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Thanks Sam and Alana :)

10
Howie woke up from a night of barely any sleep at all, sore and with a headache. He had fallen asleep right out on the balcony. In the chair; his arms dangling off on either side. After he got that phone call he had contemplated with the thought of calling the police or at the very least security but not sure if this was real or not, unfortunately leaning towards it begin VERY real, he decided it was best to follow the man's instructions and not say a word.
So, he just sat, his heart racing and his skin tingly with anxiousness, the next thing he knew he was waking himself up. He sat up straight and worked a kink out of his neck. He needed to go in because the early morning chill was not doing any good for that headache of his. He stood up and made his way inside, locking the balcony as he did.

"Did you sleep out there?" Howie turned quickly in a move of self defense which made AJ jump.

"Woah...easy D"

"Sorry J. Yeah I guess I fell asleep out there"

"Must have been comfortable" He smiled as Howie continued to rub his own neck.

"Why are you up so early?" Howie asked while making his way on to his bed to lay down, knowing sleep was out of the question.

"I had to pee"

"Oh"

"So...are you ready to talk about it yet Howie?" AJ had climbed back into his bed, lying on his side with one hand holding his head up.

"There's nothing to talk about AJ, I told you that already"

"I know, but you are a horrible liar D"

Howie sat there in the semi darkness, biting his bottom lip while covering himself, "I know" How he wanted to tell AJ about the call. But he just couldn't. Not yet anyway. He would have to just wait to see how it all played out. With that thought in his mind he dosed off.


~*~*~*~*~*~
He wasn't exactly sure how long he was asleep, but judging by the sun's position in the room, how it was only representing about half of it, he knew it couldn't have been for more than just 30 minutes or so. He sat up, listening to the snores of his friend from the other bed, he got up and ran into the bathroom.

"I look like crap!" He said as he poured some ice cold water on his face.

The digital clock he kept in the bathroom said 8 am. Maybe he did sleep longer than he thought he would.

He roamed back into the room ready to attempt another round of sleep when the phone next to him rang. He jumped at first but once he realized it was the hotel phone he quickly calmed himself down.

"Hello"

"Howard!" He tensed once more at the sound of Johnnie's voice.

"Yes"

"Get up, grab AJ and get down to our meeting room pronto!" He didn't sound happy at all.

"Okay sure thing...is there a problem?" He heard his manager laugh sarcastically, "Problem? Damn right there is a problem now get your asses down here NOW!"

Howie hesitantly woke AJ and managed to get dressed while his younger friend grumbled. All that kept running through his mind was the shit was about to hit the fan. But what level of shit was it exactly?

"Oscar is in a bad mood?" AJ and Nick had lovingly nicknamed Johnnie Oscar one evening, because Johnnie was Always in a bad mood.

"Exceptionally bad"

"Super"

"Let's go see what crawled up his ass and died today" Even as stressed as Howie was, he couldn't help but laugh.


~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got to Johnnie's room he was already screaming. AJ held onto the door handle as if it were hot and a fire was blaring on the other side. "We might as well get it over with J" AJ nodded and opened the door.

There sat Brian and Nick who looked so grateful for a reprieve. Now he can yell at you guys for a little while was written all over the kids face. He looked pale and totally unhappy.

"It's about freaking time!" Johnnie spit the words at Howie who nodded apologetically.

"What's going on?" He asked in a small voice. He didn't want to know.

"Oh...look at that, he wants to know what's going on" By that time he had made his way closer to where Nick and Brian were and that's when he saw the tears in the younger blondes eyes. Brian was patting him on the back.

"I'll tell you what's going on....a whole lot of trouble... that's what's going on"

AJ took a seat as far away form everyone as possible, leaving Howie standing next to the screaming, unhappy man.

Howie kept staring over at Nick who refused to make eye contact with anything but the floor. "You want to explain to me why you took a 17 year old kid into a strip club?" Howie's gaze shifted from Nick to Brian confident that he was the one that blabbed. How the hell was he gonna explain this without sounding dumb?

