Forty-five

~ Grand Forks, ND… Concert # 19 ~

"Where the hell are we?" Brian sighed as he walked into our suite and plopped down on the couch.

"Minnesota…" Nick mumbled slightly glancing up from the video game that he was challenging me to.

I laughed, "North Dakota, dork… Minneapolis was yesterday."

"What?" Nick said looking at me. "Nut uh… we’re in Minneapolis."

I laughed again and took the lead in the game, "Nope. We’re in North Dakota… Grand Forks to be exact. Don’t you remember Howie’s corny joke last night about how the forks here must be grand?"

Brian laughed, "Oh yeah I remember that…"

"Damn… I totally missed a city? Where the hell was I?"

I finished the game and put my fists up in the air, "Yes! Finally I beat your ass!" Brian laughed and I giggled. "I dunno where you were, honey, but we’re in North Dakota today and then we’re off tomorrow and on Choir Boy’s birthday we’ll be in Denver followed by the Grammy’s in LA the next day.

"My girlfriend the walking appointment calendar…" AJ laughed as he walked into the room.

"Hey, sexy…" I smiled.

AJ sat down on the couch behind where I was sitting on the floor and kissed the top of my head, "Hey, gorgeous…"

"Hey, vomit…" Nick laughed. "Come on… Sexy and Gorgeous? Could you get a little more nauseating?"

"I bet they could…" Brian giggled.

I looked up at AJ and smiled, "Come here, Snookie-Ookums… I need some lovie wuvvies."

AJ laughed, "Anything you need, Pookie-Wookie…"

I kissed AJ and then grinned at Nick and shrugged, "You just make this harder on yourself you know…"

Nick smiled, "Yeah I know…"

"Dude I’m bored!" Brian whined from the couch and we all laughed.

"What do you wanna do?" I smiled.

"I don’t know, but this is boring. Kevin’s asleep as usual… Howie’s probably doing the same or is off on the phone somewhere, and you guys are playing video games. Come on… can’t we find something less predictable to do?"

I grabbed the phone book from the end table and started flipping through it. I giggled, "We could go to all of the Burger Kings in town and you could pretend you’re your super hero toys out to save the city from boredom."

Nick and AJ laughed while Brian just rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Next option…"

I shrugged and laughed, "I thought it was a good idea…" I looked through the book again and then looked up, "Wonder if their Dairy Queen is seasonal up here or open year round…"

"Probably seasonal…" Nick said.

"You are the only person who can think of ice cream in the dead of winter, Kel…" AJ laughed.

"Uh no I’m not…" I smiled as I flipped through the phone book. "Oooh they have a Ground Round here…" I looked up and the Boys to see confused faces, "Y’all don’t know what a Ground Round is?"

"I bet Howie the Cow Hurdling Man does…" Nick snorted.

I cracked up and snorted myself, "Leave Howie and his cattle alone… So no Ground Round… Hmm…" I kept flipping through the phone book. "Oh I’ve got it…" I grinned.

"What?" Brian asked.

"I’m not tellin’ come on. Get your ass up." I picked up the phone and called Marcus, "Hey it’s me… AJ, Brian, Nick and I are going out… get Billy and Raul? Thanks honey, yup we’re in my room." I turned around and found the three guys standing watching me and I laughed. "You guys are so cute… you look like you’re waiting for your mom to tell you to get in the car."

Brian laughed and grabbed my hand, "I get to sit by Mom in the car…"

Later that afternoon I was in tears laughing as Nick, AJ, Brian and I finally made it to the venue. "Dude you SO didn’t win that last one… face it."

"No!" Nick whined. "That little old lady cheated. She just got sick of me winning so she changed the number! I swear…"

Brian shook his head, "You’re such a poor loser. Blaming that sweet little old lady of cheating?"

"Sweet little old lady my ass…" AJ laughed. "I saw how she was looking at us. I believe you Nick, she cheated."

Kevin and Howie simply watched us and looked at each other waiting for a moment to jump into the conversation. "What the hell are you talking about? Where did you go?"

I chuckled and held up a receipt, "Bingo Palace, baby…"

Kevin laughed, "Bingo?"

"Yup… your cousin over there was being a whine ass wanting to do something ‘different’ so we went and played Bingo. We were doing quite well too until Nick decided that the little old lady next to him was cheating and we had to leave."

Brian and I laughed and Kevin soon joined us, "Nick, a little old lady?"

"She CHEATED!" Nick whined throwing his hands in the air.

"You that hard up for the money, Nicky?" Howie giggled. "How much were you playing for?"

Nick looked at the floor and pouted. I smiled at him, "Go on and tell, Carter… How much did the old bag cheat you out of?"

