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Nick Carter had always been an ocean enthusiast. He loved the waves, sunsets over the water, beach, bikini babes lying on the beach... Anything that involved the ocean in some way was his cup of tea. Well, he wasn’t really into tea. Cup of wheatgrass, rather.

The summer had flown by and he’d spent most of it cramped on a tour bus touring the United States. He always inserted-city-name-here for each concert and assured the audience that he was exactly where he wanted to be each and every night, but his heart was missing the sea. When August arrived, Nick finally had some time off. An in-the-moment purchase left him with a brand new boat. He decided to invite the guys over for a weekend. They’d spend Saturday on his new purchase, cruising the coast of Florida.

“Hey man,” Howie greeted. “This thing is huge!”

The “thing” was a ninety-two feet yacht. At three million dollars, it was half the cost of his home. Still, he planned to use this boat for years to come. Maybe one day he’d be taking his family out on it.

“Well, I didn’t want to do it halfway,” Nick defended himself, still thinking about the price tag.

“Here, I brought something for the christening,” Howie laughed handing Nick a six-pack.

“Thanks,” Nick cracked one open.

“How’s the weather going to be today? There were some clouds north of here.”

In truth, Nick hadn’t even thought to consult the weather report. But they wouldn’t go too far from shore.

“It’ll be fine,” Nick said. He decided to change the subject. “I need a name for my boat.”

“The Carter,” Howie held up his hands as if the words were being written in the air.

“Might as well paint a target on the front,” Brian said. “This thing would be swarming with fans going after this pretty blonde,” he tussled Nick’s hair in a friendly manner.

AJ stepped on the boat right after Brian and Nick gave them the tour. Below deck, there was a kitchen, dining room area, and a lounge area complete with a flat screen TV.

“We on a boat!” Brian exclaimed, flopping down on the comfy couch.

Nick went into the pilothouse and led the boat out to sea. After awhile, when he was happy with the location, he dropped the anchor and joined the other Backstreet Boys.

He drank what was probably his fourth beer and his stomach started grumbling. Nick realized he hadn’t eaten anything today. He started to head to the kitchen when Brian joined him on deck, so Nick chugged the rest of his beer instead.

Brian eyed his drink. “You’re driving- you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’m fine,” Nick said. He gazed out at the water. Between the sun being behind the clouds and the August breeze, it wasn’t hot at all. The boat was rocking a bit though.

Brian noticed, too. “The waves look a little choppy. We may want to head back early.”

Nick shook his head. “I’m sure it’ll just be a little storm. We can wait out the rain watching TV.” This was his first trip on the boat, and he loved being out in the open water. There was so much space! No one was around. It was so peaceful.

The clouds continued to accumulate, though. They were gray and heavy. As afternoon continued, Nick realized he should go ahead and start heading back to shore.

As the ship rocked back and forth, he heard AJ in the bathroom getting seasick. The water was getting very difficult to navigate. Nick was really regretting the alcohol he’d consumed. Between the swaying ship and his own compromised vision, he was having a difficult time concentrating. He had no visibility and wasn’t used to these conditions. The wind howled. Rain pelted the glass. Could this get any worse?

“Um, Nick,” Brian came in. “We have a problem.”

“What?”

“There’s water coming in below.”

Yes, apparently it could get worse. Oh no, he thought. The ship was sinking? What had he hit?

He followed Brian and saw the puddle.

Howie was beside himself. “I don’t want to die!”

“Calm down, D,” Brian said. “We need to find the source.”

Just then, AJ came out. “Nick...”

“Not now, AJ,” Nick began checking the room.

“Nick, it’s important.”

“More important than the boat sinking?”

AJ stood, stunned. Then he started running around in circles. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?”

“There’s water coming in. But very slowly,” Brian said. “Nothing to panic about yet.” He pointed out the puddle to AJ.

AJ immediately calmed down. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you... the toilet’s messed up.”

“What?” Nick asked.

“It started overflowing and water came out...”

“So we’re not going to die?” Howie asked.

“No one’s dying!” Brian said. “Nick, I’ll clean this up, you go and finish navigating the storm.”

But the boat wasn’t rocking nearly as much as it had been. Nick glanced outside and saw that the storm was breaking. The rain wasn’t coming down nearly as much. He safely got them back to land.

At the dock, the Backstreet Boys enjoyed the bit of sunlight peeking through and hung out on the deck. Howie brought some food up, and Nick remembered how hungry he was. He grabbed a grape.

Brian was humming the Gilligan’s Island theme song. “Glad we didn’t end up shipwrecked on some island. If you guys could barely handle the bathroom flooding, I don’t know what we’d do in a real situation.”

“I was just kidding about the all of us dying thing...” Howie said.

“Yeah, um, I was just joking, too,” AJ said.

Brian headed below deck to grab a soda. On his way down, he shouted behind his shoulder, “Right... yeah, let’s hope there’s never an actual crisis or we’d be sunk.” His laugh at the bad joke echoed and disappeared.

Nick had just grabbed another grape. He laughed, too, and then realized the grape had gone down his throat wrong. He couldn’t breathe. Waving his arms, he got Howie and AJ’s attention.

“Just trying to get us to freak out again, huh?” AJ said.

“Yeah, nice try,” Howie smirked.

Where was Brian when he needed him? His face must’ve started to turn colors because the expressions on AJ and Howie’s faces changed.

“He’s not faking,” Howie stated the obvious.

“WHAT DO WE DO?” AJ screamed.

Get Brian! Nick thought. He pointed below deck, but AJ and Howie couldn’t handle any form of charades at the moment.

“Just swallow it, Nick,” Howie said.

Yeah that was helpful. Why hadn’t Nick thought of that? Swallow the grape and he wouldn’t be choking anymore. He was now madder at not being able to scream at Howie than the fact that he was getting light-headed. Of course that may’ve been AJ’s screams causing his headache, not the actual grape.

“What’s all the shouting?” Brian reemerged. He glanced at Nick. “What is going on?” he demanded.

“Nick’s choking,” AJ said.

“Well do the Heimlich maneuver you idiots!” Brian shouted.

Howie and AJ stared at each other but were too afraid to do anything. Brian threw down his drink and rushed over, but it was too late. Nick couldn’t hold on to consciousness any longer. He clutched his throat and took one last look at his beloved ocean. His dead body fell overboard, sending him to the place he loved most. Forever.

Nick’s last thoughts before he died were how embarrassing the headlines were going to be. Backstreet Boy Nick Carter: Killed By A Grape.