Get your own Free Home Page
***RECAP: "If a piece of paper is what is holding our friendship together, then I don’t want any part of it," Brian replied, choking up, "I want out, just as much as AJ, Kevin, Howie and Nick."***
"I called the five of you here to discuss this matter," Lou said, as he stood in front of Kevin, Nick, AJ, Howie and Brian in his office, "this is very important, and I don’t want any screwing around."
The five boys sat in silence. ‘Deciding to even show up was hard enough’ thought Nick, ‘but sitting in a room with them is even harder.’
Lou picked a piece of paper off his desk. "See this?" he asked, "this, my friends, is a contract.....a contract which holds ALL of your signatures, which shows that YOU belong to ME legally for another two years!"
Nick rolled his eyes, and caught a look at Brian, who was biting his nails. He hadn’t even talked to his best friend since the other day in the office....even though Brian had stood up for him, it was just too weird.
"Alexander James McLean, Kevin Scott Richardson, Howard Dwaine Dorough, Brian Thomas Littrell, Nickolas Gene Carter...all of your names are here in black and white! You can’t back down now.....we had a deal," Lou explained.
Kevin stood up. "Mr. Pearlman, with all due respect, we don’t care for your deal anymore.....we’re unhappy, and we want out of this....we don’t wanna be part of the Backstreet Boys anymore," he said, his voice choking up a little.
Howie blinked back tears that were forming in his eyes. ‘This isn’t happening,’ he kept telling himself, but every minute that went by told him otherwise. He snuck a sideways glance at AJ, who looked upset as well. "A deal is a deal," was all Lou could say.
"Then I guess this deal will have to be broken," AJ snapped back, standing up as well. "Well, children, it’s been a blast, but good things must come to an end.....adios." And with that, AJ was out the door.
******************************
".....Nick, I really think you should reconsider! I mean, boys get in fights all the time...you just need to work it all out," Nick’s mom, Jane, persuaded, "you’ve known these boys too long to walk away."
"Mom, it’s enough, all right? I just wanna be alone," Nick retorted, turning around and facing the wall. Jane sighed, and walked out of Nick’s room, shutting the door behind her.
Nick picked up his drumsticks from his desk and walked over to his drum set. He spun one of the sticks around in his hand, and sat down. All at once, he began pounding the hell out of the drums, trying to keep the beat. He continued like that for a good ten minutes, not caring if he was disturbing his family, or the neighbors.
Finally, he stopped. He threw his sticks against the wall, breathing hard from the workout. He was beyond the point of sad....he was angry. "Why the fuck did I devote so many years of my life to this, if I was just going to end up a has-been?" he asked the wall. He was scared to death that he was, in fact, going to be a has-been teen idol with no job and no talent. "They wanted me for my youngness and my blonde hair!" he screamed to the wall, "not for my singing and dancing!"
He collapsed on the bed. He needed someone to talk to....not his mom, who would try to convince him to make up with his friends.....not Brian, whom he usually talked to because he was scared of him. He needed someone who didn’t have a biased opinion.
He picked up the phone gingerly and dialed 411.
**************************
"Lauren, line three," the Holt Renfrew secretary said through the buzzer. Exasperated, she saved the document she was typing on the computer and picked up the phone. She clicked the Line three button and said, "Hello?"
There was no sound from the other end. "Hello?" she said again.
"Um, Lauren?" the caller asked, sounding quite unsure of themselves. "Yes, who is this...?" Lauren responded, but as the voice registered in her head, she almost lost it then and there. "Nick? Is that you?" she asked, trying not to let her excitement show.
"Yes," Nick said, "I-I just found your number through Directory Assistance, and I figured it was okay to call...."
"Nick! How are you?" Lauren interrupted, feeling herself smile uncontrollably. "I’m...I’m okay," he answered, "I just really need someone to talk to right now."
Lauren’s face fell. "What’s wrong? God, I really need to talk to you too.....I have a billion things I need to tell you," she said, "I...I just feel so bad...."
"Let me go first," he interrupted, "We’ve...well...we’ve had some problems since you...well...since you left......."
Lauren sighed. "I know...and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Nick....see I was really rash in my decision to come back here, but I needed time and space to think......"
".....and it’s been a lot more serious than you think," Nick finished, his voice choking up.
"What........?" Lauren pondered.
"Well, a lot of shit went down, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re not a group anymore," he answered.
"W-what?" she stuttered, not thinking she heard him correctly.
"Lauren," Nick said, "we broke up....the Backstreet Boys broke up."
IF YOU KNEW WHAT I KNEW MAIN PAGE
Get your own Free Home Page