Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, probably never will meet, don't even have a chance of coming close either. Fiction - that stuff people make up from a sudden burst of inspiration. No Backstreet Boys were harmed in the making of this chapter. Although others might say differently. For a better reason of why this chapter is late. Read the notes at the bottom. Unless you don't like the chapter and want to stop reading, but still want the excuse I give, just skip to the bottom.
Chapter 12
The next day I woke up, for once, after the sun had risen and I turned over and looked at the clock. I saw the time, turned over and went back to sleep. 5 minutes later I sat straight up and picked up the clock from the bedside table.
"1:35 PM!!!!!!" I screamed and fell out of bed trying to get dressed when I saw a note stuck on the back of the bedroom door.
"Chad --
Hey bro, you've been through hell, consider this a birthday present, I didn't wake you cause you needed the sleep and you needed sometime with Brian. I'll be back tonight, don't worry, no one will know the difference that you weren't there. Have a good rest, and do something relaxing for a change.
Luv --
Alec"
I sighed with relief and stripped the clothes I had been trying to put on, off. Alex had gotten in the habit of calling himself `Alec' while over seas. It was more common, or so he said. I thought about last night as I snuggled back into Brian's arms. We had talk to the wee hours, watched movies, and played twister.
Brian groaned. I looked up to see if he was awake. I knew it was no use, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, since I knew the time. If I hadn't looked at the clock, I would have gone back to sleep in a heart beat. I pulled myself from Brian's warm arms once again and got out of bed. I closed the bedroom door as I left and went down stairs to the kitchen. Nick was sitting on one of the couches watching TV when I came through to the kitchen.
"Afternoon Nick." I said.
"Hey Alex." He said not looking up.
I looked at him and shook my head. "So, where's Chad?" I asked.
"He got up early and woke me to say that he had been called by the hospital, that he would be back tonight." Nick said and took a sip of apple juice that he had beside him.
"Had lunch yet?" I asked him and looked through the fridge.
"Nope. He said you'd get up about now and would make it." Nick said and smiled, finally looking at me.
I put my hands on my hips. "Nick.... I hate to tell you this, but I'm Chad."
"No, he left this morning." Nick said.
"Are you on crack? I'm Chad, Alex took my place today so I could spend some time with Brian and you and relax some."
"Serious?" He asked.
"Yeah, serious. I think I know the difference between my brother and I."
"Well I can't tell the difference, sorry." Nick said and got off the couch, like me, he was only in boxers.
"So," he said as he sat down on a stool. "What's for lunch?"
"I'm thinking. It's between, grilled cheese sandwiches, my special hotdogs, mac and cheese, spegetti, or leftovers." I looked around the kitchen and smacked my lips, trying to figure out what I wanted.
"How about grilled cheese?" Nick said.
"Sure, okay." I said and got out the stuff needed to make the sandwiches. Nick had turned the TV off and the radio on, while I was getting the items needed. Then he placed himself across from the stove top where I was placing stuff across the counter.
"So Nick, I never learned your orientation."
"Bi." Nick replied.
"Short and sweet, huh."
Nick laughed, "Yeah."
"Tell me about you're part in the group."
"Well, I don't know how to put myself, I asked my self that once and couldn't find an answer, we all lean on each other a lot, I do a lot of solos, but I wouldn't put myself above anybody."
"Good answer. What about your family, if I heard right, your whole family is in the business."
"Yeah, Aaron, and Leslie have cds out, BJ is modeling, Angel is... still thinking."
"I want to ask a stupid question. When the bus was in the wreck, did you see angels, or our life flash before you eyes?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"I make it a point to ask all my patients."
