Even though the guys kept saying it was okay, I knew that AJ wanted to seriously hurt me by the way he acted when he discovered how messed up I made his bunk by barfing on it. To add insult to injury Brian was visibly gagging, no doubt from the awful smell.
"I've talked to Jared and he's going to stop at the next rest area so we can clean Nick up and get the bus hopefully aired out."
Hopefully? Okay I know it probably smells pretty bad in here, but did Kevin have to put it that way?
"There is no way in hell that stink is gonna come out of my bunk," AJ called out as he was surveying the soiled bunk bed.
Howie shook his head. "Nick couldn't help it."
Great...my head hurts.....my stomach is punishing me....and now AJ is threating to kill me. I did the only thing I could do at the moment and that was sink down to the floor and wrap my arms around my knees. I figured if I sat down on the floor maybe AJ would stop yelling about the mess I made. I wanted to be invisible! Before I realized it, AJ was kneeling beside me.
"I'm sorry Kaos, I didn't mean to be so mad at you it's just that some of my stuff got puked on that I was kinda hoping to keep."
I didn't know if AJ was being sincere or not. I looked up toward Kevin to see if he was giving AJ his "fatherly glare" (the one that Kevin usually gives us when we were messing around too much on stage or said something that was inappropriate). Kevin wasn't looking at AJ, he was looking out the window. That meant that AJ did mean it.
"Really kid, I know I come off sounding really pissed but I guess you would do that too if Brian yacked on your shit."
"Don't start with me AJ!" Brian replied with a glare.
Great...now I have Brian mad at me for causing this too. "I-I'm s-sorry," I squeaked, squeezing my eyes shut when I heard how pathetic my own voice sounded to me.
"You know you could have at least aimed for Kevin," AJ chuckled.
My eyes widened in shock. God, I hope he didn't hear that. Having Kevin Richardson on your bad side is not something that anyone would want! That guy could make the sun hide under clouds if he got mad at it. I'm serious! That's not an exaggeration!
Howie knelt beside AJ. "Don't worry Nick, we'll be at the rest area soon and you can get cleaned up."
Howie, the king of personal hygene was now agreeing that I stunk and needed to be cleaned up. My life sucked, everyone is on my case now!
I had ignored Kevin's suggestion that I get up from the floor, pretending that I had fallen asleep. That was a trick I had learned earlier when we first started the band. Acutally I had done it when I was growing up and my mom would yell at me to do something stupid like play with that annoying kid in our neighborhood or play dolls with my younger sister. Come to think of it, she was usually trying to get me to go away and not bug her tons of times so she could watch TV or talk on the phone. Nice mom...but that's another story.
One of the best things about pretending you're asleep is that you can listen to everything that people are saying about you. That is usually when someone talks. Big mistake this time around on my part because I felt like God was punishing me for faking that I was asleep. Instead of hearing junk about how worried they were about me not feeling good, I heard AJ complain about his bed and then after the guys calmed him down about that, he started in about his shirt.
Like I wanted to spew on his shirt to begin with!
"That little shit should buy me a new shirt!"
Okay, that really hurt that he said that. I honestly didn't try to throw up on him!
"I really doubt that Nick intentionally threw up on you AJ, be reasonable."
Did I ever mention that Howie D is my hero?
"The shirt is ruined!"
Did I ever tell you how much of an asshole AJ McLean can be?
"A little thing called soap and water goes a long way."
Slam dunk for Brian!
"Guys we're here," Kevin announced as I definately felt the bus stop.
As much as I wanted to keep pretending I was asleep and not face the reality of my situation, I faked myself "awake" so no one would have to wake me up.
"Just fricken beautiful...."
Judging by AJ's voice something wasn't well. I looked over to see what he was griping about. My hopes to find him bitching about his shirt were quickly dashed when I found him staring out the bus window.
"It looks like Grand Central Station in that parking lot! Are they holding a pissing convention or something?" AJ moaned.
"It also looks a little rustic too," Howie added.
Okay I could live with the Howie D comment about how the rest area didn't look modern and clean to him but then Howie would say that about a Micky D's restroom. He was so anal about clean it wasn't funny! I was more concerned about AJ's comment. Did that mean the place was crowded as in people or cars? Wait, cars would mean people too, right?
"I-I can go in and clean up by myself," I quietly volunteered. "I-I mean if there are a bunch of people out there, we'd attract more attention if all of us went in there than if I just go by myself." I quickly noticed that Kevin was getting ready to veto my idea. "Besides, you guys can use some of D's spray cologne and make the bus smell better while I'm gone. I'll be okay."
"Absolutely not!" Kevin wheezed.
Great....a guy tries to make things easier for everyone for the mess he caused and Kevin doesn't appreciate the suggestion. I hope to God he doesn't want to take me in the bathroom with him! That would be worse than being thrown into a crowd of screaming fans!
