“It’s settled,” Kevin was rubbing his hands
together, “We’re taking him to my house.”
“Why
your house?” Brian asked his cousin, “How can you just settle something like
that without saying anything to any of us. Should we not care?” Brian was
speaking in a very unpleasant tone; that Kevin didn’t like too well.
“So
what? You want him to go stay with you and Leighanne. How would she
feel about that when she returns home? Have you even told her?”
“Have
I had time?” Brian shot back.
“Guys,
whoa,” Howie put two fingers in his mouth and whistled, “Hey, calm down.
Who cares which house Nick goes to, as long as he’s somewhere we can take
of him at. My house if full of family, maybe it would do him good to
see…”
Both
Brian and Kevin were giving Howie unreadable looks, “Kevin, your house is
fine,” Brian said in a slow voice.
“Howie,
did you see how Nick reacted to his own family?” Kevin asked Howie, “We can’t
scare him away, D. He can’t be overwhelmed.”
AJ
entered the room with BJ, “We can go get him. Doc says it’s time.”
Howie,
Kevin, and Brian glanced at each other, and nodded.
“I
hate my clothes,” Nick was grumbling to himself as they entered the room and
found him in front of a mirror. He appeared to be studying himself
intensely, so intensely he had forgotten Leslie was in the room sitting on his
bed watching him. Brian, Howie, AJ, Kevin, and BJ stood silently,
listening to his commentary on himself.
“Nothing
fits right,” He ran hands through his hair, letting it fall in his eyes, “I
hate everything….”
Brian
blinked, Nick was tearing himself apart, at this rate who needed the press?
“Ahem,”
he cleared his throat to alert him to their presence. Leslie turned to
see them. Nick froze in the mirror. He stared at himself, then
stepped back to see the others in the room standing in the doorway, “Ready to
go?”
Brian
nodded, “I see you found the bag Kevin packed for you.”
Nick
nodded, “Thanks…” he said flatly.
“How
are you feeling?” asked Howie, “Not too bad?”
Nick
turned to face them, “I’m ok. Where are we going?”
“My
house,” Kevin said. He ventured further into the room and lifted Nick’s
bag.
AJ
threw a glance at him, “His house? Why? He never liked us to come
to his house. We’re too messy for him.”
“He
wants to be in control naturally,” Brian said through his teeth, “Yeah, Kev’s
house for a little while, then you can come to my house.”
Kevin
glanced at him sharply before smiling briefly and nodding. Nick didn’t
miss one motion. He was very observant, “You were fighting over this?
Over me?”
Brian
and Kevin looked ashamed, “Why?”
Both
looked surprised at Nick’s question, “Why? Because we love you and want
you to be in the best place possible. My house is big and clean and…”
“I
knew it!” AJ butted in, “I knew it! You wanted to be in your own house cause
it’s clean and you think the rest of us are dirty pigs!”
“I
never added the dirty part in front of the pigs now,” Kevin countered.
This made Brian and Howie smile, and made AJ give a little laugh.
BJ
was ushering Nick away from his pale reflection and leading him towards the
door. Leslie followed.
The
four remaining Boys looked at each other, “Guys, I know this is gonna sound
cheesy. In fact it is cheesy, but we have to make a pact,” Howie said
seriously. Brian and AJ snickered furiously at Howie’s summer camp
vocabulary, “I’m serious. No more fighting over Nick. If you
haven’t noticed he’s become very perceptive. We cannot let him get bad
vibes from us.”
AJ
and Brian had sobered and were now nodding with gravity in their eyes.
Kevin looked saddened, “Ok, so what’s the pact? We agree no fighting
about Nick?”
Brian
jerked his head positively in a hasty manner, “No more fighting.”
They
all shook on it; then went to join the three Carters in the lobby.
“And
Nick, you’ll get this room,” Kevin opened the door showing Nick to the guest
room he had designated to him. The room was done in royal blue with
dark paneled furniture and a queen-size bed in the middle. No mirrors, no
bathroom, no TV… Nick looked at Kevin, “Why this room?”
Kevin
blinked, “You don’t like it? Well we can find you another one, or maybe
one of the girls could switch with you.” Kevin was about to call to BJ and
Leslie, who were settling down in the rooms Kevin had given to them.
“No,”
Nick said quickly, “It’s ok. I was just wondering.” He entered the
room and sat down on the bed. He rested his head in his hands, and just
sat there, shaking. Kevin closed his eyes on a tear that wanted to get
out, but he refused to be a crybaby in front of Nick. He walked to the
bed and sat beside Nick, “I know this is hard, and it’s gonna get harder, but
this time all of us will be here together. You won’t have to do
anything alone.”
Nick
raised his head slightly, “Don’t say things you won’t mean later…” He lie back
on the bed, “Do you have any painkillers?”
Kevin
open his mouth, he had Tylenol, but the doctor said not to give him that.
He would have to go out and buy Advil, or Aleve, or something, “You
hurting?”
Nick
closed his eyes, but nodded.
“We’ll
get you something, but for right now, how about we get something to eat, huh?
That might make you feel better too.”
“Not
hungry,” Nick said emotionlessly, “Go on without me.”
“Nick,
you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, and even then you had your
stomach…” he paused on his words, “It’s time to eat Nick. You’re too
thin.”
“Well
that’s better than being ‘too fat’ wouldn’t you agree Kev? Oh no wait, you’ve
never had the problem,” Nick said bitterly, never opening his eyes, and never
sitting up.
Kevin
cringed, “You could have said en guard, Nick, then I would have at least been
ready for attack,” Kevin said softly. He resisted the urge to pull Nick up into
a sitting position to be sure he was listening, “Nick you were never too fat
for anything. You were growing, and your body was still deciding what to
do with itself.”
“Nobody
ever saw it that way,” Nick muttered.
“Yes
they did. Why do you think we teased you? If you were fat we
wouldn’t play with you about it, that would be mean,” Kevin spoke with a
chuckle, “All you needed was a little muscle tone, you would have been buff.”
Nick
snorted, “Like you, huh?”
Kevin
frowned, “Yeah. I was going to start taking you with me to the gym, but…”
“But
what?”
Kevin
sighed, “Brian told me that Leighanne wanted them to get married.”
“So?”
“Brian’s
25, Nick, he’s doing this right. I’m 28, and still without that special
someone in my life that will make it all worth while.”
Nick
was silent.
“I
got depressed. Everybody seemed to be happy with girlfriends and fiancés
at that time, but me. You had Mandy…”
“Mandy
had Brent…” Nick added conversationally.
“Mandy
had… huh?” Kevin was jarred from his train of thought. Nick’s eyes were open and
he was concentrating on Kevin with his crystal blues.
“Kevin…
you guys are gonna listen to me right?” Nick asked in a small voice.
“Yeah,
Nicky,” Kevin said, “You wanna talk? I can get the others.”
Nick
was quiet, then he shook his head, shutting his eyes back, “No.”
Kevin
was taken aback, but Nick continued, “Not today, but it’s nice to know that
when I do, someone will be listening.”