pies.” He caught Johnny’s glare from the corner of his eye and looked back at the man. “Well, you insisted I eat.”
“Not the whole freakin restaurant!”
His face suddenly got hot, no doubt flushed from embarrassment at Johnny’s harsh words. Nick smiled weakly at the young girl that stood behind the cash register and she eagerly grinned back.
“Judas Kaos, did you order a whole cow or something?” AJ cackled as Nick slid into the booth with his tray.
“Ha ha really funny Bone,” Nick replied as he organized the food on his tray.
“Reedy Nick,” Brian remarked as he wiped his red nose with a tissue.
Concern etched Nick’s face as he gazed at his brother’s pasty complexion. “You look like shit.”
“I feed like it doo.”
“God don’t talk, better yet, don’t even breathe in my space,” AJ warned as he put a protective arm around his food and slid down the booth away from Brian.
Johnny in a booth with Clark, away from the young men but situated himself where he could keep an eye on them - especially Nick.
Meeting the manager’s glare once again, Nick tossed out the idea of only taking a bite of his lunch and quickly decided to eat everything that he ordered. Tearing off the wrapper, he sunk his teeth into the hamburger, taking a huge bite and chewing it with his mouth open.
Brian stared at Nick, a look of disgust on his face. “Chew wid your mouth shud!”
“I am,” Nick snapped back, spraying crumbs on the table.
AJ retreated further into the corner of the booth, dragging his tray along with him, almost situating his body ontop of Howie’s.
“Man AJ, you’re invading my space,” Howie grumbled.
“Sorry, but I don’t want to get sprayed by fatass garbage disposal.”
Nick opened his mouth to object to AJ’s snide remark but instead of a calculated response, a loud burp escaped.
Kevin quickly stood up, hot tea in his hands. “I’m going back,” he sniffed.
“Ride behind you Kebin,” Brian stated as he scooted out of the booth behind his cousin.
“Hey you two,” Johnny called out to Kevin and Brian. Kevin quickly stopped, Brian didn’t, running into the back of his cousin’s ankles. “Blow your noses when you get on the bus and set up that vaporizer, you need to be getting better by tomorrow’s show. You both sound like shit.”
“Nick looks a little green,” Howie observed.
“I’m *hic* fine *hic* H-howard,” Nick moaned.
“Well you sure as hell don’t sound fine to me, you gonna puke your guts out?” AJ cringed as he uttered the last words.
Wadding the hamburger wrapper into a ball, Nick shook his head. “I’m fine, I just want to *hic* get back to the *hic* bus and lay down.”
“Which is the worst thing to do after you stuff yourself,” Howie quietly commented.
Pulling himself from the booth and taking his tray to the trashbin, Nick could almost swear he felt himself waddle towards the exit. His stomach ached so badly he could cry. He overdid it once again to prove a stupid point to Johnny and now he was paying for it with discomfort.
“Okay, get your room assignments and meet back in the lobby in fifteen minutes,” Johnny announced as the bus pulled under the car port to the front entrance of the hotel.
Grabbing his backpack, Nick slinged it over his shoulder, making contact with someone that had been standing too close. He slowly turned and saw Kevin standing in the aisle, the palm of his hand rubbing the left side of his face.
“God Kev, I’m sorry. Lemme see it.”
Kevin shook his head as he continued to rub his cheek. When Nick reached out to pull Kevin’s hand off, he froze when a low growl was made by the oldest Backstreet Boy.
“God, I said I was sorry.”
“If you weren’t such a fumbling fuck up, you wouldn’t have hit Kevin in the face. You better hope to god he doesn’t get a black eye from that,” Johnny hissed as he handed Nick his room card.
Feeling tears stinging his eyes once again, Nick took the room card only to have it slip from his grasp and fall to the floor. He quickly retrieved the fallen laminated card and without making eye contact, stepped off the bus.
Stopping alongside the bus, Nick stammering, he grabbed the attention of the bus driver. “C-can I have my suitcase?”
“You know you’ll get them when the rest of the people on the bus get theirs.”
Feeling stupid about being denied his request, Nick turned on his heel and trudged towards the entrance to the hotel. Looking at the number on his room card, he headed towards the brass colored doors of the elevators. After punching the button for the sixth floor, Nick kept his eyes fixed to the gawdy carpet on the floor of the elevator. The car stopped at his destination, much to Nick’s relief and he quickly exited, walking towards room number 639.
