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“Hey, Riss, you okay?” asked a voice.
Marissa blinked, finding herself looking up into the eyes of her boyfriend, Shawn Roberts.
“Uh… yeah,” she mumbled, struggling to sit up. He offered her his hand and helped her up.
Marissa looked around the room and realized she was in one of the bedrooms of the house she had been partying in. “What happened?” she asked.
“You passed out. Too much to drink, I guess. Luke and I carried you in here,” Shawn replied.
“How long have I been out?” she asked.
“Just about ten minutes,” he said. “You ready to go home now?”
“Yeah,” she said. She looked up at him. “You driving?”
“Of course,” he said.
She studied him. “How much did you drink?”
Shawn eyed her defensively. “Not enough to pass out,” he said. Her face reddened, and he continued in a kinder tone, “Don’t worry, I can drive.”
“Well… okay,” Marissa said, shrugging. She knew he was drunk too and shouldn’t be driving, but what was her other alternative? Call her parents to come get her? Yeah right. They would kill her!
“Luke and Kaelyn are waiting for us,” Shawn said, taking Marissa’s hand and leading her out of the room, through the large rec room, where people still partied, and to the front door, where Marissa’s best friend, Kaelyn Ross, and her boyfriend Luke Milton, who was Shawn’s best friend, stood.
“Hey, Marissa, are you all right?” Kaelyn asked, her now glassy, baby blue eyes filling with concern.
“I’m fine,” Marissa replied, tucking a lock of her cropped, dark hair behind her ear. “Let’s go.”
Nick Carter bounced around on the sofa in Brian Littrell’s living room, feeling euphoric. He and the rest of his group, the Backstreet Boys, had just finished their concert in Atlanta, Georgia. The concert had gone perfectly, and now that it was done, they had two days off before their next concert in Philadelphia.
The only thing they had to do was perform at the Superbowl the next evening, but he was looking forward to that. Plus, not only was it Superbowl day tomorrow, it was his twenty-first birthday as well, something he had been looking forward to for months.
The Boys didn’t have to leave for Tampa, where the Superbowl was being held, until mid-morning the next day, so for that night, they were to stay in Atlanta. Since Brian happened to live just outside Atlanta, with his new wife, Leighanne, he had invited his four bandmates to stay with him, rather than paying to stay in a hotel.
“Jeez, Nick, calm down,” Kevin Richardson said, chuckling as he watched his younger friend.
“Sorry, I’m just in a great mood,” Nick said, bouncing once more and then settling down on the couch. “So, what are we going to do?”
Brian glanced at his watch. “It’s already almost midnight. What is there to do at this time of night?”
“I dunno, but we gotta do something,” Nick whined.
“We could go clubbing,” AJ McLean suggested. AJ loved to hit the clubs.
“Naw, Bone, I don’t wanna tonight. I’m tired. Maybe tomorrow,” Howie Dorough said.
“Okay,” AJ said with a shrug. “I guess I’m kinda tired too.”
“I’m not!” Nick said. “Come on, guys, let’s do something.”
Brian yawned. “You’re really not tired, Frack?” he asked incredulously. “I know I am.”
“No,” Nick said, shaking his head vigorously. “I’m wide awake. And bored.”
“That’s cause you have such a short attention span,” Kevin said. The rest of the guys chuckled, knowing how true that was.
Nick ignored them. He was used to them picking on him, just because he was the youngest. “Hey, we could watch a movie,” he suggested.
“Okay,” they said half-heartedly.
“Whatcha got, Bri?” Nick asked Brian, scooting onto the floor to poke through Brian’s shelves of movies. He pawed through them all for a few minutes and announced, “I don’t wanna watch any of these. Can we go rent some?”
“Aw, Nick, I don’t really wanna go out again,” Brian said.
“You don’t have to. I’ll go,” Nick replied.
“Well… I dunno, Nick. You don’t really know the area well,” Brian said.
“I’m not stupid. I can find a video store,” Nick whined. “Where’s the closest one?”
Brian sighed, then realizing Nick wasn’t going to back down, he gave Nick directions for the closest store.
“Anyone coming with me?” Nick asked, glancing at the other three. AJ and Howie shook their heads.
“Will you be okay going by yourself, Nick?” Kevin asked. He didn’t want to go either, but he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Nick going all by himself.
Nick rolled his eyes. “Kev, I’m not a kid anymore, okay? I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, sorry,” Kevin said.
“Here, you can take my car,” Brian said, handing the keys to his sporty little BMW to Nick.
“Thanks, Frick,” Nick replied, taking the keys from his hand.
