Swollen Issues II - Chapter 77
Brian looked at his sleeping friend warily. It seemed like it was the sixth nap
Nick had taken at the studio today. Each day he napped more and more
often, and trying more and more to skip out of lunch break and saying the he
wasn’t hungry and would rather rest.
This was all starting to get a little overwhelming to Brian and he felt as if he
were being pulled in different directions; Nick on one side and Leighanne on
the other. Although her last visit at the doctors office was routine, Dr.
Hunter voiced his concerns at any thoughts of her traveling away from the
area before she delievered. So now Leighanne was grounded in Georgia and
Brian was stuck in Florida.
Brian jerked when he felt a hand on his shoulder. As he turned toward the
source he felt his heart pounding hard against his chest. “Kevin, you scared
the shit out of me!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Running a tired hand through his tousled hair, Brian let out a shaky breath.
“It’s okay.”
Kevin followed his cousin’s gaze towards the corner of the room where Nick
laid sleeping on the couch. “He pushes himself too hard,” Kevin observed.
Sighing, Brian nodded in agreement. “I know he does. I’m quoting AJ when I
say, Nick’s always been a stubborn jackass.” He smiled in spit of himself and
as suddenly as the smile appeared, it quickly faded.
Kevin looked questionably at Brian. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking his head, Brian walked over toward the table where the song sheets
laid, busying himself with straightening up the stacks. “If the mixing goese
well, this album should be a wrap.”
Kevin placed a hand on the young man’s forearm, stopping him in his task of
cleaning up the studio. “Brian, talk to me, tell me what’s wrong.”
Hesitating only for a moment, Brian quickly shook his head and continued
organizing the piles. Sensing that his cousin had him fixed in his gaze, Brian
finally stopped his work and faced the man with tear filled eyes. “I’m just so
worried about Nick,” he said. The strong southern accent was broken up as
his voice cracked, betraying him. “Was your father ever this tired when he
was sick? I mean, maybe you don’t remember seeing it, but did Aunt Ann
ever say anything about him being so tired?”
Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “Every person is different and cancer is so
different. You’re his patient advocate, maybe you need to get a little more
agressive with Nick.”
Brian shook his head. “I don’t know if he’d want--”
“Brian, Nick made you his patient advocate to make decisions for him when
he wasn’t well enough to make them,” Kevin interrupted. “I think now’s the
time to start.”
“Well, maybe I could suggest something to him, maybe he’ll listen,” Brian
replied.
As Kevin opened his mouth to reply, AJ and Howie pushed their way through
the heavy door that separated the sound room from the control room.
“That was so fuckin’ awesome D.... god,” AJ grinned, slapping a hand on
Howie’s back as they entered the room.
Kevin tossed a warning glare towards the two men while nodding toward the
sleeping Nick.
“Ooops,” AJ whispered. Looking at the blond laying on the couch, he added,
“Sorry Nicky.”
The intercom to the recording room clicked on and a deep voice announced
happily over the microphone, “It’s a wrap guys. Good job!”
Instead of feeling the usual joy from finishing another cut on the album,
each men felt a mixture of finality tinged with sadness. Nick had pushed to
finish this album, and now it was growing closer. Their banter after a
successful recording session would lead towards when they would start a
tour but now only a heavy silence hung in the air, silence that was broken by
an occasional soft snore coming from the corner of the room.
Reluctantly, Brian approached the couch, tapping his sleeping brother lightly
on the shoulder. “Nick? Nick, wake up.”
As soon as his eyelids fluttered open, Nick stretched his body out in a
cat-like manner.
“We’re done recording for the day.”
Rubbing a hand across his eyes, Nick slowly sat up. “No, let’s keep on going,
I’m awake now.”
Kevin looked down at the young man sitting on the edge of the couch, sleep
still fresh on his face. He could only smirk and shake his head.
“Why on Earth do you want to push yourself, Nick?” Brian questioned as he
folded his arms across his chest.
“It’s just something I need to do, I can’t explain it.” As Nick stood up, a
wave of dizziness swept over him and he fell back onto the couch.
“See! You’re pushing yourself way too hard,” Kevin admonished.
“I’m fine...really, just stood up too fast I guess and got a head rush,” Nick
sheepishly replied.
“Nick, come on, I’ll take you back to the house.”
Nick pulled away from Brian as he reached out for an arm. “I’m fine. Let’s
just start recording.” Leaning over towards a box that was situated next to
the couch, Nick started shuffling through sheets of paper. “You’re My Baby
Girl, wasn’t that the next cut we have to work on?”
“The next cut is called Nick is gonna get his ass kicked if he doesn’t listen to
Kev and call it a day,” AJ said pointidly.
Tears of frustration pooled in the young man’s blue eyes.
“Aww, Nicky,” Brian sighed as he quickly placed a comforting hand on his
brother’s shoulder.
