Kevin was the first to object. "You knew we weren't feeling well and we all did the best we could."
"Singing the wrong line twice in the same song as well as stumbling looking like a drunk ainīt what I think is doing your best." He was referring to Kevin's performance and the older member looked a bit crossed.
"You canīt expect us to put on a great show when we're running a fever!" Kevin hated when someone told him that he did anything less than perfect, even if he was so sick that he had a hard time standing straight. The flu bug still had him tight in it's grip and he silently wondered when he would get to rest so he could cure this ailment.
The schedule was hectic and Kevin wasnīt the only one exhausted. Brian was suffering from a bad bout of sniffles and both Howie and AJ had an upset stomach. What was wrong with Nick he had no idea but the teen looked pale and drawn where sat on the floor, head leaning on his knees.
AJ had always been Johnny's favorite. The rebel was very sociable and he had a cool atttitude without being stuck up. It also drove the girls crazy and in turn sold many records. And Johnny liked when albums were being sold. He was also very easy going and strived to do his best. A great voice combined with dancing like a pro was not something you saw all the time. It also added up that the twenty year old had dated his youngest daughter way back and he grown to like AJ like his own son. His mother Denise was also a great woman and she usually toured with them. Keeping track on the boys. This tour however she was still in the states since AJīs grandmother was not well. She would join them as soon as she could.
"No Alexander, Iīm no dumbass." Johnny started.
"Really?" The word slipped out of Nick's mouth as he rolled his eyes.
"Nick!" Brian blurted a warning.
Nick shrugged back where he sat as he got a hard glare from the manager.
"I know that most of you have been struck by this bug," a deep cough was heard from the manager, "and you probably feel like crap. Yet that is NO excuse for performing as badly as you all did. Over twenty thousand people had bought a ticket this evening and they all expected you to do your best and not act like a bunch of chickens in a barnyard!" The manager continued to scold them all, telling them that the reviews in the media would be nothing but bad and that they could kiss their sorry asses goodbye if they didn't shape up their acts.
"That is not fair," Brian objected, "We canīt help that we are sick." Howie nodded in agreement as he sipped on hot tea and milk for his sore throat and upset stomach.
"I know," Johnny sighed, "but you Carter?" He turned towards the teen that sat silent on the floor, looking sweaty and gloomy. "What is your damned excuse?"
Nick fidgeted nervously, "What do you mean?" he asked as he looked up at the angry man. His back and stomach hurt and he wanted nothing else than crawl under a blanket and sleep the misery away. He was dying to release his bladder, yet the toilet had been occupied by one of the others on and off during the evening and he had no chance to get there. He was also afraid to pee since his senses told him that there would more blood in the bowl.
"You need to work on those moves Nicky. The way you danced it looked like you crapped your pants!" Johnny sneered as there was a laugh in the group.
"I did NOT!" Nick blushed. He felt humiliated. Could he help that his back and stomach hurt so much that he just wanted to lay down on the floor and pass out? He had done his best, yet it was never good enough for them. Maybe íf he told them the truth about how he hurt his back at yesterdays concert they would be more compassionate with him. Opening his mouth he started to say, "You know yesterday I.."
Not listening the manager went on, "Itīs either that or you are eating way too much candy and you're getting too fat to move that body of yours."
The words burned like cigarette burns. Wiping the tears that were forming in his eyes with the back of his hand, he did his best to keep the posture. Johnny and the guys would not get the opportunity to call him a cry baby.
"And I, who thought that i could trust you to take the lead in this miserable group. I guess I was wrong." Johnny didnīt spare the words as he told the teen how incredibly useless his performance had been. To say that the manager liked Nick would be an false statement. The hyper kid was getting on Johnny's nerves and everytime he didnīt have to deal with the rowdy teen he was happy. At first he had grown found of the kid, mainly because he was the perfect posterboy and that would sell in a business like this. But the kid had turned out to be a handful, being way too emotional and always getting into problems. His wife Donna wasnīt too hot over the kid either and being together for more than five years turned out to be long enough.