“Wear your jacket. It’s freezing out,” Kevin warned, as Nick started for the door in only his sweater. “And grab your cell too.”
Nick rolled his eyes again, but put on his long coat, dropping his cell phone into one of the pockets. “See you guys later,” he said, and headed out the door.
“Drive care-“ Kevin started to call, but the slam of the door cut him off.
Brian watched his cousin with an amused expression on his face. “Dude, you’ve got to lay off the concerned mother routine,” he said, chuckling.
Kevin cracked a smile, rolling his eyes. Just as Nick was used to being picked on for being the youngest one, Kevin was used to being teased for being the oldest one and the most concerned. But he couldn’t help it. Over the years, he had unofficially become their leader, and he felt it was his job to watch over the rest of them. Even if it did get annoying to them.
Marissa shivered as she stepped out into the cold January night and pulled her coat more tightly around her body.
She followed behind Shawn as he searched for his big old beater of a car. She noticed that he was weaving from side to side when he walked.
“Hey, Luke, look at the way he’s walking,” she whispered, nudging Luke in the side and motioning to Shawn up ahead of them. “He shouldn’t be driving. Do you think you drive us instead?”
“I’m not fit to drive either, Riss,” Luke replied regrettably. Marissa studied him and realized his normally bright blue eyes seemed dull and glassy. He had also had too much to drink.
“Neither am I,” she said, sighing. “Hey, Kae, what about you? How much have you had to drink?”
She shook her head. “Too much,” she said. “I… I couldn’t drive like this.”
Marissa nodded.
“Hey, guys, over here!” Shawn called, beckoning to them from beside his big gray car.
The three of them walked over to him, all the while hoping that Shawn could get them home safely.
Nick turned on the radio in Brian’s car. He found a good rock station and tapped his hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the song that was playing.
As he drove, he tried to remember the directions Brian had given him in order to get to the video store. Where am I supposed to turn again? he wondered, as he drove through an intersection. Was it right there?
He sighed, glancing around, trying to figure out where he was. He opened he hadn’t missed his turn. He kept on driving, and soon, he found himself on a country road. The commercial area had had been driving through earlier was gone, replaced with a stretch of nothing but an occasional house here and there. “Shit, I must have missed the turn,” he muttered aloud. “Now what?”
He sighed, looking for a safe place to turn around. He could make out a house with a long driveway just a little ways up the road and decided he’d turn around there.
“Uh, Shawn, buddy, we’re not in Europe. Could you maybe stay on the right side of the road?” Luke asked, from behind the driver’s seat, as they sped down the stretch of country road.
Shawn threw back his head and laughed wildly, even though Luke’s comment hadn’t been that funny. He jerked the steering wheel to the right, making the car swerve back into the right lane.
Since none of them were wearing their seatbelts, they were thrown against each other. But they all just started cracking up.
“Hey, Riss, turn on the radio,” Kaelyn called from the backseat, next to Luke.
Marissa, who was in the front passenger seat, turned on the radio. Loud rock music blared from the speakers.
“Much better!” Kaelyn yelled over the music.
“C’mere, babe,” Luke said loudly, pulling Kaelyn into his arms.
Shawn glanced back at them, chuckling as he saw them wrap their arms around each other. “Hey, now, none of that,” he cried, swatting at them playfully, as Luke lowered his face to Kaelyn’s.
“Stop it!” Kaelyn squealed, giggling. Shawn laughed as well.
It was Marissa’s scream that cut their laughter short. “Shawn, watch out!”
Shawn whirled around, but not soon enough. He had unknowingly drifted back into the left lane, and suddenly, a small sports car was coming up the road, heading right towards him. He jerked the wheel to the right, trying to swerve to avoid hitting the car. He managed to avoid hitting it head on, but he didn’t get out of the way fast enough.
As the car hurtled toward them, Luke caught site of the driver’s face, illuminated by the headlights of both cars. His eyes met with the driver’s terrified blue ones, as his car, unable to stop, slammed into the side of Shawn’s car.
Luke could feel the metal of the car crushing in on him and the excruciating pain that shot through his body from all directions. He heard the screams of his friends, ringing over the horrible shattering of the windows and crunching of the doors. And then, as his eyes closed and his body fell limp, he heard no more.
***
Nick had slammed on his brakes in a desperate attempt to stop before he hit the oncoming car that was in the wrong lane, but he knew there was not enough time.
As his car smashed into the side of the other one, his whole body was thrown forward, held back from plunging through the windshield only by his seatbelt. But the seatbelt didn’t stop his head from banging into the steering wheel with so much force that immediately, Nick was jolted into unconsciousness.
