“Nick.... Nick? Great! He hung up on me!” Howie sighed as he stared at the
receiver. He immediately speed dialed Kevin’s cell phone number.

Brian and Leighanne were taking advantage of the Georgia sunshine, lounging
by the pool in their backyard, the dogs scampering back and forth, playing.
Rolling up his pantlegs, Brian plunged his feet into the inviting blue water of
the pool. Just as his second foot hit the water, the phone rang.

“Yeah?” Kevin drawled into the phone.

Hoping that he didn’t interrupt anything with Kevin, he decided it would be
best to just plunge into the heart of the situation; not slowly lead up to it.
“Nicky called me a few minutes ago and cancelled his appearance on
Caroline’s Cruise.” Howie listened intently for any background noise or
slight comment that Kevin would utter, scared to death that he broke into
Kevin’s sacred quality time with Kristen. He was rewarded right away with the
sound of Kevin groaning into the receiver.

“Okay, so Nick cancelled, that’s nothing new for him lately,” Kevin replied
with an icy tone in his voice.

“No, Kev, you don’t understand. He called me and he was sort of hiding why
he was cancelling out on me.”

Kevin reached out and stroked his wife’s hair as she nuzzled next to him.
“How do you figure? And why are you calling me? We’re on hiatus, what Nick
does on his own right now is his troubles, not mine!”

Howie was momentarily stunned by Kevin’s uncaring attitude towards his
“little brother.” He recovered quickly enough. “He said there were troubles
in the family and he couldn’t come because of that.”

Kevin switched the phone to his other ear when Kristen started to kiss the
side of his neck. “Yeah, well that can happen.”

“Kev, I’m really worried about Nick. I really think he’s doing drugs, seriously!”

“What do you want me to do about this? I’m on the
other side of the country in a whole different time zone! It’s not like I can
jump in a car and drive over to the Keys in less than an hour.”

Howie nodded as he listened to Kevin reprimand him on the phone. He
mentally cursed Kevin for moving to California in the first place, but there
was nothing no one could do to change that right now. He needed someone to
get to Nick, someone close by. AJ was in the Bahamas with Sarah at the
moment so that ruled him out entirely... He wondered about Brian.

“Can you call Brian? I have to take care of business for the cruise and I can’t
do it right now.”

Loud sighs were heard as a reply.

“Please? For me? I need to fix the cruise since Nick bailed on me,” Howie begged.

“Alright, I’ll get ahold of Brian and see what he thinks, okay?”

“Thanks Kev, I knew you would feel the same as I do, call me later, okay?”

“Yeah, sure thing Howie,” Kevin said crisply into the
phone. After clicking the phone off, he stared at the receiver.

“Something wrong sweetie?” Kristen soothed as she massaged Kevin’s shoulders.
Tossing the phone aside, Kevin layed back onto the
bed. “Yeah, Nick again.”

“Don’t you have to call Brian?”

Kevin nodded but then he reached up and grabbed his wife’s waist. “I do, but
I will later, this is way too more important to pass up. I’ve missed you too
much.”

Brian and Leighanne were taking advantage of the Georgia sunshine, lounging
by the pool in their backyard, the dogs scampering back and forth, playing.
Rolling up his pantlegs, Brian plunged his feet into the inviting blue water of
the pool. Just as his second foot hit the water, the phone rang.

“Let the machine get it!” Brian called out to Leighanne over his shoulder.

”Brian! You know better! It could be something important!”

“Always is,” Brian grinned and shook his head. He directed his attention back
to the calmness of the water, letting his thoughts drift away. As Leighanne
neared the pool, Brian quickly closed his eyes, trying to pretend that he had
fallen asleep to avoid the phone call. Leighanne playfully swatted his
shoulder and then held the phone out to him.

“You’re not a horse silly so I know you can’t be sleeping sitting up! It’s
Kevin,” Leighanne stated as she handed the phone over to him.

“Yavol El Kapetahn!” Brian announced into the phone, grinning.

“It’s Nick,” Kevin said bluntly.

The smile vanished from Brian’s face. He stiffened up.“What’s wrong?”

“Everything, he cancelled out on Howie’s charity cruise.”“Is he sick?”
“Oh who knows! He gave Howie a flimsy excuse that there was problems with
his family.”

