Swollen Issues II - Chapter Six
"Maybe you can talk some sense into his thick skull
Brian, God knows I've tried," Jane Carter remarked as
she paced the floor of the hotel suite her husband and
she were sharing.
"What exactly did Nick say to you, Mrs. Carter?" Brian
questioned as he watched Nick's mother pace.
Jane stopped abruptly and turned to face Brian. "Oh,
it was just so crazy, not normal of Nick at all. I'm
really worried about him. He was almost fighting us
like a wild animal about getting on the plane to begin
with."
A slight grin crossed Brian's lips. "Well, you know
Nick---"
She interupted, "No, it wasn't a fear of flying fight
it was more like an 'I don't want to Aspen' fight. It
was like he just simply didn't want to have anything
to do with us at all. I just don't understand Nick
anymore. And during the entire flight he just gave us
almost evil looks and buried his face in either comic
books or completely ignored any attempts at
conversations with headphones on."
"Again, Mrs. Carter, that's Nick. I honestly don't see
anything unusual about this," Brian stated in Nick's
defense.
The smile on Brian's face vanished when he saw the
tears brimming in the woman's eyes, a look of
despiration on her face.
"If you think it will help, I can talk to Nick and see
what's wrong," Brian suggested as he started to stand.
"Brian, don't you suspect something is wrong? Am I
just being paranoid or crazy?"
"You're not being crazy or paranoid, you're concerned
about Nick, as we all are. I have been suspecting
something is wrong for a few months, but I haven't
really said anything to Nick up to this point."
Jane turned to face Brian. "You have? Are you
suspecting drug use too?"
Brian paled when he heard Jane's accusations.
"N-no, not drug use, that thought never came into my
mind at all," he stammered.
"Oh god," Jane gasped, "what are you suspecting?"
"Well, I've been worried that Nick might be bullemic,"
Brian stated quietly.
"Bullemic?" Jane looked at Brian, wide-eyed.
"Well, the pieces kinda fit. I remember Nick starting
to throw up on the way to Japan and then I really
noticed that he was throwing up more so after eating.
Then he said he had the mumps, but gosh, it looked
like Nick was gaining weight all over at first and
mumps don't make you gain weight." Brian leaned closer
to Jane, as if Nick was in the room and he didn't want
him to hear what he was saying. "Can't you see how big
he's gotten over the past two months? And he's
carrying it all in his stomach too."
As she placed her hand over her mouth, Jane nodded in
agreement.
"Brian, you should have seen the state he was in when
I went to his house after he backed out of Howie's
cruise. He looked so depressed, the house was dark and
filthy, I'm thinking drugs but yes, he does look like
he's let himself go, and it's been talked about in the
press too."
Brian pulled Jane Carter into a tight hug. "I'll talk
to him, see if I can get through to him, don't worry,
okay? It's going to be alright."
"Thanks Brian."
*~*~*~*~*
Almost immediately after Brian knocked on the door, it
was answered by a worried looking Aaron.
"Hi Brian," he sighed.
"Hey kiddo, I need to talk to Nick in private, is it
okay?" Brian asked as he messed up the younger boys
hair.
Aaron shrugged his shoulders as he slipped between
Brian and the open door. "Good luck, he won't talk to
me."
Brian entered the hotel room finding Nick laying in
bed, back propped up with pillows, staring at the
television set.
"Hey buddy, what's on ESPN?" Brian asked, searching
for an opening to a converstation with Nick. The only
reply Brian received was no acknowledgement of the
question, Nick just slowly blinking his eyes, staring
at the screen.
Exasperated, Brian took a chair from the corner of the
room, slapped the television set off with the back of
his hand. Without missing a beat, Brian took the chair
and positioned it directly in front of Nick.
"Okay, something's bothering you and the only way I
can help you is to talk to you and you talk to me,"
Brian stated in a calm voice.
Nick folded his arms across his chest, set his jaw and
glared at his best friend.
"Okay, I see you're not going to be easy to get to
this time. Please Nick, let me hlep you. I can't help
you if you don't tell me what's wrong. I'm worried
about you," Brian pleaded.
After a few minutes of Brian's begging and practically
whining to Nick, he finally was rewarded.
"Mom sent you down here."
Nick's voice was void of emotion, his eyes still
contained an angry glare, the arms still folded.
Brian leaned forward. "I'm not gonna lie to you, she
hinted, but I offered to come down and talk to you.
We're just worried about you buddy, I'm seriously
worried sick."
Nick's 'tough guy' mode didn't last long as tears
started slipping down his cheeks.
"Aww Nick, come on, please talk, I won't jump to
conclusions or make judgements," Brian soothed.
Wiping the tears away from his eyes, Nick sighed. "I-I
d-don't kn-now."
Taking a deep breath, Nick tried to calm his emotions.
When he got upset, he always stuttered.
"It's okay Nick, I'm listening," Brian said softly.
"Everyone thinks I'm doing drugs. I'm not. Why does
everyone think I'm doing drugs?"
"I don't."
Finally Nick toko the hardened glare from his eyes and
looked directly at Brian. "You don't?"
Brian shook his head.
"Then what do you think is wrong, cause obviously you
must think something's wrong," Nick spat.
That was famous for Nick, put his walls of defense
around him if someone came close to figuring out what
was bugging him when he was upset or angry.
"You want me to be honest with you, right?"
"No, I want you to lie to me," Nick replied in a voice
thick with sarcasm.
"I think you're bullemic," Brian replied, barely able
to look Nick in the eyes.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh? I wished I was Brian, maybe
then I could lose this," he pulled his sweater away
from his stomach for emphasis.
"You've been trying to lose weight though, right?"
"No, not really. I mean Bruce yelled about eating
lettuce and crap, but I honestly haven't done much of
anything about it. I mean, I would love to try but you
would think throwing up at least twice a day would
have made me thinner and all it's done for me is made
my stomach tender and anything I do manage to keep
down sticks to my fucking waist. I don't know why. I'm
sick and it's got to have something to do with the
mumps I got in Japan. No one is listening to me, they
just accuse me of being on drugs. I'm sick of fighting
with everyone. I just want everyone to leave me
alone."
"Aww Nick," Brian reached out to put a hand on Nick's
shoulder.
Nick swatted the hand away. "Leave me alone."
"Nick?"
The angry glare was once again on his face, jaw set,
arms folded tightly across his chest. The window of
getting through to him was once again closed.
Brian stood up and placed the chair back into the
corner. "Call me Nick when you're ready to talk again,
okay? I'm here to listen to you, alright?"
Reluctantly, Brian left the room. Thoughts were
running through his mind as to who could possibly get
through to Nick. Someone needed to get him to get the
help he was in desperate need of but who could he turn
to before it's too late?
Nick swallowed hard as the door clicked shut. "Why
didn't I just tell Brian everything?" he wondered. "No
one will listen to my problems, Brian wouldn't
understand either," Nick mumbled.