-make it alright-
-chapter twenty-five-

The idea was to come back to the hotel and chill out in front of the TV before getting ready for the awards. At least that was the original plan. But within minutes of lying down in front of the tube, Nick and Melissa had passed out. Neither had gotten much sleep the night before, and running into Mandy earlier in the day had worn them both out. A nap was much needed before a night of partying it up.

�Call him!�

�No.�

�Call him!�

�Jorge, I said no.�

�Melissa, you�ve been permanently PMSing ever since you got back from L.A. You know I love you and everything, but you�re annoying as hell right now!� Jorge had always been blunt. �Brutal honesty� was something of his motto. �So please relieve some stress in my life, and just pick up the phone and call him!�

�Jorge, I KNOW Nick. Hell, sometimes I feel like I understand him better then I understand myself. Or at least better then he understands himself. And the way things are going with him, things are headed straight downhill. And not just with Mandy. With his family and his management too. But does he listen to me? No! Nick doesn�t respect my opinions at all. And I don�t need to be treated that way. He needs to realize he should treat me better. Not take me for granted.�

Jorge shook his head. One day, he knew Melissa would look back on what she�d just said and realize how idiotic she sounded. She could be hypocritical sometimes: one minute complaining that she didn�t understand how Nick could date a girl like Mandy; the next saying she knew Nick better then he knew himself.

�Honey, Nick�s not a possession of yours. He�s not a little puppy that you can order around. He�s going to be a man, but until that point, he has a lot of growing up to do.�

�That�s for sure.� Melissa interrupted.

�Growing up that he needs to do on his own. It�s very nice of you to offer your advice. But honey, you have to let Nick make mistakes on his own.�

Melissa grunted.

�He�s a stubborn boy, Mel. Just know that.� Jorge said as sensibly as he could. �If you really are so mature, then show it. Be the bigger man and call HIM first. Because otherwise, I think you�re going to be waiting a helluva long time for that phone to ring.�

Melissa didn�t respond. She just continued taking all the pictures of Nick out of a bedroom. She�d put them in a box- only to be looked at when he apologized. Until then, Melissa had never met Nick Carter- as far as she was concerned. In the place of his old photos, she tacked cut-outs of *NSYNC to her bedroom walls.

Melissa rubbed her eyes. Slowly, her vision came into focus. Lying still in bed, she thought back to her dream. Damn Mandy. I hate running into her. Seeing her gets me thinking about all this crazy stuff has happened. I�d forgotten all about that afternoon until today.

Beside Melissa, Nick flipped onto her stomach. The movement caused Melissa to look down at him with loving eyes. He looked so soothing, lying asleep on his belly. He�d been working so hard lately. It worried Melissa quite a bit. Maybe he was a little ADD, because he never seemed to stop. he always had to keep herself busy. But then again, I�m that way too, Melissa realized. Maybe one day we�ll finally get a real vacation. A real chance to chill out. But knowing us�I doubt it.

Carefully, Melissa crawled out of the bed. She needed to take a shower before the awards, but she didn�t want to wake Nick. She�d let her sleep for another twenty minutes before rousing him to get ready for the awards. Heaven knows he needed the rest.

Nick didn�t even budge as Melissa left the bed. His sleep was deep, but not necessarily peaceful. Dreams of a painful day so long ago flooded the thoughts in his head.

Nick was grumpy. And impatient. And stuck on a ten-hour plus plane ride to Europe. And Nick HATED flying. Needless to say, it wasn�t a pleasant situation, for any of the Boys.

After filming three back-to-back videos in L.A., every person in the Backstreet entourage was looking forward to the long plane ride in order to finally catch up on some Z�s. Unfortunately, that wasn�t possible at the moment. Nick was causing such a ruckus constantly changing his seated position that it disturbed the entire cabin.

�Brian, you go talk to him.� Kevin directed.

�Why me?� Brian protested.

�He�s YOUR best friend,� Kevin pointed out.

�But I haven�t had much opportunity to talk to him recently. I was busy with Leighanne while we were in L.A.� Brian smiled as he mentioned the name of the �As Long As You Love Me� extra he�d just taken out on a date. �You should go talk to him, Boner. You spent more time talking to Nick and his friends then the rest of us. You have a better feel for what�s going on.�

�Me? Why me? D�s the peacemaker.�

�Howie�s also asleep,� Kevin pointed out practically. And sure enough, Howie was completely zonked out a few seats away, mouth hanging open. Leave it to Howie. He was the only one who�d be able to sleep soundly through all Nick�s commotion.

�Brian, AJ- why don�t you BOTH go and talk to Nick.� Kevin suggested his revised plan. �This works out perfectly. Brian�s the best friend, but AJ knows the context. You�ll balance each other out.�

Neither Brian nor AJ complained. They�d gotten into fights with Kevin on planes before. It wasn�t pretty. No one wanted to be trapped in a confined space for hours on end when Kevin was mad. The situation with Nick wasn�t important enough to risk that kind of torture.

Nick was sitting with his legs propped up on the seat in front of him when AJ and Brian approached. Cautiously, they both took seats around him. They looked to each other, silently fighting over who would be the first to speak.

Surrendering, Brian sighed before he opened his mouth. �Hey, buddy.� Nick grunted in response.

