JC woke up surprised to find Justin
starting a fire. He looked around to see that the other guys were still asleep.
He propped himself up on his elbow, watching Justin curiously. He took in the
dark circles under Justin's eyes and looked at his best friend worriedly.
Justin always worried ten times worse than the rest of them when it came to
personal issues. JC only wondered what it was that was bothering him so much.
"Hey, JuJu. What are you doing up
already?"
Justin shrugged, still working on the
fire. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to get up and start doing
something."
JC smiled. "There must be something
funny in that rice."
"Huh?"
"Nothin'. How do you think
Backstreet's doing?"
Justin shrugged, still concentrating on
starting the fire. "I don't know. Who cares?"
"Justin..."
"What?" Justin asked, looking up
annoyed. "What did I do now?"
"This isn't you and you know it
isn't."
"Excuse me for not being
Mary-Freaking-Sunshine."
JC looked at Justin. "Something's
bothering you for you to act this way."
Justin looked back down at the swirls of
smoke beginning to form, knowing JC was right. Why did JC always have to be
right? He must've been born with the I'm-always-going-to-be-right-gene.
"Why have you been acting like you
don't care when you know a part of you does?" JC asked, looking at the
young man in front of him. Justin had to be the most sensitive and nicest guy
out of them all. The Justin he had been seeing lately was nothing compared to
the Justin that he knew. The Justin he knew had made a rare appearance the
night of Tribal Council.
"Beeeeeecause,"
Justin drew out, "......just because," he finished, changing his mind
about answering. He knew there was no point in drawing out the discussion. He
didn't know what he was thinking trying to hide anything from JC. He should
just give up and answer him now. JC was going to get it out of him eventually.
He always did. The
bastard.
"Curly-"
"How long are you gonna bug me if I
don't tell you?"
"Until you tell me."
Justin laughed, jumping up. He had finally
gotten the fire started. He looked at JC, smiling, a gleam of happiness shining
from his blue eyes. JC was looking at him with a small smile on his face, but
his eyebrows were raised with concern. Justin shook his head. JC never knew
just when to give up.
" 'Cause of Nick, that's why.
Something about that guy just really bothers me. I don't know what it is. He
doesn't seem too concerned with us, so why I should I let him know if I'm
concerned with them?"
JC laughed, talking in a high pitched,
motherly voice. "And if Nickolas jumps off the bridge, are you gonna jump
off, too?"
Justin turned around regretably.
"Fine, make fun of me."
JC jogged over to Justin, wrapping his arm
around his neck. "Justin, I'm just teasing you," he said, giving
Justin a noogie.
"Stop!" Justin yelled, squirming
his way out of JC's strong grasp.
"Justin, all I'm trying to say is
that this isn't you. Don't let Nick Carter change you because then he really
wins and you lose."
"Thanks for the pep talk. When can I
send another problem to your column, Dear JC?"
JC rolled his eyes and rubbed his hand
over the thick stubble on his face. "I still keep trying to figure out
exactly where it all went wrong with us. You would think that with the way the
media hounds us and criticizes us for being "boybands" that we would
stick together to ride this out. But, no, we turn against each other and do to
each other
what the media does. Insult
ourselves."
"You're right," Justin agreed.
"When we say anything that even insinuates the Backstreet Boys have no
talent or vice versa, we're in a way talking about ourselves. We're, in a way,
saying that boybands aren't going to last."
"How can we?" another voice
spoke up.
JC and Justin turned to see Chris yawning.
"How are we gonna survive when we're stupidly volunteering to abandon
ourselves on an island trying to survive against our rivals? We're gonna be
like the dinosaurs," Chris smiled. "We're all going to DIE!"
Chris yelled playfully. "We're going to be extinct, and they're gonna have
museums dedicated to us. 'Here,'," Chris said in a museum director voice,
" 'is NSYNC. It's rumored they didn't survive because the Backstreet Boys
literally decided to 'tear up their hearts.' The Backstreet Boys apparently
didn't realize that it was just a song'," Chris finished, laughing.
"Chris, you're gross."
"Love to chat, but I'm still
tired," Chris said, repositioning himself back to sleep. "Try not to
be loud, PEOPLE!"
JC and Justin smiled. Chris was too much
sometimes.
"You know," Justin said in a low
voice, "I was kinda worried about Backstreet last night. I was remembering
how it was when we went through tribal council. Hell, man. True hell. I never
thought that anything could split us up."
"Hey, just physically," JC said,
following Justin to the shoreline. "Joe's here in spirit."
"Spirit? He's here in more than just
spirit. I can still smell him." Justin smiled. "I miss him."
"I know; me, too."
They both looked at each other. "But
we won't tell him that," JC laughed.
"Definitely not," Justin said,
laughing with him. "I wonder what he's doing right now."
JC smiled. "If he's not out dancing
somewhere, he's flirting with some girl, and if he's not doing that-"
"If he's not doing that, then he's
shopping himself into more of a fashion disaster than he already is."
JC started laughing. "Alex, I'll take
A, B, and C for $500."
Justin smiled, biting his bottom lip.
