Kevin and Howie went through the buffet line, barely touching any of the assorted sandwiches or salads, they mainly stuck to the fresh fruit and very little if any was placed on their plates. They each grabbed a bottle of mineral water and sat at the small table.

Brian, AJ and Nick were no where to be found and this had Howie and Kevin worried out of their minds wondering where any of them could be. The two were litterally at their wits end waiting for either Lou Pearlman or Johnny Wright to show up in the greenroom asking where the rest of the group was at.

It was a question that both men were scared of and weren’t prepared to answer.

“The caterer really did a nice job with the food,” Howie commented absently as he picked at the pineapple wedge that was skewered on a long stick.

As Kevin opened his mouth to reply, the knob on the door shook, and AJ stomped into the room, quickly grabbing a plate off the table. “What the fuck kind of shit is this?” he demanded as he tossed a sandwich on the plate.

“It’s called food,” Kevin announced, his voice monotoned.

“I’ve seen better shit than this......is Pearlman cutting the budget or something?”

“What are you expecting? Cracked crab every night or something? AJ it’s just something simple for us to eat before the show, be happy you get this for a change instead of McDonald’s,” Howie pointed out.

Taking the sandwich, he flung it back onto the table and grabbed a bottle of mineral water. “Well I ain’t eating this shit.”

Kevin watched AJ’s antics in digust. “You’re sure in the mood for a show tonight, what crawled up your butt?”

Taking a long drink of mineral water before he answered, AJ tilted his head back as he leaned into the couch. “I thought we were gonna try and cancel the show tonight.”

“Mr. Pearlman said it was out of the question for anyone to cancel this show. Period,” Howie stated quietly.

“Pearlman is a blow hole!”

“Well I don’t disagree with you on that, but we’ve been signed to what’s called a contract and if you forgot, you have to follow what he has set up for us or you’ll be charged one hell of a fine and frankly, I doubt any of us have that money combined to pay it,” Kevin pointed out.

“Look, it’s mister goodie two shoes,” AJ rasped when Brian slowly entered the room.

“AJ, keep your comments to yourself,” Kevin admonished. “Bri, you better eat, it’s no doubt going to be a long show tonight,” Kevin encouraged his cousin as he gestured at the table.

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Are you sick?” Howie questioned.

AJ scowled. “God, is everyone freakin sick around here?”

“What if we are AJ, are you gonna bad mouth me too?” Brian challenged.

“Christ, is this pick on AJ tonight? What the fuck did I ever do to you?”

“It’s what you do to Nick that bothers me, you are a class A asshole,” Brian grumbled.

AJ decided that a reply back wasn’t worth the effort, instead he gave Brian the finger as he took another drink of water.

“Oh that’s really mature,” Brian hissed.

“Like you’re an authority on that subject,” AJ countered.

Kevin rubbed his temples as the arguing continued with Howie repeatidly begging them to stop bickering.

The door banged open with Nick running in and slamming it after himself, panting, eyes wide. “There are thousands of them..... thousands I tell you!” He quickly switched from panic and paranoia to becoming enticed by the layout of food on the long table. “Hey! ham sandwiches!”

Howie, Kevin, AJ and Brian stared at their young brother as they watched him grab a plate and start piling the food onto it. He proceeded to sit at the table and start to shovel in mouthful after mouthful, almost as if he had been denied food for a month.

“God, this is good stuff,” he commented between bites, spraying crumbs down his shirt.

Kevin seemed a little mortified by the young man’s actions. “Could you slow it down some Nick?”

“Well looks like Kaos is feeling a little better,” AJ commented as he looked on.

“Better?” Brian asked in a shocked tone. “I’d say he’s medicated out of his mind.”

“I’m so thirsty, toss a bottle of that water over,” Nick gestured toward the table.

“Too lazy to get off your fat ass and get it yourself?” AJ growled. Instantly the hard glare from Brian caused AJ to change his words. “Um, I mean lazy butt?”

“I’ll get it myself,” Nick huffed. He pushed himself away from the table and grabbed the bottle of mineral water that had been setting in a bucket of ice, quickly uncapping it and guzzling it down without stopping. He grabbed another bottle and repeated his actions.

“Hey, slow it down with the water sport, you gonna want to piss during the show,” Kevin advised.

