prologue

A soft knock at the dressing room door announced a visitor. Brian was still angry about what just had happened during the small break after sound check. With a sigh he opened the door. It was Nicky, an employee from the BSB production crew.

“What do you want?” he  frowned as soon as his eyes caught hers.

Nicky stared at the ground feeling guilty for the way she made fun of him. “I want to apologize” she said quietly.

Brian didn’t broke his glaze at her. “ Don’t bother. I’m not accepting your apology. Sometimes you cross lines with these so called jokes. You’ve messed with the wrong person lady” he said resentful.

“Please listen, I want to apologize for my behavior. I’m sorry I shouldn’t make fun of others” Nicky started as her voice trembled while her face turned in a dark shade of red as she tried to look at him.

“I’m not deaf” he interrupted her “I heard you the first time. But knowing you’re not deaf either, tell me which part of I’m not accepting your apology you don’t understand?” Brian’s voice sounded sharp while he still looked at her with resentment.

A tear rolled over Nicky’s cheek. “ Oh you don’t have to cry, Nicky. Seriously, it’s not gonna work this time. Now maybe you can go suck up on someone else”. He said cold and slammed the door in her face leaving her outside in the hallway all by herself.  

Nicky was stunned. It took a couple of seconds to realize what had happened. She turned around and  walked back to the main stage. With her mind still at Brian she bumped into Nick.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. You’re not hurt right?” Nick startled.

“No, I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention either” Nicky sighed.

“Is everything all right? You look worried”

“No it’s not. I went to Brian to apologize for what happened this afternoon” she paused as she felt a big lump in her throat “and he didn’t want to listen” she gasped for air “he even slammed the door in my face” as tears rolled down her face.

Nick placed his bag on the floor and wrapped his arms around her for comfort “Sssshht, it’s okay” he held her close. Somehow they always seem to burst into tears whenever he was around, so he always ended up trying to comfort them. He wondered why he was the “crying woman magnet”. It made everything so complicated.  “I’m sure that, whatever happened, if you give him some space everything is gonna be okay. His life hasn’t been easy this last year.” he said quietly.

“I don’t know Nick” Nicky sighed as she relieved herself from his wrap. I think I did cross a line this time”.

“Tell me what happened”

“Well, we had a break after sound check. You left to go for the backstage tour and me and the others were picking on each other, just for fun. So I started picking on Brian and I made a, now I realize afterwards not so funny, comment about his religion” she started telling.

“O oh, do I wanna know this?” Nick knew this was bad news. Sure Brian was usually the biggest clown of them all. And when people played jokes on him he was the one that most of the time had the loudest laugh. But when it came down to his religion he was as serious as hell. Jokes about that subject were a big no go. And no one ever tried to make fun of him and his passion for his religion. “What did you say to him” he asked with his eyes closed.

She told Nick that she had said that God didn’t save his relationship so what’s the point in believing anyway.  Nick shook his head in disbelief. “I now understand why Brian reacted the way he did. Maybe you should give it a rest and leave him alone for a while” he sighed “Listen Nicky, sometimes it’s better to swallow your words instead of blurting them out without thinking. Just because you think it’s funny it doesn’t mean you can go make fun of others. You can seriously  hurt other people’s feelings. You might get in big trouble because of this. And I think you’re lucky if Brian doesn’t complain about you to Jenny. This might cost you your job, you know.” He looked worried.

“I know, I’m so sorry and I don’t want to lose my job” she sobbed “It’s the best job I ever had. I really want to make it up with Brian too, Nick. Tell me what to do” she panicked.

“Like I said, leave him alone for a while and show him you’ve changed. That you’re considerate about  someone else’s feelings. Show him your respect by letting him be” he sighed.

“Maybe that’s indeed the best thing to do” Nicky sighed whipping the tears of her face “Thank you for listening”.

 “Anytime sweetie” he looked at his watch and noticed it was time to go “I have to go now” he hugged her.

“Sure, I understand. I see you at dinner” she said quietly feeling all alone. This situation was killing her.

“Meanwhile, try not to think about it too much. Let it go. Brian is not the kind of person to stay mad for long periods of time” Nick tried to cheer her up. He cupped her face with his hands and gave a little kiss on her forehead “Trust me, you’ll see”.

He let go of her and ran off to the rehearsal room.        

Brian still felt angry. He knew he had to hurry to get into the rehearsal in time. He went out of his dressing room and hurried to the rehearsal room. While on his way he passed Nicky and totally  ignored her. He shook off what happened in order to focus for tonight’s show.

“Hey bro” AJ greeted him “cooled down a little?” he slapped him on his shoulder.

“Yeah I am” Brian sighed “but I’m still angry at her. She came at my door to apologize but I didn’t accept it. She has to learn to keep her mouth shut. Not everything she thinks is funny can be blurted out like that. It ended up that she started to cry and that’s when I slammed the door in her face. I’m done with her AJ”.

AJ frowned “Really?”.

“Yeah, I’m serious. It’s best for her if she stayed out of my way. But I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. Let’s rehearse” Brian shook his head and dropped his bag in the corner of the rehearsal room.

The other four guys exchanged glares knowing it was better not to push the subject any further today. They practiced the most difficult dance routines and after a small hour they, after they refreshed themselves, where ready to have dinner.