Surpressing a cough he was reminded that his health had been faltering throughout the whole tour. It seemed like ages since he had felt well and now he was constantly batteling pain in one form or another. Recently the pain had been so bad that he was sure that he would never be well again. Heīd suspected for a while that it could be something more than just the common flu but Lou’s threats had made him try to act like nothing was wrong. The obese manager had told him repeatidly that he nothing but a lazy fatass and that his health problems came from not taking better care of himself. The more times heīd heard it the more he started to believe him and when he wanted to tell the manager to stop or tell the rest of the guys he was too deep into the shit that he couldnīt stop.
When he was at the hospital heīd overheard the staff talking about that he his appearance looked off and that they were suspecting he was on diet pills. Upon being asked this he had confirmed it but told them that it heīd stopped taking them when he notice it made him sick. The hospital personnel hadnīt got a chance to check up on this and this way Nick still had the small pills wrapped up in a paper in his pocket. Just in case he would need it later on.
With a groan he pulled his jean jacket closer to his body, trying to get some heat into his shivering system. His head ached so bad and no matter what he did he couldnīt get any heat into his freezing body. His stomach and back still hurt and nausea made itself present. Trying to get some comfort, he leaned his hot and sweaty face against the cool car window, but this only served to worsen the ill feeling that his body harbored and instead he wrapped his arms closer around himself and then sank further down into the seat. Swallowing hard he did his best to try and block out the sun beams that cut through the windshield since it hurt his eyes and head even more. "Unghhh," biting his lip it took every ounce that he had not to cry out loud when the van hit a bump, sending pain cross his back. "Fuck!" Through clenched teeth he stealed himself from cussing out too many obscene words.
"You awake?" Lou’s booming voice cut through the silence and before he could react the older man reached out to feel his forehead. Touching the warm forehead he muttered, "Damn I thought your fever went down."
A bit surprised over the almost humanitarian words, Nick did his best to swallow back the tears that were threatening to spill over and he mumbled quietly, "It hurts."
"What hurts? Your stomach? Back? What?" Lou sounded irritated like he was worried that he was once again screwing up his plans.
"My..my ba..back." Nick sobbed when he felt the tears starting to roll down his cheeks. Quickly he tried to wipe them away, not wanting to be told that he was a crybaby, but he couldnīt help himself. Fever had always made him want to cry and that combined with the fierce feeling in his kidneys had him loosing his control.
The manager muttered something unclear before reaching out into the glove compartment, pulling out a white bottle of pills. "Here you go," he barked tossing the bottle into Nick’s lap, "take a couple and maybe youīll feel better."
With shaking hands Nick reached the bottle only to discover that it was nothing stronger than Tylenol. Mentally he screamed inside, his strong pain killers were wearing off and Lou thought that he would feel better from something as common as Tylenol! With a sigh he opened the bottle, pouring out three pills into his palm. He knew it was a much higher dose than he was allowed but then again, he was in a much greater pain than he had ever experienced before which had him more or less begging for relief. Just when he was about to ask for water the manager tossed him an open bottle to him, not bothering to glance at him.
Unscrewing the cap he took a mouthful only to spit it out the next second. The water was pisswarm and smelled and tasted bad. Before he had a chance to react Lou snatched the bottle from him yelling, "What the hell are you doing boy? Are you spitting on the seat?”
"So..sorry," the teen stuttered, wanting to slap himself in the face for sounding so pathetic. Yet he couldnīt stop himself since this whole situation was starting to drain him out and he was quickly loosing all the energy. "It..it just tasted funny."
Lou who had calmed down handed him back the bottle, "There you go... Itīs just been out in the sun too long. Nothing that can hurt you..wash it down boy.
A bit confused Nick accepted the water. Lou was acting more and more unreliable each day and his mood was constantly going up and down. One time nice and then quickly change to stab the person in the back. At first the guys had blamed it over the manager being too busy but there were times when Nick actually wondered if the older man liked being mean, running people down, even if he had a hard time thinking that someone could be that evil besides Lou had his moments when he could be really nice too, even if they were becoming less frequent.
Blocking out the bad smell from the water he quickly drowned down the three pills. The thirst was driving him crazy yet he couldnīt allow himself anything more to drink since he was afraid that it would make him feel sick. Correction would make him feel sicker! Once his task was completed he sank down in the seat again, curling up into a ball. The humming from the engine combined with the rocking motion of the van made his eyes feel heavy and soon he found himself engulfed in a restless sleep.
"Where the hell is he?" Johnny muttered silently, mosly to himself after checking his wrist watch for the umpteenth time that past hour. Lou had disappeared after breakfast, saying that he had some business to tend to, and now he was over 45 minutes late. If he kept up this pace they would be too late to go to the hospital for a quick visit before going to the airport. Even if Johnny could care less he knew that this would upset the guys very much and the last thing he wanted was to get them in a more agitated mood than they already were, especially due to the last days situation.