Nick mumbled his response too low for anyone to hear. "What?" Kevin asked.

I held back giggles as Nick sighed and then looked up at Kevin, "$17.82…"

Brian and I doubled over in laughter and Nick continued to pout. Kevin got up and walked over to Nick while reaching into his pocket, "Its, okay, Nick, I’m not gunna make fun of you."

"Thank you…" Nick smiled and then shot a look at me.

Kevin pulled out his wallet and pulled out a twenty, "Here man… you can keep the extra $2.18, knock yourself out…"

~~~~~

"Kel, have you seen my glasses?" AJ yelled through the suite as he was attempting to pack his things for our trip to Denver.

"Shhh!" I hushed him as I listened to my voice mail messages on my cell phone and wrote information down on a note pad.

"Why are you shushing me?" AJ called out loudly from the other room where he couldn’t see what I was doing.

I groaned as I missed a digit in a phone number and slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it so he couldn’t barge in and interrupt me. After finally getting the phone number after three attempts I ended the call and walked back out into the suite to see AJ standing there looking at me. "I was on the phone… sorry."

"Oh…" he said and turned around to put the tee shirt that was in his hand into his bag that was on the bed.

I sighed and picked up his glasses from the table and walked up to him and handed them to him, "Here, honey…"

"Thanks…"

"Hey…" I said quietly and waited for him to look at me. He did and I looked up at him, "I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just tired and don’t feel good this morning for some reason. You know I love you right?"

AJ cracked a smile which in turn made me smile and he nodded, "Yeah I do…"

"You love me?"

"Sure do…" AJ leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips gently. I smiled again and he pulled me into a hug.

I sighed as I held onto him and closed my eyes. "I hate flying when I’m sick…"

"I know… we all do. But it’s a short flight. And we’ve got all day and night to get you in bed resting before you have anything to do tomorrow afternoon."

I nodded and pulled away from AJ looking around the room. "Where did the pile of stuff I had on the floor go?"

AJ laughed, "I packed it for you so that I wouldn’t trip over it and you wouldn’t jam another finger."

I laughed and shook my head, "You’re learning… Thank you…"

"Anytime, baby… come on, let’s go to Denver so you can rest."

By the time we made it to Denver a few hours later I was miserable. Just the thought of movement let alone the smell of food made me nauseated. I was a whiny miserable mess. AJ threatened to carry me into the hotel when we the van pulled up because he said I looked so bad. But when I started crying because I was frustrated he gave up on arguing with me and instead just wrapped his arm around me and walked me into the building. Five minutes later I was sound asleep in our bed and he was sitting nearby in case I needed anything.

I woke up around midnight and rolled over to watch him watching television sitting next to me. He flipped the channel and I smiled when I heard the familiar sounds of the Cartoon Network. He looked down at me, "Hey…"

"Hi…" I croaked and cleared my throat.

"How are you feeling?"

"If I don’t move I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up…"

AJ reached out and put his hand on my forehead, "You’re not as hot anymore…"

I closed my eyes and nodded, "Yeah I don’t feel as hot…"

"You’ve been sleeping for like twelve hours non stop, I was starting to freak out. I even called Kevin."

I opened my eyes, "You called Kevin?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh, honey…" I smiled. Kevin had flown to Los Angeles after the Grand Forks concert to spend his off day with Kristen instead of flying to Denver with us. He was planning on flying in to Denver the morning of the concert.

"I didn’t know if you should sleep that much with a fever…"

"I’m okay, honey…"

"Well we didn’t know, so we called Kevin. Kevin said you were probably fine, but we..."

"We?" I interrupted.

AJ smiled and motioned toward the floor on my side of the bed. I rolled over carefully and looked over the edge. Brian, Nick and Howie were all camped out on the floor sleeping on hotel blankets and pillows. I smiled and put my head down on the bed watching the guys sleep. AJ leaned over me to look at them and bent down to kiss my cheek, "We kind of freak out when it’s you that gets sick cause you’re usually the one to take care of us when we’re sick…"

I chuckled and pushed myself up off of the bed and sat up against the headboard. "Honey, I’m fine… but I’m flattered that you guys were so concerned about….oh shit…"

"What?"

I pushed AJ out of the way and ran to the bathroom just in time to throw up into the toilet. My body trembled and tears streamed down my cheeks as I flushed the toilet and fell back against the wall sitting on the floor. I closed my eyes and sighed, "God…"