Nick glared at his older brother. “Who are you to say I’ll wanna piss during the show!? For your information, the doctor told me to drink lots of water and I am following doctor’s orders. Besides, I can’t even piss out what I drink anyway lately as if it would matter to you!”

Kevin leaned forward in his seat. “What did you just say?”

”I said I can barely piss out what I drink,” Nick replied in a louder voice.

“Nick, man, this could mean something serious,” Howie interjected.

“I have a fucking peehole infection, nothing new,” Nick shouted, grabbing another bottle of water.

“Nick, I think you might have something a little more serious,” Kevin said as he watched his brother down yet another bottle of water.

“Would you just lay off the kid? He said he has a peehole infection, seems like he knows what’s up,” AJ chuckled. “Besides, Amanda had a urinary tract infection and I think she had a hard time going to the bathroom too if I remember.”

The thoughts sexually transmitted disease crept into Kevin’s mind but he opted to keep his mouth shut to prevent a fight breaking out with AJ. “I honestly think that the doctor was wrong and you should lay off drinking so much water until I can get you to a hospital Nick.”

Nick wandered over to the stereo set up and plucked a CD out from the massive collection on the shelving unit and placed it into the CD player. Instantly, sounds of Journey’s Anyway You Want It started to fill the greenroom. Nick quickly started jumping up and down, spinning into a circle, arms fanned out as he danced.

“What the hell are you doing?” AJ rasped when Nick accidentally bumped into the man’s legs, falling down ontop of him. Nick clumsily pulled himself up from the floor, giggling. AJ glared at the blonde, shaking his head in disgust. “What are you on? Are you sure you didn’t get into something? You act like you’re on crack! There’s no way in hell I’m gonna share a stage with you acting like this!”

“I’m trying to get a red card for him since Pearlman is hell bent on us doing a show,” Kevin snapped.

“By sitting on your ass?” AJ snapped back.

“AJ, he can’t find him, God knows he’s tried. We’ll have to let Mr. Pearlman come in here so we can talk to him,” Howie suggested.

“Why do you people keep saying I need a red card? I’m fine!”

“You are not fine!” the four band members stated to Nick in unison.

Nick shrugged his shoulders as he made his way over to the bottled water. As he unscrewed the top, Kevin stormed over, grabbing the bottle away. “No more of this until I say you can have more!”

“What the hell is your deal man?” Nick growled as he snagged the bottle away from his brother. “I’m thirsty and I want to drink some water, and dammit I will!”

“Nicky, why don’t you lay down for a while, rest up,” Howie suggested.

“I’m not tired,” came the whiny reply.

“You look sleepy, you should rest up, besides, you were pretty sick last night,” Brian pointed out.

“That was last night...tonight I’m feeling fiiiiinnnnneeeee!”

“Are you hot Nick?”

Nick turned and looked at Howie, grinning. “Hell yeah I’m hot......the ladies like me!”

“No.....I didn’t mean hot that way, I meant are you feeling hot, you know, heated up?”

Again, Nick grinned. “You mean horney? Sorry Howie, hate to break it to ya, I’m not that way besides, I’m seeing a lady!”

Howie let out a groan of exasperation as he placed his hands to his head. “I was just implying that your face is beet red......are you running a temp?”

“I said I was fine....well, other than a headache, but hell I can take care of that, don’t be such a worrywart!”

This time it was Brian that was observing the blonde a little closer. “He’s right Nick, your face is pretty red......are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“For the last time I said I’m fine.....stop picking on me okay?” Nick stomped off toward the bathroom, stopping by the doorway. “I’m going to the bathroom now.....do you all want to follow me in here?” He waited for a response for a few moments before he walked into the room, slamming the door behind him.

“I really don’t know what to think,” Kevin stated as he started to pace the floor. “That doctor that Pearlman sent up was a quack, I just know he didn’t know what he was doing.....I mean think about it....how many doctors make a diagnosis of something like a urinary tract infection without checking his urine or his blood for that matter? He just did this blind!”

“I hate to say this, but I agree with you,” AJ muttered as he looked over at the closed door. “He has to be sick with something more serious than an infection, I mean look at how much the kid is drinking water. Do you think he could be worse off than we know?”

