A night out with…
I was glad our day at the studio was productive because I really was worried they were all going to gang up on me or something. It was a relief to see them all laughing and hugging each other. I have to say I was also a little happy that I had the night free. Paris had something to do with her show so I had the night to myself, not that I wanted to be alone because I really didn’t. I was hoping that AJ and I could do something but I guess Brian invited him over to his place.
Yes that made me jealous, I admit it but I have to get used to the idea that things have changed. I’m happy for AJ that he has Brian in his life. Brian was able to keep me grounded when I most needed him to, maybe now he just saw that AJ was the one that needed the extra help. Brian is my Mary Poppins I guess. Without all the fun talking penguins and stuff.
“What are you laughing about?” I looked over at Howie and shrugged.
“Just thinking about Mary Poppins.”
“Okay…you’re a weirdo Nicky.”
I rolled my eyes at him, “Hey Howie?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have any plans tonight?”
“Not really. I was just going to go home and sleep.”
“You want to do something with me?”
He looked surprised, “What? No Paris tonight?” It made me a little mad that he seemed happy about that but at the same time I was happy about that too so, why was I mad?
“She has a meeting.”
“Oh…” He gave me that look, the one that Kevin liked to give me from time to time. I swear it was contagious. He finally smiled at me, “Sure, let’s do something, but nothing too wild, How about dinner and then a movie at my place or something?”
“We can go to my place, AJ will be with Brian.”
“Okay that works…so what time do you want to meet up?”
“I should shower and all that stuff, I’m sure I stink…how about seven-ish?”
“Yes Nicky you do stink.” I walked over and purposely gave him a huge hug because…well it was my duty, to which he made a face and waved his hand by his nose. “Get off of me!” I made sure to kiss him on the cheek before I let him go. He almost knocked my sunglasses off but I was too quick.
I managed to keep my sunglasses on all day long without one single person telling me to take them off. I was happy that Brian and AJ didn’t give me up, although eventually they’d all find out, at least by the time I walked into the studio tomorrow, the bruise will have faded. Tonight Howie will see it, but knowing D, he won’t say anything. He’s cool like that. Well cool or unaffected, one of those two things.
“It’s just me dude, you guys need to get used to that again.”
“Do we have to?” That was Brian who also did the fanning his hand by his nose thing as he passed me by.
“Yes, you do!”
“I’ll bring my nose plugs tomorrow.”
“You know, the immature, young me would have taken that opportunity to make fun of your overly large nostrils, but nope, not the new Nick. The new and improved Nick will ignore that all together.”
Brian laughed, “Well thank goodness we have the new Nick on board then. Maybe the new Nick can talk to the old Nick about bathing every once in awhile.”
“He tried, but some habits are harder to break than others.”
Brian walked over and gently placed his hand on my cheek, “Yes I can see that.” He said, winking at me. “Have a good night boys, stay out of trouble and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
AJ walked out of the men’s room shortly after that and together they left for Brian’s house. “Do you have your key Bone?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay good…just checking.”
“No worries Kaos, you’re the only bonehead that forgets his key on almost a daily basis.”
I stuck my middle finger up at him but felt a sadness as they both walked away. That used to be me, why am I having such a hard time dealing with that?
“See ya later then Nicky.” Howie said, patting me on the back. He knew I was sad about the Brian/AJ exit. Howie was always able to read me, but I am pretty sure that they all can.
“Yeah see ya later.” I said as I turned to walk out the back entrance only to walk right into Kevin. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I seriously almost knocked the poor guy over.
“Oops….sorry about that.” I reached over and pat both of his shoulders as if straightening his shirt.
“Watch where you’re going buddy. You would be able to see if you took those damn sunglasses off your skull.”
“I like them, they add character.”
“You already have plenty of character. So, how did it happen anyway?”
You have GOT to be kidding me!!
“How did what happen?”
“You know…” He pointed at my eye ever so slightly. Damn it that Kevin!
“Oh…I walked into a wall.”
“Hrmm and did this wall have a name?”
“Kevy, it’s not like I have time to go around naming walls. If you see me start doing that you should commit me into a nut house.”
