Nick jerked awake, staring up at four pairs of eyes staring down at him; concern etched on their faces.
“Kaos, are you okay? Dude, that had to be some weird dream you were having,” AJ stated as he shook his head.
“We heard you yelling down the hall when we got off the elevator,” Howie added.
“You were freakin’ me out, that’s for sure,” AJ grinned.
Nick tugged a hand through his sweaty hair placing the other one across his stomach when it started it’s ‘hunger cries’ again, only to jerk it back suddenly, sitting up quickly in bed.
“Why do you have your pillow over your stomach, don’t you feel good?” Kevin questioned.
Nick could feel the heat rise to his face, quickly tossing the pillow aside. “No, just couldn’t get comfortable.”
Brian picked up instantly on Nick’s discomfort. “Don’t be embarrassed about yelling, God knows we all do that from time to time when we have nightmares. What was the dream about, do you remember?”
Thinking about the diet pills and then the part about his stomach growing bigger and the guys teasing him, Nick hung his head. “Nah, I don’t remember any of it.”
Laying back down, he drew the covers up to his neck hoping that the guys would get the hint that he was still tired and wanted to rest. Much to his dismay, he groaned inwardly when AJ literally threw his body into a chair in the corner of the room, turning the television on.
“Polish TV sucks,” AJ mumbled as he flipped through the channels.
“Since when did you become an expert on TV?” Howie asked as he sat on the edge of the unoccupied bed.
Sighing loudly, Nick curled up into a ball on his side, pulling the comforter tight over the side of his head, shutting his eyes tight. It was always his ‘security’ from the hidden creatures that roamed the darkness. He always felt that if his ear wasn’t covered, they would find him and then he would be taken captive and dragged out of his bed.
Kevin broke into his quest for hiding. “Nick, we still need to have that talk.”
Keeping his eyes closed, Nick mumbled his reply, “Can we talk tomorrow, I’m really sleepy.”
A frim slap on his thigh served as an answer. “No, we need to talk now. I’m sure that somehow Lou is gonna find out about your little no show act.”
“Please Kev... I don’t feel so good right now and we have to work tonight,” Nick pleaded.
“My mother always said not to go to bed with unfinished business---”
“You’re not her though... c’mon have a heart Kevin,” Nick begged.
As much as he tried to ignore his older brother, Nick could feel the stare of Kevin’s piercing eyes through his closed lids and finally gave up with a groan. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“Don’t you dare try and come off as mister innocent with me Nickolas, you know exactly what I want to talk about!”
Nick could feel the hair bristle on the back of his neck when he heard Kevin call him by his proper name. He sat up in his bed, giving the dark haired man his full attention. “Okay, where do you want me to start?”
“How about from the beginning, dummy,” AJ rasped.
“I thought you were watchin’ Polish TV--”
Kevin rubbed his hand over his face. “I want all of you out of here right now! I don’t need any help from the peanut gallery.”
No one moved after Kevin asked them to leave, making the older man’s patience wear thin. His head jerked up as his gaze shot around the room.
”NOW!”
The booming of Kevin’s voice sprang the group into action and each of them, Nick excluded, bolted for the door, trying to put a safe distance between themselves and Kevin’s wrath. It wasn’t until the door closed behind them that he turned his attention to his younger brother. Sitting on the edge of the bed across from Nick, Kevin rested his elbows ontop of his knees, leaning forward. “So Nick, tell me what happened last night.”
“Didn’t you always say, ‘Don’t cry over spilt milk?’ “ Nick asked hopefully.
Kevin sighed. “Yeah, but this is something completely different.”
“How about I don’t remember what happened last night?”
“How about you tell me before I go to Mr. Pearlman?”
Nick’s eyes opened wide at the thought of the fat manager getting wind of last night’s adventure. It would be something more that could be used against him and Nick couldn’t afford to get into more trouble. “Brian tried to get me to come with him off the bus but I was being moody and feeling sorry for myself I guess.” He glanced over at the Kentuckian to see what he reaction was to the explaination. “I swear! I’m telling you the truth!”
