FEVER PITCH
I don't know if it was just because everyone was making such a huge deal about it or what, but it seemed like the second the other guys and their girls were worrying about me, I started feeling like crap and I broke into a sweat that was unbelievable. AJ sat as far away from me as physically possible in the tight limousine, shielding himself with Rochelle. He'd always been phobic of body fluid of any kind - especially blood and spit - and the sweat pouring off me like I was a faucet was freaking him out.
Leigh, meanwhile, had taken over the mommy role from Leighanne, and had my head in her lap, while I laid across the back seat, sticking poor Howie with having my legs across his lap. He stared at my knees like I was a foreign substance and kept his hands tight to his sides while Leigh brushed the hair out of my face and held an actual damp face cloth to my forehead. Leighanne was on the phone with the hospital, Brian flipping through an English-Japanese book, trying to find phrases for her to read to them. "I can't find 'a Backstreet Boy is coming and we need a private room'," he complained.
"Watashi wa pubraibetorumo o hitsuyo to suru," said Rochelle.
Leighanne and Brian looked at her, dumbfounded. "Hold on," Leighanne said into the phone.
"Why the hell aren't you doing this?" asked Brian, shoving the translation book to Rochelle. She took that and the phone and started talking rapidly in Japanese to the attendant on the other end. "Did you know she speaks Japanese?" Brian asked AJ.
AJ smirked, "Monkee is a Monkee of many talents."
Brian shook his head and looked at Leighanne, who still looked dumbfounded. She grabbed a water bottle out of the mini fridge and downed it.
"Jesus," I moaned, "I feel like shit."
"You look like shit," AJ intoned.
When we got to the hospital, AJ jumped out of the limousine first. "Here, I can actually be useful without getting all green and pukey," he said, running inside to let the attendants know we were there. Rochelle followed him into the ER. Brian watched from the window and frowned.
Leighanne looked at Howie, "You should call Jen and let her know what's going on so she doesn't worry when we're not all back from the after party. And you," she turned to Brian, "You -" she realized she didn't have any other jobs. "You just ... look pretty."
Brian grinned as Howie whipped out his cell phone and started dialing Jen, "That I can do."
I watched all this, feeling like I was far away, looking through a telescope with bionic ears or something. It was surreal. I mean I felt like I was watching some movie on TV that starred all my friends or something and being like shit, who the hell did they have play me? he looks exactly like me!.
AJ came running back out with the attendant, who was pushing a wheelchair and talking a whirlwind of words to Rochelle. Leigh, Howie and Brian helped me out of the car and into the wheelchair, which was ridiculous measures, considering I was fairly certain that, despite the fact that I was sweating buckets and sore all the hell over, I still had fully functioning legs.
AJ steered clear as they pushed me into the ER. A few people were sitting in the waiting area, and I heard a general rush of whispers as people realized who we were as we trooped by toward the hall on - of course - the far side of the room marked No Entry. "Sorry, I can't do autographs right now," I heard Brian muttering.
"I'll appease them," AJ called, and I heard his footsteps fall back. It was as good an excuse as any to stay away from the sweaty mess that was me.
We pressed through the doors and Rochelle's rapid Japanese continued until I'd been wheeled down a long corridor that reminded me of The Shining momentarily. It was dark other than the glowing lights that came from hospital rooms lining the hall. They wheeled me into the very last one and a couple nurses were trying to usher me into a bed. I stood up clumsily and staggered, falling against the gurney. Maybe my legs weren't that functional after all.
"God," I heard Brian mutter to Leighanne in a nervous voice, "What the hell happened?"
"I don't know," she whispered back. Either they were whispering loudly or my senses were heightened, I couldn't tell which.
I dropped back against the pillow, which felt cool. Somewhere between the club and the hospital, I actually had begun to feel the fever, and my body felt like it was on fire. The linens on the gurney had the same effect as jumping into the pool on a hot day. I closed my eyes.
Rochelle turned to us, "There's too many people." I looked around. Brian, Leighanne, Leigh, Howie and Rochelle all stood there gawking at one another, as though unsure who was going to get to stay, and who should leave.
"Well, Rochelle's the translator," Brian admitted, "She should stay with Nick because that's where medical information's going to be needed to be understood." He looked at Leighanne, who stared at him, concern written all over her face. She grabbed my hand.
Howie sighed, "Okay, we leave the women with the ailing puppy, we're useless anyway." He looked at me. "You okay, with that, buddy?"
"Make it cold," I begged in response.
Howie sighed, "I'll take that as a yes." He turned and Brian followed him out the door, just as he was saying, "Maybe we can help AJ keep those girls in the lobby happy..."
Leigh and Rochelle exchanged glances as Leighanne pulled a chair up beside me. "It's going to be okay, Nick," she said.
"I'm thirsty," I whined. Leigh turned to a little sink behind her and filled a random cup from the counter up with water and offered it to me. I took it in shaking hands and downed the water quickly. "More," I pleaded.
Rochelle sighed and sat down in a chair in the corner, her banana purse wrapped tightly around her wrist. She bit her lips and stared at her knees. Leigh continued filling and refilling the cup until I'd drank probably half an ocean and I closed my eyes. "Jesus," I whispered.
When I opened my eyes, the three girls were gone.
I blinked up at the darkened florescent light bulbs overhead and heard the beeping of an IV beside me in the dark. I glanced over and noticed in the glow from the heart monitor I was on that they had hooked me up with fluids. I must've been dehydrated, that explained the sudden bout of drinking a million cups of water. I sighed and closed my eyes again, not feeling quite as hot as I had before.
