Chapter
2
Two weeks
later
Nick sat along with the rest of his bandmates, Brian, AJ, Kevin,
and Howie, in a hospitality room in the MTV studio. The Boys had just finished making an
appearance on TRL, where they had talked mostly, of course, about Nick’s
previous sickness and the transplant that had cured it.
Now, the show was finishing up, and they were just relaxing for a
bit in the room that had been provided for them.
“I’ll be right back,” Nick said suddenly, standing up. When the others looked at him in surprise, he
just grinned sheepishly and added, “Nature calls.”
They rolled their eyes and let him leave the room. Nick knew the studio was well guarded, so he
insisted he didn’t need his body guard to come with him.
He wandered down the hall, looking for the bathroom. He found one and used it. When he came back out, he ran smack dab into
a girl, who looked to be about eighteen or nineteen.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” he cried in surprise. “I didn’t see you coming.”
The girl stared up at him for a moment, her eyes locked on
his. Suddenly, she tore her gaze away,
her cheeks flushing pink, and said, “Oh, that’s okay.”
Now it was Nick’s turn to gaze at her. As he got a good look at her, he realized she
was very pretty, with chocolaty brown eyes and sandy blonde hair that fell to
her shoulders. She seemed vaguely
familiar to him, but he could not place her.
“So, what’s your name?” he asked finally, snapping himself out of
his stupor.
“Angela. Angela Harless,”
she replied.
“I’m Nick Carter,” he said.
She smiled shyly. “I know,”
she said.
He grinned sheepishly. “Are
you a fan?” he asked.
“Sort of,” she replied.
“Cool,” Nick replied. “You
want an autograph or anything?”
“Well… um… actually, it’s funny we ran into each other. I kinda wanted to talk to you about
something,” Angela said.
“Uh… okay,” Nick said, puzzled.
Who was this girl? Something
about her told him she wasn’t just some random girl, but someone special. He couldn’t place who she was though. She wasn’t anyone famous, he didn’t
think. But she didn’t seem like just a
regular fan who wanted to ask him something.
There was something deeper to her than that, something that he just couldn’t
pinpoint.
Angela laughed slightly. “I
know, you’re probably confused. But
you’ll understand soon enough. Can we go
somewhere private?”
“Sure,” Nick said softly.
“Come with me. There’s
another hospitality room set up down the hall that should be empty,” she said,
walking back down the hall.
Puzzled, Nick followed.
Maybe she was someone that worked for MTV. Otherwise, how would she be able to get back
here?
Angela led him to a closed door, and when she opened it, sure
enough, there was a deserted hospitality room there. They walked in and sat down on the couches
inside.
“So… what do you want to tell me?” Nick asked, once they were
seated in silence.
“Well, um…” Angela fidgeted, looking a little uncomfortable. “It’s about your liver transplant.”
“What about it?” Nick asked, hoping she wasn’t some nosy person
who was going to ask him all kinds of personal questions. He just couldn’t deal with that.
“Do… do you know who your donor was?” she asked.
“No,” Nick said. “He was a
twenty year old from Orlando, Florida.
That’s all I do know.”
She nodded. “I’m pretty
sure I know whose liver you have,” she said.
“Really?” Nick asked, his eyes widening. “Whose?”
“My brother’s,” she said.
***
