"NICKOLAS GENE CARTER!!! I'm going to KILL you!!" The door to Nick and Brian's hotel room banged open, "You little brat!"
Brian looked up confused, "What's wrong Kev?"
"Like you don't know! You were probably involved in it too!"
"What?" Brian was clueless. "And why do you have a towel on your head?" Kevin ripped the towel off his head to expose his hair, wet, somewhat soapy...and red. Brian's eyes widened. "Oh...I see..." Nick who was in the bathroom opened the door and peeked out, Kevin, now aware that Nick was in the room, hid in the closet, motioning for Brian to keep his mouth shut.
"He gone?" The fourteen year old asked.
Brian shrugged, then nodded. Cautiously Nick Walked out the bathroom and over to Brian who was on the bed.
"Ja see 'is hair?" Brian suppressed a laugh, and took the moment to lecture Nick.
"Nicky, you know you shouldn't have done that, especially to Kevin, that was mean."
"He mad?"
"That's not the point."
"He gonna kill me?"
"Of course no-" But before Brian could finish his sentence, Kevin jumped from the closet and grabbed Nick's hair with one hand, and twisted Nick's arm around his back with the other. Nick cried out in pain.
"You bastard, you think you're funny? How am I s'pose to get this out! We're meeting with the executives in an hour! How the hell am I going to explain this?!" Nick only whimpered in response. "Ugh!" Kevin threw Nick forcefully onto the bed, "You little brat, you good for nothing brat!"
"Kevin, calm down..." Brian tried.
"You're dead Carter!" The enraged singer glared at his band mates then left the room.
Nick, who had been holding back tears, let a couple fall from his eyes. "Now you've gone and done it Nick," Brian started, "you went to far this time, you really done it good this time." He hugged the younger boy.
"I'm sorry Brian.." Whispered Nick.
"Don't tell it to me, tell it to Kevin."
--
**One hour and fifteen minuets later**
The five boys walked almost painfully into the meeting room, groaning as they sat in the chairs. It wasn't that they were in any physical pain, it was just that the meeting ended up worse then Chinese water torture. At first they were complimented, then, the Jive Record executives would rip the five apart. This was wrong, that was wrong. It was with dread they attended the prison cell of the hotel meeting rooms.
"Good afternoon boys," The head of Jive Records, James MacGalin, said in forced politeness, "Kevin, what happened to your hair?"
A couple of snickers from AJ and Howie were quieted by the keen eye of Lou Pearlmen.
"Nothing sir, just experimenting." Kevin lied.
"Well, we cannot have any of that! At all!"
AJ snickered and whispered in Kevin's ear. "Let the games begin!" Kevin only groaned in response.
Nearly three hours later the meeting finally let out. The boys, emotional exhausted, were last to leave. Karl Dillion, one of the supervisors and the only nice man at Jive held the boys back. "I've got a surprise for you five."
"What is it?" Brian asked.
"Let's just say it's time stopping."
"Time stopping? Yeah okay. What good will that be for us, if you're telling the truth?" AJ asked, looking at Karl.
"He's probably not telling the truth. People can't stop time, it's impossible," Brian looked at AJ, laughing a little.
"I am telling the truth," Karl replied to Brian, then turned to the others. "Perhaps time-stopping isn't the best term for this. But I can put you guys in the future. Show you where you'll be in a few years, introduce yourselves to yourselves a couple of years down the road. Not crystal ball-like, but put you there. You can see either the success you will have, or if you fail. I can show you if all this hard work is going to pay off in the end. What do you say?"
They looked at each other, and Kevin motioned for the other four to come closer to him, because he was farthest from Karl.
"Should we do this? We can see if we're really going to get somewhere, make it big. If everything we're doing will be worth it. I think he might be telling the truth," Howie said, looking at everyone.
"I don't know. We don't know what this is going to involve. He could be setting us up for something. We don't really know him. I'm not sure if it's a good idea," Kevin replied.
