The Club Incident
Three days after Howie went and got Bean from the airport, I found myself taking him right back. I didn’t mind at all, mainly because it meant he was leaving. Seems like he had a work related emergency which I found ironic considering how little he actually worked. What kind of work related emergency can someone who does nothing but lives off of other people have?
I know the real reason for this sudden ‘emergency’ and it was called Nick. The next day, after we all played poker, when the kid woke up he barely said anything to me or Bean. He came out of his room, looking like complete hell, walked into the bathroom to get some aspirin and then went back into this room again.
He told me that he was sick and couldn’t make it to the studio and I decided that maybe it was a good idea. I wasn’t going to press him to see what was wrong because, duh…I already knew. The kid wanted to be alone and I was going to let him have that time.
The guys didn’t mind at all, in fact I think they were happy he decided to take a day and relax. Kevin came to the studio late because of Kris anyway, so it was kind of a blow off work day for the four of us. We didn’t even bring up the Paris thing, not even once because I guess we all knew in the back of our minds that the quicker we all pretended the stupid scandal didn’t happen, the quicker it might go away.
Kevin was the only one who mentioned it, just in reference to how our youngest member was doing. I didn’t tell them how bad he looked when he decided against coming in to work and I also neglected to tell them that as I was leaving, I had heard Bean on the phone making plans to have a huge party.
That’s why I was absolutely dreading having to go home. I was almost certain I’d find half naked women hanging from my chandeliers or something, not that there is anything wrong with that. I mean, if it was up to me every home would come equipped with at least three of those. What I wasn’t looking forward to were all the drunken people. The random loser Nick and Bean friends who decided to pee in our sink or throw up in one of our potted plants thinking that was the funniest thing in the world.
Howie noticed my hesitation about going home and pulled me aside just as I was getting into my car. “What’s going on?” He asked me, I guess making sure that the Kentucky cousins didn’t hear him.
“I’m almost certain that Bean is having a party at my house tonight.”
He looked annoyed. I mean seriously pissed off and the only thing I could do was shrug at him. “I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure I heard him making big plans.”
“You have every right to kick those people out of your house J. I mean it IS your house.”
“I know.”
“So Nick skipped out on a session to have a party?”
“No… nothing like that. To be fair, I don’t think he had any idea either.”
“You are more than welcome to hang with me.”
I smiled at him, “Thanks D…but I’m going to go home. If there is a party, I’ll be knocking on your door and hopefully bringing Nick with me.”
Of course on the entire drive over to the house I kept arguing with myself for not just going with Howie straight away, but I’m glad I didn’t because when I got to my place, I found Bean with his bags all packed just sitting on the front steps as if he had been thrown out of the house. “Were you thrown out?” I asked him as I adjusted my sunglasses on the end of my nose. I was hoping the answer was yes.
“Nah…I just got called away on business. Nick was going to drive me to the airport but he hasn’t come back yet.”
“Come back from where?”
“He said he needed to go for a drive.”
“How long ago?”
“About two hours.”
“Huh…well…I can take you if you want.” Why on earth I offered, I have no idea. I mean he could take a cab. It wouldn’t kill the guy. I’d even pay for it. But the words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself. At least I said that and not something worse like ‘let’s have anal sex’
So that brings us to here and now, me helping clueless Rob put his bags onto a carrying thing, so I could get the heck out of there. I hate airports…have I mentioned that before? He took his final bag and then shook my hand, “Thanks a lot man…I owe you for this.”
“No problem…have a safe trip.”
“I will…tell shit face to give me a call when he gets home.”
I laughed, “Okay…I’ll relay the message.”
As I got back into my car and turned on the radio, there it was once more. Someone reporting on Paris Hilton’s bruises and that Nick was most likely the cause. They of course went on to explain how Nicky was prone to violence and that his entire family was messed up. “Nice…very nice.” I switched to another channel only to find yet another report. This thing was turning out to be a freaking nightmare.
I shook my head as I shut the radio off and instead went for my CD player only to find that Nick had snatched the Killers CD from there.
Ugh! If I wasn’t feeling so bad for the little shit right now, I’d kill him.
My wife was having a girls night out tonight, I think what sparked this was my sudden poker night last night. I don’t mind though, Leigh needs to be with her friends and go out and have fun every once in awhile and most importantly it gave me some time to just be with my son. The Littrell men bonding…gotta love that. We went to McDonald’s for dinner.