"Man, I miss Joey," Justin laughed lightly. "What do you think
they're putting in the water out here?"
"I don't know, but it can't be
good."
"I have a feeling that Howie was the
one who had to leave," Justin said out of nowhere.
JC made a face. "That sucks. He's the
one I like."
"I know. He's the only one I can
stand. They should've sent Nick off the island. Frickety-Frack-Frack.....whatever
they call him. He needs to go home already."
JC shook his head. He knew if he waited
long enough, Justin would bring up Nick. He wondered if Nick was the same way
with his friends about Justin.
"Probably," JC muttered.
"What?"
JC shook his head. "Nothing, man. Why
don't you and Nick get along? I
understand the competition between our
groups, but you and Nick have had some personal vendetta concerning just the
two of you for years now. What's that all about?"
Justin shook his head. He imagined that Nick
had never told his friends the way he had never told his own why they held such
a high dislike for each other. It was Nick's business and Justin wanted to keep
it that way. Justin hated lying to the guys, so what he did was just not answer
their questions directly.
"Why does there have to be a
reason?" Justin answered. Justin smiled warmly as he thought about the
prank that he and Chris were going to pull on Nick. He was done letting Nick
Carter make his life a hell. "Since when does there have to be a reason
for anything that you do?"
--
"Whatcha doin, Frack?"
Nick looked up from the crashing waves to
see a concerned Kevin staring down at him. Nick smiled. He could swear that
Kevin could list "worrying over Nick" as a hobby.
If Nick miraculously woke up one day
without any problems, Kevin would probably make one up for him just so that he
could continue to worry about him. Kevin would probably go crazy if Nick
actually ever figured out how to solve his own problems. Nick smiled as he
realized how lucky he was.
"Nothin, Train. Just looking at the
water."
"It doesn't run on batteries,
Nick," AJ said, walking by them. "The water rolls that way because
God wants them to. They're called waves," AJ joked.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Lame, AJ.
Majorly lame. Negative 10 points. Try again later."
Kevin sat down next to Nick. "Are you
sure that nothing's wrong?"
"Kev, what are you going to do the
day I finally grow up?"
Brian walked by them and started laughing.
"Hey, AJ, did you hear that? Nick thinks he's gonna grow up...."
Nick smiled, shaking his head. It didn't
matter how old they got, they were always going to see him as the baby. He
smiled. He was okay with that. Sometimes. Sometimes he was okay with that.
Other times he wanted to jump off of buildings. Really high buildings. Or
better yet, he wanted to throw them off of really high buildings.
"I'm fine, Kevin, really," Nick
said, squinting at Kevin. The sun was shining brightly behind him.
"Is it Justin?"
Nick looked away from Kevin and rolled his
eyes. "Why does everything have to be about Justin?" Nick spat out.
Kevin laughed. "It's about Justin. Is
there somethin' goin' on between you two we should know about? You two fight
more than you and Mandy do."
"And that's saying a lot," AJ
muttered, walking by them again.
Nick turned around to shoot AJ a glare,
and AJ smiled back to him.
"Yeah, and except Justin
GRADUATED," AJ laughed, walking faster away from Nick. He figured if Nick
jumped up to beat him down, he should at least have a head start to get a good
run in.
Nick was about to jump up when Kevin put a
hand on his shoulder to push him back down. Kevin giggled, trying to keep down
his laughter. "You know he's just trying to get you mad, Nicky. Ignore
him."
Nick relaxed, flipping the small bangs
that found their way to his forehead. His blue eyes surveyed the calm waters in
front of him and he wondered what Mandy was doing at that moment.
"It's a big ocean, Nick. And a big
world. Lots of other girls out there who are worth your time."
Nick didn't bother to turn to look at
Kevin. He hated how Kevin could read his thoughts. He hated it even more when
Kevin tried to give him advice about Mandy. Why couldn't everyone just accept
that he loved her? It's not like they were the ones who went home to her.
"Enemy coming!" Brian yelled,
trying to talk like a pirate. "Argh!"
Nick looked in the direction that Brian
was pointing to and saw two figures walking in their direction. He could
instantly tell that one of them was Justin. The huge shade his mop was casting
on the ground made him sure of that much. He couldn't tell who the other one
was. It was either JC or Chris.
"It's the love in Nick's life who
actually has an education!" AJ laughed, jumping around. "Nick, just
when you thought your day couldn't get any better."
Nick calmly looked at AJ. "At least
Mandy isn't getting kicked out of groups that already suck and isn't making
porn videos."
AJ suddenly turned serious. "She
didn't make a porn video, and you know it. That was a rumor."
Nick calmly kicked the sand with his foot.
"Lay off Mandy and I'll lay off of Amanda," Nick said, walking by AJ
with a small smile on his face.
What pissed AJ off more than someone
yelling and insulting him or anyone close to him was someone calmly insulting
him or anyone close to him. It was the smugness that got to AJ.
"Guys, that's enough," Kevin
interrupted tiredly. "We don't want them to see us fighting.....so chill
out."
AJ put on a tight, fake smile as they got
closer. "Sure, sweetheart."
--
"Man, I can't believe we walked this
far," JC said, seeing Backstreet's camp come into view.