"Well, I got away without a scratch, but I think I did see something odd when the bus started flipping. It was surreal. It was..." Nick looked lost in space, trying to figure out how to put it. He drew a little map of the bus on the counter. "I was in the kitchen, here." He pointed. "And all of a sudden I heard something that said `sit down' and I thought it was a joke, and I got pushed... by something... onto the couch and I fell beneath the table. Then I saw, what looked like feet walk by, then they stopped, and a head popped up into my view... and I could see through it. It told me to close my eyes and that when I opened them I would be okay and that they were watching out for me. Then it vanished and I closed my eyes like it asked, because for some odd reason I trusted it, and I felt nothing of the wreck, I couldn't tell you what happened after I closed my eyes, but I know I closed my eyes before the wreck."
I leaned on the counter and watched Nick, as he relived the experience.
"I know that had to sound weird." Nick said and wiped a tear away.
"Actually, it didn't. You have a gift, and at that point, you trusted that gift enough, to stay alive. You are lucky, most people have an angel that follows them, and makes sure they are okay, but they never trust it enough to believe in it." I explained.
"A gift?"
"Yes, a gift, I have that too, I was in a near death experience, and I trusted the fact that I was being watched, and I came through alive."
"What happened to you?"
"Well, my experience is almost like yours. I was in college, and me and some buddies decided to take a road trip of sorts, to see my family. We had taken the train from NY, where I was going to college, and along the way..." I stopped. And started over. "You know that train, that ran off the track, 3 or 4 years ago? The one where like out of 1,000 people, 15 survived?"
Nick nodded.
"Well I was on it. My friends and I had been in a private cabin, and we were joking around. A fight broke out up near the front of the train and everybody was racing to see. I didn't go, I had to study for a test I had when I got back. I heard the door open, and close, like someone had walked in. I looked up, and no one was there. I went back to my work. I looked up and across from me I saw a guy, and he looked exactly like me. I didn't even think about that at the time. And he said turn the computer off, and get on the bed on your stomach.' I did as he asked and he knelt down beside me. He said this train is going to run off the tracks in 2 minutes, and very few will survive, you will though. I want you to take a deep breath,' and I did. I asked him. what's your name?' my name is Shane, Chad, I was your brother that died in birth, ask mom about it when you get to Florida, and don't worry about the exam, you will pass it. Oh! And while I'm here, you will meet a guy, somewhere down the line, and his name will be Brian. He is your soul mate, but he will hurt you by sleeping with his best friend Nick, but it wasn't his fault because Nick has been in love with him since he was young. Don't let Brian go, because you can't live without him. My name is Shane, tell mama that her baby boy is safe and is watching over her.' why are you telling me all this?' because I know you believe what I say, I will talk to you later on down the line, good bye my brother. Now close your eyes and when you wake up, you will be in your bed in Florida.' And true enough, when I woke up, I was in my bed in Florida, and it had been almost a month since the wreck, and my friends had died. I was excused from school, and I asked my mother about Shane' and she told me she was suppose to have triplets, but one died still born. And then I told her. Don't worry mama, your baby boy is safe and is watching over you as we speak.' And she burst out in tears."
Nick gaped. "Wow, that's unbelievable!
"And Nick, you love Brian don't you?"
"Yes, actually I have, ever since the group started."
"And down the road, I don't know when, you are going to get jealous of our relationship and try to steal him back by getting him drunk and having sex with him."
"I hadn't thought about it."
"I know you haven't, but the thought will come across your mind, and if you remember this conversation then, tell me before it happens, I can't stop you, and I won't stop you, but I want to know when it happens so that everything will be okay when Brian comes back to me."
"Okay, I will do that, if I remember. You won't hurt me will you?"
"I don't know yet." I answered him truthfully. "Now, about those sandwiches."
We laughed and made small talk while I cooked. We were on to making banana splits when Brian walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Babe," I said and laughed, trying to keep the cherry from falling off the top without pushing it into the icecream.
"Hey Chad, Nick." Brian said and sat down across from us. He watched us make our banana splits, comparing between mine and Nick's.
"You know Nick," Brian said. "You shouldn't quit your day job."
Nick looked at Brian and smirked. "Nah, ya think?"
