6:15 a.m.
The morning sun broke into the small hotel room making it impossible to sleep. Shielding with his hand in front of his eyes, AJ tried to get away from the annoying sunbeams. Putting his hands under his head he grimaced. He had never been much of a morning person and being tortured by one hell of a hangover didn´t exactly improve the foul mood he was in.
He´d desperately needed a few hours shut eye before being up and running again at the band’s gruesome schedule. It had been almost impossible since he had spent the better part of the night "babysitting" his little brother instead. Nick had been pretty worse for wear and his constant dry heaving had left him weak and tired. After coming back from a hot night at the club he had been cooped up with Nick in the small stinking bathroom for what seemed like hours, rubbing his back, telling him that it was ok. This was usually Kevin’s or Brian’s task, heck even Howie volunteered for that too. Today however he didn´t want to disturb them mainly since they would know that he´d been out which he was not allowed to do. There was no need in dragging the guys bad temper over him. Even Howie had been a good boy staying at home so AJ had been the only one going out with some of the musicians.
After what seemed like endless hours he had finally managed to coax Nick back to bed where the young man had fallen asleep, in the early morning hours. There had been moments when he´d wondered what the hell he was doing and seriously debated whether or not he should wake D or Kev up. The bug that Nick had attracted seemed pretty violent and he didn´t like the way the teen had been holding his stomach and complaining about a back pain. When he´d tried asking the teen if there was anything more that hurt or if was experiencing any other symptoms Nick had told him that he was fine and that it was just the flu that had him in it´s tight grip. AJ shook his head. Flu? My ass! Flu didn´t send you down, almost bawling from pain, not even if your name was Nickolas Carter. For a while he actually thought about calling a doctor, not caring if the management got on his case for that. Upon mentioning this, Nick had said that he was feeling better and gotten AJ to wait for a day or two with taking actions. A bit pissed he had agreed to wait with the call, even if he mentally decided that if Nick didn´t show any progress the next day he would drag his sorry ass to the ER himself. Manager and language barrier be damned!
The rest of the guys were just as concerned over their "little brother’s" health so he knew he would get their blessing. Brian, was pretty pre-occupied over his upcoming surgery and therefore hadn´t had the energy to fuss over Nick like he used to do and was just as worried and he´d told AJ that he was suspecting that the teen was into some kind of eating disorder. AJ´s first instinct had been to laugh it all off, saying that there was no way in hell that their chubby bro was suffering from something like that. But the more Brian and Howie told him about the strange eating binges, the more scared he became. What if they were right?
On top of everything Kevin had spilled his guts about that the doctor was concerned over Nick and that he was malnourished. At the time being they had all shrugged it off but when Nick wouldn´t gain back his health he grew concerned. What if Nick had made himself sick? Suspecious he had searched for any evidence that the teen had been into binge eating last night but when he found nothing he´d dismissed it all for being paranoid. Nick couldn´t do something like that, could he?
A slight cough caught his attention and he glanced over at the sleeping boy on the other side of the room. He silently prayed that Nick wouldn´t wake up. To tell the truth he didn´t know if he could stand nursing a sick Nick again. AJ´s bedside manner left little to desire and taking care of someone puking was not high on his list. Nick had been dry heaving up clumps of bile and he´d had to fight his own nausea. Even if he felt grossed out, it was the pained expression on his friend’s face that had him scared.
Nick hurting and something was very wrong.
Usually the kid was a bundle of joy, never being too far from laughter or a smile. Pranks was never far away either and Nick did his best to lighten up a stressful situation with his laid back ways. Even if AJ felt reluctant to admit it, the blonde was pretty easy to hang around with, even if he had a habit of getting on his nerves from time to time. However lately he´d seen very little of the smitten smile that seemed to be Nick’s trademark. Instead the teen was mostly quiet and withdrawn, almost looking a bit depressed. This could be because of the sickness that always seemed to attract their youngest member, even though he sincerely doubted that it was all
Sighing, AJ rolled to his side. He desperately needed a few hours of sleep and closing his eyes he tried to will sleep to come. He felt too tense to relax so when none of that happened, he thought about getting up. A bad conscience pleagued him and it didn´t all have to do with Nick.
The person that tortured his mind was none other than his girlfriend Amanda.
He missed her very much and thinking of her made him reach for the phone, dialing her number. There was some serious guilt about him not being a faithful boyfriend and he had to know that everything was fine with her. Spending time touring all the time was really testing their relationship and he knew that not one of the guys had it easy with their girls. Howie was the only one being single and he was dating around all the time. Brian and Leigh was the most stable couple and Kev and Kristin used to date on and off too. His girlfriend situation together with Nick’s was on the most rocky ground.
During one of their talks in the night when Nick felt well enough to do anything but hurl his friend had told him that Manda had called and bitched him out. AJ had gotten pretty mad at her and frankly he had a hard time seeing what the teen was seeing in that girl. She was nothing but ungrateful and jealous and he hated to see how she wrapped Nick around her little finger. She was all about bad news and when he´d tried telling this to Nick he´d got very upset claiming that he if anyone shouldn´t be talking about bad relations. The painful truth was that the guy was right since he did nothing but fuck up. Yet he couldn´t just stand and watch while Nick was being mentally abused by Manda.
AJ sighed. He loved his own girlfriend to death and she was someone he could think of spending his life with, getting married with kids. Not now, but not far in the future either. His problem was that there were so many gorgeous girls out there just calling his name and everytime he saw a nice pair of boobs and legs he could feel himself falling. They had talked about this endless of hours and everytime it ended with AJ begging her to forgive him and that he would be faitful from now on. This promise usually only lasted a couple of weeks, tops, and then he found himself out there, sleeping with a groupie and then he was hooked.
