They stopped just over the hill where the water suddenly was very calm and still. Kevin ran and plopped down under a tree with Nick following. “Seems like even though I’m an old man according to you, I can still outrun your young ass huh?”
“You cheated.” Nick was out of breath as he lay on his back and Kevin couldn’t help but smile. He was always so out of shape. How many times had Kevin tried to take Nick to the gym or teach him how to lift weights? Most of those things ironically ended up with the two of them going out for lunch or ice cream.
“You are going to have to get that butt back in shape for our tour kiddo otherwise you won’t last.”
“I’m in shape.”
“Well you are a shape and it’s called round.” To emphasize his point Kevin rubbed Nick’s stomach.
Nick sat up and frowned, “Shut up Kev…” he sounded hurt. Kevin forgot how sensitive he had become about his weight.
“Aww Nick you know I’m only kidding.”
“You’re not kidding,” Nick shook his head at his big brother as he pulled his legs under him to once again sit like a pretzel.
“You aren’t big Nick, but you are out of shape. I just don’t want you getting sick all the time.”
“I’m not always sick and once again I do have to state for the record that you did in fact cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat.”
“Yes you did, you started running then said it was a race which is cheating Kevin.”
“Nick, are you saying that if we had a race right here and now that you would beat me?”
“Yes.”
Kevin stood up and slapped the grass off his pants, “All right then let’s go.”
Nick laughed, “What? Kevin don’t be a fool…I don’t want you to break a hip or something.”
“You’re afraid I’ll beat you.”
“No I’m not, I’m afraid you’ll hurt yourself and I’ll end up carrying your broken ass back to the car.”
Kevin rubbed his hands together which once again made Nick crack up, “Kevin you are nuts you know that?”
“Okay if you win, I will never bug you about all the junk food you eat, but if I win? After fishing we hit the gym.”
“How sad is it that you consider working out as a victory Kev?”
“Who said I’d be working out”?
“How about if I win you have to eat a box of Twinkies.”
“Are you trying to kill me Kaos?”
Nick rolled his eyes, “I really don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Nick I swear to God if you say that one more time I’m going to beat your ass.”
“You’re a very competitive guy aren’t you?”
“Let’s go…”
Kevin offered a hand to his younger friend and helped him off the grass. “I can’t believe you are making us race…good lord and they say I’m immature.”
Kevin slapped Nick’s butt, “You ready junior?”
“I guess so.”
“We’ll race down to that tree standing alone over yonder.”
“Okay.” Nick said half chuckling, “I wish the guys were here to see this. Victory won’t be as sweet with no witnesses.”
Kevin rolled his eyes and then hunched down on the ground, taking a runner’s stance. “On your mark…get set…GO!” As Kevin said the word he started running full blown down the hill leaving Nick laughing as he took off.
He always worried about his younger friend’s health, he never took care of himself properly, his eating habits were horrible but once again he never really had anyone to teach him other wise. Nick would sometimes sit in awe of Kevin when he was 12 and 13 years old, following the oldest band member into Lou’s weight room and watch him bench press more than Nick’s own weight. He would look at the guy as if he was staring at Batman and of course Kevin would play into it, sometimes grabbing Nick and lifting him up over his head.
Back then it always seemed like he wanted nothing more than to learn how to use the equipment, but that was before puberty. Once Nick went through that, he would always prefer to sleep instead of work out which was something that drove Kevin insane.
It wasn’t so bad though until they really started with the full blown touring. Kevin would notice Nick panting up on stage and sometimes squatting down almost ready to pass out. He fell ill so easily on tour, seemed like he would be sick from start to finish and the Kentucky cousins surmised it was because Nick wasn’t properly taking care of himself. So Kevin put Nick on a diet, took him under his wing, only allowed him to eat what he was eating and forced him to work out. The other guys got such a kick out of it but not Nick. He hated it; it made him feel small he would say to Brian when he thought Kevin couldn’t possibly hear him. Back then he never fully grasped the whole even if he’s not sitting right next to you he can still hear you thing.
Nevertheless, Kevin never gave up, always pushing Nick to the maximum. Waking him up early and practically carrying him over his shoulder down to the weight rooms of whichever hotel they were staying at for the night.