"Yeah, I do, actually." Brian said.
Nick looked sideways at me and shook his head. "He'll never understand."
"Well even I knew that." I said and smiled at Nick, hugging him sideways.
Brian watched the exchange between us. "What's up with this? All of a sudden you two are buddies, what did I miss?"
"Nothing." We both said together.
After devouring our delicious splits, we all got dressed, them more than me considering the fact that I was have dressed, from jumping out of bed earlier. We had decided to go to a gym, and I knew the perfect place. I wasn't going to tell them where or what it was, because they would object.
We hopped in my explorer and I turned on the radio once we were all situated. `Gone' poured out of the radio and I had expected an objection to the song, but no words were spoken. I grabbed Brian's hand once I had pulled out of the garage and down the driveway. We passed a sign around 15 minutes later.
"Chad... does that sign say what I think it says." Nick asked.
"Yeah, School of the Arts, one of the best in North Carolina." I said and pulled into the parking lot.
"A school." Nick said slowly, trying to make his point.
"Yes, a school, it has teachers, and students, and tests, and all that nice stuff." I said to Nick as if he were stupid. I turned off the car and let go of Brian's hand.
"Why a school?" Nick said, getting out of the car nervously.
"Because, they have the best gym around. And I trust them." I said and walked to the school enterence. I signed in, and put names down for them as well. The lady at the desk gave us passes, and I led the way to the gym, which just happened to have a music lab on the way to the gym.
I stopped at the music lab and saw Mrs. Sellers teaching. Actually she was more like talking about something that didn't have anything to deal with music. I knocked on the door and she turned.
"Chad!" She exclaimed.
"Hey Mrs. Sellers, how's it hanging?" I asked and gave her a hug.
"Everything's good." She turned to the class. "Class, this is Chad Ray, a past student of mine, who will always be my favorite." She said with a smile. "Now," She said and turned to me, "You have to play something."
"Play something?" I asked. She pushed me to the piano, and I laughed. "Ummm," I sat down at the grand piano and looked at the door. "Only if some friends help me." I said.
I called for Nick and Brian and warmed up by doing scales. I looked around and saw they weren't coming in the class. I got up from the piano bench and walked out into the hall, pulling them both by the ear into the classroom. I positioned one on each side of the piano bench, so they would be on either side of me.
I started playing `Drowning' and I took over AJ's parts, where available. We sang, and sounded good, surprisingly. I stood up, and the class applauded while I hugged Mrs. Sellers. She had always been a favorite teacher of mine. We left the class and stopped infront of another door.
"This is the gym," I said as if they were stupid. I pushed open the double doors and stood aside. Just then my pager buzzed.
I looked down at the pager on my belt and checked the message.
"Shit." I said quietly.
"What's wrong?" Brian asked.
"The guys, they were found out. I guess we aren't going to be getting some exercise in today." I said sadly. I had been looking forward to some good exercise. We left the school and drove to the hospital.
"You're scaring me Chad, what's wrong?" Brain asked and linked his fingers with mine.
I pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car.
"You'll know inside." I said and got out, unlinking our fingers. We walked in the enterance of the hospital, passing another enterence door while we walked to the elevators. Reporters stood outside the doors, cameras flashing at everyone that walked by the door.
"How did they find out?" Brian asked, watching them as we continued to walk.
"No clue, probably a fan whose in the hospital. We got into the elevator and went up to the 3rd floor, where the guys were. We reached their room and heard yelling inside. I got angry and pushed the door open forcefully.
"What the hell is going on here?!?" I screamed and the room got silent. I saw two men in suits standing over the bed, with angry expressions. I looked around the rest of the room and found Howie sitting in a chair, between Kevin and AJ's beds.
"What are you doing out of bed?" I asked.
"Doctor released me, I'm just gonna stay here until these guys can leave." Howie said, pointing to Kevin and AJ.
I nodded and turned back to the suits. "I think it's best that you leave, you are upsetting the patients." I said professionally and sternly.
