Kevin was wet and mad. Water dripping from him and chills down his spine; he was getting tired of wading in the water looking for his fishing rod. Trying to contain his anger he looked back at Nick who was doing the same thing. How dumb he had been to let go of it and play around in the water. By the time he had made his way back to where he had left it, it was gone.
“It has to be here somewhere.”
“Maybe the guppies heard you making fun of them and took it!”
“Damn it Nick, this is serious!”
“Jesus…sorry.”
“You don’t see it anywhere?”
“No, it’s not here Kev, maybe further downstream.”
Kevin turned back towards the water, taking a deep breath and putting his face underneath to get a better look. Fish were all around him now, almost taunting him because he had lost his rod. It seemed to be the peak fishing time.
He pulled his head back out of the water, “It’s supposed to float, and it shouldn’t have sunk to the bottom.”
“Then why do you keep putting your head under?”
“Just in case.”
“Kevin, I have to get out of the water for a little bit, I can’t feel my feet and I think my nuts might have frozen right off.”
“Just a few more minutes Nick, I don’t think it went that way…”
“Then why are you making me look over here?” Now Nick started to sound irritated. The way he used to right before the whining would start when he was little.
His whining used to bother Kevin more than anything else, even more than the sometimes 16 hour days of practicing. Once he started with the ‘are we almost done?’ and the, ‘I need to stop I’m so tired’ Kevin would want to bat his head against the wall. He realized that in essence at the time they started out, Nick was a baby. But that didn’t much matter, it still grated on his nerves.
“Stop whining Nick.”
“What? I’m not whining I’m just letting you know I’m getting out of the damn water before I friggin freeze to death.”
“God, are you so much of a baby that you can’t stay here for a few more minutes and help me look?”
Nick, ignoring Kevin’s last comment started to head for the shore, which made Kevin boil inside. He turned his head disgusted and kept on looking, traveling further downstream as he went. Part of him was so mad, he wanted to get out of the water and have it out with the 24 year old. Then he had to stop and wonder why was it that Nick got under his skin so easily?
Howie had a long talk about that with him on the Black and Blue tour. Things were so bad back then that Nick hardly wanted to spend any time at all around Kevin and visa-versa. Howie decided to pull Kevin aside and let him know that whether he realized it or not, he was always very hard on their youngest member. They could all be late for something but it was Nick that Kevin would single out, same when he sang out of tune or did a wrong dance move. No matter how many times the others did it, Kevin always managed to yell at Nick.
Of course in Kevin’s stubbornness he at first refused to admit that. Until he saw himself doing it at a rehearsal they had. Everyone was running about fifteen minutes late and Kevin and Brian were the first ones there. Shortly after, AJ walked in followed by Nick. Even though literally less than five minutes went by between AJ and Nick’s arrival, when Nick walked into the room Kevin let him have it for being late.
Howie walked in ten whole minutes after that and Kevin said nothing. “Why don’t you yell at Howie Kevin? You should yell at him like you yelled at me!” When he heard those words and saw Howie stare at him, he decided to make an effort to try not to be so harsh with Nick.
He turned back to see Nick struggling to take his boots off, hopping on one foot as he pulled on the other, all the while cussing under his breath.
“I hope he falls.” Kevin whispered and turned back to his mission.
About a second later he heard a thud followed by a “Son of a bitch and a half!” Kevin couldn’t help but laugh.
“Son of a bitch and a half?” He said turning back towards Nick who had indeed fallen on the rocks.
“Yes got a problem with that?”
Now just as Kevin was known to nag, Nick was known to have a temper and it was really showing now as he took his boots and flung them, whapping them against a tree which made Kevin turn around once again and look at the water.
He had to find that rod. It shouldn’t have gotten that far away. He decided to turn back towards where Nick had been looking.
“I told you it’s not over there!”
“Maybe you missed it.”
“Or maybe it’s not over there like I just said!”
“Enough with the attitude.”
“Sorry. I’m cold, hungry and I think I may have broken my leg!”
That made Kevin sigh and rub at his temples, “Here comes the whining.”
“Shut the hell up!”
“Okay I give, what’s the problem?” Kevin asked finally allowing himself to get out of the water for a few minutes.
Nick sat under a tree rubbing at his ankle, his whole body shivering. Suddenly Kevin felt bad; maybe he had really hurt himself.
“No problem, I’m just pissy, ignore me.”
“Let me see your ankle.”
“What are you going to put a Winnie the Pooh Band-Aid on it?”
Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes as he approached his friend. He sat down next to him and surveyed the damage, or lack of damage.
“Nick it’s not even swollen. I think you’ll live this time around.”
“I don’t care if it’s not swollen it hurts!”
“So, why are you pissy all of the sudden? I mean you were all smiles before.”