We had one really close by our house and it was one of those, with a huge playground but not very frequented by people. It was perfect for us so we hung out there for a little while. Bay gets such a kick out of slides. If we had the room, I would have made a huge slide going right into his bed and in place of stairs, one huge slide from top floor to bottom. Oh my God, think of the hours of fun that would be? Being a grown up sucks!
This one was especially appealing to him because it was Grimace’s tongue. I personally found it a little disturbing but then again, I’m not 2, so I guess it’s all good. After about an hour of that, we figured we would make our way along the boardwalk and the beach. I loved living so close to a beach. Sure, I missed Georgia and just about everything to do with our house out there, but nothing quite beat all the beaches we were around out here.
I bought us a thing of cotton candy to share and he promised me he wouldn’t tell his mother about it. Of course I was regretting this decision after about ten minutes when he turned into one big messy pile of goop.
Maybe I could just dunk him in the ocean real quick…that would clean him up in a hurry. Yes, I actually did have that frame of thought, which is why I’m the father and Leighanne is the mother, luckily for my child, that thought was interrupted when I saw Nick sitting on the sand all by himself, playing with a stick. How I could tell it was him was anyone’s guess. From the back it really could have been anyone, there was just a way he was sitting there, in his pink shirt and tattered jeans, poking at the sand with a small stick, that just screamed Nick to me. So I took my extra sticky son and we ventured closer to his Uncle Nick.
Sure enough, once again the B Rok man was right. I had planned a sneak attack but my son’s cooing made Nick turn to face us. He seemed shocked to see me standing there holding my son. “Are you always out here?” I asked him, not really knowing what else to say. “I hope you weren’t playing hooky from work to sit out here all day.”
“Hey B….and hello mini B.” Baylee clapped and laughed at that as if he completely understood everything that was going on.
I plopped down next to him and let my son loose on the sand, he instantly started rolling around. “He likes to roll.” I added, wishing I had brought my camcorder. Lately I bring that thing with me whenever I have Baylee around because I never want to miss a thing.
“I wasn’t out here all day, just left a few hours ago to get out of the house for a little bit.”
“You left Bean in the house all alone?”
He nodded at me, “I guess AJ is there now too.”
The thought of AJ entertaining Bean made me laugh. “Everything okay?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. He seemed lost, like always, but yet a little more than usual. The way he was half looking at the ocean and half watching my son let me know that whatever was bothering him, like I didn’t already know, was something he didn’t feel like talking about.
He shrugged off my question, just like I knew he would, “Yeah…just wanted to come out and listen to the water I guess. What are you guys doing out here?”
“We thought we’d get some cotton candy and hang out…we’re having a guy’s night out!”
“You should take him over to my place and have him play poker with AJ.”
I laughed, “That would be a good way to ensure his college fund.”
I thought that was funny, but he just nodded, once again focusing on the water and the few surfers that were out on the waves. “You know, that’s the one thing I have yet to really learn how to do. You always told me you’d teach me.” I reminded him.
“Surf?”
I nodded at him, “Yeah…”
“I didn’t think you were actually serious about that. I mean you mentioned it in passing like a gabillion years ago.”
“Because the thought of you teaching me how to do it scared me a little bit.”
“And it doesn’t now?”
“Not really, so when will my first lesson be?”
He smiled at me, “Soon…I promise.”
“Good because I’m holding you to that.” Baylee came running over to me and tackled me. I of course fell back as if I was hit by a quarterback.
“Brian you’re son is a mess buddy. It looks like he’s been breaded and ready to be deep fried.”
I grabbed my son and held him up in the air as I laid on my back. “Yes he does, doesn’t he? You look yummy enough to eat!” I said to him as I lowered him down and tickled his belly with my lips.
Baylee started laughing uncontrollably. See? I knew I should have brought my camcorder with me, of course then I’d be caught red-handed letting him eat cotton candy but I was willing to make that sacrifice just so I could get his entire life on film.
I looked over and caught Nick staring at us while we were having a moment my son and I. He had the most genuine smile on his face as if he couldn’t be happier for me if he tried. It was moments like these that I wish I could take him and do the same thing I was doing to my son. I wish there was a way I could shelter Nick from all the bad crap, but unfortunately life was much more complicated than that.