"I don't see why we can't just turn
around," Justin whined again.
"Because, they've already seen us. We
can't just turn around and go back. It's rude."
"And? So we're rude. You're mom isn't
here to ground you, JC."
"Curly, are you going to make me drag
you by the ear?"
Justin rolled his eyes. "I'm not 12,
you know."
"That's right," JC said,
snapping his fingers. "You just turned, what? 14?"
"Hey guys," Brian smiled,
greeting them. "What brings you guys over here?"
Kevin looked at them wearily. "Please
tell me that you don't have some sort of challenge with you."
"Puh-puh-puh-puhleeeeeeeeeeease,"
Brian pleaded, batting his eyelashes.
JC laughed. "No, there's no
challenge. Me and Justin were just walking and talking, and we ended up further
out than we realized."
Everyone looked at Justin who hadn't said
a word. He was stubbornly staring out into the water.
JC gently nudged Justin and he refused to
turn around. He wanted to mutter to him to say hi, but he knew they would hear
him. He continued to talk to Brian, trying to get a way for Justin to talk. He
even pretended to sway his foot back and forth and kicked Justin a few times.
Nothing. JC suddenly smiled, knowing what would get Justin talking again.
"Yeah, Justin was just saying last
night that he wanted to come and see you guys to make sure that you were okay
after last night. He even secretly hoped that Nick would stay. Little buddy
said he would miss Nick if he had to leave."
Nick looked at Justin weirdly and Justin
finally broke his blue gaze with the water to sharply turn to look at JC.
"You lying freak!"
"Justin, it's okay to admit-"
"To admit what? That you said that it
was a joke that they let Brian put a song on their album about his mom?"
JC turned to Justin. Damn. He should have
known better than to try to push Justin. He had been in a crappy mood all day.
"What?" Brian asked, clenching
his jaw.
Kevin looked at all of them. Wouldn't they
ever get along? Someone always had to say something....
"I didn't mean it like that," JC
said, turning to Brian after shooting a million daggers in Justin's direction.
They didn't seem to be piercing him anywhere, so JC made a mental note to beat
the crap out of him later. It wasn't exactly smart for Justin to try to start
something with the Backstreet Boys when they were outnumbered by two. And shit,
Kevin was big.
"So what did you mean?" Brian
asked, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry if I prefer to write a song praising
my mother for the love she's given me instead of a song that publicizes my
sexual frustration because I can't get laid by my girlfriend everytime I want."
JC also clenched his jaw. He wasn't going
to fight with them. They were all uptight because Howie was gone and they
needed to take it out on someone. He remembered how he felt the day after Joey
left.
"Can't we just get along?" Nick
asked. He seemed to stop to think. "Okay, scratch that. Someone please
slap me silly."
"Can I do it?" Justin asked,
raising his hand.
Nick looked at Justin annoyed. His curls
were going everywhere. Nick wondered how many gallons of gel Justin had to use
to control the frizz from hell. Hell, it had to take concrete to keep that head
from attacking innocent bystanders.
"Sure, you can do it," Nick
tightly smiled, "if you want to go cross-eyed and crazy."
Justin waved his fingers in front of him.
"Oooh....I'm scaaaared."
"I would be too if I had that on my
head."
"What's the matter? Missing your
Barbie Doll, Nickyyyyyy?" Justin taunted.
"It's your girlfriend who's filled
with plastic, Timberfuck."
JC put his arm across Justin's chest to
keep him from advancing.
"Why do you always have to dump on
Brit for?" Justin asked annoyed.
Nick laughed. "That's a no-brainer,
Justin."
"Then that explains why you know the
answer."
Nick lost his smile. "Because it
pisses you off, loser."
Justin knew he shouldn't say what he was
about to say. Everything in his head was telling him not to, but he wouldn't
listen to himself. It was like when you were beyond the point of being mad and
you just wanted to say whatever you could to hurt the other person. Justin
could foresee how bad he was going to feel after saying what he was going to
say, but all that did was make him hesitate. And the words were out before he
could even second guess himself.
"I may be a loser, but I at least I'm
a loser who has my family there. They're not all trying to squeeze money out of
me or transferring from one side of the country to another while I pay millions
of dollars on their homes OR trying to turn my baby brothers into overnight
superstars," Justin spat out angrily.
Nick's eyes widened a little and the the three remaining Backstreet Boys crowded around Nick
protectively. Even JC's eyes widened at Justin's remark. It was so cold, JC
couldn't believe that Justin had let the words escape his mouth.
"Listen you little son of a
bit-"
JC cut Kevin off. "Where in the hell
do you get off? Listen, you damn dinosaur, you're about a century older than
Justin. I'm tired of you always trying to fight Nick's fights for him. You have
to know what it's like to live with a 19 year old. What's Nick's temper like,
huh, Kevin?"
Kevin looked at JC irritably. JC was
beginning to annoy the crap out of him.
"What does Nick's temper have to do
with anything?"
Kevin looked at Nick and noticed that he
seemed to be staring at Justin strangely. He had surprisingly still not said a
word.