“I think you are already committable Nickolas.”
“Nickolas? Why so formal?”
“When you call me Kevy, I call you Nickolas, it’s only fair.”
“In your world maybe.”
“Well since you live in my world…” I shook my head at him. There was just no winning when Kevin was concerned.
“Have a good night Kevy.”
“What are your plans?”
“Nothing…just hanging out with Howie D.”
“Oh…”
“You’re welcome to come over too. I mean we aren’t doing much just getting dinner and watching a movie.”
“Yeah, well maybe I will. Thanks for the invite Nick.”
I smiled at him; the poor guy looked lonely and seemed lost without his wife and unlike Brian who only seems to ever invite his best friend over, I was an equal opportunity hanger outer. Yup…still upset about that Brian and AJ thing I guess.
“See ya later then cracker jack.”
“Cracker Jack?”
I nodded at him as if that should have been enough of an explanation. I guess it was because he asked no more questions.
“A night out with Kevin and Howie…should be interesting.” I murmured to myself as I headed for the car, realizing that now that Kevin was coming over, I’d have to clean. He really was my mother. It’ll be weird; I haven’t hung out with them in a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever just hung out with Kevin. Not by choice anyway…
We were greeted at the door by my lovely wife and equally lovely son with a barrage of hugs and kisses from them both. I felt bad for Rok though since all he got was a glare from Leigh and a friendly love squat from Baylee. My guess is he was getting ready to poop.
Yup, she should have married me, but I’ll keep that to myself. “I’m so glad you came to dinner, Happy Birthday AJ.”
“Thanks Leighanne…”
As she opened the door and let us in, I looked over at Brian and smiled, “She’s still mad I guess.” He whispered to me.
“She’ll get over it.” I said to him as I suddenly had the urge to smack his butt.
“Yeah let’s hope so, I’m not spending another night on the couch.”
“Wow that bad huh?”
He nodded and rolled his eyes. I think he was grateful I was here so he wouldn’t get yelled at for whatever it was he did wrong. He never told me, but I’m sure whatever the subject of the fight was, it must have been a doosey.
I couldn’t help but smile when I looked at all the toys strewn about the floor. That’s why I enjoyed hanging out with them so much, when I was here things seemed so normal and that word and I never really got along well.
“Wow you certainly have a lot of coloring books for little Bay huh?”
“Yes, he’s quite the artist…look at his thing.” Brian quickly sat himself down on the floor and picked up a Wiggles coloring book to which he took his blue crayon and started to color. Miraculously the entire page changed colors with the aide of only that one crayon. When he colored a tree it turned brown and green, when he hit the water it turned blue and so forth.
“Wow that is SO cool!”
Brian laughed, “I know, isn’t that the best? I wish these were around when we were kids.”
“Yeah, seriously.”
“You want to try?” Of course I wanted to try, so I plopped down on the floor next to him and started coloring. I’m sure we were quite the sight, especially since Baylee was at the kitchen table helping his mother with dinner.
“The best part? Look at this…” He took the crayon and started drawing on the carpet. “It doesn’t work on anything except the paper! Cool huh?”
“Totally cool!”
“Sometimes I wonder which one of you is the child and which one is the adult.” Leighanne said walking in with Baylee in her arms as he played with her necklace.
“I’m sure it’s questionable.” I was quick to agree.
“Man you better never show Nick these things or we’ll never get them away from him.”
“He doesn’t need these, he can draw. Howie on the other hand.” I laughed, Brian was right; Howie was hopeless when it came to art, poor guy.
“Maybe we’ll get him some of these for his birthday.”
“Are you guys ready to eat?” I looked up at her and smiled.
“You need any help with anything babe?”
“No, we’re all done…Baylee was a huge help weren’t you sweetie?” She placed her fingers under the baby’s neck and he started giggling instantly.
God that kid had me wanting my own. Seriously being around these two just gave me hope that maybe this kind of life was within my reach. I mean Brian and I both came from the same background. We were both famous and thought that we had no hope of finding the perfect girl who wouldn’t be interested in anything besides our money and fame. Knowing that this kind of happiness was attainable for him, gave me hope.
