Okay, time for Round 2! Same procedure as before.
Authors:
1. Mare
2. Rokofages75
3. MonkeyAbu
4. MaggieW
5. Just Marina
Writing:
A.
Time crawled by, and soon Howie joined Nick in pacing. All sorts of terrible things were going through their minds at the moment, wondering what ‘method’ would be used on their friend. Just when they thought they could take no more, the door slid open again. Kael was leading AJ inside, a firm and secure grip on his arm. A gasp was heard, although no one could say who had made the sound. AJ looked more… subdued than before he was taken. What had happened? He wasn’t looking at anyone, not even at Kael.
B.
I stood there with the phone in my hand thinking about what had just happened. Part of me was still mad at him but it wasn’t every day Kevin Richardson would apologize and tell you that he was wrong. And the fact that he was worried made me smile. Things didn’t change, no matter how bad the fight was, the minute he knew I wasn’t feeling okay he would run to make sure everything was fine. It hadn’t even been anything specific he had told me but that short talk was a reminder that to him I would always be the little brother he needed to take care of. Sometimes that bothered me, sometimes it made me feel loved and special.
C.
I stop and sign autographs and that's when I see her.
Standing all alone, amongst a crowd of people screeching my name. She sticks out because everyone else is smiling. She is not. Everyone else is screaming, she is quiet, everyone else is jumping up and down, she stands still. Her head bowed down, looking uncomfortable and out of place. I am drawn to the place where she is standing. The yells and cheers diminish into a dull roar and all I see is her and I.
I walk up to her and say hello. She looks at me and then turns around thinking I must be talking to someone else. She slowly turns her head back my way when she sees that she is the person I have greeted.
"Hello.." She says hesitantly and looks back down at the floor. I delicately lift her chin up and have her eyes meet mine.
"My name is Nick"
"Yes, I know that. I'm Michelle" She seems confused. I don't mean to make her uncomfortable.
"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" I ask her as I hold out my hand to grab hers. She smiles. What a beautiful smile I think as we walk together. We don't speak for a few minutes before she asks me with a slight crack in her voice,
"Why me? You could have picked any of the girls that were all over you. Look at me Nick" When she says that I do. I gaze into her perfect green eyes and don't understand what she is talking about. She makes eye contact with me and then breaks it to look back down at the floor.
D.
Grateful for the distraction, Nick inconspicuousl y released the Tootsie Roll blob into the water and gave it a nudge so that it started to float away from him. After Leighanne had led a sniffling Baylee inside, Nick waited a few minutes, then let out a loud gasp of mock horror. “Uh… Brian??” he called loudly, his voice filled with a tone of disgust. “I think your son left a little something behind in the pool.” He pointed to the clump of Tootsie Rolls bobbing in the water a few feet away from him.
When Brian swam over to investigate, AJ, Howie, and Kevin followed. “Holy shit!” AJ exclaimed first. “Rok, there’s… there’s shit in here!” Looking nauseated, he quickly backstroked away from the floating log of Tootsie Rolls, which Nick had masterfully sculpted into a perfect replica of a nice solid turd.
Nick saw Kevin glance over at him with suspicion in his eyes, but Brian groaned and said, “Oh man… he’s been potty-trained for a year, but sometimes he gets distracted when he’s having too much fun and forgets… you know. Sorry, guys.” He offered a sheepish grin and added, with the calmness of a dad who had gotten used to dealing with his kid’s poop, “Hang on, I’ll take care of it.”
E.
"So this is where you ran off to? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to hide from someone."
I nearly groaned towards the gruff tone as I hastily shut the faucet off and turned. But I withheld my show of displeasure for being bothered when I noticed AJ appeared just as weathered as I did. "Had to take a leak," I answered simply with a small shrug. AJ was correct about one thing though. I was on a mission to avoid Kevin at all costs and Kevin was seemingly on a mission to find me and squish me like a bug. I think I shall rename Kevin "Mr. Scrooge" this year. The title rather befits him I believe. Although I think I will keep that to myself for the time being.
"Oh, so that's what this room is for?" AJ chortled as he walked right past me. He made a bee line for the only urinal next to the only stall, unzipped his pants, and began to do his business without regards to the fact that I was still present in the room. And on top of it all he was whistling some rediculously off key tune that resembled one the songs Brian had burst onto the plane singing earlier. I swear that man has no shame and if he even begins to sing a single word of that song, I may just go find Kevin and allow him to squish me like a bug after all. A moment later AJ turned back around, his horrific tune halting as he made his way over to the sink. "Still avoiding Kev?"
"Maybe."
"Planning on staying in this shit hole the entire time?"
"Considering it...why?"
"Because I find it funny that after all these years you are still afraid of Kevin."
He laughed as he said it and I looked at him incredulously. Afraid of Kevin? Hardly! I was not afraid of Kevin. I just didn't feel like listening to his bitching as he blamed me for this whole disaster. If anybody was afraid of Kevin it was AJ and why the Hell was he still laughing? If he really thought he was that funny then maybe he should go tell someone who cared, like the wall for instance. I'm sure the wall would listen. AJ was a freaking lunatic sometimes and yet I somehow always managed to have to take the downfall for being the not so sane one of the group. "...Shut up!"
Ok, so that wasn't exactly the reply I was looking to produce and AJ only laughed harder. "You're an idiot," I grumbled and side stepped towards the door, moving back out into the main lobby of the airport, which wasn't saying much. It was damn small and very distasteful in appearance. I wanted to bend down, rip off a piece of the brown colored carpeting, find Kevin, and shove it in his face. You think you feel like crud Scrooge? Well this is what I feel like- shit-toned carpet! I know I was just blowing off steam but I wasn't going to forget his lack of sympathy for everyone else, especially when he blamed it all on me and in front of the eyes of everyone else who were stranded right along with us. And great, now my stomach was growling something awful just to make matters worse. I think I'll blame my hunger on Kevin since he was so Hell bent on blaming everything on me. If I die from starvation then I will so come back to haunt him.