"Why not? We'll ask him what is involved in this. If we don't like, we won't do it. But if it won't hurt us, I say go for it. It could be fun. Come on Kevin, I know you want to see yourself in the future. We're all dying to know what's going to happen to us." AJ shrugged his shoulders. "Who thinks we should?" Howie, Brian and Nick all nodded. Kevin still looked hesitant but sighed. "Why not? Let's do it."
The group broke up and turned to Karl, who was waiting patiently. "We've made our decision. Tell us what we have to do, and we'll then decide definitely, but we're in," Kevin spoke for the entire group.
Karl smiled, "you don't have to do much, just pack some belongings and meet me right here. Pack light!
-
"I'm not happy about this." Kevin was the first to state his anguish, "Don't we want to be surprised?" He sat on the edge of the bed in the room he was sharing with AJ and Howie.
"Of course we do," AJ reasoned, "but we also wanna know!" He nodded quickly, "Don't you old man?"
"I'd shut up if I were you McLean."
"Yeah okay," AJ rolled his eyes, "let's pack!" He grabbed his backpack and dumped the contents out. Kevin made a grunt of disgust of the mess AJ was creating. Howie snorted back laughter and did the same with his back pack. The two looked at each other and in a silent exchange of words, and started laughing loudly.
Kevin groaned and figured that if he couldn't beat them, like the old saying said, just join him. His backpack was dumped also. Brian and Nick giggled and ran from the room into their own to pack also.
Ten minutes later brought the five boys back into the same room.
"What did everyone pack?" Howie asked.
"Uh, jeans, a sweatshirt a tee and some UNDIIIIIES!!" The last part screamed by AJ. Brian, Nick, and Howie laughed while Kevin gave a smirk.
"I am somewhat less then amused Alex." He received a toothy grin from the rebel. "What about you Bri, same packing?" Brian nodded, "Howie?" Howie mumbled a 'basically.' "Nickolas Gene?" Nick stuck his tongue out and held his bag tightly. "What did you pack Carter?"
"I don't want to tell you."
"Would you like your hair to be red too."
"Bite me bitch!" For several moments the other four stood silently.
"Did he just say that?" A shocked AJ asked. Kevin's face grew angry and he slapped Nick across his face, leaving an accusing red mark.
"Curse again and I'll send you so far off this planet you'll be in the next universe!" Nick remained quiet. Grabbing the bag, Kevin dumped it out. There was a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, under-gardments, and candy, comics, more candy, and more comics. Kevin's look of disbelief was enough for Nick.
"I'll pack what I want! Gimme that!" He grabbed the bag and began to shove everything back inside.
"I think not!" Kevin pulled it back, "We'll compromise, one comic, two pieces of candy." Nick frowned. "Two comics, four pieces of candy or NOTHING!"
"Deal." Nick said meekly. He choose his candy and comics, zipped up the bag and sat quietly on the bed.
Brian bit his lip then clapped his hands loudly, "Let's go!"
-
The corridors of the builden were dark, Nick held tightly to Brian who was leading the way with a flashlight. At the end of the hallway, they stopped.
"He ain't here!" AJ said exasperated.
"Hey guys!"
"EIAH!!!!" Screeched the young blonde.
"It's only me." Karl appeared from the shadows. "Sorry it's so dark, part of the hotel went out."
Remarked Kevin, "We noticed."
Karl smiled, "After some calculations, I decided to send you guys to 2003, and to where Nick lives."
"Really?" Nick asked wide eyed.
"Oh dear Lord..." Muttered Kevin. Karl smiled and held out a remote control looking thing.
"This is what's going to send you. And don't worry Kevin, Nick is a lot neater in the future."
"Maturer?"
"He'll be Twenty three, what do you think?"
"That's what I'm afraid of. Now how do we work this thing?" Kevin held up the control.
"All you need to do is type in the year and place. I did both, so if you're ready, you just need to gather together as closely as possible and hit the 'enter' button. Very simple. That will come with you, you just need to keep it safe because it's your only way back. Understand?"
