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Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four



Jessica managed to meet the guys in the main lobby of the hospital before they tried to go to Nick’s room. Each one of them hugged Jess hello when they came in.

Once all of the guys were present, Jess gathered them in a corner of the waiting room.

“Nick is doing okay. I’m sure you’ve already guessed that he finally pushed himself to the edge and he suffering from exhaustion. The doctor admitted him for strict bedrest so that means absolutely no visitors and no distractions whatsoever.”

“How long are they keeping him?” Brian asked Jess.

“He told me at least three maybe four days. They were gonna keep him on some IV’s for dehydration and I guess he was gonna have to be on some stuff to relax him and help him to sleep so it sounds to me like he will be out of it for awhile.” Jess told them.

No one spoke as they let the news soak in. Each were thinking about Nick and if this will be the thing that will cure him once and for all.

“Jess, do you want me to take you back to get Nick’s car?” AJ asked quietly.

“Yeah, if you can I would appreciate it, thanks AJ.” Jess replied. She wanted to desperately to go and see Nick, but visitors of any type were strictly forbidden. She would be treated like a fan that tried to get into his room.

In his room, Nick laid back into the pillows and looked wearily at his surroundings of the private room. He sighed deeply. A nurse was in the room preparing to administer a medication the doctor prescribed to help Nick relax and sleep. Nick didn’t want anything and tried to refuse it.

“You know that if you don’t take the help you are supposed to be getting, this will only extend your hospital stay, do you want that?” the nurse said as she looked directly into Nick’s eyes.

“Oh, go ahead and get it overwith then.” Nick said reluctantly. His voice cracked as he spoke.

The nurse injected the medication directly into the IV line. Nick started to feel a warm burning sensation go down into his arm where the IV started. Suddenly, his eyes felt droopy and he could not keep them open. Nick drifted off to sleep.

Jess and AJ got to the parking lot in the Orlando arena in record time. Jess knew that AJ had a reputation for being a speed deamon, but now she found out for herself first hand.

“Um, thanks for the lift, AJ.” Jess said as she opened the car door.

“You’re welcome. Are you gonna be alright Jess? I mean, do you need anything, anything at all?” AJ looked at Jess over the top of his sunglasses.

“No, I think it’ll be okay. I’ll take Nick’s car back to his place and park it in the garage and go home.” Jess really hated the sound of just going home and not seeing Nick at all. It was tearing her up inside. She felt as if he was gone forever.

“Ya know, Jess, you really don’t sound convincing to me. Just for the hell of it, I am gonna follow you to Nick’s, okay?” AJ took a deep long look at Jess waiting for her answer.

“Suit yourself.” Jess said as she closed the car door. Walking over to the forest green Durango, Jess hit the car alarm button and jumped even though she knew the beep of the alarm being disconnected was going to happen.

She opened the car door and threw her jacket into the passenger seat. It was weird, she thought to herself, the car smelled so much like Nick, she never noticed that before. It was a warm pleasant feeling that enveloped her as she started the car up. It made her miss Nick even more.

Jess absently turned the radio up and listened to the songs that played. Most of the songs on the radio stirred memories of times that Nick and she shared when a particular song was on.

The two hour drive back to Tampa was going to seem to take forever in the night. Jess could see AJ’s headlights in the distance, for a brief moment, it appeared that the lights were swerving towards the middle lane and then to the shoulder of the road. Jess could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand out. There was a rest area up ahead and she did not hesitate to put her directional lights on and exited. Thankfully, AJ followed her move and pulled into the rest area right behind her. As Jess parked the vehicle, she sat and waited for AJ to pull in the spot beside her.

Jess rolled her window down, “Hey, sleepyhead, are you gonna be able to stay awake?”

“Believe me, I am really awake now.” AJ replied.

“You fell asleep didn’t you?” Jess asked.

“Yup.” was AJ’s brief reply.

