”Imagine, weīre about to make history, guys.” Howie said as he was warming up before tonights concert in Atlanta. It was their first show on their “Backstreet's Back” tour and they were all very nervous.
“Yeah, ainīt it cool,” AJ commented as he looked at Nick who sat silent in the couch. “Right Kaos?” he snapped his fingers in front of the young teen. “Youīre spacing out again man!”
“Uh..what?” Nick jerked, then he turned to his friend, “Donīt do that,” he warned.
“Hey dude, you alright?” AJ studied the blonde closer. “You look kind of pale.”
“Iīm fine,” Nick murmured, “ As long as you keep your butt ugly face out of my view.”
AJ grinned widely, “Like youīre the one to talk man. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? You have a freakin’ double chin man. Those cheeseburgers are starting to show.” He pointed at Nick's face and the blonde gave up a yell.
“I doooo nooot,” Nick said wide eyed as he ran towards the dressing room mirror. Studying himself close up front. A bit disatisfied he noticed that he had his leg pulled again. “Why do you have to say that?” he whined, picking up a shoe, throwing it at AJ, who ducked.
“Kaos youīre so easily fooled that itīs not even fun..” He didnīt have a chance to end the last word when Nick jumped all over him and the “fight” was evident.
“Watch it,” Howie growled as they started rolling on the floor.
“This little shit is going to get it!” AJ yelled as he took Nick's head in a tight grip.
“Sto..stop it,” Nick choked, “Ouuucchhh, leave me alone!” The blonde was fighting for his life. None of the guys had any intention to stop the wrestling match and AJ kept beating on Nick.
“Get off my case!” Nick yelled when AjJwouldnīt let up his grip.
“First say Iīm a fat ass!”
“Noooo!!”
“Yes..” AJ tightened his grip around Nick's neck, “Say it!!”
“Let me goooo!!” Nick was starting to sweat and his neck hurt, from AJīs grip. “ Youīre hurting me!”
“Yes let him go," Howie was coming to Nick's rescue, but AJ refused to listen. “Cool it so you donīt sprain something.”
“He just has to say “that he's a fat ass” and then he is off the hook.” AJ grinned as he tried to fend off Nick's kicking legs.
“Thatīs mean.”
“But true.”
“Iīm NOT a fatass!!” Nick yelled, sweat pouring down his back. “Let me go now.”
“Nope, you know the word.”
“NIIICCK, AJJEEE!” Kevin barked as he came into the room. They were too engrossed in the rumble that Kevin had to part them, with his hands.
“Did you have enough?” Bone said, gritting his teeth.
Nick responded gruffly, “Did you?”
Both of them looked like roosters getting ready for a fight and Nick was red in the face from fighting the skinny man. He might be stronger, but AJ was one hell of a fighter and there was not a chance that he could beat him.
“Enough!” Kevin said as he looked at the two.
“It was AJ that started it,” Nick whined as he rubbed his sore jaw. AJ had managed to kick him in his face, accidently, and now he was paying the price.
“I did not," Turning to Kevin he said, “Nick jumped all over me for no particular reason.”
Hearing this Nick felt his anger flare up. If there was one thing he hated was to be falsely accused. “He is lying. That was not what happened, Right Howie?”
The latino looked away, “Iīm not saying anything,” he said, contuing with his stretching. Heīd learned to back off when it came to fights between the Nick and AJ. They had to clear it up by themselves.
“Why doesn't anyone ever believe me??” Nick yelled when Kevin was starting to bark at him for being immature.
AJ grinned, standing behind Kevin. He had won and this was something he was going to rub in. “Beacuse youīre such a dork,” he whsipered when Kevin didnīt see and Nick was prepared again to hit, “A fat dork!”
“Stop it! God canīt you two behave for like a minute?” Donna said tiredly as she came into the room. Nick looked up, “Donīt look at me. I didnīt start it. Bone was saying that I was fat and..”
“That is beacuse you ARE fat.” Getting a glare from Kevin the skinny man continued, “What? Iīm just stating the facts. Nicky is starting to get a bit chubby and it wouldnīt hurt if he laid off those hamburgers for a while.”
“Then what would you eat?” Brian asked, coming out from the bathroom.
“Huh?”
“I mean..if we werenīt suppose to eat junk food, then there would be no Mickey D’s either, you know.” Brian smiled and Nick looked gratefully at him. As if on cue, they gave each other a high five when they noticed that AJ had nothing to say in defense.
“Well the turd can eat vegetables, canīt he?” AJ countered.
“At McDonald's, donīt think so.” Brian was the master of ending a conversation and Bone shrugged.
“Well fatass can eat whatever he likes. I donīt care.” With that he went into the bathroom just to stick out his head again, “God Brian..next time use Lysol.”
