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Chapter Thirty-Three



Jessica felt that she was more nervous than the guys waiting
for the show to start. Nick was sitting in a chair in a
corner with his head bowed down. Jess was certain he was
trying to conserve his energy.



AJ and Brian were clowning around and Howie and
Kevin were doing last minute preparations as usual.



Jess wanted so baldy to ask Nick if he was feeling
okay but she knew that would only get him angry.



Their manager stepped into the room and clapped
his hands, “Are you guys ready? We need you onstage in
five.”



The guys put their headsets on and did final
adjustments on their mic packs. The opening numbers were
always spectacular and everything always had to be adjusted
correctly so no one would get hurt.



Jess hugged Nick and gave him a kiss before he
left. She whispered good luck in his ear. Nick said thanks
softly back. Jess could feel the tension in his body when
she hugged him. Nick was always nervous before going
onstage. Tonight he acted a little more nervous. She knew
that Nick knew about his weakness in his leg and how his
voice had been affected when he was tired. The four hour
nap gave Nick a complete turnaround but Jess worried it
would only last for a short time.



The first song was spectacular. The crowd went
wild and Nick was energized. His voice sounded strong and
his dancing was perfect. Nick was catching the excitement
from the crowd.



As the show was only fifteen minutes into it, Jess
could see that Nick was starting to struggle with the dance
moves, half of the moves he did half-heartidly or missed
entirely. His face was red and his hair was soaked wet with
sweat. Suddenly during the middle of a dance sequence, Nick
collapsed onto the floor. It took the band a few beats
before they realized something was wrong and that Nick
wasn’t playing around. Jess ran out onto the stage and
knelt beside Nick. The crowd grew quiet except for a few
worried screams.



“Jesus Christ I knew he was too sick to be out
here,” AJ mumbled.


The medical staff at the concert hall ran onto the
stage to assist Nick. They broke open a smelling salt
capsule and put it near Nick’s nose. Nick started to wake
up and was coughing. His eyelids fluttered open and he
looked around.



“Nick, do you know where you are?” the emt asked.



Nick’s eyes shifted back and forth looking around
to see where he was. He realized he was laying on a stage
in front of an audience.



“At a concert?” Nick said quietly.


“Okay, where is the concert at?” The EMT shouted,
the crowd was starting to get noisy.


“Um, England?” Nick guessed quietly.



The guys looked at each other.



“No, buddy, we’re in Orlando.” Brian said.



“Oh, that’s right, now I remember.” Nick lied.



After a few minutes, the EMT’s had Nick sit up.
The crowd was still quiet, several girls screamed, WE LOVE
YOU, NICK. Nick didn’t seem to be paying attention to what
was going on around him.



“Okay, Nick, we’re gonna have you walk offstage
with us. Put your arms around each of our shoulders, okay?”



Nick nodded.



“Okay, ready, one, two, three.”



As Nick stood up, the crowd cheered wildly and
continued until he got offstage. His walk was very slow and
calculated. Jess noticed his limp and leg dragging again.


The EMT’s walked Nick towards a stretcher. Nick
seemed to hesitate.



“Now, Nick, you need to go to get checked out.”
Jess tried to coax him onto the stretcher.



Reluctantly, Nick accepted laying down and being
taken by ambulance to Orlando Hospital.



“Nick, we are going to have you checked out there,
okay?” The EMT told Nick as she covered him up with a
blanket.



Back on stage, Brian had walked off to see what
was going on with Nick. When Jess told him they were taking
him to the hospital as a precaution to check him out, Brian
asked where and then told her he would be there after the
show.



Brian walked back on stage. Fans were curious as
to what was going on.



“um, Nick wanted me to let y’all know that he is
fine. He is being checked out by the docs to make sure
everything is okay. He wanted me to say he’s sorry that he
won’t be back but he wants everyone to enjoy the show and
not to worry.” Brian said to the crowd. The audience
immediately cheered when Brian said he was fine but awhed
when he said that Nick wouldn’t be back.



