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The Prankster

Nick

I’m back after a quick stop in the bathroom, a snack and a phone call to Aaron. He’s on tour right now and being the big brother that I am I just had to make sure that he’s doing all right. That is keeping himself out of trouble after all he is the one that’s following his brother’s footsteps, at least when it comes to women, Speaking about trouble the next picture that catches my mind is one of me and Kevin sitting on a sofa. We’re miles part from each other and maybe it’s symbolic since at times it felt like we weren’t living in the same century or even worse coming from different planets.

At that time I was the prankster, still am but not that often since as AJ put it “Nick’s gotten older.” But they still got to watch out for salt in their cereal. Or like my tattoo says “Old habits die hard”.

***************************************Flashback*********************************************************

“Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccccckkkkk”

Kevin is yelling so loud that I’m sure that my eardrums will rupture. Brian, who is playing a TV game with me called “Kid Nicky” gives me a look like “What did you do this time?”

As always I act innocent. “Me? I haven’t done anything.” OK that isn’t the entire truth since I just happened to change the salt and sugar and now Kevin was eating salty cereal with milk. Yuck I knew that the dude should learn that sugar isn’t healthy for you.

“Yes you. “ Brian sighs. “Did you put toothpaste in his hair or mustard in his shoes?” I have this thing for playing with food I know but that’s only because there are so many things you can do with an edible item then just eat it. And the best part of all it causes a reaction.

“I did nothing. Why do you always accuse me of everything?” Throw in a little guilt there and the acting is super. In any case Brian can never figure out what I did this time. Or then maybe he can.

“Did you put salt in the sugar tray?” He asks suddenly and I about drop my jaw. “How did you know that?” I think out loud.

“Nick..I can read you like a book besides I’m the one that taught you that prank. “

Oh yeah that’s right. Brian is my master and even though we have known each other less than a year we still talk the same language. The language of pranks.

He looks at me again. “You need to find some new stuff since the thing’s you do to us are starting to get old.” Since he is very engrossed in the game he explains no further.

“Like what?”

He has no chance to answer since Kevin comes bursting into the room. “Nick you little shit I’m going to get you for this,” he yells loudly and I take notice that he is very angry. For a second I realise that he’s serious and I re-think my options. Should I be the one that defends me or should I be the one that starts the fight? Or maybe I should back off or even better take cover behind Brian so the fist goes on my best friend instead of me. Hrm..Those options are all pretty good and depending on what I choose it has different outcomes.

“I didn’t do anything.” Once again I act innocent even though the situation is kind of funny and I’m having a hard time hiding the giggle that’s about to erupt.

“Yes you did!” Kevin yells as he bails his fist at me. “This stuff is starting to get really old and I’m sick and tired of you always acting like a kid.”

“That’s because he is a kid,” Brian mutters from where he is sitting on the floor. I glare at my friend. Thanks a lot for that one. I’m not a kid. I’m fourteen! Un tipping Howie is the one that comes into the room, saving my butt since Bri is too busy winning the game.

“Are you two fighting again?” Howie sighs.

“I’m not the one that’s fighting,” Kevin says in an attempt to cool down his temper.

“Yes you are.” I defend myself. “Howie he just came in bursting and yelling at me that he is going to kick my ass.”

“Is that so?” Howie looks tired, so much more tired than his twenty years. Turning to Kevin he asks, “What happened?” It’s clear that he is doing his best to get a grip on the situation.

“That little prick,” he points at me, “put salt in my cereal.” When I see that he’s so angry that his nostrils are flaring up I realise that maybe this time I’ve overdone it which is weird since I’ve done much worse stuff in the past.

Being the obnoxious little shit that I’m accused of I reply in a calm, but annoying tone, “Kevin didn’t your mom tell you that it’s rude pointing at people?”

At that moment he glares back at me and I have to bite my lip from not sticking out my tongue at him. God can’t the guy lighten up for once?