"The way Nick acts has everything to
do with this. Justin and Nick are still young and immature. What kind of man
are you if you're going to pick a fight with a kid like Justin?" JC asked,
looking at him like he was crazy. "You're like 30. You're a full decade
older than Justin, so you should know better than to get worked up over
anything that he says. Like you weren't like that when you were his age?"
"What makes you think you're always
right?"
AJ looked between Kevin and JC. It was
like they were looking in mirrors.
"You think you know everything,"
Kevin said, annoyed.
"And like you don't," AJ
muttered. He turned away as he saw Kevin giving him a look. "Interesting
trees they have out here," AJ said, looking around.
Kevin turned back to JC. "Nick's
family is none of Justin's business."
"Just like whatever Justin and Nick
are fighting about is none of yours."
Kevin was beginning to understand how
crazy he made the guys when he thought his word was it and when he was
convinced that he knew what he was talking about.
"You're a low life son of a
bitch."
Everyone turned to Nick surprised. It was
the first thing he had said since Justin's outburst. Justin tried to look at
Nick unfazed. The truth was that what Nick said was true. Justin was already
feeling lower than low, but he refused to let Nick know that.
"Am I? Thanks for that, Nick. Now I
can die happy."
"Oh, you can die alright."
JC saw that Kevin was about to get into
it, but he raised his hand. He hoped that Kevin would just let them do whatever
it was they were going to do. They needed to get over their anger already
because it was getting crazy.
"Like your family's so perfect,
Justin. Your father left your mother and didn't really come back into your life
until he heard the cash register go ca-ching. So you
think my family's fucked up? Yeah, we must be really messed up, huh, Justin? A
bunch of weirdos for my parents to still be together. But I'm not as lucky as
you are. They're not split up to where my father can pop kids out with other
women. I don't have step brothers and sisters popping up all over the
place."
Justin clenched his jaw. He deserved that
and he knew it, but he wasn't about to let Nick talk about his family that way.
"You're still upset about Mandy,
aren't you?"
The guys all looked at Justin and Nick
confused. Kevin got even more confused as he saw Nick's face turn red. Mandy?
What had Justin said about Mandy?
"That was years ago, Nick. I'm telling
you, I didn't know she was your
girlfriend."
"What?" AJ asked, confused. What
in the world were they talking about?
"Don't you dare mention Mandy,"
Nick spit out.
Brian was lost. He looked at the other
guys faces to see if they knew what was going on, but they were all gaping at
Nick and Justin. They looked like a bunch of retards just staring at them.
"What are you guys talking
about?" Brian asked.
Justin sighed. "I never told anyone,
you know. That was your business. I'm not as horrible as you try to make me out
to be."
"You knew damn well who she
was."
"I'm telling you, I didn't!"
Justin yelled frustrated.
"How would you feel if I went after
Britney, huh?" Nick challenged. "I could help her out where you're
lacking."
JC looked at Justin. He didn't know that
Justin had it in him to turn purple. But there he was. A regular rainbow,
turning red, blue, purple, and green.
"Hey, can you do orange?" Brian
asked, trying to lighten the situation. They continued to ignore him.
"For the last time, I didn't know WHO
she was! I don't track down your
girlfriends, Nick. And what does it matter
if I did know who she was, Nick? She came to me. You were obviously not doing
something right, so she came to me where I could."
Before Nick could think, he reached out
and pushed Justin, forcing Justin to rush into the ground. Everyone sort of
froze as Justin watched Nick and Nick watched Justin.
Justin stood up and dusted himself off,
shaking his head.
"I thought you were better than that,
Carter, but hell, I've been wrong before."
Nick and Justin stared each other down as
their friends watched in suspense.
"Good thing you know when you're
wrong," Nick said simply and walked away.
Brian started after him immediately.
"Frack?"
Kevin caught his cousin. "Stop. Just
leave him alone for now. He needs to be alone."
But he hadn't even glanced at Brian as he
spoke. He was still staring at JC and Justin unwavering in his gaze.
"Are you two done here? Or do you
have any more Jerry Springer secrets up your sleeve?"
"Kevin, I didn't even know," JC
began annoyed. "This is news to me."
"I don't care," Kevin snapped.
"Take your brat and go. I think it might be time for Lance to give him his
bottle."
Justin's head snapped up.
"Bottle?"
"Hey, if I'm a dinosaur, then you're
a freakin' fetus. Get the hell out of here," Kevin muttered and turned to
see Nick's figure getting smaller in the distance.
JC rolled his eyes. "Real mature,
Kev. Now that all this crap is out in the open, these two should find a way to
make some peace, don't you think? Like you want Nick carrying around all that
anger."
"Oh, I'm not down for peace,"
Justin said.
Kevin's stomach churned. Didn't these guys
understand English? What part of fucking go away didn't they understand? He
sucked in air, and was about to let him have it when Justin caught his eye.
The kid looked beyond pathetic with guilt,
regret, exhaustion and God only knew what else written all over his face. It
was a look he'd seen many times on Nick.
"So you fucked Mandy?" AJ asked
shaking his head solemnly. "Well, well. If the girl had actually taken
high school health, she would have known better. Isn't that the class where
they teach you not to fuck feather dusters?"
