With a groan Nick shut off the alarm clock and pulled the pillow over his head. It felt like he´d just fallen asleep and he was dead tired. Jet lag kicking in. Rolling over to his side, he shut his eyes trying to block out the morning sun that was making an entrance in the sparcely decorated room.

Nick winced as a sharp telephone signal was heard in the room. It was one of the boys that was making sure that Nick was up and about. Nick assumed it was probably Howie since he was the one that was most awake in the morning. "God, please leave me alone!" he cried out into the reciever.

"Nick, are you getting up?" Howie questioned. Howie's soft voice sounded like shattered glass in Nick's aching head.

"I am now. Good night" Nick hung up, making no attempt to leave the warm bed.

'One..two..three..' Nick counted to himself before the phone rang again. It was Howie's own way of waking up Nick and he hated it!After a few rings the annoying sound stopped and a dazed Nick sat up, putting his bare feet to the floor. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Shit, it´s cold in here" he mumbled to himself, running a hand through his blonde hair. His limbs ached and when he swallowed it felt like an lump down his throat. To top it off his stomach felt terribly uneasy. This was a safe sign that a flu outbreak would be expected within hours.

Nick caught a short glimpse at the clock, noticing that he had roughly 40 minutes to catch a shower, get dressed and eat breakfast, before the press conference that Bruce has set up in the hotel's press room, down at the lobby.

After relieving himself, he brushed his teeth. This was an habit that Nick had and however lousy he felt he never skipped out this task. Looking at the mirror a pale face stared back at him.

"I look like complete shit!" he stated, while critically judging himself. His neck and chin looked swollen and puffy. "Great, this is what I need, more fat," he muttered while getting undressed.

Stepping into the shower, he let the hot water run over his body, savoring the few moments of peace and quiet. Press conferences was something that he´d never liked, and this was no exception. He did always get so restless at these meetings and never knew what to say. And when he said something he usually said something stupid, and got to hear about it forever.

AJ never stopped joking about that time when he has said that Norway was in Sweden. How the hell should he have know that? He´d been always touring and geography had never been high on his list.

Getting out of the shower, while toweling he studied his face again in the bathroom mirror. " I´m not only stupid, I´m fat too", he mumbled as he stroked his hand over his face.

Nick debated on shaving and decided that he didn´t have the energy to do that task. The pretty boy image would be shattered, but then who cared? He still would look like hell, shaved or not.

It was cold in the bathroom and his teeth were starting to chatter. Dragging his feet he went into the bedroom and rumage trough his suitcase to find something suitable to wear. After putting on a t-shirt and jeans he ran a comb trough his hair, trying to get some structure into it. Even his hair as well as the rest of the body was bailing out of him, and it lay flat on his head, looking dull like the rest of his appearance.

Fuck, he was already late. The guys, especially Kevin and Bruce would be so pissed at him and with that in mind, he put on his sneakers, grabbed his wallet, hotel card and exited the room in a hurry, running down the corridor to the elevator.