Howie must have sensed how irritated Kevin was and he puts a hand on his arm. “Calm down buddy. Nicky’s just a kid and he didn’t mean anything bad with what he did.”

“Maybe not but that little shit needs to learn when something is enough.”

‘Now he’s sounding like my mother too,’ I think. Ok that if you leave out the “little shit” part. With satisfaction I take notice that Howie is sticking up for me like a Good ol’ chap. Kevin however isn’t that impressed.

“God Nick if you could only be serious for once,” Kevin nags and at that moment I don’t know what’s crossing my mind since I do it. The inevitable; I stick my tongue out at him. Obviously the target becomes really offended since he spits out to each and every one that wants to listen. “That’s it! I’m sick and tired of his jokes and pranks and when I signed up for this group it sure as hell wasn’t to be his babysitter! ” With that he storms out of the room.

Those words made me feel cross and hurt. The good mood I was in before is gone and in my mind I keep wondering why he would blurt out about that babysitting thing. Am I really such a pain in the ass?

Brian just looks up. “Smart move Kaos.” It’s said in a sarcastic way and I feel even more hurt that he doesn’t take my side. After all it was nothing but an innocent prank that happened at the wrong time. He turns back to the game since he is winning with horse lengths. Howie isn’t too impressed by my acting either.

“Was that really necessary Nicky?” I swear that if I could count all the times he told me those words and got a buck for each time I would be a rich boy by now.

Even though I knew I had stepped over the limit I acted out my own moody and stubborn self. “I didn’t do anything,” I started as I told him how unfair I thought that this accusation was. After all I was only doing my best to lighten up an otherwise so boring situation.

Howie listened. He always listened and then he said, “Well I think you should at least tell Kev that you’re sorry.”

“What?” I look at him like he’s coming from another planet or has grown a second head. “I’m doing no such thing. I’m not the one that started.” Ok technically I was but I was not the one that would get furious for such a small thing. Kevin was clearly overreacting. “And I’m not sorry either.”

“But Nicky it won’t be any better if you don’t talk things over.” Always being the reasonable one.

I’m preparing myself for another battle. Getting really tired of these when Brian mumbles, “D. Leave him alone. His just hitting puberty and you know how the hormones can flare up.”

I glare at Brian. I love him but sometimes he can say so many stupid things. Does he think I have PMS or something? I hope I didn’t say that out loud. Opps I apparently did since both Brian and Howie are laughing at me.

“Pms? Kaos, you can be such a blast sometimes!” Brian laughs as he ruffles my head with his hand. Irritated that he’s messing up my hairstyle I shield away.

“Don’t.”

But B keeps on ruffling my hair with one hand while he works on the controller with the next. It’s like the fall out I had with Kevin is suddenly forgotten and Howie has left the room again. Probably getting something to eat since it’s starting to get close to dinner time. “See I’m kicking your butt.” Brian suddenly yells out of the blue. His dude is winning over mine.

“Oh No you’re not.” I grab the controller and am ready to win over my friend. However Brian beats me to it and I can only watch how I get my ass kicked and soon he is doing the victory sign.

“Feels great to be the winner.” He teases me, a smile toying in the corner of his lips.

Today is really not my day even if we have the day off today and I’m getting to spend it with the guys since mom and dad are out of the city. The gig that we were supposed to be working it has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales and that leaves me with free time; that’s rare these days. You see ever since we went to New York thing’s have been pretty hectic. We’ve got ourselves new managers. They are called Johnny and Donna Wright and we’re about to start a small tour in the middle of next week. The audience is going to be high and middle school kids. And we will be travelling all over the states. I’m so excited since we’ll be going by bus and I get to be with my friends again. This time 24/7.

Lou has also talked about recording a song with us but so far it’s just plans and still the sight of money remains invisible.

We’re still rehearsing on a daily basis and it’s kind of hard since I have to muster both being a performer and a school boy. My grades have dropped a bit since I need time off all the time. Not that it matters that much to me since school has never been that high on my list and I know that if I want to succeed there are sacrifices that need to be done. And my grades are one of those.

