Part 5
"I can't believe this!" Justin
yelled, stretching a curl down his forehead to get a better look at the
disaster area that was now on his head. "Those sons of bit-"
He was cut off by the loud laughter of his
friends. Justin turned his angry glare from his bright hair to his friends'
laughing faces.
"I am so glad that you find this
amusing," Justin spat out.
JC opened his mouth to say something, but
couldn't because of how hard he was laughing. Tears were strolling down his
cheeks.
"Aw, man, they got you good,"
Lance finally got out. His lips sputtered as he started laughing again.
"They got you so good!"
Chris walked up to Justin, laying a
comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, just look on the bright
side-"
"Literally," JC cut in.
Chris giggled, starting over. "Look
on the bright side, man. If we get lost out here, we can use your hair as a
reflector to signal the aircraft."
Justin gave Chris a 'you're not funny
look' as Chris tried his hardest to swallow down his laughter. It was bad
enough that Justin's hair was red, there was no point in getting his face to
turn that color, too. As much as he couldn't stand the Backstreet Boys, he had
to give them credit for their joke.
As hard as Chris tried to hold down his
laughter, he just couldn't anymore. The events of that morning came rushing
back to him, forcing him into another fit of laughter.
JC had woken Chris and Lance up, the three
of them quietly watching Justin surprised, trying to come up with reasons for
his new hair color. Justin had woken up to find them all staring at him
openmouthed. It was only a couple of seconds after the shock of what must have
happened sunk in that they had burst out laughing. Poor Justin had just sat
there staring at them like they were crazy, unaware of what was going on.
"They're going to pay!" Justin
yelled angrily. "Just watch! I'm going to come up with something
good!"
JC shook his head. "That's what you
get. Don't be a hypocrite and get mad now, Justin. You did the same thing to
them with that rat."
"Chris did it, too!" Justin
whined, pointing to the older man standing next to him. "His hair isn't
one of the colors off the rainbow!"
"Justin, it isn't a wonder they
targeted you. You are the one who fights with most of them," Lance smiled.
"I don't fight with all of them,"
Justin pouted. "I only fight with Nick."
"So what makes you think it wasn't
just Nick who did it?" JC asked.
Justin shrugged his shoulders. The truth
was, he didn't know. But he had a feeling, and that was all he needed.
"They would do anything for that sumo
wrestler," Justin simply said.
JC shook his head at the angry look on
Justin's face. If he knew his little brother, he was thinking up ways to get
Nick back. Another smile crawled onto JC's face as Justin sat there angrily
pouting, his red, curly hair blowing with the breeze.
Justin bit his tongue to stop the flow of
complaints he knew would only bring more laughter from his friends. Nick may
have thought he won this one, but Justin wasn't done with Nick Carter. Not yet.
Not by a freaking long shot. He had come up with another joke for him, already
having completed stage one, but after the Mandy incident he had decided against
it.
A slow smile spread across his clear face,
lighting up his blue eyes. There was going to be no stopping him now.
It was soon going to be time to complete
stage two.
--
The slimy fish slipped out of Nick's hands
again, jumping back into the comforts of it's home. Nick peered into the water
to see where it could have gone.
"I think that sucker's gone,
Nicky," Brian smiled as he watched Nick concentrating on the water.
Brian sat down in the raft, tired. All he
wanted was to get back to camp so that he could take a nap before another
horrible note showed up. He was hoping that they wouldn't get anything that
day. He just wanted to rest and bum around.
Nick bit his lower lip as he lowered his
head closer over the raft. There had to be another fish in there somewhere.
A fish jumped up quickly, hitting Nick in
the face. Nick fell back into the raft surprised, smiling as he heard Brian and
Kevin's laughter.
"I guess he doesn't like me very
much?" Nick asked, sitting up in a more comfortable position.
"Probably not, Frack. With you trying
to kill him and all," Kevin smiled.
"Hey, guys. Do you think Justin's
woken up, yet?" Brian smiled, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously.
Nick laughed. "I hope so."
"I hope he took a shower," Kevin
laughed.
Brian suddenly started laughing
uncontrollably. "I'm pretty sure he did."
Nick looked at Brian curiously. "What
makes you think that?"
"Because," Brian smiled,
continuing to laugh as his eyes still concentrated on the shore, "either
Justin took a shower or Carrot Top is here to do a show for us."
Kevin and Nick followed Brian's gaze and
burst out laughing. There, on shore, was someone waving at them crazily.
Although they couldn't make out their
facial features, they instantly knew who it was. The only reason they were able
to decipher that much was because below the flailing arms was a poof of big,
curly, red hair.
"Guess we better row back in?"
Nick asked, smiling.
"Oh, yeah," Kevin smiled.
"I wouldn't want to miss this for the world."
--
"Those jerks," Justin muttered
as they finally made it to shore.
He didn't know why, but he felt someone
behind him. Justin turned around, letting an annoyed sigh escape his lips. He
turned back around and rolled his eyes. Here came his three dorky sidekicks.
Why couldn't they ever just leave him alone?
"I knew you were over here," JC
said after reaching Justin. "Didn't I tell you to stay on our side of the
island?"
"Yes, you did, but since when do I
listen?"
"He's got a good point, JC,"
Chris smiled.
JC turned to give Chris look. That boy and
his mouth.
"Good afternoon, Bozo."
Justin turned around to be greeted with
Nick's full smile.
"Good afternoon my ass." Justin
didn't even try to smile.
"If it isn't Stephen King's
'It'," Kevin smiled.
Justin turned his angry glare to Kevin.
"What's the matter, Bert? Pissed because Ernie took off without you? One
word, Kevin: tweezers. Then maybe he'll come back."
"Now, now, Justin," Brian
smiled. "Why are you so upset?"
"Because," Justin said, turning
to look Brian straight in the eye. "I got my Playboy this month and found
out that Leighanne is no longer working, with you to support her and all."
The smile instantly vanished from Brian's
happy face. Justin didn't know when to stop.
"I bet she's just counting her lucky
pennies, or," Justin stopped, pretending to think, "her lucky
millions. I bet she's already calculated how much you're worth, buddy. Man, and
she thought she'd hit it big with Joe Pesci."
"Shut the hell up," Brian said,
stepping up. Nick reached out his arm to keep Brian back.
Nick stepped in front of Brian to stand in
front of Justin.
"Does insulting other people make you
feel better?" Nick asked.
Justin reverted his gaze from Brian to
Nick. "Seems to work for you. I thought we'd already squashed
everything."
