Beside him sat his cousin hunched, looking forlorn as he fought the panic that was flaring up inside of him, "What are we going to do?"
"I wish I knew," Kevin said with a sigh, "Man if I had known that he was this bad off I would have hauled his ass to the doctor before we got on this bus. I should never had let him go."
Brian frowned, "Like you would´ve something to say regarding this matter." Looking down at his little brother’s pasty gray complexion he added, "Nick..buddy..Frack you gotta get up now. You can´t lay here we have to move you and you´re not exactly a feather you know."
Upon hearing this Kevin shook his head, "Smart move their buddy, telling a man thats passed out that he’s too heavy to lift."
"That´s not what I meant," Brian defended himself then shrugged, "besides what does it matter? I mean it´s not like he can hear me anyway."
Sighing Kevin choose not to say anything, instead rose, getting ready to move his friend. "Ok, well we have to get him back to the bunk since he can´t lay here on the bus floor. He´ll get sick."
"Like he isn´t that already," Brian quipped getting an eye from his cousin. "Ok, ok I´ll take his legs then." With that he moved to help. Gasping as he felt the teens heavy body he blurted out, "Shit he´s getting heavy. He needs to loose some weight, it´s like carrying lead."
"Mmmm," Kevin agreed before adding, "Lets put him in my bunk incase he gets sick. It´s much closer to the bathroom." Brian nodded affirmative, making lots of noises in the process.
Suddenly a hoarse voice broke the silence.
"What the fuck are you two doing? Remodeling?" It was AJ who stuck his head out through the curtains on the top level bunkbed, looking like he suffered from a serious case of bedhair and puffy eyes. "Shut up..there is people trying to sleep here," he muttered squinting against the light. Suddenly spotting the two men who laid Nick on Kevin’s bed he got fully awake. "And may I ask what the hell you´re doing carrying Nick around in the middle of the night like he was some kind of baby? What did you do? Change diapers?" He chuckled at his own joke.
"Oh shut it," Brian felt irritated over the snide remark. "What do you think we´re doing?" he hissed back before turning back to Kevin with a much nicer tone, "We have to do something to wake him up."
"Ok," AJ said when he got no reply, "I´ll re-phrase it. What´s the matter with Kaos? Did he get drunk or high or something?"
Brian shot him a look, "Get real." He sighed before saying, "No he didn´t get drunk or anything..can´t you see that he fainted?" Looking at AJ who seemed surprised he added with disgust, "Man you can sometimes be so stupid." With no further delay he started to take off Nick’s sneakers.
The words struck AJ in the back, making im jump down from his bunk, "Whoaa are you actually telling me that he passed out?" Twirling around them like it was the news of the day, being very annoying he continued, "I told you he was feeling off didn´t I? But did any of you dickheads listen? NOOO!!" There were a slight grin of triumph, "Maybe next time you’d learn to listen to Doctor McLean before deciding that I´m wrong and overexaggurating."
"Ohhh Please," Kevin groaned. "There’s gonna be no next time, that I will see to."
"Awww come on, it´s Kaos we´re talking about. There will always be a next time!"
"Ok, ok Bone you made your point." Kevin held up a hand before turning back to his cousin, "Bri can you get me a wet towel. I think he’s starting to wake up."
True to his words there was a small stir on the bed.
"Sure," Brian hurried towards the small kitchenette and then yelled back, "You want me to get him some water too?"
Kevin didn´t have a chance to answer since "Dr. McLean" was too fast, "You´re shitting me? More water? Heck he doesn´t need that since he is practically drowning in his own piss!"
Brian groaned and Kevin glared hard. "That was gross and uncalled for."
"But all so true.." AJ started when he got interrupted by that the small bathroom door opening and Howie came out with a Rolling Stone magazine in his hand.
"What in Earth’s name are you all doing up at this hour? And what is all this noise about?" Looking at AJ he said, "Why did you have to be so gross saying that Nick was drowning in his own." There were a cough, "you know.."
"Piss you mean?"AJ filled in with a grin, getting another eye from Kevin as well as a headshake, "Oh stop it, I have evidence that something is not right to prove it too."
"Since when did you start to take such concern for Nick’s bathrooms habits AJ?" Kevin asked sick and tired of the younger man’s bullshit.