"That is enough!" Brian snapped when he thought that the manager had been nagging on his friend too long. "Nick is not well either. He is a bit under the weather too."
"He is? I mean you are? Kevin perked up his head, "What's your problem?"
"Nothing!" Nick snapped, not wanting to let on to how bad he felt. "B'rok is exaggurating as always." There was no need to add more problems to the already pressed situation.
Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Are you getting the flu too?"
"NO!" Nick shook his head, furiously. He hated to lie. Well it wasnīt entirely a lie after all he wasnīt getting the flu. Pissing blood was another matter.
"Donīt lie Nick," Brian didnīt sound too happy at all. Turning to his cousin that was preoccupied with blowing his nose he said, "I think that the fans knicked him in the back since he has been complaining of a backache all evening."
"I have not!" Nick was being stubborn. Too stubborn for his own good.
Kevin frowned, "Nick," he said a mixture between calm and serious, "Does this have something to do with you asking if I ever was kicked in my balls when I played football? Passing blood when I urinated?" Kevin was putting two and two together, staring at the teen he continued, "Because if it does you better tell us since it can be serious and is nothing to play with."
"PASSING BLOOD?" Brian bursted out. "Nick are you peeing blood?"
Five pair of eyes, Johnny included, looked at the teen, expecting him to clarify the comment. He fidgeted nervously. Shit, why did he have to be so stupid that he asked such an wacko question? He wasnīt the sharpest tool in the shed!
Even Johnny seemed concerned.
It was silence in the dressing room, and the situation was so tensed that you could cut it with a knife. Nick wanted nothing more to get out of the situation and it would have been so easy to confess and tell them the truth. That he thought that something might be seriously wrong with him. After all it couldnīt be right to pee red. Not when you where a healthy guy!
"Stop asking those stupid questions," he said a bit annoyed as he stood up. He had to get out of this situation or he would tangle himself up even more. Standing up he noticed that his back hurt so bad and that the ache in his bladder was still there, accompanied with a new burning sensation.
"Where are you going?" Howie asked as he saw his friend get up to leave.
"Why? Are you my mother or something?" Nick sneered. He didnīt want to act so pissy, and he often did that too sweet Howie without knowing why. Usually Howie didnīt care but this time he thought that he saw a new kind of pain in the brown eyes.
"Nick there is no need to be pissed!" Brian sneered back. "All Howie did was to ask a simple question."
"Yes and you still havenīt answered if you are peeing red." Kevin said, not wanting to drop the subject.
"Yes kid. Are you doing that?" The words being uttered from the manager startled them all, and Nick felt even worse for lying to them. Maybe they were right. This was not something that someone should take easy upon.
"Jeeze drop it will you! Iīm just going to the can to take a leak. If someone wants to hold my dick while doing that to make sure that I am not pissing blood they are free to do that!"
"NICK!"
"Jeeze, you donīt have to be that way." Brian sounded hurt. "We're just concerned about you."
"Excuse me, but I think I am entitled to go where ever I want without asking permission to do so. Donīt you think so?" Nick knew that he was acting like an ass, yet he couldnīt stop himself.
"Calm down," Howie reached out his arm to grab the teen.
Nick jerked away, "Donīt," he warned.
"Cool it man," AJ spoke up after being silent for the better part of the time. "Let the dude go if he wants to. Iīm sure that even Kaos canīt be so stupid that he neglect to tell us if he was sick or somethin'." A pair of brown eyes stared sternly into Nick's. "Right Nicky?"
Avoiding the eyes the blonde muttered, "Yeah!" He was both grateful and surprised that Bone was standing up for him. Maybe it was a favor for not ratting on him when he was drunk as a skunk last night.
AJ always seem to amaze him!
"Ok if you say so," Brian sighed tiredly. Turning to Johnny who sat silent, nursing a headache, he asked, "When are we going back to the hotel?"