Kevin had tried talking to him about his sex problem but he had shrugged it off since Kevin was very hot for ladies too and wasn´t the one to give advice in such a matter. For some strange reason Amanda had always taken him back, but the more he cheated the more he feared that she would refuse to take him back and she would leave him. It was this kind of feeling that had him calling her on the cellphone. When there were no answers and the answering machine voice he got an unsure feeling that was hard to place. "Hey baby it´s me," he said hoarsly, "I´m calling you to say that I miss you and..very much," he added before continuing, "And baby I love you..more than you can ever know." He knew that it sounded mushy but deep inside AJ was such a romantic person. "Call me back, bye honey." With that he hung up, letting out a loud breath that he had not been aware that he´d been holding. 'Please,' he begged, 'Please God don´t make me loose her.'
"And you think that it will work?" he heard a weak voice mumble from the other side of the room.
"Huh?" Glaring over at the teen in bed he noticed that Nick was awake, if not sitting up but at least he held his eyes open. "Why are you awake?" he snarled back, a bit irritated about getting caught in action. He neglected deliberately in answering the question.
The blonde shrugged, "I couldn´t sleep anymore, I guess."
"Ok." Upon seeing the pale and swollen face of his friend he frowned, "You feel sick again?"
"No," he got a negative response when the teen shook his head. Apparently Nick regretted his movement since he rested his hand over his forehead like he was in serious pain, "I´m just thirsty."
AJ’s first intention was to tell his whiny brother that he could get the water himself when he stopped his action. After all, Nick was not feeling very well and it couldn´t hurt if he was a bit nice. Besides, Nick would be a good cover for him if he got accused of going clubbing. "Sure, what do you want? A Coke or Mountain Dew or what?" He´d made his way towards the minibar.
"Just some water."
"Water?" AJ turned around, raising an eyebrow. Mr. Sodapop was asking for water? Man he must be feeling like crap. Picking up the glass from the bed stand he went into the bathroom to fulfill his task. Coming back he noticed that Nick had pulled the pillow over his head. "Man, come on," he sighed as he tried to take away the object from his face. When the misson proved to be pointless he muttered, "Kaos dude, I don´t have the whole day standing here trying to get you to drink." With a sigh he placed the water glass on the bedstand, "Suit yourself," he muttered, walking away from the teen. Then Nick decided to reply.
"My eyes hurt."
"Your eyes do what?" AJ sounded confused.
"They hurt," Nick’s tone was whiny in that way that AJ disliked so much.
"Ok and what do you want me to do about that?"
"The sun is shining in, can you pull the drapes for me?" Nick murmured under the pillow.
Once again the older man’s patience was tested and he was about to tell Nick to do that himself when he re-thought his actions. "Ok." Deep sigh. Pulling the drapes over the window he asked, "That better?"
"Mmmm."
"Good."
Fiddling with the remote control on the tv he tried to find something else but cartoons and children shows and which had Nick mumbling, "Lou plugged so we couldn´t see the porno channel."
"Damn bastard." Life sucked more and more. Glaring over at Nick he asked, "And you let him?"
"Like I had any choice." The voice was getting whiny again. Sitting up in bed Nick ran a hand through his sweaty hair, "Do you have that water for me now?"
"Yes," AJ gestured with his hand towards the bedtable, "It´s there..you can get it."
Nick looked up a bit miserable. "Kevin used to help me hold the glass. My hands are shaking too much." He held out a hand to prove his point.
"Well I´m not Kevin," AJ sneered, turning his back towards the teen who was seriously getting on his nerves now.
"Please.." Nick whined and he wanted to smash the kid’s head. "Or else I´m telling Kev that you went out last night."
Hell, even while being sick Nick could be a pain in the ass. Deciding that he had been a bit too harsh and it would be a good idea to re-think his actions he bit his lip, "Uh..ok..here you go." Holding the glass he helped Nick to drink the water down. And that he did. Before AJ had a chance to count to ten the glass was empty. "You were that thirst?" he asked, a bit puzzled.
"Mmmm..I guess." Nick looked at him again, with pleading eyes, "Bone?"
"Yeah what is it now?" he sneered, just to change his tone to become soft again, "What izzit?"
"Can you get me some more water?"
"What?" AJ croaked not believing what he heard. He was going to say something nasty towards the teen when he noticed that Nick actually looked like crap. His face was all swollen and the eyes were glassy. There was no doubt in his mind. Nick was running a fever. "Dude you sure are thirsty," he commented just to get another shrug back from Nick. "Maybe you shouldn´t drink so much..you´ll get sick." He picked up the glass and walked back to the bathroom, mentally deciding that it was good that the teen drank since he could just as easily be dehydrated. On the other hand the kid was being a pain in the ass, using the situation at hand.
"M'sorry," was heard from the bedroom and AJ felt guilty for thinking bad thoughts about his little brother. "That´s ok," he smiled gently returning back from the bathroom. Patting Nick gently on the cheek he continued, "It´s not your fault that you´re feeling like shit again." Saying nothing Nick took the glass, downing it all without a break.
"Whoaaa, hold on," AJ muttered, taking the glass away from him, "We don´t want you hurling again, do we?" Seeing his friend wince he wished he´d kept his big mouth shut. The last thing he wanted was to spend the last hours cooped up in a small bathroom with a whiny and hurling Kaos. Life could be so much more exciting than that.