Nick shrugged, spitting next to Justin.
"You thought wrong."
"Serves you right for trying
to," Kevin smiled. "Thinking isn't your strong suit, Justin."
"Wow, he got that sentence out in
less than five minutes," Chris marveled. He shot Kevin a thumbs up sign.
"Impressive."
"What are you even doing over here, Mufaza?" Nick asked, smiling again. "Get
lost?"
"In the jungle, the mighty jungle,
the lions sleeps tonight," Brian sang to himself, watching the waves crash
on the shoreline. A smile played on his lips the entire time.
JC shook his head. He was hoping to not
get involved, but there was no way he was going to stand there while retard,
retarded, and more retarded picked on Justin.
"What do you know?" JC wondered.
"We've got obese, shorty, and hairy. A whole new
breed of the Three Stooges."
Kevin gave JC a look. "Stay out of
this."
JC rolled his eyes and laughed, stepping
up to stand next to Justin, placing himself directly in front of Kevin.
"You want me to stay out of this when
you're one of the ones talking shit to Justin? What, are you stupid?" JC
immediately raised his hand to signal him to stop. "Wait, don't answer
that."
"We already know the answer," Chris
added, stepping to the other side of Justin. He was now standing in front of
Brian.
"Besides," Justin smiled.
"It might take him a couple of hours to finally get the word out. 'You
see'," Justin said, imitating Kevin, "I know how I can say the answer
shorter and faster, but I don't want to. Don't you understand that they never
let me sing? This is the only way I can get my voice heard, so instead of just
saying 'no', I'm going to give you a longer version of 'no'. It's not that I
talk a lot, I just like to over-explain things'," Justin stopped,
laughing. "Without Nick and Brian, you guys would be BBMak."
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek to keep
his fist from where he knew it belonged: Justin's face.
"But, I do have to give you some
credit, Kevin," Lance smiled. "You seem to be the only one here who's
at least somewhat stable." Lance was now standing next to JC.
JC smiled. "Yeah, I mean, Brian's got
the silicone filled, money hungry, fake Leighanne stuck on his arm."
"What's sadder is he thinks she actually
loves him," Justin said, pretending to pout.
"She does love me," Brian said,
fighting everything inside of himself to keep himself planted in his spot.
"If you want to talk about girlfriends, Justin, why don't we talk about
Britney? There's silicone if I ever saw some."
Justin watched Brian angrily.
"I don't think she's ALL
silicone," Nick smiled. "I think they had to take some of that crap
in her head that she calls a brain to put in her breasts, too," Nick said.
"That's the only logical thing I can come up with. I mean, no one can be
that stupid, right?"
Brian laughed. "Yeah, I heard her in
an interview somewhere and I couldn't stop laughing." Brian pretended to
chew gum while he flipped his hair. " 'Yeah, I like to travel and go
places overseas, like
"No, the sad thing is," Lance
said, "is that you will never have what Justin has with Britney,"
Lance said, raising his eyebrow to Brian for emphasis. "They truly love
each other. They don't THINK that the other loves the other. They know.
Whereas, poor stupid Leighanne probably thinks you love her," Lance said
shaking his head.
"I do love her," Brian said.
"What the hell do you know about how I feel?"
"Then what were you doing with
Samantha?" Justin asked, reminding him of Mandy's tattle from yesterday.
"Was that her name?"
"Yeah, that was her name," JC
said. "Samantha, the high school sweetheart."
Chris smiled at Brian's suddenly
embarrassed face. "We're only wondering because most people who are in
love usually aren't out frolicking with past loves."
"Hey, Brian," Justin smiled.
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe Leighanne already knows? All of
this is recorded, remember? It's probably already aired and she's probably
sitting at home crying her little eyes out."
"Shut the fuck up," Nick said,
noticing that Brian was fighting to keep his eyes from watering. He knew the
thought of Leighanne home alone with facts that he couldn't explain to her was
killing her. Nick could tell that it was killing Brian, too.
"Oh, Nick wants a turn," Justin
smiled, nudging JC.
"Well, baby," JC exaggerated,
teasing Nick with the nickname he'd heard Kevin call him, "we could start
with the weight problem. Tsk, tsk,"
JC said, shaking his head.
"Problems just getting to be too
much?" Chris asked, reaching out to pat Nick's stomach. Kevin grabbed
Chris' hand, shoving it back at him. "Ooooh,"
Chris teased. "Most people turn to food when their problems get to be too
much," Justin agreed. "Mommy wants money, wants more money, can't get
it from you because Mandy's taking it all, so she turns your little brother and
sister into another money making factory. Where there's a Carter, there's a
way."
"Then you've got Mandy," Lance
sighed. "Mandy, Mandy, Mandy."
"Shut up!" Kevin yelled. He'd
heard enough.
"Why don't you shut up?" Lance
yelled back. "It's okay for you stand there yelling insults, but you can't
take them in return?"
Kevin shoved JC aside and grabbed Lance by
his collar. "Keep talking," Kevin breathed into his face. "I
dare you to."
"Hoooooookay,"
Lance breathed into Kevin's face. If Kevin wanted to blow his bad breath in
Lance's face, he was going to get a taste of Lance's, too.
JC pulled Lance back, surprising Kevin
into letting him go. JC stood in front of Lance.
"Grab one of them again, and we're
really going to have trouble,
"That was to let him know that the
thing with Mandy was squashed. I still can't stand his ass," Nick spoke
up.
"You haven't let go of the Mandy
thing," Justin interrupted. "That was the WHOLE reason for hating me,
you overblown piece of lard." Justin continued to stare at Nick.
"You've had no other reason to hate me. Every hateful word you've thrown
at me has been because of your retarded, too stupid to get a GED,
girlfriend." Nick opened his mouth to say something, but Justin continued
talking. "And every hateful thing I've ever done to you is because of
everything you've ever said or done to me. So you can hate me for everything I've
said, done, or whatever, but fucking remember WHY it was all said and done to
begin with."
"Justin, I don't think I would've
liked you either way."
"Can't stand the competition?"
Nick shook his head, his blue eyes
focusing on Justin's. "You aren't competition. You're our long lost twins.
I've never seen better imitators."
"Don't worry, Nick," Kevin said.
"With that hair, the only person Justin will be able to imitate is a
clown. He belongs in a circus, anyway."
Nick smiled at the huge puff of curly, red
hair on Justin's head. "Man, Justin. Your hair looks like it's going
through withdrawal. Missing that gel?"