“AJ?” I glanced over at Brian.
“Yeah?”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Because you have a dumbfounded look on your face.”
“Oh…sorry. I was just daydreaming about when Leigh finally realizes she made a mistake and leaves you for me.” That made Leighanne crack up but Brian pretended to be annoyed. I know he wasn’t though, I mean who can stay annoyed at this cute face?
“Why did we invite him again?” Rok asked his wife as we journeyed into the kitchen. I took one more look at his living room with all the toys and coloring books strewn all over the place and smiled. Yes it was within reach and someday I would have all this too. A son of my own, as my wife cooked for me and my friends.
“You coming or not AJ?”
“Yeah, sorry…I’m coming.” I turned and followed the smell of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
I was running a little late and was a tad disturbed when no one answered the phone over at Nick’s place. So help him if he blows me off, he’ll see the Puerto Rican side of me all over again. I even tried his cell a few times but still no answer. I absolutely hated it when I was supposed to meet up with someone and that person at the last minute didn’t answer their phone. It always made me paranoid, like I picture them lying dead in the shower or fallen into a well or in Nick’s case, with his stupid as sin girlfriend. Is it sad that I’d rather him be trapped in a well? At least that way he wouldn’t get into trouble.
I pulled into his driveway and was surprised to see Kevin leaning against his car and looking at his watch. Now I was worried. I quickly got out and ran towards Kev, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing much…I just rang the doorbell but no one answered.”
“Oh…I thought something happened.” He looked surprised by my worry. True I did a good job of usually holding in those kinds of emotions. I worried about the guys a lot, almost as much as Kevin. The only difference between the two of us was I didn’t lecture or yell that often. I did worry though.
“Why would you think that?” Now he looked worried.
“Just I tried calling him several times and he hasn’t answered his phone. When I saw you here I panicked.”
“Oh, he invited me out with the two of you.”
I nodded, that seemed very unlike Nicky but I was happy he did it. However, the fact that we were being blown off wasn’t too smart of young Nickolas where Kevin was concerned.
“He doesn’t happen to have a well in the backyard does he?”
Kevin looked over at me and shook his head as if that was the most normal, everyday question he has ever heard.
“Paris probably came home early and they probably went out.” He sounded disgusted and annoyed.
“His truck is here though.” That’s what made me nervous. If his truck wasn’t here I wouldn’t care, I’d be annoyed that I was blown off but at least Kevin and I could do something. It’s not like I had to break earth shattering plans for him or anything but still, the fact that his car was in the driveway made me uneasy. Visions of the boy lying in a pool of blood on his kitchen floor suddenly hit me.
“Did you try knocking?”
“Yes, several times in fact.”
I walked up to the door and rang the bell, “Nicky! Are you in there?”
“Howie I did that too. He’s not there dude. We have been stood up.”
“Damn… I can’t believe he did it again after apologizing today and everything.”
“Really? You are that surprised? I’m not. Nick gets like a moron when he’s with a girl D. I just hope he didn’t meet up with whoever gave him a black eye.”
“What black eye?”
“Oh come on Howie, don’t tell me you didn’t know he was covering up a black eye today.” Okay I must be the most naïve person on the planet because I had no idea what the heck he was talking about.
“I didn’t even look to be honest.”
Kevin laughed, “You’re kids are going to get away with murder Howie. I can see it now.”
Yeah, I would argue with him, but he was right about that. I’m not really the most observant person on the planet. “Who do you think did that to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Should we be worried?” I asked in all honesty, ready to call the police. I know I’m being irrational but it’s Nick. If anyone could manage to get themselves in trouble in a two hour time span it was him.
“No, let’s try his cell one more time. We could always break in if we need to. In fact…” Kevin walked over to the front door and tried the knob and of course it opened right away. “I can’t believe this kid…Jesus Christ. He left the door unlocked.”
I shook my head but was also relieved that we were going inside. There on the coffee table was his cell phone on vibrate so it couldn’t be heard.
“Nicky!” I screamed into the kind of cluttered place. Okay really cluttered but not as bad as I thought it would be considering that AJ and Nick were sharing this place.
