Before he even attempted to open his eyes, the migraine told Nick it wasn’t a good idea. Every square inch of his body hurt and it hurt to even lick his lips. Nick allowed a moan to escape his lips and almost instantly, the scent of freshly washed skin with Zest soap greeted his nostrils. Nick knew this could only mean one thing.
Kevin Richardson.
“Sh-h-h-h, it’s okay.”
Nick wrinkled his brows as his mind was trying to come to terms with two things:
1. Kevin was in a room with him
2. He was actually treating him decent despite the fact that he had an Osama of a hangover with a killer migraine.
Slowly reaching up to place a hand on the side of his head that throbbed the most, Nick tried to recall what he had been doing the night before. He couldn’t remember going out and clubbing, but he quickly decided that has happened to him before. He was prone to clubbing amnesia when he drank hard liquor.
“Are you feeling any better?”
“What did I do last night?” Nick whispered in reply. As he waited for an answer, he could hear the sound of water dripping and then a sudden chill enveloped his body when a cold, wet compress was placed across his forehead.
“You slept most of the day away today,” Kevin replied in a soothing voice.
“But what did I do last night?”
Nick pulled the cloth away, slowly opening his eyes. He drew a breath in when the fuzzy image of Kevin came into focus.
“You look like shit,” Nick observed quietly.
Running a hand through his damp hair, Kevin sighed. “I guess so, I’ve been up with you for the last twenty four hours.”
Nick could hear the fatigue in his older brothers voice. His southern drawl was more prominent when he was tired, equally the same for Brian when he was sleepy.
“Why did you stay up with me? You usually get upset with me when I fuck up and get drunk.”
Brushing lint from the sleeves of his grey University of Kentucky sweatshirt, Kevin replied, “You didn’t get drunk Nick, you OD’d on your meds.”
Nick groaned, his mind trying to sort though the information that Kevin had just provided. Why would he overdose on meds? He wasn’t upset over anything that he could recall. Things were going alright, he thought.
Taking in the unfamiliar surroundings, Nick realized that he wasn’t at home in his own bed. “Where am I, anyway?”
“Cologne.”
Cologne’?’ Nick’s sluggish mind tried to come to grips with why he would be in Cologne. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle came together. “I’m so sorry Kev.”
Patting Nick lightly on the shoulder, Kevin sighed. “It was an accident Nick, just do me a favor and ask before you pull a stunt like that again, okay?”
Nick managed a small smile in response as he snuggled deeper into the warmth of the blankets, falling into a restful sleep.
A loud bang followed by a muffled cough, shook Nick from his peaceful dreams.
“God, I’m sorry about that.”
“Bri? Why are you here? Where’s Kev?”
“I gave him a break, he hasn’t slept since we got here and I made him go to his room and lay down.” He paused for a moment, studying his best friend’s face. “How’s your headache?”
“It’s still here,” he whispered.
“You scared the crap outta us, Kev was freakin out--”
Nick’s moans stopped the conversation.
“Hurt bad, huh?”
Nick gingerly licked his dry lips, “Yes, but it hurts to think too.”
“Do you want me to get a doc?”
Slowly shaking his head, Nick immediately regretted the movement. “No, I’ve had worse. I just need it quiet.”
"Hey Kiddo how you doing?" Johnny asked as he entered the room, not caring that the lights spilled onto the bed, making Nick wince.
"How do you think he’s doing?" Brian sneered as the dark man walked over to the teen.
Not answering the question, Johnny stated, "I heard you woke up and that’s good." He studied the blonde as he said, "You look better than before."
"Everything is relative," Brian mumbled. Nick who was doing his best not to moan, bit his lip, saying nothing. Johnny turned towards the sandy blond haired man, "Littrell, I‘m sure that Carter can speak for himself. After all he’s not a baby," he stopped for a second before continuing, "even if God knows that he often acts like one." A small chuckle, as if he was amused over his own joke.
Brian responded with a glare.
Not awaiting any answer Johnny continued, "Itīs good that youīre resting up today since we have to get moving tomorrow. We have to fly to Holland."
Upon hearing these words Nick groaned. He was in no shape to deal with going on an airplane on top of all his aches and discomfort that he was experiencing. His head felt twice as big and even when he moved his head the slightest it felt like it would explode right off his shoulders.
This had Brian in for a fit, "What? Nick is in no shape to travel anywhere and the doctor said that.." He was rudely interupted by the manager.
"The doctor knows nothing. We have a schedule to keep and if we cancel one more show you guys can kiss the European market goodbye." It wasn’t true, but Johnny knew that if he said something like this Nick would get a scare and shape up his act. Brian on the other hand knew that it was bullshit and wasnīt buying at all.
