Swollen Issues - Chapter Eleven
All of the boys, except Nick, and the bodyguards dug into the small Japanese dishes with
great apetite.
"This country has some awesome food. I think I can move here when I reside," Howie
said with laughter in his voice, nudging Nick at his little joke.
Everybody laughed at the memory it triggered. Many years ago Nick had been at an
interview when he had said that he had resigned in Florida instead of reside. The one that
didn´t even break a smile was the boy that was the object to this joking.
"Aww come on, Nick, you´ve gotta taste this," Howie wavered his fork in front of the
young man’s face.
Nick, who sat slumped in his seat, looking all but excited wrinkled his nose when the smell
attacked his nose. Putting up a hand, he waved away the fork. "I´m fine.”
"Don´t be such a bad sport. This is good. You´ll like it," Howie continued, not taking no
for an answer. He was the bands gourmet and together with Kevin he liked to try on new
dishes of all sorts. One of his silent missions was to get AJ and Nick to try new
food.Usually Nick wasn´t that hard to convince, while AJ was a hopeless case. When it
came to Brian he it depended on the mood he was in, and if Leighanne was with him.
Brian had a habit to try out new things when Leighanne was present and he retreated into
his own cave when she wasn´t around. Howie thought that Leighanne had done B´rok
much good and therefore he was happy over their marriage.
The second mission Howie had was to get Nick getting into more clubbing and that had
worked like a charm. He and the boy had started going out soon after Brian got married
and Nick turned of legal age. Together they had conquered many ladies as well as many
drinking binges, as well as hangovers with more yet to come. Howie had his own club and
he had always been a party animal. He liked meeting new people and loved the life that
came with it.
The third mission he had with the young bandmate was to make a man out of Nick, and
that one was failing at badly. Nick was rather immature for his age and one of his favorite
activities seemed to be picking on poor Howie. Sometimes Howie would get so very
annoyed with the brat, like that time in the plane coming from South America when Nick
licked Howie’s forehead saying that it tasted "Hot Sauce". That time he wanted to execute
that little shit. It didn´t make things better that Nick by that time was battleing a nasty
stomach virus that Howie had no intention of picking up.
Glaring at the youngster, Howie waited for a reply. Nick stated simply " NO" and then
took a sip from his soda.
"Frack, you´ve gotta eat something," Brian butted in.
“I said I wasn’t hungry, now get the fuck off my case,” Nick snarled.
Startled, Brian looked at his buddy. Nick rarely talked back to him and something must
really be bothering him for doing that. Shrugging, Nick slumped further down his seat and
put his arms together as if it would shelter him.
"Didn´t you say that you felt better?" Brian continued, only to once again be cut off from
Nick one more time.
“I said to drop it,” he growled.
Now Kevin joined the conversation. "You have to take tradition as it is, stop being such a
fussy American. That role is taken by AJ."
This had AJ going. "Hey, don´t drag me into this. Besides I´m eating this crap..see!" He
pointed with his fork on the sushi that was preduently placed on his plate, stabbing it
repeatidly.
Nick sat silently, waiting for the next move to come. He didn´t have to wait long until the
next sentences floated through the air.
"You´re not on any diet are you?" Kevin asked, frowning.
Not getting a chance to answer the question Nick was rudely cut off by a grinning AJ.
"That wouldn´t be a bad idea, since you, Nicky boy, are starting to get double chins, see."
AJ pointed at Nick’s chins as the rest of the guys watched.
"Yeah, AJ is right," Brian said in surprise. " You look really swollen..but is that really fat?"
he mumbled suspiciously.
"You look like a fucking chipmunk!" AJ laughed and the whole crowed joined in.
"Better stay out of those candy bars, buddy," Howie mused. Even Kevin butted in with
something that Nick should be on rabbit food, which had the boys laughing even more.
Nick snapped.
"What the fuck is wrong with you people? You are always on my case. ‘Nick you eat too
much or Nick you eat too little. When the hell are you guys satisfield? I´m feeling like
crap. Want me to puke all over the studio? Adding more misshaps on my already long
"Nick fucked up-again list?", he stated making fun with his own voice.
Red with anger, he continued "Now read my lips. I don´t wanna eat! Leave me the fuck
alone!"
The whole room fell silent, surprised by Nick’s sudden outburst.
"Ouch, little Nicky has a temper. Maybe he´s got PMS!" AJ joked. No one laughed at his
little joke. A grouchy AJ fell silent again, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Brian who stopped eating, looked at his friend "Frack, hey man, I´m sorry I didn´t know
that you felt that way. You´re cool?" He reached out to grab Nick around the neck, in a
bear hug, playfully like he used to do when they were younger and Nick was in a sulking
mood. It always worked, but this time Nick shrugged away. Not wanting to be touched.
He was set to be pissed, besides his neck hurt too much and he didn´t want his friend to
feel his strange bumps.
Feeling bad, AJ murmured, "Kaos... hey," He looked up under Nick’s bangs, staring into a
gloomy face. No response.
"Get your face out of my view," Nick hissed, pushing away AJ from his face.
For once saving the situation, Bruce entered the room. "Hope you’re all done. We have to
get going now." The boys nodded, not having anything to say since Nick’s words had
sliced through them. They left the lounge in silence, getting ready to put on the
"Backstreet Boys face".
The radio show went without any misshaps. Kevin only had to elbow Nick once to get his
attention. As a treat the boys were presented with brand new sony video game players and
everybody seemed to have been overhelmed with the generous gift.
What had everybody surprised was that Nick, who was really into video games of all sorts,
wasn´t that high over the present. This had both Kevin and Brian suspect that something
wasn´t right with the pale band member.
While sitting in the bus going to the next show, a fan conference, the talk was all about
video games. Even Nick couldn´t sit quiet although he had a headache the size of Texas
and his stomach had started to make complaints once again.
Another topic that was high on the discussion list was the fans that were passing the boys
through out the whole interview. The boys were sitting behind glass and fans walked
through looking at them like animals in an cage.
“Ah yes, now I know how a damned monkey feels at the zoo,” AJ joked with a grin.
Nick found it remotely disturbing, but he had done his best to try and hide his discomfort
over the situation. He felt so trapped.
In the bus AJ did another attempt to appologize for his previous behavior and he leaned
over to Nick’s seat whispering "Sorry man, for being such an ass, hope you’re cool with
it.”
Staring at AJ, Nick grinned slightly, "Yeah man, that´s ok."
"Cool," AJ smiled, nudging Nicks arm with his fist, in a friendly attempt to make peace.
Sighing, Nick leaned his head rest back. The schedule had been so busy through out the
whole day and relief was no where in sight. First they had to do that fan conference,
preforming and after that a quick rest and then there was that formal dinner. Rubbing his
temples, he started to wonder if he was in the process of overdoing things.
As if the headache and nausea weren´t bad enough, his throat bothered him like a bitch.
He had difficulty in swallowing and his voiced cracked really easily. But the worst part
was that his neck was starting to swell so bad, that AJ´s description of him looking like a
chipmunk was no longer that far fetched and he was as sure as his middle name was Gene
that he was in for another nickname. ‘The Chipmunk.’
“Just peachy,” Nick sighed as he closed his eyes.
Chapter 12