- Text Size +
Chapter 8

By eight that night, Lori and Jenn both were flying up to Lexington, Kentucky. Lori hadn’t
stopped crying since she had hung up with Nick. Jenn just started panicking and it took Lori
an hour at least to get her under control.

They did not talk on the plane ride. They didn’t talk in the cab to the hotel or in the cab to
the hospital. Neither of them knew what to say. They were just worried about Brian.

They ran into the Emergency Room and didn’t find any Backstreet Boy in there. So, they
went to the admissions and found out that they needed to go to the third floor. They ran into
security and they let them pass through. They pointed to a door that said Private Waiting
Room. Lori opened the door and Jenn followed her in.

“Hey,” Nick said as Lori and Jenn walked in. He hugged Lori and said, “I’m so glad you’re
here.”

“Anytime, Nicky,” Lori replied. “I can’t believe this. What happened?” Jenn walked over
towards the family and gave Jackie Littrell a hug.

“Um, I’m not too sure,” Nick said going over to the couch. Lori sat down next to him. “He’s
having open heart surgery right now though and he should be out by like eleven. That’s all I
got out of it because you know doctors, they talk in big words. I just can’t understand.”

Lori could tell that Nick was terribly upset and she put her arm around him and tried to
comfort him as much as she could. All of what had happened in January was over with they
both had moved on surprisingly well. After four months of being mad at Alex, she was ready
to talk to him as well. Nick hugged her again and he held on for awhile this time.

She looked around for Alex and saw him sitting by himself in the corner. She knew that he
was having a real hard time just because of the fact that he was secluded from everyone
else. Soon, he will have a crying fit and Lori knew that she had to be there and talk him
through it. He would never let anyone else see him like that, with the exception of his
mother.

“Nick, he’ll be okay. You know Brian. He’s been through this before and he’ll get through it
again,” Lori whispered in Nick’s ear. She rubbed his back and he just started to sob. His
body shuddered with every breath he took. Lori couldn’t stand seeing him like this. The
tears flowed down her cheeks and she clenched onto Nick even tighter. She somehow
knew that this would not be the last time that something would bring her and Nick closer in
their friendship. This incident would make them inseperable.

“Nick, I’m going downstairs to get some coffee. Would you like something to drink?” Lori
asked.
“Um, Coke,” Nick replied with a hint of a smile. “Thanks Lori.”

“No problem,” Lori replied. She got off of the couch and spotted Alex walking out of the
room. She ran to catch up with him. “Hey.”

“Oh, so you’re talking to me now?” Alex stared straight ahead and didn’t even look at her
when he said that.

“Alex, look, you know me better than anyone ever will. You need to stop and look at me,”
Lori said. She stopped in the middle of the hallway. AJ stopped and looked at her. “Alex,
you just have to be patient with me. You know a year ago I didn’t ever want to see your face
again and I didn’t care if you lived or died. Now, now I know that if something happened to
you I wouldn’t know what to do. I mean this whole thing with Brian really shows me how
special you are to me and how much I want you in my life.” Lori grabbed both of his hands in
hers.

AJ looked at her. He knew she was being honest, but he couldn’t take it. It was the last
thing that he had wanted. He was perfectly happy with Marissa until Lori showed back up.
Then he had to get jealous about Lori and Nick. He couldn’t ever tell Lori about staging that
kiss so Nick could see it and then break up with Lori because of it. But, he wasn’t supposed
to feel anything after they had kissed at his birthday party. But he did. He still hadn’t came
to terms with it and he wasn’t prepared for it. He caved. He started crying and he couldn’t
say a damn thing. All he could do was fall into her arms.

Lori guided AJ to a couch and held him. Now that she admitted the way she felt, it was like a
huge relief to her. “Alex, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Is this about me or about
Brian?”

“Brian, mostly. But, you too,” AJ’s muffled voice came from her shoulder.

“Look, Alex, why don’t you come downstairs with me and get some fresh air okay? I got to
get Nick a Coke or something, okay?” Lori asked him guiding him from the couch and
towards the elevators. Marcus followed them close behind.


“Jackie, I can’t believe this is happening,” Jennifer said as she handed the older woman a
small cup of coffee. “I mean, I thought Brian had this happen before and it was all fixed.”

“I know Jennifer. I know,” Jackie replied. “I didn’t want my son to go through this again. It’s
so hard on him and the family. We all are really concerned too. The doctors seem confident
though. We all just have to pray for Brian tonight and hope that he has a good night.”

“How long do you think that he will be in Intensive Care?” Jenn asked.

“Well, a couple of days at least. Probably a week,” Jackie said sipping her coffee. “We’ve
been at the hospital since nine this morning. Brian was having a lot of chest pain over the
past couple of weeks and he flew over here to see his doctor yesterday. They said that they
needed to do surgery on him because they detected another murmer.”

“Oh goodness,” Jenn said. “I know he will pull through Jackie.”

“I hope so,” Jackie said. “I haven’t seen you in ages Jennifer. What’s been going on with
you lately?”

“Nothing really,” Jenn replied. “Doing a little investing. I’ve managed to save a lot from
Mom and Dad’s trust fund and then of course I run the business now. Life is okay.” She
smiled pleasantly at Jackie and put down her cup. She looked up and saw Lori and AJ
reenter the room.

“Well, I haven’t heard anything about you ever since you and Kevin called the engagement
off,” Jackie said. “I couldn’t believe that happened right after your parents died. How old
were you guys?”

“I was eighteen and Kevin was twenty when my parents got into that car wreck,” Jenn
replied. She hated talking about it, but she knew that Jackie wanted to get off of the subject
of Brian.

“Well, things are better I see,” Jackie replied patting Jenn on the leg. “How do you know
these gentlemen?”

“Well, I was on the plane with them from Paris in January and Lori and I became friends and
she was on tour with them in Europe I guess. So, I got reacquainted with Kev and Bri and
became friends with the rest of them,” Jenn replied. Jackie smiled and saw the doctor come
through the door. He walked up to her and Jackie reached out and grabbed Jenn’s hand.
The doctor had a grave look on his face and everyone crowded around him to hear what he
had to say.