[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
<h1 align="center">Chapter Thirty-One</h1>

<br><br>
The crowd was roaring so loudly, that Jessica’s
ears popped. She instinctively put her hands to her ears to
try and protect her hearing. She couldn’t believe the
volume that was coming all the way to the back stage.<br><br> The
house lights went down and the strobe lights were cued up.
The crowd again went wild. Jess even felt a little excited
herself. It was hard not to get caught up in the moment.<br><br>

The Star Wars was
starting. Jess watched the back of the autditorium. The
guys appeared from nowhere on boards and were literally
soaring above the crowd. Girls were screaming and jumping
up and down with excitement. Some of the girls were crying.
Jess smiled to herself. She knew these guys so well that it
was funny seeing girls crying when they saw them.<br><br>

They landed on the stage with perfection. Nick
glanced over in the direction where Jess was standing
offstage and he smiled and winked at her. Jess gave him a
“thumbs up” sign and smiled back.<br><br>
It had taken Nick several months to get to where
he was finally at now. This was the comeback concert and
was Nick’s first concert since the car accident. This was a
special concert for him. He had been working faithfully
with his speech therapist for several months. He still was
having some weakness and difficulty with his speech when he
got tired, but Nick insisted that they go ahead with the
concert. They cut the time down from one and a half hours
to one hour. The guys told Nick if he was getting too tired
to devise some type of signal that would let them know.
They also were going to carry Nick if his voice was failing
him. Nick would just mouth the words while they sang.<br><br>

The first song went on smoothly. When it was
finished, the guys introduced themselves to the crowd. Some
fans listened quietly while others were still screaming.
Nick was the last one to introduce himself.<br><br>

“Hi, I’m Nick Carter,” Nick started quietly,
screams went up. At this point, Nick would usually raise
his voice to be heard, but he knew that was something that
he couldn’t do. <br><br>

Howie, Kevin, Brian and AJ made motions to get the
crowd to quiet down. It worked, the crowd was almost too
quiet and it made Nick nervous.<br><br>

“Um, I want to say I have been looking forward to
coming back to Orlando,” Nick spoke softly and nervously. <br><br>
A group of girls screamed out, “We love you Nick.” <br><br> Nick
laughed into the headset, “I love you too. I want to thank
someone very special to me for helping me through this,”
Nick looked off to the stage where Jess was standing. He
motioned for her to come out onto the stage. Jess looked at
him in horror and shook her head no. “Comeon, I want you to
come out here,” Nick was persistant. <br><br> Brian walked over
towards Jess, there was no way to escape. Brian grabbed her
arm and put his arm around her waist. The crowd started
screaming again. “This is Jessica. She has been by my side
through this whole thing.” Nick turned towards her. “I
love you, Jess.” He gave her a very long and passionate
kiss which made the crowd go crazy. Jess stood there
blushing with her mouth dropped open. Her knees felt like
rubber. Nick smiled and then laughed. “Hey, Brian, I’ll be
right back.” Nick put his arm around Jess and walked her
back offstage. He grabbed her around the waist and gave her
another kiss. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”<br><br>

Jess nodded, she couldn’t say a word to him. She
stood back and watched the show. It had taken Nick a long
time to get where he was with his voice. There were many
months of practice of trying to perfect his voice again so
that the words would come out perfect. Once he got his
pronounciation down pat, Nick had to work with bringing his
voice out so that he could be heard without whispering. His
voice still had a tendancy to become light when he was
tired, but that was coming along with time. <br><br>

Jess was still concerned that Nick was taking up
more than he was ready for. His left leg still had some
slight weakness and the doctors said that there had been
some permanent nerve damage to the leg, they weren’t sure if
the damage was from the car accident or from the clots
caused from the fall he had taken. Sometimes Nick became
off balanced and would almost fall. She watched nervously
as the guys performed the dance routine to “Everybody
Backstreet’s Back.” That was a very physical session. As
the song was ending, Nick was drenched in sweat. His hair
was soaked. Jess could see how tired he was becoming.
Although his voice was starting to grow shakey, Nick was
still able to give it his best shot. The fans were still
screaming through the entire show, they didn’t seem to
notice that anything was amiss with Nick’s voice getting
weaker. <br><br>