Brian laughed. "I don't know anyone
who violates hair products more than you, Justin."
"Did you forget about AJ?" Chris
laughed. "What does he think? That he's got peacock in his family?"
"Leave AJ out of this," Nick
threatened.
"Or what?" Chris asked.
"Your gonna booty bump us out of here?"
Kevin rolled his eyes. They just didn't
get it. They would never be able to fathom why they would never be able to get
along. Everything that the Backstreet Boys had worked hard for seemed to just
rub off on NSYNC. They didn't have to do anything.
"Just get out of here," Kevin
said, deciding to stop it before it got to where not even he could control it.
"They're probably just trying to
steal another idea of ours," Brian said. "We keep those under lock
and key now," Brian smiled sarcastically, sliding his index finger and
thumb across his lips, twisting his hand at the end of his lips to signify that
he'd locked his lips.
"If only he would stay like
that," Lance said.
Justin stared at Nick annoyed. He didn't
know anyone who could get under his skin more than the bleached wonder standing
right in front of him.
"What are you doing?" Kevin
asked Justin. "Trying to memorize Nick's looks so you can copy those,
too?"
"Here we go again," JC said,
rolling his eyes.
Kevin prayed for self control. "Yeah,
here we go again," Kevin said. "When you've had to work half as hard
as we've had to-"
"Not this stupid 'when you've walked
a mile in our shoes' bullshit again!" Chris yelled.
"You could NEVER know what we've had
to go through," Kevin said through his teeth.
"Kevin, what in the HELL do you know
about what we've been through? Did you keep a daily log of our suffering or
something?" JC yelled. Kevin looked at JC, annoyed. "Well?! Did you?
Have you even bothered to ever ASK?"
"No, because I don't give a
shit," Kevin answered.
JC eyes were blazing now and Chris,
Justin, and Lance were all watching him surprised. JC never blew up like that.
"JC, man, maybe we should just
go," Justin said, forgetting about his original reason for being there. JC
was way more important to him than some red hair.
"NO! Of course you didn't ask!"
JC yelled, ignoring Justin. "We NEVER followed you. We NEVER tried to be
like you. So we had the same management. And? How many people share the same
freakin' management?" JC continued to rant, not letting anyone get a word
in. "What did you expect us to do? Huh?" JC stopped and pretended to
go back in time. "Oh, guys wait! We can't pursue our hopes, our dreams. We
can't let them come true. There's already another group out. The Backstreet
Boys. So let's just stop what we love doing and find something else to dream
about." JC stared at Kevin angrily. "Whatever, Kevin," JC spat.
"There were too many similarities,
JC," Kevin said angrily. "Too many to be a coincidence."
JC laughed. "Like the coincidences
between you and Take That? You even cut your hair like them! But, of course,
you weren't following them around, were you? You weren't trying to copy them,
but it sure did piss you off when people tried to imply that you were."
Brian looked at JC and Kevin's angry
faces, and Justin, Lance, and Chris' worried ones. Nick seemed to be thinking
at a hundred miles per hour. JC always seemed to be the calm one of them, Brian
thought. It must've taken a lot of pent up frustrations to make him burst.
Brian shook his head. As much as he didn't
want to hear any of what JC had to say, maybe it was time he did. Time they
did. He had to admit that there was a lot about NSYNC that he didn't know, just
like there was a lot about them that NSYNC didn't know.
"Had it been the other way around,
had we been the first ones to come out, would you have stopped?" JC asked,
staring at Kevin. He had always wanted to throw this question in their faces.
"Would you have told that asshole of a man, 'Lou, we can't do this.
Someone else is already out with the same sound.' Like hell you would
have."
JC stopped, trying to keep the aggravated
tears out of his eyes. Nick watched surprised as he heard the emotion in JC's
voice and saw it in his eyes. He'd never looked at it that way before.
"As for us switching to Jive, we were
NOT following you. You know damn well the shit we had to go through with Lou Pearlman
because you went through it, too. Jive was the only record company willing to
get mixed up in all the dirt to help us out. We don't wake up every morning and
gather in a huddle and say 'Hey, guys. What do you think the Backstreet Boys
are gonna do today? Okay! Let's go and do that!' The way I see it, you need to
get a life because you are worrying way too much about what we're doing."
This wasn't about insults anymore. This
was just about feelings that had never been spoken before.
"We've been through a lot,"
Kevin said. "We've had many personal battles, then with you guys becoming
popular around the same time we did, it was too much. Don't you understand how
we feel?" Kevin started. "We worked so hard over in
"We understood that," Justin
countered quietly. Kevin looked at Justin surprised. He thought that Chia boy would have been yelling at the top of his lungs by
now. "We sat and thought about what it would be like if we were in your
shoes. That's why WE never threw an insult in your direction. We tried to be
friends with you. You wouldn't have it, though."
Nick looked out at the ocean. He didn't
like how Justin Timberlake, of all people, was making sense. He was wishing
they'd stayed on their side of their island. It was easier to hate them that
way.
Another voice fought with Nick's first
one. But Nick hated hating anyone. And he knew well enough that although
everything looked good in the spotlight, it wasn't always perfect. How many
times had he stared at he and his friends smiling faces on the cover of a
magazine, wishing that everything was as perfect and happy as the magazine made
it seem?
Brian wanted to open his mouth and say
something to defend them, but nothing was coming to his head. He had always
thought about their problems and tribulations. He'd never considered NSYNC's problems.
Kevin didn't have any problems coming up
with things to say, though.
"How do you expect us to react? We
worked our butts off-"
"SO....DID......WE!" JC yelled,
his face turning red. "We sang ANYWHERE we could! Restaurants,
malls.....everywhere! We didn't hide in the bushes and wait to jump out when we
saw that you got popular!"
"Don't try to play the wounded animal
with me," Kevin said, shaking his head. "I saw my cousin almost
die." Kevin's voice involuntarily broke, and he fought to keep it even.
"And right when I think things can't get worse, they do."
JC shook his head. "I am SORRY for
what happened to Brian. But you act like we're the ones who gave him a heart
defect. I sent flowers and a letter that was never answered."
Kevin snapped his fingers. "Damn,
with Brian in surgery and praying for his recovery, it's a wonder that
answering Joshua Chasez's letter wasn't the first
thing on my to do list."
Brian's and Nick's faces were drawn into
confusion. They never knew about any letter.
