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PART 2

Twenty minutes later, he’s back with the orders and some pastries and bread to go along with the early breakfast they are about to have now. As the guys continued with the net surfing and occasional bites and sips of their hot beverages, Nick began setting out his own meal: fettuccine pasta with garlic bread, two large pineapple cinnamons, a piece of brownie and a piece of banana cake and an ice cold lime Italian tea. The guys eyed him in amusement.

“Obviously, you’re not hungry.” Howie said as he tries to get a pinch of Nick’s brownie. But Nick lightly slaps his hand.

“What must I do? I’m a growing child.”

“That was like July of last year, Nick. When you broke up with that woman, I’ve seen you grown up.” Kevin said, immediately grabbing the cinnamon from Nick and putting everything on his mouth. Others followed suit and Nick could only save his pasta and his iced tea.

“You owe me food!” Nick exclaimed as the guys laughed. “I’m glad I have my salvation pack.” He grinned at them as Bruno, his security returned to the bus with another Starbucks paper bag and gave it to Nick. “Bwahahaha!” He laughed at them.

“Whatever, man. You’re weird.” AJ shook his head and returned to his laptop.

“I assure you, Nick. Your gluttony will get back on you soon.” Brian stuck his tongue out to him and turned back to his own personal computer as well. Silence overwhelmed them once again as the bus rolled off minutes later. When Nick burped after he’s done eating, the noise came back once again. Nick just smiled then watched with amusement, as the guys have been so busy with the technology in front of them. They didn’t tell in the interviews about how silly they can be when in front of the computer. They valued every opportunity they had for going online. It’s a fast way of getting in touch with family, friends and colleagues especially when their mobile phones don’t have signal or their batteries ran out. They aware of the people who posed as them as well, of the hackers who tried sabotaging their music online, of the people who have been illegally releasing their songs without their consent, of the people who hates them, and of the people who wanted them down. And they also knew about what their fans are doing online, the sharing they are having whenever they encountered them, the support they gave, the plans they were having for this and that. AJ was a member of one of the groups but decided to leave when his inbox got full from all the messages coming from the group – daily messages from the members who seemed to be online everyday of their life. Nick is thankful for having such devoted, very supportive and very loyal fans and the best thing he could do whenever there’s a chance was to talk to them if he could, allow some picture taking, a handshake, a hug, or even a kiss. He loves them. He’ll never ignore them, as much as he could. He just wished though, that sometimes, their fans would understand their busy schedule and their craving for privacy. They are still like any other normal people after all.

“You’re quiet, Nick.” Kevin noticed. Nick turned to his elder brother and saw him sipping the last drop of his iced tea.

“Hey!”

“I thought you don’t like it anymore. You’ve been zoning out since you had that last bite of your garlic bread.” Kevin said.

Nick grinned wickedly as he stood up to get the carton of juice he had before. When he stood up, he let out a noisy and disturbing fart. AJ laughed as the others groaned.

“Get out of here, Nick!” Howie frowned, slapping his youngest brother on the backside.

“Bwahahaha.” Nick laughed, getting his payback at them.

“What’s what that all about?” Kevin asked Nick.

“The what?”

“Bwahahaha?”

“I learned it from a fan.” Nick laughed like Count Dracula of Sesame Street again. “She taught me about it, and said if I’m resorting to a very evil plan. I’ll just laugh ‘Bwahahaha’.”

“You’re weird, Nick.” Kevin shook his head. Nick looked over Kevin’s shoulder.

“’I’ll take care of the baby’s formula, as long as you’ll be taking care of changing the diapers’? AJ, Kevin is really discussing about babies with Kristin.” Nick said and leaned himself to Kevin’s shoulders and read more. He even took the initiative of touching the touch pad and scrolled down the messages between Kevin and his wife. The man just let him do it. “Wow, Kevin. You want Spongebob Square Pants theme on the nursery room? That’s a clever idea.”

“Kristin likes Barney more.” Kevin said thoughtfully.

“At least, Barney is better than clowns filling your baby’s room,” AJ cringed at the thought. He obviously still doesn’t like clowns.

“I like Lilo and Stitch.” Howie said, and then made a loud whoop and wave his hands in the air. The four looked at him in rather a weird way. “Would you believe that? I just made an investment with some of my money yesterday and when I checked the status online, it doubled four times over!”

“Whoa! Like how much do you have now?” Brian asked Howie.

“A million and a half dollars.” Howie grinned.

“Then I think you should pay me back my brownie, four times over.” Nick said with a laugh. “Will you adopt me, Howie? I promise I won’t spend everything.” He hugged his friend.

“Oh, Nick! Please. No. You’ll just suffocate me with your farts.”

The men laughed.

“That’s great news, Howie. Congratulations.” Kevin patted his friend on the shoulders. He glanced at his laptop then his eyes widened. “Kristin just made a surprise,” he muttered but everyone heard him. “Seems like Howie isn’t the only one lucky today.” He looked at the guys on the table whose curious eyes are now diverted to him.