“Oh God,” Brian breathed. “He really is slipping into
drugs, isn’t he?”

Kevin sighed. “I wished I knew, I honestly don’t know
what to think.”

“Should one of us call his folks? Maybe they can get
to him,” Brian suggested.

“I hate to do it, but I’m thinking thats about the only option we have left at
this point. You can do the honors,” Kevin replied.

“Why me?” Brian asked as he pulled his feet out of the water.

“Because, cousin, they like you best,” Kevin assured.

“You know, I hate narcing on the poor guy, but I honestly think it’s in his
best interest. I’m so worried about him too. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks, and Bri?”

“Yeah, I know.. I know...”

“Call me.” Kevin and Brian said in unison.

Leighanne could see the distress in her husband’s face while he was on the
phone with Kevin. Brian was always watching out for Nick and had been there
to dig him out of the deep holes he had put himself into through the years
the group had been together. As Brian put his head into his hands, Leighanne
realized that this time Nick was in a deeper hole than he had ever been into,
almost a bottomless pit.

“Honey, is there anything I can do to help?”
Brian shook his head. “I don’t know.. I really don’t know anymore.”

Jane Carter nervously walked up to the front entrance of Nick’s house, keys
in hand. She had gotten a call from Brian less than an hour ago. Nick was
supposed to have been gone already on the Lupus Cruise and she was shocked
to hear that he had called it off and was staying home. Brian had called her
and told her about Nick’s call to Howie and asked her to check up on him
since he wasn’t returning anyone’s calls.

Jane hadn’t seen her son since the day before he left for Japan. She had
only seen Nick from the media and the things that were being said about
alcoholism and drug abuse had her mind reeling. This could not be the son
she had raised. He had been raised with morals and values, not the monster
the press had made him out to be. Yet there were the pictures on the
internet and in the papers. Nick drunk...Nick sick...Nick heavier. This all
pointed to living a wild life. Jane still clung to the hope that this was all a
mistake, that she would open the door to the house and find Nick playing
video games and looking like he always did.

She slowly opened the door. The whole house was dark, curtains drawn shut,
shades pulled tight. Jane shivered when she closed the door. The
temperature was so cold in the house. Walking to the thermostat, she
discovered that he had the gage set at a chilly 64degrees. She dialed it up
to a more liveable 68.

Walking through the house, she couldn’t believe the accumulation of dirty
clothes, trash and empty medicine boxes that littered the floor, tables and
countertops. He had only been home for a couple of weeks and his house
looked like someone had trashed it. Even the dogs seemed to act neglected.
Their food dishes were overfilled with food and water, but they seemed to
be starved for attention.

“Nick?” Jane called out as she neared the bedroom. She quietly knocked on
the door, pushing it open as she did. She gasped at what she found.

“Nick? Please answer me,” Jane called out. Her mind was thinking of a million
things that was happening with Nick and none of them were good.
Nick had the covers drawn up to his neck, a wastebasket was strategically
set next to the bed.

“I’m not feeling good,” Nick moaned.

Jane looked down at her son. “I would imagine so, hangovers are hard to shake.”

“Mom it’s not that---”

“Nick, you’re throwing your life away, can’t you see it?”

Nick rolled over to face his mother. She gasped when she saw the paleness
of his face, the sparkle gone from his blue eyes.“Momma, I’m sick.”

“Nick, it’s in the press, you can’t keep denying this, you’re using drugs and
drinking too much, am I right?”

Nick could only shake his head. ‘God, if she would just listen to me!’ he
shouted mentally.

“This isn’t something from being flu sick, this is
drugs and alcohol depression. Nick you’re killing yourself!”

Suddenly, his stomach announced that it was about to get sick again. Flinging
the covers off in his haste to make it in time to the bathroom, he nearly
knocked his mother over.
He made it to the bathroom and threw up like he had so many times before.
Once he was finished, he slowly made his way back out to the bedroom, his
mother was opening the curtains. “I have a migraine, please don’t---”

“Fresh air and sunshine will help you....” Jane stopped speaking when she
turned to face her son. There Nick stood in plainsight, no tabloids or
television to alter his appearance, his pale face, matted greasy hair, and a
distended looking beer gut. “Oh god,” she murmurred as she clamped a hand
over her mouth and ran out of the room towards the front door.