“Hey dude are you spacing out again?” Brian waves with his hand across my face and I jerk.

“Uhu..sorry.” It was like the thought that what would happen next in my life always crossed my mind and even though Lou and also the Wrights kept saying that we were really on our way it didn’t feel like that at all. There was so much hard work with trying to keep up with my normal life, like school and such, and also be a performer.

“Something on your mind?” My friend asked when I made no move of listening to what he was saying. He looked concerned.

“Um… not really…I was just thinking.”

“About what?” He’s never the one to let a subject drop even if Kevin is worse. Here you can tell that they are cousins.

“About all this.” I reached out with my hand in a move like I was including the whole world in my thoughts. “You think that this dream will ever end and we will wake up and find out that it’s a nightmare?”

Brian looked at me strangely. “You’re pretty weird at times. Do you know that Kaos?”

If I know? Tell me about it. I know that I can be pretty deep even if people mostly think that I’m just a shallow cute kid that was acting like a whimsy blonde. “Yeah but do you think that will ever happen?”

“That we’re living a dream or a nightmare?”

“Yes.” I know that I can change moods and thoughts very fast and this always confused my friends. Actually all but Alexander had a hard time following me.

“No idea.” He shook his head. “You shouldn’t worry so much Nick. If thing’s are supposed to happen they will happen regardless what you think or do.” Sometimes I wish I had Brian’s faith in things. His belief in God had strengthened him a great deal and he often talks about how he thanks God for giving him the opportunity to perform and to touch other people’s hearts. That I admire him for.

I was silent for a while. Just watching the commercials on TV and even though I knew I could be a pain in the ass I still felt a hint of remorse over the way I had acted with Kevin. Maybe it was time for an apology since Kev wasn’t as bad as I often painted him out to be.

“Where are you going?” Brian asked when I stood up.

“I just gotta do something, I’ll be right back.” There was no way I was going to say what my real mission was even though I think that my friend would have felt proud of me.

“Ok, don’t be too long since Alex asked me if we should rent a movie.” He paused. “And I said yes.”

Swell. I glared at him. Here I was going to sleep over the night and they had already planned to watch a movie without asking me. Such nice pals I had.

“Nicky we’re not forgetting about you,” Brian reassured me with a smile. “I was about to ask if you wanted to come with us to the video store and then we’re getting food over at Mickey D’s.”

What a relief. I was still in their plans. For a moment there I thought they had forgotten about me staying over night. Doing my best to hide my enthusiasm, even though it was hard since renting a movie always gets me excited, I said casually. “What are you planning to watch?”

“No idea.” Brian shrugged but I could see that he watched me from the corner of his eye. He had that same look like when he was up to something. Either good or bad. “Alex talked about Alien 2 or something. Does that sound good enough to you?” He waited for my reaction.

Alien 2! He’s got to be kidding me. I’ve always wanted to watch that movie but my mom hasn’t let me since she thinks I’m too young and on top of it I get nightmares too. I felt my face break out in a large grin. “Really? That’s so awesome!” Now I found myself talking fast about how great that movie was supposed to be and how Brent had seen it and nearly puked from all the grossness that happened in there. To say that I was being back to my happy self would be an understatement.

Brian laughed. “Yeah it’s supposed to be good and Alex told me that you’ve always wanted to watch that movie so we thought we would rent it tonight.” He looked curiously at me, “That’s if you can cope with it...”

If I can cope with it? He must be kidding. But then maybe not since those nightmares can be really disturbing at times and I’m also scared of the dark. I know I’m a real baby but I can’t help it. There are grown ups that are scared of darkness too. “Yes!”

“Great.” Brian grins again. “I knew you would like it.”

“Mmm..But first I gotta do something.” I moved towards the door.

“So you said.” Brian grinned before waving me off. “Don’t take too long in the bathroom.”

