"I kinda have something to tell ya," Nick said.
"What? Did she really rip one of your balls off? Are you only half man?" I giggled at the idea of it. Nick's blue eyes filled with tears. "Aw bud, what'sa matter?" I teased him, "It's okay, they can put it back on... They have surgeries for stuff like that now..."
Nick's eyes leveled with mine. "No, Bri," he whispered, sadly. "It's not that. I -" he hesitated.
"Nicky, you know you can tell me anything."
He took a deep breath. "Yanno how Leighanne hit on me and called me great and had her boobs in my face and hit on me and stuff?" I stiffened. Nick looked at his hands. "Well, I... I... I lied." He slid across the sofa from me and cowered.
I didn't move.
"Bri?"
I looked up. "What?"
"I lied?"
"You lied?"
Nick hesitated. "....yes."
I stood up. Nick watched me as I moved to his bunk, ripped open the curtain and started grabbing his stuff. Nick blinked. "What're you doing?" he asked, his voice rising a little bit as I grabbed a handful of his comic books and a teddy bear that he'd been carrying around as long as I knew him. I shoved them into the giant oaf of a bag he had taking up the bunk under his with all his crap that he still hadn't unpacked.
My hands were shaking. I felt a little bit crazy.
"Brian?"
I couldn't answer him. I couldn't even LOOK at him. I felt like I was about to melt. My insides were buzzing like they were on some kind of ultrasonic soundwave and my palms were sweating. I snatched a pair of sneakers and shoved them into the bag and the remainder of the freaking air fresheners and his boxes of fricking dingdongs and hohos and twinkies and condoms and his fucking gameboy...
"Brian!" Nick was at my side, "Frick, what're you doing?" he begged.
"YOU'RE MOVING OUT," I yelled, spit flying off my lips. I couldn't help it. Nick blinked.
"I'm what?"
"I'm trading you in, I want Howie."
"Brian I--"
"I WANT HOWIE!" I bellowed.
"But Brian --"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled.
Nick blinked, the tears in his eyes again. "Brian I'm so--"
"DON'T KEEP LYING TO ME!" I yelled, jabbing him in the chest with my finger, "When this fucking bus stops, I want you OFF and OUT OF MY SIGHT."
"BRIAN," Nick wailed.
I turned on my heels and beelined for the bathroom, "Don't talk to me."
"BRIAN PLEASE! I made a mistake! She was stealing you from me... I'm your best friend and--"
"You USED to be my best friend," I corrected, spinning on him. He almost collided with me, "Now you're a LIAR." I shoved into the bathroom and slammed the door shut in his face and locked it and sank to my feet on the carpet. My head banged against the door and I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
I didnt' dare call her yet.
I hugged my knees to my chest. I was a little dizzy, but I could feel my blood pressure dropping. I took deep breaths. I was gonna be okay. Really.... Just as soon as Nick Carter was off of my bus.
When the buses stopped an hour later outside of a Chic-Fil-A, Kevin's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when I came out of the bus hauling Nick's bag of crap towards him. Nick was following along. "Brian, please, Brian, Brian! BRIAN! Please!!!" he was begging me.
I dropped the bag at Kevin's feet. "THIS," I pointed at Nick, "Is YOURS. I don't want him ANYWHERE NEAR ME anymore." I turned back to the bus.
"Uh.. Brian?" Kevin sounded confused, but I didn't stop. I was just climbing onto the bus when I heard him say, "Now what'd you do, you lil shmuck?"
"I told the truth," I said. I was trying not to cry. My junk still hurt and now Brian hated me. My comics were probably wrinkled beyond saving. I wiped my face on the sleeve of my sweatshirt.
"I. Want. HOWIE," Brian huffed.
"What?" D asked. His head poked out of the bus.
"I want you," Bri said. He pointed a shaking finger at Howie. D's eyes widened.
"Uh...what?"
Kevin watched me closely. "Howie, you and Nick are going to switch busses."
"Why?"
"Don't ask," Bri said. He gave me a hateful look, turned and headed towards the bus.
"What did Nick do?" Howie asked.
"Why does everyone always think it's me?!" I wailed.
"Cause it's always you," J said. His dark head poked out of the window. "Do you have any good stuff in that bag?"
I sighed. Kevin at least took pity on me to help me lug my bag up on the bus. Psycho Howie only took about a minute to transfer his stuff. I swear to God he has things color coded. He gave me a look.
"How pissed is Brian on a scale of 1 to 10?"
"About a 20," I said. Howie crossed himself and jumped down.
I wasn't on the bus five minutes before Kevin decided to pull rank.
"Bus rules. Clean up after yourself. No girls. No drinking. No smoking."
J and I shared a look. Kevin headed towards the bathroom.
"He's worse than my mom," AJ whispered.
"I heard that!"
I shuffled towards the bunk Howie had abandoned. I didn't really care about rules. I had hoped that telling the truth would have made me feel better.
Now I felt even WORSE. I tossed my crap into my bunk. I didn't have near as much space. I was going to have to sleep all curled up in the fetal position. I was lamenting this turn of events when AJ wrapped his arms around my neck.
"Don't be too upset. I've already had girls. Lots of girls. Just slip one of these in Kevin's coffee."
AJ handed me a pill. I looked at it in confusion.
"Mild sleepy sleepy pill. He's grumpy when he wakes up, but it's SO worth it."
I sighed. The way things were going, I was going to need the sleeping pill.
I didn't want to wake up until Bri could even REMOTELY forgive me.
"Hey, c'mon it's not that bad. You're acting like you broke up with your girlfriend."
"But it's Bri."
"So? You're more obsessed with him than Leighanne was," J remarked. I groaned.
"DON'T. SAY. THE. NAME."
