Walking over to the window, Brian leaned his head against the frame, staring down at the large crowd that stood on the front lawn. It had almost a month since Nick’s “funeral” and the fans were still out in force showing support. He had a hard time trying to convince himself that Nick wasn’t gone, just away on a small vacation until the coast was clear. This was the longest Brian had ever been away without some sort of contact from Nick since they met back in late 1992. That was years ago but it seemed like only yesterday.
“Hey you ready to leave this hole?” AJ exclaimed as he burst through the door.
Brian smiled slightly. “Since you put it so delicately, I guess now’s a good time.”
“Good. Dumbass and Howie will be up in a minute and we’re taking the service entrance out,” AJ laid out the plans.
“Did you remember to tell the nurses that all this goes to other rooms?” Brian asked as he looked at the large assortment of flowers, balloons and plants. “All but this, I have to take this with me.”
AJ watched Brian walk over to a balloon assortment, some of the balloons were already hanging low towards the floor, the helium depleted.
“What’s so special about that one?” AJ asked casually.
“It was from Nick,” Brian replied quietly.
The silence that followed the statement was uncomfortable. AJ still didn’t know that Nick was still alive and only two floors away. He shifted his weight back and forth and made nonesense whistling noises to ease the obvious tension in the room.
“Brian, you ready to walk out?” Kevin cheerfully asked as he and Howie entered the room.
“Yes.” Brian coughed to clear his throat up, silently praying that he wouldn’t break down and lose it on his way out the door.
“Well, we get to walk out instead of the wheelchair business since we’re gonna duck out and avoid the press,” Kevin advised.
“Good idea,” Brian replied.
“Jack, the car is in the circle drive so I guess I’m ready if you are,” Lizz said cheerfully, trying to practice using the alias.
“Okay, ready in a second,” I called out from the bathroom.
When I entered the room, Lizz’s jaw dropped. When she left me the other night my hair was getting back to it’s normal color, which I hadn’t seen in years, with dark roots that were growing out. My hair had grown past my ears and I usually wound up swearing at the length everytime I had to tuck some of it behind my ears whenever I looked down.
Standing before her now was a man that had short light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and unshaven face and a neatly trimmed brown moustache. This wasn’t Nick Carter at all, I was practically reborn.
“Omigod,” Lizz gasped.
“Do you think this will work?” I questioned. My voice was still hoarse, but it was getting stronger everyday. It actually added to the new identity.
“I can’t believe it’s you!” Lizz stated as she walked around me. “You don’t look anything like you!”
“I guess the challenge will be when I go out in public,” I remarked with a grin.
An elderly woman knocked on the open door, pushing a wheelchair. “Transportation,” she creeked.
Stifling back a laugh, I obediently sat down in the wheelchair.
“All set,” I said, folding my hands into my lap.
Lizz couldn’t help but snicker as she looked at the new Nick setting in the wheelchair his knees looked like they could reach his ears because of the length of his legs while he sat in the chair. The quick dirty look that I shot at her caused her to stiffen up and force the smile from her mouth.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I stated calmly. It probably sounded calm, but the butterflies in my stomach were a million times more than what I ever felt at the beginning of a show.
The woman guided the chair down the hall to a staff elevator. It jerked to a stop on the floor above that Brian was on. I briefly thought about wishing to tell the old woman to stop on the next floor and take me down the hall to his room as a few hospital employees got on the elevator with us.
As the elevator stopped on Brian’s floor, the old woman quietly commented on how busy the elevator was this morning. To my suprise the door opened up and there stood Brian, Howie, Kevin and AJ waiting to get on. I looked up at them wanted to say something but was stopped in doing so when I felt Lizz’s hand clamp down on my shoulder. This would definately be the test to see if our disguises worked.
All but one hospital employee exited the elevator and Brian and the guys got on. Kevin pushed a button and the door closed. None of us spoke a word. Suddenly AJ whispered something to Kevin. I strained to hear but it wasn’t clear and I couldn’t even take a guess.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to say something, anything to see if I could pass inspection.
“Hey, are you guys Backstreet Boys?”
God, my voice sounded horrible, almost like I was a 23 hour a day smoker or something.
“Yeah,” AJ replied bluntly.
“My little sister likes you guys,” I stated with a grin.
“Thanks.” Brian replied quietly.
The elevator stopped and the guys filed off. Only Howie glanced back at Lizz and I and gave us a quick “thumbs up” and told us to take care.
When the door closed I started to laugh a little. Lizz lightly smacked me on the shoulder but didn’t say anything since there was still a hospital employee in the elevator with us.
It was really weird. For the first time in years I was able to leave through a front entrance without all the paparazzi and press directing questions at me. They were out there, but they ignored us as I was guided up to the rental car.
