When Paths Cross, Part 6
By Everybodycrys (everybodycrys@yahoo.com)


First off wanted to say thanks for all the mail in support of the story. It feels good to know that people are reading it. Also I have been reading Search and Rescue which is a great story, so go check it out. as always please email me anything you want. anything at all problems, questions to everybodycrys@yahoo.com

Well here we go again...(breath) If you are under 18 or are offended by material of a homosexual nature then this is not the place for you, so please leave. Also, this is a work of pure fiction and does not make any claims to the actual sexual orientation of any of the characters real or imagined. and with that, on with Part 6...

Kevin looked at his watch. It was going on 3am and the was no sign of Nick. The rest of them had found their way back to the hotel about a hour and a half ago. Tired but excited after a long night of partying and dancing. San Diego certainly had some great clubs to offer. When they had got to their floor Kevin and Brian decided to check in on Nick to make sure that things had gone alright with him. Brian was still in the dark about the entire situation and was starting to feel left out. They were both surprised to find the room empty and there were no signs that he had been there all evening. Kevin was worried but he put up a front and sent Brian off to bed. He decided to stay up and wait. If Nick didn’t show up soon they were gonna have to call security and having to tell them that they had gone out with out escorts was not something he was looking forward too.

Kevin sat up abruptly when he heard the doors to the elevator open. He went to his door and let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw Nick step off the elevator. He was about to run over and give him holy hell but he froze when he got a good look at Nick. Nick was completely soaked from head to toe, and he was wandering down the hall in what looked to Kevin as if he was in complete shock. Even thou Kevin was standing right outside in plain view Nick gave no sign that he saw him. Kevin sat there watching, confused by Nick’s condition. He had never seen him like this before. Nick reached his door and took out his key. He spent a few minutes trying to get it in the lock. Kevin started walking towards him, intending to help him out. He touched Nicks shoulder to get him to hand over the keys. Suddenly Nick jumped in shock and dropped the keys. He spun around to Kevin. Kevin was horrified to see the amount of pain and fear in Nicks face.

“Oh God Nick, I'm so sorry.” He begun.

Nick started crying, tears running down his already wet face. Before Kevin could do anything Nick collapsed to the ground curling up in a ball at the Kevin's feet. Kevin immediately knelt down, fear running through him as he did his best to comfort Nick and check him to see if he was hurt. Not finding anything physically, he tried to get Nick to talk to him. They stayed there for what seemed like hours. Kevin rubbing his back and holding him trying to get any kind of response and failing. ‘I gotta get him up and out of the hallway.’ Kevin thought. He found the keys and opened the door to Nick’s room. He reached down and picked Nick up. It wasn’t easy Nick wasn’t helping at all, he just laid his head against Kevin’s chest and continued to cry. Kevin walked across the room and put Nick down on the bed. He had to get him out of those wet clothes or he was going to get sick, but Nick was so withdrawn from reality that Kevin couldn’t do it by himself. He debated it for only a second and quickly walked across the hall. He banged on the door. After a few minutes, a tired Brian opened the door.

“Wha.. Kevin? What time is it?” Brian asked, not accustomed to being woken this early.

“Brian, I need your help. Nick’s back and he’s in bad shape.”

Instantly Brian was awake, “What? he’s hurt?” He grabbed his robe and threw it on.

“No, its not that,” Kevin was unsure of what to say, “Come on, hurry.” They ran across the hallway back into Nick’s room. Brian saw the condition Nick was in and instantly ran over to him.

“Kevin what the hell happened?” He asked after getting no response from Nick. Nick had stopped crying but he was still completely withdrawn and curled up.

“I don’t know, But we gotta get him out of those clothes and into something warm.” Kevin walked over to the dresser and started looking for something to put him in. Brian continues to try to get any kind of response from Nick. Kevin found some swear pants and a big hooded sweatshirt. Together they managed to get Nick changed and under the covers. They sat on the bed staying close until he fell asleep. They went over and sat on the couch. The sun would soon be up and they weren’t about to leave Nick alone until they found out what happened. Brian turned to Kevin.

“What the hell happened last night Kevin? I’ve never seen Nick like this, Hell I’ve never seen anyone like this.”

Kevin thought for a second, “I don’t know what happened I saw him come in and then he just collapsed. I brought him in here and then went and got you.”

“But his clothes, completely soaked, not to mention he's in a complete state of shock. Where did he go last night Kevin? I know you know.”

“He went out with a friend. Anymore then that I can’t tell you, its his place to do that.”

Brian shook his head, frustrated from being so out of the loop. “What do we do now?”

Kevin let out a sigh, “We wait and talk to him when he wakes up. If we have to we can postpone the next concert. Management won’t be happy but we can’t go on with him like this.”

Brian looked over at Nick who was sleeping. “What the hell happened?” He asked out loud to the room.

Ring.....Ring...

“Hello, No one’s home right now, but if you leave your name and number after the beep I will return your call. I promise..thanks”.

Beeeeeep...

“ Marian...Marian, its Matt...Oh god Marian, I did something horrible. I did something really bad and I don’t know how to fix it. Please, please call me back. I don’t know what to do”

Click...

It was going on 10am and Kevin decided to go over to his room and order breakfast. He had played with the idea of just going to the restaurant down stairs, but decided on having breakfast together in his room, giving him a chance to talk to them. Nick was still asleep and he had spent all night thinking about the situation. There was no way he was going to be able to stay quiet much longer, especially when the other two found out about last night. He left Brian asleep on the couch, he had nodded off about a hour ago. he threw a blanket over him and headed for his room. He ran in to Howie in the hallway.

