"Humidity from your ass," Howie surmised, laughing.
After a few more tries, I was rewarded with a green light. Quickly, I pulled the handle and opened the hotel room door. "Bingo! Come on, Lizza," I half whispered/half shouted over my shoulder. The motion of the door swinging open, coupled with my inability to stand up steady, caused me to fall down onto the carpeted floor.
Instead of seeing Lizz standing over me, I was looking into Brian's face, his hand extended out towards me to help me back onto my feet. "Come on, buddy, up you go," he groaned as he tried to pull me up. "Nick, I think it would be a good idea for me to bunk with you tonight and Lizz can stay with Leighanne."
I declined the offer. "Nah, we're fine."
Brian's eyes locked onto mine. "It, um, well, it really wasn't an offer there Nick, it was more of an order."
"Huh? Why?"
"It's just not right--"
"Oh puhleeze," I interrupted. "YOU THINK YOU TWO WERE SUCH SAINTS BEFORE YOU GOT MARRIED?!"
Okay, judging by the color on Brian's cheeks and Lee's for that matter, I was talking a little too loud. I guess I didn't care though too much, afterall, he was accusing me and Lizz of screwing the night away.
"Hey we're big kids here Brian," I snapped. Although my words were slurred, the point I was trying to convey seemed to have come across.
"Lizz, let's get some of your things so Nick can get some sleep," Leighanne suggested.
I could see the look on Lizz's face. It was almost a mixture of total embarrassment and yet total shock.
"I... I think that Nick and I would behave ourselves," she stated soberly. In a split second her seriousness dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"Oh good help Lizzard," I remarked before I started to laugh. Pretty soon we were joined in by Howie.
An exasperated Kevin sighed loudly. "Alright Howie, time to take you to your room to sleep it off."
"I can take him," AJ offered with a smirk. "I know the ropes to this little trip. Yo, Howard, dude, this way and try not to yak on the floor."
Howie winked at Lizz and I and made a half assed attempt at waving goodbye before AJ jerked him around and practically dragged him down the hallway. Howie burst into a melody of Dean Martin songs and both Lizz and I started laughing again, especially when I tried to join in along with him.
I didn't notice it until Lee walked out of our hotel room, Lizz's suitcase held firmly in her grasp. "Come on Lizz, time to get ready for bed." She kissed Brian and then whispered 'I love you sweetie' in his ear. "Call if you need me for anything."
Lizz looked back at me as she was being led four doors down the hall. I seized that opportunity and did a sign gesture, holding a prend phone up to my face and mouthing the words 'call me'. Lizz nodded to indicate she understood and started to laugh again, falling against the wall.
"Oopsie, careful honey," Lee quietly urged as she steadied Lizz onto her feet again.
"You know I'm pissed at you," I spat once the door closed to my room.
"Well, I'm not here to be liked Nick," Brian stated as he started turning down the bed.
I stood there, or rather swayed back and forth as I watched him.
"I think a cold shower would help you sober up a little."
"Ass."
Brian sighed. "Maybe not then."
When there was a firm knock on the door, Brian stopped in his quest to get me to go to sleep.
"It's Steve, Sparrow wanted you to have this," came the voice on the other side of the door.
I cocked my head to one side and started laughing again. Detail used code names for us, but for all practical purposes, no fans were in the hotel as of yet so there wasn't a need for code names yet and besides that, Sparrow was a dorky name for Lee.
"Aww, little horsie pj's Brian?" I observed as he walked past me, pajamas folded neatly under his left arm.
"Nick why don't you go and put your Barney boxers on and hop into bed?"
"Ouch, that hurt Bri... man, I'm really offended," I lied, sarcasim dripping in my slurred words.
Brian's only reply was the closing of the bathroom door.
Technically, I was alone. I could leave and be gone before he came out of the bathroom after brushing and flossing his teeth 86 million times - his usual godforsaken ritual of hygiene that drove me up the wall. He was so damn anal about washing his face, brushing his teeth, cleaning his nails. How Leighanne could put up with that was beyond me. Hell, maybe that was why she was so damn anxious to unload Brian on me and have Lizz stay with her.
That's when I finally realized what was going on.
I got screwed.
My attempts at trying to get to the door failed within three steps. I lost my balance and fell over onto the dresser that held a lamp. Needless to say, the lamp went crashing to the ground before I could stop it, causing Brian to come rushing out of the bathroom. He stared at my pitiful body, laying on the floor, lamp beside me, still glowing. Brian was the master of getting his point across without words. The raised eyebrow and the look in his eyes told me I was going to be in deep shit if I had made it out the door.
"I was gonna go say goodnight to Lizzard properly," I lied.
"I bet you were," he replied, his tone icy.
"Okay, I'll just get up...well, um, I'll just crawl back over to my bed and climb in," I announced as i switched over to my hands and knees after failing to stand upright on my own. As I crawled over to the bed, I could feel Brian's stare on my back the whole time. Once I managed to get into the bed, I pulled the covers up by my neck.
"Goodnight?" That came out more as a question rather than a statement.