All that stopped halfway through the Millennium tour when lifting with Kevin once again at an ungodly hour of the morning, Nick suddenly fell to the floor crying from exhaustion. Kevin felt so bad for getting Nick to that point that he had left him alone for the rest of the tour, even gave him a Hershey bar to bring up his energy when he seemed ready to collapse but back then they were so exhausted they all seemed close to breaking.
“Passed ya!” Kevin felt a slight breeze as Nick suddenly passed him by taking the lead.
“What?” He gasped, but by the time he did Nick was almost at the tree they were racing towards.
The Millennium years were the hardest touring wise only because they were so big everywhere, there was no place they could escape the insanity. When they weren’t on stage or being interviewed, it seemed like they were at a photo shoot or rehearsal. It was probably the best shape Kevin was in as well as the other three but Nick just wasn’t keeping up in that department and it really took its toll on him.
At one point it was downright scary when one day in a rehearsal Nick just went down like a wet noodle. Once again if Kevin had the ability to do things over he would have handled that situation differently but all he remembers is being mad at Nick. He actually yelled at the kid as he was waking up. They were all so immature back then, and scared that any little set back would put an end to their careers, they didn’t much care about each others feelings. Kevin yelled but it was more out of fear than anger. He never told Nick that though. No wonder the kid thought he hated him.
“Ha!” Kevin looked up to see Nick tag the tree then fall to the ground on his back with his knees up.
Kevin was about five seconds behind him, but still behind. He had lost and he was shocked. Of course to further add to the humiliation Nick waved his hands in the air, his fingers holding up V’s “I rock!” He managed to get out as his breathing calmed.
Kevin pat the tree and then sat beside Nick, “I wasn’t concentrating.”
“What is there to concentrate on Kevin? Admit it I beat your butt!”
“Not by much.”
“It’s going to be so much fun watching you eat Twinkies…I’ll help you if you’d like.”
“I’m not eating a box of Twinkies Nick; you only won because I wasn’t concentrating.”
Now Nick sat up looking shocked, “But the deal was you had to eat an entire box of Twinkies, and I won because I was faster.”
“That’s a stupid thing to bet.”
“So is going to the gym but I bet if your ass won we would have ended up going.”
“No we wouldn’t have.”
“I can’t believe you, Kevin Richardson, are trying to weasel out of a bet. I’m so disappointed in you.”
“I’m not weaseling, you only won because…”
“I know I know…because you weren’t concentrating which isn’t true and frankly it pisses me off.” Now Nick sat up straight with his legs stretched out in front of him, shaking his head.
“Why are you pissed off?”
“Because you think it’s SO impossible for me to beat you in a race? God Kevin, give me some credit. You know I’ve been working my ass off trying to get in shape and I think I have done a really great job. Don’t you think it’s possible that I beat you because I was FASTER than you?”
Kevin took a few minutes to think about that one, just what Nick didn’t want to see but it was an internal struggle for Kevin. Truth was he WAS always faster and stronger and overall always ahead of the youngest member of the band.
“You know what forget it!” Nick said standing up and walking away from Kevin when he failed to answer the question in what Nick perceived to be the allotted time.
“Nick, come back here.”
“No, you suck!” Kevin chuckled under his breath as he stood up and walked over to Nick who started walking further away.
“Nick…come on…”
That made him turn around to face Kevin, “You think I’m so much of a loser that I couldn’t even win a little foot race down a grassy hill.”
“I never said you were a loser.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Nick, you’re not a loser now come back here. Stop making me chase you.”
Nick suddenly stopped and turned around, his arms folded across his chest and his head down. “You do think I’m a loser Kevin, admit it.”
That’s when Kevin realized this was about so much more than winning a stupid race down a stupid hill. Wasn’t it always like that with Nick though? So many hidden messages the kid almost needed to come with his own decoder.
“I don’t think you are a loser Nick, I never have.”
“Pffft! Yeah right,” he muttered while rolling his eyes.
Kevin made his way next to his friend now and tried his best to look Nick in the eyes; he always took things seriously when you made eye contact with him. “I wish you would stop thinking you’re a loser.”
“Yeah well maybe when everyone else does I will too.”
Kevin nodded, message decoded successfully. He would have pat himself on the back but that probably would have looked out of place so he pat Nick on the back instead. “No one thinks you are a loser, not anyone that should matter anyway.”
“I beat you fair and square Kevin and if I were Brian or AJ or hell even Howie you would have had NO problem with it.”
