Chapter 16~ The Show Must Go On
Three hours later, Nick, AJ, Howie, Kevin, Brian, Michelle, Caitlyn, Katie and Cristina were sitting in the hospital waiting room with a few bodyguards. Lorie had been "behind the doors" as Nick called it, for two and a half of those three hours. By now it was two in the morning, but nobody could sleep. They were all too worried about Lorie. About fifteen minutes later three doctors came through "the doors" talking about the stuff written on their clipboards. Nick jumped out of his chair and ran to them. "Lorie! Is she okay? She's okay, right?" he said. The doctors kind of looked at him and glanced at the rest of the people sitting in the waiting area. "And you are...?" the doctor with the nametag "Dr. Jones" asked him. "I'm Nick, her boyfriend. Is she okay?" he asked one more time. "Why don't you sit down," another doctor, Dr. Monroe, said. That made Nick want to hurl. He didn't like the sound of his tone. Nick walked back to his chair and stared at the doctors. The third one finally spoke. "Assuming you are all friends of the girl we are taking care of, we will tell you everything we know and have found out. Yes, your friend was raped tonight and she has suffered many injuries," he said. At those words, Nick broke down. He couldn't control his sobs, so Katie took him by his arm and led him into the next room where he couldn't hear anything. They stood there, crying together, clinging to each other, while the rest of the guys listened to the doctors. "She was unconscious until about fifteen minutes ago, and that is not a good sign. She will be just fine, but it will take her quite a while to recover, physically and emotionally. She will need ALL of your support," Dr. Jones continued. "Can we see her?" Michelle asked. The doctors nodded and led the seven of them down the hallway to Lorie's room. She was lying in her bed, her eyes closed, needles and tubes stuck everywhere. Michelle started crying, seeing her best friend like this, and Brian wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her. About five minutes later Nick and Katie came in. Nick looked at his girlfriend, lying helpless in her hospital bed. "God dammit! Why the hell did this have to happen? Why the hell did it have to be her?" he screamed, knocking chairs and tables over. Kevin and AJ ran over to him, holding him back. Nick pushed them both away, and in doing so his momentum carried him to the floor, where he began crying again. ________________________________________________________________________________
"Nick! Look, I know the last few days have been difficult, but you MUST concentrate!" Fatima yelled at him during rehersals a week later. Nick slowly nodded as the music began again. "Five, six seven and eight. One and two, three, four and five-NICK! NO! It's out, in, BACK, front, THEN kick!" "Look! I am so fucking sorry if I messed up!" he yelled back at her. "Okay everybody, take five," Fatima yelled. Nick bounded down the stairs of the stage and sat in the third row of the audience seats. Fatima followed him. "Look, Fatima, I don't need it right now, okay?" Nick snapped as she sat down next to him. She handed him a bottled water. "Nick, I'm not here to yell at you or berate you. I am very sorry about Lorie, but she is getting out of the hospital in four days, the police haven't stopped their investigation, and everything is going to be fine," she said, patting his shoulder. "No it isn't! It's all my fault! She should've had protection! Someone should have been with her! If I hadn't asked her to come on tour with us this wouldn't have happened!" Nick said, tears welling up in his eyes. "Nick, remember the letter you found? This sick person obviously knows Lorie, so don't blame yourself. It is NOT your fault," Fatima said. "Come on. Time to get back to work. Lorie will be fine. Don't worry. Remember Nick~ this is horrible, what happened, but the show must go on." Nick thought about those words and promised himself that for the rest of the tour, Lorie would never, ever be alone, because Fatima was right. The show had to go on.
Chapter 17
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Stand By Me
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