Chapter 11

The four remaining Backstreet Boys barely made it through both interviews and were all thankful when Mike informed them that the interviews were finally over with for the day. When Sean stopped in front of the hotel to let the boys out, Kevin and Brian threw the door open quickly and sprinted for the front door of the hotel which led to the lobby. AJ and Howie followed the path the two cousins had taken after they listened to Mike lecture about how they should act while he is gone but before Mike could finish, AJ and Howie slammed the van door shut and ran towards the lobby. After stopping a few moments to look around the lobby for any sign of Brian or Kevin and not finding any, they walked towards the elevator and waited patiently as it came down to the floor they was on. After a few seconds, the elevator opened and they both walked in and stood patiently as the elevator made its way up to their floor.

In the meantime, both Kevin and Brian sprinted for their suite while they were both fishing through their pockets for the room key. Kevin found his key first and increased his speed so he could open the door quickly. He was hoping they would see that Nick had gotten tired of playing a joke and decided to come to the suite to wait for the rest of the guys. He unlocked the door and took in a deep breath as he pushed it open slowly.

Both Brian and Kevin let out a dissapointed sigh as they looked around the main room of the suite. They was hoping they would find Nick sitting on the floor by the TV concentrating on his video games. Kevin fought back the tears he felt rise to his eyes as he watched the actions of his youngest cousin. Brian walked up slowly to where the Nintendo was and bent down picking up one of the game controllers as the tears started to silently fall down his face. He whispered in a hoarse voice, "Where in the hell are you Nicky? We need you, please come back safe to us. Please" as he drew back his arm and threw the controller roughly at the wall. He then turned around and ran to his room slamming the door once he entered the dark comfort of the room.

Kevin was about to run after his cousin when both AJ and Howie entered the room and looked at the smashed Nintendo controller against the far wall. Both looked at Kevin with questioning eyes and watched him as he ran his hand through his hair and quietly said, "I will explain later. I need to check on Brian." Both young men nodded as they threw their bodies down on the couch and watched as Kevin walked to the room Brian ran in to and softly knock on the door before he entered.

Kevin didn't wait for an answer and entered but squinted his eyes to adjust to the darkness in the room which was a result of the tightly shut blinds. He stumbled over to the closest lamp as he felt his way along the wall and turned the light on. He looked towards Nick's bed and saw Brian curled up in the center of the bed with his arms wrapped tightly around one of Nick's pillows as the tears streamed down his face. Kevin cautiously walked towards Brian and slowly sat down so he wouldn't startle Brian and started rubbing Brian's back to comfort him. "Kev?" asked Brian in a small voice. "Yeah Bri?" replied Kevin as he continued to try and comfort his cousin. Brian rolled over on his back and looked in his cousin's concerned green eyes with his tear filled blue ones. "What if Nick doesn't come back Kev? I know he isn't playing a joke on us like Mike thinks he is. He would be back by now if he was, what do we do?" There was a few moments of silence as Kevin carefully gathered his thoughts to think of an answer. Kevin looked into his Brian's anxious blue eyes and truthfully answered, "I don't know Bri, I just don't know."