Chapter 7
"What is this?" AJ asked picking at his dinner.
"It's soup," Howie explained.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I opened the can myself- it said 'chicken noodle soup'."
AJ wrinkled his nose. "Well, that might have been what it said, but that's not necessarily what it is."
Howie rolled his eyes. "Do you ever stop annoying people?"
"Nope!"
Kevin stirred his soup glancing at Nick, who couldn't seem to stop scratching his arm. "Nick, what on earth are you doing?"
"I'm scratching my arm."
"I can see that, why are you scratching your arm?"
"Because it itches."
Kevin groaned realizing his questions were useless.
Brian extended his hand to Nick. "Lemme see, buddy."
Nick raised his sleeve lifting his arm in Brian's direction.
Brian gently ran his fingers over the skin that had turned bright red from Nick's endless scratching. "Oh, that's not pimples, afterall. I think you have a heat rash or something, Nick. Wouldn't you say, Kev?"
Kevin squinted. "As well as I can see from here that's what it looks like."
"Nick, is your sweater wool?" Howie asked.
"I dunno."
"Well, you might have a rash from the clothing or the fact you've been running mild fevers; why don't you go change tops and see if that helps."
Nick shrugged leaving the table. "Okay."
AJ smiled happily pushing away his soup.
"AJ, what are you up to?" Howie pondered.
"I'm making my own dinner!" he announced searching the kitchen.
"Oh, God, help us..." Brian mumbled.
AJ crossed his arms. "Like you're one to talk, Mr.Cookie Man."
Brian smiled sheepishly. "I'll shut up now."
"Doesn't anyone like my soup?" Howie asked in frustation.
Brian sighed. "It's not your fault, Howie, it's Kevin's."
"Excuse me!" his older cousin hissed.
"The soup was heat&eat, if you weren't such a tight wad and got the good brand instead of the nasty 'ten cents a can' crap the soup would've been fine."
Kevin crossed his strong arms. "You can't beat that price! The was name brand was fifty cents per can, this way I got five cans for the same price!"
"Yeah, but no one's eating it, so, technically you wasted your money and should've got the other," Brian stated simply.
"I happen to like my soup!" Kevin clarified taking a huge spoonful.
Howie chuckled at Kevin's expression. "Um, Kev, I think you're suppose to swallow."
"And chew, chew, chew like a good boy!" Brian encouraged.
Kevin paled fighting the urge to spit the food into his napkin.
"I'm baaaaaaaaack!" AJ sang returning food in hand.
"What did you bring?" Brian wondered eagerly.
"JUNK FOOD!" AJ exclaimed happily.
"I'm in!" Brian cheered grabbing a twinkie.
"Me too," Howie chimed in clutching a rice crispy treat.
AJ unwrapped his twinkie. "Yeah, Kev made me get the generic junk food like everything else-so I went with things that no brand could ruin: twinkies and rice crispy treats."
Brian stared at Kevin who still had yet to swallow the warm liquid in his mouth; he appeared to be on the verge of vomiting or passing out- whichever came first. With a stroke of bravery he gulped down the food, then proceeded in quickly downing his glass of water.
"Yummy soup?" AJ smirked.
Kevin set down his water. "Shut up and gimme a twinkie."
"That a boy, Kev!" AJ encouraged tossing a twinkie in his direction.
Nick returned in a baggy sweatshirt taking a seat beside Brian.
Brian glanced at the clothing. "Isn't that my shirt?"
"Um, yeah....I kinda' borrowed it."
"I can see that, Nick."
"Is it okay?"
"It's fine, kiddo. Here, have some dinner," Brian offered placing a twinkie in Nick's palm.
"No thanks," the teen replied lying his hand against the table.
"You passed up junk food?" Brian gasped.
"Did hell feeze over?" AJ asked.
Kevin's eyes narrowed examining the youth."You really don't feel well, do you?"
"My head hurts."
Brian reached over placing his hand to Nick's forehead. "His fever's going up."
Howie frowned. "You gonna' be okay, kid?"
Nick sniffled. "Yeah, I just don't feel so hot."
"No, you're temperature is rising- so, technically, you are hot," Brian clarified grinning at his own attempt for lame humor.
"I've got some Tylenol in my suitcase, I'll got get you some," Howie offered leaving the table.
"See, Kevin, Howie gets Tylenol...He uses the name brand, the good stuff," Brian stated.
"Normally generic brands are just as good!" Kevin defended. "Unless, they happen to be condensed soup."
"Here you go," Howie said handing Nick the small pills.
"Thanks," Nick replied popping them into his mouth.
"Nick, why don't you go lye down?" Kevin suggested. "You don't look so good."
"Okay. On the floor?"
"No, you do not have to sleep on the floor. In fact, that's probably the entire reason you're sick. You probably caught a cold, no thanks to Kevin," Howie replied tossing the oldest singer a dirty look.
"What is this?" Kevin growled. "National Pick On Kevin Richardson Day?"
"Yep!" the others answered in unison.
"Humph!" Kevin pouted.
Howie rolled his eyes. "Nick, why don't you bunk with Brian in one of the twin beds, AJ and I could fit in the double and Kevin could take the couch."
"The couch?" Kevin repeated. "That lumpy couch?"
"Yep!" AJ smirked. "The lumpy couch."
"It's only fair," Howie dictated.
"How so?"
Howie smiled easily. "You're the oldest, you always say you need your space- if you're in the living room, you're not bunking with anyone."
Kevin bit his lip. "I wanted to go skiing with my beautiful girlfriend in Colorado, but no- I get stuck in a hellhole cabin with you four."
