Chapter 7:

 

This is Practice?

The Backstreet Boys completed a few more jumps to the satisfaction of the stage manager, then went back to the dressing rooms to change into their regular clothing. They met at the stage of the arena with the band and settled down to do some serious rehearsal. Unfortunately, the practice didn’t go as smoothly as the jumps. The sound system kept cutting off, lights came on and went off at the wrong time, the dancers and the boys kept colliding with each other. A break was called, and everyone sighed with relief. The crew left the stage, but the guys sat down on the stage floor, too tired to move.

They looked at each other in dismay, disgusted with the way things were going.

Kevin sat cross-legged on the floor, trying to massage a stiff neck. "Still no chairs," he commented dryly.

"Man, this sucks!" Nick lay back on the floor, covering his eyes with the palms of his hands. "We suck!"

"Speak for yourself, Frack," said Brian, irritated.

"Hey, I wasn’t the one who kept running into everyone!"

"Well, maybe if a certain idiot would move his butt when he’s suppose to, I wouldn’t have!"

"Guys...," warned Kevin, seeing where this was going, but was cut off by Nick.

"Me?" argued Nick, now propped up on his elbows. "Me? Hey, I seem to remember some other "idiots" not moving in sync!"

AJ and Howie turned to look at Nick, then at each other, and began to snicker at Nick’s unintentional reference. The rest caught on and the tension evaporated as they began to laugh, howling at the absurdity of it.

"Nick," gasped Kevin, "I don’t think I ever want to be in-SYNC. I’m not gay."

They all cracked up, laughing even harder at Kevin’s joke.

"Hey, NSYNC isn’t so bad. I’ve got one in my bathroom," Howie added, looking sideways at Nick, who had collapsed on the floor, the others also in assorted stages of deterioration. Various times they tried to stop the laughter, only to be taken up again in a sudden spasm of hilarity.

Finally the laughter died down, and AJ flopped onto back, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "Damn. I needed that."

Brian nodded, unable to speak. He watched as AJ, exhausted, struggled unsuccessfully to sit up, then fall. This set Brian off and he double over again in laughter, causing the rest to join in.

"Oh God," moaned Nick, trying desperately to stop his laughter. "Please, please, I can’t take..."

After what seemed like an eternity to them, they were able to quiet down, a few sighs and groans escaping occasionally. Nick seemed the worst for wear and began hiccuping. Howie took pity and managed to get up and walked over to the cooler, fishing out bottled waters for the guys. Passing them out, he sat down next to Kevin, then rolled the ice-cold bottle on his neck. Howie twisted the cap off and just as he was taking a sip, the electricity went out, leaving the arena in complete darkness. Each guy froze in surprise, hearing cursing and yelling from the crew as they shouted for everyone to be calm and that they would have the lights on in a minute.

They sat in the dark, unable to see, not sure what to do. The guys heard Kevin cleared his throat then speak in a mock-serious tone. "God, just imagine what Brian would have done if the lights had gone out when he was coming down the rope."

"He woulda shit in his pants," replied Nick with certainty.

"Ha, ha," came back Brian’s sour reply. Suddenly inspired, he took a huge sip of his water, then aimed at what he hoped was Nick’s head. A yell of shocked surprise announced his success but it was short lived as Nick returned the favor. Brian took another cold swig and sprayed again, but missed, and he heard Howie swear.

"Whoever that was, your are so dead," informed Howie and he shot a stream, hoping it hit its target. A roar came from AJ.

"D," growled AJ, and Howie felt AJ jump up, searching, hunting for his arm, trying to grab him so he could dump the rest of his bottle onto Howie’s head. In the darkness, AJ tripped and fell into Kevin. Kevin immediately doused AJ with his bottle water and AJ tried unsuccessfully to return the favor, attempting to dump his down Kevin’s waistband. An uproar followed, and whatever water was left began flying everywhere, yells of payback promised, as each Backstreet Boy did their best to soak each other.

The lights suddenly glared back to life, blinding them, and they stopped, blinking owlishly at each other. Gaining his eyesight first, Nick made a mad dash for the cooler, frantically grabbing any water bottles he could and ripping off the caps. AJ and Brian followed quickly behind, shoving each other in order to get to the cold bottles first. Laughing gleefully, Nick drenched them, and they endured it, each struggling to open their own caps. Coming up from behind, Kevin and Howie tackled Nick. Kevin held Nick in a tight armlock, screaming for Brian to nail him. Brian smiled wickedly as he came up to Nick, then lunged instead at Kevin, grabbing the back of Kevin’s shirt and dumping the cold water down his back. Kevin swore, "You little shit," and released Nick, chasing after his cousin.

Howie and AJ turned to watch Kevin pursue Brian around the stage, forgetting about Nick. Now released, Nick rushed over to the cooler searching for more bottles. Noticing none left, he picked up the cooler itself and came up behind the two unsuspecting backs, pouring the freezing slush of ice and water over their heads.

Howie was sure he had a heart attack. The coldness stunned him and he barely heard AJ screaming profanities of an extreme nature. He turned around to see Nick tossing the cooler away and he tried to lunge for Nick’s shirt, an arm, anything so he could beat the little asshole senseless. Instead, he slipped, and feeling himself fall, seized the nearest thing for support – which was AJ. As if in slow motion, they both wobbled, trying valiantly to stay upright, but failed miserably. They landed onto the ground in a spectacular crash of tangled arms and legs. Kevin and Brian stopped and rushed over to them, forgetting their chase. Both guys had their eyes closed and Brian bent down anxiously to examine them.

"D? Bone? You guys okay?"

"Brian?’’ asked AJ weakly, moaning.

"Yes?" Brian leaned in closer.

"Is Nick near you?"

"I’m right here AJ," Nick said nervously. "Are you all right?"

AJ’s eyes popped open. "I will be, after I kill you." AJ jumped up easily, surprising them. "Run," he warned Nick, and by the look on AJ’s face, Nick needed no further prodding. He vaulted easily off the stage, running up the aisles with AJ hot in pursuit.

"Paybacks a bitch!" hollered Howie as Kevin and Brian helped him up from the ground.

The yells of Nick and AJ echoed into the hallways of the arena as the stage manager looked up to where the other three Backstreet Boys stood. They were soaked from head to foot, completely disheveled, and grinning like mad. The manager walked over and hopped onto the stage to inspect the damage. Except for a lot of water, there didn’t seem to be any real harm and that was good, because he would have had to strangle them if there had been.

"Hey, Sam," the three acknowledged uncomfortably.

"Hey, yourself," he replied sourly. "All done?"

The three Backstreet Boys looked at each other.

"Yeah."

"Well, good. Cause I’m gonna make you guys clean up this mess, comprende?

" They nodded, indicating yes.

Sam turned to a stage crew who had appeared. "Go get as many towels as you can find. And, oh yeah. Find Nick and AJ too. I want them here right now."

***

 

 

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