"Since I noticed that there are just inputs and no outputs, especially since we´re talking about Nick here, the man that always has to be ten feet from a toilet." He stuck his toungue out at his big brother, changing his attention to Howie he continued, "Don´t tell me that you haven´t noticed how much water he drinks and how little he pisses?"
Howie shrugged. "I can´t say that I have. No!"
The younger man shook his head, "Man I tell you something is seriously messed up with this dude."
"Something?" the Latino couldn´t help but smile. "Don´t you mean everything?"
"Huh?"
Upon noticing that his jokes were not appreciated he continued in a more serious tone, "So what happened and where is the man in question?"
"He passed out."
"What?" Howie looked like he´d seen a ghost. Turning to Kevin that was checking Nick’s pulse, he asked, "Is it something serious? Should we call a doctor?"
Kevin shrugged, "Who knows? If you two dweebs could shut up for a moment so I can take the pulse I would be grateful."
"Is it strong?" Brian asked when his cousin over and over again tried to count the beating.
"Yes. But I could concentrait so much better if you could shut up for a moment so I can actually tell if he has a pulse or not." The older man was irritated.
"You don´t have to do that Kev," a weak voice piped up and they looked down to see Nick’s blue eyes staring back at him.
"Nick! How are you doing?" Kevin’s voice was soft and the others soon followed with different comments to express their concern and relief that their little brother had finally woken up.
"Yeah Kaos, you´re doing any better? That sick looking color looks better."
"I´m ok." Nick’s hand went up to his forehead, "Shit my head hurts like a bitch."
"Don´t cuss," Kevin reprimanded him.
After the guys had told him what happened Nick looked around in the room, squinting with eyes against the bright light. "Can you turn that lamp off? It hurts my eyes."
"Sure."
Brian did as he asked to. When it was dark again in the bunk Nick added, "What are all of you doing here?"
"What do you think we´re doing?" AJ hissed, pretending to be annoyed over the situation when he in reality felt very relieved to see his brother alive and breathing again. For a second there he had been scared that there was more than meets the eye. "We´re having a ball..what else."
"Smart ass."
AJ grinned, turning to the others, "See Kaos is getting fine again. He knows how to be a smartmouth."
The others shot him a look of disgust but Kevin was the one to make a comment, "Ha ha ha very funny." He wasn´t amused at all. Looking down at the teen he said with seriousness, "You sure that you´re really allright? I mean you still look kind of pale. Maybe we should take you to a hospital after all."
"No," Nick shook his head, instantly regretting his movement. Biting down hard on his bottom lip he mumbled, "I´m just tired from the show and all..and my back hurts a bit too."
"Back?" This time it was Howie’s turn to add to the conversation. "I thought you said it was your head."
"Yeah that one too," Nick sighed.
"Are you sure you´re referring to the right head? AJ grinned getting a laugh back.
"Don´t say stuff like that," Nick giggled, holding his head, "Ouch my head hurts like a mutha."
"Nick!" Kevin frowned, "I said stop cussing!"
"I´m just stating facts," Nick snorted.
Brian shook his head, not amused at all. "Kev might be right. This can be something serious and maybe you should go to a hospital. After all you´re passing blood!"
There were an hissing sound in the hair as the rest took in what Brian was saying. Nick on the other hand could have given anything for stopping his friend to end the sentence. The look he gave was ready to kill. "That’s none of your business! You mind your own matters instead of butting into mine!"
But none of the others took concern over what he said and Howie was the first one to respond, "Nicky, urinating blood is not something to take lightly. That sounds pretty serious."
"It´s nothing," the teen shrugged,"The doctor said that it´s something that can happen and it´s just my damned urinary infection that´s making itself known." He was not in a mood to talk about his health, infact he desperately wanted to stop the guys from nagging so much.
"Will you say it´s nothing when your kidneys stop functioning too?" AJ snarled, glaring at his brother.
"THAT was a bit overexaggurated." Kevin was coming for Nick’s defense when he saw how cross Nick was getting. This conversation was going nowhere. Turning to Brian he said, "I think you should get Johnny or Lou to get a doctor for an examination. That way we can rule out anything serious. And he can get a red card."
"God I swear you two are such mother hens. I think I can manage just fine without your interference." Nick wanted to object even stronger but somehow he didn´t find the strength to do so. "For once I agree with B'rok." AJ said, getting a confused expression from the man in question, "Oh don´t look so surprised," the rebel added, "I love ya don´t you know..Dogface." With a grin he hit his little brother in his head with the magazine.
