Trying to fend off dry heaves was an art form that Nick was getting all too familiar with lately. No matter how hard he tried though, he still made that awful gagging noise that could and should pull other people in alongside me and throw up as well.
After trying to be sick for roughly five minutes, Nick's stomach finally quieted down. He slowly stood up and walked out to splash some cold water on his face. He was greeted with a plae, ghostly white face in the mirror looking back. His face and neck looked like they bleonged to someone other than Nick Carter, Backstreet Boy. Nick decided that he looked like pure hell.
"Carter, you in there?"
Nick closed his eyes, wishing that Bruce would just leave him the hell alone. He was sick and Bruce still didn't grasp it.
"Carter?"
God, he sure was persistent. "Yeah, I'll be out in a sec," Nick mumbled.
"Come on, you're holding us up! We have schedules that need to be kept!"
Geesh, did this guy EVER take a break from schedules?
"You look like shit," Bruce remarked when Nick walked out of the bathroom. Clamping a hand on his back, he coaxed, "we need to hurry to make up for lost time. The reporter is waiting for you."
"I keep telling you I'm not feeling good," Nick pleaded, hoping that Bruce would just cancel his appearance in the interview.
"No can do Carter, they expect you and they're getting you."
As Nick and Bruce entered the small television studio, Nick noticed that the rest of the group had already taken their assigned seats and had already been given the makeup treatment. A young Japanese man with a clipboard gestured towards the empty chair, indicating where Nick was to sit.
As soon as he took his seat, makeup was fussing with his hair as well as trying to put concealer ontop of the dark circles under his eyes and some powder to take the shine off his face. Nick couldn't help but hear two stage hands make comments about his appearance when they said that he looked like he could stand to go on a diet and something about how his face looked like he was on some type of street drug.
Starting to feel the effects of his temperature rising, Nick peeled off the leather jacket and laid it on the back of his chair. This set off a chain reaction with the audio tech scurrying up to the stage to place Nick's mike back onto his shirt and someone from makeup trying to fix his hair once again.
Normally, Nick would have felt bad about causing more work for people, but he found this somewhat amusing and couldn't help but snicker at the Japanese worker's antics. A low growl from Kevin who had been sitting next to Nick, put the seriousness of the interview back into perspective.
"And we're on in five....four....three..."
"Two..one, we have ignition!" Nick giggled.
Without time to reprimand Nick, Kevin could only direct a fatherly glare and a quick slap on Nick's thigh. Nick retaliated and punched Kevin back in the arm. Brian was silently praying that this was not being caught on camera.
"Good afternoon, Kia Yamagushi here there afternoon to provide our viewers with this exclusive interview with Brian, Nick, Howie, AJ and Kevin of The Backstreet Boys!"
Nick rolled his eyes as he listened to the female interviewer literally gush as she announced that she would be interviewing them.
"The Backstreet Boys will be in Japan for a whole week! They have a concert tonight! Brian, how do you feel about our beautiful Tokyo?"
"This is a lovely city and we feel very honored to be here. The people have been very gracious and extending towards each of us," Brian replied.
"AJ, you have been quite successful with your Johnny No Name tour, will Johnny be appearing at this concert tonight?"
"Johnny's an asshole," Nick announced in a serious, matter-of-fact voice.
There was an awkward silence for a moment and then the interviewer as well as AJ chose to ignore Nick's statement at first.
"No, no Johnny on this tour, the Johnny thing is a separate gig. What Nick was probably trying to say, Kia, is that Johnny has a raw personality."
"Howie," the interviewer plunged into the next question, hoping to avoid more uncomfortable comments from Nick, "you're having a fundraiser cruise for the Caroline Dorough Lupus Foundation when you return from Japan. How is that coming along?"
Kevin was literally on the edge of his seat waiting to see what would come out of Nick's deliousional mouth next. Fortunately, nothing was said other than giggling from where Nick sat.
"It's coming along very well Kia, the entire cruise has been booked solid since October and I'm looking forward to this fundraiser as well as a little bit of relaxation," Howie replied.
During the middle of a question for Kevin about his charity, Nick burped loudly and then leaned forward in his seat, holding his head in his hands. Kevin breezed through his answer, wishing that the nightmare of an interview would be over and done with.
"Nick, there has been some rumors circulating in the Japanese press about you since you have arrived in Tokyo. There were several mentions of drugs and alcohol abuse as well as pictures of you vomiting as well as, how can I say this politely? Um, without sounding mean, you look like you've been putting on quite a bit of weight. Do you have anything to say in defense of yourself"
"Other than AJ's farts smell really bad, nope, nothing to say to you," Nick replied. "Do you know he captures them in little jars and names them and has a collection of farts? I bet you didn't know that, did you?"
"Okay Carter, the interview was bad enough, but hell, the concert? Did you really think it was appropriate to moon the entire audience? What the hell were you thinking? And then you completely blanked out on the lyrics!"
Nick could only moan and slowly shrug his shoulders in reply. He didn't know why he did what he did, all he knew was that he had a horrible migraine headache and all he wanted to do was sleep. Escape.
"I told you I'm sick---"
"Sick in the head," Bruce interrupted. "You can just bet your ass that you will be getting some fines from upper management! The way you're letting yourself go mentally and physically does not deserve to go unpunished!"
Wiping his face with the white towel that was provided by the venue, Nick momentarily held it over his face, praying that when he removed it, he would be home in the states, sitting in his own bedroom, away from everyone, Bruce especially.
No such luck.
"Well Carter, we're going to head back to the hotel now and I suggest that you go directly to bed and by the looks of you, you need to take it easy on those midnight snacks you've obviously been sneaking. I've taken the liberty of blocking any calls from your room," Bruce warned.
Normally Nick would have protested in some way or made some type of dumbass comment about him still having his cell phone to make calls, but as badly as he felt, he let the moment slip by, simply waving his hand and leaning back on the couch.
"Come on buddy, let me help you up."
Nick opened his eyes to see Brian standing in front of him, a slight grin on his face, worry was still etched in it, but there was at least a small smile.