When a few minutes went by without a reply Kevin just gave up. Nick was looking out towards the water; still shivering which prompted Kevin to walk back to the car and get them both some towels to dry off with. He needed to walk away from the situation for a minute.
How could he lose that rod? It meant so much to him. What an idiot, more importantly how was he going to explain to his mother how he had lost the very last present his father had given him.
He should have never taken it out, never.
Walking back with two towels in hand as well as the left over snacks from the car, Kevin made his way back towards Nick, not overly excited to do so.
“Here.” Kevin said extending a towel towards his friend.
“Thanks.” Nick grabbed it and immediately wrapped it around his shoulders. He seemed calm now which made Kevin grateful. He didn’t like to be around a mad, angry Nick. That usually proved to be a bad thing, culminating in at least a bruise or black eye followed by a heart wrenching apology for losing his temper.
Truth was he was really worried about the rage that lived inside Nick. He sometimes had no control of his anger anymore, like his emotions made him numb and then the more irrational side took over. He never hit Paris though, that much Kevin was sure of. He had seen her hit him plenty of times, sometimes just a nudge or a push but also he saw her violently attack him, hit him on the head repeatedly while he just stood there and took it. It happened a lot with many of his girlfriends.
For whatever reason, they ended up being abusive to him. Not that Nick was perfect, God no, chances are he probably deserved a good amount of those little beatings but still, he never seemed to attach himself to people who were good for him. Same could be said for his friends as well.
That was something else that the two of them have gone head to head about. The night at the club when the paparazzi attacked Nick, Kevin made sure to stand by his side, even in the car as he wiped his tears away. Later that night though, once they got to talking, they ended up in a fist fight. The subject was Nick’s newfound friends.
Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, maybe it was one drink too many but all Kevin had to say was, ‘and it would probably help if you dumped some of those loser types you are hanging out with nowadays,’ and Nick lost it. Before Kevin even knew what hit him, he had a huge shiner on his eye.
Luckily when he and Kris went to a premiere the very next day, no one really asked about it. That’s when he thought about fishing and Nick. That night he wandered back home, iced his eye and took out his fishing rod, remembering very well the last conversation he had with his father ironically enough on the importance of fly fishing. How for some it was a hobby but for the true fisherman it was so much more.
If Kevin had known that this conversation would be the last one they had face to face he probably would have basked in it. He might have stretched it out to last for hours; instead he could barely remember exactly what was said.
When his dad was done, he handed him the fishing rod and told him to take good care of it, it might be the only link to sanity he could find. Kevin laughed and hugged his dad, thinking… well the fishing rod was nice but a car would have been so much better.
“I’ll buy you another one if you want.” Kevin turned away from his thoughts and looked down at Nick before once again taking a seat next to him and breaking open the bag of Cheetos he brought along.
“Hey where did those come from?”
“I hid them on you so we’d actually have something to eat by the time we made it here.”
“Hand them over I’m starving.” Nick grabbed the bag and popped some chips into his mouth, “Hey Kevin want some see food?” Before Kevin had a chance to answer Nick opened his mouth with the half eaten food in it.
“Boy that never gets old for you does it?”
“Nope.”
“Well it should.”
Nick giggled and took a sip of Kevin’s Coke.
“So, like I said man, just tell me how much it cost and I’ll replace the rod for you.”
“It’s not replaceable, besides why would you have to replace it?”
“I don’t know, I just kind of think maybe you blame me for losing it?”
“Not your fault this time.”
“Oh really? Well that’s a first.”
Kevin smiled, “Yup probably a first and last.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, looking out towards the water. Happily both of them were beginning to warm up.
“My dad gave me that rod…” Kevin found himself confessing, “It was the last thing he gave me before he died.”
Nick looked over at his friend, “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah so am I.”
“Kev, why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because if you did, I never would have stopped looking.”
“I guess it just didn’t cross my mind.”
“No it’s been on your mind this entire time. It’s okay to open up to me man, I know when I was little it was different but I’m not little anymore. I’m your friend and that’s what friends do, they tell each other things.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way Nick, but sometimes I still see you as a little kid.”
“Well wow I think I might have a heart attack and die from surprise on that one! Duh Kevin I know.”
Kevin laughed as Nick stood up and brushed the cheese from his pants. “So my belly’s full and now I’m all warm, let’s say we go in and see if we can find that rod?”
“Even with your broken leg?”
Nick stuck his middle finger up at Kevin but then lent him his hand to help him up, “Come on old man…let the quest for the fishing rod now continue!”
Kevin smiled and pat Nick on the back as they walked back towards the water.
Hey there! Sorry it's taken my awhile to get back to this one. I wanted to finish ISWY first. I'm going to try to get back to the once a week update on this one so hopefully by next Saturday i'll have another chapter for you! Thanks for reading!