"Shut the hell up," Justin
snapped, but he was more annoyed than angry. He was wishing he hadn't even
woken up that morning.
"JC, are you done here? We have a lot
of work to do being that we're one member short today," Kevin finally
said.
"Yeah, um, we know," JC said.
"Howie left?"
"No," Brian smiled. "He's
here. He's just using his cyber-crusder super powers
to make himself invisible."
JC rolled his eyes.
These guys were too angry to even begin to
deal with the reality he, Justin and Chris had recognized earlier that morning.
But he didn't really blame them. They were the same way when Joey left.
"Let's go, Justin."
AJ and Brian were starting back to their
breakfast. Kevin was right. They did have a lot to do.
But Kevin himself had put that in the back
of his mind and was too concerned with his little brother. Justin did not
deserve his sympathy even for a second. He was not Nick.
"JC," he called just as the
latter turned to follow Justin.
"What?"
"Keep Justin far away from Nick. I
think what happened here today is way past anything we're supposed to be doing
on the island."
"Fine."
Kevin stepped toward him because he wasn't
finished. "Any more problems, and he'll deal with me."
JC rolled his eyes. "See? This is why
he never grows up, and he never will."
"No," Kevin said, right in JC's
nose. "This is why he knows he's not alone."
"Fine. Look, whatever. You get off on
solving Doughboy's problems and threatening a 19-year-old, that's you're
problem. I don't give a flying fuck."
Kevin felt his patience snap. He even
heard it.
He narrowed his eyes at him, and JC still
didn't waver.
"When you have gone through an ounce
of the shit we've gone through, then you can pass judgment on what's right and
wrong," Kevin began calmly enough, his arms crossing his chest. "When
you have actually paid some dues and worked to get something for yourselves, instead
of riding our fucking coat tails, then you can tell me who's problems to solve.
When you have seen these guys go through the hell that I have," his voice
rose as he leaned so close to JC that the other man had to lean back. AJ and
Brian were running back to them. "You can open your trap and say
something. When your cousin has had heart surgery, and your best friends have
lost part of their families, and you have seen that kid," he pointed
toward where Nick had disappeared. "Grow up in that hell he calls a family
and make it, then you can call me a meddlesome dinosaur. In the meantime, take
your phony, two-bit, sorry-ass out of my sight!"
JC finally blinked and took a step away
from Kevin's glaring green eyes.
Kevin pressed a smile. Sometimes, size was
everything.
--
"You should have said
something," JC said after he and Justin had walked in silence for what
seemed like an hour but had only been a few minutes.
It had taken JC that long to stop fuming.
Justin just seemed stunned into silence.
"It would have been nice if I had
known what kind of crap went down with you, Nick and the drop out."
"Why?" Justin finally asked.
"So you could have been understanding? So you could have given me
advice." He shrugged. "Don't fuckin' bother."
That threw JC back. "You're mad at
me? What did I do?"
"I'm not mad," Justin muttered.
"Yeah you are. You're giving me lip,
and I didn't even do anything. I had to put up with Kevin's bad breath while he
gave me sermon about Backstreet hardships. I don't care. I could have given him
a list of our shit, too. But I didn't. I'm not carrying around that kind of
chip on my shoulder."
Justin shrugged. "Good for you."
He knew he shouldn't have been irritating JC. He really wasn't mad at him as
much as just mad. He had opened his big mouth about something he had promised
himself he'd take to his grave. He really didn't feel guilty for getting
involved with Mandy. He had done it blindly, with zero bad intentions involved.
But he felt guilty for opening the whole can of worms to both groups. In spite
of his own attempts at independence and self-reliance, he knew how the guys
felt about him. He was the little one, the kid brother, the baby. And he was
almost sure Backstreet looked at Nick the exact same way if not more so. Nick
always seemed more lost than himself, and he didn't even think that was humanly
possible.
After pretty much ignoring JC the rest of
the way home, Justin ended up walking alone. He figured he pretty much deserved
it, but he was too mad to talk to anyone about all of that. Things were better
when they were just between Nick and him. They knew exactly what they were
fighting over.
Now Kevin wanted to kill him, which meant
that Chris would want to kill Kevin. Maybe it would take Chris and Lance to
kill Kevin? He was kinda big there. JC and Howie would probably go at it, or
would that be JC and Brian? Or did AJ have to fight JC because of the two
letter names? He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that thing had taken a turn
for the worst.
"-fucked Mandy??? You go there,
JuJu!" Chris was saying when Justin finally walked up.
"You told them?" Justin whined.
"You already told them everything?"
"Yeah he told us," Lance said
shaking his head. "You should have said something."
"Why?" Justin asked tiredly.
"So we could have thrown you a
party," Chris grinned. "You scored one with the tone-deaf
drop-out." He started imitating a sports announcer. "Justin
Timberlake, you just slept with Nick Carter's girlfriend, and now Fatty himself
hates you for life. What are you gonna do?"
They all just stared at him.
"I'm going to
Justin shook his head and started back
toward the water. Maybe he could drown himself.