The touch of her hand on my face made my eyes open again. Victoria was leaning over me, her eyes full of concern. "Ohh, Nicky, my poor baby," she whispered. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I probably would've shot out of there like a bat out of hell. I heard the heart monitor start tweaking out a little bit.
Victoria looked up at the monitor and laid a hand over my heart. "You need to calm down, or you're gonna hurt yourself," she whispered.
"How did you get in here?" I asked, "I was alone just like three seconds ago." I looked at the door, I hadn't heard it open.
"Does it really matter?" she asked, "I'm here now, and I'm going to take care of you. Unlike those women who were making it worse..."
"What?" I asked, too weak to argue with her.
"Those women who were in here, that one stupid one giving you water. What's wrong with her? It's foreign water, you were already sick, that only made it worse..." Victoria smoothed the hair away from my face. "They were annoying me."
"You weren't even here," I said, attempting to sit up.
Victoria pushed me down onto the bed with strength that I hadn't expected. I hit the mattress with a thump and she held me there, her hand square on my chest, a smile on her face that was too innocent for the strength she'd just displayed. "I'm always right here, Nick," she answered, patting my chest with her hand. "Always."
I struggled only a couple minutes against her pressing hand before realizing I was too weak to fight it. Damn this fever has taken a lot out of me, I thought, laying back down. "Look, Victoria," I said slowly, "I'm really sorry, but I don't think--"
The door to the room opened and a blinding flash of light made me close my eyes as the florescent bulbs turned on. When I opened my eyes from the blink, Victoria was gone. A doctor stepped into the room. "Hello, Nick Carter," he said in a thick accent, but relatively okay English, "I am doctor Li. How are you?"
That seemed like a retarded question. "I'm okay, I guess," I answered. But my mind was reeling, where the hell was Victoria? I looked down and I could see the impression on my chest where her hand had pressed, a crumpled hand print in the cloth of the gown they'd gotten me into. For a fleeting moment, I wondered who exactly had gotten me into the gown, but I didn't dwell on it.
"I have examined you and it seems you have a very bad temperature," Dr. Li explained, "It is what we have called Hyperpyrexia. It has caused you some unconscious behavior," he added.
Great, I just barely understand medical crap when it's not being told to me in the weird, twisted way that poor translation creates. Where the hell was Rochelle? I wondered.
"Okay," I said, pausing, "So I've been passing out you mean?" That makes sense.
"Yes," he said, "And you are very, very dehydrated," he added. "We give you fluids and that will help you improve your healthiness." He motioned at the IV. I nodded, wishing desperately that I had any idea what this guy was talking about. It was so disjointed, and my head was already such a mess, that I didn't quite comprehend it. "We are running test to make sure what has caused this Hyperpyrexia, as it is usually a sign of underlying conditions you do not know," he smiled at me, "So we are checking for those, and have not found a condition yet. We also have done test to make sure your head is not hurt from the condition."
"My head does hurt, though," I said.
"No, no, not your headache," he said, "For that we give you medicine." Again, Dr. Li motioned at the IV, where I noticed a second, smaller bag dripping down the line to my arm. I frowned. "I mean your inner head, your mind. The Hyperpyrexia can cause some seizures and may effect you in your mind." He scrunched his nose, obviously thinking of the words. "I apologize, if this is scaring you. My English is fine, but not as well as you might need to understand."
I stared blankly at him, "No it's fine. Can you tell my friend Rochelle this stuff, though, please? I guess she like knows Japanese and she'll get it better, because I dunno really what you're telling me."
"Oh yes, yes, I can tell your family," Dr. Li said. He smiled warmly, "Now I want you to be resting and I will have my nurse come visit with you so I can know the pressure of your blood and other vital informations." He turned the florescent lights back off as he left the room and I groaned, closing my eyes again.
"They think you might have some brain damage from the high fever," whispered Victoria in my ear.
My eyes flew back open. "What the fuck? Where did you come from?"
She laughed gently, and ran her hand down my arm. She was sitting in the chair Leighanne had been in just a few moments before. "You don't have any brain damage, Nick."
"That's wonderful. Leave, please."
Victoria leaned close and kissed the side of my face, "Nicky, you're being nasty to me. You really don't want to do that."
I sighed and pulled my head away, irritated. "Yeah, I do, actually. You're like stalking me, it's getting kind of creepy. I don't really even know you."
"You sure knew me when you were about to fuck me in the hotel room earlier tonight," she droned into my ear, "When you were ripping my clothes off and panting like a dog." She ran her hand down the length of me.
I shuddered away from her touch, "Please, stop, I don't feel good right now." She stopped and sat back in the chair, staring at me. "Look, Victoria, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. Maybe they're right, maybe I do have some kind of brain damage thing going on. I don't know. All's I know is this has been a really freaky night and I'm tired and I just want to get some sleep."
"So sleep, baby," she whispered, leaning forward and resting her cheek against the bed so she was staring into my eyes, "Go to sleep."
I looked at her, and my eyes connected with her brilliant ice blue ones. I felt as though I could've slept on a pile of sharp objects at that instant. My muscles seemed to relax, my mind loosened, and I started breathing deeper. I smiled stupidly at her, and I heard her coo as I fell asleep, "There we are..." as she stroked my cheek, "There we are... Relax, Nicky... Just relax."
Bad Romance by Pengi