As he shook his head, Nick was determined not to let the tears fall. He was
embarrassed that his emotions surfaced but he was also angry with the
limitations his body had posed with the fatigue from the radiation. He kept
thinking he was going to have the side effects of the radiation beat this
time around.
The recording manager, Jake clicked on the intercom to the recording room.
“Shall I plan on seeing you guys tomorrow morning again?”
“I think Nick needs a couple of days to rest,” Kevin decided outloud.
“No, we’ll be here tomorrow morning, nine o’clock,” Nick protested, his voice
waivering.
“Kid, you can barely speak, what makes you think you’ll be better in the
morning?” AJ questioned.
“Nick, you can’t keep pushing yourself, you need to rest,” Howie added,
concern showing in his eyes.
“I have to do this, okay? We’ll be here tomorrow morning,” Nick repeated,
his voice still weak from the overwhelming fatigue.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Music softly playing on the car stereo, AJ guided Nick’s car through the
busy Tampa streets. Thoughts were running through his mind. Flipping the
visor down to shield his eyes from the unrelenting Florida sunshine, AJ
mentally reprimanded himself for forgetting to take his sunglasses with him
when he left the stuido this afternoon.
A smile tugged at his lips when ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ started playing over
the radio. Nick always had the knack for making dumb comments and he
never lived down the remark for stating that Boys II Men was a group of
more than two people.
AJ stole a glance at his sleeping brother but his attention was quickly
jerked toward the road again when he heard a screech of tires on the
pavement.
”FUCK!”
With the steering wheel in a firm grip, AJ stomped both feet onto the brakes, sending the car into a sideways
skid as it fishtailed across the lane. The car managed to stop inches from
the car infront but AJ’s relief was short lived when a quick screeching came from behind, jerking and pushing their car squarely into the rear of the car in front of them.
AJ’s head snapped towards the side, making contact with the window on
the door. His head hit the window so violently, it cracked the glass. Dazed,
AJ blinked his eyes several times, trying to clear his blurred vision. Moans
from the passenger seat jerked AJ into reality.
“Shit.... Nick are you alright?”
Looking over to the passenger seat, AJ found Nick slumped down in the
seat, holding his midsection in a tight grip, tears slipping down his cheeks.
AJ’s head snapped towards the side, making contact with the window on the
door. His head hit the window so violently, it cracked the glass. Dazed, AJ
blinked his eyes several times, trying to clear his blurred vision. Moans from
the passenger seat jerked AJ into reality.
“Shit.... Nick are you alright?”
Looking over to the passenger seat, AJ found Nick slumped down in the seat,
holding his midsection in a tight grip, tears slipping down his cheeks.
Ignoring his own discomfort, AJ undid his seatbelt and leaned over towards
Nick, his hand hovering over the young man, afraid to touch him fearing it
would hurt him somehow.
“Wha.. what happened?” Nick gasped, panting from the pain in his stomach.
“We got rearended.”
The door alarm started chiming when someone opened AJ’s door.
“Man, are you alright? You really got creamed,” a young male voice hollered
into the car.
AJ didn’t reply, he kept his attention focused on Nick’s pained expression.
“I think your Mercedes is totalled---”
“That’s the least of my worries right now,” AJ snapped.
Drawing his hands from the car door as if it burned his skin, the man jerked
upon hearing AJ’s crisp remark.
“It was your fault ya know,” the man grunted.
Drawing a breath in to calm himself before he exploded, AJ kept his
attention on Nick, softly rubbing his shoulder.
“Fuck... aren’t you that one guy? Wait, yeah you’re that one guy from that
group... oh shit, I really don’t feel so good now,” the man remarked and then
suddenly let out an overacted moan to emphasize his ‘pain.’
“Save it for the courts,” AJ rasped.
Laying his head back against the seat, Nick closed his eyes, trying to will the
pain he was feeling out of his stomach. The seat belt had pressed deeply into
his abdomen and started the searing pains once again that had started to die
down before all this happened.
“Help is coming, I’ve called 911,” an authorative voice announced from Brian’s
side. “My name’s Monica and I’m an RN, I’m just going to talk to you until the
paramedics arrive, alright?”
Nick coughed lightly and AJ didn’t turn to look at the woman, but replied,
“Okay.”
“I want you to keep still and try not to move around too much, alright? Do
you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine,” Nick mumbled.
AJ shot a glare at his friend. “The fuck you are.”
“Sh-h-h-h,” the nurse soothed. She gazed into the vehicle at the passenger.
Working as a hospice nurse, she could clearly see that the young man that
was the passenger was ill from something other than the car accident. Her
heart did a leap when she thought she recognized the patient.
Putting her professionalism forward, Monica ignored the possible celebrity
status of her patients and focused on talking to them. She worried about
the passenger going into shock, he seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
“Honey, can you tell me where it hurts?” she asked Nick softly.