As he started to slip the card into the door slot, Nick thought he smelled the distinctive scent of cigarette smoke. He silently prayed that his mind was playing tricks on him as he slowly cracked the door open. His suspicions were confirmed when he found AJ sprawled across a bed, cigarette dangling from his pursed lips, telephone grasped firmly in his hand.
“God my life sucks,” Nick moaned, flinging the backpack ontop of the empty bed next to AJ’s.
AJ glared at the blonde, shaking his head, taking a deliberate, long drag from the cigarette and exhaled the smoke purposely towards him. It was AJ’s personal way to get his digs into Nick since he hated cigarette smoke.
“Could you blow your fumes in the other direction?”
AJ cupped his hand over the receiver. “Can’t you see I’m on the phone?”
Nick’s only response was nasty glare and sticking his middle finger up. AJ laughed.
“Listen babe, maybe we can meet later tonight, I’ve got some suck ass interview this afternoon but I should be free to check out a club later on tonight.”
Half listening to AJ’s end of the conversation as he flopped his body onto the bed, Nick rolled his eyes and mouthed the words ‘I’m gonna gag.’
“Okay, buh-bye love,” AJ cooed and gently placed the receiver down. Taking a last long drag from the cigarette, he squashed the butt into the ashtray as he exhaled the blueish tinged smoke into the air.
“I hate bunking with you cause I end up reeking of cigarette smoke,” Nick mumbled.
AJ cocked his head to one side, a smile played across his lips. “Yeah I guess smoke and your B.O. is a nasty combination.”
“Fuck you!”
“Listen kid, we have to be with each other until we leave this.... where the sam hell are we?”
“How the hell should I know, ask Howie he seems to keep track of this shit,” Nick sputtered.
“Anyway, as I was saying, we have to be together until we move on to the next venue, so like it or not, we’re roomies for the time being.”
“Not if I complain!”
AJ stood up and drew the curtain back from the window as he peered out onto the courtyard of the hotel. “And who the hell would you be complaining to?”
“Well.. um, well..”
“Well.. um..well, yeah that’s what I thought,” AJ mocked.
“Fuck off and leave me alone,” Nick grumbled.
“Can’t now, we gotta go to the interview asshole,” AJ replied as he snatched the pack of cigarettes and his lighter from the nightstand.
“I’ll be down in a sec, I need to use the bathroom,” Nick announced as he stood up.
“Whatever.”
Nick flipped the door off angrily after it slammed shut. AJ seemed to be the one Backstreet brother that was on his case constantly on this tour and he couldn’t understand why.
As he stood in front of the toilet, he realized that he still had his pants unbuttoned from his McDonald’s binge. Shrugging his shoulders, he unzipped the jeans and relieved himself, keeping one hand on the pants so they wouldn’t fall to the floor.
When the time came to fasten his jeans Nick discovered he was having difficulty meeting the top of the pants close enough to button. His stomach was still bloated and distended from all the food he had consumed.
“Not the first time, won’t be the last,” Nick stated as he left the top undone and adjusted his shirt, as he took one last look in the large bathroom mirror.
“Goddamn it Nick, why the hell did you have to hit Kevin with that backpack? There’s no amount of pancake that’s going to cover his black eye!” Johnny glared as he looked at Kevin Richardson’s face.
“It’s okay Johnny, it was an accident, alright?” Kevin stated calmly.
“Well Carter is getting to be a clumsy oaf and he better start paying more attention to his surroundings or he’s going to be paying for it dearly!”
As Nick squirmed in his seat, he could feel his throat burn with the tears he was desperately trying to keep down. He hated Johnny more than AJ’s cigarette smoke he wished he would get off his back and making an example of him everytime something didn’t go right.
“Johnny, just leave Nick alone, okay? He didn’t do anything wrong.’
‘Thank you Howie for coming to my rescue,’ Nick mentally cried out.
“We’re ready to tape,” the director announced as the hostess took her seat opposite of the boys.
“Watch your step, Carter,” Johnny threatened, “I’ll be watching you!”
“This is so unfair,” Nick mumbled to himself as pulled out a Nintendo game. Once again the rest of the group went out clubbing on one of the rare nights they had off and once again, Nick was left all alone in the hotel room. The interview came off shitty, in Johnny’s normal opinion and one of the first questions posed by the interviewer was the black eye that Kevin had and how did he get it. Nick couldn’t do anything but paste on a false smile as the rest of the guys laughed about how clumsy he was.
He wanted to call Manda, she would be the one that would make him feel better. His own mother would probably agree with Johnny and tell him to clean his act up, Nick theorized. He couldn’t call Manda because that was denied by Johnny when he informed Nick that his spending was way out of control and the phone calls were to cease.