We both looked up at the stairs when we heard footsteps. “Nick?” Kevin said forcefully and grabbing a fire poker as a weapon just in case.
“Yeah?” Instantly we both let out sighs of relief.
“Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone OR your door? Did you forget about us?” Kevin asked, slowly putting down the fire poker. Why Nick had a fire poker and no fire place will always remain a mystery I guess.
“How did you get in here?” He was wet and in his sweats and his hair up all over the place, symbolizing he had just taken a nap.
“You left the door unlocked. A mass murderer could have just walked right in here.”
“Or you.”
“Yes… or me.” Kevin shook his head as Nick walked over to the couch totally unaffected and unaware of the scare he gave his two oldest brothers.
“Have a seat guys, sorry I’m running late. I was cleaning up and then fell asleep.”
“You cleaned? This is what this place looks like after you clean? What did it look like before?” I had to smile. A night out with Kevin and Nick would be even more amusing than I remembered them to be.
“Trust me; it’s a lot better than it was. At least you are sitting on the couch. That’s a huge improvement.” Now that I got a better look at him, I did notice the big bruise on his eye. How on earth did I miss that before?
“Nick, what happened to the eye?”
He gingerly placed his hand on it, “Oh, this? I walked into a wall.”
“It’s sad that I believe that right?” I asked Kevin who nodded at me.
“So, where are you guys taking me for dinner?”
“Taking you?”
“Yes.”
“I wasn’t aware we were taking you out for dinner.”
“Well duh! Of course you are. Now, I’m hungry so where are we going?”
“Well since we are taking you out, I think maybe we should go try out that new Indian place what do you think Howie? You know they have all of those neat dishes.”
I played along and nodded, actually I would be fine with Indian food but I know that was to turn off the blonde. “Um…okay on second thought we can all pay separately and I want Chinese.” And of course it worked.
Kevin looked over at me, “Does that work for you Howie?”
“Fine by me.”
“Okay Chinese it is. Let’s go, I’m starving…and Nick lock your damn door!” He bat Nick on the back of the head just as we walked out. Yes this would be a very fun night.
We were sitting on our front porch swing, the one that my wife insisted we have on our house, even if to us this was just a temporary placement, when suddenly AJ let out a huge and I mean huge burp. I laughed, I couldn’t help it. The boy in me would always laugh when someone burped or farted.
“Nice one Bone.”
“Thanks…your wife really knows how to cook.”
“Actually our cook really knows how to cook. Don’t tell Leighanne I said that though, otherwise I’ll never see my bed again.”
“Now I have a bribe point I guess.”
“Damn.” I started rocking us back and forth under the stars. It would have been very romantic if AJ wasn’t here and Leighanne was but there was nothing romantic about AJ, at least not to me.
“I don’t think your wife likes Nick very much.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know, just gathered from some of the things she said at dinner.”
Leighanne ranted about Nick the entire dinner, about how AJ should throw his ass onto the street for blowing him off and leaving liquor lying around the house etc…I could tell it was making Bone uncomfortable and it was kind of embarrassing me. The thing about Leigh was she was just passionate about things and cared very deeply for the people around her.
“She doesn’t hate Nick; she was just upset with him.”
“He doesn’t leave liquor at the house, that’s one thing I have to give him credit for. As much as he drinks, he never brings any of it in the house.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah”
I was happy to hear that and not surprised either. Even though Nick likes to party, he also knows how hard it is for AJ to remain sober. AJ’s addictions were very hard on him, more so than anyone else I think.
Leighanne came outside carrying Baylee in his pajamas. My son stretched his arms out to me and I took him into my own. “He wanted to come out and say goodnight to his uncle AJ.”
“Night.” Baylee mimicked his mother’s words.
“Good night little Bayster.” AJ said leaning over and kissing my son on top of the head.
“Night Night Jay Jay.” He answered, giving my friend a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It warmed me to see AJ with my son; he was tender and caring towards him. He’ll make a great father someday.
“Are you coming to tuck your son in?” My sweetheart asked me as I stood up with my son in my arms.