"You’re disobeying doctors orders and I’m telling you that Nick is in no shape to go anywhere but stay in bed."
"Well I am telling you otherwise." Johnny said a bit annoyed. Turning to the pale blond who looked groggy and was as white as he sheet he continued, "You better rest today Nicky because tomorrow you’ll need all the strength you can get." With that he walked out of the room.
"Asshole," Brian hissed as the door slammed shut.
A bit surprised Nick turned against his Older brother, frowning. It was rare that Brian Littrell used such a strong expression, espescially when it came to something that concerned him. He noticed by the redness in his friends face that Brian was upset and he did his best to calm him down.
"Donīt worry," Nick mumbled as he tried to sit up in bed. "I’ll be fine."
"You’re not fine," Brian said with a sigh, "You have a kidney injury and on top of that you overdosed on your own medication and you’re restricted to bedrest." He drew back his breath, "Johnny has no business to say that you should be up and traveling."
Nick sighed deeply as he fidgeted with his blanket, "Yeah he does," he mumbled silently, "he’s my manager and he runs my life."
The dull humming of the planes engines filled Nick with a mixture of peacefulness with a dash of nausea thrown in for good measure. He had tried for the past twenty minutes to find a comfortable spot in the tight airline seat and adjusted his tiny pillow several times to no avail.
“Here, I forgot to give you these before we took off this morning.”
Lifting the bill of his ball cap away from his eyes, Nick was greeted by an open palm with five pills laying in it. He followed the hand to where it was connected.
Nick waved him off. “I’m feeling better, I don’t need to take those.”
“And the reason why you feel better is because I’ve taken control of the situation making sure you take your medications as scheduled in the proper amounts.”
“C’mon Kev.....seriously,” Nick groaned.
“Stop being such a baby and take them. Just get it overwith and you can go back to sleep.”
Sighing loudly, Nick held out his hand, waiting for Kevin to dump the meds. Tossing the medications into his mouth, Nick uncapped his bottle of water and quickly washed the pills down. “You really suck since you’ve been taking it upon yourself taking care of my pills, you know that?”
Kevin grinned. “Yeah, a job I live for.”
“What exactly did you give me, or better yet, what did that doctor give me?”
“I gave you two of your antibiotics, one steriod med, one prozac and a dramamine....”
“Whoa.. whoa, wait a minute! You gave me prozac? Why the hell am I taking prozac?”
“The doctor had his reasons for it, you just have to do what you’ve been told Nick. It’s obviously been working, right?”
“Well... yeah I guess so.”
“Then you can’t argue with it then, can you?”
Nick shrugged his shoulders. “I guess not. Wait a sec, you gave me dramamine.. I’m fine. God Kev, you trying to drug me up?”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “No I’m not trying to drug you up,” he assured in a mocking tone, “you just have this little history of puking your guts out during a plane trip and I just didn’t want to have to relive your breakfast coming back up.”
Nodding, Nick realized that Kevin was right. He was prone to motion sickness either on a plane or sitting in the backseat of a car. It was a life long curse and it had reared it’s ugly head up one time too many.
Giving a light slap on Nick’s leg, Kevin stood up. “Try and get some rest, okay? I know Johnny is going to be making us on the run when we get to Holland.”
“Dude, get your ass up, the plane is clear, c’mon we don’t have all fricken day,” AJ mumbled as he smacked Nick’s shoulder. Shifting his carryon bag over the opposite shoulder, AJ glared down impatiently at his young brother.
“Kaos, I don’t have time for this, get your fatass up now!”
Anger was slowly giving away to frustration and then to sudden panic as Nick’s head bobbed around as AJ pushed on the boy’s shoulder. “Shit, Nick!”
Dropping his bag, AJ ran off the plane to find Kevin for help with Nick, screaming his name at the top of his lungs. He got to the waiting area, finding Kevin standing alongside Johnny.
“AJ, what the hell are you doing screaming like a fool?” Johnny hissed.
“Kev, it’s Nick, I can’t get--”
AJ didn’t get a chance to finish his words as Kevin immediately sprinted towards the plane, ignoring the calls from the manager and a flight attendant. AJ ran behind Kevin, swearing with each step.
Reaching the young boy, Kevin lightly slapped Nick’s cheeks. “Nicky, wake up... shit, Nick, wake up. God, I know I didn’t give you too much.... please, please wake up!”
“Should we call a doc or something?” AJ wondered outloud.
Kevin sighed, “I think we have to... I don’t know what---”
Kevin’s words were cut short by the sudden sound of Nick bursting out in a full fledged belly laugh. “I had you guys goin’.”
“Goddamn it Nick,” AJ hissed. “You sonofabitch!”
Nick’s laughter was soon replaced with yelps as AJ started pounding his body with balled fists, squarely landing on their intended target. Being blindsided, Nick didn’t have a chance to defend himself, his only option left was to cover his face but only after one blow landed on his eye.