"What the hell do you know, you're just a kid." One of the men said, walking up to me.
"Well, I can have you physically removed from the hospital if you like, sure." I said, as if he didn't just call me a kid. I looked at AJ and saw him pushed the nurses button, and moment later Leslie came in.
"Yes, what can I help you with." She said from the doorway.
"Have security remove these men from the hospital, they are upsetting my patients and it is causing stress on their recovery." I said to her, then turned back to the men.
"You aren't a doctor, you're too young, you're just a kid who thinks he knows what he's doing." The other man said.
Leslie had left and the stand off began. The other man, who wasn't to busy staring at me, was yelling at AJ and Kevin. Security came into the room, 5 minutes into the standoff.
"Is there a problem?" The officer in charge asked.
"Yes, this snot nosed kid has no right to be in this room." The man yelled. I turned to the cop and smiled.
"Take him away, harry, both of them, they are interfering with the well-being of my patients." I said and walked over to Kevin's bed. "How are you doing?" I asked him.
"I've been better, thanks for getting those guys out of here, they were getting on my nerves."
"No problem, anything else wrong?" I asked. I checked his stats and heard someone enter the room.
"So how are you two doing?"
"Who are you?" AJ demanded. His gaze faltered between the two of us, and then I looked up, letting my head fall back into the chart immediately. It seemed that while I was playing with Brian and Nick, a new nurse had given AJ the wrong meds, causing him to go into a comatose state, and when he came out, he had blurry memories of the past 3 days. That wasn't such a bad thing.
"I'm one of your doctors, and I see that you got the intern... I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, she was on a roll, waiting to fall.
"Doctor? What the hell, you can't be anywhere over 25." He stated, not believing I was his doctor.
"Well, you're right about one thing. I'm not 25, that's for sure, I'm 24, and yes, believe it or not, I'm your doctor, a little on the young side, but I am." I shifted my weight around, unable to find a comfortable standing position. "We can go over my resume if you like... I don't mind, I have it memorized." I shrugged. Many people didn't believe my occupation because they couldn't get by the age factor.
AJ watched me... more like studied me until he was sure that I was telling the truth. "Okay." He said simply and looked at Brian and Nick.
"Where have you been?" He asked. Brian opened his mouth to talk, but I talked before he could.
"At my house, I have plenty of room. You'll be staying there, if you don't fly immediately out of Raleigh once you can travel." I said.
"Yeah, his house kicks ass," Nick butted in. "It's huge, and there is a plenty of room, and a studio to die for. I love it."
Brian and I looked at each other and laughed. Nick continued. "And his brother is really cool, I'd never know them apart if I had seen them together."
Kevin looked oddly at me. "What does he mean by that?"
I opened my mouth to talk, but my brother knocked on the door and entered. "So, I here there was a disturb..." He stopped walking and stared at me. "You're supposed to be resting, I told you to sleep in."
"I got bored, there is only so much I can do in that house before I go crazy." I said and smirked. I looked back at Kevin. "Kevin, this is my brother, Alex, and this is why Nick couldn't tell us apart." I said sarcastically and grinned. "It's like looking in a mirror, only I'm cuter.
We faced each other and smoothed out our hair, at the same time, then scratched our cheeks, then shifted feet and checked out teeth. I turned back to the guys and smiled. Brian and Nick bursted out in laughter, while the other three had no clue what I was talking about. Oh well, they'll figure it out another day.
Author Notes:
Well, it's been an interesting year so far right? This is my first update since... Febuaury (I know that's spelled wrong). Sorry for the delay. Performances have come, and soon will all leave, thank god. Performances take up a big part of my life, and Monday is the last official one for this school year. And over the summer I will have more time to write, because I have nothing else to do! I want to say a big thanks to Rox & Chelsea for the inspiration of Chad and Alex. And to Mike, who if he didn't pester me.. this story never would have made it this far. Haha.