Jess quickly backed out of the way as the guys ran
past her to change hasitly for the next session. As Nick
ran by her, he intentionally smacked her shoulder with his
hand. Nick was still being the playful soul, as he always
was. <br><br>
Jessica looked at her watch to see how much longer
the concert would be. She could tell that Nick was starting
to get more fatigued and she wasn’t sure if he would be able
to hold on much longer. She was starting to worry when she
found that they had over another thirty minutes before it
would end, provided that they didn’t do an encore song. <br><br>

After they were ready for the next session, they
stood by her waiting for everyone to regroup. Nick was the
last one out and walked towards them this time instead of
running. He was still sweaty and his face looked flushed.<br><br>

Brian looked at Nick, “You gonna be okay, dude?”<br><br>

Nick nodded at Brian. He didn’t want to
disappoint the fans if he didn’t come back out. Nick knew
he only had to make it for 30 more minutes. As the band was
starting the intro to the next song, the guys put their
headsets back on and prepared to run out onto the stage.
Unfortunately for Nick, the song was one that he had all the
primary parts. Jess could see the worried look on his face
as he ran past her. The band started playing “Quit Playing
Games.” Nick took a deep breath as he ran out to the
cheering audience. He was hoping that they would scream
loud enough that they wouldn’t hear the inconsistencies in
his voice.<br><br>

Jess held her breath when Nick started singing.
She knew that he was worried about how he was starting to
sound. By the audience reaction to the song, she could tell
that they didn’t notice any difference to Nick’s voice. He
could have talked his way through the song and they wouldn’t
of cared at all. <br><br>
The guys were watching Nick a little more closely
when they did the final song, I Want it That Way. They
could see that Nick was exhausted and was getting weak
singing his part, it was barely audible. They skipped doing
anytype of dance moves and had told Nick before hand that
they wouldn’t because they knew he would be beat by the end
of the hour.<br><br>

Thankfully, the song ended without anything
happening. Nick and the guys bowed, and where they would
usually run off the stage, Brian and AJ walked on either
side of Nick to support him. Jess made sure she stayed out
of the way and followed them to their dressing room. The
fans that had backstage passes had to be honored with their
tickets so the show wasn’t actually over yet. Jess forgot
about the backstage passes.<br><br>

Brian and AJ led Nick to a couch so he could sit
back and relax. Jess looked at Nick’s face and could see
how exhausted he was. His face was red from the heat. Nick
motioned for her to sit next to him. Jess complied without
any hesitation. She handed a water bottle to him as she sat
down. Nick looked as if he had a hard time uncapping the
bottle. After he finally got it opened, he drank nearly 3/4
of the bottle without stopping. Jess got up and grabbed
another bottle before Nick would have to ask for one.<br><br>

“How ya doing, buddy?” AJ asked Nick as he walked
past the couch.<br><br>

Nick didn’t respond, he just smiled. The fans
that had the passes were starting to file into the room.
Jess leaned close to Nick.<br><br>
“Are you up to this?” She whispered in his ear.<br><br>

“Got no choice, have to be.” Nick whispered back.<br><br>

Some of the girls flocked around the couch where
Brian had sat down next to Jess. Brian sat back and guzzled
his bottle of water, he was hot and sweaty like Nick.<br><br>

The girls stood in awe of Nick and Brian, they did
not say a word but appeared to be taking in every move the
guys made, every word they spoke. Jess always thought the
backstage stuff was weird, the guys pretty much carried on
as if no one different was in the room. If the fans asked
them questions or wanted pictures taken or autographs
signed, they complied without any questions.<br><br>

Finally a girl directed a question to Jess. “Are
you Brian’s girlfriend, Leighanne?” <br><br>
Brian chuckled. Jess elbowed him in the side.<br><br>

“And what would be so funny about that?” She
asked Brian.<br><br>

Brian wasn’t expecting her to elbow him while he
was drinking his water and some of the ice cold water
spilled out onto his chest.<br><br>

“Um, nothing, sorry?” Brian looked at Jess and
then decided to wink to seal the appology.<br><br>

“No, sorry, wrong girl.” Jess answered.<br><br>
“She belongs to Nick.” Brian offered the answer
to the girls. Jess hated the way that sounded, it made her
feel like a clothing item.<br><br>

Nick didn’t say a word, he was still busy drinking
his water. Jess glanced over at him. He seemed to be okay
but she could tell how tired he was. Jess silently prayed
that this would be finished soon so she could take him home
to rest.<Br><br>