The teen was not amused and he was trying to hit back when seering pain ripped through his stomach, making him fold over in bed. This caused Kevin to more or less bark, "Go get Johnny. Fast!"
Brian was down the aisle before anyone could twitch. He wasn´t about to miss an opportunity like this. Noticing the black manager who seemed engrossed in typing a message on his laptop he patted his shoulder, "Johnny you gotta come!"
"Huh?" The manager looked up in surprise. What was Littrell doing up this time of the night? Looking like he was scared out of his witts?
"It´s about Nick..you gotta come..it´s urgent. He passed out and.." He didn´t have a chance to end the sentence before Johnny interrupted him.
"Damn what are you saying boy?" Standing up he muttered to himself, "That Carter kid is giving me gray hair!" Noticing the disgust in the other man’s face he added quickly, "Ok where is he?" With no further hesitation Brian lead the way as they hurried down the aisle.
Upon entering the scene Johnny instantly walked to Nick, relieved to see that he wasn´t as bad off as Brian had made it look. "Damn kid, you gave me a scare." Turning towards the oldest member he said,"Ok Richardson, spill the beans. What happened?"
"He passed out.." Kevin started but got cut off by an impatient AJ.
"Yeah and don´t forget that he is pissing blood too and he.."
The younger man didn´t get to finish before Johnny called out, "What are you saying boy? Is he pissing blood?"
"Yeah..that was what I told you, wasn´t it?" AJ snarled a bit irritated over being cut off all the time.
"Holy shit, how long has this been going on?"
"Not very long," Nick piped up as they were all looking at him for answers. "The doctor said.."
"That quack you mean," Brian interupted sourly, giving Johnny a hard glare so the manager looked away.
"Brian," Kevin had to correct his cousin.
"Well he was a quack..you said that yourself."
"Ok..ok get to the point now." Johnny was starting to loose his patience. Turning to Nick he urged him to go on, "So how long would you say that you have been pissing blood?"
"I didn´t say. Brian said it."
"Stuuupid," AJ yelled, hitting Nick with a pillow in his head without thinking what he was doing, "he wanted to know HOW long you have been doing that."
"Oh."
"God Kaos sometimes you can be a dumbfuck," AJ hissed getting an irritated glare from the rest. "What? I´m just stating facts..don´t blame me." the rebel defended himself.
"Ok if you´re done entertaining Alexander, maybe we can cut down to the point," Johnny muttered, "So what other sympthoms are there?"
"Not that again," Nick was seriously tired of the guys always questioning him about his health. He sighed heavily before continuing, "Ask Brian I told him about it."
Johnny sighed. God this Carter kid was a handful. But he felt worried too. There were something seriously wrong with the kid and he felt sorry for him. He wasn´t as heartless as they thought and being a dad he could see that Nick was not in any shape or form to perform this last show. As a matter of fact if he could decide he would sent his ass to a hospital. He didn´t like the gray complexion or the fact that he was swollen in his face in a strange way. It couldn´t all be overweight like Lou had stated, could it?
The problem was that he was not in charge. Lou had told him that the board was not happy with the last tour and the fact that Nick had not given his best preformance. He´d tried, heck even Lou tried to tell them that the kid had been a victim for one disease after the other but they had not bought it. The sponsors were starting to get anxious and his management had threatened to pull the plug on them as road managers if they cancelled a show. The board had even said that not ONE of the guys were to be missing. He´d tried to talk to them, get them to understand the value off taking care of the guy’s health but when no one listened or he just got crap for it he shut his mouth for now. The sponsors were threatening to leave and without them they wouldn´t earn any money so therefore Johnny’s task was to make them happy. Even if it meant that he had to step on the guy’s health to keep the business going.
This time however he had to talk Lou into getting a red card. It would not be an easy task, but he just had to do it. There were no other options. The kid was sick for real and damned if he wanted to have Bob and Jane Carter on his case. A lawsuit stuck up in his ass was not something he favored. Especially since his gut instinct told him that something was going on. Something bad!
"I´m telling you. There’s something seriously wrong with the kid and we can´t neglect it." Johnny was doing his best to get Lou to understand that he would not be in charge if something would happen with the Carter kid. No matter what, the boy was not worth geting sued over.
