It was one of those boring nights where tied down by security and agreements and the lack of anything better to do, they had found themselves roomed together wishing that they could escape it instead. “Lets say,” Howie started as he brought the novel he was reading face down on the bed. “you were driving alone, it was in the middle of the night-” “Which technically means midnight,” AJ interrupted. “Yes, thanks AJ, I’m very sure Nick appreciates you clearing that up for him,” Howie replied sarcastically. Nick’s only reply was aiming a pillow towards Howie, which missed him by inches. “Go on D.” Kevin said while reading yet another draft Nick had drawn for the next volume of Backstreet Project. “So, you were driving alone in the middle of the night on a long, deserted road and you found an unconscious man lying in the middle of the road not far from you.” “What kind of stories have you been reading?” Brian teased. “Nothing that would hold AJ’s attention,” Howie joked. “so anyway, my question is, will you get out and check on him?” “I would.” Nick said almost immediately. “Wow that’s a fast one Nick.” Brian smiled. “What’s to think about? He obviously needs some kind of help, unless of course he does that for fun, although I can’t seem to find anything fun in doing that.” “What if he’s a robber just waiting for some stupid moron like yourself to take the bait?” AJ asked. “Or what if he’s already dead for quite awhile? That would be scary.” Brian shuddered. “Or maybe, he was dropped there by the aliens after they had kidnapped him earlier and studied more about the human race.” Nick said. “Come on guys, I know you would get out and at least see if you can help him out.” “I would call someone up, probably one who lives nearby and get out to check on this guy along with my cell phone. If he tries to do anything funny, at least someone knows about it.” Kevin said. “That’s the smartest thing anyone had said so far.” Howie beamed. Kevin smirked. “Naturally.” Nick remembered that conversation well, in fact, it was the fact that now he found himself in the exact same situation, he wished he didn’t have slam his cell phone somewhere along the driveway of his house. Now no one will know if he was going to be in trouble for helping some unconscious stranger in the middle of the damn road. - Kevin counted until three under his breath. He was right after all, AJ should have made the call instead. “Kevin, are you there? Hello?” “Yes I’m still here.” “Okay well, I asked you, is Nick in trouble?” “No he’s not.” “But you called me out of the blue and asked about my uncle when you could have asked Nick.” “Yup.” “Then you must either not talking to my brother or he’s got his ass stuck in a huge mess again.” “Again?” “Kevin, we’re talking about my brother here, ‘again’ shouldn’t have surprised you.” “I know…so what’s it gonna be? Do you have your uncle’s address or not?” “I’m not even sure if he’s home…you know, he’s in jail for a long time now, I’m not even sure if-” “He’s out, that’s why I need his address.” “How did you know he’s out? And why do you need his address in the first place anyway?” “Aaron kid, listen, I promise you I’ll tell you everything soon okay? I’m in a hurry right now and I need his address and Nick lost his phone, again, and I can’t get him on any numbers now. Can you help me? Please?” “Is this about a business venture?” Why didn’t I think of that before, Kevin thought. “Yeah, that’s it, I wanna talk business with him.” “He’s a crook Kev.” “Lou is too, but that didn’t stop you either.” Nice Kevin, what’s next? Bully a six year old? “It didn’t stop Jane, you mean? Anyways, I have to look for his address, I’ll send it to you via text message once I got it.” Wow, so it’s Jane now, no more mom. “Thanks kid,” Kevin sighed in relief. “and Aaron, I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean it that way.” “I know what you mean, it’s okay. Bye.” “Bye.” Howie was smirking, not envying what Kevin just did. “How did that go?” “Just like talking to Nick.” “There’s a lot of ‘whys’ I bet.” AJ added. “Yes, it did.” “Did he get suspicious?” Howie asked. “I don’t think so.” “Well, did you get the address?” Brian asked, looking hopeful. “He’s looking for it now,” Kevin explained. “till then, we’ll just have to wait.” Brian frowned, “I hope we’re not too late.” There was a period of silence in the car. AJ had rolled the window down so he could take a smoke without having to get out of the car. Time was running out for them, the last thing he needed was to have a car filled with three fifth of the Backstreet Boys screaming for his butt to get in because they finally got the address and needed to get moving immediately. “I wonder where he took him.” Howie said, breaking the silence. “Redeem himself? It just doesn’t make any sense at all.” “Is it just me or is leaving that note behind a stupid thing to do if you don’t want to get caught?” AJ asked. “I mean, he wrote ‘nephew’ didn’t he? He pretty much gave it away.” “I just hope he's safe...I will never forgive myself if something happened to him. I could have saved him or do something to help when he called me last night but what did I do? made fun of him until that son of a bitch found out he was making a call and threw that phone out the window!” Brian seethed. Nobody even took the opportunity to point out to him that he had freely cursed someone. "You couldn't have known what was going there Bri, don't go having any guilt trip now." Kevin said. AJ sighed. “Well, at least we know where they got the messed up genes from.” Howie smirked. “Jane is something else, isn’t she?” Kevin’s cell phone beeped; never in his life had he been so grateful to hear that annoying sound. It was from Aaron. “Buckle up boys, we’re going for a very long ride.”