“Did I say you weren’t?”
Nick tugged a hand through his hair. “No, but you just looked like you didn’t believe me.”
“If you don’t stop being so damned paranoid, I won’t believe you. C’mon, out with the rest of it.”
Laying back into his bed, Nick closed his eyes as he recited the events from discovering that he was left on the bus and his walking the streets in socks and no coat, not daring to look at Kevin, afriad he would lose his train of thought in telling the story. He finished his explaination stating that he was getting a migraine.
Upon hearing Nick’s complaint, Kevin sighed. “Jesus Nick, you’re always whining about feeling sick!”
Drawing the blankets up toward his neck, Nick whimpered. “I can’t help it. I really am feeling like shit.”
“Don’t expect me helping you getting a red card for the show tonight. You’re going on headache or not.”
“Migraine,” Nick corrected.
“Honestly.... I fucking give up! You do this all the time for attention Nick and it’s getting a little old.”
“I can’t help it,” he mumbled in reply.
Nick sat in the corner of the green room, sulking as he kept the dark towel over his head. The migraine he had predicted he was getting had shown up in full force and the slightest light was making his stomach churn with nausea.
“Kaos, you gonna eat this?”
“Leave me alone,” Nick mumbled. The smell of the food that AJ had waved by the towel’s opening almost made him turn his stomach inside out. He had asked Johnny Wright earlier if he could get out of doing the show tonight but the manager only shook his head and laughed.
Nick decided his life sucked.
“Ready in fifteen to take the stage,” the sound tech called out. “We need to hook up the equipment.”
Nick shuddered at the thought of the wired instrument that would be hooked up to his waist and the tiny device that would hook onto his head; feeding sound into his ear. The thoughts made his migraine go into overdrive. He bolted up, tossing the towel aside as he made a mad run toward the bathroom. “I’m..... gonna..... get.....”
His four bandmates winced when the sounds of Nick’s wretching pierced the air.
“Now there’s something we don’t hear that often,” AJ remarked dryly.
The sound tech shook her head in dismay as she finished hooking AJ’s sound equipment up. AJ picked up on her facial expression. “I’m jokin’.. you know Carter.”
“I’m not here to judge, just to wire you guys up.”
Nick sat back on his knees after the wretching subsided. Unchecked tears were streaming down his cheeks, his head pounded and his gut hurt. There was nothing to throw up and he couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He didn’t care about eating anyway, he felt so awful he just wanted to crawl back into his dark hotel room and sleep.
“Nick, are you alright?”
Wiping his face with the back of a hand, Nick softly cleared his throat. “I’m fine Bri, I’ll be out in a sec.”
Standing up slowly, Nick made his way over to the sink. Staring at his reflection, all Nick could see were the imperfections in himself. His skin was blotchy partly from the strain of throwing up and the other half was from being exposed to the cold air the night before as he wandered the streets of Poland. His red rimmed eyes, blood shot eyes were a testament to the headache that hid behind them.
Nick was able to sum up his appearance in four words: “You look like shit.”
“Carter! You need to get your ass out here for sound. You’re on in three minutes!”
Johnny’s barking snapped Nick temporarily out of his self loathing. As he turned to leave, a wave of dizziness swept over him and he quickly reached out to the wall for support. “I’m coming!”
“I swear you’re going to give me one huge ulcer kid,” Johnny snapped as he watched Nick getting hooked up for the sound equipment.
“I’m sorry,” Nick quietly apologized.
“Get your butt out there now, the rest of them are waiting,” the manager directed.
Sighing, Nick obeyed the man’s command as fast as he dared. Silently he wondered if he would be prepared to pull this concert off as sick as he felt. He had been raised to believe that the show must go on no matter what and Nick was proud of the fact that he worked no matter how horrible he felt and tonight would be no exception.
