Everyone
ran for the nearest safe place they could find. Some hid under the picnic
table, some in the shed, others behind trees. Screaming was coming from
everyone and no one knew what to do. Soon after the shooting stopped and
everyone slowly made their way out of their hiding spots.
“is everyone ok” Brians father
asked
“yeah” everyone said looking
around to see if anyone elses was hurt. Almost all at the same time their eyes
fell upon the life less person sprawled out on the ground covered in blood.
Nick
and Gina were too far away from the house and too far out in their own world to
hear the comotion going on at the house.
“what did you say” he asked
“I said im pregnant” she
repeated
“but…” he looked at her
strangely “how”
“Nick, if you and your father
havent talked yet than you better hurry the hell up and go see him because…”
“no, I know how it
happened, but we only had sex once”
“well then there was some sort
of accident” she said
“no” he stood up and shook his
head. “no no your not pregnant, I never had sex with you. Theres no way that
babys mine” he said taking the ring off his finger. “Gina how can you lie to me
like this”
“Nick” she also stood up and
faced him. “how can you deny that this baby is yours, you were my first and
only time”
“how do I know that, for all I
know you slept with everyone and their brothers” he said with a look of disgust
“here” he handed her the ring and walked away.
“but…” Gina whispered then fell
on the ground sobbing.
Nick walked back over to where
everyone else was. They were all crying and crowded around something. Nick
walked over and pushed his way through.
“what happened…” he stopped and
his eyes popped out “Howie” he scremed
“hes dead Nick” Kevin cried
looking over at Nick who was in shock.
“but how” Nick choked out
“they got him” AJ added letting
his tears flow freely.
“those fucking bastards will
pay” Nick screamed at the top of his lungs.
Two
days later back in florida, orlando was basicly shut down for the funeral of
one of the backstreet boys. The streets were lined with sobbing fans and lines
of firneds and relatives followed the casket to the cemetary.
Gina had barely enough time to
think about Howie and how much she was going to miss him because she was still
shocked that Nick had done that to her. She cried constantly and everyone
thought it was because of Howie. She hadn't told anyone else about her being
pregnant afraid that they would react the same way as Nick. She tried talking
to him the night before but he was still to shooken up over the death of one of
his best friends.
Laura and AJ followed the casket
the rode in the hearse slowly down the road.
“AJ” Laura cried softly
“yes” he looked over at her with
tear stained cheeks.
“we were making fun of him, just
a minute before he was killed, what kind of friends are we. The last thing we
said about him was that he looked gay”
“I know Laur, and I fell awful”
AJ sobbed “I just don’t know what we can do”
“we have to find those assholes
and make them pay”
“that’s for sure, those bastards
will pay”
Brian and Melissa were riding in
one of the cars because of Melissas broken leg. Brian was devastated and
Melissa didn’t know if she could do anything to help him cope with Howies death
besides hold him and tell him that everything was going to be ok. And that’s
what she did. Besides that Brian was upset another one of his proposals was
ruined.
“im sorry Brian” Melissa
whispered while giving him a soft kiss. “do you need anything”
“no thanks” he smiled softly.
“thank you though”
“I love you Brian” she gave him
another kiss.
“I love you too” he leaned back
and sighed. ‘why is this happening to us’ he asked himself.
Nick was walking beside AJ Kevin
Jennah Laura and Gina. He felt bad for Gina because it looked like she could
really use someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. But he wasn’t about to
go and say that the baby was his. He was too young to be a father, wasn’t he?
A
day after the funeral everyone – Nick Kevin Brian AJ Jennah Laura Gina and
Melissa met up at AJ and Lauras house to discuss what they were going to do.
“sooo” Kevin was the first to
break the silence “what should we do”
“I know we always said it would
just be the five of us, but I think Howie would have wanted the group to go on”
AJ spoke up quietly
“yeah” everyone agreed
“that’s ok but touring wont
start back up for a while” Kev said “what should we do until then”
“go home” Brian said “take some
time off and try and figure things out”
“hes right” Nick said “I could
use a little time off”
“ok so why don’t we all just
keep in touch for a little bit” Kevin suggested
“ok” they said standing up. They
gave eachother hugs and said bye. Kev Brian Jennah and Melissa were going home
to kentucky, AJ and Laura stayed at AJ’s, Gina and Nick shared a house and
didn’t know what was going to happen with that yet. Megan had gone home to her
family after Howies death.
Everyone was gone except for
Nick and Gina, Nick was talking to AJ and Gina wanted to talk to Nick. When he
finished talking with AJ he walked over to her and motioned for her to follow
him.
“where are we going” she asked
quietly as she followed him out of the house.
“home” he answered opening the door
for her and shutting it after she was in. She didn’t want to ask what was going
on between them so thought of another topic to break the silence.
“are you alright” she asked
softly
“im ok, I guess” he sort of
shrugged and made a face at the same time. “are you”
“yeah” she replied “I cant
belive it though, I mean if we werent over on the side of the house talking
about the…” she stopped herself before she said baby. “…the ummm yeah, we could
have been dead” he pulled over to the side of the road and leaned back. he let
out a small sigh,
“our baby could have been
killed, along with its beautiful mother” he said looking over at her.
”and its father” she said, it was more of a question than a statement.
“yeah and its father” he let a
little smile cross his face. “im sorry”
“I love you Nick”
“I love you too Gina” he leaned
across the console and gave her a kiss.
A
few days later Brian and Melissa were at their house they were both still a
little upset over Howies death.
“Melissa” Brian asked
“what” she said
“do you think that its our fault
Howie died”
“what no” she said loudly “how
in the world would it be anyone but those stupid guys fault”
“your right, but I feel guilty”
he said quietly
“I know its only normal” she
leaned over and gave him a hug. “don’t worry about it though, im sure Howies
alright up in heaven with his sister”
“yeah” Brian smiled a little and
gave her a kiss.
AJ
and Laura were at their house planning a party.
“why are we having a party
again” she asked
“because we all need something
to take our minds off what happened” AJ replied
“that’s true” she shrugged “but
were going to have Kev Brian Jennah and Melissa fly all the way here for a
party”
“its optional” he said making a
guest list. She glanced over at it and saw the he had written down ‘Howie’.
“AJ baby” she asked quietly
“yeah”
“you wrote Howie down on the
list” she pointed out as gently as possible.
“wha…” he looked down at his
list and sighed. “I miss him Laur” AJ started to cry again and Laura took him
into her arms.
“don’t worry AJ, its gonna be
ok” she soothed rubbing his back with her hands.
“I don’t know Laura, I mean he
was my best friend. I'll never see him again”
“right, you wont see him. That
doesn’t mean he wont be with you”
“I guess your right” he said
staring at the name he had written down. He walked outside and looked up at the
blue sky. “Howie your invited to the party, bring your sister too” he yelled
“bye” he smiled and walked inside closing the door behind him.