"Everyone was too worried about Brian
to answer letters from you. Especially when we had just found out about how Lou
stabbed us in the back with you. We had NO idea the entire time that you were
out that Lou was the one behind it all. I wasn't about to throw it in their
faces even more with some condolence letter from you," Kevin said, shaking
his head.
"Kevin, I know how personal things
can hurt. How they can make things harder than they have to be, but EVERYONE
has to go through them. Not just the Backstreet Boys. We're not immune to
problems, you know," JC said. "Just because I don't find a reason to
throw our personal problems in your face doesn't mean they don't exist. It
means they're personal, meaning their none of your business. And I wouldn't use
them as a reason to hate you. Now excuse us, Train," JC said, exaggerating
the sound of Kevin's nickname. "Since we're on your side of the island,
you can't very well choo choo
your ass out of here, so we're leaving. I'm tired of talking to a wall."
JC turned to walk away from the reason of
his newly formed headache. He tried desperately to calm his erratic breathing.
Lance and Chris were immediately at JC's
side, but Justin lingered behind.
"Things aren't as clear cut as you
thought they were, huh?" Justin asked. There was no malice or sarcasm in
his voice.
He turned around to catch up with JC. Nick
watched as Justin squeezed between Lance and JC, slinging his arm around JC. He
seemed to be saying something comforting to JC.
They weren't much different from them. And
the realization that he hated the most was that more and more everyday, he
realized that Justin wasn't much different from him.
Nick shook his head. He hated it when he
started thinking.
--
"Kev, you okay?"
Kevin turned his head halfway around at
the sound of Nick's voice. He had taken off in the other direction after their
long lost best friends had departed. Nick must've followed him.
Kevin took a deep breath, letting it out
slowly. After a prolonged silence, he answered Nick.
"I will be."
Kevin not trying to talk. Nick shook his
head. This was not good. Kevin loved to talk, and when he stopped it was time
to pull out the stethoscope and make sure that he still had a heartbeat and
pulse.
"Kevvy?"
Another deep breath. "Yeah?"
"You're lying."
Kevin turned around to look at his baby
brother. He was greeted with a very worried looking Nick. Nick's forehead was
creased with worry lines as his blue eyes focused on Kevin's unreadable green
ones.
"What makes you think I'm
lying?"
Nick sighed, raking his hand through his
straight hair. "If you don't start 'fessing up,
I'm gonna get back with Mandy."
Kevin smiled, letting a small laugh escape
his lips. Nick smiled.
"I swear!" Nick threatened.
"I'll do something really bad like impregnate her and then there'll be
more little hers running around. Then where will our world be?"
Kevin gave Nick a serious look.
"That's not even funny. That's scary."
Kevin turned back around to sit down on
the sand. Nick watched his back for some sign of invitation. Not that he needed
one. Nick didn't plan on going anywhere until Kevin broke down and told him
what was going on inside of him. Or at least until Kevin had heard what he had
to say. For once, he was going to be able to annoy Kevin the way Kevin loved to
annoy Nick. In Backstreetland, this was called being
a friend. They just had a more interesting way of doing it.
"Nick, why don't you-"
"Sit down and wait for you to tell me
what's going on? Okay."
Nick sat down next to Kevin just in time
to catch the rolled eyes and exasperated look on Kevin's face.
Nick began to talk in a deep,
announcer-like voice. "Today the role of Kevin Richardson will be filled
in by Nickolas Carter."
Kevin smiled, shaking his head. "This
isn't a soap opera, Nicky."
"You're right. It's more like Jerry
Springer."
Kevin laughed. "More like my worst
nightmare."
"You're pissed off because you agree
with JC."
Kevin had been avoiding eye contact with
Nick since he sat down, but that made him turn to look his best friend in the
eyes.
Damn. That was exactly what he didn't want
to do, because the way Nick could be transparent sometimes, Kevin could be worse
when he wasn't in control. And no one read him better than Nick.
"That's it, isn't it?"
Kevin turned away, shaking his head.
"JC doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."
Nick shook his head. And they called him
stubborn.
"I think he does," Nick admitted,
throwing stray rocks and shells into the water. "You know, before today
I'd never really thought about everything the way he explained it," Nick
said, still trying to skip his newly found items against the water. For some
reason, they were just sinking. "I understood the Jive transfer. I
understood how hurt they must've been with the Pearlman thing."
Kevin almost glanced at Nick. Ever since
they'd broken all ties with Lou, Nick refused to acknowledge him as such. He
always called him Pearlman. It was impersonal that way. Besides, he had said,
the man he thought was Lou was really someone else. So he was just Pearlman
now. That was all he ever would be.
"Frack, don't feel sorry for
them."
"Pisssshhh,"
Nick said, dismissing Kevin's comment with a wave of his hand. He had given up
trying to throw rocks into the water. "I'll be the last one to feel sorry
for them. But probably the first from this group to understand them."
Kevin shook his head. "There's
nothing to understand."
Nick shook his head as well. "You
hate admitting you're wrong."
"I.....do.....not."
"Do....too." Nick smiled,
looking at Kevin. Kevin still refused to return his gaze. "Remember that
time that you didn't try on your pants before one of the concerts because you
said you knew they were going to fit? We all told you, 'Kevin, try them on.'
But, nooooo, Kevin knew what he was doing. Or thought
he knew what he was doing," Nick muttered. "Then, while we were
flying they fell down. You refused to admit that it was your fault for not
trying them on."
Kevin smiled. "I don't know what
you're talking about."
"Nah, nah, nah," Nick said,
shaking his hand. "You remember. You tried to say it was because you lost
weight that day." Nick began to laugh. "How much weight could you
have lost in one day, Kev?"
Kevin shrugged. "I had worked out
that morning."
"Still won't admit it was your
fault." Nick's smile was now smaller. "That's why I'm not surprised
that you won't admit that at least some of what JC said was true."
"There's nothing to admit
because-"
"Because you're a bullheaded man.
Train, I never thought I'd hear the day when you would whine."
"I am NOT whi-"
"Whining!" Nick finished.
"That's my line, remember? I know a whine when I hear one. I am the king
of whines."
"Nicky, go back with Bri, okay?"
"Oh, no. This is my chance to go into
full Kevin mode. Maybe you'll back off next time I ask you to go away."
Kevin shook his head. Back off? Yeah,
right. As much as Nick was getting to him now, he was only going to get worse
the next time they had one of these talks, just to teach him a lesson.
"Thinking of some way to get back at
me?"
Kevin's raised eyebrow made Nick smile.
Right on the money.