“Hey Kevin, morning” Howie grunted. He was still half asleep.

“Morning D” Kevin responded, “We’re gonna have breakfast in my room this morning, we need to talk about some stuff. Can you get A.J. and meet us there in about a half hour.”

Howie looked concern, “Sure thing, is there something wrong?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t know.” Kevin said and walked into his room.

About twenty minutes later the food arrived and soon after A.J. and Howie came in and started in on the food.

“What do you want to talk about? A.J. asked as he sat on the couch with his plate full. Howie sat on the floor by the bed.

“I’ll go get Brian and then we’ll talk.” He said and left the room. He walked into Nick’s room, checked to make sure Nick was still asleep and then carefully woke Brian up. Brian sat up and looked over at the bed.

“How is he?”

“Same, he hasn’t woken up yet. You think we should wake him?”

Brian shook his head and stood up, “No, let him sleep.”

Kevin nodded, “Well lets head over to my room, I got breakfast and we need to talk, the others are over there already.”

Brian quickly nodded and headed with Kevin over to his room. They walked in the room where Howie and A.J. were still eating. Kevin grabbed a plate, but Brian just ignored it, he was too interested in what Kevin was going to say and was tired of being out of the loop.

A.J. looked at Brian and Kevin noticing the tension, “Hey Is Nick gonna be coming.”

Kevin shook his head, “No, he's the reason we needed to talk.” He proceeded to fill A.J. and Howie in on the happenings of the previous night after they had gone to bed. As soon as he got to the part about Nick collapsing he instantly had their attention. They started yelling out the obvious questions. “What happened? Is he okay?” Kevin didn’t know how to answer.

“He hasn’t talked about it, but I think it has to do with his date last night.” The minute he said the word “date” he wished he hadn’t. There was a instant response.

“What, you said he was out with a friend!” Brian yelled.

“Nick met a girl?” Howie asked. A.J. just smiled.

Kevin held up his hands, “Hold on, let me explain.” They stopped to listen. “I wasn’t gonna say anything cause its really Nick’s to tell you. But I can’t stay silent if we’re going want to be able to help him.” He paused to collect his thoughts, “Nick went out with Matt last night, the Matt from Catalina.”

Every gasped and Kevin continued, “I know what your all thinking, and I can’t answer your question. But Nick might be...gay and I think we need to be prepared to deal with that.”

A.J. looked stunned, They had know each other for so long and he had never seen anything that might have hinted this. “Nick isn’t gay,” he said, “There's no way, we would have known by now. He just isn’t”


“A.J. Its true”

Everyone's head snapped to the door. There leaning against the door was Nick, he looked like hell. His eyes were moist and he was looking a little pale. He walked across the room and sat next to A.J. on the couch. Everyone else was silent taking in the situation and his appearance.

“ Last night when I talked to you Kevin, I wasn’t sure. But now after last night there's no question... and what ever you guys decide is fine with me.”

Brian looked startled, “What ever we decide? what's that about?”

“I won’t stick around if this makes you uncomfortable. I’ll just disappear.”

Kevin jumped up surprised, Brian quickly knelt by Nick and pulled him into a hug as he started crying. “God, don’t ever say that, there's no way we’re gonna let you go. We don’t care about that. Just don’t ever think that again.” The rest of the guys quickly joined in with pretty much the same method, each taking their turns giving a hug of support. As Kevin pulled away he put his hand to Nicks fore head.

“JeezYour burning up, Brian go get me a thermometer.” Brian nodded and quickly ran out of the room.

Nick ignored their concern and continued, “I gotta tell you guys about last night.”

Matt groaned and rolled over. He was lying on the floor. He didn’t remember how he got there but the scores of empty beer bottles lying around him gave him a pretty good idea. He sat up and was instantly rewarded with flashing pain all over. He sat for a second and then crawled his way over to the couch. He pulled himself on it and laid back trying to piece together the remnents of what happened. The phone rang and he was instantly in pain again. The shrilling ring set his head on fire. He quickly reached over to get it before it could ring again.

“Hello” he whispered

“Matt, its Marian.” Her voice was really loud, he grimaced.

“Marian? what's up?” He said.

“What's up?! You called me last night you it sounded bad. What happened?”

Suddenly the night before came racing back in his mind. The entire evening replayed itself right in front of him. He remembered the phone call and the raging drinking feast he went on afterwards.

“Marian, you were so right about, I was afraid,but I thought I could handle it, but when it happened I screwed up big time.”

“Matt, relax take a breath and start from the beginning. What did you do?”

Matt breathed in for four seconds relaxing a second.

The minute Nick brought up the subject of the previous night. everyone in the room forgot about the fever. They sat there silent waiting for him to continue. Nick sat back and sighed. Tears were still rolling down his cheek. Brian walked back in the room with their travel first aid kit. He saw how silent everyone was and quickly sat down when Kevin waved him over.

“We had a good time, dinner and a movie. But I got recognized and we ended up running from a huge group of girls. We got caught in the rain and ended up hiding in a parking lot. I have never met anyone like him.” The tears were coming faster now. “I gave in I had told myself that I wouldn’t do anything until I was sure about him but I couldn’t help myself.” He paused...” we kissed, and it was wonderful...but then.” He stopped clearly coming to the bad part.

Brian put a reassuring arm around Nick.

Nick leaned in to Brian's shoulder, “Then, it was bad, He...”

Well, that's all for now :) feel free to send me comments, questions, or threats to everybodycrys@yahoo.com. sorry about the cliff hanger....no wait, never mind I like it.