" Man that was totally awesome. The crowd went totally wild," AJ grinned, drying his hair off with a towel. " Who knew that Polish girls could be so wild?" He shook his head, " Did you see that chick in the front? You know the one that barely had anything on top."
" Yeah she was kind of good looking," Howie agreed, uncapping a bottle, taking a zwig from it. He too thought it had been a success, even if he had to spend a while backstage with Nick. He didnt regret to get back on the stage but he felt bad for the singer who had looked anything but fine to him.
" Goodlooking?" AJ glared at Howie, " D', she was a nice piece of ass. She was a number one!" He laughed roughly, " Maybe I should go out and talk to her. Man Kev did you see those legs? They were running up to her breasts."
Kevin, who was on his way to see how Nick was doing, just shrugged, " Whatever." He didnt sound to impressed. AJ however was.
" Dude you canīt have missed that one. You who is a real "Leg man". He laughed at his own joke, the rest of the guys wasnt as amused at all.
" When are you ever going to grow up?" Brian sighed loudly, " You donīt always have to sound like a teenager when you talk about woman." It was clear that the kentuckian wasnt too impressed over his friends language. Shaking his head he continued, " Man sometimes you sound like a friggin three year old!"
" A three year old?" AJ didnt sound too offended, more amused, " Man B'rok where did YOU grow up?"
" What do you mean?" Brian wasnt following the lead and so was no one else in the room.
" Dude I dont know about you...but looking at legs was not my favorite interest when I was three."
" But it was mine," Nick croaked from the couch where he lay slumped. This resulted in a unision laughter. Nick not realizing the funny in the situation looked up from his nest, " What?" When no one offered an explanation he sank back into the couch, rubbing his temples, trying to get some soothing. The headache was a bit better, that he had to give credit on, but the yelling he got from Mr Pearlman hurt his soul.
Lou had called him a lazy bum and that he was blaming on sickness to get out of the show. He had called him a no good singer and said that if Nick didnt shape up his act he would personally make sure that the kid would not get another job EVER in the entertainment business since he had contacts higher up. If he was left out from ONE more concert he would also make sure that Nicks parents would get a juicy bill and had to pay for the problems Nick created.
Johnny had tried to get Lou to take his mind into reason but it had been no use. Mr Pearlman was very agitated and he said that people high up in the music business had started to question what the hell Nick was doing. According to the manager every time that the teen lacked out from a performance it would cost them in popularity and the worst that could happend was if people would not count on him being at the show and the tickets sold would be left out.
As always Lou Pearlman had ended his lecture with saying that Nick was nothing but a fat looser and that the girls would loose interest in someone that looked like he did.
The words had hurt like knifes into his stomach and Nick had been close to tears. Determinded not to let Lou get the satsifaction of seeing him crying he did his best to bite back the tears that were threatning to choke him. He had seen that Johnny didnt like what Lou was saying and as soon as the top manager had left Johnny had come to his aid, saying that Lou didnt mean anything of those nasty things he said. But Nick knew better. He knew that the manager had meant it all!
It hurt..Oh it hurt so bad.
" Kaos? Dude..Nick?" AJ clapped infront of Nicks face, trying to get his attention. When that didnt work he stuck his face closer to the sick teen, " Heloooo is someone at home?"
This didnt exactly make him feel any better instead he groaned, covering his eyes with one arm across his face. " Donīt do that. It hurts my head. A lot."
Upon seeing the pain in the young mans eyes AJ appologized, " Oh sorry buddy. I didnīt think it was so bad."
" Trust me it is," Nick muttered, swallowing hard since the nausea had made itself known again, like an old enemy waiting for the right occassion to struck.
" You should really see a doctor," Howie said sitting down next to Nick on the couch. " It is not right for you to pass out like that." Howie seemed concern.
" Yeah Man you gave us quite a scare." AJ grinned, altough he was feeling anything but happy. When he had seen Nick leave the scene in a hurry he knew that it was all getting too much for his little brother.
Nick paled. His stomach was doing flip flops again and he didnt dare to move since it would either cause an explosion in his gut or head. Both things sounded equally bad and this left him in an uncomfortable position although there were not much he could do about it.
" How are you doing buddy?" Brian asked and just as Nick was about to say that he was doing fine the older man interrupted him, " And dont come and say me that you are fine beacuse I dont buy it." Frowning he felt on Nicks forehead, " I think you have a fever."
Nick shrugged lightly. What else could he do?
Kevin, feeling a bit bad for being irritated at his bandmate when he said he was sick earlier patted Nick on his cheek, " Iīm sorry buddy that I didnīt listen to you when you said that you were feeling sick."
" S'okey," Nick mumbled, still not taking off his arms from his eyes.
" You want something to drink maybe?"
" No Kev. Itīs ok."
" You sure? Have you tried some tylenol?"
" I said I dont want anything," Nick groaned, rolling to his side.
" But you feel better if you drink something," Howie added, stroking back the hair from Nicks cheek.
" Nooo!!" The teen whined. Truth was that he didnt think that he could handle anything in his stomach right now. It felt full and he was fast loosing the battle. If he wasnt careful he was afraid that he would redecorate the couch in the dressing room and that was not something he found too tempting.
" Yes listen to D'," Brian added.
" I said I dont want anything!"
