Chapter 5
“Okay,
I’m getting worried now,” Brian admitted, glancing at his watch for the third
time that minute. “Where could he be?”
“Maybe
he got lost or something,” Howie said.
“Made a wrong turn, maybe.”
“Yeah,
maybe,” Brian said. “How ‘bout I take
Leigh’s car and go looking for him?”
“Sure,
Bri. That’d be good,” Kevin said.
“Okay,”
Brian said.
He
was putting on his jacket when suddenly, the phone rang. Brian hurried to answer it, but it stopped
ringing, and he figured Leighanne must have answered it upstairs.
He
let his coat drop to the floor and slowly walked back into the living
room. He wasn’t sure how, but he
suddenly knew that something was wrong.
He wasn’t sure what, but something told him that he was soon to find
out.
Just
then, he looked up to see Leighanne coming slowly down the stairs, her robe
wrapped tightly around her. She came up
to him, and he noticed how pale she looked.
“Brian,” she said softly, “there’s been an accident.”
“Nick,”
Brian murmured, fear coursing through his body.
She nodded sadly. “How bad is
it?” he asked.
She
shook her head. “The paramedic I talked
to wouldn’t tell me. He just said to
come to Atlanta General.”
Brian
turned to look at the other three guys, who were staring up at him, their faces
expressing a mix of shock and fear.
“Let’s go,” he said softly, heading back into the foyer and grabbing his
jacket up off the floor.
Kevin,
AJ, and Howie hurriedly put their shoes and coats on.
“Bri,
do you want me to drive y’all there?” Leighanne asked. “You’re upset…”
“Naw,
it’s okay, honey. You stay put. We’ll be fine,” Brian said, giving his wife a
quick hug.”
“Okay…”
Leighanne said hesitantly. “Call me when
you find something out, okay? I don’t
care how late it is.”
Brian
nodded. “I will,” he said. “Bye.”
“Bye,”
she said, watching sadly as he led the others out to her car. She heard the engine start up and saw the car
back out of the driveway. She watched it
drive away until the headlights disappeared into the night.
***
“Marissa!”
Marissa
looked up to see her mother hurry in to the police station, where she had been
sitting for the past half hour. The
expression on her mother’s face showed a mix of relief, grief, and anger.
“Mom,”
Marissa murmured. She had never been so
happy to see her mother, even though she figured she’d be getting a lecture
from her. That didn’t matter
though. Marissa knew she deserved
whatever was coming to her.
Marissa’s
mother, Joyce Cohen, threw her arms around her daughter, hugging her
tightly.
“Baby,
are you okay?” Joyce asked worriedly, her green eyes, so like Marissa’s, studying
Marissa intently.
Marissa
nodded. “I am,” she whispered, “but… but
Luke’s dead. And Kaelyn’s a mess. And Shawn’s been arrested!” Her eyes filled with tears, and she began to
sob. “And, Mom, Nick’s hurt… bad. What if he dies?”
“What? Who’s Nick?” Joyce asked, pulling back to
look at her daughter.
Marissa
began to sob harder and could barely get out her next words. “The driver of the other car. It’s Nick Carter… from the Backstreet Boys.”
“Oh,
honey,” Joyce said softly, stroking Marissa’s dark hair. Marissa wasn’t sure her mother even knew who
the Backstreet Boys were, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter to Marissa who Nick was. What mattered was that he was critically
injured… all because of her and her friends.
“I’m
so sorry, Mom,” Marissa wailed. “I
should have called you. I should have
never let Shawn drive!”
Joyce
nodded. “Yes. You’re right.
But you can’t take it back now.
What’s done is done.”
“I
know,” Marissa whispered. “I’d do
anything to take it back though. Anything.”
***
Brian,
Kevin, AJ, and Howie sat in a lonely waiting room in the Atlanta General
Hospital.
At
this time of night, the waiting room was almost empty, except for a few people
on the other side of the room – a man, two women, and a teenage girl. All four of them looked very upset, and the
girl was crying softly, her face buried in her hands. Brian’s heart ached for her as he realized
she must have just lost or was close to losing someone she loved.
The
four young men stared pensively into space, worried sick about Nick. None of them spoke, but inside their heads,
their thoughts ran wild.
Why did I let him go by himself? Brian wondered, stricken with guilt. He doesn’t live around here; he doesn’t
know his way. I could have gone to get
the videos myself, or at least gone with him.
I could have driven him. Then
maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
God, please let him be okay, Howie prayed.
He’s so young. Suddenly, Howie thought of something. It was January 27th. No, Howie realized, glancing down at his
watch. It read 1:22. It’s January 28th now. It’s Nick’s birthday. He’s 21 today. Howie’s soulful brown eyes filled with
tears. Nick was only 21. Just barely a legal adult. Please, God, let him be okay. He has the whole rest of his life ahead of
him. Please…
“Guys,
do you know what day it is?” Howie asked softly.
The
other four looked up, surprised that one of them had spoken. The realization hit Brian immediately. “Nicky’s birthday,” he whispered.
There
was a moment of silence as they sat there, filled with sorrow.
“Hey
guys, what about the Superbowl?” AJ asked suddenly.
“Oh,
shit,” Kevin muttered. The
Superbowl! It’s tonight! And we’re supposed to sing the national
anthem! They had been looking forward to it so
much. But now this. Maybe he’ll be just fine, Kevin told
himself hopefully. Maybe they’re just
checking him over, and they’ll release him.
And then we can celebrate his birthday, and we can all sing at the
Superbowl together. The thought was
a nice one, but Kevin was not at all sure that was the case. If the doctors were just checking Nick over,
why was it taking so long? They had been
sitting there for quite awhile.
“We
need to get a hold of management,” AJ said softly. “If we’re going to have to cancel the
Superbowl thing, they’ll need to know right away so they can plan for someone
else to sing in our place.”
“Not
yet, Bone,” Kevin said. “Wait until we
know something. Maybe we won’t have to
cancel.”
AJ
nodded, hoping Kevin was right. But like
Kevin himself, AJ knew the reality of what had happened… and what could happen.
***