The guys got into a huddle and decided that they
would try to sing Nick’s solos together. No one really
knew all of the right words so they figured if they were all
singing, each would cover the other.



Nick arrived at the emergency room and was quickly
ordered blood tests and other assessments were done.


The emergency room doctor pulled Jess aside and
discussed his findings on Nick’s tests and what they would
be doing.



“Hi, I’m Dr. Davidson. Going over Nick’s recent
health history and the events leading up to his collapse on
stage and the test results, it appears that Nick is
suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. We will get him
started with an IV and we would like to have him admitted
for a few days at the least to have him rest. I will
prescribe something to relax him and help him rest.”



“Okay.” Was all that Jess could say. She
accompanied him to Nick’s bedside so he could tell Nick what
was going on.



“Hi, Mr. Carter, I’m Dr. Davidson. We are going
to admit you to the hospital for a few days.” As the doctor
spoke, Nick appeared distressed to think he was staying in
the hospital again. “You are suffering from severe
exhaustion and dehydration and you need to rest. We will
be giving you IV’s to help with the dehydration and I will
prescribe something to help you relax and rest.”


Nick just sighed and closed his eyes.


“Nick, it’ll be okay, you need to rest and get
better.” Jess tried to make him understand that he was
sick.



Back at the Orlando concert, Brian was hoping that
the concert would end quickly. The guys attempted to carry
the parts that Nick would normally solo on, but really were
messing it up because they knew half or none of the words.
Brian suddenly realized during part of a song that they
still had to contend with the fans that had backstage
passes. It was going to be at least another hour before
they would be leaving the auditorium.



When the guys finished the last song, they ran off
the stage and started grabbing gear as if they were
preparing to leave. Brian had to remind the guys that there
were still a few obligations that needed to be fulfilled.



“Whoa, hey, guys, don’t forget that we still have
the fans with the backstage passes.”



“Shit.” AJ said as he threw his bag back down on
the floor. AJ always had the flair for putting things into
words what others were thinking.



The backstage fans started filing in. Brian,
Howie and AJ sat back on the couch and drank their bottles
of water. Kevin was on his cellphone with a friend. Each
of them were secretly praying that the fans would just go
away. They really didn’t have the time for something like
this tonight.



The fans that were backstage seemed to be
especially annoying to the guys tonight. A group of girls
gathered around the couch and started asking the guys how
Nick was and what was wrong with him. AJ was starting to
answer the girls when Brian cut him off, Brian knew that
anything that was about to come out of AJ’s mouth would not
be pleasant or needed to be heard by young girls.



“We know just about as much as you guys do right
now. Once we are finished here, we can go to the hospital
and check on him.” Brian wished that everyone would leave.
It was hard to be polite when you are so worried about
someone.


Brian didn’t hardly talk to the girls that had
gathered around the couch. He was too deep in thought about
Nick worrying about what was wrong with him this time.
Brian was hoping that it was only that Nick had been pushing
himself too much and not something more serious. Nick was
wanting so desperately wanting to be normal again that Brian
was convinced that Nick had finally pushed himself too far.


Thankfully, after over an hour, the stage manager
clapped his hands together and told the people that it was
time for them to leave the guys.



The words were barely out of the manager’s mouth
when AJ jumped off the couch and grabbed his gear and was
beating tracks to the back door to leave. All of the guys
had driven themselves to the auditorium so they would be
leaving separately. Brian asked Howie if he would be going
to the hospital.



“Of course I am, do you want to ride with me or
something?” Howie asked Brian.



“No, I think I will drive myself that way if I
want to stay longer I can and also give Jess a ride back to
get Nick’s car.” Brian replied.



“Yeah, that does make sense to me. See ya there.”
Howie said as he was walking towards the door. He flung his
jacket over his shoulder.



“Okay, you know where he is, don’t you?” Brian
called out to Howie.



Howie just waived back at Brian without turning.