"It's not like that..."

"Oh yeah I know...I already heard the tall tale from that one over there" He pointed at Nick whose posture had taken on the look of a five year old.

"I just needed to talk to somebody"

"Oh well that's great...just great, because you know what Howie, now everyone is going to know about it"

"Why?" Johnnie grabbed a paper from the table which held uneaten bagels and threw it at him, "Page 10 bottom corner"

Howie hesitantly flipped to page ten and allowed his eyes to go to the small picture. It was of him and Nick walking into the strip club. The headline read, When Good Boys Go Bad

He started to bite at his nails as he scanned the small article. It had to be only two paragraphs at the most. Two of the newest Boyband sensation The Backstreet Boys went looking for some grownup action at The Lion's Den yesterday afternoon...

"The Lion's Den?"

"It's the name of the club....I guess" Nick finally whispered.

"Go on... did you get to the part about the drugs yet? Oh that was my favorite part!" Johnnie said walking over to the window and tearing open a pack of cigarettes.

"Drugs?"

"Yeah...apparently it says one of the guys that works there said you guys went in looking for drugs" Brian answered looking sympathetic, knowing none of this was the truth.

"That is a blatant lie!" That once again got Johnnie into an uproar, "Oh that is a lie huh? Well, kid if you had stayed the hell here and Not gone out this would have never happened. It's his word against yours. He insists you were there and he said you guys went in looking to get laid and that drugs were mentioned"

"NO! Absolutely not...it's not like that at all"

"Then what IS it like then? This one over here says you were chasing his double!" Johnnie through his hand over to Nick's direction and shook his head. Nick wiped a tear away.

"It's.."

"You know what Howie? Don't even waste your breathe" Johnnie walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. "Lou is Not happy, either are his parents" He said pointing over to Nick.

"Its not true Johnnie"

"What...you didn't go to a strip club?"

"Well....yeah we did but.."

"Then I don't care, that is the mess, no matter what else you say, no one will care"

"So....what happens now?" AJ asked from his chair by the window"

"Oh....now the real fun starts, first we wait and see if anybody cares about this article, it's so far back that hopefully no one will care, but if they do...and then there is Jive to worry about"

"Jive?"

"Yes, Brian remember that record company that spent a ton of money on you? Yeah them...they won't be too happy about this, and then if the police.."

"Police?" Howie asked, his voice almost cracking.

"Yes, Howie, the police. You think they are just going to let the whole drug thing lie? Maybe they will but if not we have to be prepared, plue he is a minor which doesn't help at all!"

"I'm sorry" Nick said from the bed.

"Oh it's too late to apologize now kid! The damage has already been done"

Howie sat down feeling a little weak. He looked over to Brian who returned his gaze with a sympathetic one. "What about Kevin?"

"He is on his way here. He wasn't very happy either not that I give a damn or anything but I bet you will be sorry about that" Great now not only did he have to contend with all this crap but he had to endure the wrath of Kevin. Could things get any worse?

"Okay so this is the plan, you are going to lay low, chances are reporters will be in the lobby looking for a statement of some kind. I suggest you get your story straight with dumbo over here and then we maybe can release a statement" Johnnie stood up and began to pace as he listed what he needed to do to fix my mistake.

"Then we should schedule a meeting with Jive, just to make sure we are still on their good side. Lou will also want to meet with you...I hope you are proud of yourselves" He said staring at Howie and Nick.

Then is if he was hammering the last nail in Nick's coffin he said, "Your Mother wants to talk to you mister"

"I can't talk to her yet"

"I don't care, she said have him call me so I am having you call her NOW!"

"Can Brian come?"

"No, you got into this mess without him you deal with it"

Brian gave his young friend a hug and Johnnie led him out the door, "Stay out of trouble" he warned before yelling to our security, "If anyone tries to leave that room shoot them!"

"Oh my God what a mess" Howie said throwing his body back against the chair not realizing that it was only the beginning...