“I have an Aunt Cecilia in Northport that’s diabetic, God, I hope Nick isn’t diabetic,” Howie wondered outloud.

“Why are you even thinking such a thing?” Brian demanded.

“Well I read somewhere that one of the symptoms of being diabetic was excessive thrist and an outrageous appetite,” Howie noted.

Kevin stared as Howie counted out the symptoms. “God.....that does describe him, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s what’s been wrong with him all these years!”

“I think you guys are jumping the gun here,” Brian soothed. “Maybe that doctor was right and maybe all Nick has is a rip-roarin’ bladder infection. Let’s just try and keep this in perspective.”

As Brian’s statement was being digested by the group, the sound of the toilet flushing repeatidly through the closed door pierced the silence. Brian looked at the door and back at the guys; eyebrow arched in wonder.

The door to the bathroom opened and Nick reappeared, his face sweaty and red. Although he looked like he should be resting, Nick bounded into the room, his mannerisms upbeat, a smirk was on his face. “That toilet paper thing is still hilarious.....ya know, the carousel? I could watch that all damn night! It’s so much fun when you pull the chain and listen to the whooosh!”

“You simple minded bastard,” AJ quipped as he tossed a pillow in Nick’s direction.

Nick raised the pillow over his head, poised to blast AJ back when he suddenly dropped it and headed over to the buffet table, grabbing the large bowl of potato chips. As he took a seat on the couch next to AJ, he dipped his hand into the bowl, taking out a large handful of the chips.

AJ stared at the young blonde, watching him stuff the chips into his mouth like a starving man. “Why are you eating those?”

“Because I’m hungry,” came the reply, spraying chips down the front of his tee shirt as he spoke.

“You just ate three sandwiches and salads ten minutes ago,” Kevin stated, a tone of worry in his voice.

“So?”

“Nick, put the bowl down, it’s too close to showtime!” Kevin insisted as he reached over to steal the bowl away.

Reluctantly, Nick surrendered the dish. He sat on the couch for a few moments, bouncing his knees in a fast manner, shifting around a few times, causing the leather to make farting noises. This seem to delight Nick as he snickered and continued to move around the couch.

Without missing a beat, AJ directed a slap and it hit directly into Nick’s side. ”KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF YOU LUNATIC!”

Nick yelped and shot down to the floor, curled up in obvious pain.

“Oh shit, God Nick, I’m sorry!” AJ shouted as he quickly slid off the couch and knelt down beside Nick. “I was aiming for your shoulder and you moved on me!” “You...why did you do that?” Nick cried as he held his side.

“I’m sorry, honest!”

With precision timing, Lou Pearlman and Johnny Wright entered the greenroom. At first Kevin was ready to lunge at the managers but realizing that they were finally going to witness Nick in true pain, he calmly stood up.

“Nick isn’t fit to perform tonight.”

“Yes, I think Nick is a lot worse than that doctor said,” Howie agreed with Kevin.

“We all do,” AJ stated.

“A red card because you seem to think you can horse around and get out of a show? I highly doubt that!”

“He’s freakin’ higher than a kite on those pain pills, I’m telling you he can’t go out onstage tonight!” AJ growled.

“You can’t keep using us like animals, people are sick and you think we can just put our lives on hold to please you!” Brian shouted only to step back when the manager glared angrily at him.

“Looks fine to me, doesn’t he Johnny?”

The black manager looked down on the floor at Nick and watched as the young man got up off the floor and took a seat on the leather couch. “I guess he seems fine to me. Are you feeling okay Nick?”

“Yessir, I can do this,” Nick replied in a soft, calm voice.

“I don’t know if this is really a good idea Lou, his face does look a little flushed and puffy,” Johnny commented.

Pearlman stared at the young man and then over at his co-worker. Laughing he stated, “That’s probably because of his weight, the kid eats like a horse and it’s really starting to catch up to him.”

Kevin groaned. “I can’t believe you!”

“You better get dressed and ready boys, you have a show to do!” With that the fat manager and Johnny walked toward the door, Pearlman stopping as he opened it. “Make this show the best, we have a lot of high profile sponsors in the crowd tonight.”

As the door closed, AJ whipped a pillow at the door, it stopped with a dull thud. “Bastard!”