”AJ.. that’s enough!” Kevin grunted as he pulled the scrawny man away.
“Thanks Kev.”
Glaring at Nick as he stood up, Kevin spat angrily, “Totally inappropriate Nick, considering what we’ve just been through with you and your overdose. You fucked up again. It would be nice if someday you’d learn, but as immature as you are, I doubt it.”
Nick could only watch as Kevin turned away, escorting AJ alongside. Groaning as he bent over to retrieve his carryon bag, dragging it on the floor as he trudged alone, down the hall towards the lobby.
Staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Nick stuck his tongue out. His eye was starting go from a reddish looking scuff mark to a blueish hue, compliments of AJ’s punch in the airplane.
“Just peachy,” he sighed, turning the faucet on, cupping water and splashing it on his face.
A knock on the door, and a voice calling out “Room Service” tore Nick away from the sink. Grabbing a white towel, he quickly wiped his face off and then hung the towel around his neck as he walked toward the door.
Opening the door, he allowed the young boy entrance into his room, with the direction of ‘anyplace is fine.’
“You having a party sir?” the boy asked in broken English.
Signing the room service bill, Nick blushed. “Yeah, something like that.”
As the door softly closed, Nick pulled the tray up to the edge of the bed, taking the covers off of the plates of food he had ordered. He knew he ordered enough food for three people, but he didn’t care. He felt lonely, hurt and upset. The only way he knew how to cover the pain he felt was to seek the comfort in food.
Playing video games and snacking, Nick was shocked to discover that he had absently ate everything that was ordered. Rubbing his distended stomach, and moaned. “God why did I do that?”
As he searched the tray to see if everything was in fact consumed, the phone rang. Lifting the receiver, Nick mumbled into the phone, “Yeah?”
“Carter, press conference in thirty minutes. I expect you down there, no excuses,” Johnny barked into the phone.
“But... but--”
“But.. but,” he mocked. “Your fatass can sit in a chair and answer questions. Now get your butt moving and get dressed for this. I expect to see you there being the professional you’re paid to be.”
Before Nick could plead his case, the manager slammed the phone down, disconnecting the call. Tearfully, Nick placed the receiver back onto the cradle, slowly dragging himself off the bed towards his suitcase. Selecting a pair of blue jeans and a football jersey, Nick tossed them onto the bed. Before he started his task of getting undressed, he quickly grabbed the room service cart and pushed it out the door into the hall, hiding the evidence of his binge.
Staring down at the clothes on the bed, Nick suddenly realized that it had been almost a week since he had worn actual street clothes. He had been practically living in sweatpants or pajama bottoms. It was when he tried to button the jeans did he realize that he couldn’t get the sides to meet across his bloated stomach.
“Fuck.”
Laying down on the bed, he tried to zip the pants up but the only thing he had succeeded in doing was putting pressure on his aching kidneys. Struggling for a few more moments to get them fastened, he finally gave up, leaving the pants unzipped. Since the jersey hung mid-thigh, Nick decided he would have to make due with the pants for the time being.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Nick dragged a comb through his stubborn hair, trying his best to make the rooster tail that decided to pop up in the back to lay down. A firm knock on the door, drawing him away from the task at hand. Wordlessly, Nick flung the door open, walking back towards the bathroom.
“Geeze Nick, you know you’re suppose to check before you open the door,” Brian reprimanded. “What the heck happened to your hair?”
Nick sighed. “It went to shit, like the rest of my body.”
Brian leaned back onto the bed, tucking an arm under his head. “Hey, it’s only natural to feel like crap after what you’ve been through with your kidney getting bruised. Is it still giving you trouble?”
“That’s the least of my problems,” Nick mumbled.
“I still can’t believe Johnny is forcing you to go to this press conference. I tried to talk him out of it. He’s insane.”
“Yeah he’s always getting on me about something. Okay, I’m ready to go,” Nick sighed.
“Wait a minute, you’re not gonna wear that are you? Johnny said to dress up.”
Nick looked down at his jersey. “What’s wrong with this?”
“Um, nothing, but your jeans look like the crotch is down to your knees. What’s up with that?”
Nick’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Um, I kinda had problems. I guess those steriods made my stomach a little distended. I couldn’t zip my jeans up all the way. I should be fine once I quit those stupid meds.”
“Nick, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’ve been putting on weight long before getting hurt. It’s just starting to be a lot more noticeable.”
“You’re just saying that because of the jeans.”
Brian shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, but everyone is talking about it. You need to be careful before Johnny starts in on you.”
“Well I know my body, so just fucking leave me alone about my weight, okay? Let’s go before Johnny goes postal.”