Still clutching his stomach, Nick drew a quick breath in. “My stomach.”
The answer was short, almost choked out, followed by a series of light
coughs.
Relief washed over the young nurse when the sounds of the ambulance siren
approached the accident scene. When she stood up to get out of the way of
the ambulance crew, it was the first time she realized the number of people
that had gathered along the street, staring at the scene.
Making her way back to her vehicle, she was suddenly ambushed by a few
photographers and a reporter. A microphone was thrust into her face.
“Mike Meade, WFLZ, can you tell me who those people are in that car?”
Anger flared up in the young nurse’s body, she brushed past the reporter
and the cameras. The man was persistent and followed the woman to her car.
“Is it Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys?”
Monica quickened her pace, only to have the reporters and the camera men
keep up alongside her.
“Did he look bad to you? Was he hurt? Were they drinking?”
Monica stopped suddenly, taking the reporter and the camera men by
surprise, nearly running into her. She spun around, facing the tall, skinny
acne scarred reporter.
“Listen, they were people that were in an accident. That’s it, that’s all I’m
going to say to you. You don’t need to know anything else. You have no
business asking these types of questions. Why don’t you go find a nice human
interest story to cover instead of chasing ambulances and thriving on
people’s misfortunes!” With that stated, Monica felt the baggage lifted off
her shoulders and turned and continued her walk back to her car.
Motioning for the camera to be shut off, the reporter slung his microphone
downwards. “Guess we don’t get anything out of that little bitch,” he
quipped.
“I’m fine.... I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Nick moaned in protest.
“He’s going, don’t let that kid bullshit you,” AJ advised. “Nick you gotta go
get checked out. You’re holding your belly so I know something’s up.”
“It’s just the seatbelt.... I’m fine.”
“Let’s get you out of the car so I can at least do assessments,” the male
paramedic requested.
“Nick just let the man do his job okay? I don’t want to take the rap for not
getting you to the hospital. It’s bad enough I crashed your car.”
“Seriously, I don’t need help,” Nick continued his protest as the man placed a
strong grip on Nick’s forearm. As he led him over towards the grassy curb,
Nick’s legs suddenly gave out.
“Whoa, easy there.”
Embarrassement washed over Nick when he saw the gathering crowd that
moved aside to allow the paramedic and him a spot to sit down. Pulling out a
penlight, the paramedic flashed the light in Nick’s eyes, checking his how his
pupils reacted to light. Throughout the entire assessment, Nick remained
slightly hunched over, his hand protectively placed over his stomach.
“Your stomach giving you a bad time?”
Coughing lightly, Nick winced.
Placing a latex gloved hand on Nick’s shoulder, the paramedic urged him to
lay back onto the grass. Gently touching his patient’s arm, he slowly lifted it
away with soothing words, “I need to check this really quick.”
Before Nick had time to react, the paramedic lifted the shirt up, exposing
his bloated stomach. Frantically reaching for the material, Nick snatched
the shirt from the man’s hands and shoved it back down over his stomach.
“I’m fine,” he growled.
Before the paramedic could be stopped, he suddenly pressed down on Nick’s
stomach, causing a loud gasp and a sudden cry from his patient.
“I really want to have you come in to be checked over by the doc, you could
have internal injuries.”
Before Nick could refuse, he saw AJ’s face come into view.
“You’re going boy, don’t make me call Brian because he can make you
go!”
“You might as well ride along with him to the hospital,” the paramedic stated
as he helped Nick to a standing position. With the paramedic on one side and
AJ on the other, they led the young blonde toward the ambulance.
As they helped Nick into the back of the ambulance, AJ quickly pulled the
cell phone out of his back pocket. “I need to tell them where we will be.
Where are we going?”
“Tampa General.”
Nick decision that him going to the hospital was bad enough, but when he
realized that they would be taking him to a place that was foreign to his
condition, had him upset.
“AJ, let’s just go home, I’m fine,” he weakly protested again before getting
struck with a coughing fit.
“After the doc says you can go home Nick.”
“Yeah, if I can go,” he mumbled.
The paramedic glanced up from his chart. “Did you say something?”
Nick shook his head negatively in reply. “Not a word.”
“I’m going to get an IV started before we leave,” the paramedic stated as he
pulled out an IV kit. Nick opted to keep his mouth closed, knowing full well
that the port could be used for an IV.
The paramedic tried twice before he finally gave up on his patient. “You have
some small veins, I can’t get anything started, they’ll have to do it at the
hospital.”
The man noticed needle scars on Nick’s arms and thoughts of drug abuse
sprung into his head. The shoe fit... rock star, drug users. He never
suspected what was really wrong with his patient. To him, Nick’s pasty
complexion and overall appearance suggested to him that he was hooked on
Heroin or Cocaine.
Cancer never crossed his mind.