"Fine, you don't want to admit
anything, that's fine. But I'm just telling you that I see where JC's coming
from. Do we really know about anything that they've been through?"
Nick took Kevin's silence as a no. Kevin
surely always took Nick's silence for a no or a plain 'You're right and I'm not
gonna say it'. He always said that it only meant that he wasn't ready to admit
anything out loud.
"If it had been the other way around,
would we have given everything up, Kev? Had NSYNC been out first, would we have
just stopped? Gone to find the closest McDonald's to work at? Would you have
been willing to just go back to Disney World to play Aladdin again?"
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek.
"I didn't think so," Nick said,
squinting into the sun. Nick sighed again. "I hate admitting all of this,
but stick boy's right. I still don't like them; I just don't like them a little
less now."
Kevin continued to sit next to Nick in
silence. If all it took to get Kevin this quiet was JC yelling at him, Nick was
going to ask the show for a copy of JC's earlier screaming match so that he
could play it every time he didn't feel like hearing Kevin.
"I guess they didn't have it as easy
as I thought," Nick continued. "I mean, they do have Joey."
Kevin finally smiled. Nick patted his
shoulder as he got up.
"Just think about what I said, k, man? I'm here if you want to talk. If you feel like yelling
or something, just call on me." Nick looked at Kevin. "Or wait ten
minutes. I'll eventually give you a reason to start yelling, anyway."
Nick began to walk away and Kevin turned
around to watch his retreating back with a smile.
Nick was right. Damn the kid, but he was
right. Kevin let out another breath. He just hated knowing that all of that
resentment he'd had wasn't well placed. He knew very well the reason for the
origination of his feelings for NSYNC.
Lou Pearlman.
With Kevin's own father gone, he had seen
Lou as a second father. Lou had seen him as a dollar sign. Then to hear NSYNC
talk about Lou the way they once had, well...it obviously hadn't sat well with
him.
Kevin thought about Nick's words again. As
much as he was hating to admit it, his baby bro had grown up. Kevin turned back
around. Where the hell was he when it had happened? He sure would have loved to
have seen it the very second it occurred.
Kevin smiled again. "Maybe it didn't
just happen. Maybe it was something that gradually grew on him."
Kevin laughed.
He was just glad that he was there to see
it....period.
--
The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were
standing in front of each other for the second time that day. This time no one
was making eye contact with anyone.
Steven watched both groups surprised. They
hadn't even insulted each other. Steven shook his head. He wondered if there
was anything in the tapioca roots.
He brightened a little. Or maybe his self
control challenge had really worked. He could only hope. OR it could mean that
it did the complete opposite and had just made them completely withdrawn from
each other.
Steven shook his head again. And he
thought women were hard to understand.
"Your next challenge is an immunity
challenge," he started once given the signal that everything was ready.
Nick's head was the first to shoot up.
"Another immunity challenge? We just had one yesterday."
Steven tried his hardest not to shrink
back from the look on Nick's face. Angry was an understatement. The hatred in
his voice was enough to make him blink more than he needed to.
"The producer's of the show think
that prolonging your stay out here on the island isn't healthy. We're going to
try to keep immunity challenges in pairs now. I thought you'd be happy,"
Steven said, trying to smile. "The more immunity challenges, the faster
you're out of here and with your friends again."
"Yeah," Justin agreed. "The
faster we're away from here is for the best." Justin bitterly laughed.
"Here I thought the best thing about being on this crummy island was that
we'd be away from scheming people using us for their own purposes, but it's not
the first time I've been wrong. I mean, it's funny how you can't run from
hypocritical people who hide behind masks, Steven," Justin said, staring
directly at Steven, "even on a deserted island."
If making Steven feel like the dirt on the
island was their plan, then their plan was working way beyond any of their
dreams. Ever since the Mandy incident, it was getting harder and harder for
Steven to keep his smile around these guys.
"Your next challenge is definitely
something that's bound to get your spirits up."
"What is it?" Kevin asked.
"The 'expose all of Steven's secrets and make him feel like crap'
game?"
Steven's smile wavered. "No, it
isn't."
"Figures," JC smiled. "That
game's only meant for us, right?"
Steven bent down to open his black bag. If
you can't answer, change the subject.
"Your challenge is a game of
basketball. I take it everyone here has played the game before?"
"Ooh...do we get to use your head as
the basketball?" Lance asked.
Steven's smile wavered even more. They
were supposed to be every teenybopper's dream, not Steven's worst nightmare.
Justin seemed to know what Steven was
thinking. "This is what happens when you cross and use us, Steven."
Steven pretended not to hear him.
"There's a little twist to our version of basketball, though."
"Of course there is," Chris
said. "Otherwise it would be so un-Steven like."
"Well, it's not really a twist,"
Steven said, trying to reword himself. "It's just a bit different. You're
uneven, and everyone has to participate, so what we're going to do is it's
going to be one on one. Someone from Backstreet will have to go twice."
Everyone from Backstreet immediately
muttered Brian. He was the best they'd ever seen at basketball, aside from pro
players.
"First person to score 2 points is
given 1 point for the team, then the next two people will go up. Baskets count
as 1 point, instead of the traditional 2. The 3 point line is considered the 2
point line. One made shot from there automatically wins you a point for the
team. In the event that a tie-breaker is needed, two people's names will be
drawn out of this box," Steven said, holding up a small black box,
"to play one on one. First person to score 2 points wins the immunity
challenge for the team. It's pretty simple. Everyone understand?" Everyone
just stared at him. "Follow me."
The guys all followed Steven through a
pre-set trail, coming upon a basketball court. There was a portable rim set up
and fake Astroturf made up the basketball court.
"You have five minutes to choose the
first person to compete."
JC smiled at the eager look on Justin's
face. "Let me go first," Justin offered.
"Let's see who they pick, JuJu. I
would really rather have you play Brian. The way they all muttered that Brian
go twice pretty much showed that he's the basketball player of the group."
"They might have him go first so that
he can rest before he has to go again," Lance said.
Sure enough, Brian emerged from the group
and made his way to the basketball court.
"Go kick his ass, Bri," Nick
smiled.
"His ass is grass and I'm the lawn
mower," Brian smiled. He laughed. It'd been a long time since he'd said
that. He felt like he was in high school again.
Kevin and Nick patted Brian on the back as
he made his way to Justin.
"Good luck," Justin smiled.
"You're gonna need it."
"Yeah, right," Brian snickered.
"I'll be impressed if you can just see the hoop through all of that,"
Brian smiled, pointing to Justin's hair.