He felt a tug at his T-shirt that stopped
him mid-step.
"Guys," Lance said not letting
go of Justin. "I think that's something that's going to have to be left
between Nick and Justin. It's their fight and--."
"That's what I thought," JC
said. "But you know, Kevin, and he immediately made threats on Justin's
life."
"He did?"
"Really?"
JC shrugged. "Sorta. He said that any
more problems and he'd be the one dealing with Justin, so what does that mean
to you? I think we shouldn't make things worse, but we're going to have to
really stick together from now on."
Chris nodded and Lance had to agree.
"Yeah," Lance said. "That's
a good idea."
Justin stared at the floor and didn't even
want to hear it. Brotherly support wasn't really what he wanted. He just wanted
some time alone.
"Did he scare you, Curly?" Chris
asked at the kid's silence. "Don't worry. We won't let him beat you to
death with those over-grown caterpillars on his face." He raised his
eyebrows and smiled.
"Not scared," Justin said and
pulled out of Lance's reach. "Just need some time, okay?"
"What? Why? You feeling guilty about
screwing Mandy?" Chris laughed. "I can't believe you never told us.
You just held on to that and didn't--."
"No one said anything about
screwing," Justin finally spat. "You guys don't even know what
happened."
"So what happened?"
Justin gave him the most annoyed look he
could come up with. "I already told you that I just need some time. Why
don't you just shut up and--."
"All right, fine," JC said.
"You don't have to tell us anything, bro. Chris is just messin' with you. Go. Go walk around or whatever you need
to do."
Now Justin was glaring at JC instead of at
Chris.
"Don't tell me what to do," he
said. "It's not like I don't already have enough shit to deal
with--."
"Fine," JC said seriously.
"Go deal with your shit."
Justin blinked at him surprised at the
tone, the words, everything.
But JC was just out of patience. He was
not a saint or a peacemaker, and he was not going to start treating Justin the
way Kevin treated Nick. Never.
"Assholes," he muttered before
walking away toward the water.
"Great, now you made him mad,"
Chris said. "Who's going to be the cute one, now? Not Fatone or either one
of you two."
Lance actually laughed.
"Will you two stop being stupid, and
be serious for once?" JC finally blew up. "This is serious."
The two of them stared at him. Lance knew
how hard it was to make JC lose his patience, so he decided just to make things
right.
"Sorry," Lance said. "I'll
go talk to Justin. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"It's not serious," Chris said.
"It just finally makes sense. Those two have hated each other for years,
and it's over a girl. Isn't it better than it being over who's got more fans,
who's got whiter teeth or who's in the better band? A girl," Chris said
satisfied. "I can identify with that. Hell, I can even understand that. The
other way, I just thought that they found out they were twins separated at
birth, and Nick was pissed because Justin got the cool mom."
JC shook his head. "That's the other
thing. Justin threw it in Nick's face that his family's so screwed up. That's
what made Kevin get so pissed. We all understand the rivalry now, but Justin's
words turned everything into hate. You know how Kevin is with his boys."
"Oh the ape got mad over that?"
Chris shrugged. "How were things when you left?"
"Nick took off by himself, and the
guys were adjusting to life without Howie. Pretty much like us."
"So Howie left? Figures they'd get
rid of the only one that ever makes any sense."
JC gave him a look before heading toward
their messy camp. Things were always a mess, and he was always cleaning them
up. Sometimes, he wondered why he put up with the lot of them. Chris always
wanted to make a joke out of everything. Justin was always in some kind of
melodrama. Joey always wanted to have fun, and Lance just wanted to stay out of
the way.
He was picking up the coconut shells they
had used as breakfast bowls when Chris started to help him.
"Justin will figure all of this
out," he said seriously. "He's a smart kid, and I'm sure whatever he
said to Nicky boy was out of anger. Besides, it's not like Nick's an innocent
victim of Justin's wrath. He gives shit, now he has to take it. He knows that.
If things get out of hand with Kevin, you know we'll be there. But I don't
think that's going to happen."
"Why? What makes you so sure?"
"Because Kevin thinks. He just
doesn't react. He probably lost his temper when you were all talking, but he
knows he wants to walk away from here with a whole group. Right now, he's
probably consoling Nicky boy and trying to find a way to get the guys to focus
on the competition."
JC shook his head unsure.
"Just how much you wanna lose, bro? I
know what I'm talking about."
JC knew better than to bet with him.
"You never pay up. Go wash the dishes."
--
Things were so quiet without Howie.
Not that he made a lot of noise when he
was around, but there were more of them around, and they had all been in better
moods, so things were just quiet. Too quiet.
"Nick back yet?" Brian asked as
he settled a bunch of drift wood in front of their dying fire.
"No," Kevin said squinting in
the direction they last saw him walk off. "He'll be here soon."
"It's getting late," Bri noted.
"You should have let me go with him."
Kevin shook his head as he measured out
the rice they'd be having for dinner.
"He needs to deal. He'll be back when
he's ready. If anyone knows how to take care of himself out here, it's
him."
"Yeah Kev, but you know he's
upset," Brian said. "You know he's out there thinking about Mandy,
him mom and Justin and--."