"Pretty soon, so you better gather up your belongings." The manager watched Nick as he closed the toilet door behind him, "and Kaos donīt be too long since we are leaving soon." There were no snide comments, which had the dark man a bit puzzled. Something was not right with the kid, but he couldnīt pin point what it was. The teen was a whiner when it came to small things, but when there was something serious or he was sick for real the kid had a habit off claming up instead. The way Nick moved had him concerned. It looked like he was in serious pain and he had mentally noted that there were no hyperness or off the wall acting from his part. Maybe it was the kids turn to come up with the flu bug?
That would be "terrific" since they were just in the beginning of the tour and had many concerts to do, lots of traveling and PR performance to appear in. The last thing he needed was another Backstreet Boy to act like he had come down with the plauge.
Inside the small backstage toilet Nick was batteling a war of pain and misery. His back hurt fiercefully and when he released his aching bladder a stinging feeling made it almost unbearable to stand up straight. He bit his lip from crying out loud. One of the guys could hear him and that was not something he wanted to be happening. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Noticing that his urine was still red he felt another bout of nausea sweep over him. It happend all so fast as his stomach churned violently, wanting to expell everything he had eaten during the day.
Swallowing hard he tried to stall the vomiting as long as possible so that no one could hear him through paper thin walls. That would just throw them all for a loop. Turning on the watertap he hoped to drown any unwanting sounds and then he crouched down over the bowl, gagging a few times. Nothing happened and the nausea still lingered like a fog. For once he was happy that he had learned to get rid of the ill feeling when he had ate too much and he used the same technique this time.
Closing his eyes he stuck his finger far down his throat. The motion set off a mixture between coughing and gagging.
"Nick are you all right?" There was a light tapping on the door and he could hear his friends concerned voice.
"Yeah Bri, Iīll be out soon." He tried to make his shakey voice to sound as steady as possible.
"Ok, well the bus is here now and we have to get going. You want me to wait for you?"
There were voices heard in the background and Nick was determined to get the nasuea over with didnīt want an audience. This left him saying, "No Iīll be fine. Just go ahead."
"You sure?" There was doubt in his friends voice.
"Yeah, just go!" Nick had to be alone now. His stomach churned violently and he couldnīt wait any longer. When he heard nothing more he quickly stuck his finger down and soon his stomach contracted painfully. He vomited as quietly as he could into the bowl, afraid that someone could hear how ill he felt. Tears dwelled up in his eyes as his stomach contents mixed with the red in the bowl. He was not well at all and he didn't know how long he could keep up this charade before one of the boys dragged his sorry ass to a doctor.
When the nausea and vomiting finally abated, he flushed the toilet quickly. After washing his face he tried to make himself a bit more presentable running a comb through his tousled hair. Usually Nick always took a shower after doing a show, this time they were all too tired to do that and they had decided to do it as soon as they got back to the hotel. Since AJ was nothing but well Johnny had decided that he shoudnīt share room with the teen any longer and this meant that Brian and Nick shared rooms as always and Howie and AJ was the one that got to share bathroom. There were no way that Nick wanted to trade places since AJ would probably rat on him that he had to pee every fifteen minutes.
Opening the door he found that Brian had taken him on his words and that the room was empty. They had all left him.
'Great' he thought miserably. If there was one thing he hated was to be left alone. Especially when he was feeling like crap. He despised the times when they had left him going clubbing. It made him feel so young and vanurable. He knew that he was being childish, after all he was eighteén years old and not some dumb kid. Yet there was no stopping the lonley feeling that he had. For a brief moment the thought struck him that they had all gone back to the hotel and that he was left on his own.
Nick often had nightmares that the guys would leave him and he would be all alone. Crying, needing help. His eyes burned with tears and the pain combined with feeling lonely made him want to lay down on the sofa and sulk. He would have done that if the door hadnīt opened and their tour manager Clark stuck in his head, "Nick are you done?"
He nodded, happy to see that they hadnīt forgotten him.
"Good, well come on then. The guys are waiting in the bus." With a friendly gesture the older man laid an arm around the shivering teen, "Come on letīs go." he said as he guided him towards the corridor.
"Okay." Nick followed without words out to the awaiting crowd, satisfied that they hadnīt left him.