"Whatever, Mini-Me," Justin
said, looking down at Brian.
"Don't worry about me, Raggedy
Andy." Brian checked the basketball to Justin. Justin checked it back to
him.
"I'm not," Justin smiled,
backing up as Brian came forward. He kept close to Brian, reiterating the quick
footwork that Brian made around the court.
Justin had to admit that Mini-Me was
pretty good. It was hard for him to keep up with Brian's quick feet. Brian
faked a right, quickly turning back to his presently unguarded left to make a
shot for the hoop. Justin realized his mistake too late as he heard the
basketball swish it's way through the net.
"That would be one point for
me," Brian smiled, raising a finger.
"Can't say you're not educated,
Brian. I'll be really impressed if you can count to two, but don't get all
stressed. There won't be a reason to because you're not going to make that many
points," Justin said, checking the basketball to Brian.
Brian bounced the ball back to Justin,
immediately on Justin the second he stepped back onto the court. Justin quickly
ran a circle around Brian, stopping at the '2' point line, shooting. His hand
still hanging in the air, Justin whooped as the ball went in. He jumped up,
shooting his arm in the air. Justin ran by Brian, holding up two fingers.
"That's two." Brian watched disappointed as Justin ran into his
friends open arms.
"Hey, don't worry about it, Frack.
It's all good. All good," Nick said, clapping his hands to pep Brian back
up.
Brian went back to his friends. "I'm
sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Kevin
smiled. "You're gonna go out there again and kick one of their asses. With
Justin out of the way, they're dead."
Chris made his way to the court and Nick
smiled. "Let me go. Look at how short he is. He won't be able to make a
shot with me guarding him."
Kevin patted Nick's back as a signal to
go.
Sure enough, Chris was unable to make one
shot with Nick guarding him. On both of Chris' attempts, Nick had jumped to
block the shot, grabbing the basketball and taking the shots himself. Nick ran
back to his group victorious.
"1 for Backstreet. 1 for NSYNC,"
Steven called out. No one acknowledged that they'd heard him.
Lance and Kevin were next. Kevin easily
towered over Lance. Lance smiled back at Kevin proudly; he wasn't going to let
him know that Kevin's height intimidated him.
When Kevin wasn't looking, Lance looked
worriedly at his teammates and they all shot him a thumbs up signs and cheers
of encouragement. It wasn't that Lance was scared of Kevin, he was scared of
the basketball. If there was a definition for most unathletic
person in the world who could not play a sport if they're lives (or careers)
depended on it in the dictionary, Lance's picture was right next to it.
He shook his head, praying for some sort
of miracle.
The least Lance knew was that he had to
bounce the ball to Kevin and wait for Kevin to bounce it back to him. He'd seen
that much.
After the referee handed Lance the
basketball, he bounced it to Kevin. So far so good. Kevin bounced the ball back
to Lance, but Lance missed it, watching miserably as the ball fell behind him
onto the grass.
Kevin rolled his eyes.
JC, Chris, and Justin tried their hardest
to keep their mouths from dropping in stunned silence. They immediately started
shouting words of encouragement to Lance.
"Don't worry about it!"
"It's nothing! Just concentrate! Have
fun!"
"That's happened to me before!"
Lance knew without looking that that was
Chris. Everything had happened to Chris at least once.
Kevin stared at Lance.
"What?" Lance asked.
"We have to switch places. You let it
go out of bounds after it was checked. I get the ball."
"Oh, yeah, just kidding." And
they were filming this. If people didn't think Lance was a dork before, they
were gonna think he was gay now. It just got from bad to worse.
Kevin laughed, babying the ball with a
small bounce to Lance. Lance caught it, and was getting ready to bounce it
back.
Suddenly he heard Nick and Brian yelling
out encouraging words to him. What? Nick and Brian? Lance turned confused.
"Way to go, Lance!"
"Wooo! Way
to go!"
Lance continued to look at them as if
their heads had suddenly merged together.
"He caught the ball! Yeah!"
"He didn't drop it! Go Lance, Go
Lance!"
Lance rolled his eyes. He should've known
they were just making fun of him.
He bounced the ball back to Kevin and
tried to stay with him as he stepped onto the court. He easily dribbled past
Lance. Lance ran as fast as he could to catch up to Kevin. He reached his hand
out and surprisingly hit the ball. It bounced right into his hands. Lance
stopped, staring at the ball. He got the ball!
"Lance! Run!"
"Shoot!"
"Do something!" Chris yelled.
Lance jumped as he shot his arm out to
shoot the basketball. It flew over the backboard.
Justin dropped his face into his hands.
"You think they would hire me back at Disney for a reunion of the Mickey
Mouse Club?"
Backstreet was eating up Lance's incoordination. They were laughing, pointing, and making
fun of Lance. Lance was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable and stupid.
Suddenly a hand was on his shoulder and he turned around to see Chris.
"I already have them making fun of
me, I don't need you, too," Lance said, disappointed in himself.
There wasn't even a smile on Chris' face.
"You can do this, man. I know you can. I've seen you when you get
determined. Pretend that ball is Kevin's face. Imagine how stupid he's gonna
look to his friends if he loses to you!"
"Gee, thanks," Lance said.
Chris smiled, shaking his head.
"Pretend this has been your plan of attack. To throw him off. He was
already making fun of you by bouncing that ball all slow and easy into your
hands. Play up on that, man," Chris smiled, patting his shoulder. He
turned to run back to Justin and JC. "You can do it," he called back.
Lance felt re-energized. Of course he
could do this. With renewed energy, Lance bounced the ball back to Kevin. He
was quicker at following Kevin and didn't even let the shot that Kevin made
keep him down.
It was Lance's turn to have the ball.
After it was checked, Lance didn't even wait to cautiously come out on the
court. He immediately ran out past Kevin, pausing a short distance from the
basket. He aimed his arms and hands with the basket and shot.
"YES!" Lance screamed as it went
in. He smiled proudly at Kevin, who stood staring at the basket shocked.
Kevin ended up winning the game, but Lance
still ran happily to his teammates. They all drew him into a hug, laughing and
congratulating him.
Lance had made a basket. Now the world
could end peacefully.
It was now JC's turn. Brian made his way
to the court again and knew he could beat JC.
"Backstreet has 2, NSYNC has 1. Brian
if you get this, Backstreet wins. If JC wins, it's a tie and we go to the
tie-breaker," Steven said.