Now Nick’s only source of entertainment was video games and junk food. Sprawled across the bed, he was surrounded by empty candy bar wrappers and pizza boxes and different cans of soda. Winning the video once again, he tossed the controller onto the floor and rolled onto his back.
Staring at the ceiling, Nick’s thoughts drifted towards what everyone else was doing. “I hope they’re having a rotten time,” he said darkly.
The ringing telephone interrupted his lonely thoughts and Nick looked hopefully at the device, silently praying that Manda was calling.
“Hello?”
Hearing the noises of a party in the background, Nick’s enthusasiam was short lived.
“Hey, it’s Kev, just checking to see how you’re doing,” he shouted into the phone.
Instead of speaking, Nick burped loudly into the phone.
“That was pretty rude,” Kevin reprimanded.
“So?”
“What are you doing?”
“What does that matter to you? Go back with the guys and have fun, who cares about me anyway,” Nick spat angrily into the phone.
“I’m asking because I do care,” Kevin yelled, trying to be heard over the loud crowd that was in the background.
“I’m just laying around, there’s so many fun things to do in a hotel room,” Nick scoffed.
“Now I feel bad,” Kevin replied, shouting.
“Hey, room service is here, I gotta go,” Nick said quickly and hung up.
”Nick? Nick? Are you there?”
“What’s the kid up to now?” Johnny asked, hearing Kevin yelling into the receiver.
Hanging the phone up, Kevin turned to face the man. “He’s feeling alone I guess, he mentioned something about room service and I guess he had to go.”
“That damn kid!” Johnny groaned.
Kevin looked at the older man, confusion on his face. “Huh?”
“Carter is supposed to follow a diet and that means no goddamn pizza at,” grabbing Kevin’s arm, he looked at his wrist watch, “twelve-thirty in the goddamn morning!”
“Give the kid a break, he’s alone and he’s bored,” Kevin defended.
“And getting fatter as the tour goes on. This is bullshit!”
Kevin patted Johnny on the back. “Ease up on him, okay? He’s only eighteen.”
“Eighteen pounds heavier,” Johnny grumbled as he walked away.
Munching on a large slice of pepperoni pizza, Nick’s eyes fell onto the telephone sitting on the nightstand. Pushing aside the hurtful words that Johnny had said to him about the phone bill from two days ago, he reached over and pulled the telephone onto the bed.
“Do I or don’t I?” Nick asked himself outloud. A grin spread on his face. “I do!”
Nick giggled like a school girl as he defiantly dialed operator. “Yes, I’d like to make an overseas call.....”
”CARTER! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT!?” Johnny’s voice boomed. Nick and the rest of the group winced when Johnny’s voice boomed in the lobby of the hotel.
“I-I d-didn’t d-do anything. I-I s-stayed in my room last night,” Nick stammered.
Johnny threw the young man a dark expression. “You bet you stayed in your fuckin’ room.”
Nick’s eyes fell onto the paper that Johnny gripped in his hands. Johnny’s eyes followed Nick’s. “Yeah, that’s right Carter, it’s all here. Everything you did last night.”
Nick swallowed nervously, his face grew pale. He had intended on getting to the checkout desk this morning before Johnny got up and pay the phone and room service bill but he overslept.
“You seem to be slow enough that you didn’t realize that your room service and the phone calls I strictly prohibited you from making left a trail?”
“I-I, um, I-I was bored,” Nick stammered quietly.
“Bored my ass! Do you realize you ran up a $350 phone bill last night? Who the hell did you call that cost that much money?”
“Sex line?” AJ joked, smiling. His smile vanished when Johnny glared in his direction.
“I don’t think Carter is brillant enough to figure out how to call sex lines. No, he called someone in the States, in Florida to top it all off and it wasn’t home, was it?”
Nick could only shrug his shoulders.
“And a goddamn room service bill is on here too. What the fuck did you eat last night that totalled $179.50?”
“Room service is pricey,” Brian defended.
Again, a glare was cast by Johnny and Brian’s face reddened.
Johnny stood toe to toe with Nick and started screaming in his face. “You’re fat, you’re lazy and you don’t listen to a goddamn word I tell you! You better watch yourself Carter,” Johnny hissed as he poked Nick’s stomach. “You’re starting to get beyond cute and looking chubby bordering on obese! Mark my words, I’ll be on you like a second layer of skin.”
Nick could only stand and listen to Johnny scolding him. He wished the ground would swallow him up. He never felt more alone and more humiliated than what he did right now.
