Nursing his injured finger, he threw his luggage on the floor and flopped down on the bed, searching for something on TV with his good hand.
“News…news…fashion show…news…us…news…US?”
He flipped it back to the channel with them on it. He could understand a few words the guy was saying because of the song they’d recorded in Italian, but the guy was talking so fast he could barely catch what he did know.
“Kevin Richardson and Nick Carter…Backstreet Boys…Versace…next week…”
“Damnit! Why didn’t I pay more attention to that guy?”
He turned off the TV as one of their videos came on. Getting up, he accidentally hit his injured finger. Letting out a yelp, he ran to the bathroom to run cold water over his finger.
“What’s wrong with you?” Kevin asked from the doorway.
“I hurt my finger.”
“Poor baby,” he said as he sat on the bed and turned on the TV.
“I already checked, there’s nothing on but news, fashion shows, and us. Why don’t we try HBO?”
Kevin stopped on an American news channel where Ericka’s picture was plastered on the screen.
“Model/Actress Ericka Mancini had to cancel some of her scheduled shoots with Calvin Klein due to a tragic car accident that claimed the life of her father and critically injured her sister. We were unable to reach Ms. Mancini for a comment, but her agent released a statement saying that she would be working again very shortly. That’s the news for now. I’m Gillian McCoy.”
Kevin stared at the TV in disbelief. Nick sat by him and put his arm around him.
“Are you okay Kev?” he asked, seeing the pain in his friend’s eyes.
“Fine,” he said hoarsely.
“Why don’t you get some sleep? You can stay here, I’ve got to meet Sam in 20 minutes.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Kevin laid down and curled up into a ball. Looking at him, Nick couldn’t believe that it was Kevin lying there.
He walked out of the room and left the hotel to meet Sam at the airport.