Brian had the ball first and easily
maneuvered his way past JC. He jumped in the air and easily shot for the
basket. He smiled brightly as he heard his teammates screaming after the ball
went in.
Brian could tell that JC was competitive
because when he checked the ball to Brian, he bounced it roughly into Brian's
hands. JC quickly made his way onto the court, swiftly moving past Brian. Brian
was on JC's back, his arms stretched out to block any shot that JC would try to
quickly throw once he turned around.
"Get off of me," JC grunted
through his heavy breathing.
"Don't get too excited," Brian
huffed. "It's all in the name of basketball-"
JC quickly ducked under one of Brian's
arms and shot from the 2 pointer line. Damn. Brian should've known he was just
trying to get him to talk to throw him off. Brian watched anxiously as the ball
slowly danced around the rim. Brian closed his eyes when it looked like it was
about to fall in.
A quick 'damn' from JC told him it hadn't.
Once his eyes were opened, he saw that JC was already at the basket recovering
the ball for the next shot. Brian got to him too late, though, because the ball
was already finding it's way into the netted basket.
"One to one," Steven called.
"Next made shot is the winner of the game."
"Thanks for clearing that up,
Steven," JC said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. It must've been over
a hundred degrees out there. "It's not like we can't count to 2 or
anything."
Brian quickly checked the ball and made
his way back out onto the court. JC was right on him, trying to talk to him
again. Brian knew better this time and ignored him.
"I wonder what Leighanne is wearing
right now," JC said. He knew it was low, but he was too close to losing
the game.
An elbow suddenly shot out into JC's rib,
forcing him to hunch over and take deep breaths to lessen the sharp pain that
had found itself in his side.
"You crazy motherfuc-"
A whistle cut JC off.
"Foul!" someone called out.
JC realized that his friends were at his
side, making sure he was okay. He looked up to see Justin in Brian's face. He
looked over to see Kevin and Nick making their way to Justin. He forced himself
back into an upright position and walked to Justin while gripping his side.
"It isn't worth it, Curly. I get a
free shot now. It's as good as ours."
Justin didn't budge.
"C'mon. It's almost ours."
Justin finally turned his angry eyes to
JC. The anger was immediately replaced with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," JC smiled. "He hits
like Lance."
"Hey!" Lance called out. "I
heard that!"
Justin finally laughed, shaking his head.
"If he touches you again-"
"You'll stand there like a good boy
and let me handle it. I wasn't so innocent myself, JuJu. I said something kinda
mean."
"I don't care-" Justin began.
Another whistle shot through the air.
"JC, take your position."
JC winked at his friends and trotted to
the line a couple of feet away from the basket. He was handed the basketball
and bounced it a couple of times in front of himself.
He bent his legs, positioning the ball in
his hands in front of his eyes, making it peripheral with his now focused
vision. He saw the basketball and the basket ahead of it. He jumped, letting
the ball sail from his hands.
A couple of seconds later, he was jumping
up and down, ignoring the pain in his side. He had just gotten the second
point, winning the game and tying with the Backstreet Boys.
"Now for the tie-breaker,"
Steven called out, motioning for them to huddle around them. No one moved.
"Ookay...for the tie breaker." Steven
grabbed the box and retrieved two names. "Justin."
A huge sigh of relief floated through
NSYNC and Justin laughed. "Guys, you aren't that bad."
"Yeah, right. Did you not see
Cinderella out there?" Chris laughed, referring to Lance. "I thought
he was going to start screaming for his Prince Charming to come rescue
him."
"Nick," Steven said, calling out
the other name.
Nick rolled his eyes. "It figures. It
just figures."
"Go kick his butt, Frack," Brian
smiled. "I know you can do it. I taught you everything you know."
"Modest much?" Nick smiled.
"Nope," Brian smiled back.
Kevin ruffled Nick's hair. "Imagine
how great it's gonna feel once you kick his butt."
Nick smiled, jogging onto the court.
"Yo, what's up now?" Justin
smiled confidently. "We gonna see who got the skills now, dawg."
"Justin...."
"What?"
"You're not black. You're
white."
Justin rolled his eyes. "Whatev."
The whistle blew signaling the start of
the game and the ball was immediately checked. Nick made his way onto the court
and swiftly made his way past Justin. Before Justin knew it, the ball was no
longer in Nick's hands. It was sailing through the air and into the basket.
Nick blew on his nails and rubbed them
against his shirt. "I'll help you out since you couldn't bring your Hooked
On Phonics kit. That's one," Nick said, raising a finger.
Justin rolled his eyes, catching the ball
from the referee. He was soon on the court, dribbling the ball expertly between
his legs. He faced Nick, noticing how Nick's eyes never left the ball.
"Hmm..." Nick said, guarding
Justin. "A big ball full of air between your legs. It's like Britney never
left."
Justin roughly bumped into Nick, pushing
past him to the basket. He bounced the ball on the backboard, watching proudly
as it slid into the basket.
Justin beamed at Nick, pretending the
Britney remark didn't get to him. "Actually," Justin said, smiling
even more, "the big ball of air in between my legs reminded me more of
Mandy. She's so much better at that. But, hey," Justin grinned, "it's
not like you and the rest of
The smile was gone from Nick's face and he
was immediately striding across the court to Justin. Kevin's face was suddenly
in front of Nick's.
"Let it go. Let it go. He's just
trying to get you to lose your concentration. Remember what we're here to
do."
Nick focused in on Kevin and blocked out
Justin's laughter. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize, little man.
Just kick his ass....with the game. Not physically."
Nick smiled. "Can I kick his ass
after the game?"
"What do you think?" Kevin
asked.
"Yes?"
Kevin gave him a look.
"Fine, fine," Nick gave in.
Right when he thought about giving NSYNC a chance, Justin had to open his
mouth. So what else was new?
Nick looked at Justin and decided that
Justin must've been Lucifer in a past life. He just knew it.
Nick began to dribble the ball on the court,
thinking of ways on how to get past Justin. Nick suddenly smiled.
"Do you think that Britney's being
faithful to you, Justy boy?"
Justin's face was red and Nick couldn't
tell if it was because of him or because of the heat. "Yes, she's
faithful. She doesn't have a case of Mandy-itis."
Nick tried his hardest to ignore his snide
remarks. He only hoped that Justin didn't have the same patience to ignore his.
"If you knew something, you might not agree."
Justin literally stopped and stared at
Nick. "Knew what?"
Nick almost stopped with him when he saw
the small fear in Justin's eyes. He cared more about Britney than Nick thought.