“I’m not going to the ba…” I started when I stopped. It would be a great cover up for what I was supposed to do. That way he wouldn’t have to know that I had went over to talk to Kevin like it was a bad thing to do, which it was not, but still..Ok it’s kind of complicated to explain so I refrain from doing that. “’k be right back.”

“’k”

I ran off to have my conversation with Kev. He was in his room and the music from Marvin Gaye could be heard so at least I knew that he was in. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too upset with me either. I felt on the handle. Locked. I knocked on the door. Silence. Knocked again and this time a grunt could be heard, “Who is it?” By the tone of his voice he wasn’t up to par to seeing anyone and me the least.

I debated whether or not I should say my name but then I remembered that he would know who it was anyway when I opened the door. Another blonde moment in my life.

“It’s Nick.” My voice was soft, regretful.

“Go away I don’t want to talk to you.” Hostile tone.

“Please let me in.” I pleaded.

“I said go away. I want to be alone.” His voice sounded broken and I felt even guiltier then before. Wow not in my wildest fantasy I could imagine that the little prank I did would affect him so much.

I knocked again. This time harder.

”What word didn’t you hear?” Kevin growled back at me and I was feeling more and more confused over the situation. What was the matter with my friend? Did I hurt him so much or was it something else that was bothering him?

“Please...Please Kevin let me in.” I was starting to feel panic and was close to my tears too.

”Get the hell out of here or I will call your mom to pick you up!” Those words really hurt and I sank down on the floor. So this was how bad he thought of me? That he just wanted me out of his face. I felt so miserable that the tears started to fall and I have no idea how long I sat there when the door opened and Kevin stuck out his head. “Nick?” He sounded like his old self again... “I thought you had left.”

I looked up with a tear stained face. “What?”

“You’ve been crying?” He hunched down beside me. This time worry was written all over his forehead.

“No.” I shielded away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears pricking in my eyes.

“Yes you have.” His tone was soft. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Ok we were back to play cat and mouse again.

“It’s never anything when you cry Nicky.” He looked down at me and for once I thought I spotted something that could resemble caring in his eyes. Kevin always acted like the tough cookie and from the day that we met each other we’ve been at each other’s throats.

“I’m just tired.” I wiped my face with the back of my hand.

“Ok.” He didn’t press on; instead he reached out his hand to help me to stand. I took it and stood on swaying legs. “You're going to be all right?”

It was so weird. Here I was the one that had acted badly at Kevin and here he was the one that was taking care of me. Talk about reversed roles.

“Mmm.” I nodded.

“Good.” A brief smile. “You hungry?”

“No.” I shook my head.

“Ok.” Silence again and this time I felt like it was my turn to take up the talking. “I’m sorry,” I said with the most pitiful tone I could muster. Expecting him to lash out at me again I was surprised when no such thing happened. Instead he let out a sigh.

“It’s ok.”

I looked up. “It is?”

“Yes and I’m sorry for calling you those names too. I didn’t mean it they just slipped.”

“’k.”

“And Nick I’m not mad at you.”

I nodded, still not believing him, yet I didn’t care either about correcting him. For now Kevin wasn’t pissed at me and that was all that mattered.

*****************************************Nick********************************************************

Strangely I remember that episode in detail. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first time me and Kevin became closer to each other. I don’t know but anyway, our friendship changed. We both thought about not annoying each other all the time, even though it was hard since we were so different in personality. I was the energised one and Kevin the serious one. I was the one that didn’t care so much and looked pretty light at things while Kevin wanted perfection and that everything should be done by the book. I was the one where my mouth slipped and Kevin was the one that always thought it over what he was going to say, choosing the words carefully. But one thing we have in common and that is the emotions. We’re both rather emotional and can be very sensitive at times. In some ways I think you can say that we’re more alike then we are different…

Oh and for the record; I didn’t get to watch Alien 2 on video that time. Kevin thought it would be too scary for me and I would get a nightmare so instead we ended up watching a funny movie which was just as good since thing’s had been rather emotional before and we needed a good laugh. Without me being the prankster.