"Hey, you look like you lost your best friend," Kevin said with a grin as he looked down at his younger brother. Nick's only acknowledgement was a slight shurg of his shoulders, not bothering to look up.
"You've been so quiet since you and Mr. Pearlman arrived at the hotel today. Wanna talk about what's bugging you buddy?"
Nick only shook his head, not wanting to make eye contact.
Leaning against the wall, Kevin let out a deep sigh. "I was checking the facilities out the other day and they have this really cool exercise room down the hall from the pool. Why don't you go with me and work out. It'll do you some good."
Nick's head shot up, anger was evident in his expression. Glaring at his brother, Nick spat, "Why is everyone so fuckin' preoccupied with my weight? Can't you just leave me the fuck alone? I'm not a baby!"
"Nick I was just--"
"Save it," Nick interrupted as he quickly stood up.
"But I---"
"Just leave me the fuck alone, okay? I don't need any help from anyone!"
Feeling helpless, Kevin could only watch as Nick stormed off, ending any possiblity of a conversation.
Nick couldn't get away fast enough from Kevin. As much as he loved his friends, he felt that they were in some way ganging up on him and picking on every little imperfection they could find on him. The past twenty-four hours he had to spend with Lou Pearlman was bad enough. By the time they arrived in Oslo, his self esteem had reached an all time low.
He didn't care that the room he chose to hid in was a janitorial closet, he didn't care that it was pitch black. All Nick cared about was that he finally was away from anyones scrutinizing eyes.
Sitting on the floor surrounded by buckets, mops and plastic pails, Nick folded his arms and stared into the darkness. He could hear Kevin's footsteps outside the maintence closet as he passed by and Nick froze, not daring to breathe for fear that his secret place would be found.
Nick decided that this hiding place was a good one except for one minor detail; the chemicals in one of the pails started triggering his asthma. The wheezing started announcing itself slowly with each breath he took. His lungs were tightening up and the longer he was in that room with the chemcials the worse it would get.
In the darkness, Nick calmly patted his pants pockets for his Albuterol Inhaler. Calmness turned to panic when he didn't find what he was searching for and his wheezing was getting worse and the coughing was becoming more and more frequent.
Feeling his way in the darkness as he coughed, Nick knocked over boxes that were set along the walls until he finally found the door knob. His sweaty fingers slipped off the knob as he grasped and jerked at the door. Discovering it had locked behind him, Nick started to panick. With as much energy as he could muster, Nick started banging on the door. His cries for help were coughing/whispered pleas since the asthma attack had his airway in a tight grip.
Tears slipped down his cheeks as he pounded his fists on the door, thoughts of his death flashing in his brain.
Two young girls were walking the halls in search of any of the Backstreet Boys, autograph books and cameras tight in their hands. The older of the two, Meggan, held her hand up in the air and turned her head towards the noise she heard coming from down the hallway. "S-h-h-h-h!"
"What do you hear?" Bethany whispered.
"It sounds like someone coughing, I think."
"Where?"
Meggan grabbed her friend by the arm and started dragging her down toward the source of the noise. They stood for a few moments outside the janitorial closet, listening to the pounding from the inside and a whimpering cry and coughing.
"Someone's in there!"
Meggan rolled her eyes at her friend. "Well duh, ya think?"
"God, don't get snotty with me about this," Bethany snapped. "Try opening the door."
Meggan nodded and twisted the knob. "It's locked. Now what?"
"Hotel security or a janitor?"
"Yeah," cried in unison as they took off running in search of someone that could unlock the door. Meggan stopped quickly having Bethany running into her back.
"OUCH! Why did you do that?" Meggan yelped as she rubbed the back of her foot.
"Housekeeper down the hall back there. C'mon."
The girls explained what they found and the housekeeper took her keys and followed them to the closet. When they got to the door, it was quiet and the girls started to panic fearing that the person behind the door had suffocated.
"Hurry, that person was coughing hard, they probably need air."
Just as the woman placed a key into the door lock, the coughing started up again. The light from the hall shined into the storage room and the girls gasped.
"It's Nick Carter!"
Weak and his body wracked with coughing, Nick could hardly stand up and the girls quickly offered their assistance.
"Do you have a puffer?" Meggan asked as she quickly offered Nick support to help him walk out of the room.