"Goodnight Nick," Brian replied with a sweet voice. Little did I know he was mumbling under his breath that he was hoping I would have one of the worst hangovers in my life.
"Nick, time to get up, PR in an hour," Brian sing-songed as he pulled the curtians open onthe window that faced the balcony.
I managed to open an eye, the glare of the sunlight invaded my brain, the reality of the night before slowly seeped in. I gingerly rolled over, turning my back from the glaring sunlight, hoping all this would go away and leave me alone and let me get the sleep my body was craving.
"Nick? Didn't you hear me? You need to get up and get ready!" Brian urged.
As I tried to roll my eyes at the sound of Brian's voice, I stopped in mid-roll, god that hurt too damn much to do. "Go without me," I mumbled.
Suddenly, I felt the covers being dragged from my body. I reached out and grabbed a blanket and a struggle ensued.
"Get out of bed....NOW!" Brian said firmly through gritted teeth.
"No," I replied in a determined whisper.
Grabbing the edge of the blanket, Brian managed to give it a firm tug, pulling it completely off my body. "Don't make me call for reinforcements, Nick, you have a job to do, now get your ass out of bed."
Upon hearing Brian use the A word, I moaned. He meant business and ass was a pretty strong word for Brian to use. "I don't feel good."
"Too bad. You did this to yourself, you deal with it now. I can only guess that Lizz is feeling about as bad as you."
I blindly stumbled from the bed towards the bathroom. A hot shower may be what I needed, I decided.
"Lizz, honey, did you want to get up and watch the guys work this morning?" Leighanne asked in a soft voice.
Lizz's only reply was a quiet moan.
Leighanne bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.
"Oh my god, what did I do last night?" Lizz asked as she slowly rolled onto her back.
"Do you really want to know?"
Lizz shook her head and then moaned as she placed the palm of her hand on her forehead. "I think I know," she whispered.
"You go ahead and take a hot shower and I'll start up some coffee," Leighanne suggested.
Lizz didn't reply, she slowly rolled out of bed and plodded towards the bathroom in hopes of finding some type of renewal.
"Nicky my boy, ya look like complete shit," AJ cackled as he clamped a hand on my shoulder.
Expertly, I dipped the shoulder, getting the offending hand off. I put the best smile on my face that I could manage and gazed over towards Howie, his face looking ashen, eyes bloodshot.
As I opened my mouth to point out Howie's looks compared to mine, a firm knock on the door interrupted me from my thoughts.
"Time to go guys, Sparrow and Condor will be waiting at the conference," one of the guys from detail stated in a business-like manner.
"Whoa, hold on, what name did you say?" I interrupted.
"Sparrow?"
I shook my head as I folded my arms across my chest. This wasn't good. "The other name," I replied, my jaw set.
"Oh, Condor?"
"Yeah, why in the hell did you use that name for?" I growled.
Brian shook his head. "Nick, calm down, it's just a name."
"It' s fuckin Manda's old name! I don't want Lizz associated with her!"
"Nick, chill, god, I thought you said there's nothing between you two," AJ intervened.
"There's not, but I just don't want you guys calling Lizz that name, okay? Pick something else!"
Everyone in the room exchanged uneasy glances at one another. "Defensive much? It's just a freakin name, Nick," AJ muttered.
"Just change the name! Now!"
"Robin."
"That's better," I calmly agreed.
"Good god man, let's go," AJ huffed. "I'm sure ROBIN will be worried sick about your ass."
"You realize that Robin is a sacred name," Brian observed solemingly.
I gave him a glance as we stepped onto the elevator, detail surrounding us.
"That's Batman's sidekick," AJ pointed out. "So, technically, your code name should be changed to Batman."
"Oh for the love of god," Kevin moaned.
"I keep telling you guys there's nothing between us, why aren't you listening? We're just good friends!" I defended.
"So were my parents," Howie remarked quietly.
Before I had a chance to reply in defense, the elevator reached its destination and the doors opened up to a group of girls clustered by the door. Normally we didn't travel in packs, each of us went in either in twos or separate, but this morning I caused the entire system to be thrown into chaos so we had to go to the conference together and togetherness was a security nightmare.
For a small group of girls, the screaming wasn't anything I was ready to deal with this morning with my hangover. I slipped on my pair of sunglasses, ready to almost face the bright Florida sunlight.
"OMYGOD! OMYGOD!"
Detail pushed us through the lobby and we thankfully made it to the hotel shuttle van and the driver wasted no time in putting the van in motion to the conference center. All but two from security followed in another van. The two body guards took their seats, one in the passenger and the other in the back of the van.
"Ya know...."
"Don t talk to me, don t start up," I snapped as I cut AJ off.
"Gum anyone?" Brian asked as he held a package of Wrigleys Spearmint. I could detect the uneasiness in his voice, he was always the one to try and make peace in our little circle, he hated arguments and confrontations.
"Thank god we're here," AJ grumbled as the van pulled up the the television station.
I slowly eased my body from the seat. I was anxious to see how Lizz was holding up. If she felt the way I did, she would be praying for a sudden and painfree death.