I sat up and once again let my son loose, this time he headed straight for Nick and tackled him the same way he had jumped on me. Nick giggled as he tickled my son under his chin. “Wow you are really sticky Baylee!” He wiped his hands on his own shirt as once again my son headed in my direction.
“It’s the cotton candy.” I said using my own shirt to wipe my son’s hands and face and just like Nick had said, he looked like he was breaded. “Well, I better be going and get this kid in a bath before his mom comes home and yells at me.”
“We wouldn’t want that to happen.” He said winking at me.
“What are your plans? Going out with Bean tonight?” Nick shrugged at me which for some reason I took as a hopeful sign. I didn’t want him hanging out with Rob while he was like this. No good would come from that situation.
“Well, whatever you do, I’m only a phone call away. It’s just Bay and I so don’t feel like you’d be intruding.” I saw his eyes light up just from the offer.
“Thanks Bri.” He stood up and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then did the same to my son.
We said our goodbyes and then headed back home where I was sure it would take me hours to clean my son off.
I looked over at Kris who was sitting at a table, seductively sipping on a drink across the room. It was getting late and for a second I was starting to think that Nick wasn’t going to ever come out of the bathroom. I told Kris that I thought it was a bad idea to invite him out to a club with us, considering all the drama but she insisted that it would do him good to get out and be with the two of us. We’d keep him out of trouble she said and I had to agree. Anything was better than him hanging out with Bean.
Nick seemed hesitant at first but eventually he was eager to come out. He said he was looking forward to spending some time with Kris. He told me about Bean leaving just as we reached our destination and in that moment, I felt bad for dragging him to a club. I bet he would have just stayed home and went to bed. Stupid me.
I saw him emerge from the bathroom a few minutes later. “Were you actually waiting for me to come out?” He screamed over the music.
“No” I lied, “I was just on my way to go get a beer, do you want anything?”
“No thanks.” He said as he walked over towards my wife and took a seat. I was so grateful to Kris and the way she treated the guys. When I told her how important they were to me, even before she knew them, she instantly became a big sister to them as well. Although sometimes the way Nick looks at her, I can imagine what is really going through his brain. Not that I want to imagine that mind you.
I got a beer and made my way over to where they were. When we first got there, we decided tonight was a night for the member’s only lounge. It’s where the famous people got to play, and although most times, that made me nauseous, tonight I was fine with being away from the masses.
There were barely any people there, which was a good thing. That’s why we opted for one of the smaller places and stayed away from a big one. The last thing we wanted was paparazzi and press and worst of all, running into Paris Hilton. Lord knows what I would have done if we had run into her.
I took a seat and smiled at them both. “Everything all good?” I asked to the great amusement of both Nick and my wife. “What?”
“I just told Kris, it was odd that you hadn’t asked me that yet.”
“Oh yeah?” I raised my eyebrow at him.
“I was sure it would have come out of your mouth at least ten times already.”
“I am not as predictable as you think I am Carter.”
“Right.” He said as he nursed the beer he was drinking. I was glad to see he wasn’t touching the hard stuff tonight. I know for a fact if he had been with different company, he probably would have been drinking more potently.
“I bet you were late to the studio today, am I right?”
“Perhaps.”
He smirked at me, “See? You are predictable!”
“Alright, but I least I was there.”
“I know…sorry about that.” I didn’t say that with the intention of making him feel bad.
“It’s okay, I’m glad you took the day off. I hope it helped.”
He nodded and smiled at me, “It did but this helps even more…thanks for inviting me along. I know you guys barely get to spend any alone time together.”
“Not a problem little man.”
Once again my wife and Nick looked at each other and this time they exchanged high fives. “What the hell?”
“I told her by the end of the night, you were going to call me little man.”
“Did you guys make anymore bets I should be aware of?”
“No, that was about it baby.” Kris said reaching over and giving me a kiss.
“You guys ready to leave?” I asked eyeing my watch and noticing it was already past 2 in the morning. Where did the time go?
They both nodded at me as we made our way out the front. At first I thought there was a thunderstorm and I think my wife did too, because she bent towards me and asked me if I had brought an umbrella. I was just about to cuss out the weatherman when I realized it wasn’t lightening we were seeing but camera flashes.
It all happened so fast, that none of us had any time to think. The second we were out the door it started, a frenzy of paparazzi all taking pictures and shouting the most vial things to Nick.