AJ brushed the tears from my cheeks and I opened my eyes to look at him. He looked really worried, "You’re not okay…"

I forced a smile, "Just the flu, honey… I’m…" As if on cue I threw up again and rested my head on the toilet seat afterward taking a deep breath. "I’m fine…" I whispered.

"Bullshit, I’m calling my mom…" AJ sighed and grabbed his cell phone from the pocket in his pajamas and began dialing. I didn’t have the strength to fight him and instead lay down on the floor of the bathroom pressing my face to the coolness of the tiled floor. AJ’s fingers carefully ran through my hair as he mumbled to the phone urging his mom to pick up the phone.

Meanwhile Nick peeked into the bathroom, "You guys okay?"

"She’s throwing up now…" AJ said over his shoulder. "Mom? Hey I need your help… Yeah I’m fine but Kel’s sick and none of us know what to do with her. Kevin said she’s probably okay but she just doesn’t look good mom and I don’t… what? Okay…" AJ held the phone out to me, "She wants to talk to you…"

I weakly reached out for the phone and put it to my ear, "Hi, Mama…"

"Sweetie what’s wrong? AJ’s freaking out…"

"I know… I think it’s the flu."

"Have you eaten anything today?"

"Not since the airport this morning."

"Well you need to eat. Are you vomiting?"

"Twice…"

"Drinking fluids?"

"Not yet. I’ve been sleeping all day."

"Fever?"

"AJ says it’s better…"

"Okay, honey… I want you to get back into bed, get some fluids in you. And have the boys get you some crackers or bread and when you feel like you can keep them down, eat a little at a time okay? And if you aren’t feeling better by tomorrow afternoon, go see a doctor…"

"Okay…" I said quietly and then felt it happening again. "Fuck…" I sat up and threw up again dropping the phone to the floor.

Nick picked up the phone while AJ was rubbing my back for me because I could hear him taking directions from Denise. I leaned against AJ for several minutes in silence and he ran his hand over my back slowly. Nick finished talking to Denise and then hung up and relayed her directions to AJ.

I must have fallen asleep shortly after that because the next thing I knew it was morning and I woke alone in bed with the faint sounds of Scooby Doo coming from the other room and the smell of breakfast heading from the same direction. I stayed still for a moment wondering if I was going to get sick again and when I didn’t feel woozy I sat up. I looked on the floor and sure enough, Howie was still asleep, but Brian and Nick were gone. I got up and slowly made my way into the other room. "I need water…" I said quietly as I sat down between AJ and Nick on the couch. They both practically sprung off of the couch running into one another to get me water and I couldn’t help but chuckle at them. They came back to the couch, each of them holding a bottle of water and I took one. "Thank you…"

"You hungry? Mom said you could eat crackers…" AJ said quietly.

I shook my head, "Not yet, honey… I’m just thirsty." I yawned and looked at Nick, "How many times did he call Mom?"

"Just three…" he smiled.

I smiled and leaned my head on AJ’s shoulder. "I really do feel better this time…"

"You better, cause I can’t take having you sick like this…"

"Did you two sleep at all?"

"Not really…"

"Oh great… so when you guys suck tonight cause you’re so tired the fans can blame me right?" I laughed.

"We’ll be fine…" Nick laughed. "We just want you to be okay."

Brian walked into the room from the hall carrying coffee, "Ooh she lives!"

I smiled, "Hi, honey… Happy Birthday"

He smiled, "Thank you… Feeling better?"

I nodded, "Yeah…"

Brian handed a coffee to Nick and AJ then sat on the floor sipping his own cup, "I assume you don’t want coffee right?"

I nodded again and smiled, "Right…"

"So I have to ask…" Brian smiled. I raised an eyebrow waiting for him to ask his question and he laughed. "You pregnant?"

AJ began to choke on his juice and sat up coughing. I turned to him and rubbed his back as he caught his breath, "You okay?" He nodded and mumbled a yes and I looked at Brian with a glare, "No I’m not pregnant. Geesh scare the hell out of AJ why don’t you?"

"Hey I’m just asking… you were all pukey and emotional yesterday and stuff… with the way you two are always at it, I had to wonder…"

"That’s true…" Nick said. "I admit I thought the same thing when you burst into tears yesterday over AJ saying he wanted to carry you into the hotel. You never cry that easily."

I looked at AJ and he was looking a little pale. I put my hand on his, "I’m not pregnant… trust me."

He nodded, "Okay…"

"Brian… see what you did?"

Brian chuckled, "Looks like he’s going to start hurling now instead of you…"

I looked at Nick, "Smack him for me why don’t you?" Nick reached out and smacked Brian in the head and laughed. "Thank you…"

"Anytime…" Nick smiled as Brian rubbed his head.

"I’m not pregnant…" I said again to clarify it not only to the guys but also to myself. "I know I’m not."