"And he can deal, Brian. There's nothing
to new to the story for him. It's just new to us. And if anything that's what
he's having a hard time with. The fact that we all know what he's always tried
to keep from us out of embarrassment. When he comes back, we're normal. Got
it?"
Brian was nodding. Kevin always made sense
when it came to Nick. He was going to have faith in him and believe that this
time was no different.
"Okay, fine. Where's Bone?"
"He went to check if we had any new
messages. The day's half done and we haven't heard anything about a challenge
or anything."
"Maybe they're giving us a
break?"
Kevin shook his head. "I almost hope
not. I'd like to get off the island as soon as humanly possible."
"Having doubts, cuz?" Brian
asked. "Don't worry, those next challenges are ours. Easy."
He sounded so confident. It was funny how
he could be so concerned about Nick, yet so sure about the challenges. It was
the other way around for Kevin.
"Guys!!!" AJ yelled jogging up
the beach toward them. "We got one! We got one!"
"Great," Kevin muttered.
"Here!" AJ breathed hard.
"Read it, Kev."
"You didn't read it, Bone?"
Brian asked as Kevin unwrapped the little scroll. "I would've."
He caught his breath just as Kevin began
to read.
"Dinner's served. Dinner's served for
the band who wins the following reward challenge. Both teams compete in
"Finish the Song." Winning band wins a pizza buffet dinner. Bring
your appetite and your pop music knowledge."
AJ's mouth watered. "Pizza? Guys, we
have to win this. I'm starved."
"Me too," Brian said. "I
could use some pizza right about now. Imagine all that melted cheese?"
"Think it'll have mushrooms?"
They turned at the sound of Nick's voice.
"I don't know if it's all this rice,
but I've been craving mushrooms," he said with a shrug.
"Hey Frack," Kevin greeted easily.
"It doesn't say anything about mushrooms, but it does mention a
buffet."
Nick touched his stomach. "Good. I'm
hungry now. Are we going?"
"I think we should," Kevin said.
"It doesn't mention a time, but let's just go."
He stole a good look at Nick just to make
sure he was okay. He looked a little tired, but then again they all did. But
JC's words hadn't been lost on Kevin, and he was holding back just a bit. Part
of him had wanted to immediately search the kid for damage. But he didn't. He
knew they had a challenge to win. And forget the pizza. Forget the reward. He
wanted to win out of pride.
"Let's go, guys. My stomach's eating
itself I'm so starved," AJ said.
Nick passed up Brian and Kevin to catch up
with Bone. He didn't really want to be with either of the cousins because he
was barely past feeling vulnerable. Either one of them would just bring
everything back.
"You okay?" AJ asked as they
hurried to the main beach where their prior challenges had been.
"Yeah," Nick shrugged.
"It's fine. You guys know about Justin and Mandy. So what? Even before
this, she could find the cure for world hunger and everyone would still hate
her."
"That's true," AJ said honestly
enough. "But if she made you happy, we wouldn't care."
Nick sighed deeply, and AJ let the matter
drop.
"Wonder what we'll be doing
now?" he muttered as they came upon what looked like a game show. There
were two big tables facing each other. One of them had a banner that said
NSYNC, the other banner said Backstreet Boys. Steven was standing at a podium
between both of them.
"Very sophisticated," Brian
smirked as they wandered over to their table. "What are we playing?"
"Hey guys," Steven greeted.
"I'll explain the whole thing when NSYNC gets here, okay?"
"Sure."
"Alright."
"No prob."
"Um-huh," Nick muttered and
dreaded the thought of laying eyes on Justin Timberlake again. "Crap.
There they come."
Steven noticed something different between
the bands that afternoon. They were always somewhat civil to each other, with
everyone but the little ones, making an effort to be friendly. This time, no
greetings were exchanged.
"Gentlemen," Steven smiled
tightly at them. "Welcome to Finish the Song. It's the game show where
your knowledge of pop music will earn you a big reward. Who's hungry?"
"Me!" Chris yelled. "I'm
starved! Where's my pizza?"
"We didn't eat dinner," AJ said.
"'Cause we're taking that pizza home."
"Not so fast, Boner," Justin
called. "We already divided those pizzas among ourselves. They're
ours."
"Shut your blow hole," AJ
snapped at the kid. "No one buzzed you in. Oh wait, maybe they did and
that's why you're hair's all on end."
Nick and Brian started laughing.
"Shut the hell up, weirdo," JC
said. "How can you talk about hair when you don't even got any?"
"Guys?" Steven said breaking in.
"Can we get started?"
"Of course," Kevin said.
"Let's do this," Chris said.
"We will be playing part of a popular
song for you, and you have to complete the lyrics in song. Each band will get a
turn as we have a total of ten songs lined up for you. The band that knows the
lyrics to all their songs wins. We have a tie-breaker set up in the event that
the score is even at the end of the game. Any member can sing for the team, and
you will have thirty seconds to complete the song. Any questions?"
The guys looked solemnly at each other
because they both understood.
"Oh-kay," Steven said.
"Let's get started. We'll have a coin toss to see what band goes first.