Laughter errupted in the room as Brian made a not-so-nice facial expression towards his buddy. First show always made his stomach a bit upset from being nervous.
The concert went off without any mistakes until Nick tripped while doing “Get down.” He fell flat on his ass and all but Kevin started to laugh. Howie was instantly there with a helping hand. Nick ignored it. He felt pretty bad for messing up and was sure that they would scold him afterwards. As if it wasnīt enough, he accidently tripped one more time, hitting Kevin in his stomach AND sang the wrong cue on “All I Have to Give.” He was being a total disaster and red in his face as he continued with the show.
The comments that would come after he left the stage wouldnīt be too nice and he feared for what to come. True to his thoughts, the moment they had gone down to the dressing room Kevin attacked him.
“If you paid more attention to the dance lessons you wouldnīt fuck up so bad,” he commented as he dried himself off with a towel.
“Yeah Nick, what the fuck was that?” Johnny was not pleased and Nick wanted to sink into the floor.
“Leave him alone, itīs our first concert on this tour and we can all fuck up sometimes.” AJ was coming to his rescue and Nick rose his eyebrows. First he had teased him and now he was being nice. Alexander Mclean was one person he could never figure out.
“Yeah and Nicky is tired.” Howie patted the blonde on his shoulder, “Itīs no big of a deal,” he whsipered to him, trying to make him feel better. “They'll soon forget this.”
Nick shrugged. He hoped they would, but everytime he did something, like messed up or sang the wrong cue Kevin and Johnny would be on his case. He knew that this was not all his fault and that part of it was because they were tensed up over the upcoming situation with the management. Brian's delayed heart surgery had part of it too and they were all afraid that something would happend with their brother. It was a rough time and the tension affected Nick the most.
“Being tired is no excuse for fucking up like you did Nick,” Johnny barked and Nick felt like a small kid.
“Yeah you make us look bad.” Kevin didnīt spare on his words.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he sank, exhausted, down on the coach, closing his eyes. He didnīt know how long he had been sitting there but the next time he opened his eyes he had Brian hovering over him, frowning.
“You alright Frack?” he asked as he tried to feel Nick's forehead.
“Yeah, just tired.”
“Are you sure? You kind of blacked out on us.” Howie asked as he too felt Nick's forehead. Kevin, still not happy with Nick for messing up looked at their way too.
“Mhm..” Nick yawned loudly. “Iīll think I will hit the sack early tonight.”
“No can do,” Johnny said with a loud voice, “We have meet and greet and..” He didnīt have time to finish the sentence before all five of them moaned.
“No Johhny, not tonight.”
“Canīt we skip out of it?”
“Iīm soooo tired.”
“Yeah, Nick is tired and I think we..we all are tired.” Brian was trying to negoatiate, but it was a futile attempt. Whenever Johnny had set his mind om something it was like moving a mountain with your bare hands. Not possible to change.
“Meet and greet is your chance to meet the fans and interact,” he stated like he had done so many times before.
“We know, itīs just that several of us all totally zonked and..”
Johnny cut Brian off, “Nope. Youīll do it. End of discussion.” The moaning and whining that followed could make a dead man turn himself in the grave from the noise.
“Let me die now!” Nick groaned as he sank on his bed two hours later.
It was 2 am and he had been on his feet since early morning, having a very tight schedule. The meet and greet had dragged out in overtime and when it finally ended Nick wanted to cry from exhaustion. This was suppose to be a real Kick off, being their first US concert and instead he was dead on his feet. Didnīt make sense. Maybe it was the nervousness that he had encountered all day that was letting go of his grip and making him feel so tired afterwards. A tension headache had been escalating and now he was eating asprin like they were M & Mīs.
“Itīs not that bad,” Brian comforted him, but he was just as tired as his fellow mate.
“Yes it is. Johnny keeps dragging me to meet all sorts of people and even though I said that I was not interested I had to smile and chat with some news paper magnets daughter. All for the PR.”
“I know,” Brian sighed as he moved over to the bathroom to get himself ready. “Hopefully things will get better soon,” He was referring to his discussion with Kevin without revealing anything about their plans. To change the management.
“Doubt it,” Nick muttered as he rolled to his side, rubbing his temples furiously.
Everthing was starting to get to him and if he were honest he didnīt know how he would cope with it all. They had been working non stop on the new dance routine for the show and in between on new tracks for their planned cd. They also had done some video shoots. What really taxed him out was that he also had to do concerts and interviews and photo shoots all the time. There was no time for any personal interests. Heck he didnīt even have time to go to the bathroom at times. The schedule was tight. As if that wasnīt enough he also had to work on his high school grades and the pile of homework that he had to do was scary.
No seventeen old should have to go through this much!
