“Can I have your name, please?”
The thirty-something-year-old receptionist smirked.
Nick smirked back. “Yeah,
it’s Art Crenick.” The alias was one of
many that he used to sign into hotels; this one was not as creative as some,
only the letters of his name rearranged.
But it worked.
(AN: As far as I know, this is not one of Nick’s aliases. I made it up.
So if any boppers are reading this, please don’t go from hotel to hotel
asking for an “Art Crenick” cause you aren’t going to find Nick that way. ;) )
“Okay, Mr. Crenick.
Welcome to the Revelation. Here’s
your room key. Suite 8B.”
“Thanks.” Nick took the key
card from the woman’s hand and flashed her his infamous half-smile; he was well
aware of the fact that that smile worked wonders on many women and used it to
his full advantage. Now it was one of
the few aspects of his looks that he still had left; his blonde hair was nearly
gone, its sorry remains hidden by a baseball cap pulled low over his face. His face… yeah, the “baby face” the teenage
girls all thought was so adorable was no longer full and vibrant, but thin and
pale. And that was not the only place
his weight loss over the past few months was showing. His clothes all hung on his frame. He figured people would talk about that when
they saw him on TV. Some would think he
had been taking care of himself, dieting and exercising to lose the
weight. But he knew otherwise; this
weight loss was not healthy.
For once, he was glad they had make-up people; they would be able
to cover his sallow complexion and make him look as close to his old self as
possible for the TRL appearance. But at
the moment, he looked pretty grim, and he just hoped no one would find out what
hotel they were staying in. He really
didn’t want to be seen this way, not until the news was out. Then they would understand. But if they got a good look at him now,
rumors would run rampant… drugs, alcohol, eating disorders… God knows what the
press would say about him.
A bellboy came immediately to take his suitcase. Normally, Nick would have waved him off and
carried the luggage himself, especially with it just being one suitcase and the
carry-on duffel bag from his flight.
But, tired and weak from the after-effects of the chemo, he gratefully
surrendered his burdens to the hotel employee, who escorted him to his suite.
“You can just set them down here,” said Nick as they reached the
door to his suite. Pulling out his
wallet, he gave the bellboy his tip, and when the man had left, stuck his
keycard into the slot, unlocking the door.
Clutching the knob with one hand, he hauled up his suitcase and duffel
in the other, grunting at the effort of it, and started to open the door. He was completely shocked when the door
quickly swung open from the inside, almost pulling him down with it.
“Nick, there you are!”
It was AJ, standing in the doorway with a wide smile spread over
his face.
“AJ! Jesus, you scared the
hell outta me! I’m gonna have a heart
attack!” Nick cried, his heart racing from the startle of having someone else
open the door from inside his suite.
AJ’s eyes widened, and Nick could have sworn his face paled a
shade or two. “I’m sorry! Are you okay??” He looked truly worried, and Nick stared at
him in surprise.
“Dude, I’m fine! I was just
kidding about the heart attack thing…”
“Are you sure?” AJ asked warily, studying Nick as if he expected
to keel over at any minute.
Nick just stared. “AJ, what
the hell? Cancer doesn’t give you heart
attacks, you know.”
“Shh!” came a hiss from behind AJ, and then Kevin appeared. “Cripes, Nick, don’t say that in the middle
of the hall! What if someone heard you?”
Nick checked quickly; the hall was empty. “It’s fine, Mr. Anal. Anyway, they’re gonna find out tomorrow, so
who gives a shit. And what the hell are
you two doing in my room anyway? Not
that I’m not glad to see you, but-“
“Actually, this is our suite,” corrected AJ. “All five of ours.”
“What?! We’re sharing? Where the hell is Howie?”
“Uh, actually, it was my idea, Nick.” A meek Brian appeared between Kevin and AJ,
smiling sheepishly at Nick. “I just
thought it would be nice if we all shared a suite, like old times.” He shrugged, offering Nick a cheesy grin.
AJ snorted. “We didn’t
share a suite in the old times anyway, Rok, it was a room. A tiny, crappy room with two double beds if
we were lucky. And you want to recreate
that experience because…?”
Brian rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “So sue me.
I just thought it would be fun, and Howie agreed, so there.”
“Well, what does Nick think?” AJ shot back, and of course, they
all turned to Nick, even Howie, who had come up with the other four.
“Uh… I dunno, I think it’s cool,” Nick said finally. Really, he had to admit that he did like
Brian’s idea… he had fond memories of the “old days,” the nights they would
spend cramped all together in dingy hotel rooms, staying up talking and playing
Nintendo into the early morning hours, almost like a slumber party. Of course, anal Kevin would eventually try to
force them all to go to bed, and then Brian, AJ, and Nick would tease him and
purposely disobey and annoy him further, but hell, that was half the fun of
it. Now that he thought about it, he
actually missed those days… back when things were simple and uncomplicated,
when he was just a teenager with nothing on his mind but girls, money, and the
lifelong dream of fame that seemed on the verge of coming true.
“See? Ha!” Brian gloated,
laughing in AJ’s face. Playfully
slinging an arm around Nick’s shoulders, he led his younger friend into the
suite. “It’s a little more swanky than
what we had in the old days, huh?”
“Yeah…” Nick agreed, checking out the bedroom, where there were
two queen size beds. “Wait,” he said
suddenly. “We’re not actually gonna sleep
together, are we? That’s so…”
“Gay?” offered AJ with a smirk.
“Uh, yeah, very. I think
I’ll take the floor.”
“Aw, Nick, you don’t have to do that,” Brian said quickly. “You take one of the beds, and somebody else
can have the other one. Then the couch
in the living room is a hide-a-bed, so someone can have that. And the other two will just sleep on the
floor. We did that in the old days, too,
no big deal.”
“I call bed!” AJ and Kevin both shouted at the same time.
“Sorry, J, I’m older, I get it,” Kevin claimed, crossing his arms
over his chest smugly.
AJ rolled his eyes. “Yeah,
whatever, old man. I’ll just take the
couch bed then. Rok and D, guess you’re
stuck on the floor.”
“That’s fine,” conceded Howie with a shrug, and Brian nodded.
“I can sleep on the floor too if one of you guys wants the bed,”
Nick offered.
“No, no, Nicky, take the bed,” Howie insisted, and Nick
scowled. In ordinary circumstances, he
would have been forced on the floor simply because he was the baby of the
group. Now he was being treated differently…
and he knew exactly why.
“No way, you take it. I’m
the youngest, and Howie, you’re gonna be hella stiff if you spend the night on
the floor, old man.”
“Old man?!” Howie exclaimed, mouth dropping open in
indignation. “That’s Kevin!”
“You’re gettin’ up there too, dude. Who’s turning the big 3-0 this year, huh?”
Howie rolled his eyes.
“You’ll be there too before you know it, kid.”
Nick laughed lightly, but no one else did. As silence fell, he couldn’t help but notice
the looks exchanged between the others.
What, did they think he wasn’t going to live to see thirty? Wow, way to be optimistic, guys. Well, he would show them. He wasn’t going to let the cancer take his
life, oh hells no. He was gonna beat
Ewing’s sarcoma’s bitch ass. Yeah… take
that…
Sure… right… as if he really had any control. Like it or not, he couldn’t help but admit
that he really had no say in what happened to him. His future now lay in God’s hands alone, and
only He could decide whether Nick would win the fight for his life… or lose it.
***