For Marissa, it seemed everything was going in slow motion. As the other car and struck them, their car had been sent into a spin. The car had spun slowly, the world passing them by in a soft blur of colors. Their screams had echoed through Marissa’s ears, sounding low and distorted.
Now, it had stopped. She sat a moment, staring straight ahead in shock. It was Kaelyn’s scream from the backseat that brought her back to reality.
“Luke!”
Marissa turned in her seat, focusing on the backseat, where Luke was slumped against the window, Kaelyn hovering over him.
“Luke!” Kaelyn screamed again, gripping his shoulder and shaking him, gently at first, and then more urgently.
Marissa stared hard at Luke, trying to see the rise of his chest that would tell him he was still breathing. But he did not move at all.
“Kaelyn,” she started softly. “Is he… is he dead?”
“Luke!” she screamed again, as if she hadn’t even heard Marissa. And maybe she hadn’t.
Marissa noticed blood soaking through Luke’s shirt, and she noticed how pale his skin had become. His lips now held a bluish cast, and she knew he wasn’t breathing. He had probably died instantly with the crash. After all, the other car had hit theirs right where he had been sitting.
“Kaelyn, he’s dead,” Marissa murmured softly, reaching back to rest her trembling hand on her friend’s shoulder. Kaelyn jerked away.
“Luke!”
Marissa sighed and turned back around, her attention turning to Shawn. He had been unconscious, but he was now awakening.
“Riss?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking around.
“You okay, Shawn?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“I… I think so,” he murmured, shifting around in his seat. “You?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I think Kaelyn’s all right too. Physically, I mean. But emotionally, who knows.”
“Huh?”
“Luke’s dead, Shawn,” she said flatly.
A look of shock and horror came over his face, and he whirled around to face the scene that Marissa had seen earlier. Kaelyn was still shaking Luke, screaming his name, as if it would bring him back to life. She seemed oblivious to anything that was going on around her.
“We need to see if the other driver’s okay,” Marissa said, thinking quickly. “Come with me.”
They both climbed out of the car and hurried to the other one. As Marissa approached the car, whose front was badly caved in and smashed, her heart pounded faster. She didn’t see any movement inside.
Shawn got to the car first and peered into the smashed window of the driver’s side. “I don’t think he’s awake,” he said. “We’ve got to get to him.” Without further thought, he smashed his fist into the already cracked window, shattering it in.
Marissa came closer to get a good look at the driver. When she saw him, her heart sank. It was a man, a young man. He was slouched over the steering wheel, motionless. His head was bleeding, and the blood had already begun to seep into his blonde hair, making it a pinkish tint. He didn’t appear to be breathing.
“Oh, my God,” she cried. “Shawn, do something!”
Shawn was in a panic. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, he pleaded silently.
He gently reached down and eased the man’s body back so they could get a front view of him. His eyes were closed. His chest was not rising.
Marissa stared hard at this man, through all the blood on his face, and she gasped. She recognized him!
“Shawn,” she started, taking short, shuddering breaths, “do you know who this is?”
“Huh?” Shawn asked, studying the man again. Oh God, please don’t be someone from school.
“It’s Nick Carter,” she whispered. “From the Backstreet Boys.”
Shawn’s eyes widened as he looked back at the unconscious man. His eyes narrowed as he studied him, and sure enough, Marissa was right. It was Nick.
“Why would he be here? I thought they all lived in Florida or something,” Shawn said.
“I think they had a concert here tonight,” Marissa said softly. “I remember hearing about it on the radio.”
“Oh,” Shawn said, not knowing what else to say or do.
“We need to get help,” she said suddenly. She looked around. “There’s a house a little ways back. Maybe we could use their phone.”
“This dude probably has a cell phone,” Shawn said, motioning to Nick. “I mean, he’s a celeb, right?”
Marissa shrugged. “Yeah, probably so. Let’s check.”
They were unable to get any of the doors open, so Shawn went around and smashed in the front passenger window. They searched around, but couldn’t find anything.
“What about in his coat pockets or something?” Marissa suggested.
Shawn nodded and began patting the pockets of the coat Nick had on, searching for a cell phone. “You gonna just stand there or help me?” he asked Marissa harshly.
“I… I don’t wanna touch him,” she whispered, her voice faltering, tears rising in her eyes.
“Fine,” Shawn snapped. Suddenly he exclaimed, “here we go!” He pulled a cell phone out of one of the pockets, turned it on and quickly dialed 911. He shortly explained what had happened and where they were, then hung up. And then they waited.