Johnny felt bad over the way everything was going and frankly he couldnīt understand how the head manager could act the way heīd has and now he wished he had stopped this stupidity long before since he knew about Lou’s dieting plans on Nick and had done nothing to stop it. The least he could do was to try and work it all out and when it came clear that Nick couldnīt go back home and would have to stay at the hospital Johnny had agreed to stay with the kid until either his parents came over or he was well enough to fly back home. Judging from past experience he feared it would be the latter.
Catching a glance at the rest of the guys he saw that they were in a miserable state, much due to the wild after party where several of them had drowned their misery in alcohol and was now paying the price with one hell of a hangover. Brian was the only one that was fit for fight since he had stayed at the hotelroom, claiming that he was too tired to go out partying but Johnny knew better. The Kentuckian was much too shook up over Nick’s faltering health and the fact that the teen was at the hospital had put a damper onto things.
Brian was the only one to catch Johnny’s eye. Frowning he said, "If Lou doesnīt come back soon we wonīt be able to go and see Nick and then I will get really upset." His tone was light but the black man knew that the young man could be both cold and hard when it came to things and persons that mattered much to him and Nick was such a person.
Beside the obvious hangover a flare of exhaustion hung low in the room and more than one of the guys was suffering from a bad headache. The tour had been streneous both physically as well as mentally and Nick’s sudden illness did nothing to help the situation. Brian blamed himself since he had seen the signs but done nothing to help his friend. The realization that he had been eating dietpills like candy as well as making himself throw up had scared the older man dearly and he felt nothing but hatred towards Lou who had put their friend into this position. But he also felt guilty for doing everything to get away from Nick these past weeks since the teens strange mood had really put him off. Now he felt really bad knowing that he had done nothing to prevent the situation from getting this far and in that way help him before he was getting too sick.
Heīd talked to Kev the night before and in tears told his cousin how bad he felt. The older man had done everything to comfort but it hadnīt helped much since Brian felt deep inside that he had let his friend down by not standing up for him when he needed him the most. AJ had been right when he had said in a heated moment that all Brian did was talk to Leighanne on the phone and trying to act like everything was just peachy when it was total chaos.
Kevin, who had been rubbing his temples furiously, looked up, "Lou is acting out of his boundries and Iīm starting to get fed up with playing his games. If he scews this up with us going to see Nick I will make sure that he will eat it all up since he is doing nothing but treating us like crap." The oldest band member was in a bad mood and the rest knew that when he was in a pissy mood they all had to watch their tongues. Rule number one: You donīt upset a hungover Kev!
Both Howie and AJ was too hungover to say anything and their pale complexion told Johnny that they should be in bed instead of traveling across the globe. Yet it was all a matter of their own doing and he felt no pity upon their condition. Brian on the other hand was the only one that was well enough to snap up what Kevin was talking about. "Yes I agree. This time he has really done it. Itīs mainly his fault that Nick has gotten this ill since he refused to give him treatment and even paid off a doctor to get him a green card when he had no business being onstage." The words were hard and cold and they were directed to the black manager who looked like he wanted to be out of the place. "And forcing Nick to diet in the way that he did should be enough for suing," Kevin said with threat in his voice staring hard at Johnny.
The black manager felt uncomfortable, yet there was very little he did to reveal any emotions. Johnny knew that the guys all had the right to be upset, yet there was very little he could do to change the situation. Lou had acted out of place and it had all gotten out of hand and now they were paying the price. He knew that if the guys wanted to they could slap him with a suit so fast that his head would spin and now he could only hope that they didnīt have the power to do so since it would mean bad publicity and that was the last thing the board would accept. Meanwhile Johnny had to do everything to try and straighten up the situation and that was a hard task to do since he knew that their trust in him had been tested.
Just when he was about to pick up the phone to call Lou and ask where the hell he was, the fat manager turned up, surprising them all. "Hurry up, The van is parked at the loading docks and we have to get going before all these damned fans storm the place." Johnny as well as the rest of the guys, especially Kevin and Brian, opened their mouths to ask him what he meant by being an hour late when Lou cut them short. "Hurry your fat asses up or you wonīt make it to the airport."
"Airport?" Brian was the first to pick up the situation. "I thought we were going to see Nick at the hopsital.."
"Did I tell you to talk Littrell?" The obese manager said, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "I told you to get going didnīt I?" With that he pushed the man in front of him towards the kitchen entrance. "Hurry up or it will be too late. It’s a damned madhouse outside." The guys must have picked up the urgency in the situation and soon they followed the manager without further words into the waiting van just to be met with a big surprise waiting for them.
Nick!
