|
|
Chapter 2
"What's up with Rok?"
Nick looked up at AJ, who plopped down next to him on the tour bus sofa.
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
"He's a bummed man."
"You noticed too?" Nick asked wryly. Before AJ could reply, the aforementioned climbed onto the bus, his shoulders drooping, his eyes distant.
"Brian," Nick said, but Brian didn't even look his way as he continued down the aisle to the bunks.
"Where's Leighanne?" AJ called, but Brian only shrugged before he disappeared out of their sight. The two left on the sofa looked at each other and shrugged. Nick returned to his sketching, and AJ closed his eyes and stretched his legs before him. Soon Kevin stepped onto the bus, waving his water bottle at Nick, who didn't even look up, but just waved a charcoal pencil in his band mate's direction. Howie soon followed and began talking on his cell phone, not even acknowledging his fast asleep best friend.
They were the Backstreet Boys, the most wanted twenty something's in the world.
****
In the very back of the bus, Brian sat at the table with a pad of paper and a pen in front of him. He gazed out the window, and it was some time before his thoughts returned to the paper. Then he looked down, and began singing aloud what he read.
I've got this dream that won't go away
When I close my eyes you're there night and day
Baby whatever it takes I've gotta find you
Are you someone I know or that I'll meet by chance
Are you somewhere close or in a far away land
Across the ocean or burnin' sand, I've gotta find you
I've gotta find you, don't care how long it takes
I know when I do it'll be worth the wait
With God as my witness and love as my guiding star
Maybe Miami on some sandy beach
New York City making waves on wall street
No matter where you are, I've gotta find you
I've gotta find you
You could be a checker at the grocery store
For all I know you're the girl next door
One thing I know for sure, I've gotta find you
You might be a waitress workin' your way through school
Or the anchor person on the six o'clock news
Only my heart knows who, I've gotta find you
I've gotta find you, don't care how long it takes
I know when I do it'll be worth the wait
With God as my witness and love as my guiding star
Maybe Miami on some sandy beach
New York City making waves on wall street
No matter where you are, I've gotta find you
No matter where you are, I've gotta find you
I've gotta find you
Brian sighed and looked up. Nick suddenly appeared, sitting across from him.
"Hey, Nick."
"Hi." Nick stared at Brian, scrutinizing his features.
"What?" Brian asked.
"I was just going to say that," Nick said. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing," Brian muttered.
"You're really gloomy lately."
"So?"
Nick frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but he shut it again and stood up.
"So, you're gloomy?" he asked. "So that's not something to be proud of."
Brian had never heard something so…quoted out of Nick's mouth. He shrugged it aside and looked out the window again.
Nick sighed and walked away.
Brian knew that he was Nick's best friend. And he did feel bad about making Nick bummed, but he had to get this thing on his mind settled. He had to figure out how he was feeling, and how to handle it. Right now he couldn't joke around and be himself because that would be lying.
Brian's inconsolable state continued for three weeks after the Grammies. No one, not even Leighanne, could find a way to lift his mood. It puzzled everyone as to why he was all of a sudden the most depressed guy in the group. Management began to grow worried; his sullenness was gradually bringing his nightly performance down, and no one had any idea why.
Being Brian's best friend, Nick soon began to mope around as much as Brian, due to missing his usually cheerful buddy. He stopped playing Nintendo, he stopped eating, and he and Brian just sat around watching television or a movie most of the time.
Awkward tension soon developed between the five, and they began bickering at the smallest things. Howie, the peacemaker, tried his best to stop them, but usually they ended up on the couch with Brian and Nick. It was next to impossible for the fans not to notice, and the magazines and newspapers began dubbing it as 'the unexpected breakup of the Backstreet Boys: are they back on the streets?'
"Do you think we'll really break up?" AJ sighed as he stood next to Howie backstage one night. The two were the only ones to really stay friends through the whole dramatic mudslide of the group.
"We won't break up," Howie said firmly. "We just need to sit down and interact for once peacefully."
"With Nick's annoying comments, Kevin's ability to piss me off, and Brian's new 'I'm taking the place of Oscar the Grouch' act, that won't happen very soon, D."
"Speaking of Brian…" Howie said thoughtfully, turning and glancing at the lonely man standing by himself ten feet away. "We should really start with him. I hate to sound accusing, but this did start with him. Maybe it's our fault, AJ. He was depressed and we didn't ask what was wrong with him."
"Yeah, we did," AJ said. "He wouldn't tell us."
"But we've always said that the key to our group is communication, and we're doing the exact opposite right now."
"The guy is rejecting help from everyone!" AJ exclaimed. "Watch."
He strode over to Brian, and put his hand on his shoulder. Howie watched with interest.
"Hey, Brian, man," AJ began. "I want to k now right now what is wrong with you so we can get our group back together."
Howie stifled a groan and joined them just as Brian shook his head sadly and looked at his feet.
"Wrong approach, AJ," he scolded and turned to Brian.
"B, whatever it is, it can't be that bad," he said gently. Brian looked up at him, and decided to try the same thing he had tried with Leighanne.
"Have you ever been in a predicament where you don't know what to do, because it all depends on one thing, and you don't even know the chances of that thing happening, so you have to break down and face the facts?" Brian said in one breath and sighed. "But you don't want to face the facts…?"
Howie and AJ looked at one another.
"Uh…" AJ stared. Brian sighed again.
"I think I know what you mean, Brian." Howie looked at the ceiling, trying to decide what to say next. "If is all depends on one thing, and you don't know the odds of that happening, why don't you try to make it happen?"
"I can't," Brian said sorrowfully. "It's first on the list of impossible tasks."
"Then-" Howie began.
"You're screwed," AJ interrupted. Howie glared at him.
"You're not screwed. Why don't you ask Leighanne?" he suggested. "She might know what you can do."
Brian looked alarmed, or grieved, or possible both.
"Can't do that," he said, shaking his head.
"Ohhhh," AJ said, as if he suddenly understood. "Wait, what?" he asked, his eyebrows knitted. Howie rolled his eyes and turned once more to the very distraught looking Brian before him.
"It has to do with her?" he questioned. Brian looked as though that might be too much information spared, but he nodded and looked at Howie as if to say, 'Please help me.'
"Um…I don't know, man," Howie said.
"I do," AJ jumped in. They both turned to him. "If it's about the wedding, call it off."
The simplicity of his statement surprised them both.
"Well, think about it. Obviously, he's bummed about something, he hinted that it has to do with Leighanne, so call the wedding off."
"But if my chances of that…thing happening are slim, then I'll be without anything," Brian pointed out.
"Well, I have to add that if you're pointing out that it has something with Leighanne, then what's the point of staying with her?" AJ asked.
Howie nodded agreeably. But Brian sighed again and shoved his fists in his pockets.
"It didn't help with my problem," he said.
"You're so welcome," AJ muttered sarcastically. Brian frowned and turned around.
"He gets what he deserves," AJ said, shrugging. "Treat others as you would like to be treated."
"Yeah, but he has a problem," Howie pointed out.
"He's always the one with the problems."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~