The three man was about to try to force some liquid and tyleonol into Nicks mouth when AJ said irritated," Damn. How stupid are you? Kaos says that he doesnt want anything and yet you try to force something down his throat." AJ shook his head slowly, " Man are you stupid or not? Canīt you see that the dude is about to hurl?"
Upon saying those words the three men watched how Nicks cheek grow big and he heaved violenty.
" He is puking!" Brian yelled and before Nick knew what hit him his face was pierced over a trashcan. When the heaving finally subsided he felt all drained. Howie and Kevin helped him lay down and AJ was the one to take away the trash can.
" Guys he didnt puke much," AJ commented brutally looking down in the nearly empty trashcan.
" He probably have lost it all before," Kevin said in explanation but AJ was the one that were on the roll.
" Man I donīt know...it looks like he didnt eat much." AJ commented getting a sneer from Brian.
" So youīre the puke expert now." There were a hint of sarcasm in the kentucians voice.
" Nooo I didnīt say that, did I?" AJ snapped. " I just said that it didnt look like he had eaten much."
" Well if you are so concern why dont we ask him?" Brian turned to Nick, " Dude when was the last time you ate?"
Nick groaned, not having the energy to answer as it seemed like. Ok he was tired but there were something more too. He didnt want to answer the question since he was a bad liar and the guys would soon find out that it was ages since he ate! It was better to keep quiet.
" Really smart move B'rok to talk about food," Aj sneered irritated at Brian.
" You were the one that started," Brian defended himself. The tour was getting on everybodys nerves and living so close to each other 24/7 was starting to take itīs toll. Especially on the mood.
" Be quiet so Nicky gets some rest." It was Howie that were comming with the comment and it had them all in for a loop. It was rare that Sweet D' would come with something like that.
" And who are you to decide what we should do and shouldnīt do?" Brian was in a bad mood and whenever he was that it affected the whole group. All but Nick started to argue and soon it was a heated disciussion.
Nick wanted to die. It was bad that he had to spill his guts on an empty stomach and that his skull was throbbing like a bitch he had to listen to his band brothers discussing who was to decide over who. And they were all wrapped up in a forceful argument. Nick wanted them all to shut up, but he was feeling to bad to scream at them. Besides they had to have some sense of their own too.
Nick kept his mouth shut.
************************************************************************************************************
I tell you Kev," Brian said when the argument had settled and they had decided to call it a truce. " We have to get Nick to a doctor. He cant cope with touring all the time." Look at him," Brian pointed with his tumb across his shoulder, " He is all gray in his face and he is constantly catching one virus after the other. We canīt go on like this. You gotta talk to Johnny and Lou, get them to change their minds."
The tall man shrugged, " If it was that simple I wouldnīt hesitate a moment but you know very well that there is not much I can do. Besides when they have their minds set on doing something there is NOT one damned thing thta I can do." Kevin sighed, " Iīm afraid Nick has to tough it out."
What more that was adding to the fear that he felt was the small bottle of white pills he found in Nicks pant pockets. There were not a label on them so he didnt know what it was. ' Probably vitamins.' he thought to himself.
Whatever it was Kevin fely afraid. He had made an futile attempt to ask Nick about those pills when the teen had started to complained about feeling sick. Knowing his little brother from before he had thought that it was another of those stunts that he pulled when he didnt want to talk or tried to get out of an situation. This time however he was surprised that it was no such thing.
Nick was really suffering from migraine and he felt bad for it. There were no need to put more salt into the wounds so for the time being Kevin decided to hang onto the pill bottle and then talk to Nick about it om a later occassion.
" Donīt you see how exhausted Nick is," Brian was worried. " And he is constantly getting sick and being moody. Have you notice this too?"
" Yeah I know, I saw it too." Kevin nodded, his head bobbing up and down. " But you know I cant do a jack about it." He never felt more helpless before.
At 27 he was constantly run by the management and it was starting to get on his nerves. Kevin wanted to be in control of his own life and it was more than one time he had thought that they had to change management. Over at the MTV awards he had the opportunity to talk to some other artists and not ONE with the same popularity as they had, had such a bad slave contract like they had. It sucked.
" Fine then I do it." Brian was getting agitated. He started to walk towards the room where the management sat but was instantly caught by Kevins hold on his arm.
" You do no such thing."
" Why?" Brian could be as stubborn as a kid and when he was set to do something he rarely changed. " What makes you say that?"
" Beacuse it would only make the situation worse." The older man looked calmly the other man in his eyes, " Trust me."
But Brian wasnīt so easily talked into trusting. " Trust you? For what?" He sneered. " For not giving a shit that Nick is laying there feeling like crap beacuse youīre too scared to get Lous and Johnnys ass on you." Brian knew that he was not fair but he was worked up over the situation and deep in his mind he didnt like the way the management treated them.
It didnīt add of either that he had a one to one talk to Lou the other day asking for permission to do the awaiting open heart surgery that his doctor wanted him to do. The manager had flat turned him down saying that there were too much things going on and he couldnīt risk the group right now. They were just getting started over in several countries and he needed Brian to be there with the rest of the guys. This had upset the kentuckian a great deal but there were not much he could do. Mr Pearlman was the one that held the situation in hand and he had to wait until the tour had ended and they had were done recording the new cd. He would get time off earliest in the end of may.
This was however not something that Brian had told the rest of the guys, not even Kevin. He had been on the verge of telling the news the other day but lately there always seemed to be something wrong with Nick so he kept his mouth shut.
There were so many secrets going on lately. Way too many for their own good.
