“Hello? Carter residence.” Nick answered his bedside phone when he heard it ring.
“Hi, Nick, is that you? Yo, Nick, we have a dinner together tomorrow, you think you can come?” he heard AJ’s voice over the phone.
“Who’s coming?” Nick questioned him.
“The other boys, Kevin and Howie, you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll come.”
They talked for five more minutes concerning the directions to the restaurant before hanging up.
He had an uneasy feeling when Brian’s name wasn’t mentioned but he simply told himself that he must’ve forgotten to mention him.
“No big deal, Brian’s coming tomorrow” Nick told himself dismissively.
“Hey Nick!” he was greeted by Howie and AJ as he sat on their booth.
“Where are Kevin and Brian?” Nick asked them subconsciously.
Howie fidgeted at the mention of Brian’s name.
“Uhm,” AJ stuttered, “They’re coming.”
“So are you going to order the lamb steak or baby back ribs?” Howie asked AJ, quickly changing the subject.
“I’ll order the baby back ribs.” AJ answered, “I don’t have an appetite for lamb right now.”
“So are we ready to order now?” a blond haired waitress looked expectantly at them, ready to write down their order in her notepad.
“I’ll have a lamb steak with an extra side order of mashed potatoes.” Howie told the waitress who wrote his order down.
“And I’ll have the baby back ribs with a side order of fries.” AJ said to her.
“What would you want, sir?” the blond waitress asked Nick who was still looking at the menu.
“Uh.... I think I’ll have a Calgary steak with a side order of fries.” Nick told her.
“Excellent.” the waitress replied in her lively tone, “Any drinks for you three?”
“I’ll just have an iced tea.” Howie replied.
“I’ll just have a diet coke.” AJ answered.
“I’ll have a Pepsi.” Nick replied.
“Oh, and by the way, a friend of ours will still be coming.” Howie told her.
“Okay, I’ll just ask what he would want. For now, I’ll get your orders ready.” she told Howie.
Soon, just seconds after the waitress left, Kevin arrived carrying an umbrella with him.
“Hey Kevin, why are you late?’ AJ asked him in a business-like tone.
“You’re usually the earliest amongst us five.” Nick remarked trying to copy AJ’s tone.
Everyone burst into laughter at his futile attempt, including Kevin.
“I just got stuck in traffic. It’s pouring outside.” Kevin explained to them.
“Oh yeah, it’s raining.” Nick mumbled to himself as he looked out the window of their booth to the pouring rain outside.
Nick wondered if Brian would be able to make it to the dinner.
Not able to hide his curiosity any longer, he asked all of them, “Is Brian coming?”
Conversation stopped in the booth almost immediately and the only sound that was heard was the pattering of the rain on the window and the chatter of the other customers.
“No his not coming, why?” Kevin questioned him.
“Nothing.” Nick replied.
“Yeah, he’s not coming. That son-of-a-bitch doesn’t even need to come.” AJ mumbled.
“He did us already a lot of trouble in the Incomplete video shoot.” Howie commented.
“Now, he’s got his asses over his freakin’ solo project.” Nick moved his chair uncomfortably as he listened to AJ’s tone.
Nick actually thought Brian was doing wonderful in his solo project. This remark shocked him incredibly.
“I mean, what’s he trying to do, leave us all to do our own business? Have you guys even noticed that he practically spent most of his time doing his own thing when we were touring together? Howie questioned them.
“Yeah, he’s so occupied with his own thing; he doesn’t even have time for us anymore.” Kevin remarked.
“Remember that time when he didn’t want to come with us to feature the Backstreet Boys in that show? It was so stupid of him; it made a really bad impression of us.” AJ commented.
“May I have your order?” the four of them looked up from their conversation to see the waitress back for Kevin’s order.
“Uhm… I’ll have a New York Specialty Steak with a side order of mashed potatoes.” Kevin replied as he handed her the menu.
“Would you like to have anything to drink?” she asked Kevin politely.
“I’ll just have bottled water, thanks.” he said to her nonchalantly.
AJ snickered mischievously as the waitress walked away to get their order.
“I didn’t know you preferred water than some soda.” AJ remarked.
“I’m trying to lessen my sugar intake.” Kevin told him.
“Geez, you sound just like Brian.”
“Oh, do I?” Kevin questioned him rather unconvincingly.
“Well, yeah, sort of. When he would talk about his Healthy Club, or whatever it is, he would say he wanted to teach children how to have a healthy lifestyle. I guess he has one as well.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be something positive, right?” Nick directed his question to AJ, annoyed by all the negative comments concerning Brian, “I mean, he wants to teach other kids to be healthy and all that. That’s supposed to be good, right?”
“Well yeah…” AJ drifted off as he spun the salt shakers with his right hand, “but he seems to be the angel among us, don’t you think? I know it may sound silly but I think we should kick him out of the …”
“You know what, AJ, I totally agree with you.” Howie interrupted him before he was able to finish what he was saying.
“That was actually what I was thinking about.” Kevin said hesitantly.
He didn’t exactly want to kick his cousin out of the group but he seemed to have no choice with 2 already agreeing.
They all turned to Nick to see what his response was going to be.
“Yeah sure.” Nick couldn’t believe he said that. He winced as he spoke.
“Ok, that’s good.” AJ replied, “We all agree to it so we just need to settle it with Johnny.”
“Why did I say yes?” Nick mentally kicked himself for being so foolish.
In a few months, Nick knew that his best friend would face one of the worst nightmares that could ever happen.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I finally updated Angels And Heroes *sighs in relief*. I've been having a hard time updating with homework...lol... hope you like the chapter. I hope I could update this story or one of the other stories soon enough.