Chris, heads or tails?"
"Tails," Chris said.
"Heads okay with you, Kevin?"
Kev just nodded, and Steven flipped the
coin.
"Heads. Backstreet, you go first. I'm
going to play the song on my boom box here, and stop it early on. You have to
finish the lyric where it left off. Anybody who knows it can sing. Ready?"
The guys nodded.
"Let's go."
A familiar, funky beat filled the air.
"Here we gooo!
Here we go! One more time. Everybody's feeling fine. Here we go now--."
Steven stopped the song.
NSYNC started laughing.
The Backstreet Boys stared at each other,
but Nick grinned.
"I know it," he said.
"Go head."
He cleared his throat. "Let's get
some cereal? C'mon now grab a bowl?"
AJ started laughing and patted Nick on the
back.
"No sorry, Nick," Steven said
over Nick's laughter. Then he played the rest of the song.
"Aw, but Nick's version's so much
better," Brian said.
Justin scowled while JC shook his head.
These guys were real mature.
"NSYNC, your turn. I don't know what
he does to make you cry, but I'll be there to make you smile--."
"I don't have a fancy car. To get you
to you, I'd walk a thousand miles?" Chris sang.
"NSYNC scores."
The guys celebrated high-fiving and hugging each other.
"Good job, Chris!"
"Yeah!"
Brian and Kevin exchanged smiles. Nick
leaned into the table so he could pay attention. He wanted to make sure the
contribute to this challenge.
"We're using coconuts as
points," Steven said handing them a big, brown coconut. "Backstreet,
your turn. I'm doing this tonight. You're probably gonna start a fight. I know
this can't be right--."
"Hey Lancey
c'mon!" AJ sang. "It's time to suck my dick. You know I don't come as
quick, as Justin. C'mon!"
They all cackled really hard at that one.
And even Kevin had to admit that it felt good to ridicule the music they hated
so much.
"Good one, Jay," he said patting
AJ on the back.
"Um.., er, no," Steven said.
"So far, NSYNC's ahead by one coconut. Guys it's
your turn."
They had to straighten up from the shock.
The Backstreet Boys seemed to prefer making fun of them over eating a warm
meal. This was hate.
"You are my fire, the one desire,
Believe--."
"When I say, I want it that
way!" Justin sang.
"Another point for NSYNC."
"That was too easy," JC said.
"That stupid song was drummed into my subconscious for more than a
year."
"That's because it's a good
song," Brian noted.
"Well, we'll be eating some good
pizza today while you guys choke on rice," Justin said.
"It's better than choking on your
stupid music--," Nick began but Steven cut him off.
"Backstreet? You drive a pretty car,
you know how fine you are, and nobody needs to say it--."
"I love the bras you wear. They look
good on JC and I love the way that he...," Brian was laughing too hard to
continue. "I can't. I can't! I'm sorry."
"No," Steven said trying not to
laugh. "I'm sorry."
NSNYC continued to gawk at Nick, Kevin, AJ
and Brian who just couldn't stop laughing.
"But you know," Brian said
wiping away a tear. "That is a good song...if you're deaf."
"Let's get 'em back," Justin
whispered.
"No, think of the food," JC
hissed. "We're eating pizza for singing their stupid songs. Forget them.
They can eat rice."
"NSYNC, this could win you the game.
Although lonliness has always been a friend of mine,
I'm leaving my life in your hands--."
"Quit playing games with my heart
before you tear us apart. Quit playing games with my heart?" Lance sang
unsure of himself.
"No sorry. Backstreet, you can try to
play catch up if you get this one."
"Aw, all their songs sound alike.
Don't worry, bro," Chris told Lance.
"You might've been hurt, babe. That aint no lie--."
"You know, we've seen them all come
and go, oh, out of each other's rooms, late at night," Nick sang. "I
remember they told me they liked it a lot, and that they'd never stop!"
Brian laughed into Nick's shoulder while
AJ made up dance steps to Nick's little tune.
He was thrusting his hips at NSYNC with a
nasty smile on his face.
"Sorry once more, Backstreet,"
Steven said hurriedly. "Let's finish this up NYSNC."
"Assholes," Chris muttered.
"I hope they starve."
"I'll be the one. I guess you were
lost when I met you--."
"Still there were tears in your
eyes," Justin sang. "So out of trust, or something like that that he
babbles on. No more these mysteries and lies."
"Good enough," Steven said.
"NSYNC wins."
"Good job, guys."
"Nice way to stay focused."
"Yeah you know it's funny that we won
with that song because that's what Mandy would tell me," Justin said
loudly. "That I'm the one."
Nick rolled his eyes and crossed arms.
"Guess we're eating rice?" Kevin
asked throwing an arm around Nick as they started back to their camp.
"Rice is fine. I'm getting a taste
for it," AJ said. "But let's go before we actually smell the
pizza."
But it was too late, as the boxes of hot,
freshly delivered pizzas were being taken out to NSYNC. The guys were given
chairs, and they got to sit around their table.
"Ugh," Brian groaned.
"Let's go."
Nick didn't have to be told twice, but
they laughed all the way back to camp.
***