“Nick why did you beat Paris?”
“Does it feel good beating up women?”
“How does it feel to be known as a has been boy bander who also abuses girls?”
The questions were coming out of nowhere and all I could think to do was grab him and try my best to shield him away from what was happening, as if I was his bodyguard. I put my hand up to them but it only made them press further.
“Nick…why did you beat Paris?”
“Leave him alone!” I said getting up in the face of one of the guys who got so close to us he almost hit Nick in the head with his camera.
“Why, doesn’t the woman beater have anything to say for himself?” I saw it in his eyes, that all too familiar look. I knew he was going to lose his self control and all I wanted to do was get him out of there before that happened.
I pulled him tight into me, “Nicky, don’t listen to them…they are trying to get a rise out of you. Just relax and I’ll take care of you, okay?”
“Come on Mr. Carter, don’t you have a statement you’d like to make? Or would you rather beat the next girl who comes walking by?”
“Leave him alone!” I yelled, this time more fiercely.
“I didn’t realize you were his bodyguard. Nice, too bad you weren’t there to help Paris when he beat the shit out of her!”
Nick turned towards the guy with his fist clenched and once more I moved him away, grabbing him by the neck in as tight of a hug as I could. He was starting to shake and I felt completely helpless. Luckily in the middle of all the madness, Kris thought to have someone go get the car. All I wanted to do was get him the hell out of there.
“I want this to go away.” He cried to me, he was so upset I almost started crying right along with him.
“Aw look he can dish it but he can’t take it. Look at that!”
“Don’t listen to him Nick, he wants you to react.” I pat his back just as the car pulled up. Thank God. I opened the door and got him inside. “You people are horrible” I yelled just as I got into the backseat.
They swarmed around the car at that point as if they were a pack of lions all taking pictures as Nick shielded his eyes. He was in full on hysterics and all I could do was place my hand on his shoulder. “Drive away Kris!”
“I can’t, they are blocking the car.”
“Then run their asses over!” I was so mad, I really meant it. What kind of horrible person do you have to be to do that for a living? None of them knew Nick, none of them knew the situation but come morning those pictures will be plastered all over the place.
“I want this to be over.” Nick said again in a shaky voice.
I felt so bad; I should have never made him go out. I continued to squeeze his shoulder as the paparazzi finally let us leave.
I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be this anymore. How did that just happen? Everything was fine, I was actually having fun and then it all changed. Is this what my life is going to be like from now on? Am I always going to be called those horrible names every time someone looks at me? What about my family and my friends? Will they constantly be subjected to this?
I was so embarrassed. It wouldn’t have been nearly as bad if it was just me. But knowing that this happened and all of those terrible things were said in front of both Kevin and Kristin just made me…I don’t know…I can’t do this anymore.
He squeezed my shoulder again. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was hurting me. Maybe I just didn’t have the energy or maybe I felt like I deserved to be hurt physically to match the way I was feeling on the inside.
“Everything will be okay Nicky…you’ll see.” He said as he squeezed. I could see Kris glance over at me from time to time as we drove. We decided to take the long way home just in case we were being followed. The last thing I needed was to have those people know where I lived.
“Maybe he should stay with us tonight baby.” Kristin suggested as we finally turned back onto a main road.
“I think that’s a good idea, Nick, do you want to do that?”
I was still too shaky to find my voice. I had only just stopped hyperventilating, as if I wasn’t already embarrassed enough, “it doesn’t matter.” I finally was able to get out, choppy but still clear enough to understand.
“Yes, you’re staying with us buddy…it’ll be okay. I’m so sorry that happened.”
“It’s not your fault, I’m sorry you have to be associated with me.” I started losing it again. I hated this, God I just want to die. It’s hard enough to break up with someone you thought you’d marry one day but then to have her turn around and do something this cruel. Isn’t it bad enough that I’m heartbroken; does my soul need to be broken too?
“Nick, never say things like that. The only person who should be sorry is Paris…that fucking whory, skanky assed, mother fucking cock sucking stupid ass bitches whore!”
Wow!
“It’ll be okay…” He said after he managed to calm himself down. I think he was madder than I was.
As for me, I was just at my wits end. I know a minute ago I was saying how it was bad they were with me, but if they weren’t I would have most likely just drove off the cliff we passed by.
I can’t do this anymore!