"The ony thing that is wrong with the kid is that he eats too much and has a bad attitude about things. If he didn´t have such a talant I would have kicked him out of the group since he is mostly a hassel anyway." Lou was not happy with Johnny’s demand that Nick should be taken to a hospital for an examination. "Besides IF the kid is sick, which I highly doubt since he can be such a good actor in getting out of things, he can go to a doctor when we get backs on American soil, which is just a couple of days away." The manager snorted, "I don´t think that the "illness" you tell me he is suffering from could be that bad, after all the kid is still eating like there is not a problem, isn´t he?" The manager pointed at the restaurant counter were Nick more or less hanged waiting for his breakfast to arrive. They had done a small stop before their arrival in Rome and the awaiting tv show that they were to attend.
Following Lou’s fat finger his eyes too fell on Nick and what he saw wasn´t as reassuring. The teen was much too pale that would be good for him and he had heavy dark bags under his eyes due to a lack of sleep. What troubled him was also that Nick looked all swollen in his face and that his posture was hunched like it hurt too much to stand up straight. The fact that he was passing blood didn´t make the outlook any better either.
If only he could get his boss to understand that if they were not careful they could be in for a sue. After all they were the one that were in charge for the kid wether they liked it or not!
"But Lou," Johnny tried, "He´s actually passing blood and this is not something to take lightly, especially since he was in for that kidney injury a few weeks ago."
"So?" Lou snorted. "I don´t care if the kid is dying he is still NOT getting a red card. The board was very specific that they wanted FIVE guys on stage this last concert. And I´m sure that Nick can do this last show since he will have a couple of weeks rest afterwards. That is the business. It´s hard and if he´s being a sissy and can´t cope, he has no place in this business anyway." The manager was harsh with his words.
"So you´re saying that you don´t care if the kid collapses or not?" Johnny tone was getting heated.
"If you wanna put it like that, yeah!" Lou took another bite of his omelette, "This is really good," he grinned, "these Italians really knows how to cook."
Johnny snorted, not listening to the manager. "This is not good. First you give that kid the "laxative cure" to get his weight down and then you neglect his health when he is showing clear signs that something is not right and could be serious. Don´t you care that we can get sued?"
"Sued?" Lou let out a short laugh. He apparead amused. "Who would sue us and for what? No one knows about this story anyway.No one can be this stupid to say anything." The laughter suddenly stopped and his eyes changed like he was reminded of something and instead they became hard. "I hope you´re not thinking of telling anyone about this. Because if you are you better re-think your thoughts since you´ll never know what could happen." There was threat in his tone.
Johnny’s chin dropped in surprise. "What are you saying? Are you threatening me?"
"No," Lou looked up from his food, his eyes cold. "I´m just stating that you should watch what you´re saying since you have your own skeletons in the closet and I don´t think you want them dug out, do you?" There was a hard glare.
"What skeletons?" There were a hint of hesitation in the road manager’s voice.
Lou put the fork down, and then licked his fingers off from the grease that came from the fried chicken wings, before saying, "Let me put it this way..I don´t think it would be good publicity for you to be seen on the headlines with Mr. Playboy himself, Hugh Hefner, hugging a bunch of underaged girls in a jaccuzzi. I don´t think that this is very appropriate for a teen boyband manager and the public would not take easy upon it either!"
"Oh no," Johnny shook his head, shocked over Lou’s words, "You can´t do that. Those pics are over ten years old." Rubbing his face he muttered, "Donna would leave me."
Lou chuckled and then put his fat hand on the manager’s shoulder, "Oh come on. It ain´t that bad." Looking up Johnny shrugged away, not saying anything as the head manager continued, "All you have to do is not stick your nose into others people’s business." Shaking his head Johnny mumbled, "You´re telling me to keep quiet so you can continue to torture the kid even though you know that he should get a red card and have no business standing on a scene. You´re doing this just for the money!" With a snort he pushed his plate with the scrambled eggs aside, "Sometimes you´re too much."
"I´ll take that as a compliment," Lou grinned stuffing another bite of the swirling greasy bacon into his mouth. Pointing with this fork at Johnny’s plate he continued, "If you´re not gonna eat that one, I´ll take it."
Johnny looked up, snorted and then said with disgust, "Go ahead take it, I´m not hungry. Your talk is getting me sick anyway." He folded his napkin and then said, "I´m going out to get a cigarette. I need to think." With that he stood up and walked briskly out from the restaurant. Feeling bad that he had let the guys down one more time, but there was not much he could do since Lou had him trapped. Now and forever.