“Are you gonna be alright, or shall we rest for a bit so I don’t lose you too?” Jess was concerned.

“Naw, I’ll be okay.” AJ insisted.

“Let’s go for a walk and get a soda, my treat, okay?” Jess got out of the durango and tried to encourage AJ to get out and stretch his legs.

AJ got out of the car reluctantly. He wanted to go home and go to bed, bad part of it was that he lived in Orlando, not Tampa. Jess had already told AJ that he could either stay at Nick’s or come to her place. AJ still hadn’t told her of his plans yet.

“It’s a nice night out, isn’t it?” Jess asked as they walked on the sidewalk towards the building.

“Yeah, pretty nice for um, 4 am.” AJ said as he looked at his watch.

“Man, you sure are a grumpy bastard late at night, has anyone ever told you that?” Jess said.

“Ah, yeah, I’ve been told that I am an asshole if I don’t have a beer in my hand and I am up at this hour of the night, but what the hell.” AJ smiled as he replied.

Jess and AJ took in the beautiful Florida night sky. It was even nicer because they were out in public and there wasn’t a soul around that was bothering AJ.

“I guess it don’t get better than this.” AJ said as he settled back onto a bench.

“I’m gonna grab a couple of sodas, I will be back in a sec.” Jess called back over her shoulder.

“Make sure mine is leaded.” AJ called out to her.

Jess waived back as she walked towards the vending machine. She usually preferred pepsi, but she knew that coke would have the stronger of the two with the caffeine so she bought two cokes.

AJ laid back and looked up at the stars while Jess walked to the vending machine. He was deep in thought when she handed the pop over to him.

“Here, you really need this.” Jess said as she held the bottle out to him.

Taking the bottle of coke, AJ thanked Jess. He drank almost half of it before he stopped for air.

“Man, you were thirsty!” Jess remarked to him.

AJ smiled as he looked at the half full bottle.

“Naw, I just get so dehydrated after we do a concert, and caffeine is the worst thing to drink when you are dehydrated, but I am really beat.” AJ replied.

“I understand fully,” Jess said.

As AJ finished off his bottle, he stood up. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna splash some cold water in my eyes.”

“Please do, I don’t want to scrape your ass off the side of the road.” Jess laughed as she watched AJ walk into the bathrooms.

Sitting by herself on the bench, Jess let her mind wander to how Nick was. She was hoping that this would be the thing that would cure Nick from his exhaustion. He was always trying to please others and put himself in last before his own needs. It finally cost him when he collapsed on stage during the concert. Jess couldn’t begin to imagine the rumors that would soon begin to circulate from this. She was almost afraid of what was going to leaked into the press. As a car pulled into the parking lot, Jess felt a little uneasy and looked warily towards the building hoping that AJ would be walking out.

An older couple got out of the car, and Jessica relaxed back onto the bench. It was so late at night she felt uncomfortable about sitting outside a rest area by herself. She laughed to herself as she saw AJ nearly run into the old man that was walking into the bathrooms. AJ kind of did a slight nod as to appologize and did a half run towards the bench where Jess was sitting.

“Are you feeling better now?” Jess asked as AJ sat down next to her.

“Yeah, I’m ready to run the quarter mile, ha.” AJ replied dryly.

“Yeah, right.” Jess rolled her eyes when she looked at him. “Did you want a coke for the road, something cold and wet to drink in case you start getting sleepy again?” Jess asked.

AJ thought about the idea for a moment. “Yeah, that does sound good, did you want me to grab one for you too?”

“Nope, I still have almost a full bottle, I can’t drink coke as fast as you.” Jess said as she looked at her bottle.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” AJ got up off the bench and was reaching for his wallet as he walked towards the vending machines.

Jess couldn’t help but think about how lucky Nick was to have such good friends that will help out with all of the problems he has had lately. AJ was a hard person to get to know right at first, but now Jess felt comfortable with him as she did with the rest of the guys in the group.

Chapter 35