As the fans milled about the room, all of the guys
carried on conversations amoungst themselves. AJ and Howie
were talking about going golfing tomorrow and Kevin said
that sounded good to him and that they should call him
before they decide to leave.<br><br>

Nick was trying very hard to keep awake. It was
getting more and more difficult with each passing minute.
Jess leaned over and whispered into his ear, “Is there
anyway we can just leave?” <br><br>

Nick shook his head no. As much as he wanted to
say yes, he knew he couldn’t do it.<br><br>

Jess decided to ask Brian if he could do something
about the lingering fans. She leaned over to Brian and
whispered into his ear, “Brian, Nick is getting so tired and
I am getting worried, is there anything you can do to hurry
the fans along?”<br><br>

Brian listened to Jess as he was drinking his
water. “Yeah, I can talk to Steve.” Brian got up off the
couch and walked over to one of their body guards. After
Brian sat down, the body guard clapped his hands several
times and announced that it was time for the fans to leave.<br><br>

All of the girls seemed to sound down and didn’t
want to leave. They had been backstage with the guys for
over an hour and felt that they were entitled to more time
with them.<br><br>

After the last girl left the room, Nick threw his
head back and stared at the ceiling. He didn’t know how or
if he would be able to get up off the couch.<br><br>

“Nick, are you alright?” Jess asked with a
concerned tone in her voice.<br><br>
Nick didn’t answer, he just kept looking up at the
ceiling. <br><br>

“Hey dude, I’m talking to you!” Jess spoke up. <br><br>

Nick finally looked over to Jess. He still didn’t
answer. Jess looked at his droopy eyelids.<br><br>

“Nick old boy, are you ready to go home?” Brian
asked.<br><br>

Nick smiled faintly. He really would have
preferred to sleep where he was.<br><br>

“Comeon, we’ll help you out to the car.” Brian
suggested to Nick.<br><br>

Nick reluctantly pulled himself up off the couch.
When he stood up he took a couple of off balanced steps to
the side. If no one knew better he looked like he had been
drinking the way he stood. Brian quickly came to the rescue
and stood on one side of Nick and AJ came over to the other
side.<br><br>

“Nick, put your arms around our shoulders,” AJ
directed.<br><br>

Nick complied without hesitation. Jess followed
them walking towards the garage where their vehicles were
parked. She noticed that Nick’s left leg was dragging
behind him almost as bad as before he had his surgery. The
concerts had always physically drained Nick in the past, but
with him just recovering from all that had gone on with him
that summer, she knew it was too much for him to handle. <br><br>
Jess recalled that Nick hadn’t spoke in quite
awhile. That was starting to concern her as well. “I’ll
just wait until we get in the car,” Jess thought to herself.<br><br>

The walk to the car seemed to take forever.
Thankfully, it was a secured garage so there weren’t any
paparrazzi waiting to ambush the group.<br><br>

Brian and AJ walked Nick over to the passenger
side of the green durango. Jess clicked the car alarm on
her key ring to unlock the doors. Nick sat in the seat and
had to pick his left leg up and put it into the vehicle
before he could turn and face the front.<br><br>

“Thanks guys.” Jess said as she prepared to close
Nick’s door.<br><br>

“Jess, are you driving straight home or what?”
Howie asked.<br><br>
“What do you want to do Nick?” Jess didn’t know
if he felt up to the almost two hour ride home or not.<br><br>

Nick hadn’t even thought about it. They had
reservations to spend the night in Orlando at the Disney
Resort, the trip home would be long and he could still be in
pretty rough shape and need help getting into the house.<br><br>

“Hey, it’s your call, what do you want to do?”
Brian asked.<br><br>

Nick looked at Brian and then at Jess. He licked
his lips to speak outloud. His voice was very hoarse,
“Stay.” He didn’t have to try and say it again because Jess
automatically told Brian she would follow him to the hotel.<br><br>

As Jess followed the car out of the garage, she
asked Nick how he was feeling. Nick had the seat tilted
back and his baseball cap was pulled down over his eyes. He
didn’t answer her but put his hand on her leg and patted it
as if to reassure her.<br><br>

“I hope you feel better in the morning, this
doesn’t look good.” <br><br>

Nick managed to whisper back to Jessica faintly,
“Me too.”<br><br>
<center>