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Chapter 16

Lori woke up to frantic knocking on her and AJ’s door. AJ jumped up and answered the door.
Nick was white as a ghost and was stammering something about Brian. AJ left Nick in the
room and ran in to Brian’s room to check on Brian. Lori hugged Nick and tried to calm him
down enough to get something out of him that she would understand.

Nick managed to tell Lori what had happened when he woke up this morning by the time AJ
came running back into the room. “Brian needs help. I have to call 911.” Lori grabbed Nick’s
hand and ran next door.

“Kevin! Jenn! Wake up!” They both heard a loud noise from inside the room and looked at
each other. They didn’t even want to know what they were interrupting. “You guys! It’s
Brian! Something’s wrong!”

“What?” Kevin said poking his head out the door. “What’s wrong with him?”

“We don’t know. He’s really pale and not breathing well. Alex is calling 911,” Lori exclaimed
as Kevin went back into the room and threw some pants on. “I’m so worried.” Kevin came
back out and ran to Brian’s room. “Oh my God,” Lori said. “What have I done?”

“It’s not your fault,” Jenn replied. “You didn’t know that this was going to happen.”

“I know,” Lori replied walking into the room and sitting on the bed. Kevin rushed past her
and Nick to go check on Brian. “I just feel bad that this happened. I just want to go back
home.”

“It’ll be okay, Lori,” Jenn replied sitting beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Brian will be okay, I’m sure. We all know that you have had a tough week.”

Nick grabbed Lori’s hand and didn’t say a word. He wanted Lori to feel better, but he wasn’t
quite sure what to say to her. He hated when she was sad or when she blamed herself for
things, which had been happening a lot more recently. He sometimes wondered if maybe its
because she had gotten back with AJ. He wasn’t quite sure about it.

AJ came in. He looked like hell. “Kevin is in there trying to keep him awake. You might want
to go in there and help him Nick.” Nick jumped off of the bed and ran out of the room. “Baby,
are you okay?” AJ came over to the bed and wrapped Lori in a hug. It was reassuring for
both of them. Lori quietly sobbed and AJ looked like he was about to cry too.

“Is the ambulance coming?” Jenn asked. AJ nodded his head and him and Lori both headed
towards the door.

“Wait. Did anyone tell Howie?” Lori suddenly asked. Everyone looked at each other and then
Lori said, “Shit you guys! He doesn’t know!”

“I’ll go tell him,” Jenn said getting off of the bed and heading towards the door. She walked
out of the room and down the hall towards Howie’s hotel room. Knowing him he was probably
still asleep during all of the commotion.

At about that time, two medics came running down the hallway and disappeared into Brian’s
room. Jenn and Howie came walking up the hallway a few minutes later and AJ told them that
the medics were in Brian’s room. They all waited out in the hallway to see Brian as the medics
brought him through. Nick and Kevin came out of the room after the medics.

“Thank God we finished recording yesterday,” AJ said watching Kevin scramble down the
hallway after the medics.

“Yeah, the sooner Brian gets better, the sooner we can get home,” Lori said releasing herself
from AJ’s grasp and walking to their room.

“She’ll be alright,” AJ said. “She just needs some time. Um, let us know when you hear
something from Kevin.”

“Sure,” Jenn replied. Everyone went their separate ways to go pack while they waited to hear
from Kevin.

Jenn talked to Kevin an hour later. He said that he didn’t even need his stomach pumped.
His body was just having a bad reaction to the alcohol. Kevin was going to check him out of
the hospital and then they were heading to the hotel. “Be careful. I will go ahead and get the
plane tickets taken care of so we can all go home tonight.” She hung up and left the room to
tell everyone that Brian was on his way back.

Jenn had packed hers, Kevin’s and Brian’s things by the time that they got back from the
hospital. Everyone was so relieved that Brian was okay. Lori gave him the biggest hug she
could when she saw him next.

“Look you guys, I don’t think I’m going to be partaking in any alcohol consumption from here
on out,” Brian said in the limo heading for the airport. Everyone agreed that that was a good
idea.



He had been seeing her for a couple of weeks now. She was really sweet and funny and he
hadn’t dated anyone in God knows how long. He thought that they fit together very well. He
didn’t have much use for Mandy, but he was really happy he met Sara. She had given him her
number before she left the New Years Eve party and he had called her practically the next
day to ask her out.

She was a sophomore in the local university where she was studying psychology. Everything
about her was great. Her humor, her intelligence, and she wasn’t bad to look at either. He
only got to see her for a week before Backstreet had to go to Sweden, but he talked to her
practically every night on the phone. Since Mandy had been taking all of Nick’s attention
recently, Brian was happy to be able to talk to someone other than the usual crowd. Plus,
everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their girlfriends at the time.

Brian had known Jenn forever and he was happy that her and Kevin had worked things out.
Then, there was Mandy. Brian wasn’t the judgmental type, but he could tell that she was
going to be more trouble than she was worth. Lori, on the other hand, was great. He really
liked her. He couldn’t imagine Lori doing anything else with her life besides singing. He
meant that in a good way. He felt really bad about her being dropped by Jive. At least her
and AJ had finally found each other. It took them a year to do it, but AJ had never been
happier with anyone else.

“So, Rok, why don’t you, Sara, AJ and me all go to a movie tonight?” Lori asked him. She
noticed the far off dreamy look in his eyes and knew that he was thinking about Sara. Brian
nodded and got up to give her a call.

Brian, Lori and AJ were sitting at AJ’s house watching the basketball game on TV. Nick would’
ve been there with them, but as usual, he was off with Mandy. Lori hadn’t seen or really even
talked to Nick since they got back from Sweden two weeks earlier.

Lori had just basically stayed at AJ’s house. She was really depressed about her failure at
having a singing career. AJ was trying to convince her to put a couple of demos together and
send them to record labels, but Lori didn’t really want to do that again. She said that she
would rather do something else, like act or something.

So, every other day, AJ had taken her shopping or went out to eat or he’d come home with
some kind of present for her to make her feel better. “Why don’t you come to Canada and
South America with us for the next month?” AJ asked her once Brian got up to go make his
phone call.

“AJ, I already told you,” Lori replied. “I might go to my parents’ house for a long visit. I just
need to get away right now.”

“Well, at least you’re coming with us to New York for the album release,” AJ said wrapping
Lori in a hug. “I love you so much and I want you to be happy.”

“I know. That’s why you spoil me rotten then?” Lori asked giving him a kiss. They both
laughed and waited on Brian to come back with the verdict for that night’s plans.