Still coughing, Nick shook his head.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her Albuterol Inhaler and placed it into Nick's hand. He grabbed it like a drowning man to his survivor and quickly placed the puffer in his mouth taking a deep inhaltion of the mist.
Bethany's eyes widened as she watched Nick with the inhaler. "How did you know he needed that?"
"We asthmatics think alike, so we know what we need," Meggan explained.
"But Nick doesn't have asthma, do you Nick?"
Handing the inhaler back to the teen, Nick gave his thanks, avoiding the topic of asthma. Noticing the autograph books in their hands, he causally asked if they had something they wanted signed.
Handing the book over, she decided she wasn’t going to let the topic drop about his asthma episode. “So you’ve got asthma, right?”
Nick coughed again lightly, “Naw, it just got really stuffy in that closet and there was some stuff in there that made me sick I guess.”
“You sure did seem to know what to do with that puffer though.”
“Yeah dumb luck I guess.” He quickly scrawled his name in both books and handed them back to the girls. “There ya go. Thanks and take care.”
As he turned and walked back towards his room, he could hear the two girls still discussing the episode that had happened. He sighed knowing that it would probably wind up in a chat room. They were right about the asthma but Nick was starting to hate imperfection that was pointed out about him and this was just another thing to add to the list of his self loathing.
His footsteps slowed when he saw Kevin Richardson standing outside his door.
“Nick, where the hell did you go off to?” His eyes narrowed as he took in Nick’s sweaty appearance.
“Away but not far enough.”
“Hey, I wasn’t picking on you about your weight and you know that. I was just trying to get you to cheer up.”
Sliding the card into the slot, Nick mentally wished that Kevin would go away.
“Okay, something happened, why are you coughing?”
Nick rolled his eyes as he grabbed his bathroom kit, searching for his inhalers. “God, Kev I’m not a baby!”
“You don’t have asthmatic episodes for no reason, were you running?”
“Drop it!” Taking a deep hit from the inhaler and holding his breath, Nick glared at his brother.
As Kevin opened his mouth, the phone rang. Nick deliberately ignored the ringing, By the third ring, Kevin became clearly irritated; rushing over snatching the receiver off the cradle.
“Yeah.”
“Nick?”
“Kevin. What do you want Brian?”
“Why are you in there? Is there a meeting I don’t know about?”
Kevin rubbed a hand across his forehead. Brian was always paranoid about being excluded how could this be his cousin, Kevin wondered. “No Brian there’s no meeting, I was just talking to the kid trying to figure out what crawled up his butt. What do you want?”
“What’s wrong with Nick?” Brian persisted.
Kevin angrily sighed into the phone. “Was there a specific reason why you called Nick?”
Switching ears, Brian nervously cleared his throat. “I, um.... you’d find this kinda funny Kev....”
“Humor me then,” Kevin spat into the phone, his voice cool and even.
“Oh yeah, now I remember. Mr. Pearlman called me and wanted me to remind you that we have sound check in an hour and we’ll be staying at the venue after the check for the show.”
Kevin groaned. “Why does he come up with these rotten ideas?”
Brian grinned. “Because he’s cheap?”
Kevin glanced at his wrist, checking the time. “Yeah, that would be his prime reason for this. So that leaves us with about ten minutes to be down for the shuttle. Wonderful.” Without offering anything more, Kevin ended the call and turned to the teen sitting on the edge of the bed. “Are you going to be up to sound check?”
“Yeah,” Nick grunted.
“I’m going back to my room to gather a few things. You might want to bring along things to occupy your time.”
Nick slapped his hand across his forehead. “We’re not coming back here?”
“Pearlman said we were staying at the venue til the concert is overwith. See you at the elevator in ten minutes.”
“What the hell was that Carter?” Johnny barked from his seat in the auditorium.
Panting, Nick stopped his motions, wishing he could disappear when he felt all eyes on him. “I messed up, sorry.”
“You’re getting more and more clumsy as the day passes by!”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Lighten up on the kid Johnny, he’s still sick and technically he should still be in bed,” Kevin defended.
“Catering is here!” AJ interrupted.
“Good I’m starving,” Brian sighed walking off the stage.
”Hold on a second!” Johnny’s voice boomed. Howie, Brian and AJ stopped quickly. “Did I call break?”
“Yeah, just now freak,” AJ grumbled.