"Why?" I stuck out my bottom lip for added effect.
"Because I said so."
Well it worked before. "Pleeeeaaaasseee?"
"Nick stop begging, AJ will go with you since he needs to clean up."
God anyone but AJ! He's pissed at me so no doubt he'll hold my head under the faucet or even worse try to stick my head in the toilet and flush it!
"C'mon Nick....let's get MJ and go get you hosed off."
At least he was thinking about asking a body guard to join us so I guess that would be a good thing. I'm sure MJ wouldn't let AJ do something mean to me. Just as we were about to get off the bus, Brian ran up towards us, holding something in his hand.
"Here, you might want to change your shirt....just throw that old one in the trash, k?"
I looked down at myself. No way! Not my favorite Tampa Bay Bucs jersey! He has to be crazy! I looked back up at Brian as I took the shirt and I guess he must of read my mind.
"Nick those jerseys are a dime a dozen, you can buy a new one when you get home."
I guess he was right. It was totally decorated with my stomach contents anyway and I bet it would be days before I could wash it effectively.
"Thanks," I mumbled as I turned to walk from the bus with AJ and the body guard.
The bright sunlight was hurting my eyes as I scanned the parking lot. True to AJ's comment of "just fricken beautiful" I discovered that the parking lot was crammed full. It looked like there was some type of convention or a sale on toilet paper by the looks of the vehicles that were jamed in every available parking space.
"Hurry the hell up Nicky!" AJ rasped as he hurried in front of me.
What the heck was his problem anyways? It wasn't like we were going to be mobbed or something. There were a bunch of old people standing outside hardly the kind of people that would listen to Backstreet Boys music. I seriously doubt anyone knows who we are. I suddenly felt a hand grab my arm and jerk me.
"This ain't the time to be spacing out! C'mon lets get out of this shit and get back on the bus, comprende?"
I jerked my arm away from AJ. God he can be rough with me sometimes. I bet this is gonna leave a bruise I thought to myself as I rubbed the offended area.
We had been in the bathroom for only a few minutes when I started feeling woozy. I don't know if it was from the heat or the fact that this bathroom smelled like a wet diaper but it made me feel dizzy. Not good at all. Okay Carter, just splash some cold water on your face, ditch the jersey and it will be alright.
"Nicky...are you gonna be okay?"
Maybe not.
"Dude, just scoot down against the wall."
That was a pretty easy direction from AJ. I didn't have any problem sliding down the wall, I did have a problem of timing how fast I slid though. I winded up on the tiled floor on my ass with a jolt.
"Whoa.....take it easy Nick."
"He looks like he's gonna pass out," MJ said in a hushed voice.
Good observation!
"Nick, put your head between your knees," AJ said as he pressed on the back of my head to where he wanted it to be.
I guess the body guard was trained for these types of situations when the next thing I felt was a cold paper towel being pressed against the back of my neck, which by the way felt pretty good.
"Just breathe slow Nick," AJ said in a calm voice.
"Should I go get Mr. Richardson?"
"No! I've got this thing covered, just stay here," AJ replied. This time I noticed his voice wasn't as calm as it had been. I think he felt more in control as long as someone was with him for some reason.
How pathetic could I be? Here I am in a public restroom, shirtless and my head stuck between my knees. Do you know how gay this must look? Especially with AJ next to me with his face next to my head? Someone just kill me now!
After a few minutes of feeling like I was gonna kiss the floor by fainting, the feeling left and I was feeling okay. Not 100% but at least I didn't feel like I was on the verge of falling over. "I-I'm okay now."
I realized that AJ had different thoughts when I felt his hand press down on my shoulder. "Just stay where you are until I say you can stand up."
I bet the air was a lot better smelling standing than being so close to this dirty tiled floor! "I-I really can't breathe sitting down here like this."
That seemed to be all it took. AJ immediately removed his hand from my shoulder and then placed around my upper arm for support as he and MJ guided me up to a standing position. With that task accomplished, I quickly pulled the shirt Brian gave me over my head and splashed some cool water onto my face while AJ got himself cleaned off. MJ, however, never took his eyes off of me. I could feel his penetrating stare burn the back of my head!
"You ready to go back and see if they got the bus cleaned up?"
I was more ready to go back and lay down, but yeah getting out of this pee smelling excuse for a rest room, yeah, you could say I was more than ready!
As we headed back toward the bus, I smiled as I remembered how AJ went into overprotective drive when I had that spell in the bathroom. He can be really cool. AJ had suddenly slowed his pace and dropped back to where I was, grabbing me by the arm.
"Don't breathe a word of what I did in there Carter, to anyone or I'll punch your face in, got it?"
I swallowed hard as I nodded. I knew that AJ was serious. "Uh-huh."
Did I say AJ can be really cool? I take that back.