Chapter 12

Howie and AJ both turned down the volume to the TV as soon as they saw Kevin enter Brian's room. They knew they shouldn't be eavesdropping but they just couldn't help themselves. They listened silently as Brian expressed his fears to Kevin and they engrossed themselves in their own private conversation as Kevin comforted Brian. After a few minutes of hushed conversation, Howie stood up and made his way towards the room where Brian and Kevin were. When he reached the doorway, he turned back and looked at AJ and saw AJ nod at him. Howie slowly and quietly entered the room and saw Kevin sitting on the bed hugging Brian who had his head resting on his shoulder and was facing the opposite wall. Howie cleared his throat and Kevin turned to look at him, acknowledging his presence as he looked up expectantly at Howie; waiting patiently for him to speak. Howie cleared his throat again and started to say, "Guys AJ and I were talking just now and we was thinking..." but Brian lifted his head and turned towards the direction of Howie's voice as he rubbed his eyes and said, "You may not want to do too much of that, D. You might do some permanant damage up there. We wouldn't want that now would we?" Howie just looked at Brian and grinned and reached over and patted Brian on the shoulder gently when Brian grinned back at him. "Well as I was saying before is that me and AJ were talking and we thought it may be a good idea to look for Nicky because you know the sense of direction that kid has. Maybe he snuck out last night and went for a walk and got lost. This is a pretty big city and I'm sure it is easy to get lost especially for a 15 year old who isn't used to be alone in a strange place." Kevin nodded in agreement and gently pushed Brian over on the bed so he could get up and said, "That is a great idea Howie, don't know why I didn't think of it myself. Come on Bri, you ready?" Kevin looked over in the direction of where Brian was and saw him rubbing his forehead. "Something wrong Bri?" asked Kevin with concern in his voice. Brian looked up at him and grinned as he slowly shook his head, "Nope not really just a stupid headache. Come on let's go look for Nicky. The sooner he is back here safe with us the better." Kevin and Howie both mumbled an "Ok" in response and walked out of the room and stood beside the couch and waited a few seconds for AJ to finally notice their presence and turn off the TV. When he eventually turned off the TV, Kevin asked them all to sit down and he went over the plan for the search. Brian and Kevin would search the south and west ends of town and Howie and AJ would search the north and east ends then in two hours they would meet in front of the hotel and report their findings. Both groups would carry a cell phone in case of emergency and in cause they find Nick. Kevin then asked if anyone had questions and when he heard three replies of "No" he stood up and walked over to Brian's bookbag and dug out Brian's cellphone. Howie, AJ, and Brian all stood up and and waited momentarily as AJ grabbed his cellphone and followed Kevin out the door. When they made it outside the hotel Kevin said a few last words before the groups departed, "Guys remember if Nick is lost he may be scared so don't be too angry with him. We will handle everything when he comes back, ok?" All three of the other men nodded in agreement and they separated into their groups, hoping that one of the groups would come back in 2 hours with Nick in tow.