"I think so. Anything else?" Kevin asked warily.
"You will be able to be seen. But don't try to hide. Talk to your future selves. They may be a little shocked at first, but they might get used to the idea. Discover yourselves, find out where you're going to be. Learn what you can."
"How long should we stay?" Howie piped up.
"Stay as long as you want, but not too long. Try not to get too accustomed to things there. Any questions?" Karl looked around the group, seeing emotions ranging from nervous to scared to excited.
"We ready?" Kevin looked at everyone, getting nods from each in turn. "Then let's do this." He motioned for everyone to come in closer and hesitantly hit the 'enter' button.
A sudden rush of wind picked up around them and they felt themselves being picked up, then suddenly dropped. After separating the confusion from reality, they looked around, to find themselves in a living room of sort.
"Where are we?" Nick asked nervously, still looking around.
"You're house. Nice place," Brian replied.
The five looked around. The room was fairly large and decorated in a modern yet elegant manor. The walls were off white with a beige border running the high edges of the room. The carpet, a plush, forest green, looked as though it had just been laid out. The room was brightly lit, mostly due to the windows.
A large one, that took up most of the wall facing the front of the house had matching curtains that covered the window, along with three others on the west side of the room. There were four couches placed in a square in the center of the room. A soft fabric, they were the same off white as the walls, two loves seats, and two singulars. A pearl white coffee table sat in the center, several magazines placed on top. Around the living room were other chairs, tables, and book cases. Each somewhat different, but complementing the colour choices of the room. Different paintings and photographs, some personal, filled the walls and tables.
Towards the center of the room, the ceiling came down about one foot, creating a border between another room. On the floor, directly beneath, was one step down. In this new 'room' the carpet was a midnight black, just as soft as the other. The walls were the same white. This, by looks, was the entertainment room. An impressive stereo system with speakers spread around sat at the far end of the room. Next to the stereo was a big screen TV, DVD/CD player, a VCR and many other hookups. On the selves were many DVDs, videos, and CDs. There was an overstuffed blue sofa set up so that it faced the TV. The sofa was fairly large and a wrap around. A coffee table in front of the sofa had many more magazines and various remotes on it. Even though the room was also decorated with tables, chairs, and book cases, just as the other, it was still very different. It was darker and more comfortable looking.
Brian sat down on the couch and picked up one of the magazines. On the cover was the five Backstreet Boys, all older and more sophisticated looking. The other four gathered around.
"Wow," Breathed AJ, "is that us?"
"Looks it," Kevin said. He stood up from his bent over position by the couch and began examining the many photos on the walls and tables of the room. "Guys, check this out!" Nick, on his tiptoes exclaimed loudly, "I'm taller then you Kevin!" Kevin nearly had a conniption and covered Nick's mouth with his hand.
"Shhh! Are you crazy!" He yelled in a whispered hush.
"Yo Kev, Bri, look!" Curious, Kevin, Brian, Nick, and Howie walked to where AJ was standing.
"Oh my goodness..." Brian stood shocked. Kevin reached up and ran his hand over one of the photographs. The two pictures AJ was looking at, were full family/friends photos taking at a wedding. In the center of one was Kevin and Kristen, the other, Brian and Leighanne. It was their wedding pictures. "Looks like you'll be marring Kris after all.." Brian muttered. AJ snickered, for the third time since the relationship began, Kevin and Kristen were on a 'break.'
"Who's she?" Nick asked, pointing to Leighanne.
"Dunna, but she sure is pretty." Smiled Brian. Nick looked back at Kevin's wedding photo.
He tilted his head to the side then his eyes brightened, loudly he exclaimed, "Wow! I'm so glad ya gonna marry 'er Kev! I like 'er! She's nice!"
"Nickolas!" Brian hissed, "Quiet!"
"Sorry..." Nick mumbled. Several seconds later they heard footsteps behind them, and then a familiar voice.
"Who the fuck are you?"
CHAPTER TWO
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