- Prospection Abroad
July 1993
So SeaWorld hadn’t been their big break. It hadn’t even been a small break. In fact, SeaWorld hadn’t broken anything for that matter. Nick didn’t understand it. Had they been doing something wrong perhaps? If so, he blamed New Guy.
Now, they had gotten the terribly ungrateful task of sauntering from high school to high school to spread their music. Nick thought it was horrible. They didn’t get paid, they didn’t get recognition, they only got booed off of the stage. It went on and on and Kevin had gotten so fed up with it that he decided they should do acapella before even entering the stage. It had been clearly his best idea since joining the group. Kevin was full of good ideas since joining the group, that is, if you didn’t count the fact he called New Guy into the band anyway. Singing acapella proved its work and they didn’t get booed anymore. Still, Nick didn’t like going to the schools. Those kids weren’t waiting for a group of goofballs to go and sing. There was no joy, no excitement, no love lost on the group of five. Not like Nick had dreamt about for so many years anyway. He blamed New Guy.
To keep things rolling, Lou had promised the quintet that he had some very close friends in Sweden, and they were producers. Maybe they could help them get a record deal. Why they needed to go all the way to Sweden to get a deal was beyond Nick, but he did know that Sweden was kind of on the other side of the world, and the only way they could get there, would be by plane.
God, I hate airplanes.
He had tried to tell them that, but everyone was too excited to pay him any mind. Howie claimed he’d been to Europe once, and that it was awesome. He’d never been past London though, and when asked if Sweden would be anything like London, he’d answered, ‘’Do I look like I know?’’
Standing in the middle of the airport now, all on his own, he regretted ever agreeing on Sweden. He was lost, he knew that much, which was quite surprising, seeing as they had been a large group of people. Kevin had been there. Kevin was a tall guy, almost impossible to lose sight of. Nick had managed to do so though. AJ had been there. AJ was a loud guy, almost impossible to drown out. Nick had managed to do so though. Howie had been there. Howie was a clingy guy, almost impossible to get rid of. Nick had managed to do so though. New Guy had been there. New Guy was an annoying guy, easily possible to ignore. Nick had managed to do so obviously. His mother had been there. Jane Carter was even worse than Howie, clutching her son tight to her so he wouldn’t lose her. Nick had managed to do so though. AJs mom had been there. She was even louder than her son, but Nick had ignored her just as easily as he ignored New Guy. He had a talent for ignoring, especially mothers. He didn’t really know why they needed to come with them. Well, he did know why, but considered it a stupid reason. AJ and he were old enough to travel by themselves, thank you very much!
Right now, he wouldn’t mind his mother being there though. He anxiously looked around, searching, waiting for a sign that told him where to go. Orlando Airport was too big, and he was too short to see anything over the heads of the thousands of people that were there. He truly was all on his own. He blamed New Guy.
But it couldn’t really be anyone’s fault, but his own, he knew that very well. He had been feeling nauseous all day, suspecting it had something to do with the prospection of being on a plane, but claiming he’d eaten bad sushi the evening before. He’d been looking pale for a good part of the day and when Kevin asked if he was feeling okay, he told him he needed to go to the toilet. So he did. Maybe it had been a bad idea to go and puke right before boarding time, but he couldn’t help himself. When he came back, shaking and coughing, the place was crowded with people, like the airport had suddenly turned into an anthill, and he couldn’t remember for the life of him where the gate was where they’d been standing at only five minutes before. Or was it ten minutes?
God, this sucked, this sucked so bad. He felt like screaming. Didn’t anyone see him? Didn’t he look like a little kid in distress? He had tried several times to ask the rushing crowd if they knew what gate he should be at, but they either shrugged or didn’t respond at all. And now, as the crowd seemed to evaporate somewhat, he could see that the worse had happened. Gate 34 to 38 were closed. He felt like Little Kevin in the Home Alone movies he’d seen the year before.
He’d missed the plane.
That wouldn’t be so bad if there was someone left to pick him up. But he was the only one who’d missed the damn thing. Or maybe not.
He was about to collapse unto the floor from despair, when he saw the weirdest thing. There, just a few yards away from him, there was another person, looking directly at him, with a very pissed off and worried look on his face.
Nick stared back and wished with all he had that it had been someone else. His mouth dropped open, but he couldn’t form the words that were playing on his lips. Astonished, he watched as the person came closer, grabbed him by the arm and started to pull him towards the seats at the edge of the enormous hall.
“Sit.”
Nick sat.
He watched as New Guy stalked away in a brusque manner and wondered what the hell had just happened.