“What did you just call me?”
AJ shook his head and started walking toward the buffet that was waiting them. “Hey Kaos, it’s pasta time!”
Approaching the table, Nick’s stomach growled and his mouth watered. “I’m really starved,” he announced as he grabbed a plate and silverwear.
“Did you save anything for the band,” Brian joked as he watched Nick sit down with his plate overloaded with spaghetti.
“Ha...ha...ha,” Nick replied as he shot an icy glare at the Kentuckian. He ate his meal in silence, never looking up from his plate, tuning out the conversation that was going on around him.
“Nick? Nicky? HEY!”
Nick jerked and looked across the table to find Kevin’s eyes locked on him.
“What?”
“Slow down, you’re shoveling your food like we’re late for something.”
Nick could feel the tears stinging his eyes. He dropped his fork onto the plate and pushed himself away from the table, the chair making a grinding noise on the wooden floor. “Wake me up when it’s time to get ready.”
All eyes watched as the blonde stormed past the table and trudged towards the green room, slamming the door shut.
“Well, guess that room is gonna be off limits for awhile,” Howie mused.
“Like hell it is,” AJ rasped.
“Leave Nick alone. He’s probably tired and needs a nap.”
AJ lowered the trademark sunglasses and peered over the tops at Kevin’s face. “God, you can’t actually be serious can you?”
Kevin’s only response was a positive nod of his head.
“Jesus Ch--”
”AJ!”
Shaking his head, AJ pulled the pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket.
“Hey I’m still eating here,” Howie hissed.
“Can’t smoke... can’t go in the green room... what the hell is going to be next?” AJ mumbled as he stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“I feel crazy. I’m going outside without a bodyguard.”
“Are you psycho?”
AJ grinned, lighting the cigarette. “Probably, but it sure beats the hell out of sitting here and staring at a bunch of paranoid freaks.”
Kevin glared as he watched AJ walk away from them, cigarette smoke floating through the air.
Brian looked at his cousin, his eyes wide. “Aren’t you gonna stop him?”
Folding his arms across his chest, Kevin slowly shook his head.
“He’s going to go out there and get mobbed, I can feel it,” Brian whined.
“He’ll be back in five..... four.... three... two....”
”HOLY SHIT! That was some wack shit out there,” AJ panted.
“How did you know he’d be back?”
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there would be girls waiting outside the door. Do you actually think that AJ would be stupid enough to go out there without his bodyguard?”
“Come on Nick, I need to use the can too,” AJ yelled, pounding on the closed door.
“Yeah in a sec, okay! Geeze.”
Tugging at the form fitting black shirt, Nick stared at his reflection in the mirror. The candy bars and late night snacks were slowly beginning to show and the clothing that once was loose had become snug to say the least. It took some manipulative moves, but he was able to button and zip the stage pants. The waistband dug into his stomach and sides, making it painfully uncomfortable to breathe or bend at the waist. Standing sideways, Nick stared at his reflection in the mirror.
Loud banging on the door, jerked Nick away from his trance. He unlocked the door and threw it open, getting a “death stare” from AJ as he pushed past, unzipping his pants as he walked into the bathroom.
Howie briefly looked up as Nick walked out of the bathroom. Frowning, he did a double take. There was something different about the teen but he couldn’t put a finger on what. Until AJ came out of the bathroom a few moments later.
“Hey Chubby, pass me my water please.”
Keeping an eye on Nick throughout the entire concert, Howie could definately see that the normally energetic teen was slow moving and his stage costumes looked like they had been taylored for Brian and Nick was wearing the wrong size.
Howie wasn’t the only one that was noticing Nick’s change in size.
“Johnny, you really haven’t done a very good job of keeping that kid in line,” Lou Pearlman noted as he watched the show from the side of the stage.
“Carter is a hard one to follow. I swear that kid is a human eating machine.”
“If you want to keep your job, you better be planning on something fast or the group’s popularity will die out if that kid balloons up anymore.”
“I’m trying the best that I can Lou, he’s just too damn hard to manage,” Johnny defended.
“Well then maybe management isn’t something you should be doing then.”
“I’ll work on it, I swear,” Johnny muttered, glaring at the teen dancing on the stage.
Lou clamped a hand on the tall manager’s shoulder. “You better, your job actually depends on it, boy.”
