- Repositions
‘’Start a war with all your friends
You kick 'em down the street
That's the way to treat your friends
yeah, that's a friend indeed’’
July 1993
He’d been sitting on the bench at the airport hall for a long time now and wondered if New Guy had been just figment of his panicky imagination, for the man had vanished out of his sight completely and hadn’t come back. It was getting late, very late, and he felt like he should be doing something about his situation. Normally, he’d be asleep at this hour.
Just when he had made up his mind to go and wander off by himself, he saw New Guy tramping his way again, looking even more pissed off than he did 45 minutes ago. Nick tried to melt into his seat, he felt so embarrassed. Most of the time, he enjoyed it whenever New Guy was pissed off, but not now. This time New Guy was a whole new level of pissed off, and Nick didn’t have any control over it. He stared up at his mandatory companion cautiously, his eyes big, waiting for him to say something. Nick felt like he was five years old again. He’d gotten lost then too, in the zoo of Central Park. He shivered when he thought about it, but realized that the situation he found himself in now was about ten times worse.
“So we’re in huge ass trouble,” New Guy grumbled.
“Oh?” Nick squeaked, which sounded so not cool.
“Yeah, ‘oh’ is right!” New Guy responded, collapsing into a seat opposite of Nick and staring off angrily, without saying another word.
After a while, Nick had finally managed to collect enough courage to ask, “No offense, but why are you still here?”
New Guy’s eyes finally focused on Nick’s and he spoke, “No offense, but I could ask you the same question.’’ By the glare on the other boy’s face, Nick could easily tell that New Guy was here for a whole other reason than Nick, and he suspected it had something to do with him.
Unbelievable.
Of all the people travelling with them, had New Guy really been the only one that had bothered to check if everyone was there? Had he really been the only one to notice that Nick wasn’t with them?
Unbelievable.
“I got lost,” Nick murmured quietly, almost inaudibly.
“Tell me you’re kidding…” Brian warned.
Nick shook his head shamefully, shrinking back. Something in the voice of his bandmate told him not to reply.
“UNBELIEVABLE!” Brian boomed. “UN-Fuckin’- BELIEVABLE!”
Nick watched him with fearful eyes. Never had he heard Brian curse, never had he not been angry with Brian, when Brian was angry with him. Now all he felt was guilt, for the short 18-year-old was stuck here too probably because of Nick.
“You got lost?! How in God’s name…”
“I was nervous, okay?” Nick snapped, “I had to go to the toilet to… you know… I hate flying…” he trailed off. He looked up and saw Brian staring at him, expectantly.
“There were so many people when I came back, I just didn’t know where to go… I couldn’t see a thing and everyone was in too much of a hurry to tell me. I must have wandered off somewhere…”
Brian’s eyes narrowed. “This is just great! Just terrific! Fuckin’ hilarious! There I was, thinking you’d been trampled, or kidnapped or something terrible like that, but no, mister Carter was just too nervous to keep his dinner in! I should have checked the toilets first, I feel so stupid!”
He couldn’t feel more stupid than Nick did.
“I’m sorry, I was just lost…” he didn’t really have any more to say.
“There! You see that number? Gate 35? That’s our gate.” Nick followed Brian’s pointing finger across the hall.
“Oh…” he nodded, avoiding any eye contact.
In response, Brian lay down on his bench, bringing his hands up to his face. “I can’t believe this, I can’t believe I came looking for you!” he repeated over and over.
“You came looking for me?” Nick asked, as if that weren’t obvious yet.
“Yeah, and I’ve never regretted something as much as that in my life,’’ Brian replied, his voice muffled through his hands.
Nick didn’t say anything again for a long time. He was impressed. Shamefully, he knew that he wouldn’t have done the same thing if their roles had been reversed. No, certainly not. Whatever had possessed Brian to even bother searching, was something Nick hadn’t done anything for to deserve.
“What if we take the next plane?” Nick suggested, surprised he hadn’t thought of that simple solution in the first place.
“We can’t, you moron,” Brian replied, still in the same position.
“Why not?” Nick asked innocently.
“Because, dimwit, we have tickets for July the 15th. And guess who just jumped on the last plane to Stockholm on July the 15th? Everyone but us!”
“So?”
“So, we can’t get another plane, cause our tickets aren’t valid anymore tomorrow. I checked.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