Brian turned to AJ, who gave him an encouraging look in response. �Hey Nick, is something the matter?�

�What makes you say that?�

�You�ve been moping around for days. Everyone�s pretty worried about you. We don�t like seeing you this way.�

Nick turned his head away from his bandmates, staring out the window. Brian egged AJ on, to say something encouraging. �Listen, none of us know what happened between you and your friends in L.A. We don�t want to pressure you to tell us or anything. But we want you to know that we�re here if you ever want to talk�

�Good. Because I don�t want to talk about it.�

Brian decided he�d try another stab at it. He spoke in a voice that was soft and sincere yet serious at the same time. �You should call her, Nick. She means a lot to you, and you�re going to regret it if you don�t call her.�

Nick whipped his head around to face Brian. �Mandy just went back to Florida to get more of her stuff. She�ll be with us in Europe in a couple of days. I think we�ll survive not talking until then.�

�You know I meant Melissa, Nick. Not Mandy.�

�How do you know I fought with Melissa? You�ve been so busy chasing after girls, you haven�t had time to talk to me much. I could be fighting with Brent or BJ for all you know.�

Brian was kinda shocked. As was AJ. Nick was the baby out of the group, and his temperament was often testy. But he never got angry with Brian. Ever. His little outburst was pretty much unheard of.

�Nick, I�m sorry I haven�t been around for you. I got caught up with a girl, when I should have been around for you. I made a mistake, and I�m really sorry about it.�

Nick sighed. It was hard to stay mad at Brother Brian for any long period of time. �I�m sorry I snapped at you Brian. I�m upset about other stuff, and I shouldn�t have taken it out on you.�

Brian ruffled his hand through Nick�s hair- the unsaid sign for a truce. AJ decided to add his voice to the conversation. �I�ve known you since you were twelve, Nick. I�ve seen you mad at pretty much everyone: your mom, Kevin- even Brent and BJ. But I�ve never seen you this upset before. That�s how Brian and I figured you must be upset over Melissa.�

Nick looked down to his hands. He�d spent the entire plane ride thus far perfecting the art of spinning a pen in his fingers. Letting out a slow breathe, he finally opened up. �She hates me, guys.�

�Melissa hates you?� Brian asked. He wanted to make sure he was understanding the story correctly.

Nick nodded sadly. �She hates me. I didn�t even do anything wrong, and she hates me.�

�That�s why you should call her,� AJ spoke up. �To set things straight; clear things up.�

Nick shook his head. �Not this time. Brent and I have let her get her way for eight years now. But not this time. She�s going to have to realize that the world doesn�t revolve around her. That she makes mistakes, too. She�s going to have to learn to apologize for them.�

Brian and AJ looked to each other warily. AJ placed a comforting hand on Nick�s head. �I hope you know what you�re doing, Nicky boy. Melissa is the most stubborn girl I�ve ever met. Hell will freeze over before she admits to wrongdoing.�

Nick woke up groaning. Every day he hadn�t talked to Melissa, a part of him had been miserable. Even thinking back on those times made him sad. Thank God it isn�t like that anymore.

He heard the water running in the bathroom. He felt that the bed was cold, a result of him being alone. He looked to the alarm clock on the nightstand. He�d better get a move on it if he wanted to make it to the red carpet on time. Nick was groggy. That happened sometimes when he took too long of a nap. He just needed a little something to wake himself up. Tiredly, he brought himself to the mini-frig.

Melissa wrapped a fluffy, white towel around her damp body as she left the bathroom. Quietly, she hummed the Britney tune she�d be dancing to later that night. She�d performed at an awards show- the Grammy�s back in February. But tonight was different. Tonight she�d be performing in front of her peers. And she was excited about it.

Automatically, Melissa moved to the bed. If she woke Nick now, he�d have plenty of time to get ready for the awards. But oddly, the bed was empty. Nick must have gotten up on his own. Funny�where could he be?

Melissa turned her attention to the far corner of the hotel room. And sure enough, there was Nick. He was squatting in front of the mini-frig, carefully sorting through its liquor contents.

�Just what do you think you�re doing?� Melissa asked as she sauntered up towards Nick. She positioned her body above his, staring disapprovingly down at him. Her hands were on her hips, fingernails drumming her towel-clothed sides. �Just one little drink. Just to wake me up.�

�Uh-uh. I don�t think so,� Melissa disagreed. She snatched the small bottles of alcohol out of Nick�s hands. �No drinks. At least, not until after the awards. If you have a drink now, you�ll fall asleep during the awards.�

�What makes you say that?�

Melissa rolled her eyes. �Because I know you Nick. When you�re tired, one drink only makes you more sleepy. You need a couple in order to stay awake, to have a little buzz going. But I�m not going to let get drunk before the awards show. So you�ll just have to refrain from the drinks until the after parties.�

Nick groaned. Melissa reached into the frig and grabbed a Mountain Dew. She tossed it to him. �Here, drink this. It�ll keep you awake until the awards are over.�

Nick accepted the drink. He unscrewed the top and downed a huge gulp. After swallowing, he spoke to Melissa. �Why do you always have to be right when it comes to things with me? Its really annoying.�

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