“It amazes me that even when you don’t try to, you still always manage to insult Howie.”
“Stop trying to avoid what I just said.”
“Okay, you are right. Nick if you must know, I’m not used to you being my equal. It’s not that I don’t think you are my equal but to me you’ll always be that scrawny kid I used to bench press.”
“AJ was scrawny too, he’s STILL scrawny.”
“Yeah I know,”
“And he’s only 2 years older than I am.”
“Yeah I know that too…”
“But you have always treated him like an adult; you look down on me Kevin because you think I’m a loser.”
“Where is all this loser talk coming from? Did someone call you a loser recently?”
“No.”
“You need to stop putting yourself down all the time. God Nick sometimes I wish I had a tape recorder on me just so you could hear yourself. You call yourself stupid, a loser, a jerk…all the time.”
“That’s because everyone else calls me that.”
“There’s that everyone else thing again.”
“Okay fine what about our fans? I mean have you ever gone onto our message boards ever Kevin? Bean will print them out for me to read sometimes and they always say the same things. They hate me.”
“Nick…I love our fans you know that right?”
Nick nodded as Kevin continued, “But we have a lot of jerkish, know it all types of fans that don’t know what they were talking about. Half of them talk out of their asses!” That made Nick burst out laughing.
“Didn’t you just insult us by saying that?”
“No, I’m talking about the people who love to HATE us.”
“Oh, them…”
“They only know the Nick in the tabloids and the Nick they think they know based on interviews and a few encounters at hotels. They don’t know you.” Kevin placed his hand on Nick’s heart, “They don’t know the kid I know and you have to realize that as well.”
“But their opinions matter to me.”
“I know but don’t concentrate on the bad ones, Nick there are a lot of crazy people out there that like to put their negative attitudes on anyone they can. The only reason they pick on you is because you are so popular, maybe you should concentrate on that for once.”
“So you really don’t think I’m a loser?”
“No, I don’t think you’re a loser.”
“Since you don’t think I’m a loser is that your round about way of admitting that I beat you fair and square?”
Kevin sat down on the hill they had managed to climb up once again as if they were starting all over again. Nick sat beside him waiting for his answer. “Fine you beat me fair and square.”
“And?”
Kevin gave Nick a raised eyebrow, “And what?”
“And aren’t you going to say that I totally rock!”
“Nope, sorry.”
Nick sighed as he lay down on the grass, taking a piece and putting it in his mouth as he stared up at the sky, “Okay but I do rock.”
“I feel old.”
“You are old...old and very random.” When no smart ass reply came from Kevin, Nick turned on his side, “Kevin you aren’t old, and I’m just playing.”
Kevin half smiled, “Thanks but I really do feel old. I mean I look at Brian and his wife and they have a kid and seem so much more settled than I do.”
“Kev, having a kid doesn’t make someone settled. Neither does marrying a control freak.”
“Yeah I now but…the clocks ticking, my bones creak, I get tired earlier now, I actually woke up at 5 am without needing an alarm clock!”
Nick giggled, “I know I tease you about your age all the time Kevin but you aren’t old. Not even close.”
“By the time my father was my age he was married and had three kids already.”
Nick sat up once again and placed his hands in the grass to help hold his body up as Kevin glanced down and continued, “I feel like by now I should have done this…or that, but I haven’t.”
“You feel like a loser too huh?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Nick glanced over at his friend and winked, “You didn’t have to.”
They sat quietly staring at the water from their place high on top of the hill. Nick pulling up grass and laying it down to make a pile and Kevin just taking in the smell of earth meeting water.
“Kevin if it makes you feel any better, I look up to you, I always have. I wouldn’t look up to a loser.”
That made Kevin smile, “Thanks.”
“Uh huh.” Nick extended a blade of grass to Kevin as if it was a glass of wine, to which Kevin accepted and placed it in his mouth.
“You know if we raced again I bet I would beat you.”
“Kevin don’t press your luck.”
“And one more thing then I promise I’ll shut up…”
“I know Kev; I’m trying to get in shape okay?”
“I wasn’t going to say that Nick, I was going to say that you aren’t a loser buddy. I mean you can’t be if you looked up to me right?”
“I still want to see you eat a box of Twinkies.”
“I’m afraid hell would have to freeze over first little man.”
They both laughed.
Sorry it's been awhile but in my defense it's hard to write on a total Backstreet high! LOL