He quickly shook himself out of Justin's stare and bounced the ball around
Justin, scoring the point that won the Backstreet Boys the challenge.
"Oh, sorry, Justin!" Nick
laughed. "Britney hasn't cheated on you....from what I know. I must've
confused her with someone else."
"Probably with your
ex-girlfriend."
But Nick wasn't hearing him. He was
overjoyed that they had won. It had been too long since they'd won and he was
screaming and slapping high fives with the two brothers that he had left on the
island. Nothing, not even Justin Timberlake, could ruin that.
--
Justin, Lance, Chris, and JC all sat
around the all too familiar bonfire. It had seemed like forever since they'd
last been there to say farewell to Joey.
Lance and Chris were secretly freaking
out. They knew they were going to be one of the ones to go. They knew it would
be stupid to vote Justin or JC off. They were the most athletic of them and JC
was also the most level headed. They needed him around to keep them from
burying Nick alive and from shaving Kevin's eyebrows off.
The second Steven stepped out from the
trees and stood at the pot that held the names, he began to reiterate the
speech they had already been given once before, when they had first met there
with Joey still there.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," JC said.
"Yadda, yadda, yadda," Chris added.
"We get it. If you look inside the pot, we already voted. You took too
freakin' long to get your ass out here."
Steven looked at them tiredly. He had been
receiving the exact same treatment all day long. He didn't even try to justify
his actions anymore. They wouldn't reasonably listen to one word that he had to
say.
"First vote is for....Lance."
Justin recognized his handwriting and
suddenly felt guilty.
"I'm sorry, Lance," Justin said,
bravely fighting to lock his eyes with Lance's. He didn't want to stare at the
ground like some coward.
"It's okay," Lance smiled,
shaking his head. "We're even now, I guess."
Justin smiled at him, remembering the
first time they had been to Tribal Council. Lance had been one of the ones who
had voted for Justin to leave. Just like it had been Lance to scribble on the
back of the bus to playfully try to get Justin into trouble. Justin almost
didn't believe him when he said it was okay, but he remembered that he had held
no contempt for Lance when he had recognized the handwriting. Justin let go of
Lance's hand and slung his arm around his shoulder.
"Another vote for......Lance."
Lance smiled, trying to keep the tears
from welling up in his eyes. He knew it was impossible. As much as he knew it
was for the best, it still hurt to have some of the most important people in
your life vote you out of their group.
"Another vote for Lance. I'm sorry,
Lance. Please bring me your torch."
Justin stood up to grab Lance's torch for
him. They were going to do this together. Chris, JC, and Justin walked on
either side of Lance to Steven.
"We're together till the very end,
bro," JC smiled. "And even then there is no escape from us."
"Yeah," Chris agreed. "When
you're walking down the street and you think you see a moving bush, that's us,
man. We're everywhere."
Justin smiled. "And if it isn't us,
then run because then it's some crazy fan."
Lance laughed. As much as they drove him
crazy, he was going to miss them.
"I love you guys," he smiled.
"And JuJu..."
"Yeah?"
"Wear a bandanna."
Justin laughed. "Sure thing, man,
sure thing."
"Tell Joey we said 'hi'! Tell him we
miss his 'crazy in need of a fashion makeover' butt!"
Lance gave them a final wave before he
disappeared behind the trees with Steven.
--
Everyone had immediately fallen asleep
once back at camp. After their exhausting day, it was a miracle no one had
dropped dead in the middle of the basketball game.
Something fell onto Nick's face, startling
him awake. He quickly rubbed at his face, scared that it was a bug or spider.
He saw that a leaf lay by his blanket. Nick picked it up, examining it. He was
freaking out over a leaf?
Nick looked around to see that Kevin and
Brian were peacefully sleeping. Nick yawned, remembering his tiredness. Before
he could lay back down to sleep, he heard it.
"Whooooooo......."
Nick immediately sat up. "Not
again."
Suddenly a green light illuminated from
behind the trees. Nick jumped up, trying to focus his now wide awake eyes on
the light. It was suddenly gone, making Nick second guess it's existence. Had
he been seeing things?
"Maybe my eye boogers are making my
vision blurry," Nick stupidly said. He knew he sounded ridiculous, but
anything was better than admitting what he had actually seen. He suddenly
thought of the Blair Witch Project.
"Man, if that movie wasn't
fake....."
"Things....safe."
Nick stopped. Was something whispering? He
even stopped breathing, straining his ears to pick up the undetectable.
"Things....always.....safe."
"Shit." Nick really wanted to
wake up Brian or Kevin, but he wasn't 12 years old anymore.
Nick took a step forward, but stopped.
What was he thinking? Like hell he was going to go and investigate the strange
sounds. By himself with no weapon? It was only the stupid blonde people in the
movies who did that. 'Gee, what's that sound? I'm all alone in the dark in a strange
place with nothing to protect myself with, so I might as well go and check on
that weird noise anyway.' Next thing you knew Jason was slicing them up with
his big knife.
Nick reached up to touch his hair when he
realized it was always the blonde, dumb people who died.
"Hell, I dye my hair. I ain't
dying."
Nick sat back down and decided to just to
do a replay of the past night. Stay up and stay guard. Nick suddenly stiffened.
He was finally able to make out the ghostly whisper.
"Things aren't always safe."
His ears tingled with the ghostly voice,
and he actually shuddered.
"C'mon Nicky, you're hearing
things," he told himself and glanced back at Brian and Kevin. They were
asleep, weren't they? He couldn't be sure because all he saw was their bulky
forms, but they weren't dead. He knew they weren't dead.
He squinted in the dark and felt a
heaviness in his stomach he hadn't experienced since he was ten years old. That
dread. That awful, all-encompassing dread of not knowing what is a few feet
away from you in the dark. Not knowing if the next thing to reach out and touch
you will be the wind or not of this world. Not knowing if you are the last
survivor of some maniac's massacre.
He glanced back at Kevin and Brian and
wished one of them would move, or snore or something. But they were deep in
their sleep and did not stir.
"Shit," he muttered.
"Shit."
He looked around himself surprised at the
sudden silence. The wind wasn't even rustling the leaves anymore, and he hardly
heard the ocean.
The ocean.
He looked back at his most favorite thing
in the whole world, the thing that reassured him beyond any other person who
he'd ever known.
But it was silent. For the first time in
his life, Nick couldn't even hear the ocean over the hard, fast beating of his
heart.
He reached over and grabbed the thick
stick they used to stir the ashes of the cooking fire, just in case.
***