I looked over at AJ as he pulled out a cigarette, “Go ahead Rok; it’ll give me some time to smoke.”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.”
I smiled at him and made my way inside with my wife and my child. I was hoping that Leigh wasn’t mad anymore. I kind of got the impression that she still was, especially at dinner when I didn’t agree with her but only sat silently as she went on and on about Nick.
We walked into my son’s Wiggles themed room; yes he loved them a lot, and laid him down on his bed/crib. I sat there and listened at Leigh read him Goodnight Moon. We took turns reading to him, even when they were in Atlanta I would read him a book over the phone. It was a tradition I never intended to break.
As soon as she was done, I sang my son a lullaby and watched as he closed his eyes and went to sleep. My absolute favorite time of the day was happening right here. As soon as we heard the small snores, we both quietly left his room and descended the stairs. I grabbed my wife’s hand for a second and pulled her towards me.
“Are we okay now? Or should I get the blankets out for another night on the couch?”
“I never told you that you had to sleep on the couch in the first place. That was your doing.”
“You didn’t answer my question babe.”
She smiled at me, “We’re good.”
I kissed her lips and gave her a hug, “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now don’t stay out too late, you have an early morning.”
“I know Leigh.” She grabbed my butt and walked into the kitchen and I walked outside to hang out with AJ.
Dinner was good, we laughed a lot about stupid things and I’m not sure how, but I ended up paying for Nick just like I always did. I’m sure it was a force of habit from his younger days when his parents always horded his money. The kid never had two nickels to rub together, so it was me who always paid for him. I’m still expecting his parents to one day send me a check for all of those meals, events etc… that I paid for. I know…wishful thinking.
After dinner, we went back to Nick’s very messy place and put in a DVD that we only half watched as we continued to talk. Howie told us all about his nightclub and hotels, his up and down romance with Leigh and his family. Nick on the other hand, talked about his solo thing, more in retrospect, telling us some of the crap Jive did to him as well as his management.
I talked about Kris and I and living in New York. It was weird but it was almost like an interview of sorts. Things I know we will be asked over and over again when we finally start doing promo but it was nice hearing things for the first time. I’m sure when we get to the promo part we’ll be able to recite what each of us has done in our sleep.
Never once did Nick bring up Paris and never once did either of us ask. I’m not sure if he was disappointed about that or relieved but I know I was happy. One thing I did notice about our youngest member as we all talked and he sat on his floor with his hands behind him holding him up slant wise, was how relaxed and calm he seemed. I have to say I haven’t really seen him that calm and relaxed in a long time. I know we made him feel safe, and that always confused me, but the hiatus made me realize why we were his safety net.
We were his brothers...really.
AJ walked in at around midnight, we had all lost track of the time. “Wow it’s a full fledged party in here.”
“Hey boner!” He laughed and looked down at Nick on the floor.
“Wow…dude, you actually cleaned?”
As soon as that was said, Nick looked over at me, “See? I told you it was messy.”
“WAS messy?” Howie asked taking a sip of his iced tea.
“Whatever dude…move over.” AJ replied, batting at Howie’s legs and pushing him over so he could sit down.
“This is like the old times isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, not sure where he was going with that.
“When we used to like each other enough to hang even when we weren’t being forced to.”
All of us laughed, “Yeah, I guess so. Did you guys have fun?”
“Yeah Nick, we had a blast. Actually Baylee has this awesome coloring book…I stole one.” He went behind his back and pulled out a coloring book and from his jeans pocket a crayon.
“Oh my God, tell me you did not steal a coloring book from a baby AJ.”
“I didn’t steal it Kevin, more like borrowed it. You have to see this!” He immediately started drawing with the one crayon which managed to magically change colors as it went from scene to scene.
“Ahh you have to let me try that!” Nick said of course as he grabbed the crayon out of AJ’s hand and went to work on another picture. That child is so grabby!
“Yes ladies and gentleman, what the Backstreet Boys really do when no one is watching.” Howie said which cracked us all up as we sat and watched the youngest bonehead color with a magical crayon way into the early morning hours.
You guys rock! :O) See ya next Monday!