"Hey, it's no pinnic for us either!" Brian argued.
Nick held his head. "Could y'all shut up?! You're making me feel worse!"
Howie rolled his eyes at the bickering cousins. "Ignore them." He wrapped an arm around the teen. "Come on, I'll get you settled."
"Well, aren't we a big happy family?" AJ sang.
"How in the hell do you get that?" Kevin grumbled.
The rebel shrugged. "It's easy! I've got it all figure it out!"
Brian sighed. "I'm not sure I want to hear this, but enlighten us with your master skills anyway."
"Okay!" AJ began. "My theory is: Kevin is the dad of the group, well the dad from hell to be exact, Howie's the mom, Brian's the good son, I'm the bad son and Nick's the baby."
Brian lifted an eyebrow. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right."
"Yeah...." Kevin agreed. "Poor D, he got stuck in the apron."
AJ shrugged. "Yeah, but with my fky fashion skills I could design a fly apron!"
Kevin banged his head against the table. "WHY? WHY? WHY? COULDN'T I BE IN COLORADO RIGHT NOW?" He paused. "On second thought, anywhere in the U.S. that isn't here sounds pretty damn good."
"Like a gangsta' drugged out portion of L.A.?" AJ offered.
Kevin glanced at his humble surroundings. "Don't tempt me."
Howie returned and began clearing the table.
"How's Nick?" Kevin asked.
"He's not feeling so great, but he should be fine. If the rash isn't gone by tomorrow morning I think we might consider getting a doctor, or at least something over- the -counter."
"See, Howie's such a mom!" AJ stated.
Howie paused. "Excuse me?"
Kevin moaned. "You don't wanna' know."
Brian fidgeted about. "What are we gonna' do for the rest of the night?"
"Why don't we just have a nice quiet night around the fire?" Kevin suggested.
"BORING!" AJ and Brian sang.
"Well, fine what do you suggest?"
Howie placed the dishes in the sink. "I think I have Scrabble in my suitcase."
"We'll go get it!" AJ exclaimed dragging Brian along with him.
"A night of Scrabble with boys who cannot spell words that have more than two syallables.....I want a plane ticket to Colorado!" Kevin grumbled.
******************************
"Howie, you cannot use Spanish words!" Kevin yelled.
"Why not? They're in the dictionary!"
"Yeah...The Spanish dictionary!" Brian argued.
Howie crossed his arms. "Oh fine!" he grumbled changing the word. "There!"
"Your turn, Brian," AJ said glancing down at the broad.
"Hmmm....." Brian hummed staring at his letters. "I know. T-A-C-O!"
"Taco!" Howie shouted. "I thought you said we couldn't use Spanish words!"
"Taco counts as English! Taco Bell!"
"And Taco Bell isn't Spanish, it's Mexican," AJ clarified.
"Whatever," Howie groaned. "AJ, it's your turn."
AJ fumbled around placing his letters into the correct openings.
"AJ...." Kevin warned.
"What? 'Bullshit' totally counts as an English word!"
"Change it!"
"No!"
"Change it!"
"Guys?" a small voice squeaked stumbling into the open room.
"Hey, Nick, sorry if we woke you," Brian said scooting over for the youth to sit beside him.
"You feelin' any better?" Kevin wondered watching AJ change the word to simply 'shit'. "AJ, try again."
Nick shivered. "I'm cold."
Kevin nodded. "Just stay by the fire for awhile and see if that helps."
AJ groaned settling on the word 'bull'. "Your turn, Kev."
"Hmm....H-I-C-K," he whispered tallying his points.
"That's fitting," AJ snorted.
Howie placed his letters into place.
Nick glanced at his selection. "It? Howie, you always come up with something better than 'it'."
"I know," the Latino sighed. "But some people won't let me use Spanish words!"
"My turn!" Brian sang sliding the letters against the board. "That's ten points for me , Kevin!"
"Spain!" Howie spat glancing at Brian's choice.
"It counts!"
"How can 'Spain' not be a Spanish word!" Howie debated.
Nick rolled his eyes. "You guys get way too worked up over a stupid board game," he whispered raising his shirt to scratch his belly.
Howie caught a quick glimpse of Nick's pale stomach. "Hey, Nick, lift up your shirt again."
"You wanna' look at Nick's stomach?" AJ asked in disgust.
"Shut up, AJ," Howie mumbled.
Nick lifted up his shirt. "It's just my rash."
Howie stood walking over to him. "I don't think that's a rash, Nick."
"Oh, God! He's got some rare acne disease!" AJ squealed. "Kevin, put him in quarintine! I cannot be infected!"
Howie ran his hand over Nick's skin. "AJ, he doesn't have a rare pimple disease." He felt his forehead. "However, he does have chicken pox."
"Chicken pox?" Kevin gasped.
Howie nodded. "Yeah, you've all had it, right?"
The other three heathly singers shook their heads. "No."
Nick scratched his stomach. "Am I going to turn into a chicken?"
"No!" Howie sighed smacking Nick's hand away. "Don't scratch."
"But it itches!"
"I know, I had it when I was nine," Howie sympathized. "It's odd for someone to get it at your age."
"Aaron's had it awhile and some of my sisters."
"Well, that explains that."
AJ tilted his head. "Howie, are you sure he doesn't have a rare pimple disease?"
"Yes, AJ!"
Kevin stood lifting Nick to his feet. "Come on. You're going back to the bedroom and not leaving."
"What are you doing?" Brian asked.
"Using AJ's idea about putting Nick in quarintine! And first thing tomorrow I'm designing myself a mask!"
Howie held in his head in his hands turning to Brian. "Brian, you and I have just entered hell."